"Summer Storms" (1/1)
Title: Summer Storms
Characters: Puck/Rachel
Rating: PG
Word Count: ~1400
Genre: Friendship, Romance
Disclaimer: Ryan Murphy/Fox Production Co and all their ilk own Glee. I don't. Don't sue.
Prompt: http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lnlfkqVjcm1qfw5q3o1_500.jpg - puckrachel drabble meme (by: bewolke )
He heard what happened almost immediately; because, of all people, Quinn texted him. It was simple, to the point and told him that apparently he hadn't been as subtle as he hoped the last few weeks (months...whatever).
'You should check on Rachel. Finn just showed up at my house and begged me to take him back.'
He wondered why he had to check on Rachel; he knew Finn, that text didn't mean he had actually broken up with Rachel yet. He also knew Quinn; that text didn't mean Finn had done a damned thing. The blonde might just be trying to stir up trouble three days before their senior year started.
It was twenty minutes later when he received the most surprising text he had ever gotten that he shoved his feet into sneakers and rushed out of the house and to his truck. There was no way he was risking any sort of "backsies" on this.
"I broke up with Rachel. Quinn and I are going to try again. I won't cause trouble.'
As he ran outside he flinched as he was soaked, his shades had been drawn and apparently he hadn't heard the summer storm spring up over his air conditioner. He couldn't help but think it was appropriate; the whole summer had been a proverbial storm for him. Avoiding the "Finchel" show as much as possible, so no one would figure out that he was close to losing his mind over it, but spending as much time with Rachel, as a friend, as possible when he could get her alone.
He quickly jumped into his truck and wiped the water from his face before turning over the engine, throwing on the headlights and wipers, then backing out the driveway to drive to Rachel's. He was only a block away when he spotted something in the park on the corner of her street that had his heart clenching. He immediately pulled the truck over to the curb and cut the engine.
Rachel was sitting, soaked to the bone, on the edge of a piece of playground equipment; and, if her huddled form was anything to go by, she was crying. Or possibly freezing. He'd put money on both.
The only problem was that now that he was here, he honestly had no idea how to go about this. He knew he should approach her as a concerned friend; but he didn't want to. He didn't want to risk losing another chance to let her know he he feels, to let her know that he is at the very least, an option. He doesn't want to risk losing her when Quinn and Finn inevitably blow up again by not staking some kind of claim on Rachel's heart now.
He's always wondered if he could have had her for real all this time if he hadn't left her room the night he did last year. Don't think he didn't notice her slight disgust and total confusion over his courting Lauren (despite the fact that she was supposed to be pining over Finn); she might have been silent about it unlike Santana, but Rachel had never been able to hide anything from him. And he definitely hadn't missed the intense grin she had to mask when he told her he broke up with Lauren a week after National's (despite the fact that she was back with Finn at that point).
The Finchel reunion didn't have anything to do with him breaking up with Lauren. Well, it didn't have everything to do with it.
Shaking his thoughts off Puck glanced through the windsheild at the sky again and then reached behind the front seat of the double cab and pulled Sarah's umbrella out. His sister insisted on leaving the brightly colored stripe pattern umbrella there in case it rained when she was with him so her hair wouldn't be ruined. He kept reminding her that she was eleven and shouldn't care about her hair but it didn't seem to matter.
He jumped out of the truck, slammed the door behind him, opened the umbrella and started across the muddy grass towards Rachel. His friend was staring towards the ground as she shivered violently in the rain and he couldn't help the grin that crossed his face when she looked up startled as the rain was suddenly cut off by the umbrella.
"Noah?" she questioned, peering up through wet, bloodshot, eyes. Those eyes were his proof that she had been crying, since her face was so wet he wouldn't have been able to tell otherwise. "What are you doing here?"
He processed her question and once again debated how to answer. There were so many different ways he could tell her how he felt; but, he really didn't want to scare her off and he knew Rachel, she was still caught up in Finn. Finally, after almost a full minute of staring at each other Puck just shrugged and held out a hand to her, choosing to let her interpret the action however she wanted.
Puck watched a myriad of emotions run through her eyes as she stared back at him, tilting her head slightly in confusion. He sighed and shook his hand slightly before adding, "I've always been here Rach. Pretty much since the day I lied to you on the bleachers."
She blinked and then stared at his hand for a moment before she smiled very slightly and slowly took his hand in hers. When she squeezed his hand softly he relaxed and pulled her up to her feet and into a tight hug.
They stood there under the umbrella, Rachel wrapped in Puck's arms, until she finally pulled her face away from his chest and looked up at him to speak, "I know you have Noah. I just, I need some time."
Puck nodded and chewed on his lip for a second before biting the proverbial bullet and saying what he needed to say, "Take all the time you need, 'cause I'm not going anywhere Rachel. But, I need to know, is it my turn next? 'Cause I'll always be your friend, but I can't just wait around hoping anymore."
He saw a flash of regret in her eyes, recognizable because it was an emotion he was used to seeing in his own when it came to Rachel. He forced down his disappointment, so certain that he was about to be shot down and started pulling away slightly to turn the hug into something far more 'friend appropriate'.
Needless to say he was surprised when Rachel tightened her arms around his waist and asked, "Where are you going?"
"I just...I thought," he stammered, slightly embarrassed by his confusion. Studs don't stammer.
"You thought wrong," was all she said in reply confusing him further. "You don't need a turn Noah. I've seen you for a long time. I just didn't want to make the same mistake with you that I made with Finn in the beginning. You had Lauren and, for some reason I just do not understand, that made you happy. I wasn't going to be that girl again."
"Lauren would have been gone in a second if I thought that," he began and stopped in the middle of his sentence when she shook her head quickly.
"No. Everything happens for a reason. Now that we're finally just us with no one else running around our brains, I want to make sure we both have a totally clean slate to work from. That's why I need time."
"Oh," he whispered and nodded, finally understanding what she was getting at.
The first time they dated she was hung up on Finn and he was hung up on Quinn. The second time they hooked up, he didn't want to be that guy again and she was just looking for revenge on Finn. Then when she was finally single, he had gotten himself involved with Lauren (who in hindsight he could admit had been a distraction from having to watch Rachel throw herself at Finn). She was right, it was finally just them. Just Puck and Berry. Rachel and Noah.
"Noah?" he heard her mumble into his shirt.
"Yea Rach?"
"Can you take me home? I'm cold."
Without answering he simply readjusted their positions, made sure the umbrella was covering her and steered her in the direction of his truck. And when her hand tightened itself around his he was pretty sure she wouldn't need much time.
Now, he just had to figure out what the odds were that Finn's text message wasn't an outright lie. Shaking the thought off he decided it didn't matter; he finally had the girl and this time he wasn't going to let anyone or anything mess it up again.
A/N: There should probably be a new rule - Bridget shouldn't be allowed to play on the drabble meme 'cause she gets distracted by pretty prompts when she should be working on her multi-chaps.
Thanks for reading.