AN: Writer's block hits again :/

But I guess that happens when you're working on multiple projects at the same time. It's problematic but as long as I update consistently enough I think I'm okay. I'm actually not really sure what to do next without feeling like I'm skipping too much stuff. Interestingly enough, this chapter takes place over a very, very short amount of time. Anyway, as always enjoy.

"Noah? Noah? Are you okay?" Noah in question was lying down, face first, on the lowest part of the bleachers. He had previously seemed fine, but as he headed towards the locker room her just… collapsed. No, collapsed was the wrong word. It wasn't as though he suddenly fell but more that he was too tired to keep going and had decided that the bleachers was a comfortable enough place to take a nap. It shouldn't need to be said but bleachers aren't very comfortable. Rachel carefully strode over to him and poked him on the shoulder. "Noah? Noah?" He moved slightly and grumbled out some words. "I'm sorry, what was that Noah?"

Noah groaned and then turned his face to the side so he could look at her. "I said that I can't move." He then turned his head around so he was no longer facing Rachel.

"But you did just move," Rachel pointed out, fully relived to know that Noah was just being overly dramatic. Typically that was her role, or at least that's what Noah would say. It was odd to be on the other end of things. After receiving no response she poked him again. "Noah?" Rachel grabbed his arm and tried, and failed, to pull him up to his feet. "Get up Noah. Stop being such a drama queen." Rachel grew frustrated as her insult had no effect on him. "Get up!" she tried again to which Noah only groaned.

"Leave me alone woman," he whined. "You already tried to kill me out there."

"I did not!" Rachel was affronted that he would even say such a thing and if he wasn't in such a sorry looking state she probably would have hit him for accusing her of such. "I was only doing my job as coach," she pointed out as calmly as she could.

"But you're not the coach," Noah reminded her. "You're just an assistant coach."

"I am still your coach."

"Then why are you acting like my mother?"

Rachel growled and ceased tugging at his arm. "Fine then, just lie there if you feel like it. See what I care." She marched off a bit, feeling content about leaving him like that… but then she went back to check on him. "I'm leaving now!" she decided to clarify just in case he couldn't hear her waking away. Noah grunted his acknowledgment and so Rachel once again went on her way, albeit a bit slowly. "I mean it Noah, I'm going." With no response Rachel continued on. She slowly treaded past the locker rooms, periodically checking to see if Noah would follow but he didn't seem to have any intentions of moving. Rachel was almost back inside the main building. She could have just left, but she couldn't. She raced back to find Noah in the exact same spot she had left him in. "Noah! Get up!" She shook him roughly in frustration.

"Fine," he groaned. "Fine, I'll get up just stop doing that." Noah pushed himself up to his feet slowly, grunting in pain every so often. Unlike Rachel, Noah wasn't a seasoned actor and so Rachel was concerned that he was genuinely in pain. She considered assisting him in getting into an upright position but at the same time was worried that she might hurt him further.

"Are you okay?" she asked him worriedly.

Noah suddenly sprung up to his feet and stretched a bit. "Yeah, actually I'm fine. I was just messing with you." He laughed a bit and was promptly hit on the arm. "Hey, come on. You didn't actually believe that act, did you?" Her brief silence spoke volumes. Noah feigned a scoff. "I'm hurt. I'm really hurt." He pretended like he was crying and then proceeded to limp away. She now knew that he was only faking but Rachel had to admit that he was giving quite a convincing performance. Perhaps he had learned a thing or two from her. She took a moment to take pride in that idea before chasing after him.

"I'm sorry!" she called out as she ran towards him. "I didn't mean to imply that or anything."

Noah simply waved her off. "Don't worry about it Jew Babe. I know you didn't, but…" He paused and grunted before cracking his neck. "Can you try to be less of a dictator? You're gonna make me regret talking to Coach about letting you be her assistant. I get the feeling that you're worse than Sue."

Rachel narrowed her eyes at him. "I am not!"

"Ask your girlfriend," he suggested. "I bet she'll agree with me." Rachel knew that Quinn wouldn't and she was just about to tell Noah just that but she decided to let Quinn speak for herself. The Cheerios were just finishing up anyway so they'd just have to wait a tiny before she'd be able to prove Noah wrong. They headed back towards the bleachers so that Noah could get a seat. He leaned back to recline. "So… I saw Santana get in your face earlier."

"Oh, that. That was nothing, just a misunderstanding."

"A misunderstanding?"

"Yes, she- she thought I was interested in Gabrielle." Quiet followed and Rachel turned to her best friend. His eyebrows had risen, his curiosity had been piqued. "I'm not though," she quickly clarified even though Rachel felt like it was unnecessary to say so. Of all people Noah would know best that she never had eyes for anyone other than Quinn. "I just… had an idea, but I can't talk about it."

"Why not?" Noah whined childishly. He seemed really hurt. "You know you can trust me," he reasoned. "And we tell each other everything."

"I know I can, but can't tell you about this." And she couldn't, at least not without telling him about Gabrielle's crush. "And," she gave a small shrug, "it's not like we tell each other everything. There are certain things we don't talk about. You know, like how Quinn and I cuddle and how she kisses the top of my head and-"

"Okay, okay!" Noah yelled. "Just stop, just stop!" It was probably mean, but Rachel had a feeling that hearing about cutesy things that she and Quinn did together would stop him from pushing the subject. She did want to talk to him about her plan… maybe if she used a fake name. Rachel smiled at the idea even though she knew that wouldn't be able to fool Noah like that. Even with her astounding acting skills there was still the issue of how Noah knew everyone that Rachel was friends with. She turned to him and watched as he tried to shake the thoughts out of his head. Rachel couldn't understand how she had 'ruined lesbians' for him, but she did feel sorry for him… if only somewhat.

She decided to chat about something else until Quinn was done; school, a bit about video games and football, as well as Rachel's newly revised plans for college. Rachel had yet to convince Noah to apply but she was adamant in doing so. She had previously discussed said plans with Quinn at length was glad to hear that her girlfriend was hoping to be accepted at Yale. Rachel may or may have not hinted at how she'd like to have her best friend close by as well.

Noah was quick to change the subject, or to at least attempt to do so. Rachel wouldn't have let him but luckily for him Quinn showed up at that very moment, thus interrupting their entire conversation. She plopped down next to Rachel and planted a long smooch on her cheek, earning a gagging sound for Noah. Quinn rolled her eyes at him but chose not to comment. Unlike Rachel, Quinn enjoyed 'ruining lesbians' for him.

"Congrats," she told her as she took a hold of Rachel's whistle. "I'm sure you'll whip these boys into shape," she stated confidently before looking over at Noah. "Looks like you're doing a pretty good job with Puck so far. Good thing too; I think he's been putting on a few pounds."

"Ha ha, very funny. I guess you don't agree that Rachel's being a tyrant?"

"What?" Quinn laughed and shook her head. "Of course not. Are you trying to compare her to Sue?" she asked Noah incredulously. Noah replied with a simple gesture of his hands and a shrug as he mouthed out some word. "You can't be serious. Rachel's nothing like Sue." Rachel leaned into Quinn and snuggled close to her before turning to Noah and blowing a raspberry at him. Noah blew one back in return. "But… she was kind of impressed with how Rachel handled the team."

Rachel quickly ceased in her childish behavior and swiftly turned towards her girlfriend, shock and terror plastered across her face. "What?"

"Sue was impressed with how you coached," Quinn repeated somewhat hesitantly. "But it's not like that means anything. You're nothing like Sue." she tried to assure Rachel but words did little in doing so. "She just liked…" Quinn took a quick pause as she pondered her word choice. "She 'liked' how you took charge."

Rachel's pout softened slightly. "I guess that's not too bad, but maybe I should tone it down a bit."

"Yes, please!"

"Maybe…" Quinn shrugged. "We can talk about it later if you want." Rachel's frown returned. "A couple of the Cheerios are coming over to my place," Quinn answered her unasked question. "It's nothing big; just me, Santana, Gabrielle and a few others. We're just going to go over a few things on our routine and stuff. There's a lot to talk about."

Rachel nodded her understanding. "Okay, have fun and play nice." She could feel Noah's eyes burning holes into the back of her head. She guessed that it'd probably take him a while to piece things together, if he ever even did, but she knew that he must have caught on to something odd about their exchange. She felt Quinn's lips upon her cheek and then she gave her a brief hug before watching her leave. She lifted her hand up the moment she heard a sound leave Noah's lips and told him, "We are not talking about this."

"But-"

"We are not talking about it," Rachel repeated more sternly. "Or maybe you'd like to run a few more laps."

"Practice is over," Noah reminded her. "You couldn't make me run even if you wanted to." Rachel scowled at him. As anyone could guess, she was trying to appear threatening but she looked more cute as opposed to anything else. Noah laughed in her face but immediately stopped so he wouldn't hurt her feelings. "Fine, we won't talk about it. But here's an idea; now that you're couch, how about we go over to my place and play a quick game of Madden? Let's see if you can actually beat me now."

Rachel's lips curved upward into a devious smile. "You're on, challenge accepted." She extended her hand out to make it official. Noah grinned and shook her hand. "I'm going to crush you." She jumped to her feet and ran to the parking lot. Rachel quickly made her way to Noah's car but when she looked back behind her she found no sign of Noah. She looked further back to see that he was making no attempt to race her to the car. In fact, he was actually walking quite slowly. "I guess I was a little too hard on them," she spoke her thoughts aloud.

That didn't mean she was going to go easy on him during the game of Madden of course.