Ch 29. Drifting (Part 2)

Apologies for the delays again. Besides the holidays, my excuse is related to sickness, 2 minor car accidents (no injuries except to the cars & my wallet), traveling for work, and for a death in my family. But I wouldn't say that this chapter is sad because of that, just late.

Thank you to those reading and those leaving reviews! You help keep me writing when times are tough.

Best wishes to you for the new year! I thought I'd be able to finish this "Kurt's movie" section in this chapter, but it got super-long. So the good news is that I have a lot already written for the next chapter, and I should be able to get it done a lot faster than my recent history would predict.

Warning: Mature scene at end of chapter.

Disclaimer: I do not own glee, songs, or anything familiar.

…

Puck and Rachel were filming their first scenes for Kurt's movie after school without the other 'actors'. Kurt had been filming separate scenes for a while now and was planning to get everyone together over the weekend to do all the group scenes.

"Ok Puck," Kurt started. "Are you ready to record your voice-over?"

Puck shrugged. "I guess." He looked up from the script, but was startled by what he saw. "What's with the camera? You said I was just reading this shit." Reading this 'character intro' was going to suck hard enough without adding acting all emo on camera to the mix. He really hated this movie thing and had no idea why he didn't just leave.

No, he knew why.

He glanced at Rachel who was reading her copy of the screenplay in the back of the choir room. She said she didn't want to disturb him and his 'acting process' while he prepared to do this big favor for her.

He didn't quite understand it himself, but somehow because it was so important to her, he finally resigned himself to putting up with the torture he knew he was in for with this movie.

Torture like reciting this 'poor me' voice-over with a camera in his face.

"Seriously Kurt, you said I just have to read this, so why do you have that fucking thing pointed at me?"

"You don't have to worry your pretty head about it," Kurt told him patronizingly. "You do just need to read this. The camera will be on because I don't know what will be easier to edit, recording audio only here or video too and splicing in something else. So I'm doing all voice-overs both ways."

"You don't know how to edit this shit together?" Puck shouted incredulously.

"Calm down," Kurt whispered as Rachel rushed over to find out what was happening and see if she needed to diffuse the situation.

But Kurt was able to explain without her help. "I have to edit the 20-min film plus create a 2-min trailer, and yes, I don't know much about editing. Hence why I am trying to go to school to learn."

Puck sighed. "Fine. But what are you going to show while I say this? In the movie, I mean. Because if I'm going to have to say this crap all over again and do something other than read it off this page, I'm not gonna waste time doing it now."

"You won't have to act this out, I promise. I'll just show some footage of you playing football."

"Dude, we lost last weekend. We're not in the running for the state championship anymore. Football's over."

"Yes, I'm aware. I have the film already from earlier this year. I even have archival footage from sophomore year. So no worries on that front."

"That's really weird and creepy. Like totally fucked up."

Kurt shrugged it off, though he did feel a little stalkerish now that Puck called him out. He had simply found Finn Hudson incredibly fascinating back then...before they were step-brothers and Kurt realized how silly his crush had been.

"Whatever," Kurt answered dismissively. "Just be grateful I have those football movies because it means there's one less scene where you have to act on camera. Unless you really want me to scrap the football shots and write some acting directives for you."

That sounded worse to Puck. "I'll just read the damn thing."

"That's the spirit!" Kurt clapped him on the back with fake enthusiam. "I'll record now. Action!"

Begrudgingly, Puck read his stupid lines that he never would have said in real life. Anything to get to that make-out scene with Rachel faster.

"You may think that I, Noah Puckerman, have high school by the balls. And you'd be right. I made up my own badass nickname-even my teachers call me Puck. I have a sweet Mohawk, my own truck, I'm a star athlete on the football, basketball, and baseball teams, and I bang every hot chick in school. Hell, I'm even getting some hot cougar action from my pool cleaning business. So yeah, even though I'm failing a couple classes, I've still got this high school thing down. Who needs Math anyway?"

Puck's upbeat tone changed and his shoulders dropped even as he sat in his chair. "I've been off my game lately though. Quinn says it's guilt and she's probably right. But she didn't have any genius ideas for what to do about it. All she said was I had to stop talking to her and stop looking at her all the time. I sure as hell can do that now that she's being such a bitch. Don't know why I ever thought that if I could convince her to be with me for one night that she'd want to be with me other nights too. I'm an idiot though, thinking she'd see something in me over him. And it's not that I wanted to be a backstabbing asshole to my best friend either. It just seemed like he wasn't into Q as much anymore and I'd always had a hard on for her."

Puck paused and drew a deep breath. "I might've screwed things up this time...But I come from a long line of screw-ups, so what do you expect? I can't think of a single thing in my life that hasn't gone to shit sooner or later because of some dumbass move on my part. Not one. Oh, and I guess if I'm being honest here, I should say I'm not the star of the football team or anything else. That title goes to Finn Hudson, captain of everything, the guy everyone loves. I may sound jealous or whatever, but hell, I love that dude too. Best friends from day one. I'm pretty sure he'll never forgive me once he finds out what I did. Such a screw-up..."

Kurt stopped recording and called "Cut!" abruptly.

"What?" Puck asked, puzzled and a little embarrassed that he must have messed up already. And then he felt mad to realize that he cared about doing a good job on this damn thing.

"Oh, you were great," Kurt said with a wave of his hand. "I just need to change the batteries in this piece of crap." He started fiddling with the camera, a look of disdain on his face. "I'll be glad for the shoot this weekend when Lauren and Artie will deal with most of this stuff. I'm an Artist! I'm not a mechanical type," he grumbled.

Puck almost pointed out that changing batteries in a camera didn't count as mechanical, but he didn't want to get roped into doing anything more than what he already agreed to-and helping with cameras and microphones and shit wasn't part of the deal.

Kurt searched his bag for spare batteries and quickly made the change. Then he looked up at Puck. "But it works out well because I realized I'll need to break up that voice-over anyway. The next paragraphs will be needed later in the film for the reveal of Quinn's pregnancy and the reason you asked Rachel out."

Rachel skipped across the room and planted a kiss on her boyfriend's cheek. "Oh Noah, you were so good!" she bubbled. "Didn't you think so, Kurt?"

Puck flushed slightly at the unexpected praise. "It was just reading," he shrugged.

Kurt agreed with Rachel. "Yes, but you did it very well. And I noticed that while your voice puts on the confident front that I want for your character, it's your mannerisms-when you start to slouch or get that look in your eyes- those are what really reveal the emotion under the surface of the hints from your voice alone. So the good news is we won't redo that take, it's golden. The bad news is that I need to figure out how I'm going to film you looking at the camera a bit for some of your other voice work so that the true intent comes across."

"Son of a bitch," Puck cursed.

...

So they (Kurt and Rachel) agreed that Puck would memorize the rest of his voice-over lines to have some filmed as though he were talking to the camera like those documentary-type shows (like The Office) because Kurt was already planning to use that style for himself and for Rachel.

"Well Noah Puckerman, that means you've moved up to being listed as a main star in this production-the inner circle formerly inhabited by only Rachel and me! Welcome to the top-billed cast!" Kurt enthused with a clap of his hands. "Super-exciting, right?" he asked with a bit of sarcasm because it was obvious that Puck was less than thrilled with the expanded role.

"Fuck off."

"Noah!" Rachel admonished.

But Kurt didn't care that Puck cursed at him. He just realized that if Puck was a camera-monologuing star now, he not only had to figure out how to work that into the movie as naturally as possible, but also-and more importantly-he had to write a bigger role for Blaine so he'd be in the inner circle of starring actors too!

"Learn your lines and we'll meet tomorrow after school for more work before the group scene filming this weekend," Kurt said hurriedly. "I've gotta go do some rewrites!"

As Puck and Rachel left the music room, Kurt headed down the hall to the school library. He had another filming appointment with Finn and Quinn after Quinn's Cheerios practice. That gave him an hour or so to brainstorm during what would have been his time to record more from Puck and Rachel (voice-overs and a make-out scene). Kurt pulled out his laptop and willed inspiration to strike.

...

As the end of Cheerios practice slowly approached, Quinn found herself oddly looking forward to working on Kurt's project with Finn. It was a bit awkward considering he's her ex-boyfriend, but she felt a sense of comfort holding his hand again. She tried to convince herself that her feelings were natural ones to have about her first real boyfriend. It had no affect on her feelings for Sam. Sam was great, perfect for her even. He was attractive, loyal, sweet, and would give her pretty little blond children. Her mother was the one who pointed that out, along with the 'genetic roulette' she might be playing if she ever had children with the likes of Finn Hudson.

Fortunately, Judy Fabray did not do much to disparage Finn when the pregnancy was first revealed, but after Quinn was forced to admit that Puck was the father, Judy really spoke her mind. 'Your baby may have dodged a bullet, Quinnie,' she had said. 'Sure, we don't know what's lurking in those Jewish genes except that his father is a philandering mess, but what attractive man isn't these days?' Judy said of Puck and his dad. 'But we do know that it's a small miracle that Finn Hudson turned out to be the popular quarterback considering his homely mother and wreck of a father. Your beautiful features and good genes might not be enough to compensate for the frizzy hair and dull eyes that could have won out in your innocent daughter if Finn would have really been the father. It's harsh but it's true,' Judy had insisted to Quinn's protests.

And despite her efforts to dismiss everything her mother had said as the hateful ranting of a woman whose life didn't go the way she'd intended, she couldn't help thinking that her mom had a point on some of the biology. Carole Hudson had been a sad sight until Kurt gave her that makeover... and though Quinn didn't know anything about Finn's dad, she knew from a photo that the man was not very handsome. Sam's dad on the other hand was extremely good-looking, as was Sam's mom, siblings, and of course Sam himself. If she had a daughter with Sam, that baby would be beautiful. It was silly and pointless to think that way about future children, but when Judy took so well to Sam it made Quinn's life easier than constantly fighting with her parents about her choices. Her dad wasn't really in her life now, but still, starting over with Sam made things feel...simpler.

So Quinn resolved to enjoy this time working on Kurt's movie without getting carried away and letting herself do something she'd regret.

But that was easier said than done.

…

Kurt heard Finn and Quinn approaching before he saw them enter the library. Quinn's laughter reached him and something about how genuine it sounded made Kurt scramble to get the camera to record them as they came through the doorway. And boy were his instincts right! Quinn was smiling and her cheeks were rosy as she leaned into Finn who was bending toward her with a grin. Kurt was thrilled that they appeared to be flirting, even if they weren't. Not because he cared at all who they dated but because it would make his job easier to sell them as a couple. A couple who started out making sense but who drifted apart...leading to the biggest, most dramatic break-up in school history.

Quinn was the first to tear her eyes away to notice the camera. She raised an eyebrow at Kurt, who finally stopped recording.

"That was great, guys," he said.

"Huh?" Finn grunted as he straightened and shifted a half-step away from Quinn.

The move wasn't subtle, but even though Kurt noticed this signal that Finn was feeling guilty for something, he didn't bring it up. Instead, he explained that he filmed them briefly already, but he would need a bit more footage of them as a couple and separately.

"If you need us to kiss," Finn started, again without subtlety, "we should probably do it now before Sam gets here."

"Finn!" Quinn squealed as she swatted her hand to harmlessly slap his arm. "You can't say things like that!"

But her eyes were shining so brightly and she didn't hide her smile, so Finn didn't feel bad for saying it at all. He just grinned and shrugged. "What? I'm just suggesting..."

"It's obvious what you're suggesting, Finn," Kurt cut in. "And I guess it wouldn't hurt to get a kiss on film."

"See! I was right!" Finn said proudly as Quinn blushed.

"How should we do this scene?" she asked nervously.

Kurt thought for a moment. "Just start from where you are, smiling at each other like before. Then take a seat here at the study table and kiss before you get some books out of your bags. Ok?"

Quinn nodded. Finn replied with an enthusiastic, "Cool!"

Kurt smirked. "Do you want me to show you how to stage kiss?"

"Nah," Finn shook his head. "It'll look better if it's real, right?"

Kurt chuckled. "Yes, Finn, thank you for being so considerate of my film."

"Anytime," he grinned goofily.

Then they all heard a noise behind them coming from the bookshelves. "Yeah, anything for the film," said Sam to the surprised trio.

"Sam!" Quinn gasped as she rushed to his side. "When did you get here?"

"I came here after class. I figured I could do homework while you were in practice and be here to help Kurt while you did your thing and then take you home. But I guess I fell asleep."

Finn looked at Sam suspiciously. "If you were here to help Kurt, why did you wait so long to come out here and help?"

"Like I said," Sam said sharply, "I fell asleep. I started hearing voices but at first I thought I was dreaming. Or having a nightmare I guess."

"Oh, Sam, I'm so sorry," Quinn gushed in a panic. "Finn and I don't have to kiss!"

Sam shook his head. "No, don't let me stop you."

"Really?" Finn asked with a hopeful smile.

"Really," Sam said flatly. "But you don't have to look so happy about it."

"Sorry," Finn replied as he tried to give a serious frown. Then he turned to Kurt. "But I'm still supposed to smile at Quinn when you start the camera, right?"

Quinn spoke up immediately. "I don't feel comfortable with a kissing scene that may not even be used in your movie, Kurt. Where is the script, anyway? There is a script, right?" She was babbling hurriedly in a way that could have come from her concern for her boyfriend's feelings...or from her concern that she almost got caught doing something she didn't want to admit was more than just a friendly acting session.

Kurt pulled out scripts from his bag. "Yes, I have copies for you both. I am doing a few last re-writes, but you two should be minimally affected."

Finn and Quinn flipped through the pages, relieved to have something to look at besides each other or Sam's sad-mad face.

Kurt glanced around the room in the awkward silence. "Well, I think that's enough for today so you can start learning lines. Quinn, I'll need to coordinate a time with you for tomorrow. Finn, I won't need to film you again until Friday."

"Great!" Finn replied too brightly. "Catch you later!" he called as he bolted out of there.

"Don't forget to reserve this weekend for filming too!" Kurt called after him. Then he reminded himself out loud that he'd see Finn at home.

Sam and Quinn were still standing there quietly.

"You two can head out too," Kurt suggested. "I'll just text you about the schedule, Quinn, but I assume it will be just like today."

Sam mumbled something about how he hoped it wouldn't be like today.

"Yes, Kurt, I'll have Cheerios again, so the time will be the same as today," Quinn confirmed with almost indignant insistence.

Kurt wondered if she immediately told herself a lie when she was caught flirting with Finn...a lie to say that she wasn't flirting, just helping a friend get into film school...like if she lied to herself she could make everyone believe it, and maybe then the lie would become true!

Though he didn't know it, Kurt was basically right.

...

On the drive home, Quinn convinced herself and an emotional and confused Sam that she had only been acting and following directions because she really wanted to help her good friend Kurt.

Sam convinced himself that he must have been dreaming some of what he overheard and that he should trust Quinn. If she didn't want to be with him, she would just break up, right? He felt unsettled and unsure, but he forced himself to get back to normal and not make something out of nothing.

Quinn was relieved when Sam dropped her off at home with a smile and a kiss goodbye like everything was fine.

She would make everything fine again. She had to. Quinn had a plan for her life. It included going to college with Sam and getting married. It didn't include getting pregnant with Puck's baby and lying to Finn about it. When her life veered off a plan, bad things happened. She needed to move on and be normal. That meant she didn't want constant reminders of where she went wrong. That meant she needed to stay strong. She didn't want to go down a road with Puck and Beth...even if she was tempted to see her baby, their baby, again. She knew it would be too hard and too much of a diversion off of the course she had planned for a great, normal life. She didn't want to get involved with Finn again either-his face just reminded her of what a terrible person she was. It would have been better, easier, if he still hated her. He should hate her. That's what she deserved. But the way he had been acting so kind to her again had slipped her up and muddled her thoughts.

Get a hold of yourself, Quinn, she told herself angrily as she tried to fall asleep. Quinn Fabray Evans, Quinn Fabray Evans, she chanted quietly, trying to force images of Sam to overwhelm the images of Finn in her mind.

...

The next day, Quinn actually started looking through the pages Kurt had given her. Although it seemed like she was only given a partial script-only scenes where she had to say or do something, she was pretty upset with what she read. While waiting for Sam to pick her up to drive to school, she sent off a furious text to Kurt telling him that she was quitting the film if he insisted on including her pregnancy.

When Sam arrived and heard how mad Quinn was and how she told Kurt that she was quitting, he couldn't contain his smile. If Quinn was willing to quit, then it must mean that she wasn't hung up on Finn, right?

"Yeah, that was pretty shady of Kurt, roping you into doing a few easy scenes and then dropping this on you at the last minute," Sam agreed.

"I know, right?" exclaimed Quinn dramatically, happy to feel justified in her outrage.

"Now we don't have to spend all weekend working on Kurt's film!" he added cheerfully.

Quinn nodded but had lost her excitement for some reason. "I just hope I won't ruin Kurt's chances of getting into film school if I drop out..." she ventured.

"That's his problem," Sam shrugged.

"That's right. If he wants me to stay in, then he has to drop the pregnancy storyline, end of discussion."

Sam glanced away from the road to steal a look at Quinn. "Oh, I thought you already quit. I didn't know you had a...condition or whatever."

"Yes, I made a condition. I'd show you the text I sent to Kurt now, but I don't want to distract you from driving."

Sam nodded. "Yeah, thanks. Well, the ball is in his court now." He prayed that Kurt would hold out and not drop the baby story. But at least he could take some comfort in Quinn's willingness to quit the movie and that her concern was just about how her leaving could hurt Kurt's chances for college.

He looked at Quinn again and smiled nervously.

She smiled back beautifully with a curious look in her eyes as she asked, "What?"

"Oh nothing," he answered. "Everything's fine."

He turned his eyes back to the road and hoped he was right.

Quinn hoped so too.

...

Reading Quinn's ultimatum-by-text, Kurt started panicking first, thinking he'd have to write-out the pregnancy or find another actress. And then he started to get mad. He did not have time for this diva bullcrap! But the anger gave way to intense focus-like he was a problem-solving machine. He knew exactly how to deal.

He started with a detailed email about how essential the 'Quinn' character was to his story and how the pregnancy was pivotal to several connecting storylines. In a paragraph that was partly true and partly flattery, he lamented that there was absolutely nobody else who could play this role. He then suggested a compromise (though it was an idea he was toying with all along)...that the pregnancy would stay in the story but she would lose the baby. This could be even more dramatic for the film but easier for Quinn to separate herself from her character and allow her inner actress to shine. Kurt vowed that he would let her use any footage of the tremendous acting he expected she would show in these dramatic scenes. Because clearly Quinn Fabray belongs in the Arts, so surely she's applying to top drama programs in Ohio and beyond.

After firing off his brilliant email, he planned to intercept Quinn at lunch to persuade her in person.

She never stood a chance against him.

...

By the time school ended, Kurt felt like he had been super-productive. He had added parts for Blaine. He had a revised plan for Puck's monologue. He had gotten Quinn back on board (with the compromise that he'd cut scenes about The Lie so she didn't have to relive her worst days). And he still had energy to spare. Which was good because he still had a lot to do.

Now he was ready to film some scenes with Puck, Quinn, and Rachel immediately so he could still have time to film some scenes with Blaine tonight.

"I hope you're up for the challenge, Puckerman," Kurt said as he handed his unlikely star the staging directions and re-writes.

Puck shrugged. "We'll see." It didn't really matter to him if Kurt got into film school, so why should he stress about it? Of course, Rachel had gone over his lines with him forever last night, so that shit was seared into his brain. He only had to remember one thing Kurt had changed this morning that was different from what he had memorized last night.

Kurt looked nervous, which amused Puck. It served the little fluffer right for acting like everyone owed it to him to help with his movie.

Puck watched Rachel turn the corner into a classroom to 'get her mark' for the stage directions Kurt had given her for this scene. Nobody else was in the halls, which Puck thought would look weird and fake, but Kurt said it didn't matter. He was going to film Puck watching Rachel for part of the voiceover, watching Quinn for another part, and use the football footage too. Puck felt like a dumbfuck, but he started talking to Kurt and the camera, reciting his stupid lines.

"So I've had a thing for Quinn since I first saw her. I mean, look at her, who wouldn't?"

The camera panned to Quinn at her locker, nodded as if the invisible person agreed, and then turned back to Puck, who was leaning against another set of lockers.

"And I knew I shouldn't have tried to get with her while she was with Finn, but I couldn't stop myself. She wouldn't have anything to do with me after that. It wasn't until Finn told me that she was moving to Arizona with her aunt that I knew...I must've gotten her preggo. I just knew it. And at first maybe I was glad she'd leave to have the baby and keep it all a secret. Then I thought that this was my chance to win her over so we could be together."

Kurt called "Cut," to end that scene. Next in the film would probably be a scene where Quinn shuts Puck down. But the next scene he was going to record would be Puck's monologue about Rachel, which would take place a bit later in the movie. Kurt wanted to ease everyone into the process of being on film, and he didn't think that throwing them into emotional scenes with other 'actors' would be good strategy. Especially after Rachel had called him on that when he had first started filming with Puck.

"Rachel, you're up!"

Rachel was startled to hear Kurt's voice. She had been listening intently and uncomfortably to Noah's words about Quinn. She knew that she still had insecurities surrounding his feelings, but she hadn't anticipated how those feelings would emerge so strongly while working on Kurt's film. She was glad she didn't have any lines. She walked to her mark and gave a slight nod to signal she was ready.

Filming resumed with Puck's next monologue. It felt weird to Puck that they were filming the story out of order, like in this scene he was supposed to talk about throwing slushies at Rachel even though they hadn't actually acted that part out. But since he lived it in order, he supposed that acting out Kurt's story in short bursts at different times would be better…easier to handle or whatever. He watched as Quinn walked down the hall and Rachel entered.

"Quinn isn't making it easy to be together though, and on top of that, I have to get the guilt trips from Mom about never bringing home a nice Jewish girl. And she doesn't even know yet about the goya her son knocked up," he said, even though he hated that line and Kurt's attempt to add some Jew flavor to the script or something. "But her nagging got me thinking that if I brought home a Jewish girl at least once, I could have a whole story that we broke up, then I got all sad and sappy or whatever and got Quinn pregnant. Maybe Mom would feel bad for me and not have a conniption over the whole Quinn thing-at least maybe chill her rage a little. So I was on the look-out for any hot Jewish girls at school and was kinda surprised to realize that the new girl I kept launching slushies at was a hot Jew. I guess I hadn't actually bothered to really look at her before—she was just the annoying girl that Quinn and the others hated. She made an easy target for a slushie. Since I had to be on her shit-list, it was probably a long shot, but I figured, what the hell, I should at least try to see if I could get her to date me. At least get her to come over to the house once for dinner or some shit. That would get my mom off my back, and maybe if I'm really lucky it would make Quinn jealous. It was pretty genius. Wish me luck."

Kurt finished filming Puck watching Rachel and called "Cut," even though it wasn't really necessary.

"Quinn, do you want to film a scene with Puck while you're both here?" Kurt ventured, thinking that he could be more efficient with his time if they filmed at least one of the scenes between the two of them.

"I'm not really prepared," she replied.

"Me either," added Puck.

"I guess that's fair," Kurt nodded, "considering the addition of the miscarriage storyline, maybe it's best to let me do that re-write and film everything over the weekend."

Quinn nodded while both Puck and Rachel gaped. "Miscarriage?" Puck repeated.

"It's a compromise," Kurt explained. "Now Quinn won't have to do certain scenes she didn't want to, and I get all the drama without having to deal with an actual birth or bringing up a character like Shelby Corcoran and her connection to all of this."

"What the fuck, Kurt?" Puck erupted. "Now I'm going to have to fake cry after my fake baby dies? I thought I didn't have to do very much for this stupid movie and you keep changing it all on me!"

"Oh honey," Kurt shook his head almost sympathetically. "You didn't think you were going to have to show emotion in the original version where your friends turn against you for backstabbing Finn and your daughter gets adopted out of your life? I'm sorry to say you're mistaken."

Puck just crossed his arms angrily and grunted a furious, "Whatever, asshole."

This time, Rachel didn't scold him for his bad language. She had focused in on Kurt's mention of Shelby and hadn't really heard anything after that. She thought that she may have a message to return from Shelby that had arrived weeks ago. Rachel almost felt guilty for taking the start of a relationship with her biological mother for granted, as difficult as it was. But she assured herself that she had more important things to deal with and since Shelby had waited so long to contact her, the woman could wait until Rachel was good and ready to reply. Maybe she would respond in a few weeks and tie it to Valentine's Day…unless it's weird for a bio-daughter to wish her bio-mother Happy Valentine's Day.

Rachel contemplated this as she heard Noah say, "Let's go."

"That was a short filming session," she remarked absently as she realized that they were finished and had reached the parking lot.

"Not short enough," Puck huffed.

...

Kurt didn't let Puck's outburst bother him. Since Puck didn't say the words I quit, Kurt didn't think he had to worry. He had another scene to film, but this one would be at Artie's house so that Artie could film and direct a scene for him and Blaine. Every scene couldn't take place at the school, and this one was supposed to be a real heart-to-heart about the bullying situation that Kurt had written to show how he relied on Blaine to help him through the hard times.

Blaine was already there when Kurt pulled into Artie's driveway. They started right into the scene because Artie's mom pointed out that it was a school night and they had to finish before it got too late. Artie already had signs posted around the house that pointed out which locations would be used for the film and commanding that everyone stay Quiet on the Set. Kurt thought it was charming that Artie was so enthusiastic about directing. But he replaced his smile with a distraught frown as he acted out the scenes of knocking on Blaine's door, sitting together in the kitchen, and telling him about the latest bullying attack and how Karofsky seemed to have him targeted for no reason.

Kurt sighed. "Thanks so much for listening, Blaine, you really are my rock. Sometimes I wish you'd just transfer and go to public school with me so I could see you all the time."

Blaine leaned toward him across the table. "Don't you think I've thought about it?"

Kurt blinked, taken aback. That wasn't in the script. They were supposed to talk about Kurt transferring. "No..." he said cautiously, searching Blaine's face for signs he should tell Artie to cut. Artie started scanning the script frantically, but decided to keep rolling.

Blaine continued. "I have thought about it, but I didn't mention it because I know that I'd be a complete mess if I went to your school. I'm not as brave as you are. I want to be, it's a huge regret I have, not standing up to my tormentors at my old school. But I'm just not as courageous as you are."

"Me? Braver than you are? You're the most self-assured, strongest person I know!"

"Only in my Zero Tolerance for Bullying Private School," Blaine confessed with chagrin. "I want to be strong for you, and I really get this great feeling when you tell me that I help you and give good advice...but I'm sure I'll revert to my old self if I'm put back into a situation like the one you're facing with Karofsky. I wish you could go to school at Dalton with me, it's so much safer. It's not perfect of course, but I'd feel better knowing that I wouldn't be visiting you in the hospital after some homophobic bullies attack. If there were any way you could do that... I'm also so...in awe of you for your strength. But if things get too dangerous, I want you to promise me that you'll choose being safe over seeming strong."

Kurt's eyes were shining with unshed tears at Blaine's sincerity, even though Blaine had found his way back to the scripted part. He wondered if this was Blaine's way of telling him that he wished he'd stayed at Dalton instead of transferring back to McKinley. But Kurt took his opening to get back to the script. "I'm not strong. I'm weak. I...I tried to kill myself..."

"What? When?" Blaine exclaimed in the best acting job Kurt had ever seen. Blaine scooted his chair next to Kurt's and grabbed his hand. "Are you ok?"

Kurt flushed with anxiety; he hoped he could do justice to the role he'd written. "I'm getting there."

...

Between Blaine's impressive and emotional acting debut in their first scene together and the rewrites he had to do, Kurt felt like he was in a tailspin. He wanted to take time to appreciate every moment, but his calendar insisted on reminding him of his application deadlines. It was a good wake-up call to evaluate what he still needed to do and what sacrifices he could make for the sake of time.

And there was one thing he'd been putting off doing that he really had to address. So that night after he and Blaine left Artie's house, Kurt called Dave Karofsky on Skype and waited for the connection to start working.

"Hey, Kurt," Karofsky greeted him with a wave but got right to the point. "I got the file you sent, but I don't know what you want. My permission?"

"No! Well, I guess your permission would be good. Didn't you see my casting announcement? I want you to play the role of...you!"

"What?" Karofsky exclaimed. "I can't act! I haven't even finished reading this thing!"

"Oh no worries! It's not hard. It's like reliving more than acting. But I'll let you peruse in private while I browse YouTube or something. I'll check back in shortly," Kurt finished with a breezy wave.

Kurt waited nervously as Dave read over the scenes he'd highlighted. He knew they were intense and personal. He tried to look away from the image of Dave on his screen, but he couldn't keep his curiosity at bay for long. He watched as Dave's eyebrows furrowed and his lips twisted into a frown. Quickly Kurt assured him, "It's fictionalization of course. I wrote it to play up dramatic themes. This isn't a reflection of...current or true affairs. And nobody but me knows the entirety of what's true and what's been stretched or changed."

Dave grunted without looking toward the webcam. Finally he shook his head. "I'm sorry, Kurt. There's really just no way I can do this. It was bad enough how I treated you. Then to have to act it out...plus the other parts...not everyone knows about that."

Kurt nodded. He was afraid he'd get this reaction. "But the people who would be in the scene are just you, me, and Blaine. We already know...about the kiss, so it's not a surprise for us. Nobody else has to be involved"

Dave asked about another scene, pages ahead. "Is this true?" He dropped to a whisper. "Did I make you try to...kill yourself?"

"That's me being dramatic," Kurt assured him sincerely. "I never seriously thought about that, but it seemed to be an important perspective to tell in this story. I figured I'd never get anyone else to play such a dark role, so I made it for my character." Kurt was surprised when he thought he saw tears shining in Dave's eyes. But his screen resolution and the lighting weren't good enough for him to be sure.

"I'm glad you never..." he sputtered. "Because I've thought...I'm just really sorry."

"I know. It's ok," Kurt said with a comforting hand uselessly inching toward the computer screen. "So...I was hoping maybe you could come home to Lima for a weekend so you and I could film these scenes. And some we'd coordinate with Blaine."

Kurt hadn't heard his bedroom door open behind him. So when Blaine spoke, he was startled.

"Coordinate with me for what?"

"Oh! You're here!" Kurt exclaimed. "What are you doing here? I thought you were on your way home!"

"I was, until I hit a pot-hole or something in the dark and got a flat tire and bent the rim. You didn't answer your cell, but your dad came to get me and my car is in his shop as we speak. My parents said I can spend the night here and just get up early to help your dad with the wheel and then I'll drive to Dalton."

Dave Karofsky coughed awkwardly. "Well, I'll let you two…whatever, and I'll get going. Catch ya later."

"Wait!" Kurt shrieked embarrassingly. "Dave, we're not done, you can't disconnect yet!" Then he turned back to Blaine. "I'm so sorry about your car, but I'm glad you're here! I was just asking Dave if he could be in the film."

Blaine tried to hide his distaste for the idea. But he didn't have to wait long for relief. Karofsky squelched the idea.

"Kurt, I'm sorry, really. But I just can't."

"You can do it, I know you can!" Kurt prodded.

Blaine put a hand on his shoulder. "Kurt, he doesn't want to; you have to respect his decision."

Kurt nodded glumly. "You're right, Blaine. And I'm sorry for pushing you, Dave."

Dave shrugged. "It's ok. I'm really sorry...but I'd still like to see it when you finish, if that's alright..."

"If I finish it," Kurt sighed. "Yours will be a hard part to recast."

"Kurt..." Dave started, feeling guilty.

Blaine shook his head. "Don't worry, Dave. Kurt is very resourceful. We'll find a way. You don't need to stress about it."

"Thanks, man," Dave said.

"Yes, of course," Kurt agreed reluctantly. "I'll talk to you later, Dave."

After he disconnected the call, he whined sourly about his sorry state of affairs. "Nobody else could play that part!"

"What about Sam? He's still dying for a role."

"No way," Kurt said immediately. "He's a jock, sure. And he has an exceptional physique..."

"Really?" Blaine blanched. "You've seen his...physique?" He tried to play down the twinge of jealousy in his voice.

"Yeah, we all have," Kurt said absently. "Sometimes I forget that you're not with me at school. Anyway, Sam's got muscles and all, but he doesn't have the intimidation factor. You wouldn't know this, but sophomore year when this all started, I was like 6 inches shorter. So Dave towered over me and definitely outweighed me...I just don't think the effect is the same unless someone physically imposing plays the part."

"Is there a joke about how short I am coming next? How you tower over me?"

"What? Of course not!"

Blaine nodded and tried to let go of his insecurities so he could ponder Kurt's casting problem. "There is one solution I can think of...do you already know what I'll say?"

"No clue," Kurt shook his head. "I'm drawing a blank."

"The tallest guy in your cast...a jock...and should have some experience as a bully..." he hinted.

"Well, the tallest is Finn, but..." Kurt started doubtfully. "Wait, you're right! If Finn plays Karofsky and Sam plays Finn, we have our cast!" Kurt clapped his hands together then grabbed Blaine by the shoulders and kissed him enthusiastically. "It's genius!"

"I don't know about 'genius' but thanks, Kurt," smiled Blaine. "Glad I could help!"

"Now I have to find out if Finn will do it. He might be pretty unhappy to let all that footage he shot before go to waste and not have the chance to keep playing Quinn's boyfriend. Quinn will probably be pissy too," Kurt worried aloud.

And that was just the beginning of a long list of concerns that would arise.

But Blaine was able to get Kurt's mind off of his worries until they parted ways the next morning.

...

Over breakfast, Kurt proposed the casting changes to his step-brother.

"You want me to do what?" Finn asked with confusion. "This sounds seriously hard. And what about this scene...you actually want me to kiss you?"

Kurt waved away his concern. "It won't be a real kiss. We'll use camera angles and how you'll place your hands to make it look like a kiss."

"But people will see this! And you're my brother now!"

"Finn, it won't be romantic at all. And we can arrange it so that only you and me and one cameraman see it-or maybe we can set up the camera on a tripod. Then the only other people who will see it are admissions agents at schools you're not going to…Please Finn, I'm begging you to help me!"

Eventually, Finn agreed to try.

…

Since Finn Hudson would probably be the least convincing bully ever to be filmed (well, second to Sam Evans), Kurt figured he should prepare to cut down some bullying scenes and beef up his scenes with his mentor, Blaine, who would be a guiding voice of reason in the film and who needed to be a top star in this movie anyway. Then in their scenes they could just talk about terrible bullying without showing much action. But there were a few scenes he thought he had to at least attempt to film.

The first up was the Dumpster Toss Scene, with a group of jocks including Karofsky and Puck throwing him in and calling him trash. That would be his film opener that would pair with Kurt's own monologue.

Later would be the Slushie Scene, in which he wrote Karofsky as a jock helping to convince Puck to start the tradition of tossing a slushie on Rachel.

And most important would be the Kiss Scene, in which he wrote what happened when Karofsky kiss-attacked him almost exactly as he remembered it happening. That would lead to the resolution.

He'd see how Finn did in the Dumpster and Slushie Scenes as a bully before asking him to portray the emotional turmoil of the Kiss Scene.

The whole film was riding on how believable his amateur actors (friends) would be in their roles. And several of these actors were reluctant to play their roles (especially Puck and Finn).

Understandably, Kurt was a nervous wreck.

...

Friday after school was the next big group filming session. Kurt tried to prevent too many people from finding out about his plans, largely to avoid hurting Mercedes' feelings since she wasn't included in the film. But somehow, the secret got out. Somehow was basically a trail that could be traced from Artie to Brittany to everyone else. Fortunately for Kurt, Mercedes was very understanding about the whole thing, at least on the surface (and Kurt didn't have time to dig deeper at the moment). And now that everyone in glee knew about it, he could use it to his advantage for adding some small parts that would help with realism and having extras instead of just a handful of main characters trying to fill every scene.

...

Santana heard that Artie was going to be occupied with Kurt's movie most of the weekend, so she was looking forward to some girl-time with Brittany. But her plans were spoiled when Brit mentioned how excited she was to join in and watch Artie direct. Brittany couldn't be persuaded to ditch Artie for the weekend.

"It wouldn't be fair to Artie," Brittany said solemnly. "He's my boyfriend until we do that trade in college when I become your girlfriend. We're still doing that, right?"

Santana confirmed it instead of trying to manipulate her beautiful, sweet Brittany. But now Santana felt some real motivation to get involved in the filming, if only to hang around with Brittany and get back in Finn's good graces for her Prom Queen plans. So she very sincerely volunteered her time to Kurt, who readily accepted her participation.

...

Puck had the unusual feeling of dreading the end of school...because today it signaled the beginning of filming stuff he really didn't want to do. He wasn't sure he wanted to start into the bullying routine again. It might be kinda fun to fake throwing Kurt into a dumpster, but later he was supposed to slushie Rachel. She assured him she was fine with it, "for the sake of the arts" but Puck wasn't really ok with it. He already made up his mind to go for her boobs instead of hitting her in the face with that stinging ice and syrup when Kurt came over to tell him that they wouldn't have 'prop slushies' so he should "aim for her blouse."

But before Puck could brag that he was going to do that anyway, Kurt called for everyone to take their places and start the Dumpster scene.

And with that, Kurt started singing quietly-but he was wearing a mic like they do on talk shows and reality tv, so he knew his song was being recorded just the way he wanted.

"...cellophane...'Cause you can look right through me, walk right by me, and never know I'm there…"

Kurt had already recorded a voiceover he would use for this part, so he let his voice fade to a whisper to be sure he could add his spoken words over it in editing. He had basically introduced himself in a short monologue, talked about how he felt invisible until he came out of the closet and how his armor was his sarcastic front. He continued singing like it wasn't bizarre to sing on his way to school. Kurt's song to himself was interrupted as guys in letterman's jackets surrounded him.

"Time to take out the trash!" Finn chuckled as his Karofsky-villian character. "Gimme a hand, Puck, this little fag is getting away!"

Puck grabbed for Kurt, who had squirmed out of Finn's reach, leaving an empty jacket in Finn's hands. The two boys picked Kurt up at the arms and ankles, while Sam stepped in to help open the dumpster lid.

The camera took on Kurt's perspective, getting thrown into the dumpster with a planned toss. But off-camera Kurt climbed in the dumpster (rather than risk being thrown too roughly) and fished the camera back out so Lauren could continue recording. Slowly, Kurt climbed out of the dumpster and sat on the sidewalk, picking trash off of his clothes. Then he looked into the camera. "This was my life, almost every day. I wished I really was cellophane, invisible. No, I wanted to be seen, but I didn't want to be tortured for being myself. And it turned out, I wasn't the only one who felt that way."

Lauren zoomed in for a close-up of Kurt before Artie yelled, "Cut! That was great! Set up for Scene 2, people!"

...

Moving inside the school, Rachel had her introductory monologue.

"I'm Rachel Berry, and I was born to be a star. I'm very talented," she boasted. "Much too talented for this tiny town." But the camera zoomed in and Rachel softened her expression, hinting at underlying vulnerability. "I'm trying to make the best of it."

Rachel arranged books at her locker in the background as the camera focused on Quinn, Santana, and Brittany in their Cheerios uniforms and Finn, Puck, and Sam in their letterman jackets.

Kurt stopped filming to make sure that Finn hadn't finished drinking the slushie that was supposed to get thrown on Rachel. "Finn, from this point on, either don't bring that straw to your lips or just pretend to suck on it. Actually, no, just give it to Puck."

For some reason, several people laughed or blushed when Kurt had scolded Finn about drinking the stage props...a reason that finally dawned on Kurt a few beats later when Puck said, "Good one...I've never tried asking anyone to pretend to suck on it, but I think I have said 'just give it to Puck' before."

Kurt glared at Puck, who miraculously shut his face. But because several people, especially Rachel and Quinn, were still showing signs of blushing, they couldn't start filming right away. Kurt pretended that he was checking the lighting while commanding that everyone stay in the exact spot from the time the camera stopped rolling. Finally, the girls' faces seemed to return to normal.

"Ok, people, let's start again. Quinn, I hope acting mean to Rachel on camera won't be too difficult for you," Kurt said with mock concern.

"I'm sure I can handle it," Quinn rolled her eyes. What she wasn't sure about was how weird it was to do scenes with Sam that were so close to her real life with Finn. It just felt...off.

And it would probably come through in their scenes together.

But the show must go on.

"Action!" directed Kurt. And the scene unfolded.

"New girl has hideous taste in clothes," Quinn smiled snidely. "How unfortunate."

"Who? Rachel?" Brittany asked in an unscripted line, completely confused by Quinn calling her 'new girl'.

But before Kurt could yell 'cut' in exasperation, Santana ad-libbed to save the scene.

"Yeah, Rachel I-wanna-be-a-star-but-I-dress-like-a-toddler Berry. She was such a know-it-all bitch in History today. It was all I could do not to accidentally elbow her and that huge schnoz."

Brittany giggled.

Sam spoke up for his scripted lines. "I think she's interesting. What's wrong with being smart and answering questions in class?" Then he leaned in and whispered with alarm, "I think she can hear you!"

The three cheerleaders stared at him.

"Whatever," Santana snapped. "Good! She needs to hear it!"

"Sam, this is just girls being girls," Quinn explained soothingly as she nestled her way under his arm. "For example, I just happen to dislike her wardrobe choices. I have nothing against her personally."

Santana nodded. "And anyone with such major wardrobe malfunctions on top of her clear case of social awkwardness will have a hard time making it in this world. We're just helping her figure that out sooner rather than later."

Brittany smiled at Santana's words of wisdom.

Finn, in his role as the Karofsky-like bully, nudged Puck. "Maybe someone needs to help her figure out her wardrobe malfunctions." Finn eyed the slushie in Puck's hand. "Get my drift?"

Puck looked noticeably distraught-but he wasn't acting. He really wasn't sure if he could do this. Not to Rachel. Not again.

Quinn smiled and met Puck's eyes. Finn reached for the cup but Puck jerked his hand away, sloshing the contents violently enough against the lid that he nearly spilled it early. But he recovered. "I got this," he said smoothly as he strode up to Rachel.

She turned to face him with a curious smile. He knew she was acting, but fuck, she looked at him almost the same way she had...the first time he'd slushied her.

He paused. His resolve wavered again.

But Rachel stepped closer. "Noah?" She straightened her shoulders and lowered her notebook, giving him access to her bright white blouse as his slushie target.

"It's Puck," he said gruffly as he jerked his arm just right to splash the slushie as planned. He felt terrible as he heard Rachel gasp with the cold shock of the ice and watched the purple grape syrup spread a stain across her boobs and drip down her skirt.

"Shit," he muttered.

Finn gulped at the sight and felt a tug in his chest seeing Rachel so destroyed. He'd never slushied her, but still, he felt waves of guilt crashing over him. He tried to get back in character and congratulate Puck on his aim.

On camera, Finn looked noticeably shocked but it seemed reasonable to Kurt even though he hadn't specified that Finn should act that way. In fact, one purpose of the movie was to hint at a truth it took Kurt himself a while to understand...that there's always another perspective. That even bullies have emotions and often reasons for their behavior, however wrong and misguided. It was actually a great bonus that Finn by his natural reaction showed how a bully could be jarred by how bad something really was after the fact when it had seemed like a funny prank before delivery. Kurt had expected a reaction from Puck that would demonstrate this point without spelling it out yet. Even with the obvious reaction by Finn, nobody looked more distraught than Puck. He looked miserable, even more miserable than poor Rachel.

And that was just what Kurt wanted to capture. Everything was going his way!

It even worked when the mic caught Brittany whispering (unscripted), "I can't believe he did that."

So Kurt hoped that as long as Finn wasn't painfully awful as Karofsky in bigger scenes, this film might actually be almost as good as he'd envisioned. But he needed reassurance that it wasn't all in his head, that the others thought it was good too.

Kurt nervously addressed his cast and crew. "So what did you think of our first scene of the day? Too far with the slushie gag? Not far enough?"

Everyone nodded, seeming to indicate they thought the scene was fine, but nobody spoke up. Rachel was busy toweling off.

"C'mon, people!" Kurt called out. "I'm dying for some real feedback here! The sooner I get some, the sooner we'll move on..." he bargained.

That gave him some vocal affirmations of how the scene was just fine.

"It was perfect, Kurt!" Rachel exclaimed.

But Kurt knew she had her own reasons not to have to do another take, so he didn't take much stock in her praise. "Anybody else? Thoughts?"

"I'll be honest," Finn joked, "You could've used a little more cowbell."

He was greeted with blank stares.

"What?" Finn asked the group. "Nobody watches SNL reruns? Christopher Walken? Anyone?"

Kurt sighed. "Now, Finn, I know that you bonded with my dad over his Saturday Night Live collections, but honestly, I was hoping for more constructive assessments."

Sam piped up with his best Walken impression. "Maybe you should've said, I've got a fever and the only prescription is more cowbell!"

Finn cracked up laughing. "Yes!" Finally someone who got it. "That was hilarious, man!"

Quinn giggled and shook her head. "You two are so dumb."

"I give up," Kurt sighed. "We'll just move on because I think it's going great!"

Finn grinned sheepishly and apologized to Kurt for his joke. But he caught Quinn's eye and flashed a smile. Sure, she'd just called him dumb, but she laughed when she said it. Her cute laugh, not her sarcastic bitchy one. He realized that this was Quinn's way of joining in without being accused of acting immature. Sometimes she said mean things she didn't think were mean. And even when she was being mean, she was still so pretty. Just look at her, biting her lip and shaking her head at him. He wished he could just kiss her right then and there.

Finn felt bad for his messed up thoughts about Quinn. He liked Sam. They probably could've been even better friends.

Maybe if they hadn't been after the same things.

...

They filmed a few more scenes that Puck didn't care about at all. He was just ready for it to be over so he could talk to Rachel. He waited until they were down the hall, heading toward their lockers away from everyone else.

"I'm so sorry about today," Puck said, his voice strained with emotion.

Rachel just looked at him, puzzled. She was about to ask for clarification when he spoke again.

"The slushie thing, acting like a dick."

She smiled and wrapped her arms around him. "You don't have to apologize! It's just acting!"

He shook his head. "This time it was acting, but it came from real stuff I did...I never want to do that again."

"Then you won't," she hugged him tightly. "Well, except for tomorrow..."

"What's tomorrow?"

"A big slushie scene. Didn't you see Kurt's re-write?" Rachel asked as she tried not to smile too broadly.

"What?" Puck nearly shouted.

Rachel giggled. "Just kidding!"

He tried to give her a dirty look, but that broke down into a smirk, which gave way to a smile. "You think you're so funny, don't you?" Puck joked.

"Maybe..." she grinned and blushed a little.

She looked so hot. He knew she wasn't experienced, but this seemed like the next obvious thing to do after she had been so bad.

She had already ducked into his arms for what she thought was an apology-hug when Puck had decided to sneak a spanking.

The smack of his hand on her ass stung his palm a bit, so he felt guilty when she jumped on contact and knew she had to feel a sting too.

She did.

She mostly jumped out of surprise from the unexpected slap on her rear, but her winter tights and flannel skirt had cushioned the blow so it wasn't really painful. Still, she felt like his hand left a burning imprint. She was shocked, appalled, and strangely excited. Before she could process what was happening, the mild burning pain radiated in waves to become a warm tingling sensation between her legs.

"Man, I got you good," Puck said almost apologetically as he rubbed the site of his attack to try to dull the pain while enjoying what he could feel of her shape from outside of her skirt.

Breathlessly she whispered, "You did," and hugged him even tighter, pressing her body firmly to his and surprising them both.

Needless to say, Puck was pleased by her apparently positive reaction. He cupped her ass and let his hand ride under her skirt as he backed up to the lockers for stability. He picked her up in his arms, knowing that she felt his growing erection as he held her against him.

Rachel kissed him immediately, even though she couldn't believe what she was doing. She should be offended that he thought he could get away with spanking her like that! She should be embarrassed to have her legs wrapped around his hips in the school hallway like this! She should be...but she didn't have room for those thoughts for more than a second before her body took over and drowned her inhibitions. She was pulsing with desire for him and felt as though they were connected by a throbbing heat in their cores.

"Holy fuck," Puck whispered as he lowered her slowly to the ground, feeling her soft curves along the way. He knew they couldn't do it here. This was just a warm-up. He had an idea. He was going to push things a bit beyond what they'd done so far. It had been miraculous enough that she'd ever had sex with him, and still wanted to...be with him or whatever. But it seemed like Rachel was on fire after that swat on the ass, so there was gonna be more of that ASAP.

"Let's get outta here," he said hoarsely, grabbing his coat and forgetting whatever shit he had left in his locker.

She nodded eagerly-so eagerly it would have been funny if Puck hadn't been struggling to contain his erection. That made her bobble-headed delight almost painful to endure-they were both so ready for this, but they had to get someplace private.

They couldn't keep themselves apart long enough to drive home-besides someone could be home at either residence. Puck just pulled the truck around to the back parking lot of the high school where no other cars remained. Snow was falling from the dark January sky, but Puck killed the engine and the heater-they wouldn't need it in a few minutes.

Rachel didn't need instructions. She promptly made herself comfortable straddling his lap, already fondling him through his jeans and feeling for his zipper. She unzipped his fly but before going further she peeled off her coat and let it fall to the floor.

"Hot already," she murmured.

"Yeah, you are," he answered with amusement. But he was grateful too. He ran his hands over her sweater, skimming her boobs, reveling in her shape. He thought about pulling that sweater off, but changed his mind, afraid she'd get too cold. He popped open her bra though, so he could reach his hand underneath for a good feel. Then he hiked up her skirt and was dismayed to find that she had on leggings or something that he had to pull down-not like her knee socks that she'd wear when it wasn't so cold.

She realized the roadblock came from her tights, so she wiggled out of them gracelessly, but quickly, which was all that mattered to them both at the moment. She shivered as the cold air and leather seats chilled her bare legs, but she wasn't concerned. She knew she'd warm up soon.

She gasped as he entered her with little warning-though she had positioned herself for his entry so she shouldn't have been surprised. She was just...full.

"Noah..." her frosty breath visible like smoke in the air.

Puck smirked as he leaned back in the seat. On his thrust, he held her hip in one hand and with the other gave her a little smack on the ass. Light but firm. His hand landed a bit higher than he would have liked, but it was damn near impossible to get the right angle when she was riding him cowgirl style in his truck cab. The difficulty just gave him ideas for the next go-around they could have when they were actually in a bed and he could give it to her right. But his off-target spank had done the trick. She rocked forward, pushing her clit against him and driving him deeper inside her with that push of his hand.

She gasped again at the sensations, then arched her back in a silent request for more.

Puck was eager to fulfill that request.

His next one was more on the mark, centered just right.

Rachel felt vibrations from the outside in and moaned with the new pleasure. She had unconsciously pushed herself farther forward and Puck took advantage of the perfect position to root his way under her bra. When his lips found her, she sighed and arched into him further.

In no time, the air was hot and the windows had a fog to shield them from being seen.

Not that anyone passed by to see.

Not that they would have cared if they had been caught.

They were bound together, warm on a cold night.

And that was all that mattered for now.

...

A.N. Hope you enjoyed! Let me know! I'm home sick today, but planning to get some more writing done, along with responding to messages from some of you back from early 2012! I'll have a Contest Question when I finally get to the end of the "Drifting" chapters to conclude Kurt's movie. Then we'll have chapters that include Valentine's Day, a talent show, Prom, graduation, and much more ahead.