I do not own Glee.
He didn't know how he ended up sitting here. Well, actually he did...he was going to start wearing sunglasses anytime he might be near Rachel Berry. She'd cornered him and said she needed him to help her and Quinn, and when he looked at her closely to make sure she really just said she was working on something with Quinn, she looked him straight in the eye and before he knew it, he was sitting behind this crazy booth. It was pink. Puck hated pink. And covered in hearts. Hearts are not very bad ass. But the table beside him was full of Rachel's cookies, and those were almost as addictive as her eyes, and girls were paying for a chance to get a kiss from him, so he guessed it wasn't all that bad.
Quinn had talked to him, Sam, and Finn that morning and explained her plan. There were 2000 kids at McKinley and they needed to get one dollar from every single person to meet their goal, or multiple dollars from the same people. The boys were going to man the kissing booth. One kiss for one dollar. And only kissing on the cheek. He thought Quinn looked pretty cute when she was trying to be stern with them. One football player would watch the booth each day, and the girls would hold a bake sale too, so they could raise more money. Puck had drawn the short straw and had to go first. Sam had been sure that he would get the most money on his day, and after some heated bickering between Finn and Sam, Puck had said he'd get the most money just to shut them up. He was pretty sure that the fifty dollar bill Santana had shoved in the box, she'd collect her kisses later, she'd said with a wink, would ensure his lead. But chicks really liked Finn for some reason, so he wasn't playing it safe. His sex shark rep was on the line!
It was hard to focus on the freshman girls, giggling and shoving dollars into the box and then shyly shoving their friends up to get kisses, when Quinn was manning the cookie table beside him. He hated it when she didn't wear her Cheerios uniform. It was hard to remember she was cold hearted and mean, when she looked so damn soft and touchable. He sighed, as he leaned over to give another silly girl a kiss on the cheek, the things he'd do for Glee Club.
At the end of the hour, he and Quinn had managed to raise $650. He'd managed to convice a couple other guys to help out with the kisses, and Quinn's table of baked goods was gone. He was helping her clean up her empty containers when he realized he hadn't seen her other half the whole day.
"So, where's Ken at today?" he asked with a smirk. The smirk was so she wouldn't know he was really curious.
"Sam, you mean?" She looked at him with a frown. "I wouldn't know. We're not together right now." Her face was like marble, but Puck could see the sadness in her eyes. They'd broken up over the summer. She didn't want to talk about Beth and they fought all the time. All she wanted was her old life back. She'd finally told him they wouldn't be starting the new school year as a couple and she wouldn't return his calls anymore. He shoved the last bits of paper in the trash and handed her the money jar, he didn't even take a cut for himself. She smiled at him. Wow, he'd do anything if she'd smile at him like that more often. He patted her shoulder.
"You deserve a better guy than him anyway." He wished he could be that guy.
*Glee*
Rachel was exhausted. She had stayed up all night making cookies for the bake sale. The good news was, Quinn sold them all. The bad news was, she was going to have to spend another night baking cookies. She slumped down in her chair in Glee class and hoped Mr. Schue was happy with the sacrifice she was making. She doodled on her notebook while Mr. Schue was droning on about love songs. Usually, she would be very interested in this conversation, but she wasn't in the mood for love songs today. She'd spent the whole time she was baking last night going over what had happened with Finn in the auditorium. She sneaked a glance at him now. He was in the row in front of her, to the left. If she wanted, she could reach out and touch him. He was scribbling in his notebook too, but she couldn't see what it said. If she was sitting beside him she could see, she thought. But she just didn't know if she was ready.
When she first lost Finn, all she wanted was to get him back. And if she was honest, all she wanted right now was to get him back. But losing Finn hurt, a lot, and she didn't know if she could go through that again. The thing is, she's not dumb, she knows the social heirarchy of high school. He was a quarterback and that meant he should be dating a hot, blonde cheerleader. And she really thought it was only a matter of time before he realized he could do a lot better than her. Maybe it was better if he was just her friend. Suddenly, Finn stretched his arm out and a crumpled piece of paper landed in her lap. She peeled it open.
You look tired, babe. You want some help with those cookies tonight? She smiled at the "babe". She should keep her distance. But her heart won over her head everytime. She'd let him come over after Glee. She wrote You can help, if you promise not to eat all the cookies! in precise, loopy handwriting and dropped it back in his lap. She was really anxious for Glee to be over, but today Puck was singing his song.
Puck stood at the front of the classroom and shuffled nervously back and forth. He didn't give any introduction for his song, because he didn't know what to say. He looked at Quinn before he starting strumming his guitar. Maybe she'd know.
I can't remember the last time that we kissed goodbye
All our "I love you's" were just not enough to survive
Something your eyes never told me
But it's only now too plain to see
Brilliant disguise when you hold me
And I'm free
I've been thinking and here's what I've come to conclude
Sometimes the distance is more than two people can use
But how could I have known girl
It was time and not space you would need
Darling tonight I could hold you and you would know
But would you believe
He looked longly at Quinn, but she was looking firmly at the ground.
There's a light in your eyes that I used to see
There's a place in your heart where I used to be
Was I wrong to assume that you were waiting for me
There's a light in your eyes
Did you leave that light burning for me
Cards and phone calls and photograph pictures of you
Constant reminder of all the things you get used to
Is there a chance in hell or heaven
That there's still something here to build on
Or do you just pick up the pieces after they fall
But after all
There's a light in your eyes that I used to see
And a song in the words that you spoke to me
Was I wrong to believe in your melody
There's a light in your eyes
Did you leave that light burning for me
Should I keep on waiting or does love keep on fading away
Fading away
He looked at her again, still hopeful. She was still looking down and she might have been crying. Damn, she was definitely crying.
It's been a while since I've seen you so how have you been
Did you get my letter I wrote you, but I did not send
I tried to call your old number
But the voice that I heard on the phone
I recognized but she told me the number was wrong
There's a light in my eyes but it's too bright to see
And a pain in my heart where you used to be
Guess I was wrong to assume that you were waiting here for me
There's a light in your eyes
Did you leave that light burning for me
Everyone left. It was just him and Quinn standing in the room. He was waiting for her to come to him. He didn't know what he wanted to happen, but he knew it wasn't this. She stood right in front of him, all traces of her tears wiped away. She jabbed him in the chest, hard.
"You do not get to do this to me. Everytime I think I have it together, you walk into my life and screw it all up and I am not falling for it again. I'm going to fix things up with Sam and I'm going to be happy. And you're not going to mess it up this time." She glared at him and hoped he believed everything she said, because she really wanted to believe it was true. She stormed out of the room.
He stood there alone for a long time, wondering if he was ever going to be able to fix everything he'd messed up.
A/N: The song is Light in Your Eyes by Blessid Union of Souls