I sing the body electric

But the expression of a well-made man appears not only in his face,
It is in his limbs and joints also, it is curiously in the joints of his hips and wrists,
It is in his walk, the carriage of his neck, the flex of his waist and knees, dress does not hide him,
The strong sweet quality he has strikes through the cotton and broadcloth,
To see him pass conveys as much as the best poem, perhaps more,
You linger to see his back, and the back of his neck and shoulder-side.

by Walt Whitman; Leaves of Grass

He calls her Berry when he talks to her. Which is not often.

She doesn't call him anything. Her voice is caught between "Noah" and "Puck" so she avoids situations where she might have to say his name. This is difficult since they have Glee together several times a week, but of course they weren't friends before, so she doesn't think anyone will notice when her eyes slide over a Noah/Puck shaped hole in the air.

Other times of course, she watches him absently. Watches him watching Quinn. Watches his lips tighten into a hard line, which confuses her because she knows that isn't how she looks at Finn when he slides his arm around Quinn and rests his cheek on her hair. This is such a puzzle that sometimes she forgets to watch Finn watching Quinn. Sometimes she sees this as progress.

She sighs. She is an excellent science student, but the idea of a Quinn-Centric universe seems unnervingly likely.

Very occasionally when she is singing, he (the one who isn't Finn) is watching her, but his expression is unreadable and she always looks away first.

Sometimes, like when their eyes meet over a tray of slushies, she thinks it will be all right--they will become friends, she will be able to look at him and talk to him like she does with Kurt or Artie. To nod, smile casually, make a joke. Or perhaps she can help him with his singing, he's got a great voice, but could work on his range which will only be a benefit to Glee and make them a stronger force at Sectionals. Sometimes, when choreography forces them to touch (she's not sure who is avoiding who) she feels it down to her toes and wonders about her definition of "all right." She also wonders if he feels it too.

It was an extremely sensible decision to break up with him of course. She likes Finn, has liked him from the first day of school when he helped her pick up the books some unknown football player had shoved out of her arms (Who? Mike? Matt? him? She doesn't really want to know). He smiled at her so sweetly. That first smile caught her although she admits to herself that he probably had no idea who she was. And later, when she sang with him she knew. She believes that music is the purest form of language, believes that people can't help but be their truest selves with they sing. She knows Finn can't lie to her when he sings with her, just like she opens up for him. They have a connection.

She doesn't think about the pressure of Noah's arm draped over her shoulders, the spot behind his jawbone and under his ear where his skin is so soft under her lips. She doesn't lie in her bed at night thinking about the ghosts of Noah's kisses on her skin, as warm and insubstantial as sunlight. As it turned out, those kisses weren't really hers anyway. Not that she minds that. Although, apparently without her noticing, he's now "Noah" in her head.

When they kissed--all right, made out--on her bed, she replaced him with Finn, replaced him with someone taller, lankier, with longer hair and softer lips, a softer smile (not tamer, nicer she tells herself). And just then she knew, without a single doubt that he was replacing her too, his mouth was tasting, his hands were burning on the sides of someone blonder, longer, with blue eyes instead of brown: Quinn. She's thrown, not so much by the knowledge (really, she has no moral high ground there) but by the acuity. She's practical, knows her flaws well enough and deep sensitivity to the feelings of others is not one of her many gifts. But she knows this about him now. They have something in common. At the time she does not say that it is a connection.