Moments in Time
Title: BBQ, Pool, and Friends (Moments in Time)
Author: AyLee Cambell
Rating: PG-13
Pairings: Puck/Rachel
Warnings:Not beta'd
“I don’t feel comfortable with this.” Rachel said while tugging at her top.
“You agreed to wear it, so you’re going to. Besides you pull it off, and don’t you want your man to see you looking hot?” Mercedes asked, crossing her arms and turning to look at her.
“T-T-T-totally.”
“That’s saying that I don’t look hot normally.” Rachel protested, crossing her arms.
“Normally you ain’t in a bikini. I think he’ll agree with me on this one.” Mercedes told her.
Rachel sighed, dropping her arms. “You’d probably be right.” She agreed looking down and pulling at the bikini bottoms nervously.
“Are you sure I look alright? I’m not used to showing this much. Wouldn’t the one piece be better?” She asked hopefully, looking back up at the two girls.
Mercedes crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes. Tina shook her head.
“I think we need another opinion. Where’s Kurt?” Rachel asked. She was pretty sure Kurt would agree that the one piece was better.
“Ain’t gonna work white girl. But I’ll call him in if it makes you feel better.”
“Please do.” Rachel said and crossed her arms. She looked at Tina who smiled.
“Y-you look great, R-Rachel.”
“Thank you Tina, you look great as well. I’m just a little nervous. I haven’t worn a bikini before. I’ve usually just stuck to a one piece.” She said and Tina nodded.
“Puchel?” Finn suggested with a small smile. “It’s Puck and Rachel smashed together!”
“I vote for Ruckus.” Matt said, grinning. “I think it fits them better.”
“Nope, Puckleberry. Has to be Puckleberry.” Kurt said, crossing his arms.
“Puckleberry? That’s adorable!” Brittney said, coming into the room.
“Exactly why we should be going with Ruckus! What do you think Puck will do to us when we call them something that can be taken as adorable?” Matt protested.
“The man has a point.” Kurt said and sighed. There went his adorable name for them.
“Yeah, but we’ll just hide behind Rachel. If we can get her to agree to it, or like it, then he wont do anything.” Brittney told them all.
“That’s a good point too. Anyone else notice how close those two are and how wrapped around each others finger they have the other one?” Kurt said.
“What?” Finn asked confused.
Kurt sighed. The boy was cute, but sometimes…
“Rachel would do almost anything for Puck and Puck would do almost anything for Rachel. It’s almost scary. I’m pretty sure if they tried, the two of them could take over the world. If Rachel ever makes a plan for world domination, I’m jumping on that team. You’ve got her devious little mind and her drive and Puck’s ruthlessness and his determination and the world is in trouble. I can so make up the uniforms for her army!” Kurt said.
Brittney and Matt started to laugh.
“Rachel isn’t devious though.” Finn told them, but he was smiling. “She’s nice.”
Kurt looked at him. Ah the naive. “Rachel is devious, and manipulative, and willing to do a lot to get her own way. She’s just not usually evil about it. But if she ever did go evil then I’m joining her side cause I’m not going against an evil Rachel. There are a world full of frightening things but that’s one of the worst!” Kurt said, then looked at Finn again.
“But that would probably never happen. Rachel is too nice to try. She’s usually only that devious or evil when someone is hurting someone she cares about. She wont even defend herself, so world domination is probably not on her to-do before 30 list. Besides, they don’t give Tony’s out to people who try to take over the world.” Kurt added, mostly for Finn’s benefit.
“But if they did?” Brittney asked.
“If they gave her a Tony for it?” Kurt asked then snapped his fingers. “Like that. She would have us all under her thumb and coordinating our movements in seconds.”
“Kurt!” Mercedes said, coming into the room. “Your fashion advice is needed. Our resident diva doesn’t want to leave her room without your okay.” She said, coming into the room and breaking up the conversation they were having.
“Ooh fun!” Kurt said and left the room. “I love make-over’s!”
Mercedes was about to follow him when Finn called her name.
When she turned to look at them she noticed Finn and Matt exchange looks while Brittney just looked amused.
“What is it? I’ve gotta go convince wonder girl to leave her room and then I’ve got to make sure the music to this little party isn’t all show tunes and old school.”
“We were just wondering.” Matt started and paused, looking at Finn.
Brittney sighed. “They want to know if you thought Rachel could take over the world if she wanted to.”
Mercedes looked at them. “Are you crazy? Don’t be giving that girl any ideas! One week! She could have it done in a week, and you know she would start with us. Minions to the diva, oh no. Don’t be saying things like that where she can hear you!” Mercedes said and walked out shaking her head.
“Stupid boys are gonna be the end of the world.”
The pool party was mostly just a BBQ with only the members of Glee present. Puck, Finn, Mike and Matt were cooking on Rachel’s dad’s old grill. Occasionally arguing over how it was supposed to be done while the others just hoped the food came out okay.
The girls, Artie, and Kurt, we’re all sitting in the few tables and chairs around the patio. Quinn was sitting with Santana and Brittney but they were still pretty close to the rest of them so they occasionally joined into the conversation but mostly the three talked about other things.
Quinn, in her later months of pregnancy, refused to go swimming and only showed up when everyone promised they wouldn’t make her try to swim or make her wear anything she was uncomfortable with. So she was in a dress and sweater.
Santana and Brittney were in their bikini’s and both had skirts on. But thankfully not their cheerleading skirts. It was a nice and hot day out and they were talking advantage of it.
Tina and Mercedes were in tasteful and flattering one pieces, Mercedes with a sarong wrapped around her waist and Tina in shorts. Rachel had a summer dress over her bikini, not quite ready to let everyone see. Artie was in shorts and a tank top while Kurt was in what they assumed was a one piece woman’s bathing suit and men’s swimming shorts.
The guys were all dressed pretty similarly. Swimming trunks and either t-shirts or tank tops, or in Puck’s case, shirtless.
“Hey! Let’s play water volleyball!” Santana said, standing up and picking up the beach ball she had brought with her. She was tired of just sitting around waiting for the food. She wanted to have some fun.
Rounding up the others, but not the guys at the grill, she started shooing them towards the pool until Artie and Quinn were the only two left at the table. They shared a small grin and started to make conversation. All the members of glee had come a long way and all of them were mostly good friends now.
“Alright come on! Into the pool! Kurt, Mercedes, and Tina against Brittney, Me, and Rachel!” She said, and took off her skirt.
She tossed Matt a grin over he shoulder before she jumped into the pool with the beach ball.
Tina, Kurt, and Mercedes were the next ones in. Mercedes and Tina took off their shorts/sarong and stepped into the pool, heading over to the other side of the pool.
Brittney was helping Rachel connect the net they had to the poles on each side of the pool so that they could play. After they were both done she walked over to Rachel and smiled at her, she knew the other girl was nervous about wearing a bikini and decided that she would help her out.
“Ready? Come on. If you act like it’s no big deal it wont be.” Brittney told her in a whisper and Rachel smiled at her.
“Thanks.” Rachel told her then took a small breath and pulled her dress off, so that she was left in the bikini.
“Dude! What the hell man! That one was supposed to be mine!” Matt protested as Puck dropped his hamburger patty on the ground.
Instead of saying anything or defending himself Puck was staring at something else and paying no attention to him.
“What?” Matt questioned, confused for a moment, until her looked up and saw Rachel standing with Brittney and both were in their bikini’s. Grinning a little he decided he would forgive his friend. The first time he had seen Santana in her bikini he had had a similar reaction.
Instead he turned to look at Mike and Finn, who were still arguing over what was too burnt or not cooked enough. Nudging Mike to get his attention he nodded at Puck and smirked.
Mike and Finn both turned to look at their friend and both grinned.
“I’ve heard a picture last longer.” Finn teased and Puck turned to look at him, finally snapping out of it. Probably because Rachel had just got into the pool and was now mostly out of sight.
“I’ve got a good memory.” Puck said then grabbed a few new patties and hot dogs. “Move over man, we’re cooking for everyone, not just you three.”
Mike laughed. “You just want to get this over with so you can go play.” He teased and then winced when Puck punched him in the arm. It wasn’t too hard, but it was hard enough to hurt.
Puck smirked at him. “You telling me you don’t want to go play? Your girl is over there in her bikini too. Let’s get this done, boys, so we can eat and go play.” He told them and they all turned back to the grill, and this time they didn’t argue about what was the right way to grill.
Rachel, Brittney, and Santana’s team was winning when they took a break so they could eat. They were up by two points but neither team really cared too much about the score, only that they were having fun.
As soon as Rachel came close enough to him Puck picked her up from behind and held her to him. She squealed in shock but soon relaxed when she realized who it was behind her.
“Noah!” She protested, laughing at him as she tried to turn around. After a moment of watching her struggle he finally helped her and soon she was almost face to face with him.
“Cute suit.” He said, smirking down at her as he looked her over again.
Rachel refused to squirm, even though she really wanted to, instead she lifted her chin and looked him in the eyes. “Yeah? They made me wear it. I wanted to go with the one piece but they wouldn’t let me. Mercedes said if I tried she’d burn it before I could touch it.”
Puck kissed her quickly before pulling back. She wouldn’t want this to turn into a make-out session right in front of their friends so he kept it brief so he couldn’t tempt either one of them.
“Remind me to thank her. You look hot.” He told her and grinned when she smacked him on the arm.
“Noah!” She protested, then smiled. “Thank you though. That’s very nice to hear.” she added then wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled his face to hers. They kissed quickly and pretty chastely for them before they pulled apart. They were ignoring their friends but they could still hear them and knew they were there. Neither of them wanted to give them a show.
“Puckleberry. That’s all there is to it.” Kurt said.
Everyone was either grabbing food or sitting down at the table starting to eat but most of them were watching the couple, and most of them found the two adorable. A year ago none of them would have thought they would be at Rachel’s house having a glee club BBQ, let alone be friends or being able to say Puck and adorable in the same sentence.
“I still vote for Puchel.” Finn said, carrying over two plates full of food. He handed one to Quinn and she smiled up at him before setting her attention on the food. She was eating for two, which was the reason her plate rivaled her boyfriends.
“Ruckus!” Matt protested as he grabbed the mustard.
“Honestly? I don’t think we’re going to be able to call any of the nicknames to their face, so why are we trying to give them a nickname?” Quinn asked, looking up from her food.
“Because we think it’s fun?” Artie joined in.
“Why don’t we have a nickname?” Finn asked, looking at Quinn.
“It’s kind of pointless, since our names are so close sounding anyway. We can’t really mash your name and mine together, we’ll just get mine.”
“Your nickname is Quinn-and-Finn.” Kurt said shrugging. “It’s cute, it works, and it’s not confusing.”
“You do realize we can hear you right?” Puck asked as he let Rachel down and they moved over to the table where all the food was.
“N-Nope. Didn’t rea-realize that.” Tina said.
“I think Puckleberry is adorable.” Rachel said as she sat down at the table.
“I don’t.” Puck said, sitting down next to her and glaring at the guys. “So don’t call me that.”
“What about Ruckus?” Matt asked.
“Why are you trying to give us a nickname?” Puck asked as he bit into his hamburger.
“Because you’re together enough that we think you could be considered one person. So you needed a name. Besides, it was fun trying to think of a name.” Kurt said.
“You should have heard some of their earlier combos.” Santana said, sitting next to Matt. “I think Ruck and Puch were considered.” She told them and started digging into the potato salad and fruit she had picked for herself.
“Okay, you guys are weird.” Puck said shaking his head and putting his arm across the back of Rachel’s chair. They exchanged glances before realizing that they weren’t helping their case and turned to look at the others.
“Okay well, we could always talk about regional’s.” Rachel said, changing the subject.
Everyone else groaned.
“No, no way! We agreed. No talk about regional’s today.” Mercedes said.
“Right. Today is just a day that we spend with friends.” Finn said.
They all exchanged glances and smiles.
“To friends.” Artie started, holding up his cup.
“To friends.” The rest said holding up their cups and then they all started laughing.
Later that night after everyone had gone home Rachel was finishing the clean up. Most of the others had helped out earlier so it was almost done, but she wanted everything to be back to normal for when her dads got home.
“Outside is done.” Puck said, coming inside. He had just taken the trash out and double checked outside and now he was done.
Coming up behind her, he wrapped his arms around her waist and rested his chin on the top of her head as she finished washing the dishes.
“Good. I’m done here too.” She said, putting the last dish on the rack to dry. Turning around in his arms she rested her head against his chest and wrapped her arms around his waist.
“Tired?” Puck asked her.
Rachel nodded. “I had fun though. I’m even glad they made me wear that bathing suit. The look on your face was kind of worth it.” She teased, smiling even though he couldn’t see it.
“That bikini rocked. Rach, you looked hot. Wanna put it on again?” Puck asked pulling back so he could wiggle his eyebrows at her and grin.
Rachel shook her head and leaned up to kiss him. “Maybe some other time. Right now there isn’t enough time. My dads will be home soon and I don’t think we’ll be paying attention if I change.” Rachel said.
Puck pulled her closer and leaned down and kissed her, turning so that he was leaning back against the counter. When he got tired of leaning down he moved his hands from her waist to her ass to lift her up against him so they were about the same height.
Rachel wrapped her arms around his neck, and moved her legs so that her knees were by his waist, making it easier for him. They both pulled away when his cell phone rang.
“Damnit.” Puck cursed, letting Rachel down gently and grabbing his phone. He checked the id, before answering.
“Hey Mom.” He answered.
Rachel watched him as he talked to his mom, a small smile on her face. Puck looked at her for a moment, sending her a smile before turning his attention back to his mom.
“I’ll be there in twenty minutes. Love you mom.” He said and hung up. Turning around he looked at Rachel.
“I’ve gotta get going. Mom needs me to pick up a couple things from the store.” He said walking over to her.
“Okay. I’ll see you tomorrow?” Rachel asked, leaning forward and hugging him.
“Yeah, I’ll come by about noon. I’ve got a few things I’ve got to finish first. Maybe we can go swimming.” Puck said, leaning down and resting his forehead against hers.
“Maybe.” Rachel said, smiling. She was pretty sure she could be easily talked into that.
“I’ll see you tomorrow.” She said, kissing him. He kissed her back then pulled back.
“I’ll see you tomorrow Rach.” Puck told her and she walked him to the door.
As she watched him get into his truck she couldn't help but smile. She was pretty sure tomorrow would be pretty interesting.