Disclaimer: I don't own these characters.
A/N: Sorry it's a little late coming, shoddy internet access is no fun. Please please please review... it makes my droll life so much better when I see that someone reviewed the story!
Every day for the rest of the week, Puck snuck something into her locker during first period. Wednesday it was a stuffed giraffe that she named Kevin and danced around with all during Glee practice, making Mr. Shue laugh.
Thursday, he baked her cookies, and managed to find a somewhat festive sandwich bag to put them in. And she, being Rachel, split them in half and shared them with everyone in Glee (Santana having left, given that no one there would talk to her, including Brittany). Puck took his half graciously, and swore to himself that he would leave the rest of the batch on her doorstep when he got home. These were meant for her, not for everyone.
Friday, it was a rose, which really surprised him, because he had figured that he would be able to ride the stuffed animal/food thing out for awhile. But he had seen the single rose at the grocery store Thursday night while he was picking up supplies for more baked goods and he couldn't not get it for her. It was so delicate, and it was pink, which were two things that reminded Puck of her. So when she came into Glee, holding the vase, everyone 'oohed' over it, and he was glad to see her genuinely smile when she put it up on the piano.
"That's not all this time guys." The room went silent to hear what else she had to say, "This time, there was a card." Rachel pulled it out of her pocket, and read it aloud. Puck prayed he wasn't blushing, because what he knew was on the card… well, it wasn't something that he had said out loud. Ever. His whole life.
"You are amazing. Not just your talent, or your beauty, but everything about you amazes me. Don't ever let the world change you. Love, your Secret Admirer." All of the girls in Glee made a collective "awww" sound, and Puck tried his best to act like everything was normal, and he wasn't interested. But secretly, it kind of made him glad that she was so happy. He heard her comment to Tina about the cookies on her doorstep, so Puck held his breath, and moved behind them to overhear, hoping he hadn't overstepped a boundary.
"No, it was nice. They just appeared. My dad's came in from the airport, and I thought that they had brought me the cookies as a gift, but they said that they found the plate on the front porch."
"Who were they from?" Tina asked.
"I don't know, that's the thing. But I think they were the same cookies from my locker, because they had those melting chocolate pieces like the other ones." Rachel smiled, and continued, "Whoever it is, I wish I could tell them that as yummy as the cookies are, if he wants me to still have my girlish figure, he'd better find some other food to give me. I won't hold up if I keep getting them. They're too good."
The whole drive home, Puck had an ear to ear grin.
When his mom got home that night, laden with grocery sacks, Puck ran out to help her unload the car, not even realizing what he was doing.
"Thank you sweetie." His mom said, falling into the recliner. He nodded, and turned to leave, but she said, "No, sit down. I want to talk to you about something." Here it was. Man, he'd really been hoping that she would just drop it. No such luck. He flopped into a chair and prepared himself.
"Who were the cookies for?" That surprised him.
"Uh… the glee club." It wasn't a total lie, since they'd gotten to eat a few of them.
"Having another bake sale?"
"Yeah." He studied his hands, noting the different signatures on his cast, and what all they said. And the empty space for the one he'd yet to get.
"Ah." She said. "Listen, Noah, I wanted to talk about what happened that day. Now, I know that we've always had an unspoken agreement for me not to pry, but…"
'Here it comes', Puck thought.
"In the future, if something happens and it upsets you that much, I just want you to know that I'm here if you want to talk about it. I know how you get – you are your father's son if only in that respect – but you might be surprised. I've been around the sun a few times. Maybe I can help. Or listen, if that's all you want me to do."
Puck sat in silence, not sure what to make of her words. It wasn't that he didn't want to talk about what had happened with Rachel that night, the very opposite in fact. He wanted to tell everyone who had ever said nasty things about him, or thought that he would never make it out of this town that he had been a knight in shining armor to someone, even if it was just for a few hours. He wanted to scream it at everyone who said that he only thinks with his dick, and at all the girls who refused to see that he had more to him than what was in his pants, because he had held back in a moment of passion to make sure that she would agree to it. Most of all, he wanted to whisper to Rachel all the thoughts he'd had that night, and how much it had meant to him when she said those things, even if she was asleep, and how much it had hurt when she had just assumed that he would be able to hurt anyone like that, let alone her. But he didn't say any of those things.
"I just had a really bad day that day. Sorry I worried you." His mom nodded, reached out and patted his knee, then got up to walk up the stairs. He followed behind not too long after, took two pain pills and laid down.
He knew, deep down, that like everything else in his life, what was happening now was his fault. A hundred choices along the way that he could have made differently, most of them from years ago. Like him losing his virginity to a girl when he was thirteen, after watching a porn at a friends house and getting curious. Or him acting out and starting his first fight after his dad left. Even the countless times that he was supposed to be responsible and keep watch over his little sister, and wasn't, until his mom had to hire a babysitter. Or sleeping with his best friend's girl, without a condom, and trusting her when she said that it was going to be fine. His life had been a long, drawn out tale of bad choices and anyone but him could have foreseen the ultimate result.
So because of this never ending parade of stupid on his part, everyone thought he was no good, a bad boy, and a punk. He'd always gone along with it, because it meant lots of girls swooning, and lots of guys staying out of his way. He'd even made sure of his reputation by acting out what people wanted him to be. But with joining Glee, and starting to be true to himself for the first time since middle school, he really felt like applying that to the rest of his life. Which meant he would lose his popularity. Which sucked.
Puck could feel himself fading into sleep and so he curled up and closed his eyes, deciding that he would place some fruit on her doorstep tomorrow morning, just so that she didn't eat too much sweets and lose that hot little body of hers.