Saved By The Music
A Glee AU Fan Fiction
Chapter 4: Let The Wooing Begin
Puck needed something big and impression, and he needed something fast. It was clear that Mike had suffered some sort of head injury and that was why he was allowing Puck to attempt to go after Rachel. He had to win her over before Mike realized what had happened and changed his mind. Because a chance at Rachel without any negative interference coming from Mike was a once in a lifetime kind of thing.
"Make her realize you're sorry for all those slushy facials."
Mike's words rang through Puck's mind as he drove past the gas station where he always picked up a slushy before school to toss into some losers face.
Rachel likes grape...remember the last time you tossed one at her? She licked her lips clean and it was sort of a turn on, especially with the shirt she was wearing and how it got all see-through...But, she never does that, so grape must be her favorite...right?
His thoughts appalled him. Had he really been paying that much attention to her that he realized what her favorite slushy flavor was? And was he honestly that sick and twisted that it turned him on to see her licking her lips for a taste of a slushy that had just been tossed into her face.
He turned quickly into the parking lot, his plan already forming, shaking his head to get rid of the dangerous thoughts running through his mind.
"It's for you," Puck said, slightly hurt that she thought he would throw a slushy into her face after their conversation the previous day. "I picked it up for you when I was buying dip. It's grape-I know that's your favorite, because the last time I tossed a grape one on your face, you licked your lips before you cleaned yourself off," He admitted sheepishly.
"What's the catch?" She asked, reaching out and accepting the drink from him.
"No catch-I got all my anger out this morning when I tossed Jacob Ben Israel in the face when he asked that I throw this at you because you were wearing white," He smiled down at her, proud of himself for not only defending her and controlling his impulse to toss the slushy into the face of the many losers he had passed who were saying negative things about Rachel as if she were the real loser. Besides, he was obviously paying attention to her, even in such a sick and twisted way.
"Is that supposed to impress me?" She raised her eyebrows, raising the drink to her mouth and taking a long, slow sip of the purple-colored ice.
"Um...I just thought..I-do you think you could help me with some stuff for Glee?" He blurted out.
He wasn't sure why he had asked the question, but, he'd blurted it out without thinking and now he had to follow through.
"We haven't gotten anything assigned for Glee yet," She rolled her eyes.
She was harder to impress than he had thought. Maybe Mike wasn't trying to help Puck. Maybe Mike just wanted Puck to realize that he was never going to get a girl like Rachel, so he might as well give up because it was too hard for somebody like him to impress somebody like her. But, that thought just made Puck want to work harder to impress her. It meant he wasn't going to give up until he had her on his arm. It gave him motivation and that was something he hadn't had for anything he'd done in a long time-it made him wonder just what he felt about Rachel that made him work so hard.
"I know, but I figured I could always work to improve my voice, and all-help the club out a little by sounding better, you know?" He shrugged, reaching back to scratch at the back of his neck awkwardly.
He'd never had to beg to meet up with a girl before. They normally just came running.
"Yeah, I guess that's true...Noah," She sighed, running a hand through her hair. "I'm sorry for how rude I've been this morning. I'm just very frustrated after a conversation I had with Mr. Shuester this morning. He's trying to insist that we sing some disco song at the assembly on Friday in order to gain some new members. Doesn't he see that disco is dead and nobody will join a club if they think we only perform songs that aren't from this-"
"What if I could get him to change his mind?" He cut her off.
"He's a teacher, Noah!" She said in outrage. "You can't just beat an idea out of him the way that you do with the other people you play football with," She said, obviously appalled by his thoughts-and it bothered him that she thought that was the only way he knew how to get what he wanted.
"Berry, here's the thing-he just needs to realize that we could go something a bit more modern and from this century. And if we can prove that we can do something better than disco," he rolled his eyes in disco. "We're all set," He smirked.
"What do you have planned?" She bit down on her bottom lip, holding her books flat, the spine against her hips with her hands holding the opposite side, looking up at him with the cutest expression on her face, with just the smallest bit of confusion masking over her eagerness to hear what he had planned. And, while she looked adorable, he wouldn't be a true bad ass if he didn't see the sexiness in her pose.
With her little, pleated purple, green and white plaid skirt with the white cropped tank top mock-turtle neck, paired with white knee socks and purple Mary Jane heels, she full-filled every single guy's dream of the sexy school girl just waiting for a bad boy to come and corrupt her innocent, good girl persona. And if Puck wasn't that rebel, he couldn't imagine who Rachel would be dreaming about. After all, he was the bad boy of the school and one day, he was sure he would be up there with the rest of the infamous bad boys who had been shown in predictable 80's movies and old 90's TV shows.
"You and I," He started, leaning in close to her with a devious look on his face. "Are going to sing a duet," He winked.
"Rachel, I'm not going to talk to him for you," Mike sighed as they stood by the entrance of the cafeteria.
"Please, Michael? I can't go over there. They all hate me," Rachel whined.
"Rachel, they do not hate you. Just go over there and ask him, because I'm not doing it for you. I will not go over there for you," Mike said.
"I'm not doing it, Michael. So, unless you want to sing some sort of disco song at the assembly, you better go and tell him to talk to me!" She stomped her foot.
"I hate you sometimes, you know that? You're so god damn stubborn," he rolled his eyes, turning on his heel and storming towards the football players' lunch table.
He shook his head, hating the power Rachel had over him, convincing him to do anything that she asked, even if it meant walking across the crowded cafeteria and towards the table where all of his teammates sat together, laughing and talking about their latest game. Even if it meant tapping Noah Puckerman, the guy who hates his guts, on the shoulder and going against his better judgement to deliver a message for his best friend to a guy that she was crazy about who didn't deserve her. Yeah, Mike hadn't been lying when he'd let Rachel know that sometimes, he really hated her-but not in the type of way that could ever last. He loved her too much for that. Whenever he thought he hated her, it was just in that best friend type of way where you hated the power they had over you and the way they knew you so well.
"Rachel wants to know if you plan on actually practicing that duet with her and if you're ever going to explain to her what you mean about that getting you out of singing some stupid disco song for the assembly. She's waiting by the door to talk to you." Mike said, crossing his arms over his chest as he rolled his eyes.
"She's waiting for me?" He asked, a smile on his face forming that Mike had never seen there before.
It looked happy, as if he were exited to spend time with Rachel. He looked like he was actually shocked that he meant something to Rachel. He seemed excited to go and see her. The smile was the type of smile people only got when it came to people they only cared about-he saw that smile on his father's face whenever his mother was around. The smile made his eyes light up and he jumped from his seat, taking off towards the doors where Rachel was patiently waiting for him.
"What's up with him?" Matt asked as Mike slid into Puck's old seat. "He banging Rachel-and you letting him get away with it?" He raised an eyebrow, studying his friend.
"Rachel's not having sex with anybody, and if she were, it definitely wouldn't be him. I'm not letting her become one of those girls. I think he actually likes her, believe it or not," Mike admitted, shaking his head as he watched Puck talk to Rachel, that smile still there, growing larger as they spoke.
"You think? He did break up with Santana..."Matt said thoughtfully. "She said it was for another girl when she was trying to convince me to come over this weekend," He added.
"He said he was into Rachel...I just don't know how much he means it. And he ran off like he couldn't wait to see her, just now. I just don't know how committed he's going to be to this whole thing, and I don't want her getting hurt. You know how I am when it comes to her," Mike shrugged, looking away as Puck swung an arm around Rachel's shoulders and led her down the hall, in the direction of the choir room.
Maybe he had given them both his blessing to do whatever the hell they wanted, but he didn't want to have to see it everywhere he went.
"What's the issue, Berry?" Puck asked, a teasing tone in his voice as he approached her, swinging an arm over her shoulders as he approached her.
She was leaning against the doorframe into the cafeteria, arms crossed over her chest and a slight pout on her face, making her already plump lips look even more kissable than they usually did, and he really wished he wasn't too afraid of rejection to just lean in and kiss her.
"Would you care to explain to me how singing a duet will get Mr. Shuester to change his mind about forcing us to perform some sort of a disco number at the assembly which will only further the humiliation that the rest of the club, minus yourself and Michael, need to suffer from on a daily basis? Because I seem to be drawing a blank when it comes to a logical explanation." She said, looking up at him and stepping away from his grasp.
"We're going to show him a song that's all ready for the assembly that people from this century actually like. And, to top it off, we're going to be singing the lead and you've got the best voice I've ever heard from anybody and I'm the best option the club has for a male lead, so unless we have you and Aretha belting out some sort of power ballad together while you fight for dominance-which would be a total turn on, if it were you and another girl who was almost as hot as you, because no girl is as hot or hotter than you-the best bet is gonna be me and you," He pointed out to her.
"Do you have a solo in mind for us to perform? Because I don't perform anything that I can't sing flawlessly and if you expect me to belt out a song on Friday-when today is Thursday-you're going to need to pick a song that we can sing easily," Rachel responded.
"You talk too much and you worry just as much. Now, let's get to the choir room and I'll show you what I've got in mind," He chuckled, swinging his arm around her shoulder again.
"This plan better work," Rachel muttered, allowing him to guide her towards the choir room.
"It's going to work-I may not seem like it, but I'm pretty damn smart sometimes," He rolled his eyes.
"I don't think you aren't smart, Noah. I just think that you're a little overly ambitious sometimes and don't think things through properly. That's nothing to be ashamed of-I'm the same way. It's nothing that I have against you personally. It just makes me a little hesitant," She shrugged.
"Hey," He squeezed her shoulder, pulling her the slightest bit closer to himself. "Don't worry about it-I know how much this club means to you, and I'm going to make sure that everything's good for you and it helps you reach your dreams, okay? We went over how much you mean to me, right?" He asked, suddenly serious.
"Noah...I understand that you like me and I appreciate all you're willing to do for me, but I just don't think I can bring myself to have a relationship with you. For a few reasons, and only the top one is that you're a little...um, you're much more experienced than I am and I don't think that we want the same things in a relationship as one another. If we're going to be the main leads together, we're going to have to erase any possible tensions that there could be between us." She said, a small smile on her face as she held up a hand as if she needed to silence him.
"Berry, do you seriously think that all I want from you is sex? Because, while the sex would be mind blowing, that's not how I think of you. And yeah, you're on my to-do list and all, but it's the very last thing I want to do with you. I want a lot more from you than that-I just want a relationship with you, okay? I want a chance to prove to you that I'm something more than meets the eye," He said softly.
"You don't? I mean...you do? I mean...you want a relationship with me, without sex?" She asked him in disbelief.
"Actually, I want sex from you. I mean, what's that old saying? Shy on the streets, sexy in the sheets? But, I would go slow for you. I've liked you for a while, and it's not just because my mom wants me with a nice, Jewish girl," He admitted.
"Noah, that's absolutely...I just can't bring myself to-"
"You talk too much," He chuckled, stopping her in the doorway to the choir room, bringing his other arm to wrap around her and leaning in to press his lips against her own. "Sorry, you're lips looked lonely, and I was thinking they might want to meet mine," He smirked at her, turning towards the choir room, forcing her to turn as well.
"Oh my Gaga," Kurt Hummel asked, voice raising about three octaves as his jaw dropped and his eyes widened.
He was sitting in the front row of the choir room with Mercedes besides him, turned slightly towards Tina who was on her other side. The two girls were angled just enough that they were able to see Puck and Rachel, with Artie on the other side of Tina, facing the couple directly.
"Oh, hey guys-we were just...um...Noah-can you help me out here?" Rachel asked, finding her voice as she looked up at him frantically.
"Huh? Oh, sorry, babe-I couldn't hear you over the imaginary sex I was having with you in my head," He grinned at her, causing her to smack him in the stomach. "Ow?" he asked sarcastically, looking down at her with an eyebrow cocked and a confused look on his face.
"How much is the Diva paying you, and is the rest of the football team prostituting themselves out to losers? Because I'd like a make-out session with a particular-"
"Paying me? I'm the one who should be paying Rachel. She's been turning me down for days now-I even bought her a slushy this morning without throwing it into your face, Beyonce-you better be expecting one tomorrow, though, for insinuating that she could only get kissed by a football player by paying them. And you might get tossed in the dumpster to, if I'm not in a generous mood, for calling her a loser. You better hope she stops rejecting me by then," Puck said, walking into the room and tossing his backpack onto a chair as he approached the Gleeks.
"Oh, hold up-she's rejecting you?" Mercedes asked, eyes growing wide.
"Yes, she is-now, if you two are done insulting my girl, we have a duet to practice," Puck rolled his eyes, turning back to a still dumbstruck Rachel Berry.
"You two are singing a duet?" Kurt screeched.
"Oh, will you just shut up and leave them alone?" This was from Artie. "Puck's been half-in-love with Rachel for years. Everybody knows that he only threw that first slushy at her because she rejected him. And the only reason he kept doing it was because he didn't want anybody else doing anything worse. Kurt, haven't you noticed a trend yet? Every time you insult Rachel when he's within earshot, he tosses you in a dumpster. And Mercedes, whenever you say something rude about her and Puck hears it, you get a slushy to the face. Now, if you're done being judgmental because everybody, and yes, that includes Rachel, has somebody to love them except you two, maybe we can leave them alone and Tina and I can explain that the reason you're so lonely is because you're so god damn cynical all the time," Artie snapped.
"Since when do you defend Rachel?" Mercedes muttered, standing up and grabbing her purse, storming out of the room.
"I am not single because I'm cynical. And I am not cynical!" Kurt stomped his foot, stalking out after Mercedes.
"I'm sorry about them. Sometimes they just get a little bit jealous because Rachel's talented and she wouldn't be so disliked if she just cut out how smart she was when she talked to people, unlike them," Tina smiled apologetically as she wheeled Artie from the room.
"Thanks for that, man," Puck said, reaching out to pound fists with Artie as he passed.
"It had to be said, man," Artie shrugged, accepting the fist-pound as they exited the room.
"Those were some of the worst storm-outs I have ever seen from people who refer to themselves as divas!" Rachel said, actually having enough of a voice and returning to her old self at their absence. "Um, what song were you thinking about-"
"Hold up," Puck held up a hand to silence her. "We are not kissing and then getting right to work. We are going to talk about it, no matter how much that thought scares me," He rolled his eyes.
"You kissed me."
"You liked it."
"Can we talk about this later? Let's just sing the duet now, alright?" She pleaded. And her begging, with those wide, adorable, doe-like eyes and that sexy, sad little pout, was enough to get him to do whatever she wanted him to do.
"Alright, I was thinking we could do something from that new TV show-Smash? You know, Heart-Shaped Wreckage?" He suggested, that smirk on his face that signaled he believed that they would be doing much more than talking when they met up later to discuss the kiss-and that made him happy. That gave him hope, even if she hadn't hinted at them having a little bit more.
"I love that song!" Rachel grinned excitedly.
Puck smiled to himself, celebrating his small victory as he made his way towards the lockers where he kept his guitar. He was silent as he spun the combination to open the locker and then pulled it open, grabbing the case and then removing his guitar. He walked towards her, already strumming the notes to the song that he had taught himself the previous night.
"I'm not scared to tell the truth/I've been to hell and back, and I went with you/Reming me what we were before/When we said, you are mine and I am yours," Puck's voice sang out as he made his way towards her, a different type of expression filling his face.
"I don't know much I know myself/And I don't wanna love anybody else/So, let's break the spell and lift the curse/Remember when we fell for each other, head first," Rachel's voice cut him off, a near-perfect break and blend of their voices without the proper practice that Rachel was used to when it came to a performance. She was only a little surprised-she had figured their voices would blend well, but even she hadn't thought it would be that well.
"Look at this heart-shaped wreckage-What have we done? We have got scars from battles, nobody won/We can start over, better-both of us know/If we just let the broken pieces, let the broken pieces go," Puck sang out the chorus, standing face to face with her, looking down at the short girl.
"I can't find you in the dark/Will we get back to who we are/And I can't fix this on me own/Our love is still the best thing I've ever known," Rachel sang out, turning around and walking away from him, sneaking little peeks at him from over her shoulder with a secretive smile.
"Look at this heart-shaped wreckage, what have we done? We have got scars from battles, nobody won/We can start over-better, both of us know/If we just let the broken pieces, let the broken pieces go," They sang out together, Rachel standing with her back to him as he made his way towards her, forcing her to turn around and face him at their obvious closeness to one another in location.
"Let the borkne pieces go," Puck sang as she turned around.
"Just hold on to each tonight/Look at this heart-shaped wreckage-what have we done? We have got scars from battles, nobody won/We can start over-better, both of us know/If we just let the broken pieces, let the broken pieces," They sang out together, Puck stopping his strumming as he released his grasp on the guitar, sending it around his body so that it was swung over his back.
"Let the broken pieces," He sung out, placing his hands on her hips as he pulled her closer to him.
"Let the broken pieces," Rachel sang out, the song ending as she looked up at him with heavy breathing from the easy and effortless performance that had still been one of the best performances she had had in her life.
As their lips were about to touch, the bell rang, breaking them from their trance.
"I have to go-I'll...I'll just talk to you later, alright?" She blurted out, breaking away from his grasp as she turned on her heel and hurried out of the room, leaving him there to kick at the nearest thing he could find-a chair-and cursing under his breath.
"You and Puckerman had a make-out session in the choir room?" Mike teased her, a playful smile on his face as he swung an arm around Rachel's shoulders when he caught up with her on her way to her last class of the day.
"How did you even find out about that?" Rachel asked, raising her eyebrows.
"The Asian Community is really close," He said with a shrug of his shoulders. "So, you two a thing now or do I get to spend another day before I have to beat the living day out of him for messing with my girl and threatening the virtue of one of my best friends?" He asked, a serious expression suddenly forming across his face as his tone changed from playful to serious to allow her to know that he meant what he was saying.
"We aren't dating, Michael, and Noah doesn't want sex from me. And don't you dare laugh at that because it's true! He told me that he actually wants a relationship with me because I'm different to him than the other girls. I know that might be hard to believe, but you didn't see him when he told me that. We're going to be talking about it later on, because I didn't feel like a choir room was a good place when said room was emptied only seconds prior between to an awkward set of tension caused by two people who hate my guys witnessing Noah and I kiss in the doorway of the room before Artie and Tina defended me," Rachel rolled his eyes, reaching up and running a hand through her hair as she tried to explain what she was feeling and thinking to him without him laughing at her.
"Listen, I'll believe you because I know you aren't stupid and I know how good you are at reading people and all that, but I just want you to make sure you know what you're getting yourself into-I don't want him hurting you because you don't know what he's really like and you trust him too much for your own good. So, just...promise me that you're going to be careful, alright? Because while I always say I'll beat up any guy that hurts you, I don't want to risk my spot on the football team and my parents' wrath just to get my ass handed to me by a guy three times my size," Mike sighed.
"Alright, Berry-Porcelein and Wheezy are spreading those rumors about you and Puckerman getting your mack on outside of the chorus room during lunch today since it happened, and that means you're officially in the Puckerman's Conquest club." Rachel turned around to find a glaring Santana Lopez standing behind her, arms crossed tightly over her chest with his hip cocked out, one leg bent at the knee with a cliche-d, sassy-mean-girl pose to match the scowl that was stretched out across her lips. "Actually, you would have been anyways, because you're one of the few that he's going to settle down and be serious about-which would explain why Britts and I are the only two people in the club, besides you," Santana's scowl turned into a sincere smile as her eyes softened.
"Glad to have you, Rach! We always knew we'd need to have three of us, because third time's the charm and all and everything comes in threes or whatever-but in a way, we always feared it was going to be Quinn, and neither of us can really stand her," Brittany Pierce said with her usual bubbly tone to her voice as her typical beaming smile blinded Rachel as she bounced towards the brunette, wrapping her in a tight hug. "Is it weird that the guy you're gonna marry one day dated us? Because we don't want to lose your friendship before we even got it," Brittany said sincerely.
"Woah-marry Noah? We aren't even dating, Brittany. We aren't even thinking about anything close to marriage. Honestly, he hasn't even asked me out yet," Rachel said, eyes growing wide at Brittany's excitement and planning for the future as well as Santana's bipolar attitude towards Rachel and her developing relationship with Puck. "Wait-I understand how Noah was serious with you, but what about Brittany?" Rachel asked.
"Who's Noah? Is that some kind of pet name she has for Puck? Because if it is, we need to do a whole lot more than just a makeover to initiate her into the club," Brittany babbled on, hooking her arm through Rachel's arm.
"Noah's his first name, Britt," Santana rolled her eyes, hooking her arm through Rachel's as well.
"I'm really confused right now. What's this whole club about and why are you two in it and what's going on? I'm extremely confused as to what is happening and I feel as though it's some sort of prank that's going to result in you two beating me up," Rachel asked.
"Beat you up? Oh, please-I would have done that already if I wanted to. Anyways, this club is for any girlfriend that Puck's been serious about. While he and I dated all through eighth grade and for the beginning of this year, it was based on sex. Still, I was his first girlfriend and I dated him the longest. He really tried to make things work out with Brittany in a relationship, but they just didn't work together. She was his only other girlfriend," Santana explained.
"And you're in it, because even though you two aren't dating yet? He broke up with Santana to be with you. Besides, I've been telling all the Cheerio's about how the reason Puck and I never worked out was because I knew he was in love with you and Puckleberry was too good to pass up. I mean, you guys are like penguins-you mate for life once you found one another. And one day, there are going to be little Puckle-babies running around with mohawks and loud mouths who can sing like angels, just like you!" Brittany chirped out brightly, her same happiness still there.
"Puckle-babies? I could go for that," Puck's voice rang out and that was when Rachel realized where the Cheerios had been dragging her. The choir room.
"Ew-I really don't want to think about the two of you having sex. I'm just starting to accept the fact that you're into her and she likes you," Mike groaned, from where he was-surprisingly-sitting next to Puck.
"What is going on right now?" Rachel groaned.
"Britts and I are your new best friends. Mike is going to get over his little crush, and accept your feelings towards Puck. He is also going to stop hating Puck long enough to realize that Puck really cares about you. Therefore, Mike is going to step aside and let the two of you be happy together. I'm going to be there to comment negatively on everybody who rudely insults you because they're jealous that you have Puck while Brittany is going to babble on to anybody who tries to ruin things about you guys being perfect for one another. Also, we're joining Glee because we're going to be good friends. Mike-we're stealing her after school," Santana went on.
And that was how Rachel became best friends with two thirds of the Unholy Trinity. It was the story of how the Unholy Trinity broke up, leaving Quinn on her own. It was how Santana and Brittany joined the Glee club and it was how Mike got over his feelings to make way for Puckleberry.
But as for Puckleberry?
Well, that hadn't even started yet.
Puck had only just started to try and woo Rachel so he could win a place in her heart. And he still had a long way to go if he wanted to actually be with her and have anything that could be considered a real, serious relationship.