Title: Life Goes On
Author: msathenaxf
Disclaimer: Neither Glee, or any of its characters, belong to me. But I really love them and am borrowing them for my own amusement.
Author Notes: For the purpose of this story, I am assuming that Quinn, Finn, and Puck are all seniors in the current season. The others are either juniors or sophomores. I don't think their official grade levels have been mentioned yet.
Rachel
Rachel cried the Friday she got the rejection letter from Juilliard.
By Monday, though, she did what she always did when things were hard. She woke up, went to school, plastered on a smile, and sang her heart out. Thankfully, her need to be prepared had outweighed her confidence. All but two of the other twelve schools she applied to had accepted her. She was going to be fine.
So it surprised everyone—including her—when she decided to stay in Lima and attend the satellite campus for Ohio State. Rachel got a staff job at McKinley helping Mr. Schue coach New Directions. It was in its third quality year, and he had a lot more than twelve students to work with. She landed the leads in the two musical numbers the college produced. Her grades were good and she was saving money by living at home. But everyday she wondered what on earth she was still doing there.
Eventually, she stopped thinking about it. For the first time ever, Rachel wasn't worrying about the future. Her life was here, now, in Lima, Ohio. Her family was here and so were her friends. So, she lived. Happily.
Tina set her up with a sweet boy that she dated for a little over a year. Rachel lost her virginity to him, and even though she knew she would never love him, she couldn't bring herself to regret it. She cared for him deeply, and learned a lot about herself and relationships during that time.
Her friendship with Puck had been a welcome result of staying. They would see each other during glee rehearsals, and slowly became friends. By the time he transferred to her school, she called him Noah. He still called her Berry, but it was more of a nickname now, rather than a way to depersonalize her.
Puck brought her flowers after the opening night of her first play. He didn't tell her that he sat in the twentieth row for most performances after that. She didn't tell him that she looked for him in the audience every time. It was just one of those things.
As the end of college drew near, she told Tina that she was thinking of staying in Ohio. Her plan had always been to get her degree and head to New York. Yet Rachel knew this was the right decision, knew it with every fiber of her being. What she didn't know was why.
Closing night of her final spring musical was difficult. It was sad, knowing she was done with this theatre, with the stuffy green room and moth-eaten curtains. Even harder was not seeing Noah in the audience for her final performance. She didn't know why she would suspect anything else, though; he was obviously done with her. Their friendship was nearly non-existent now and Rachel didn't know why.
Her head was not in a good place that night; it was the only reason she could think of for why she never noticed the man following her, or why she didn't think to scream when he grabbed her. But she was crying, and thankfully another girl walking by noticed. Rachel watched her approach and wished she would stop. Even with two of them, her attacker was too big to fight. Instead, the girl whipped out her cell phone.
Kurt called the next day; she was asleep, so Daddy told him what happened. When Kurt showed up later to tell her that someone—rumored to have black hair and dreamboat green eyes—had punched out her attacker, Rachel was out the door in seconds.
Now she knew why she needed to stay in Ohio.
It was the beginning of a beautiful change in an already special relationship. She never wanted anyone but Noah again. One of her theatre friends pointed out that high school sweethearts never made it, and Rachel couldn't help but laugh.
They were anything but high school sweethearts; Tina smiled and said they were soul mates. It was a nice thought. Rachel had more confidence in her relationship with Noah than she ever had with anyone else. Their relationship began in high school, but it grew with time. They began as enemies, became acquaintances, grew into adults while becoming friends, and then finally fell in love. She felt it was a pretty solid foundation.
Until the night he tried to leave her.
It was shortly after graduation. Rachel had two interviews and met Puck at his house after. His mother and sister were at dinner, a reward for a successful eighth grade year. Rachel found Noah in his kitchen, looking at a picture tacked on the fridge. It was his sister at her end of year recital for band. Before she could even put her arms around him he stopped her cold by saying it was over.
Tears flowed down her cheeks silently; Noah wouldn't even turn to look at her. Rachel was calm, however, while he explained his reasoning. He couldn't leave Lima yet. And she could do so much more with her life if she left. All he would do was ruin her chances at becoming a star. She deserved more than he could give her. She was so much more talented than this place. He was damaged goods and…. Rachel stopped listening.
Whipping him around, she kissed him hard, her tears making it salty. She pulled back violently. What was wrong, she wanted to know, with loving a man who owned his own business? Years ago, she wanted to be a star because it meant she could sing and people would love her. Now, she could sing anytime and anywhere, and she didn't need people to love her, because his love was enough. It was all she wanted.
Why on earth would she want to be anywhere but right here, in Lima, with him?
She kissed him again, silently begging him not to do this. Rachel sighed into his mouth when she felt his arms wrap around her tightly. He pulled away and she saw that he was crying, too. Rachel led him upstairs, and they didn't speak for the rest of the night. In the morning, Puck informed her that she was going to marry him.
Rachel laughed, and agreed, loving that it wasn't a question.