How to Be Noah's Girlfriend – A Handy Guide by Rachel Barbara Berry*

Rachel was reaching for her science book when her locker was unceremoniously slammed shut. She huffed in outrage and annoyance. There had barely been enough time to remove her hand and save herself from certain injury. There was a large hand splayed on top of the metal door, keeping it closed and when she followed said hand, she was surprised and curious to find it attached to one Lauren Zizes. One very annoyed looking Lauren Zizes. "H-hello," Rachel swallowed, cursing herself for her nervousness. "Was there something you needed Lauren?" She clutched her notebook to her chest and took a step back as Lauren took a step forward.

"You and I need to talk about Puck." Lauren said.

"Okay," Rachel nodded frantically. "Let me just check my schedule and we can come up with a time to meet that would be agreeable to the both of us…"

"Now is pretty agreeable to me," Lauren said, taking another menacing step forward, causing Rachel to take another step back. She felt her head hit metal and the familiar shape of a combination lock digging into her spine.

"Of course, now is great!" Rachel attempted to offer her a smile but she wasn't sure how successful she'd been when Lauren didn't smile back. Then again, she rarely saw Lauren smile at all so it probably had nothing to do with her. "What would you like to discuss in regards to Noah?"

"You need to back off." Lauren said.

"I beg your pardon?" Rachel asked confused.

"Puck is mine, or he will be if I decide to let him. And I fight for what's mine." Lauren told her seriously.

"That is a very admirable trait. I think you'll find that you and I are somewhat alike in that regard—" Rachel was cut off when Lauren's other hand slammed against the lockers on Rachel's right, effectively trapping her and the notebook she'd been clutching to her chest fell the floor.

"Back off Puckerman or I'll make you back off." Lauren warned her.

Rachel still didn't understand what Lauren wanted, surely the other girl didn't think that she was after Puck. "I'm quite sure that there has been a simple misunderstanding here. I am not "after" Noah, so really there is no reason to warn me to back off."

"Like I'm really going to believe that," Lauren rolled her eyes. "First of all, every girl in this school is after Puck. I mean there's no way you can resists those guns, trust me I've tried. Second of all, you've got a reputation around the glee club for going after the other girls' boyfriends – Finn, Mike, Sam – and I'm not gonna let that happen."

"Now wait just a minute," Rachel stood up straighter. "I agree that Noah's arms are quite lovely, but you can hardly use that as a basis for such a broad generalization insinuating that all women are after him. Secondly, I resent the implication that I am some sort of…of…brazen, man-stealing homewrecker. While I was less than ethical in my persistent, and I can now freely admit, ill-advised pursuit of Finn Hudson when he belonged to another woman, I do not deliberately set out to steal other girls' boyfriends."

Lauren snorted and Rachel felt herself grow even more annoyed.

"The incident with Mike was quite an unfortunate side effect of the alcohol as everyone, Mike and Tina included, well knows and furthermore, I have hardly spoken more than three sentences to Sam since he joined glee, which is, actually now that I think about it, something that I really must remedy. He seems like a very nice boy and he's had quite a rough time of it lately what with Quinn cheating on him and Santana's sexual confusion. As captain, it is my duty to be concerned with the wellbeing of the members of the club," Rachel stopped to take a breath and noticed Lauren looking at her skeptically so she narrowed her eyes. "Which you should not in any way construe as to mean that I am 'after' Sam."

"Whatever," Lauren rolled her eyes. "I only listened to, like, every third word you just said, but I'm not just imagining this. I have proof." Lauren reached in her pocket and pulled out a phone, shoving it in Rachel's face. She frowned because it looked really familiar.

"This isn't your phone," Rachel said and Lauren shook her head. "This is Noah's phone," she looked up at the other woman and balked. "You stole Noah's phone!"

"Chill, I just borrowed it to prove a point," Lauren said. "Take a look at the list of incoming and outgoing calls and text messages. Do you see one name that pops up about five times more than any others?"

With shaky hands, Rachel flipped Puck's phone open and scrolled through the lists and swallowed hard, seeing exactly what Lauren wanted her to see. "My number does appear with some degree of frequency, but it's only logical considering that Noah and I are friends." Rachel stressed the last word. "Very good friends. In fact ,I might go so far as to say that with the strained nature of his relationship with Finn and his somewhat abrasive nature toward pretty much everyone else, I'm probably his best friend. However I had not realized our correspondence was quite so prevalent, but it is hardly the basis for such aspersions on my character."

"Whatever, all I'm saying is the texting and the calling has to stop." Lauren yanked the phone back from Rachel. "And I'm also not down with you hanging out at his house all the time either."

"I do not hang out there all the time," Rachel squeaked.

"You've been there every day this week." Lauren raised an eyebrow.

"Well, yes," Rachel fumbled a bit because that was technically true. "But it's not what you think. Half of the time I'm not even there to see Noah. On Saturdays, I help his mom cook for the JCC outreach program. It's something that we've always done separately and just recently started doing together because it's much more enjoyable to spend an evening cooking with someone else than it is by yourself. And Noah isn't even there most of the time. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, his sister and I attend the same dance academy, in different classes obviously, but they meet on the same day at the same time. It seems silly to make Mrs. Puckerman leave work early to pick Dani up when I could more easily drop her off on my way home."

"You stay for dinner." Lauren pointed out.

"Mrs. Puckerman asks me to and I can hardly decline a direct invitation."

Lauren narrowed her eyes at Rachel then. "She never invites me to diner."

"Oh," Rachel said, her mouth hanging open slightly, unsure what to say to that. "I'm sure that she would be more than happy to have you stay but you see she tries very hard to keep her household kosher which is a difficult diet for someone who's not used to it."

Lauren snorted then. "Puck doesn't keep kosher. We had bacon cheeseburgers just last weekend."

"I know." Rachel shook her head as if this was something that she had been long suffering with Puck. "His mother and I disparage of his fondness for pork but whenever we try to remind him that our religion forbids us from eating any part of a pig, he simply points out that God would not have made bacon so delicious if he didn't want us to eat it. It's a rather circular argument that we have quite frequently. His mother and I were discussing just last week whether or not it would help to bring Rabbi Wasserman into the fold but Noah has always had a problem with authority figures and I fear that he would simply eat more pork in retaliation, which would be quite counterproductive."

"Right, so what you're saying is, his mom doesn't like me because I'm not Jewish?" Lauren asked dangerously and Rachel panicked.

"No, of course not. I'm sure she likes you just fine, regardless of your personal religious affiliations." Rachel stuttered and let out a deep sigh. "I'm just saying that I do not merely have a relationship with Noah, as his best friend, I also have one with his family."

"Well as his girlfriend," Lauren said. "I should be the one to have a relationship with his family. Not you."

"I didn't realize you were his girlfriend." Rachel sputtered. "Just a minute ago you still weren't completely committed to the idea—"

"Well, I'm committed now," Lauren said. "You could say that you helped me see the light. So yeah, I'm his girlfriend now."

"Oh," Rachel said softly, unsure why that statement made her stomach tighten. "I see, well I'm happy that I could offer some assistance," she bent down and stuffed all of her books in her bag as quickly as she could right when the bell rang. "And you are 100% correct. As you are his girlfriend now, it is highly inappropriate for me to spend so much time at his house. I will continue to bring Dani home from dance because it simply is the easiest solution for all involved but I will decline Mrs. Puckerman's diner invitation from here on out. I suppose that I can still contribute food to the JCC outreach, albeit on my own and I will also make a conscious effort to refrain from calling and texting Noah so much. I take it that these terms are acceptable to you?"

"Great, glad you see things my way," Lauren pushed herself away from the locker and turned down the hall. "Yo Puckerman!" Lauren called out as Puck made his way down the hall. "We're dating now, I decided."

"Seriously?" Puck asked and Rachel watched as his eyes lit up. "Don't mess with me, Zizes, I'm not sure I can handle it."

"Seriously. You're my boyfriend or whatever." Lauren said. "And I want to have dinner at your house tonight with your mom so make that happen."

"Sure ,whatever, does this mean I get to touch your boobs now?" Puck asked as he held out his arm for her.

"Maybe." Lauren said.

Rachel sighed as the rest of the students cleared out of the hallway and she started heading to her classes. She was just getting used to having a best friend, but she supposed that as long as Lauren made Noah happy, she would do what she needed to do to make Lauren happy. If that meant that she 'backed off' then that's simply what she would have to do. She just didn't understand why it hurt so much.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Rachel was lost in thought when the door to the intermediate dance class let out. She was actually anxious to see Noah's sister. It surprised her how much she missed her. For a while there, it was almost like she had a little sister and she'd always wanted a sister. But it had been a week since she'd really gotten to spend much time with the girl. Ever since last Friday afternoon, after Lauren had cornered Rachel and told her to stay away from Noah and his family, Rachel had done everything she could to avoid the Puckerman's . It still continued to surprise her just how ingrained in her life they had become.

She missed hearing all about Dani's day at school. She missed having her ask Rachel for advice about boys. She even missed having to reassure the girl that Noah would under no circumstances hunt said boy down and castrate him,(after explaining what castrating meant which had been particularly awkward, made even more so by Noah laughing the whole time in the other room). She missed talking to Mrs. Puckerman, gossiping about the nosey old ladies at Temple or debating on which couple they like better on Grey's Anatomy, Mark and Lexi or Avery and Lexi. At Rachel's last count it had still been a toss-up.

Most of all though, as painful as it was to admit, she missed Noah. She missed sitting with him at Temple, making sure that he and Dani didn't disrupt the service too badly. She missed sitting on his bed and doing her homework with a muffled background soundtrack of him playing one of his war games as he talked trash to Mike and Finn over his headset. She missed fighting with him about doing his own homework until he finally agreed as long as she took over playing his guy on the video game.

She even missed him at school now. Ever since he and Lauren became an official couple, he no longer stopped by her locker randomly throughout the day just to say hi and she wouldn't dare visit his for fear that Lauren would snap her in two. At lunch they still technically ate together, at the same table with all the other Gleeks, but she made as little conversation as she possibly could with him because every time he asked her a question, Lauren spent the entire time it took her to answer glaring at Rachel over Noah's shoulder.

But he seemed at least happy now. She was actually very proud of him when he'd told her about his feelings for Lauren. She encouraged him to go for it, even giving him pointers on how to properly 'woo' a girl. She reassured him every time that Lauren shot him down that if he just kept going, kept trying, eventually she would have to see what an amazing guy he was. She never imagined then that Noah getting Lauren meant her losing Noah. She sometimes wondered this past week, if she had known, would she have been so eager to help.

Then she remembered the look on his face last week after Temple, when he'd come up to her. Her dad's were talking to his mom about something and he'd had this huge smile on his face as he tossed his arm over her shoulder and squeezed her against his side.

"Look, whatever you said to Lauren, I just want to say thanks," he told her and Rachel had looked up at him confused so he continued. "She told me that you and her had a little talk at school today and it made her realize how much she wanted to make this thing official so just…thanks. It was really cool of you."

Rachel swallowed hard and smiled. She didn't tell him that she had nothing directly to do with Lauren's decision. She didn't tell him that this was likely the last time that they would get to hang out alone. She didn't tell him any of this she just said, "You're welcome," and then told her fathers that she wasn't really feeling well and they left early.

"Rachel!" Dani said excitedly, catching her attention and bringing her back to the present. She hadn't even realized the class had been dismissed. She watched Dani rushed over to her, tossing an absentminded wave to her friends over her shoulders as they headed to the parking lot.

"How was class?" Rachel asked.

Dani rolled her eyes. "So boring. I'm tired of intermediate classes. I know all this stuff already but mom won't let me sign up for the advanced ones because the other girls are so much older than me."

"I know, we've talked about it before," Rachel frowned. "I understand where she's coming from though. The world of ballet is rather competitive and those girls can be cruel. Especially to people they know have a talent far superior to theirs. She simply worries about your emotional wellbeing."

"She should worry more about me dying of boredom," Rachel rolled her eyes. "It's possible! Becky Franks said her Mom knows a lady who had a daughter that did once. For real."

"Becky Franks likes to make up stories and I know you're far too intelligent to fall for something like that or believe that anyone else would." Rachel said unlocking the car door. Dani slid in the passenger seat and buckled her seat belt with a sigh.

"Anything good happen at school today?" Rachel asked, changing the subject and Dani launched into a long-winded story about this kid named Aaron Grossman who Rachel vaguely knew from Temple. This was apparently the latest crush of the week and Rachel made a mental note to look out for him tomorrow and scope him out a bit. He was Jewish so that was one point in his favor. When she'd finished telling Rachel how amazing and cute and funny and kind Aaron was, she moved onto a topic totally out of left field.

"Did you and Noah have a fight?" Dani asked after a minute of silence.

"Of course not, what would make you think that?"

"It's just, you haven't been to the house since last Thursday and I never hear him talking to you on the phone anymore. It's always Lauren." Dani wrinkled her nose at the mention of the other girl and Rachel had to force herself not to smile.

"So then you've met Lauren?" Rachel asked, making sure to stare straight ahead at the road.

"Yeah. She says she's Noah's girlfriend but I think that's bullshit." Dani held her head up high at that statement.

"Danielle Sara Puckerman, you watch your language," Rachel said.

"She's at the house all the time and she's mean." Dani pouted. "She tells me to shut up and she bosses Noah around like he's her slave and he just freakin' takes it. I swear it's like she cut off his balls."

"Dani!" Rachel snapped a warning at the girl.

"Sorry but it's totally weird." Dani said. "And mom hates her. She basically makes Noah invite her to diner and then she complains the whole time about what mom cooks. And mom tries to be nice but there's only so much that mom can take you know."

Rachel did know. Mrs. Puckerman was the sweetest kindest woman Rachel had ever met but she did have her limits and when they were reached, everyone in a ten-mile radius had better duck and cover. "Did something happen?" Rachel asked, hoping that Dani couldn't hear the interest in her voice.

"Oh God, Rach, you should have been there it was totally epic," Dani turned in her seat. "So last night we were eating dinner and it was like so quiet. It was creepy. No one was talking which is weird because when you're there you always talk." Rachel didn't take offense to that because it was obvious Dani didn't mean it that way.

"So Puckerman, you're taking me to the fair this Friday," Lauren said squinting at the food on her plate as she pushed it around.

Puck looked up from his plate. He generally just kept his head down and ate his food and hoped dinner would be over with as soon as fucking possible. "I um…what?"

"Noah can't go to the fair this Friday," Aviva said to Lauren. "He has Temple."

Lauren looked over at Puck and snorted. "You can't take me out because you have church?"

"It's Temple, not church," Aviva said through gritted teeth as she set her fork down.

"Whatever. Jeez, Puck, I thought you were a badass," Lauren chuckled. "Guess I was wrong, you're just a mama's boy aren't you?"

"Hey!" Puck glared at her.

"His name is Noah!" Dani snapped at Lauren which just made her laugh even harder.

Everyone went back to eating, the tension even higher if that was possible when Lauren spoke again. "So what exactly do Jews have against bacon anyway?" she asked. "I mean it's delicious."

"That's it," Aviva dropped her silverware to the table with a very loud clatter. "Noah, if you want to date this…this…shiksa, that is your decision but I will not be forced to break bread with her any longer."

"Mom," Puck said.

Lauren reached out and slapped his arm. "What did she just call me? That's a bad name isn't it? She just called me a bad name and you didn't do anything."

"With Santana, you were just trying to piss me off and I held my tongue because you were young and acting out. And with Quinn, I believe that you really did love her at one point and you were trying to be a man and do the right thing so I tolerated her as best as I could, but this…this…this is just going too far, Noah Eli Puckerman."

"She used your full name," Dani smirked at Puck and he glared at his little sister.

"Shut up, Dani," Puck glared at her.

"Are you just going to stand there and let her insult me like this?" Lauren asked and slapped him again.

"Seriously, woman, stop hitting me," Puck turned to her.

"And that's when mom started yelling at Noah in Hebrew and at some point she said your name and Lauren got all mad and stormed out, and Noah and mom fought for a little while longer before they both stormed out." Dani said.

"Oy vey," Rachel muttered under her breath. "That sounds like a very exciting evening."

"Well, I got to eat everyone's dessert so, whatever." Dani shrugged.

"Look, Lauren can be quite abrasive at first. And she is quite ignorant in the ways of our religion. I feel that a bit of slack could have been offered because it's not her fault that she doesn't know any better."

"She's stupid and I hate her," Dani protested.

"She is not stupid, just ignorant and you don't hate her," Rachel turned to Dani, "You don't hate people, Dani. Hate is a very strong emotion and I feel that word is tossed around far too often with far too much casualness. You may dislike her but remember, you hardly know her."

"I don't want to know her," Dani said.

"Give her a chance for your brother, please," Rachel asked and Dani nodded once. She figured that was the best she was going to get out of her.

"Is she why you don't come around anymore?" Dani asked and Rachel cursed herself. She should have been prepared for that question but she wasn't and as such hadn't had time to properly school her features. "She is, isn't she? You hate…I mean you dislike her just as much as I do and since she's been around you never come around."

"That's not entirely the truth." Rachel corrected. "I'm not staying away because I dislike Lauren, it's much more complicated than that."

"Then explain it to me." Dani said.

"Lauren simply pointed out to me that since she was Noah's girlfriend now, it was hardly my place to spend so much time with his family, that was her job now."

"Yeah, well she's not very good at her job." Dani said as they pulled into her driveway. "Is she going to make you stop picking me up from dance?"

Rachel sucked in a breath as she parked the car and took her seat belt off so that she could turn completely and face the younger girl. Suddenly, she was very angry with Lauren Zizes. While Rachel understood where she was coming from where Noah was concerned, she really had no right to keep Rachel from his sister. "Dani, Lauren may be your brother's girlfriend and while that affords her a certain amount of leeway in dictating my relationship with him, she has no say in regards to my relationship with you. Do you understand?" Dani shook her head slowly but Rachel didn't really mind. Not many people could understand her at first. "Lauren or no Lauren, I will always be there for you, okay?"

"Promise?" Dani sniffled slightly.

"Pinky promise." Rachel held out her hand and Dani twined her pinky with Rachel's before launching herself over the seat and throwing her arms around Rachel's neck in a hug. "Hey, why don't I talk to your mom at Temple tomorrow about moving you up to the advanced class? I think she might consider it if I promise to keep a close eye out for you."

"You'll do that?" Dani squealed. "Really?"

"Really." Rachel nodded.

"Thank you so much." Dani said in her ear. The two girls pulled away when they heard a knock on the window. They both turned to see Puck smirking at them on Rachel's side. He made a motion for her to roll the window down and she complied.

"What was with the love fest here?" He asked.

"Rach is going to talk mom into letting me move up to the advanced dance class." Dani smirked.

"Good luck," Puck snorted. "Dani's been begging her for almost a year now."

"Yes, I've gathered it won't be easy to convince her." Rachel sighed.

"Nah, she loves you," Puck reminded Rachel. "She'll do it if you ask."

"We'll see." Rachel smiled tightly.

"Are you staying for dinner tonight?" he asked.

"Oh, no I've got a…there's this SAT prep class, at the Community College." Rachel said lamely and Dani snorted from the passenger seat.

"Right," Puck looked at her skeptically. "You wouldn't be avoiding me by chance would you?"

Rachel put on her best shocked face and shook her head. "I am doing no such thing."

"Really?" Puck leaned in against the open window. "I'm taking Lauren to the fair Saturday night. Mom is making me bring Dani. Come with us."

"I'm not sure if that's a good idea." Rachel shook her head.

"You have to come please." Dani said and Rachel glared at Puck who was smirking. He knew if he asked while Dani was around there was no way Rachel could say no.

"I'm sure Lauren wouldn't want me to crash your date." Rachel said lamely.

"Dani's already crashing," Puck shrugged. "Come on, you're not gonna let the kid down are you? She's really missed you Rach, been driving me up the wall asking when you're gonna come visit again."

"I've been really busy," Rachel said lamely.

"You promised," Dani said. "You pinky promised."

"Alright fine." Rachel said. "If you get your Social Studies project finished."

"I'll go work on it right now." Dani grabbed her dance bag and ran out of the car.

"You play dirty, Puckerman," Rachel said but she couldn't stop smiling.

"No other way to play." Puck shrugged and backed away from her car. "Have fun at your prep course."

"I will," Rachel said and backed out of the driveway.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Rachel took a deep breath to calm her nerves and pushed herself through the doors into the girls' locker room after school on Friday. Rachel was grateful that Lauren was the only girl on the wrestling team because she really didn't want an audience for this, especially if it ended in Lauren beating her to a bloody pulp.

"Lauren, may I speak to you a moment please?" Rachel asked with much more bravado than she was feeling at the moment.

Lauren looked up from the bench as she tied her shoes. "Whatever, but literally like a moment, cause if I'm not on the mat when practice starts, Coach is gonna chop off my balls."

Rachel bit her tongue to refrain from telling Lauren that was impossible considering she didn't actually have any balls to chop off. It was actually comforting to know there was someone out there Lauren was afraid of. "I've been doing some thinking about what we talked about last week. And while I understand your request that I limit my contact with Noah, I must respectfully decline your request that I limit my contact with his family. Dani is more than just his little sister; she is my friend as well and I will not allow her to think that I have abandoned her simply because you are insecure enough to believe that my mere proximity to Noah indicates a desire to sabotage your relationship."

"What?" Lauren looked up at her.

"I will stay away from Noah if that's what you want but you can't keep me from spending time with his sister and mother." Rachel clarified.

"Whatever," Lauren stood up. "I'm pretty sure his mom and sister hate me anyway so we won't be hanging out at the Puckerman household anymore."

"Oh, well, okay then," Rachel took a deep breath and smiled. "I'm glad you can see things from my perspective. In the spirit of openness I feel that we've just established I would like to inform you that Noah invited me to accompany you and him and his sister to the fair tomorrow night and I accepted the invitation. I assure you that my intentions are nothing more than to spend some time with Dani and I promise that I will stay out of your way."

"Hey, if you can keep the brat out of my hair for the night, I don't care what you do." Lauren stood up. "So are we good?"

"Just one more thing. You made a good point when you said that the things I used to do as Noah's best friend now fall under your jurisdiction as his girlfriend." Rachel said, dropping her bag to the ground as she rummaged around in it.

"I made that point?" Lauren frowned.

"You did. However, it has come to my attention that you may be unaware of most of the things that I do, or rather, I did as Noah's best friend so I've taken the liberty of writing them down." Rachel pulled out a small red notebook and stared at it for a minute. "If I'm being honest, I've had most of them written down for a while now. I started this when Noah and I first dated back in Sophomore year and just added to it as things came up." Rachel passed it over and Lauren looked down at the cover which said:

How to Be Noah's Best Friend

– A Handy Guide

by Rachel Barbara Berry*

"Seriously?" Lauren looked up at Rachel.

"Yes," Rachel nodded then grabbed the notebook back. "Just a second." She pulled out her pen and scratched out 'Best Friend' and wrote 'Girlfriend' again. "There, better. Now most of it is self explanatory, things like," she flipped through the pages and pointed at something.

13. If you bring him some sort of baked good first thing in the morning, he won't have to make a stop at the 7-11

therefore preventing him from purchasing dip.

"Which I think we can both agree is not only a disgusting habit but an extremely unhealthy one."

"Riiight…" Lauren nodded, a bit confused.

"Yes, and some things are a little more important," Rachel flipped a few more pages.

29. He's extremely allergic shellfish but he refuses to ask about food preparation when we go out because 'it makes him less of a bad ass'.

"I tried to argue that swallowing a random piece of shrimp and having his throat swell up thereby cutting off his supply of oxygen will also make him less of a badass but he doesn't listen so I usually ask for him. I also make sure to keep an epi pen in my purse at all times, just in case."

"An epi pen?" Lauren frowned.

"Yes, you can have my spare if you like." Rachel smiled and flipped to the middle of the book. "Now, this section is all about studying."

"Section?" Lauren's jaw dropped.

"Each class has a study routine specifically catered to how Noah learns the best. Like English for example, if there's a movie version of the book, I'll let him watch it but he has to read the book as well, that is non-negotiable. For Geometry, it's best to explain things in terms of football or baseball to help him understand it and also to keep his attention. Now Chemistry requires a sort of hands-on approach. I noticed that last year he seemed to latch on a concept much faster when there was some sort of experiment involved – he really likes mixing chemicals – so each week I reserve the chem lab for a few hours and try to find experiments that correspond with the course work."

Rachel smiled and handed the notebook over. "Well, if you have any questions about any of the other things in the book don't hesitate to ask. Oh, I took the liberty of including a section in the back on Judaism. Just a short little overview of the more important aspects of our religion and a few topics it might be better to avoid when speaking to Mrs. Puckerman."

Rachel smiled wide and nodded, turning on her heel and exiting the locker room, satisfied that she had just done a very good deed.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Rachel stood in front of the ticket counter biting her lip. Noah had played dirty, using Dani to get her to come tonight but she was kind of glad that he had. "Rach," Dani screamed as she slammed into Rachel's side, squeezing her in a quick hug. "I was worried you weren't going to show."

"I pinky promised didn't I?" Rachel smiled down at her. "I love your dress. Is it new?"

Dani backed up a bit and twirled around, her skirt billowing in the wind. "It is."

"She's been spinning around in that thing all day," Puck said as he walked up with Lauren in tow.

"It's a new dress." Rachel smiled. "You have to spin in new dresses, it's a rule."

"Do you spin around when you get a new dress?" Puck smirked at her.

"Of course." Rachel nodded and Puck smiled even bigger.

"Rachel, I want to ride the Ferris wheel and the spinning cars and the thing that goes all the way upside down and that one that goes up really high and then just falls and—"

"Hold on there, sparkplug." Puck put a hand on Dani's head. "We might not be able to go on everything. Mom gave me twenty five dollars for you and that includes food."

"Don't worry about it." Rachel said to him. "I've got Dani."

"No Rach, you don't have to do to that." Puck protested.

"It's perfectly fine, Noah," Rachel assured him. "Lauren is your date for the evening and Dani is mine. I've already taken the liberty of getting us both bracelets so that we can ride whatever we want as many times as we want."

Puck smiled as Rachel produced one of those plastic all access bracelets and snapped it on Dani's wrist then grabbed his sister's hand. "I promise we'll stay out of your way as much as possible." Rachel said to him but he had this strange feeling like she was looking at Lauren when she said it.

"Whatever. Puckerman, I needed a funnel cake, like five minutes ago," Lauren grabbed his arm and pulled him away.

"How about we meet back here in an hour ok?" Puck said as Lauren dragged him off. "One hour, Dani."

"I heard you," she rolled her eyes.

"So where do you want to go first?" Rachel asked and Dani's face lit up. Rachel was very glad she had forgone eating dinner with her father's when Dani dragged her to the ride that hung them upside down.

One hour later, Rachel and Dani walked up to see Puck pacing around, waiting for them. Dani called out his name to get his attention and when he turned around and saw them, he started laughing. "What?" Rachel frowned.

"Your hair is all over the place," he reached out and started to smooth Rachel's hair out and she groaned in frustration.

"We went on that ride that flips you upside down about fifteen times," Rachel had shoved her fingers in her hair, trying to tame it a bit when they tangled with Puck's. They froze, staring at each other until Dani interrupted them.

"Noah, you promised me you'd win me something, remember?" Dani grabbed his arm and started dragging him away, pulling his fingers from Rachel's hair.

"Hey, Lauren's getting a snack. Could you let her know where we are?" Puck called over his shoulder.

"Sure," Rachel nodded and looked around, finally spotting Lauren at a food cart. She headed over there just as a guy was handing her plate. "Hello, I—" Rachel paused when she saw Lauren take a bite of the thing on the plate, "What is that?"

"Deep-fried Snickers bar," Lauren smiled.

"Oh," Rachel said, her stomach still a bit queasy from all the rides that Dani had dragged her on. "It looks…yes well, I was sent to inform you that Noah and Dani have now moved on to the games portion of the evening so if you'll just follow me—"

"Nah," Lauren stuffed the rest of the deep fried Snickers bar in her mouth and dropped the plate near the trash can. "This is pretty lame, I'm gonna bail," Lauren shrugged and wiped her hands on her pants. "Tell Puckerman for me, would ya?"

"I…" Rachel wanted to tell Lauren to tell Noah himself if she was just going to up and leave but Lauren was already halfway to the fairground exit. "I would be happy to," Rachel mumbled to herself before picking up the discarded plate from the ground and dropping it in the trashcan then heading off to join the other two. She arrived just in time to see Puck presenting Dani with a very large purple monkey.

"Look what Noah won me!" Dani shoved the monkey in Rachel's face with unrestrained glee.

"It's great," Rachel assured her.

"Not as good as the panda," Dani shrugged.

"Hey!" Puck said. "I spent fifteen dollars on that monkey."

But Dani wasn't paying attention anymore, "Goldfish!" she squealed and ran off to another game booth. "Noah, can I have a goldfish? Please?"

"I got this one," Rachel said reaching in her pocket and pulling out a five dollar bill. "She is my date after all." She handed the five to the guy manning the goldfish booth and he gave her a small cup filled with golf balls.

"Just get one of the balls in one of the bowls with a goldfish and you win the goldfish," the man told her in a bored tone.

"Where's Lauren?" Puck asked as Rachel tossed the first golf ball, missing all the bowls completely.

"Uh, she had a previous engagement and wanted me to inform you that she's terribly sorry but she had to leave," Rachel tossed another golf ball and this time actually managed to get it into a bowl, except the bowl was empty.

"Which means she thought it was lame and bailed," Puck snorted.

Rachel sighed, "I'm sorry Noah."

"It's cool, she didn't want to ride any rides anyway," Puck shrugged. "I think the only reason she wanted me to bring her was because they have funnel cake."

"Rachel, pay attention," Dani snapped at her. "You've only got one golf ball left."

"Right," Rachel took a deep breath and noticed the attendant was busy flirting with a blonde on the other side of the booth. "Noah, hold my waist."

"What?" Puck looked at her confused.

"Just hold my waist," Rachel said again and Puck's hands slid onto her waist. Rachel checked to make sure that the attendant was still busy and she leaned over the edge of the booth. When Puck realized what she was doing, he gripped her waist harder as she reached as far as she could and then basically dropped the ball into the bowl. "Pull me up," she hissed at him in a whisper and he yanked her out of the booth a little harder than needed, causing her to lose her balance and crash her entire body against him.

"You won!" Dani screamed in excitement as Puck set her back down on her feet. Dani shoved the purple monkey in Puck's chest as she took the attendant's attention away from the blonde. He stared at the golf ball floating on top of the goldfish bowl then looked over at Puck and Rachel with a suspicious look. Eventually, he just shrugged and bagged up the goldfish, handing it to Dani.

"One measly little goldfish and suddenly the giant purple monkey isn't so amazing anymore." Puck said and Rachel laughed.

"I think he's terribly adorable." Rachel assured him.

"Yeah?" Puck smiled and handed him to Rachel. "Here."

"Thank you," Rachel took the monkey and hugged him to her chest.

"Yeah ,whatever," Puck shrugged. "You have to tell mom about Dani's new pet though."

"Deal." Rachel said.

"Ok, squirt, it's time to say goodnight to Rachel." Puck said.

"Wait, we haven't ridden the Ferris wheel yet," Dani pouted.

"Dani," Puck said, his tone a warning.

"Noah," she whined at him.

"Ugh, fine." Puck groaned. "But just one time, Dani."

She smiled and dragged them off to the Ferris wheel and convinced the attendant to let the three of them share a seat. Rachel didn't notice anything off until they were practically at the top. Puck was being uncharacteristically silent and when she looked over at him, she could see the white knuckled grip he had on the safety bar. Then she noticed that his breathing had become quite erratic.

Noah Puckerman was afraid of heights. She also knew that there was no way Noah Puckerman was going to admit that he was afraid of heights but Rachel was sure that if she didn't distract him in some way, he'd either have a panic attack or pass out from lack of oxygen.

The car lurched to a stop she saw him squeeze his eyes shut so she reached out and grabbed his arm tightly. His eyes flew open and he looked over at her. "Berry?" he asked confused.

"Sorry, I guess I'm just not very good with heights," Rachel said, trying to make her own breathing more erratic to sell the 'fear'. "I apologize if I'm encroaching in your personal space but you are something rather solid to hold onto up here."

"I knew you loved the guns," Puck smirked and grabbed her hand, prying it off of his bicep and holding it in his own. "Don't worry, I got you," he squeezed her hand and she relaxed a bit because he wasn't freaking out anymore.

"So Dani, what's new with you?" Rachel asked.

"I have a date tomorrow," Dani said and Puck groaned.

"What have I told you about using the 'D' word," Puck glared at her. "It's not a date, you're too young to date, and I'm far too young to have a heart attack thinking about you dating."

"He's so dramatic," Dani rolled her eyes. "I'm twelve years old. Rachel when did you have your first date?"

"Last year actually. We went to see Sherlock Holmes and then he bought me a soy ice cream cone," she said.

"I took you to see Sherlock Holmes," Puck said. "And then I bought you a soy ice cream cone." Rachel just nodded at him. "I was your first date…ever?"

"Yeah," Rachel nodded, a small blush on her cheeks.

"Ew, you dated my brother?" Dani looked over at Rachel as if she wasn't sure how this new information fit into her world view.

"For like a week last year," Rachel laughed at the look on Dani's face. "We decided that we were better off as friends."

"We didn't decide, Berry." Puck snorted. "You dumped me, remember?"

"You broke up with him?" Dani smiled, as if that made everything better.

"So tell me about your date," Rachel smiled, changing the subject quickly.

"Not a date," Puck reiterated. "It's a group of friends going to the movies."

"Yeah but Aaron asked me to go personally," Dani smiled.

"Aaron Grossman?" Rachel asked, remembering Dani talking about him the day before.

"Wait, you know this twerp?" Puck asked.

"He's not a twerp," Rachel smacked his arm lightly. "He goes to Temple with us and he's a very sweet young man."

"Yeah, well, I'll be the judge of that when I chaperone this little outing tomorrow afternoon." Puck said as Dani protested loudly. "Don't even bother. I know what boys his age try to do in dark movie theaters, because it's what boys my age try to do in dark movie theaters," Rachel blushed, remembering what Noah had done when he'd had her in a darkened movie theater. "And you will be coming with us, considering you apparently knew about this kid and didn't say anything to me." Puck whispered in her ear.

Rachel looked down where he still had her hand in a vice grip and smiled. "Ok, but you're buying me popcorn."

"Deal," Puck smiled and squeezed her hand.

When the ride was over, he walked her to her car, making sure that the large purple monkey was securely fastened in the passenger seat next to her and said that he'd pick her up at eleven the next day. She knew the minute he'd asked her to co-chaperone Dani's date-that-wasn't-a-date, it was a bad idea. Especially when she thought about the last time they'd been in a movie theater together.

She could still feel his hand in hers as she laid in bed, curled up next to the purple monkey. She wondered what Lauren would think about the two of them going to the movies alone (well, with a group of 12 and 13 year olds but basically alone). She also wondered what it meant that she didn't really care what Lauren thought.

If anyone had asked her what the movie was about, she honestly wouldn't be able to tell you. She's pretty sure that there were talking animals, she's assuming that meant it was animated but there really was no way to be sure. The only thing she remembered, aside from Puck's constant whispered commentary about where exactly Aaron Grossman's hands were at any given moment, was the heat of his thigh firmly pressed against hers and the hint of peppermint in his breath as it puffed against her cheek.

She knew what it meant to have that feeling in the pit of her stomach. She knew what it meant to be hyper aware of someone else's proximity. She knew what it meant that her skin still burned from where Noah's thigh had been rested against her.

She had feelings for Noah Puckerman.

She also knew that she had these feelings the night before and that she had these feelings when she agreed to go the movies with him. Lauren was right. She was nothing more than a man-stealing hussy. But she didn't have to be. She vowed then and there to stay away from Noah Puckerman.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Puck slammed his lunch tray down at his regular table in the cafeteria and frowned when he noticed that Rachel was nowhere to be seen again. He hadn't talked to her since he brought her back home after Dani's 'date' on Sunday and the only time he got to see her lately, besides short glimpses in the halls between classes, was at glee. Even then, she sat all the way across the room from him, generally next to Sam. He also noticed that the two of them had been like attached at the hip lately.

He didn't know what was going on with her but he knew he didn't like it so he cornered Sam in the locker room the day before.

"What's up with you and Berry?" Puck asked him.

"Nothing," Sam shrugged.

"It's not nothing ,dude. Seriously, like, every time I turn around, I see the two of you together." Puck leaned against Sam's locker.

"Dude, we're just friends or whatever." San said. "She came up to me on Monday and pointed out that we've been in glee together for like six months but that we didn't really know one another and she wanted to remedy that or something. Then she said that considering I'd just lost my girlfriend and she suddenly found herself without a best friend, maybe we could be friends. And well, you know Berry, once she puts her mind to something, there's not really much else you can do but just go with it."

"Yeah, I know," Puck said, wondering what the hell she meant by 'finding herself without a best friend'. He was still fucking there, wasn't he?

"So we've been hanging out or whatever. And she's actually pretty cool, you know. She doesn't make fun of me for the Avatar stuff and she helps me with my homework without making fun of my dyslexia. I mean, she actually did research and stuff on it because she didn't know much about it. No one's every really bothered before, you know?"

"Yeah," Puck nodded, feeling a little empty all of a sudden. "That's just how she is."

"So, are we cool?" Sam asked hopefully.

"Yeah, we're cool, whatever." Puck pushed himself off the locker and walked away.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

So by now, Sam and Rachel were probably BFF's because he did fucking know Berry and he knew that if she wanted to, she could practically will someone into being her friend. He knew because that's what she'd done with him. One day she was just there, and then she never left and suddenly, he couldn't remember what his life was like without her in it. Now that he was being reminded, he wasn't sure how much he liked it.

Sam sat down next to him and gave him one of those guy nods that were basically a whole conversation. "Where's Berry?"

"We're not attached at the hip, you know. I don't know where she is every second of the day." Sam said. Puck merely raised his eyebrow and the other guy sighed and continued. "She wanted to get a head start on the history project. She's in the library."

Puck snorted as the seat on his other side was pulled out and Lauren sat down. "Hey," he nodded at her.

"Look, Puckerman, this thing with us, it's been real…" Lauren paused looking for the right word. "Well, let's just say it's been real. But I didn't sign on for this shit." She dropped a red notebook on the table and Puck picked it up, confused.

"The fuck is this?" he flipped the notebook over and stared at the cover.

How to be Noah's Girlfriend

-A Handy Guide

by Rachel Barbara Berry*

"I'm just not sure I'm cut out for all that stuff. This girlfriend thing is way more work than I'm down with." Lauren said.

Puck flipped open the book to a random page and smiled. He could practically hear Rachel's voice as he read it.

33. Football Season pre-game ritual:

Make sure to leave a dozen cookies in his locker before he gets to school. The best kind for this time of year are in the spice family, gingerbread cookies or snickerdoodles.

It's best before a major sporting event to load up on carbs. From the research I've done, the perfect pre-game meal seems to be lasagna, eaten at least 2 hours before game time. (It can be made ahead of time and re-heated in the teachers' lounge. Recipe's for cookies and lasagna can be found in the back of the book).

This is crucial. He tends to get nervous before a really big game (which he will deny if asked so don't bother) so it helps to boost his confidence if you compliment him. But do not do so overtly, you have to be sneaky about it. Tell him your locker is stuck and you need his superior strength to open it or you can let all of the air out of one of your tires and tell him there is no way you could possibly change it yourself.

34. Baseball Season pre-game ritual:

This differs from the football pre-game ritual in only one key way: the cookies. Instead of the heavy spice you find in fall and winter, spring is more conducive to lighter cookies, such as sugar or chocolate chip (as always, recipes are located in the back of the book).

"What the hell?" he asked.

"Let's face it, I'm not gonna do, like, any of that stuff and your mom pretty much hates me so if this is what you want out of a girlfriend, then you don't want me."

Puck flipped through the other pages, catching random things like:

56. Bake a cake from scratch for his birthday; it shows that you care. His favorite is red velvet with cream cheese frosting, (Dani's is strawberry cake with whipped Cream and Mrs. Puckerman prefers Boston crème pie).

"So Puckerman, is this what you want?" Lauren nodded at the book.

He flipped a few more pages in a daze and read another random entry.

78. When his dad calls it, always puts him and Dani in a mood. Best to take their minds off of it with an activity. Mini-golf and bowling are two favorites.

Then Puck remembered a few days after Christmas when his dad called his mom for his not-so-regular check-in on the kids he didn't actually care about. He remembered Rachel driving over and bundling him and Dani up in the car. She then proceeded to drive them out to the practically deserted mini-golf course where they played three games back to back as the snow fell down on top of them.

They were freezing by the end of the last game and Puck had lost all feeling in his fingers because he'd slipped his gloves over Dani's when she complained about the cold. He remembered shivering at the last hole as Rachel patiently lined up her shot and knocked the ball straight into the windmill on the first swing, hole in one. He remembers Rachel freezing in surprise for a whole thirty seconds before launching herself into Puck's arms and screaming at the top of her lungs.

She used the tickets she won to buy a retarded-looking stuffed panda thing which she gave to Dani and which Puck knew his sister slept with every night.

"Yeah, this is what I want." Puck nodded at her. "Sorry or whatever."

"Don't worry about it," Lauren shrugged. "Give me your lunch and we'll call it even." Puck smiled and slid over his lunch tray. "We'll be going off to college in a year and I can't have a high school boyfriend messing up my game. I was gonna break up with you anyway."

Puck smirked. He knew that lie when he heard it; after all, he'd told it before. He leaned over and kissed Lauren's cheek. "No, you weren't," he echoed Rachel's words to her. Lauren smiled at him and got up taking his lunch tray with her.

Santana dropped down in the newly-vacated seat and looked over at Puck confused. "What's with the face?" she asked him. "You and Dumptruck break up or something?"

"Yeah," Puck nodded.

"No shit? seriously?" Santana smiled. "High five!" She held up her hand but Puck didn't slap it. "Whatever, are you seriously gonna mope about Lauren fuckin' Zizes?"

"San, when we were dating—"

"Let's make something perfectly clear, we were never dating," Santana interrupted and Puck scoffed because that was certainly a different tune from what she normally sang.

"Whatever. When we were together, did you know what my sister's favorite cake was?" Puck asked.

"You have a sister?" Santana looked at him confused before shrugging and turning away to talk to Brittany.

"Don't feel bad, I'm not sure she ever learned my name. She pretty much just called me 'trouty mouth' all the time." Sam shrugged then paused. "On the other hand, Rachel knew all my brothers and sisters' names the first time she ate dinner at my house. Hell, I'm not sure if Santana ever even came to my house."

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Puck spent the rest of the day reading Rachel's book front to back. He had no idea that she did all these things for him. Hell, half of the things in the book weren't even for him. It was full of stuff that she did for his mom or his little sister. He stared at the front cover of the book looking at where she'd crossed out the first 'Girlfriend' and couldn't help but think of that short week they were together sophomore year.

Yeah, most of it was spent making out on her bed, or in his truck or the movie theater (he still hasn't seen the last half of Sherlock Holmes). But in those five days, Rachel really had been the best girlfriend he'd ever had. She made him cookies for no reason and she taught his sister how to hula hoop and washed him off when he got slushied and, more importantly, she made him want to be a good boyfriend to her in return.

In fact, she had been the only one he was an actual boyfriend to. With Santana, it had all been about sex; she really wasn't interested in him being a boyfriend. With Quinn, it had been all about the baby, far more so than it had ever been about her. With Lauren, sure, he did whatever she told him to but not because he necessarily wanted to do them for her but because he was too afraid to not do them for her. With Rachel…he had wanted to be that guy. He wanted to be a good boyfriend, to do things for her, sing for her in Glee, choose her over football.

And when it ended, he had been so angry and disappointed that he said they were never friends. Because he had been a fucking awesome boyfriend and all of those things that he'd done for her still somehow weren't enough. It took him far too long to realize that he had lied when he said he was going to break up with her anyway. But by then she was with Finn and officially off limits so when she had come to him with the offer of friendship, he took her up on it because he thought that was all he could have with her.

Then he agreed to make out with her to get back at Finn and when he said he couldn't do that to his best friend, he hadn't been lying. Only he hadn't been talking about Finn; he'd been talking about her. He couldn't mess up her life like that. So he set his sights on Lauren instead but then Finn broke up with Rachel anyway and everything just went to shit. It seemed like they just kept missing each other.

He watched her in Glee as she and Sam talked together in the corner. He watched as she laughed at something Sam said, like really laughed with her head tossed back and her mouth covered in surprise over her own outburst. He watched Sam watching her and got this twisting feeling in the pit of his stomach and he knew. He knew that even though the other boy assured him that there was nothing going on between them except friendship, it wouldn't take too long for Sam to realize just how amazing Rachel was. Especially if she had a book for Sam just like the one she'd made for Noah.

He gritted his teeth and clenched his fists because for once, there wasn't anything in the way. She and Finn were definitely over and so were he and Lauren, and there was no way he was going to miss his chance this time. There was no way he was going to sit around and let another guy sneak in and get his own special Rachel notebook.

He figured he'd catch her after Glee but she had been doing a pretty good job of avoiding him lately. Today was no exception. She made it a point to go straight to Mr. Shue on some pretense as soon as they were dismissed. It was obvious that she wanted to talk to him in private so Puck left the room but he waited outside, ready to pounce. She wasn't going to avoid him anymore. Not if he had anything to do with it.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

"Hey, Mr. Shue, can I ask you a question?" Rachel asked when everyone had finally left the room . He seemed to hesitate for a second. "It's not about Glee," she assured him.

"Sure," he nodded.

"How is Noah doing in Spanish?"

If the question surprised him, he didn't let it show. "Um, well, actually his last test score was a bit lower than normal."

"I'm wondering if I could ask you a favor? It's all in the spirit of helping along a fellow student, I assure you. It's not about cheating – I mean you can pick the music if you want, to be sure that there's no foul play – but if you could just play a bit of music, really low so it doesn't bother anyone else and it's just in the background? It gets Noah in the right frame of mind. Normally, I play it the night before an exam to help him but we haven't really been hanging out as much lately."

"Rachel, would you mind if I asked what happened between you and Puck? You guys were pretty close for a while there."

"He has a girlfriend now," Rachel smiled a little sadly. "And I feel that it's highly inappropriate to retain that level of closeness with a male friend unless he is unattached. So things like preparing him for his Spanish exams no longer fall under my description as his friend. But I'm not sure that Lauren has been taking her role as girlfriend as seriously as she should be."

Mr. Shue just smiled at her. "So, music?"

"Something along the lines of Carlos Santana. Some of his mellower, instrumental stuff." Rachel offered.

"I think I can handle that." Mr. Shue nodded and walked out of the room. He didn't seem all that surprised to see Puck standing there in the hallway, merely offering him a knowing smile on his way out.

Puck shook his head. Even after telling Sam that she'd lost her best friend, even after handing the book, and along with it, the responsibility over to Lauren, she was still looking out for him. He remembered her routine for Spanish tests. She would make a whole night out of it. She'd put on telenovelas and they'd cook fajitas in her kitchen with Europa playing softly in the background. He had never even realized that any of that had anything to do with studying but that was why it worked so well.

She was sitting down at the piano bench and had started playing softly by the time he walked back into the room.

"What's this?" Puck asked dropping the notebook on the piano. It was funny to watch Rachel's mouth opening and closing like a goldfish, attempting to come up with an excuse.

"This is…this is a book that I'm writing." Rachel said rather calmly, standing up. "A fictional book."

"A fictional book about a guy named 'Noah'?" Puck asked her and she blushed.

"Yes, well, it's a very lovely name." Rachel told him.

"Damn straight it is." Puck smirked.

"Do you mind if I ask you where you got this?" Rachel ran her hands over the top of the notebook. It was silly but she had kind of missed it.

"Lauren gave it to me," Puck replied nonchalantly. "When I broke up with her."

"Oh Noah, I'm sorry," Rachel cried, dismayed. "I know you really liked her."

"Yeah, she was okay." Puck shrugged. "But you know she wasn't exactly girlfriend material," he flipped the book open. "I mean she'd never pretend to be scared of heights to keep me from freaking out on a Ferris wheel."

"That's not in there," Rachel whispered.

"No but it should be." Puck pushed the book back over to her with a smirk. "And I guess since she's no longer my girlfriend, this belongs to you again."

"I suppose it does." Rachel said, trying to hide her giddy smile. "But then I should probably change the cover back to Best Friend."

"Actually, could you not do that?" Puck asked, moving closer to her.

"Oh, right, of course," Rachel stammered in embarrassment. "I mean we never actually discussed it. I just assumed that I was…but I could see how that would be rather presumptuous of me." Rachel ducked her head and Puck groaned.

"Fuck Berry, of course you're my best friend, who the hell else would it be?" he said and she smiled at him in relief. The sight of Rachel smiling brightly at him was the last straw and he couldn't stop himself from leaning down just a bit and kissing her. When he finally pulled away, he rested his forehead against hers. "I just meant that you could, you know, leave it as Girlfriend." Puck swallowed nervously. "If you wanted."

"Yeah?" Rachel looked up at him, her eyes shining.

"Yeah." Puck smiled as he twined his fingers with hers.

"I can do that." Rachel smirked. "I have a feeling your mom won't be to horribly upset about your break-up with Lauren."

"Are you kidding me?" Puck scoffed. "She's been planning our wedding since you came crying to her when I pushed you off the swings at the JCC in fourth grade." Rachel slid the notebook in her bag, shaking her head at him. "Hey, does Sam have one of those?"

"Of course he does," Rachel said as if that was a stupid question.

"His just says 'friend' on the cover though, right?" Puck asked. Rachel rolled her eyes and reached up on her tiptoes to kiss him softly before continuing to the parking lot. 'That's a yes right?"

Author's Note: This story has been on my hard-drive for a while. When I finally finished it I hesitated to post it because I realized it bared a passing similarity to a story by sarcastic_fina called Best of Intentions (which is an awesome story if you haven't read it, then check it out) about Rachel writing Puck's new girlfriend a note. But I feel like my story is different enough that no one would acuse me of stealing. But I will go right a head and say that it was not my intention to copy anyone else's story in any way shape or form. Also a huge amount of love goes out to joker to the theif who so kindly beta'd this for me.