Still don't own anything. Mistakes are mine :)
Rachel shifts nervously on the couches on stage while Ryan announces that they'll be watching the music video that they shot earlier this week in a few minutes after the commercial break. She's sandwiched between Blaine and Holly, but she feels like she's going to throw up.
"Stop fidgeting." Jesse whispers behind her back.
"How were you three so calm?" She whispers back harshly.
"Because there's nothing we can do to control it Rachel. Relax, have some fun." Holly pushes Rachel's shoulder with her own.
Blaine wraps his arm around Rachel. "They're right sweetie. Just calm down. Plus we get to see the music video we shot and it was a lot of fun."
"It was fun, but all three of you already know you're safe!" She leans forward and puts her face in her hands.
Holly, Blaine and Jesse all exchange looks before sighing and just letting her freak out. They come back from a commercial break and Rachel sits up, putting on a smile. The music video comes up on the screen. She doesn't really pay attention to it while it plays next to them.
A few minutes, or more like twenty, she's standing up next to a girl named Sugar in the middle of the stage. They're the bottom two. And even though she might be humiliated on TV in front of millions of viewers in a matter of minutes, she's kind of relieved that it would only be her dads in the crowd for it. Rachel looks over to Blaine while Ryan spews out information about how many viewers voted and what the difference is between the two. She could care less, but he's prolonging it more than really needed.
"And the contestant going home tonight is…" He undoes the card in his hand and stares at it for a few seconds. Rachel tries really hard not to scream at him, telling him to hurry up. "Sugar Motta."
The girl tears up and hugs Rachel tightly. Rachel moves back to the couches and sits down, releasing a shaky breath. Blaine wraps his arm around her shoulders while Sugar sings her last song. Holly bumps Rachel with the right side of her body and smiles cheekily. Rachel manages a smile back before looking back at her dads. They both blow her a kiss.
Later that night, Blaine walks into her bedroom while Holly watches TV with Jesse. He lays down next to her, leaning slightly against the headboard. "So why are you all alone in here?"
"I was really close to going home. Bottom two Blaine. You were the first person was safe tonight." She sighs.
"You're still here Rachel, that's what matters."
"That's true, but I could be gone next week."
"Why do you think you were in the bottom two? You've obviously got the talent to be here. I mean you have an amazing voice, you get along with everyone, and you're incredibly beautiful."
She sighs and looks down at the comforter. "I wasn't exactly famous, but being Noah's girlfriend got me some attention." Blaine is about to respond but she holds up her hand. "Not the good kind. I had a drink thrown at me because I was dating him and 'pulled him off the market' for other women. We may be broken up, but I'm sure a lot of women aren't just going to turn around and vote for me. They probably still dislike me to some degree, so they're not going to give me a sympathy vote." He raises an eyebrow to question her. "What if they feel threatened and think that now that I'm getting noticed that he'll want to get back together? Not that he would be shallow like that, but they don't know him like I do. And the LFL isn't that widely known so that's not likely to help me either. But I'm fine with that, because it gives me an equal shot like everyone else."
"They wouldn't have let you on the show if you had an unfair advantage. You got on the show for your voice. But someone threw their drink on you? That's awful Rachel."
Rachel shakes her head, ignoring everything he just said. "I just have to work harder. Appeal to the crowd more. Kurt may be dressing me so that Noah will want me back, but I need to draw in people." Rachel sits up and faces Blaine, her knees brushing against his ribs. "I refuse to be in the bottom again if I can help it."
Blaine sits up against the headboard and grins. "You're kind of hot when you get all motivated." She blushes and looks down. He moves towards her, pushing her hair off her shoulder. Her eyes flutter close when he leans forward then as his lips brush against hers.
She can't believe she's kissing Blaine, whom she doesn't really know, a competitor in this contest and really her only friend besides Kurt and Holly. Jesse too if you can ignore his ego. But Blaine's lips are soft, not quite like Puck's though, and he's gentle. Puck was gentle but possessive when he kissed her, his hand on her cheek, neck or somewhere that felt intimate. Blaine's hand is resting on her knee while their tongues are massaging each other's, not fighting for any type of dominance. Rachel moves her hands up his chest until one is curved around his neck. Blaine moans into her mouth, moving his hand up her body until it's resting on her ribs.
"Blaine." She whispers against his lips and pulls away a bit, her eyes still closed.
He sighs. "I'm sorry. You're still getting over him and I'm your competition."
It's really almost scary how he knows what she's thinking. "I don't mind." And she doesn't. Of course she's still hurt by Puck, but he's probably doing the same with Quinn. "I just don't want you to feel like a rebound." She pulls back and drops her hand down to his thigh.
Blaine laughs slightly. "I'm a big boy Rachel. This can just be a stress release. Really, but whatever you want. We'll still be friends."
"Thank you Blaine."
He gets up and leans forward to kiss her forehead, but she raises her head so their lips meet.
Puck releases his breath once they find out Rachel is safe until next week. They came back over after Brittany insisted that they had to be there for the results as well. They weren't even as mad when Quinn came with him again. Santana walks over and hugs Finn tightly, pressing a kiss to his lips. They're all surprised when they leave the room to go talk. Maybe things will be returning to normal, as normal as they can be for now considering everything that's happened the past few weeks. Quinn shifts uncomfortably, looking around the room. Puck's cell phone goes off and he stands up to walk to Rachel's room to answer it privately. Quinn looks up to him with wide eyes and he holds up five fingers.
"Hey ma."
"Noah! Did you see that Rachel was almost kicked off? I was so worried that she was going home early."
He shuts Rachel's door and sits on the bed, then laying across so that he's facing where her dismantled dresser is. "Yeah, I saw."
"But that Blaine looked awfully cozy with her don't you think?"
"What?" Puck thinks back to what he just watched and he didn't notice any guy close to Rachel.
"Oh honey, the man sitting next to her put his arm around her shoulders when she sat down."
"Maybe I was blinking when they showed that part." He furrows his brow. What kind of idiot answer was that?
She hums then pauses. "What?" He laughs even though he knows it was a shitty excuse of a lie. "It did go by fast, but still. Have you talked to her? How is she handling everything?"
His heart sinks, knowing how pissed she's going to be when he tells her they're not together anymore. "Ma…look…"
"What's wrong?" Her voice sounds legitimately worried and he shakes his head.
"We're not together anymore."
Puck's scared by how quiet she is on the other line. He pulls the phone away to see if the call is still connected. "What do you mean?"
"We broke up before she left, because of—"
"Fix it." She says sternly and hangs up.
Puck moves out to the living room to see Quinn shifting nervously on the couch, tapping her foot against the hardwood floor while Brittany scrubs the kitchen counter. She stands up and moves towards him and slips on her heels.
"I'm going to go home. I have a photo shoot early in the morning." Quinn kisses his cheek and moves towards the door. "Goodnight, and thank you for having me over Brittany." The other blonde nods and looks away. "Bye Puck."
When she closes the door, Puck moves to the couch and sits down, tipping his head back against the cushion. Brittany moves over and sits down next to him, throwing her legs on top of his thighs. He moves his hands over them and squeezes. "Thanks for not killing Quinn tonight."
Brittany shrugs. "I didn't want to upset you more than you already are. Not talking to you guys for a few weeks obviously had an effect on you."
"Yeah, a bit." Puck looks over at her. "That was my ma. Finally told her we broke up."
She sits up a bit straighter. "What'd she say?"
"Told me to fix it then hung up on me. She probably won't talk to me for awhile. What the fuck am I supposed to do?"
"You're coming to her show next week."
Puck looks at Brittany and his shoulders slump forward. "She's not going to want me there Britt."
"You've supported Mike even though he's not talking to you."
"I also didn't break up with him." Puck raises an eyebrow at her.
"Just go. You never know what could happen. Rachel almost got sent home tonight and do you really want to have that on your conscience if you never got to see her perform on stage, in person?"
He closes his eyes and tips his head back groaning. "No."
"Then it's settled." She hops up and holds her hand out. "You can sleep in Rachel's room tonight."
Puck takes her hand and kisses her cheek when they stop in front of her room after they've turned everything off. He moves into Rachel's room and looks around. Instead of going to sleep like he should, he opens up her window then turns on the fan and starts to paint her dresser a teal color that she picked out before she left.
Quinn unlocks the door to her apartment and tosses her purse onto the ground next to her shoes. She's sifting through her mail and walking to her couch when she sees someone sitting there. Letting out a scream, she throws the mail at the person and backs away.
"Quinny calm down!" Holly stands up and checks her arms for paper cuts.
"What the hell are you doing in my apartment? In the dark?" She puts her hand over her heart and walks towards the kitchen, flipping on the lights. "You scared me."
"Sorry." The brunette sits on top of the counter while Quinn sets the kettle on top of her stove. "I have excellent news." She claps her hands together.
"If it's something about Puck, I really don't want to hear it Holls." Quinn closes her eyes and takes a deep breath.
"No worries, it's not about Puck. Well…directly."
Her eyebrows furrow together. "What is that even supposed to mean?"
She sits up and looks at her friend with grin. "There are rumors going around saying that Rachel is dating one of her competitors, Blaine. They always look cozy on elimination nights and there are people around set who say that they hug a lot."
Rolling her eyes, "Holly, did you ever think she could just have a friend there? And who did you hear this from?"
"That's not important." She hops down off the counter and stands in front of Quinn. "We're that much closer to getting him."
Quinn throws her hands up and shakes her head. "What are you talking about? Have you seen Puck lately? He has bags under his eyes. I've heard Sarah telling Finn that in the middle of the night he'll walk out to the kitchen to drink whiskey so he can sleep. He's not doing well Holly. I think we should stop whatever it is we're doing. Being in a fake relationship is screwing up his mind."
"He's fine Quinny. All he needs is someone who cares. You care about him don't you?"
She thinks about it for a minute. "Well yeah—"
"And how did he treat you all those years you were dating Finn?"
"Well towards the end he didn't really care and after you two broke up—"
"Exactly! Once I get everything in place, we'll all be happy again. You'll get Finn back. We've already gotten rid of Rachel."
"Wait, who said I want to be back with Finn?"
"Please." Holly tilts her head and looks at Quinn pointedly.
"He's happy with Santana and I want him to be happy after screwing everything up. And Puck deserves to be happy Holly. Is this even a good idea anymore?"
"And Puck will be." She smiles and grabs her purse off the counter. "You just wait and see Quinn. We'll have everything we ever wanted back. Please, just…trust me. And do this for me."
Quinn stares at Holly's back as she leaves. The kettle goes off and she takes a deep breath. She really doesn't know what she's gotten herself into.
Santana sits across from Finn in her chair. He runs his hands over his face and takes a deep breath. "Okay, whatever has been going on for the past few weeks, we gotta get it all out right now."
"You know I don't do these types of conversations Finn." She looks at him pointedly..
"Well you know what, just try. For our relationship's sake." He says a little more forcefully than he intended. He really hopes she won't start yelling at him in Spanish again.
She huffs and stands up, starting to pace. He watches her walk back and forth. "Puck picking his job over Rachel was shitty and I hate knowing that you fucking agreed." She stops in front of him, firmly planting a hand on her hip.
Finn's not quite sure how she knows that but he decides to ignore it. "Alright and I can see why that pisses you off San. Ideally, both actors are single when something like this comes up and maybe I should've made him think about it more. Or talked to the director but I can't change that now. Trusting Holly was really stupid on my part."
"But," She pauses and takes a deep breath, looking away from him. "I can see why it was important to you both." Santana says quietly before pacing again. "I just really, really didn't want to see Rachel get fucking hurt out of all of it. And then she runs away. Rachel Berry never runs away, so I know Puck means a lot to her."
"Yeah." Finn honestly doesn't know what else to say. He's just glad that Santana is talking to him again. And she kissed him so that's a good thing.
Santana sits in his lap and looks him straight into his eyes. Brown meeting brown. "I'm not going to say I'm sorry, because I'm not. She's my family."
"I get that. And Puck's mine." She laughs and leans forward, kissing him. "It's been too long." He pulls her closer and kisses her hungrily, laying back and pulling her with him. Santana hums her agreement before straddling his hips and kissing him lazily.
They both know they should talk about it more, but being in each others arms is more important to them at the moment.
Puck unbuttons the top buttons on his plaid shirt and moves towards Finn and Sarah. They're all watching as Jimmy Fallon talks to the camera and talks a bit about him and his costar before introducing them. Quinn walks up beside him with Holly hot on her heels. He takes in her appearance, her blonde hair in curls with her bangs pinned back, a dress with white on top with a deep dip down into her cleavage that hangs off her shoulders loosely and a grey high waist skirt, but it's all in one. He really doesn't understand woman's clothing. She has on nude colored heels and she squeezes his hand when she notices he's staring down at the ground.
"You ready?"
He nods right when Jimmy says their names. Quinn steps out before him and smiles, waving to the crowd while Puck does the same. They both shake his hand, with her kissing his cheek, then sit down, Quinn taking the seat furthest from their host.
"Thank you so much for being here on the show tonight you two."
"Great to be here. Thanks for havin' us." Puck smirks and the girls in the crowd go crazy.
"I'm glad to be here Jimmy." Quinn smiles and crosses her legs.
"Now you two are in the new Tarantino film, basically a prequel to Inglourious Basterds, am I right?"
Quinn looks over to Puck while he answers. "Basically yeah. I play the main character who tries to get in with the Basterds once he joins the Army and Quinn is my character's girlfriend."
"Who has an issue with him trying to get into the group after he gets back from basic." She rolls her eyes and smiles at the two men.
"Anyways, it follows his story and how the group gets to where it is in the original." Puck sets his right ankle on his left knee.
"So I take it there will be a lot of violence and romance?" Jimmy quirks his eyebrows up and looks at them with a grin on his face.
She blushes. "Yes, I think the crowd will love it. Especially all you young ladies who have a little crush on Puck here." Quinn nudges his arm with her elbow while the girls in the crowd scream. She laughs. "Their relationship and the story line get overly complicated when he has to go and be with the group in the movie, it gets tested constantly throughout. She doesn't want to be the girlfriend who sends a 'Dear John' letter so she struggles with what to do because she loves him so much, but you'll just have to wait and see the movie to find out what happens."
"On that note, let's take a look at a clip from the movie."
They all face forward as the clip plays, but they can see it on a small screen. It's a scene where they're arguing but he abruptly pulls her in for a kiss which leads him to push her onto a bed. Quinn is pulling off his shirt in the scene and it starts to get heated when the clip ends. Everyone boos in the crowd and it shows both Quinn and Puck laughing.
"I think it's safe to say that a few of the girls hate Miss Fabray right now." He laughs. "Okay, so Quinn, you've had a photo shoot recently, with Vanity Fair. How was that?" They both look over to her.
"It was amazing. They were so wonderful there and they really wanted to keep with a 40's theme because of our new movie. I've never had more fun on a photo shoot than I did with them."
Jimmy pulls up a picture of her from the shoot and she hides her face, blushing. "They sent this over earlier when they found out she would be on the show tonight. Isn't she beautiful?" The crowd agrees. "Now Puck, you're doing some guest work on How I Met Your Mother?"
"I am." He smirks when the crowd goes crazy again. "It's one of my favorite shows and I know my group of friends just love it too. And to work with the entire cast, it's a dream come true."
"What does your girlfriend think of it?" Jimmy asks and Quinn feels Puck tense beside her. She glances at him from the corner of her eye and he lets out a shaky breath.
He knows the second he uses this excuse that he'll probably receive all sorts of hell over it, but even if they are broken up, he feels like he needs to protect her from the screw up he did. "She is ecstatic for me, but since she's on her show now, we decided to take a break so that she could focus on that. But we're both very happy for each other."
"There have been numerous photos of you and Quinn out and about with each other. Is there something going on now that you're single?" He leans back in his chair looking at both of them.
Quinn clears her throat and sets her hand on Puck's forearm. He looks at her nervously. "No, we're just friends and coworkers. We decided to use the time to get used to each others annoying habits before we go on the road for press for the movie." She smiles. Out of the corner of her eye, she can see Holly turn red before storming away towards the dressing room. Puck looks at her with wide eyes.
"Oh," He turns towards the camera and smiles. "Well after the break, me and Puck are going to do something stupid and possibly reckless, stick around!"
Jimmy and Puck move to get helmets on while Quinn stands up and moves so that she can be the flag girl in their race. When they get back from the commercial break, the crew brings out miniature motorcycles and she laughs when Puck eyes it wearily. Him and Jimmy start to joke around about the size of them and Puck can't help but laugh really hard. Quinn's actually happy to see him smile a real smile. She waves the flag in the air and they move off to the end of a hallway. She laughs even harder when she's watching the video feed of them and Puck crashes, but moves to continue being in the lead. At one point she sees him driving circles around their host.
Puck manages to get into a comfortable position on the mini bike when Quinn waves the flag. He speeds off and he's laughing along with Jimmy behind him. At the end of the 'track' that they had, he barely crashes into the wall but he picks up the bike and runs to the finish line, sliding onto his knees past the ribbon there when Jimmy crosses then collapses onto his back. Quinn runs over and helps them both up and laughs, hugging Puck tightly. They all shake hands.
"The new champion, Noah Puckerman everyone! And our lovely flag waver, Quinn Fabray! Check out their new movie when it comes out in July. We'll be back after the commercial!"
They all shake hands and hug again.
During the commercial break when Quinn and Puck walk off stage, Finn stares at them with Sarah shifting nervously next to him. "Holly went to the dressing room, we should probably go there as a group to avoid anything that might happen." Puck nods to Finn and they all walk to the dressing room. Finn opens the door slowly and Holly is pacing back and forth.
They all sit down in different chairs and with Finn leaning on the vanity while Holly continues to pace, but then she stops abruptly in front of Puck and Quinn. "What was that?" She spits out venomously.
"What do you mean?" Quinn moves forward in the seat and looks up at her friend innocently.
"Don't give me that shit Quinny." The blonde flinches and smiles tightly. "What's the point of pretending to be a couple if you're going to announce it to the entire fucking world that you're friends who are 'trying to get used to each other' before all the traveling you'll be doing? That wasn't the deal and I'm not sure how your director is going to even react to it!"
Quinn crosses her arms and stares at her friend. "The movie has been getting great publicity lately Holly, so I really don't think it's necessary for us to act like more than friends, especially since that's all that we are."
Holly steps in front of Quinn and glares. "That's not your job to decide!" Her voice raising slightly. "And you!" She points to Puck. "Noah, you could've defended her and said that she was your girlfriend."
Puck glares at her. "First off, you don't fucking call me that. Only my ma and Sarah get to call me that."
"What about Rachel?" She sneers and crosses her arms over her chest.
"She's different."
"You two are over Noah." She smiles smugly. "There's even rumors that she's with one of her competitors on the show! So stop doing this and do your job, act like her boyfriend!"
"I told you not to call me that!" He raises his voice. Both Sarah and Quinn flinch. "And holy shit Holly, she's not my girlfriend! None of this is real." He chooses to ignore what she's saying about the rumors about Rachel, because for all he knows she could be lying.
"Puck…" Finn walks over and pulls him to the side. "As your best friend, maybe it's time to fire Holly. She's fucking with your mind. She's got some sort of agenda and I can tell that Quinn isn't okay with whatever it is now. Instead of looking worriedly at Holly right now, she's looking at you." Puck looks back at Quinn and she's biting her bottom lip. "We'll find a better publicist."
But he turns towards Holly and looks at her with his eyes narrowed. "Finn's right. You do have an agenda, so why don't you fucking share it with us? We'd all love to know. Even though I have a feeling that Quinn already has an idea."
"You belong with me Puck. Not some ugly freak with shitty friends. I made you get to where you are now. People only cared about you because you were with a woman who holds such great power."
"Holly, Finn got me to where I am now. Shit, my image got better when I stopped fucking around with you. I'm so sick of this." He yells out frustrated and runs his hands over his head. "Just tell us what the fuck you've got going on in your head!"
"So what if I used Quinn and your job to break you and Rachel up?" Holly stands up straighter and looks into Puck's eyes. "You're single now and I have my chance to win you back." She moves closer to Puck and runs her finger up his jaw. "Don't you miss this? Us?"
Puck moves her finger and hand away from him. "No, I don't. Because I love Rachel. And I'll wait until she's not pissed at me anymore to talk to her and to prove that to her. And I sure as hell don't need you around when I do it."
"You're an idiot Puck. And you should be glad that I haven't used any of my connections to get her kicked off the show. We all know she doesn't deserve to be there anyways."
Finn walks over next to Puck and crosses his arms. "You try doing that and I'll go to your boss, AKA daddy, and tell him how you've managed to use your 'connections' to ruin a lot of business for him since you started."
"You wouldn't dare." She looks between them nervously then over to Quinn. "Help me!"
"I can't." Quinn shakes her head, unshed tears building in her eyes. "Were you ever really my friend or were you just using me to get to Puck? All those days you came to see me on set. I thought you wanted to keep me company but I should've known better when you'd always glare at Rachel when she came to see him."
"Quinny…" Holly moves closer to the blonde.
"I don't want you as my publicist anymore." She looks away.
"You're fired." Puck stares at her.
"All of you will regret this." Holly narrows her eyes at everyone, ending on Puck, when she grabs her purse and storms out of the room.
Everyone lets out a sigh of relief, but they all look to Quinn when she sniffles.
Quinn stands up and moves towards Puck, tears streaming down her face. "Puck I am so sorry. She only told me her plan for the publicity, not anything else. I should've known better when she kept bringing you up." She shakes her head as he backs away from her. "I'm such a horrible person. I ruined your relationship and I'm so sorry." She sobs slightly and looks at Finn. "And I was awful to you, cheating on you." Quinn shakes her head again. "I hope one day you guys will forgive me." She grabs her purse and wipes her cheeks as she runs out of the room.
"Shit." Puck mumbles under his breath and sits on the couch. "What else can go wrong?" He asks himself.
Brittany, Santana and Mike are sitting in the condo late at night since Mike just got done with his practice for the night. They're all eating Chinese when they're phones go off at the same time. They all look to each other before picking them up.
Sarah: Puck & Quinn fired Holly. Did you watch his show tonight?
Santana types out a reply before snatching the remote and turning on his show that they recorded. The three of them didn't touch their food as they watch shocked as Quinn tells Jimmy, and the rest of the world in that case, that they're just friends.
"I can't believe she did that." Mike looks down at his food.
"This is good right? Puck and Rachel can get back together and he won't look like a cheater anymore." Brittany looks between the two of them.
"Yeah Britts, it is good." Santana sighs. "But you know Rachel won't get over the fact that it was easy for him to choose work over her. Matt did the same thing."
Mike sighs. "He'll just have to prove it to her if he really loves her. And I know that he does."
"He's going to the show tomorrow. That will at least prove something."
"At least Quinn won't be there." Santana smirks and stabs a piece of broccoli.
Rachel is sitting in her chair, while the specialists work on her hair and makeup. Kurt is standing next to the mirror, looking at her with a somewhat horrified expression. She could swear he is on the verge of hyperventilating.
"Kurt, calm down."
"You didn't let me help you choose your outfit at all. As a matter of fact, you pretty much said 'screw you' to anyone who tried to help you this week!" He presses his fingers around the corner of his eyes. "Diva, you will be the cause of my wrinkles."
"It's not that bad." She tilts her head at him. "Does my opening outfit look awful?"
He takes in her appearance. "Not necessarily."
"And does my makeup or my hair look bad?"
"It could use some tweaking." Kurt looks away and tries not to grind his teeth together. He finally gives up and moves towards the specialists and tells them how to fix her makeup a little better.
She thinks about Kurt's words and thinks about the past week.
As soon as she found out the theme for this week's show, she listened to all the song choices before settling on one that she really could do something different with. Rachel could practically see her performance in her mind, down to the shoes she'd be wearing. She picks up the CD and moves to the room where she tells them her decision.
They all look at her, including the music and band directors, with a shocked expression on their faces. "Are you sure about this? The judges may not like it. They've loved your voice so far, so why don't you stick to that route?"
"Because I need to not only show off that I'm versatile and win over the judges, but most importantly I need to win over the voters. This is one of the most popular songs on the CD and I want to do it. I have an idea of how I want it to sound and I know that you guys can help me pull it off. Please?"
Rachel looks up at them and they all slowly nod. She smiles and pulls the lyrics out in front of her, humming it quietly to figure out what key she wants it in. The men in the room take note of how she wants everything to be before nodding at her so they can sent it to a freelancer to work on the final product. Once she's happy with everything, she returns to her room and writes out the arrangement on some sheet paper they gave her so she can work on it by herself before she sees the coaches tomorrow.
When she moves into the room once Blaine leaves, she can't help but gawk at who the mentor of the week is. Rachel feels butterflies in her stomach as she moves to sing the song that she picked. The coaches and the mentor give her amazing feedback and what they think she can do to improve. She's feeling so much more confident than she was two days ago when she was in the bottom two.
Kurt looks at her with his head tilted and his fist resting under his chin, lips pursed. "Yes, I think that is much better."
Rachel looks into the mirror and widens her eyes. "You're a genius." She moves her face to the right and smiles. "I need to go get ready for the group performance. Thank you Kurt." She kisses his cheek before running off.
Blaine walks up to Kurt and glares at him. "What is that look for?"
"I just happened to look out into the audience and saw a certain ex boyfriend of hers in the audience. Were you even going to tell her that he's here?"
He eyes Blaine wearily. "No…" He purses his lips then narrows his eyes. "Why?"
"What if she sees him while she's performing and completely freezes?"
"Okay, one, Rachel wouldn't do that. She cares too much about her performance this week. Two, maybe he'll realize what he's missing when he sees what song she's doing this week because she's seriously going to rock the hell out of it. Three, you like her don't you?"
"What? No." Blaine shakes his head fast.
"Mhm." Kurt grins and leaves.
Puck's sitting in the crowd, sandwiched between Mike and Finn. Sarah is sitting next to Santana (between her and Finn), who happens to be sitting next to Brittany, next to Rachel's dads. He's really worried to be anywhere near her dads considering everything that's happened. The white one was nice and shook his hand though when they sat down. Her daddy, he really can't get over that, eyed him when they sat down.
The show just started and he's watching, slightly bored, as they talk about the theme of the week. He doesn't hear what it is, but Puck just glances around at all the fans and families in the crowd. Many people have poster's and t shirts made up but not Rachel's. Although that seems like something Brittany would want to do. So he continues to glance around, then noticing how close he is sitting to Steven Tyler. Steven. Fucking. Tyler. He shivers slightly and looks back towards the stage when music starts to play. The four girls left, walk down some steps then six guys walk out from either side of the stage, singing the opening lyrics to 'Born This Way' by Lady Gaga. Oh, the theme of the week is basically her music. He gets it now.
His eyes immediately go to Rachel when the girls start to sing their part. She's got on this sexy white lace dress with white high heels, and one arm covered in lace that he can see her skin through. Her eyes are all smoky and all he wants to do is touch her. Then all of a sudden she sends a wink over in their direction, but he feels like it's not towards him (she probably doesn't realize he's there) because Santana and Brittany blow a kiss back to her. Puck feels a hand on him and he looks down, then over to see Santana smile sadly at him. He smirks and looks back as the group sings together near the end of the song.
When it ends, he claps along with everyone else. Puck knows he should've come to see her sooner, just knowing how good it feels to be near her in the same building makes him want to try harder. She leaves off the stage and they're in the middle of a commercial break when Mike looks at him out of the corner of his eye.
"You okay man?"
Puck looks over to Mike. "Talkin' to me again?"
"Look," Mike licks his suddenly dry lips and turns towards his friend. "I heard that you fired Holly. And yeah, I can see why you picked your job over her. All of our jobs are demanding, yours more so than mine. But your publicist was the reason for all this shit and you finally got rid of her. So yeah, I'm talking to you again."
He looks down and runs his tongue over his teeth. Puck nods. "I fucked up man. I get it. And I'll get Rach back."
Mike smirks. "Good. That's more like the Puck I know."
They both face forward when they get back and Ryan is announcing the first singer.
Rachel is changed into her next outfit, standing back stage as Blaine gets ready. This week she's performing last. Leaning against a wall, she looks out into the crowd where her family is. Brittany is dancing in her seat along with her daddy and her dad is just smiling, shaking his head. Santana is laughing, holding Finn's hand. She wonders when they started to talk again, but she knows if she actually looked at her phone she'd probably know. But then everyone starts to clap and she turns her attention to Blaine. He smiles at Ryan then takes hold of the microphone. The music starts and she's nodding along with the music when he starts to sing. She's almost jealous of how well he's pulling off the song. The judges are already in love with him singing You And I.
"Miss Berry?"
She turns and looks at one of the assistants. "Yes?"
"We need to get your ear piece ready again." She nods and takes one last glance at Blaine, rocking out at the microphone, then moves back to follow the assistant.
Puck stares at the man singing on stage. Surprisingly enough, the guy makes him think that he wouldn't mind listening to those songs if they were more rock like this one. He tips his head back as the judges comment and looks over when they announce a commercial break. Rachel appears on stage and the band is setting up behind her. He can see that both Mike and Finn's jaws have dropped when they catch sight of her. She's got on tight black jeans (and he can't help but look at her ass) and leather boots, a white corset that pushes up her cleavage a bit and a black leather jacket that cuts off at her elbows. A female assistant is adjusting something on the back of her pants. The girl quickly runs off the stage and Ryan walks back out on some stairs to the left. He welcomes them back from the commercial and then a clip shows up on the screen. It shows Rachel walking in to meet with the mentor, shocked to see Lady Gaga actually sitting there in front of her. The woman gives her some tips on theatricality and how to make her performance stand out a bit more. A few seconds later, they're both singing the song and hugging each other. The clip ends and Rachel is standing in the middle of the stage again.
The judges sit up a bit straighter and grin at Rachel. As soon as he announces that she's doing 'Bad Romance', Puck sits up a bit, expecting her to do the pop version of it.
But as soon as the guitarist moves next to Rachel and starts to play the opening of the song. Rachel is shaking her hips then starts in on the lyrics, closing her eyes and holding the microphone with both hands on the stand. A completely different voice comes out from her mouth. It's a bit more raw than her other songs, but it actually kind of suits her for this. He glances at the judges and they're eyebrows are up to their foreheads, along with Mike and Finn's. No one expected a rock version of this song, especially from Rachel. During the chorus, she pulls off the microphone and walks over in front of Santana and Brittany. Right after the chorus, it slows down and she holds one hand out, pointing to them. She sings this amazing note and winks at the both of them, walking back to the microphone, setting it back in its place. Puck swallows and can't keep his eyes off her. At one point, she ruffles up her hair and he knows that when she has curly hair and they have sex, that's what it looks like right after.
As soon as the song is over, she moves up to the front of the stage and stands next to Ryan, trying to catch her breath. Rachel looks at the judges and Steven just grins at her.
"Rachel! I love the little rock star you've created tonight. I really think you could make an album just by singing like that and I hope to see more of it." He nods and looks to the woman next to him.
"When I heard that you were going to do that song, I was a bit nervous. And then you started to sing and it was just…different. I enjoyed your performance."
Rachel tries not to squeal and looks to Randy, biting her lip. "I really digged that performance. It was completely unexpected from you. We loved it. The crowd loved it. I really think you'll make it far in this competition."
Ryan talks into a commercial break then tells her that she can go down and see her family for a minute. She moves out and hugs her dads.
"Oh honey, you were amazing!" Allen holds her out in his arms and looks her over, frowning. "Must you wear a top like that?"
"Allen, stop it." Nathan rolls his eyes and grins.
She moves to hug Brittany and Santana at the same time. "I'm so glad you guys are here. I knew you wouldn't want to miss this week."
"That was amazing. And you met her!" Santana stares at her in awe, then wraps her arm around Finn's waist. She sees Rachel's nervous smile. "Um, someone else is here to see you."
Rachel turns and sees Mike standing there. Santana groans a tiny bit, but she dismisses it easily. "Mike!" She hugs him tightly. "I've been getting everyone to vote for you. And you've been doing amazing choreography! I just can't believe you're on Dancing with the Stars."
He laughs and pulls Brittany into his side. "I've been getting everyone to vote for you too. You're doing amazing up there. And I really liked how you tweaked the song tonight." Mike winks and steps to the side, revealing Puck.
"Noah." She whispers and stares into his eyes. They look a little more green today.
"Hey Rach." He smiles sadly. She's just standing there, staring at him. "You were amazing up there." Puck nods towards the stage.
"Thank you." Rachel glances at her best friends and swallows. They both nod and smile. "How are you?"
"I've been better." He shrugs. "I'd really like it if we could talk."
"Yeah, sure." She looks over her shoulder and sees the stage crew motioning her to get back on stage. "Um, send me a text later. I have to get back on stage, but thanks for coming." Rachel backs up and waves goodbye to everyone before hopping up on stage.
They all watch her as she moves to Kurt, looking back over her shoulder at Puck and Blaine walking up next to her. She bites her bottom lip and looks away, her hand coming up to her face then wrapping her arms around herself. Puck closes his eyes and prays that she'll respond to him tonight. And it's pretty rare when he prays.
Thank you everyone for the ideas. I used some of them, in a different way than you guys suggested, but I hope you still liked it. If you recognize your idea, thank you sooo so so so much! :) So if you guys have any more ideas, do tell. Even if I may not use the exact idea, it helps me think.
Okay, so Rachel singing 'Bad Romance' came to me when I was listening to Halestorm's cover of the song. Check it out if you want to have an idea or what it sounded like, so all the credit for Lady Gaga's song goes to her.
The idea of Puck & Jimmy riding tiny motorcycles came from Jimmy Fallon & Taylor Lautner doing the same thing on one of his interviews. Credit goes to them.
26 reviews! You guys rock. Seriously. #200 was itskindafuntodotheimpossible, so I'll try to work on your one shot soon.
And Puck on Glee last night! Now I just need some Puck & Rachel then I'll be content.
Also, I swear I'll update Puckleberry Games eventually. I haven't forgotten it.