Sorry for the wait, but the next chapter is finally here! It was initially going to be a Liam heavy chapter but then I started having Panjali feels so it led to this. Enjoy!
November 9th, 2013
"What do you think I should wear?" Anjali asked Rachel for the thousandth time in two days.
"I told you, Puck won't really care what you're wearing as long as by the end of the day it's on the floor," Rachel supplied as she decided on her own outfit to wear. "I still can't believe you slept with him and are planning on doing so again. Gross."
"What? He's hot. And I don't plan on letting him get further than maybe copping a feel. I don't want to be that girl. How about this?" Anjali held a slinky black dress against her that was sure to get Puck's, not to mention the rest of the non-gay male population of Manhattan's, blood boiling. Rachel had seen Anjali in that dress before and it wasn't exactly appropriate for romping around the city all day.
"Number one you already are that girl considering you had sex with him before you even knew his name. Number two this isn't Sex and the City. You need to wear some actual clothes for our day out. I'd say that would be fine for bar hopping but not walking around Central Park and Liberty Island. And number three, hello! It's November, it's going to be just a little bit chilly for the painted on look. Like I said, Puck will be so busy imagining you out of your clothes he probably won't even notice you're in clothes. Go with something comfortable yet stylish, like me."
Rachel smiled at Anjali and held up her attire for the day, a pair of flared jeans and an oversized McKinley sweatshirt of Finn's.
"I wouldn't call that stylish Rachel. It's jeans and a sweatshirt."
Rachel rolled her eyes. "The point is I will be comfortable and prepared for our day of sightseeing. Plus, Finn loves when I wear his shirts."
"Well that's fine and dandy for you considering you're past all the first date crap and don't actually need to look attractive for Finn to still want to bang you," Rachel looked offended and disheartened by Anjali's assessment, "but I've only just met Puck and just because we've already done the nasty doesn't mean I'm ready to wander around in a muumuu in front of him. I want to appeal to his penis and if I walk around in a grody old sweatshirt and jeans, I will not be doing that."
"I really do not want to think about Puck's penis." The image of him standing naked in her bathroom flooded her brain before she could shut it down. She shivered at the sight and shook her head as if it was an Etch-a-Sketch. "Ew."
Then Rachel thought about Anjali's words. Though it was true that Finn would most likely throw Rachel down and fuck her senseless no matter what she wore, did she really want to be that woman that let herself go once she felt really comfortable in her relationship? She was only eighteen! She was young and attractive and had a fantastically hot boyfriend! Didn't she want to make his jaw drop? It had been a while since she had worn something that got Finn so flustered in public his words turned to goo and he couldn't tear his eyes away from her body. Maybe Anjali had a point.
Rachel went back into her closet and pulled out instead a pair of black skinny jeans that made her butt look fantastic and a deep purple off the shoulder shirt that showed the tiniest bit of stomach between the hem and her jeans. Paired with her black Steve Madden booties and a faux leather jacket Kurt had forced her to buy and Rachel was going to look hot. True she wouldn't be as comfortable as in her other jeans and Finn's sweatshirt but at least she'd have Finn's attention the whole time.
"Well, if I can't wear the little black dress what should I wear? I honestly don't know what would get his attention the most." Anjali held a few different shirts and dresses up to her trying to decide what would look good.
"I told you what would get his attention, skin. Here," Rachel walked over to Anjali's closet and dug around a little until she found what she was looking for. In her hand was a navy blue crocheted sweater that showed whatever was worn underneath through it, a white tank top that when paired with the right bra made Anjali's already rather impressive breasts even more so, and a pair of light skinny jeans. "Wear this with your knee boots and then you'll be season and Puck appropriate."
Rachel smiled at her before going into the bathroom to get her own outfit on. When she walked out looking ready to tackle the day, Anjali was just putting the finishing touches on her hairdo.
"Did you go with the low side pony on purpose?"
Anjali shook her head. "You said Puck likes skin."
"I did. So are we ready now?"
"I guess so. Where are we meeting them?" Anjali questioned, zipping up her boots.
"They're going to pick us up here then we'll head down to Battery Park. Finn said he'd text when they were on their way," Rachel explained. She checked her phone to see if Finn had texted her yet but she hadn't received anything thus far.
Meanwhile in Finn's dorm, Puck was having similar problems.
"Dude, what are you freaking out for? Anjali is clearly into you since she agreed to a date with you. I doubt she'll care if you wear a Journey shirt versus a Kiss shirt. After all we're just wandering around the city today," Finn said from his bed where he was playing COD while waiting for Puck to stop acting like a chick.
"What? I can't want to look good? I need to impress the ladies of New York. They aren't like Ohio girls." He threw a hunter green v-neck on in lieu of a band t-shirt.
"Yeah, I'm sure it's all the Manhattan socialites you're trying to impress," Finn said sarcastically. Though Puck would never admit it, Finn knew he was nervous about his date with Anjali and according to Rachel, Anjali was freaking out just the same.
It was unusual to see Puck so flustered over one woman. Yeah he did some crazy stuff to win over Lauren but that was different. Though he really had liked her, even loved her on some level, his pursuit of her was mostly a challenge. He still thought it was weird Anjali even agreed to a date to be honest.
After Halloween they had been slinging insults at each other every chance they could get. Puck had decided to extend his stay in the city a few weeks – since New York was like a 'lady buffet waiting to be sampled' as he so eloquently put it – but Rachel and Finn both knew he was really only sticking around to get seconds of the Texan Indian that tended to disagree with him. Rachel thought Puck was a glutton for punishment but could understand his attraction to Anjali. She was very similar to his past relationships in that she insulted him all the time and put out. The insults were actually what pushed him to finally ask her out two days prior.
Rachel and Finn had a standing dinner date on Thursdays that semester as both got out of class early enough and as Puck appeared to be living in Finn's dorm with him for the foreseeable future, that meant he was annoyingly tagging along. When he arrived at the little Mexican place he and Rachel agreed upon that was equal distance between their dorms, he was surprised to see Anjali with her since he had warned Rachel that Puck would be with him.
"Ah, Rachel, I see you brought the only girl more annoying than you with," Puck greeted as they met by the entrance of the restaurant.
"I can't believe PETA hasn't filed a lawsuit against you for keeping that poor animal on your head. It's just cruel," Anjali bit back as the host led them to their table.
Finn really wanted to sit next to Rachel and slowly build her up so she'd be ready to jump him as soon as they got back to the dorm but Anjali had to ruin it by slipping into the booth next to Rachel to avoid sitting next to Puck. "Hey Anj, you stole my seat." He didn't care if he sounded a little whiny. This was the night generally reserved for him and Rachel and he wasn't going to change that because she and Puck had forced themselves upon them.
"I think you can handle one dinner without trying to get your fingers in Rachel during the meal."
Rachel's mouth fell open as she smacked Anjali's arm. "Anjali! That is so uncalled for." She looked over to see Puck laughing behind his menu and kicked his shin. "Shut it, Puckerman."
"Anj, please?" Finn asked, putting on the puppy dog pout. She looked up at him and huffed before sliding out and moving to sit next to Puck.
"You owe me, Hudson. I can't believe you're making me sit next to the meathead."
"As I recall, you seemed to like my meat," Puck said wearing a smirk and quirking his eyebrow at her.
"I don't know what you're on, but it must be some really good shit because I've had vibrators that treated me better than you did."
Rachel clapped her hands together to get their attention. "Do you two think maybe we can switch to a less vulgar topic and maybe not bicker all night? I'd like to enjoy my night off."
Puck shrugged and continued perusing his menu while Anjali crossed her arms over her chest and scooted as far to the edge as possible to get away from Puck. They descended into silence while they searched their menus for their meal…which lasted for all of two minutes before Anjali began getting on how annoying it was that Puck kept kicking the panel at the bottom of their seat.
Finn and Rachel sat and talked to themselves, drifting in and out of the other pair's conversation all night as Puck and Anjali mocked and whined at each other as every attempt at getting them to stop failed until finally something very weird happened.
"Well, I can't help it that I can't stop thinking about how pretty you are!" Puck nearly yelled before ripping a bite off his burrito. "I wish I would because you're so fucking frustrating!"
Rachel and Finn perked up and turned their rapt attention back to their friends. Anjali sat a little stunned at Puck's confession which she wasn't even sure he realized he made.
"You think I'm pretty?" she asked, her voice softening a little. It was the first time Puck actually complimented her. He froze when her words hit him.
He stared down at his rice and moved it around on his plate. "I dunno, maybe. It doesn't really matter since your personality is so off-putting."
At that she was back to being defensive and snarky. "Well, I wouldn't be so off-putting if you weren't such a stupid jerk."
"I wouldn't be such a stupid jerk if you hadn't said I was terrible in bed because I'm not. If you'd just give me a chance to prove it…"
"Oh like what? A date or something?" she replied sardonically, rolling her eyes at him.
"You wanna go on a fucking date? Fine, let's go on a damn date!"
"Fine, we'll go on a date then. It'll probably be just as bad as you are at sex."
Puck fumed at her and gripped his fork tighter in his hand. "I swear to God, I will fuck you so hard your mother will feel it."
"Doubtful, but we'll see Saturday won't we." Anjali threw her napkin on the table and stood up. "Thanks for letting me join you for dinner guys but I need to go. I have my pottery class now. Here," she gave Rachel some money to pay for her meal then walked off leaving Rachel, Finn and Puck all a little stunned.
"Did I just end up with a date on Saturday with her?" Puck asked, narrowing his eyes trying to figure out what just happened.
"You two are so wrong for each other you may just work out," Rachel commented before sipping on her drink. "Puck, in all seriousness, Anjali is my best friend. I obviously can't control who she likes or has relations with but please promise me that you won't hurt her…and use protection. We don't need another unplanned pregnancy courtesy of you."
Puck shook his head. "You knock a girl up accidentally once and no one ever lets you forget it." Rachel and Finn stared at him. "Rachel, I can't promise you I won't hurt Anjali, but – and if you repeat this to anyone, especially Anjali, I will make you suffer – I kinda like the chick. She's got a rockin' body, knows how to use it and is a huge badass. She reminds me of my mom, except not Jewish and half Indian. I dunno. At least I'll get laid again. So which one of you is leaving their room on Saturday?"
Of course Rachel told Anjali all of this and her hardened exterior when it came to all things Puck cracked and she turned into a stupid giddy girl and spilled that she had been waiting for Puck to ask her out since Halloween but couldn't bring herself to drop her usual smartass remarks and make it easy for him. The only problem was for some reason Anjali showed uncharacteristic nervousness and asked if Rachel could tag along. Not wanting to be the third wheel, Rachel then turned it into a double date by forcing Finn to join. Neither of the guys were pleased but knowing the consequences of not going along with the girls, did as requested.
Finn had texted that they would arrive in about five minutes and Anjali began to panic. "Are you sure I look good? I don't have lip gloss on my teeth or smudged eyeliner or anything right? Do you think I should change? I really think the black dre-"
"Anjali, I love you, but shut up! You look beautiful and Puck's jaw will drop when he sees you. Stop worrying so much." She shook her shoulders to help loosen her up before making her take deep, calming breaths. "Alright. Let's go downstairs and wait for them."
As they walked to the front door, Rachel could see Finn and Puck crossing the street. "Okay, let's go have some fun!" Rachel opened the door and shoved Anjali through it. She stumbled out onto the sidewalk but caught herself before falling over. "Hi guys!" Rachel greeted chipperly before wiping Finn's dopey grin off his face with a kiss.
"Are these jeans for me?" Finn mumbled against her lips as he ran his hand over her butt and lightly squeezed.
Rachel bit her lip and looked at him through her lashes. "Maybe. Now come on. We need to hurry if we even want to get onto Liberty Island." She gripped Finn's hand in hers and led the way to the nearest subway station to get down to Battery Park.
Behind Finn and Rachel, Puck and Anjali stood a little awkwardly. Normally they would just criticize each other but as they were on a date and both knew they liked each other, it felt wrong to act that way. "You look really hot," Puck assessed as they began following down the street.
"Well, hot is the look I was going for today. I was told skin is in." She glanced at him knowingly before stuffing her hands in her coat pockets and picking up the pace. Puck smiled to himself as he stepped faster to catch up.
Rachel spoke animatedly to Finn about their plans for the day while he nodded, pretending to listen. He kept watching Puck putting the moves on Anjali and with every real compliment and whisper into her ear she blushed more and seemed to fall harder. By the time they made it onto the boat to get to the island, they were enjoying the view inside their eyelids and the taste of the other's tongue rather than the beautiful skyline.
"I knew it was only a matter of time." Rachel crossed her arms over Finn's which had wrapped around her as they stood at the railing to view the city.
"I wonder now how much time it will take to get Puck out of my room. I miss having it to myself."
Rachel looked up at him. "I miss it too. He really needs to find a job if he's going to be living here."
"Do you really think he'd move here? He and Anjali have only just met really and until the other day 'hated' each other. Plus, he still has stops on his grand tour of the US."
"Something tells me that Puck and New York are a good fit. He may be living in your dorm and mooching off you right now, but once he finds what he's looking for he'll jump at it. That was the point of his grand tour of the US. He and Brittany were trying to find themselves."
Suddenly Finn recalled that he hadn't seen Brittany in a few days. "What happened to Brittany? I haven't seen her since Halloween."
"Oh, she's been staying with Santana lately and is thinking about moving out to Los Angeles to become a dancer. I think she could do it. She and Mike always had the moves."
Their stay at Liberty Island had been a success. They had taken some pictures to send to their families and bought a cheesy Liberty crown headband to add to Rachel's ever growing collection. When they boarded the boat again, Finn's stomach growled loudly and Rachel rubbed his belly lovingly, teasing him about it.
"Where does everyone want to eat? I know this great veg-"
"No!" the three of them yelled at Rachel as she was about to suggest her favorite vegan restaurant for lunch.
"Okay, someone else pick." She pouted while they discussed where to eat. Anjali asked for everyone's opinion on Italian food and when there was an overwhelming response of 'I love Italian food' from the other three, she suggested her favorite Italian restaurant which wasn't that far from their dorm.
Compared with the last time they had all eaten together, things had changed quite dramatically. Anjali willingly slid into the booth next to Puck and scooted closer as he put his arm around her. Once they were settled on their meal choice, they whispered in hushed tones to one another until Puck held her chin and pulled her in for a kiss.
Rachel was disgusted yet elated for her friends. She never in a million years would have thought Anjali would be interested in a guy like Puck yet there she was sucking his face. They only broke when the waitress came by to take their orders and to eat.
"Why did we even bother coming on this date with them if all they planned on doing was making out? I don't want to watch that. I want to do that. We could have been doing that all day!" Finn whispered to Rachel as they waited for their check.
"Anjali was nervous. She hasn't gone on that many dates before, you know that."
"I was nervous on our first date…and our second first date. Didn't mean I dragged Puck along with me."
Rachel looked up at Finn a little in awe. "I made you nervous on our first date…and our second first date?"
"Yeah. I wanted everything to be perfect for you. I was afraid I'd mess it all up. If you ask me, I'd say I was pretty suave until you left me standing alone in the middle of the street after I tried to kiss you."
He arched his eyebrow at her and she sheepishly looked away. She would never live that down. "You still got the girl, didn't you?"
He smiled brightly at her. "I certainly did," he said proudly before kissing the top of her head. "I love you, babe."
"I love you too." Rachel lifted her head and kissed Finn just as the waitress came over to give them their check.
Puck and Anjali finally separated themselves and spoke lowly and quickly to each other again before Puck slid out of the booth to let Anjali out. Rachel motioned for Finn to move as well so she could go with her. Once the girls were gone, Puck leaned over the table to speak to Finn.
"Dude, you gotta keep Berry out of her dorm tonight! Anjali invited me over."
"Well that was fast. Just don't have sex on Rachel's bed or desk please because then I will have to hear about it and I've already heard enough whining about you and Anjali since Halloween."
Puck sat back and grabbed the check. "Dude, I can't promise you anything. I did tell her I'd fuck her hard enough her mother would feel it. If that means I gotta use Berry's bed, so be it."
Finn stared at him severely before ripping the check out of his hand to see how much he owed for him and Rachel.
In the ladies' room, Anjali was applying more lip gloss as Rachel spoke. "What happened to only copping a feel? I cannot believe you are sexiling me."
Anjali furrowed her brows. "You make it sound like I'm kicking you out onto the street. This will give you and Finn a chance for some alone time too. You've only been whining since Puck got here about how he was keeping you and Finn from your usual privacy. Think of it as me taking Puck off your hands for you."
Rachel couldn't stop the chuckle that escaped her lips. "You two are unbelievable. If you aren't careful you'll end up married with kids before you know it."
"I do not want kids before I graduate college. I don't even want to get married before I graduate and I'm not having kids before I am married." She finished her lips then turned to her best friend. "Why are we even discussing this now? There's no guarantee tonight will even lead to anything more than just some fun, frivolous sex. Puck doesn't exactly seem like the commitment type so for now, I just want to have some fun. I think I've worked him up enough since Halloween that he'll prove himself." She giggled and placed her hand on Rachel's shoulder. "So can you please just stay at Finn's until I give you the all clear?"
Rachel rolled her eyes and sighed dramatically. "I suppose. I swear, if you have sex on my bed or my desk though I will kill you. Only Finn and I are allowed to fornicate on those." Both girls giggled as they exited the bathroom.
After departing the restaurant, the two couples walked one behind the other up the street. The original plan had been to take a lovely stroll through Central Park after lunch to give Puck and Anjali some time alone together but as they had already – finally – made a connection, they were insistent that Rachel and Finn bug off and not go in the vicinity of Rachel and Anjali's dorm until at least the next day.
As they got closer to the intersection, sirens could be heard growing louder. A fire engine was flying down the street and everyone could clearly see where they were going. Smoke was emanating from an apartment a few buildings down from where they were standing. Feeling the need to rubberneck, Puck pushed them down the street to watch as the firefighters arrived and went into overdrive. Suddenly, flames were shooting out the window of the building as an explosion inside rocked the street.
The girls screamed and everyone ducked as debris flew everywhere. "Guys, we should move! This area isn't safe!" Rachel yelled over the noise from across the street. Just then a firefighter came over to them and began ushering them out of the way. They had to drag Puck back down the street to get him to move as his eyes were glued to the drama unfolding in front of him. If Rachel didn't know any better, she'd have thought Puck was a pyromaniac the way he was staring wide-eyed at the flames.
They watched the entire time along with others who had come out to see what was going on and learned that only one person had perished when the explosion inside occurred. No one was releasing the information on how exactly the fire started or why the explosion happened. As things began to die down, Rachel and Anjali really wanted to move but Puck was still completely enraptured.
"Dude! Did you see how big those flames got? That was awesome!"
Rachel looked appalled. "Puck! Someone died in there!"
His face drew together. "Yeah, that sucks. But they saved everyone else! Man, this job must be such an adrenaline rush." Before anyone could stop him, Puck ran over to the nearest firefighter and began asking him questions.
"Remember how I said once he finds something, he'd jump at it? I think he may have found something." Rachel looked up at Finn from her place in his arms. "Anj, do you think you could handle dating a firefighter?"
Anjali tilted her head and shrugged. "Do you think he could be in the calendar? He's hot enough." The girls chuckled and watched as a smile spread across Puck's face. He ran back over to them.
"Do you guys know where some cheap apartments are on this rock?"
Finn looked skeptical. "Why?"
"Because I need a place to live if I'm gonna be a firefighter for the FDNY," he stated like it should be common knowledge.
"Well if it gets ya out of my dorm room."
They walked down the street listening to Puck explain everything he'd need to do in order to become a firefighter. He was like a kid on Christmas with the excitement levels.
"I've never seen you so excited, Puck. There are firefighters in Lima. You didn't seem too interested in joining them," Rachel commented.
"That's because it was Lima. I didn't want to be stuck there. This is fucking New York City! I could be a part of the greatest fire department known to man…and be in that calendar they put out so everyone could enjoy the Puckasaurus for an entire month."
When they got to the next block where they would go their separate ways to get to their respective dorms, the friends said goodbye and split. Rachel watched Puck and Anjali walk down the sidewalk, Puck's arm draped over her shoulder as he continued on with his new firefighting dream while she stared at him a little doe eyed with a huge smile on her face.
Rachel turned back around to face Finn and put her hand in his. They took their time enjoying the city as they walked back to his dorm.
"So you think Puck could really be a fireman?" Finn asked, bringing his arm around Rachel's shoulders.
"Honestly, Puck could do whatever he wants. He's actually not as stupid as he appears and with proper motivation and determination he could accomplish anything. I think Puck would make a great firefighter."
He flashed Rachel his half-grin that made her weak in the knees. "Do you think I could be a fireman?"
"What happened to being a music teacher?"
"Nothing. I still plan on being one. Just wondered if you thought I could be a fireman."
Rachel bit her lip and smiled at him. "I think you'd be a sexy fireman. Front cover of that calendar." He leaned down to kiss her and she giggled when he pulled away.
"You realize this means you'll have to put up with Puck more often now, right?"
"I know. But he seems happy and Anjali really likes him. He isn't drifting anymore; Puck has a purpose now. I'm just glad to see that something finally lit a fire under his ass."
They both burst out laughing at her bad pun as they walked down their city street, enjoying the life they were building there.