Puck pulls up to her house at exactly eight. He's still sleepy as fuck because he couldn't manage to get to sleep until at least three last night. His mom woke him up at seven on the dot to make sure he showered and ate breakfast (she was on his case about packing his bag earlier that night). The reason as to why they had to leave for New Haven at the earliest hour possible was beyond him.

He offered to drive her, saving the money on a plane ticket or a train or a bus (she had a lot of stuff, surprisingly). His truck was rather accommodating to it all, and if it rained he had a cover for that. He just brought a duffel bag of random stuff thrown in it, just so he could spend the night at a motel before driving all the way back. Ten hours of driving wasn't going to be the easiest thing ever.

Her bags are all outside when he gets out of the truck, still rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. Coffee—they'd have to stop for something with lots of caffeine in it so he could make it through the next few hours. Not that she couldn't drive, but after her accident he didn't want her behind the wheel that much.

"Hey," he says in greeting, watching her as she steps out of the house. She offers him a smile before she grabs her suitcase and heads over to his truck. Before she can go any further, he grabs it from her hands and begins the walk himself. "I got this."

And he did. By the time he placed everything in the bed of the truck, she had already said her parting words to her mother and had hopped inside. He finds her wiping her cheeks free of any tears when he hops inside but doesn't mention it. He simply throws the car into reverse, pulls out of her driveway, and begins to head out of Lima.

"Thanks again," she says to him as she throws her purse onto the ground, giving her phone one last look before she closes it. "For driving me and all."

"One last road trip before you go off to college." He smiles, giving her a quick glance before he makes the turn onto the highway.

"First road trip, actually," she corrects him. Now she's the one with a smile on her face, even though he isn't paying attention.

A billboard for a nearby diner flashes past. Puck merges onto the exit lane then, without a word to her. Breakfast in Ohio one last time before she went off and did her own thing, he wants to call it. Except, it's more of a final breakfast for them here in Ohio.

They laugh while they eat. It's nice, being able to be so laid back around one another after everything that's happened between the two of them. He hasn't told her but that kiss pretty much helped him graduate. (Yeah, the C- helped too but the kiss helped just as much.) He doesn't plan on telling her, either. Last thing he needs is to ruin whatever they have going on between them right now (because while there might not be kissing, there's a bond and he likes it).

Once he pays for their meal, they head back to the truck. The rain's starting up, so he takes it upon himself to throw the tarp over everything and make sure it's secured tightly. Her luggage did seem pretty expensive to get ruined by some rain on a trip to the east coast.

"We don't have to be quiet," he tells her. The only sound of noise is the radio on, though it serves as more soothing background music than anything else. (She made a CD just for this drive since neither one wanted to be fumbling with radio stations as they were driving down.)

But she stays silent, reaching out and grabbing his hand as she leans her head against the window and looks out at the slowly fleeting familiar scenery. He takes this as a good sign. She'd come around to talking sooner or later.

He makes it almost three hours straight before he realizes he needs gas and a bathroom. She had pulled out a book by then and was intently reading. It was only when he pulled his hand away from hers that she noticed the change in scenery.

They're somewhere on the outskirts of Akron as he pulls into the nearest gas station off the exit. She's fishing for a bit of money out of her purse to help him pay for the gas, but by the time she has the money in hand he's already out of the truck and heading to the register to pay.

"You hungry?" he asks her as he returns with a bottle of juice in hand. Scratch that, it's iced tea. She never took him as one to drink anything that wasn't soda or energy drinks. But when he takes a sip and then passes the bottle to her, she realizes why he had purchased it after.

"I'm fine," she tells him, taking a sip of the drink herself before she places it between the seats in his truck. With the window rolled down, she leans against the door and watches him as he fills the truck with gas. "The storm's following us," she notes.

"We can probably beat it," he says. Behind his shades, he still squints his eyes a bit to get a better look at the meter. He reaches the full mark with only a dollar to spare in change. Silently, she returns back to her seat as he runs back inside. Soon enough he comes back with an energy drink. She figures he wouldn't have lasted that long.

"Bathroom before we leave?" he asks her as he gets back inside of the truck. She shakes her head, rolling up her window and buckling her seatbelt just as he pulls out of the gas station and heads back to the highway.

She's back to reading her book and holding his hand soon after.

Three hours later and they're somewhere in Pennsylvania. There are signs of life, thankfully, and he realizes he should have brought some kind of map to let them know where they are. Quinn, always being prepared and all around having foreseen this, already had the address programmed into her phone while it gave her detailed directions.

"Where do you want to eat?" he asks her, looking around at the choice of places. She shrugs in response because there aren't that many options in this small town, but they do find a diner soon enough. He pulls into the parking lot and hops out of his truck, waiting for her to follow close behind.

It's a quaint place. Rather quiet, too. A woman who must be in her fifties approaches them with a smile, offering them a cup of coffee before asking them if they'd like anything to drink. They both settle on glasses of water before she rattles off the specials of the day.

"I'll have the soup," Quinn asks with a smile.

Puck orders the biggest burger he can find on the menu, which is surprisingly still very affordable. They're quick about the service, too, because their food's out in what appears to be the blink of an eye. He offers her a bite before he takes his first bite but she scrunches her face in response. There's too much of everything on that burger. She does however, steal a fry or two every now and then, fingers bumping every so often on the plate, causing them to laugh.

"I'll be back," she tells him, seeing the sign for the restroom with an arrow pointing off. She gets up then and heads to the restroom, bumping into the woman who served them when she gets out.

"He's a special one," the woman tells Quinn as she restocks the salt and pepper shakers. "Make sure you don't let him go."

She's back at the table with a small smile on her face. Puck throws his napkin on the plate just as Quinn reaches into her pocket and throws a twenty on the table. They're back on the road soon after.

After one more pit stop for gas, they were back on the road. That was a few hours ago. All in all, they've been driving for almost eight hours, maybe a bit more. She glances at her watch and notes that it's almost five in the afternoon. They have yet to touch New Jersey, but they're pretty close.

One more stop for gas, bathrooms, and an energy drink and they're back on the road. She's pulled out another book, already having finished her previous one. Except this time around she's resting her head on his shoulder, still hand in hand. It doesn't make the drive seem that bad at all.

Their last pit stop is somewhere in New Jersey, right before they cross into New York to then quickly cross into Connecticut. It's drive through food at a McDonald's which reminds them too much of those nights they'd sneak out to fill her random bacon cravings at one or two in the morning.

They laugh about the fact that they've now resorted to fast food but end up splitting a drink regardless of the fact. Their last few hours are spent in total silence. No hands are held, no head's on a shoulder. She's not even in the mood to read knowing she's approaching New Haven soon and the furnished apartment her mother had rented out for her (to share with a few roommates she had met during orientation, that is).

He was expecting something nice and quaint when she had told him about the renting situation. When he pulls up to the address she had given him, he sees it's a house just a few blocks away from the main campus. It's her new home. It's close to ten when they arrive and none of the lights are on.

"I'm the first one to get here," she tells him, unbuckling her seatbelt. She reaches into her purse and pulls out her keys, getting out of the truck and heading for the bed to grab her bag. He shoos her off before she strains herself, telling her he'll bring the bags inside before anything else.

He helps her bring all of her bags inside to the entry way before he steps back, shoving his hands into his pockets. "I should go," he says, running a hand through his mohawk. "I have enough for a motel tonight then I should start heading back."

But as he turns to leave, she reaches out and grabs his arm and turns him back to her. Her lips are on his before he can say anything else and as if on instinct, he's pushing her up against the door and deepening the kiss. He hasn't felt her lips on his since before graduation and to be honest it was starting to drive him just a bit crazy.

They're soft against his own and just as he thinks it's just a gentle good-bye kiss, she's brushing her tongue against his bottom lip while his tongue darts out to meet her own. They probably look like two horny teenagers who just got back from partying and drinking too much while they make out against her door but he couldn't care less.

As he pulls away, slightly breathless with a hand on her cheek having tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, she sighs. He's about to pull away from her hold of his arms when she looks up at him, eyes locking with his.

"Stay," she breathes. "I'm not ready to let you go."

He nods, wrapping his arm around her waist and picking her up then to shut the door. New Haven's gotten enough of a show out of them. The minute he shuts the door, they're working on getting acquainted with her living room first, just before they head upstairs to see her new bedroom.

Weeks have passed since the day he arrived. She's been going to class every day (thankfully she has Fridays off, which means they get to sleep in—when she decides not to wake him up at ungodly hours of the morning) while he's gotten a job around town. He's been living off of that duffel bag and whatever clothes he's bought with whatever money he's made.

All of their friends think he's off in Los Angeles right now cleaning pools but it's quite the opposite. His car took a detour and headed for the opposite coast. He hasn't found it in him to leave just yet, especially since she comes home with a smile each day, recounting what happened in her classes or how she's heard about a new place from her roommates (which warmed up to him quickly) and wants to take him.

Seeing her off each morning, he realizes he can't keep doing this. Sure, he didn't make it to LA to try that whole pool cleaning thing (he's not about to try it here) but that doesn't mean he has to become the same thing he was while in Lima.

His worry shows one day after dinner. She finds him sitting out on the porch swing. Wordlessly, she sits down next to him, causing the bench to swing a bit.

"This wasn't what you had planned," she tells him. But he simply throws an arm around her shoulders and pulls her closer, pressing a kiss to her temple. "You were leaving for Los Angeles until I asked you to drive me here."

"My plan was to be with you," he tells her. "That's always been the plan. I just don't think I fit into your plans."

She looks up at him then. Placing a hand on his cheek, she presses a light kiss to his lips before she rests her head on his shoulder again. Her arm wraps around his torso as the bench lightly swings on the porch.

She hears word of a recording company in the area from one of her classmates and takes it upon herself to send them a recording of his. When he gets a letter in the mail saying they'd like to hear him out and set up a date to record a demo, he's shocked (and pretty flabbergasted) to say the least.

She finds him on the porch swing again. His arm wraps around her shoulder as her head rests on his. They're still swinging in silence. He breaks that all too soon when he asks her why she did it.

"Because you're an important part of my plans," she tells him. "And I'm never letting you go."

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