I originally planned to get the whole sleepover into this chapter (because I am very excited for what happens after most people fall asleep…), but I realized this is the longest I've gone without updating, so I thought I was at a pretty good stopping point and would give y'all this. Thanks so much for all of lovely feedback, and please keep it coming. I am so grateful that all of you are following the story and seem to enjoy it.
It was actually a lot simpler than Puck had anticipated to get his mother to agree to the sleepover idea. Well, he should have figured that since Rachel was involved, his mother would have agreed to help all of them rob a bank, but he had underestimated the girl's powers until he heard her voice, dripping with syrup, explain "We're all just getting along so well, and we realize that this exact group of people may never coexist in the same place and time again. I'm heartbroken that we might not get to make the most of it." She had then listened intently to Mrs. Puckerman's concerns on the other end of the line before issuing a very theatrical gasp and responding, "No no! Of course you would have to be home! We would never dream of even approaching this idea if it was going to be unsupervised!" A few seconds later, when her face broke out into a triumphant smile, Puck knew they were in.
"Did I do alright?" She asked Puck, looking up at him timidly.
"Fucking brilliant, Rach. Who knew you could use those theatrical powers of yours for evil?" He smirked at her. "You may have potential."
"Evil? It's for the safety of the children, Noah!" She giggled, but after a moment bit her lip nervously and whispered, "I also am glad I won't be alone tonight, after…everything." Puck just kind of rubbed her back awkwardly, since that was the only thing he could think of to do to make her feel better (well, only thing allowed when he had a girlfriend) and it seemed to help a little bit, because she relaxed against his hand gratefully.
Over the next hour, all of the teenagers contacted and got permission from their parents for the overnight. The few kids who didn't get permission called their houses back a few minutes later, lying about spending the night at a friend's house that the parents trusted (Puck's idea, obviously).
After that, as the rest of the kids tried to enjoy their last moments in the pool, Rachel and Puck swept his house for blankets and pillows and sleeping bags and generally anything they could find that could function as either of the three to set up in his basement. Mrs. Puckerman, coming home right as Rachel and Puck began their set-up, had agreed that the kids could all sleep in the basement as long as they kept the door open and boys and girls were split, with Rachel and Puck in the middle as a barrier.
Puck could tell that Rachel was really honored with all of the faith that his mother had in her, and he was actually really glad that the two women got along so well. He kind of liked knowing that if their odd little friendship continued, she would feel comfortable coming over to his house.
"Everyone's going to be a little squished down here. The two temples are going to get to know each other a little better than they may have anticipated." Rachel commented, surveying their handiwork. They could still hear noise from the partygoers outside, but it was getting late, and as Rachel kept pointing out, Autumn nights tended to get very cool very quickly, so they figured kids would be running for the warm basement and all of the late night munchies Rachel had spread out pretty soon.
"Ya know, a couple of girls could always sleep on top of me if it helped with the space issue." Puck winked, and wasn't at all surprised when Rachel's response was to stick her tongue out at him. "Cute." He laughed, not catching the word that he had been thinking before it slipped out. He knew it didn't mean much, but he didn't like that he was losing control of his own damn mouth around her. He was grateful when she didn't think much of the compliment and just laughed.
"Mr. Puckerman, would your girlfriend approve of such antics?" She was still giggling, but he could sense a hint of seriousness in her tone. Was he imagining things or was she legitimately interested in his answer about what Lauren would think?
"Oh uh, I should probably text her. Tell her what's been going down." Again, was his imagination playing tricks on him, or did her grin dim slightly at that? Ugh! Girlfriend! Girlfriend! Concentrate on that. He scolded himself, flipping his phone open to send a text.
Hey Hot stuff. Jewkids are smashed thanks to yours truly, so they're all crashing here for the night. Gonna be Jewladies too, so thought you might wanna know. Cool? –Puckzilla
Everytime Puck got his girlfriend's permission to do something, he was always reminded that at this time two years ago, he so would have slapped himself for doing it. He blamed Glee club for making him grow up and realize that maybe certain chicks were worth it. His phone vibrated a minute later.
Jewladies? You mean the Berry-like freaks with huge noses? I ain't worried. Just don't play spin the bottle or you may lose an eye. –Zizes
Puck narrowed his eyes at his phone. Sometimes his girlfriend could be quite the bitch. He knew it probably came from having to survive being picked on for years, and after learning about Quinn's past as Lucy, her bitchiness had made much more sense, but he didn't like that it was a quality that his current girlfriend and his babymama ex-girlfriend shared. He used to be quite the jackass too, but going one week being picked on for dating Rachel had forever changed him. He knew he would never act that way again, and so he had no idea how two girls who had experienced that for years could even consider inflicting that pain on other people.
He looked up at Rachel, who was waiting for him to tell her Lauren's response, and suddenly knew that was why he couldn't get her out of his head. She had been knocked down by everyone and had never ever felt the need to do the same to make her feel better about herself. Sure, she had sent Sunshine to a crackhouse, but that had been out of fear of competition, not a desire to hurt Sunshine. Somehow, to him, that made it better.
"Well…?" Rachel prodded him.
"It's whatever. She's being a bitch, but it's fine." He grumbled. He really hoped she didn't ask what Lauren said, because it would probably hurt her feelings, and he didn't think she needed that anymore tonight.
"Noah! Language! Also, that's your girlfriend!" She scolded him.
"Well, don't you think it's true?" He asked her, again before he could stop himself, because apparently his brain and mouth no longer worked in unison, but once it was out, he was really damn curious for her answer. She hesitated, and he could tell she was thinking of the nicest way to get out of the question.
"Well, I don't know her all that well, and you like her, and you're a really good guy, so she must have something-"
"That's a yes, right Rach?" Puck cut her off.
"That's a yes…Sorry…" Rachel responded, and Puck could tell from the look on her face that she genuinely was sorry. He figured she probably wanted to like Lauren to be a good friend, but lately, he wasn't even sure why he liked Lauren. Unfortunately, at the back of his mind, he realized the doubts about his relationship had become a lot more frequent ever since Finn and Rachel 2.0 had ended in his backyard a few hours ago.
He was actually considering saying something, although he knew it would be a completely dumbass move, when forty kids burst through his basement door and trampled down the stairs. He could tell they were all at different levels of sobriety, and he watched in amusement as Rachel carefully explained over and over to different entangled couples that boys and girls couldn't share beds. Once her message got through to them, and they realized that they would all be sleeping alone tonight, people seemed far less eager to get into bed.
"Psst Puck, come here!" An obviously tipsy, very outspoken girl from Shawnee fake-whispered, waving him over. He thought her name was Sandra, but he honestly couldn't be sure. She had been trying to flirt with him earlier, and normally, he probably would have gone along with it, because she was hot and flirting wasn't cheating, but he had been too distracted by Rob McCreep hitting on Rachel to really notice. He made his way over to her and she put her hands on his waist and looked up at him. "What time does your Mommy go to bed?" She fake-whipsered again. He could feel Rachel's eyes on him, and adjusted himself so that her hands dropped away from him. In addition to his mouth his body seemed to be reacting without his mind, wanting Rachel to know that he wasn't interested in this bimbo.
"Uhhh I think she just did. She had a long day with my sis and said she was tired." Puck knew from all the teen partying he did that asleep parents were as good as nonexistent ones to partygoers, so he wasn't sure he liked where this was going.
"Well then…" She smiled mischievously, before turning to ask the room, "Spin the bottle anyone?"
Rachel was right in the middle of the basement, so she could hear everyone's approval of Sandra's idea loud and clear, and her protests were lost amongst them. If she was being honest with herself, she didn't protest very hard. She was recently single and had definitely enjoyed her last spin the bottle endeavor, as it had led to a major life experience that every aspiring Broadway performer must go through (dating a man who turned out to be homosexual), but she felt that as the responsible supervisor of the party, she was required to at least modestly protest. Again, not that it mattered because she was severely outvoted. Puck was the only one who stayed quiet at the idea, and Rachel made her way over to him as the rest of the group began to form what was supposed to resemble a circle while Sandra searched for an empty bottle.
"Are you thinking about Lauren's displeasure with this arrangement?" Rachel asked him quietly, so no one else would hear. Rachel knew Puck prized his reputation as being his own man, even with a girlfriend, and wouldn't want anyone to overhear if he was having doubts.
"I'm thinking about the fact I might be thinking about that if she didn't say such bitchy thing about you and my people." He replied, and then his eyes seemed to widen a bit as he realized what he just said. "My fucking mouth." He muttered.
"What did she say?" Rachel wasn't really surprised that her text earlier hadn't been nice, so she wasn't all that hurt, but she was curious what the big-mouthed girl thought of her. She could see that Puck was hesitant about revealing the information, so she rubbed his arm and nodded in encouragement.
"She just said she didn't think big-nosed kids like you were any threat for her." He murmured apologetically, not meeting her eye. She could tell by the way his shoulders slumped that he felt awful saying it. They both knew her nose was one of her biggest insecurities, but Rachel had long ago realized it also made her special, and so the current information made her more angry than anything else.
"What?" She quietly shrieked, trying to think of a word she could call Lauren that would be foul enough, but not unlady-like. Puck seemed to mistake her anger for sadness or something of the sort, so he grabbed her shoulders so they were forced to make eye contact.
"I love your nose, Rach." He quickly told her. She could feel the desperation for her to understand this in his voice. "You're gorgeous, all of you, and Lauren's fucking jealous because you're so much hotter than she will ever be." Just like before, his eyes seemed to widen after realizing he may have revealed too much, and he immediately turned away from her. "This is why I walked away before…" He said so quietly she almost missed it. Her mind spun with all of the new information she had just received, and her first thought, as bad as she knew it was was, I'm really glad I'm no longer taken…followed quickly by But he is, isn't he? Followed quickly by What is going on? Why do you care? She was about to press the matter and ask what he meant about walking away before, but Sandra's annoying voice cut through the crowd to shout that she was spinning the bottle first, so the two took their seats in the circle.
Of course Sandra landed on Puck, and the look in her eye made Rachel think that that had been the only reason the Shawnee girl had even wanted to play in the first place. She practically lunged at the boy, which made Rachel almost feel embarrassed for her, but then Puck caught her, and they kissed, and all Rachel wanted to do was pick up the stupid bottle and smash it over her head. What has gotten into you, Rachel Barbara Berry? I thought you just wanted to be friends. She reprimanded herself as Sandra reluctantly broke away from Puck and Puck reached for the bottle. She firmly believed that she had simply missed the mohawked boy next to her because they had such good chemistry as friends, so why was she so disappointed when the bottle landed on some Freshman girl from their school instead of her, and why did she care that when it was her turn, she got a random boy from Shawnee who insisted on trying to strangle her with his tongue? Why did she even notice that at the end of the game came, she had still not kissed Puck? Why did the thought that her only opportunity to kiss him one more time had passed leave her with such an ache in the pit of her stomach?