Puck: I want to take you on a date.
Quinn glanced down at her phone, which was secretly hidden on his lap, and smiled. She was sitting in History, listening to a pointless lecture from her teacher about Galen and Hippocrates.
Quinn: I don't do dates.
Whenever she was around Puck, she always felt so cheesy, like she was in her very own rom-com. And although she hated the person she was, she couldn't help but go back to her quite hostile self.
Puck: Well that's because you've never been on a date with me.
Quinn: I'm one of the few people in Lima who you can use that line on, huh?
Puck: Wow, your impossible. Will you stop being so difficult and just agree to go on a date with me?
Quinn: *You're.
Puck: *Shutup. So, when shall I pick you up?
Quinn: You're coming off as desperate now.
Puck: And you're coming off as totally not interested…
Quinn: I am, I'm just… not used to this.
Puck: To what? Texting? You're doing an alright job so far.
Quinn: No, to relationships. Going on dates, being cute with someone, talking.
Puck: C'mon, you've probably had countless boyfriends.
Quinn: Uhm, thanks. And yeah, I've been out with a lot of guys, but that was never… serious. That was just sex and lies.
Puck: And that was enough for you?
Quinn: Maybe, I, I don't know. All I know is that I've got a lot of baggage.
Puck: Are you trying to say you don't wanna date me?
Quinn: I'm just trying to prepare you… I'm a lot of work.
Puck: What if said that's what I want?
Quinn: Then I'd say you were crazy.
Puck: We're all crazy. Some of us just hide it better than others.
Quinn smiled at her phone. She really needed a quote like that lately. It killed her that he was saying all the right things.
"It shouldn't be like this." She thought. She should be happy that this wonderful guy was sweet, kind, and totally into her. She just knew how fragile her heart was, and all that mattered right now was looking after it. But she couldn't help it; she was falling for the barman.
Puck: I'll pick you up at 8. And wear something nice. And something that's easy to rip off;).
Quinn: Yeah, you're really making me want to go out tonight. Look, I'm not sure.
Puck: I'm coming round at 8. If you don't answer the door, I'll take the hint. But if you do, I'll promise you the best night of your life.
"Hey Quinn, you coming bowling tonight?" Santana asked as Quinn grabbed her books out of her locker.
"Sorry, can't."
Brittany walked past and sweetly kissed Santana on the cheek, shortly followed by Tina and Mercedes.
"You're blowing us off again?" Tina asked referring to earlier in the week when Quinn couldn't make Breadstix, shopping and Rachel's sleepover. Although Rachel hadn't properly invited Quinn, and she didn't want to be where she wasn't wanted. After their earlier outburst in the street, Rachel and Quinn weren't speaking.
"No, I've just got stuff going on. But we're still on for Coach Sylvester's annual 'You're Not A Complete Loser' party on Friday, right?"
"Yeah, sure. See you then," They all briefly said goodbye to Quinn, and left her standing by her locker, feeling incredibly guilty.
A couple of seconds later, Rachel came skipping down the corridor, her knee socks pulled up further than usual and her smile painted on. That was until she saw Quinn. She quickly looked away and pulled a serious, stern expression and walked quickly out of the double doors. Quinn simply sighed at how pathetic she was being, realising she would seriously have to re-think her closest friends.
Strapless, short, long, maxi, frilly, straight, revealing, cute, girly, mature, low cut, black, red, yellow, brown. So many dresses jumped out at her, but non screamed 'date'. The fact of the matter was, she hardly went on dates, so she hardly dressed for them.
She fell backwards onto her bed and moved to the side to see her alarm clock. She groaned at the sight, realising she had only an hour to get ready, with nothing to wear. Just then, when she was about to give up and text Puck with and excuse like stomach-ache or a broken leg, she got a text.
Puck: I know you're gonna look smokin' in anything, but just in case you're having trouble, check by the main door.
She raced down the stairwell, each step bringing her more excitement about what he left for her. As she flew down, she thought to herself why she was doing this. If it were any other guy on the planet (apart from Zac Efron), she would've completely rejected an offer to go on a date. But Noah Puckerman wasn't just any other guy on the planet. So regardless of how ridiculously stupid she felt for making such a fuss over her hair, or what she was going to wear, she had to go on this date.
After finally racing down three flights of stairs, Quinn opened the main door and found a package at her feet. She reached down to pick it up, then turned the brown paper package over in her hands. With a quick smile, she walked back inside and began trekking up the stairwell again. After a couple of minutes of walking, she let herself back into the apartment, and wasted no time in tearing the package open and revealing a deep blue, short dress, which went in at the waist and was frilly round the bottom. The silky material felt great in her hands, and she couldn't wait to get it on. She wasn't fond of anything she wore really, but she actually thought she looked pretty presentable in this dress. She searched frantically for a price tag, as she was convinced it wasn't cheap. But no matter how hard she searched, Puck didn't leave the tiniest trace of any price tag. Also, coincidentally, the pair of shoes Quinn picked out previously matched the dress perfectly, so she once again wasted no time in slipping them on.
Hair? Done. Make-up? Done. Dress? Absolutely done.
Quinn couldn't help but smile. She was actually ready for this date. With 5 minutes to spare. Just when she was about to leave her room, she noticed a small white envelope peeking out of the brown paper.
Intrigued, she casually pulled it out and ripped it open.
I knew you couldn't resist my charm.
I'm sure you look beautiful, but don't worry, I'll tell you that again in about five minutes when I see you.
Now, go downstairs and give the crazy looking homeless guy standing by the bin a high five.
Quinn screwed up her face at the letter, confused at the last request. No way was she going to high-five a homeless guy. She quickly picked up her phone from her bed and held in the number 2. (Yes, she had Puck on speedial. Not that she'd admit that to him, or anyone else.)
"Let me guess? You're not going to high five the man downstairs?" The friendly voice on the other end of the call said.
"Damn straight I'm not. Why do you want me to touch a crazy guy?"
"Because you said you hate dates. So I want to make this date the exception."
"Ok, so I've never done that on a normal date, it doesn't make this one that original though…"
"It's not just about originality, it's about getting out of your comfort zone. You're so afraid of trying new things, of doing new things, that you don't even try."
"You think you've got me sussed don't you."
"Yeah, pretty much. Look, do you want to do this or not?"
"Nope. Absolutely not!"
"Fine. I was gonna stop by the ice-cream place later on and buy their biggest tub of Ben&Jerry's Cookie Dough Ice-Cream to share as well. Oh well…"
"Ugh. Fineee." She whined.
She stood by the main door to the building. It was quite dark now so the orange street lights illuminated the cracked pavement. She nervously looked from side to side until she saw a scruffy looking man standing anxiously by the bin, nervously fiddling with his hands and slightly murmuring to himself. His hair was pushed beneath a holey beanie, his jacket probably three sizes too large for him and faded, slightly ripped jeans and tatty slippers. If she was walking in the street, Quinn would most likely avoid him completely. But she couldn't right now. She needed to prove to Puck that she wasn't afraid to get out of her comfort zone.
"Excuse me, excuse me sir…" She approached the man with a quietened voice, worried of how he would react. His wide eyes shifted to her. "This may sound a bit strange, but, uh, could you, could you give me a high five?" She lowered her head, feeling totally ridiculous in saying that. The man smiled and proceeded to say "A-A-Are you Quinn?" Confused, she nodded. His voice was kind and friendly, and didn't match his face at all. He slowly reached behind the bin and pulled up a bouquet of flowers, in perfect condition. He handed them to her and she gratefully accepted them, giving them a quick sniff before smiling at him again. Just in that moment, Puck pulled up in his car by the side of the road, only meters away from Quinn.
"It was nice to meet you," Quinn told the man as she made her way over to the passenger seat. Puck thanked the man as Quinn slid into the car, still holding the bouquet.
"Wow, they're beautiful. They look expensive too…" She loved his voice. It was always confident, maybe even cocky. But it didn't frustrate her like other cocky guys did. He had a friendly tone mixed in with his confidence. It was husky, but gentle. As strange as it sounded, it soothed her.
She smiled in appreciated and proceeded to say "They are beautiful. Thank you." Before sliding them into the back of the car on the back seat. "So, where are we going?"
"Breadstix."
"Oh, good. It's like my second home."
After a short drive, probably only five minutes, they arrived in the Breadstix parking lot. Like a gentleman, Puck got out of the car first, then strolled over to the passenger side and held the door open for Quinn.
"Is this new?" He asked with a smile, referring to Quinn's dress. She shook her head and smiled, although she tried to disguise it. She hadn't gotten a good look of him yet, so when she did she had to stop herself from drooling. His black suit looked in perfect condition, and his black tie looked crisply ironed. He then noticed her staring.
"Yeah, I had to sell my blood to pay for this," He pulled open both sides of his blazer, revealing the silky interior.
"Well it was totally worth it." He smiled in appreciated, then locked the car and walked towards the restaurant, just as nervous as she was.
"What looks good?" Puck's eyes ran up and down the menu. They were sat in a booth opposite each other, surrounded by loved-up couples.
"All of it," Quinn laughed. Puck subtly smiled to himself. He was so glad she wasn't just one of these stick-thin bimbos who cared only of seeing their ribcage. Sure, Quinn had a great figure. But she didn't eat a side salad with water, she liked food. And he liked that about her. Trying to make it seem as accidental as possible, Puck reached for his Pepsi, knocking the fork off the table as he did. It cluttered to the floor on Quinn's side, so naturally, she reached down to pick it up. Right next to where the fork lay was another white envelope.
"Open it!" Puck gestured when she brought it back up to the table. She sighed to try and hide her secret excitement.
"Well done for making it this far, you are ready for the best night of your life." She read, glancing up to see Puck's winking face. "Choose a meal option for the person sitting next to you, including a drink and side order." She folded the letter up and slid it back into the envelope.
"Just so you know, I'm a real meat-lover," Puck winked slyly as the waitress joined their table with a notepad and pen.
"Hello and welcome to Breadstix. I'm Stacey and I'll be your server this evening." Announced a young, blonde, perky woman who Quinn took an immediate dislike to. "Can I take your order?"
"Yeah, uh," Puck scanned the menu, his beady eyes reading each option as they glanced up at Quinn occasionally. "For this attractive young lady opposite me... A double bacon cheeseburger with extra cheese and a portion of fries, and… a side of onion rings. Oh, and a coke." He closed the menu and handed it to the waitress once she finished scribbling down the order. She tucked it under her arm and turned to Quinn, prompting her start.
"And for this… young man in front of me… uhm… a Caesar salad, no dressing, and… a glass of water." The look on Puck's face was priceless. "Oh, and would it be possible to have a side salad as well?" She was deadly serious, although she was dying to laugh. The waitress nodded, and took Quinn's menu out of her hands.
"You've got to be kidding," Puck pleaded, sighing as the waitress disappeared off to another table.
"What? I thought that's what you wanted…" She replied innocently, a small devilish smile escaping her lips. "Anyway, there's one thing I wanna know. Why did you ask me out?"
"Well, we've kissed and were making out in the storage cupboard at the bar. So, even though it's not in the right order, I was trying to be… conventional."
"But when you first met me, you said I was too young." Puck was caught off guard by her asking, but if he was honest, he was asking himself the same thing every day.
"Well, I thought you were. Well, you are. But you don't act it. You're more mature than me!"
"And by mature you mean boring?" Quinn's tone didn't change. She'd been called boring a lot, especially by her 'friends' recently.
"No, I mean responsible. Most seventeen year olds would be drinking 'till they pass out and sleeping around with random strangers who give them drugs."
"Have you got any drugs?" She joked, lowering her voice. He laughed in reply and answered with "Afraid not."
"Any plans for college?" He asked.
"Wow, are you my careers adviser? Uh, well, I've applied to a couple, mostly pretty close to Lima, but, uh, I also applied to Yale."
"Yale University? Wow, I had no idea I'm sitting opposite a genius!" He raised his voice, trying to get the attention of people sitting near.
"Shh," She laughed, feeling herself blush. "I know it sounds crazy, but it thought, what the hell, right?"
"It doesn't sound crazy. It sounds brave."
"I'm probably not gonna get in, but I've got nothing to lose."
"I think you'll get in. And when you do, I'll give you your first celebratory hug."
She smiled, as this was probably the most positivity she'd received from anyone in weeks.
"Any idea of what you'd study?" He sounded genuinely interested, something Quinn really wasn't used to, especially from guys.
"Uhm, probably English Literature, but I'm not sure yet." She nodded slowly as she said it. "So were you one of those seventeen year olds?" She changed the subject.
"What?"
"Y'know, when you were seventeen, were you sleeping around, drinking and doing drugs?"
He hesitated and his eyes went out of focus, as though he didn't want to think.
"Yep." He nodded slowly.
"Really? You seem so… sensible,"
"I wasn't. In high school I was the worst possible version of myself. But that's in the past. I'm a different person now."
"Wow, inspiring." She admitted.
"Yeah, well." He muttered, thinking of a topic to change the subject. "Ok, my turn to ask the questions. The first time I met you, you said you were a mess. And the night you spent at my apartment you said I was a nice guy and if I was lucky, I'd never see you again. What's the deal with that?"
It was Quinn's turn to feel uncomfortable now. She exhaled deeply and looked into Puck's big, brown, interested eyes.
"I am a mess. And if you were smart you would've stayed away." She laughed dryly.
"Why?"
"I'm not really good with emotions, and feelings and stuff."
"And you think I am?" He laughed, trying to make her more comfortable.
"You don't get it, I'm like on another level or something. I'm 'emotionally damaged'." She air quoted the words.
"Says who?"
"Pretty much every guy I've been with. If it gets too serious, then I panic and break it off."
"Why? Isn't it usually guys with commitment issues?"
"It's not commitment issues, it's so I don't get hurt. I know guys. They get bored after the first week. And when I do fall for guys, I fall hard. So why bother getting my heart broken? It's just easier to stay away from the heartbreakers."
"And you still consider me a heartbreaker?"
"I did…" Her voice trailed off.
"So, what are your views on love then?" He put his elbows on the table to move closer.
"Wow, this is getting deep," She forced a laugh, also uncomfortable by this conversation. "Ugh, well, honestly. It think it's a lie."
"You think love's a lie?"
"Yeah. Everyone has this idea of 'love', that it's magical, and wonderful and will fix everything. I think it's something lonely people search their whole life for. And then in the end, they become so desperate that they settle for something, and tell themselves its love."
"So you've never been in love?" He laughed, taking a sip of his water, which the waitress slyly dropped off a couple of minutes ago.
"No, have you?"
"Nope."
The conversation had died out, but luckily the food arrived just in time.
"Mmmmm," Quinn sighed as she took an enormous bite out of her burger. "How's your salad?"
"Delicious." He muttered sarcastically as he slid the lettuce around his plate.
"Here," She finally gave in, handing Puck the remaining half of her burger and tossing a couple of onion rings onto his plate.
"Thank you. Thank you so much." He sounded like he could've cried with joy and immediately started to wolf down the burger. She simply laughed and ate her French fries.
"I'll be right back. Ask for the bill if the waitress comes by ok?" Puck stood up and pushed the chair back into it's place. Their plates were empty, not to Quinn's surprise as she knew how good Breadstix was, so she was expecting a waitress to come by any minute. Just as she thought that, the young, annoying blonde bounced back over.
"Was everything ok with your food?" She beamed, putting her hands on her hips.
"Yeah, it was great. Can we have the bill please?"
"Of course. I'll be right back. And miss, this was left for you," She pulled an envelope out of her pocket and handed it to Quinn. The waitress hurried off while Quinn immediately teared open the white envelope.
Did you enjoy the meal? I hope so.
But it's time for another dare.
Ever dined and dashed?
Thanks for reading, and thank you for all the lovely reviews!