She knows it's beyond cliché to jog through Central Park but she does it every day anyway. The cool morning air and the smell of fresh cut flowers put her mind at ease as her feet methodically hit the pavement. She hasn't lived in New York long but her morning jogs are fast becoming one of her favorite things about living here.

She wakes up bright and early every day, usually without her alarm clock. After her shower and a quick breakfast, she pulls on yoga pants and a sweatshirt and pulls her hair up into a ponytail. She changes her playlist every day, mixing in Top 40 hits and old classics. She makes sure her shoelaces are tight before securing her ear buds in. She's ready to run.

She tries not to take the same route every time but she's grown quite fond of the Reservoir. She loves to see the skyline in the distance as she makes her way around the track and there are always interesting people milling around. Some are joggers; some are bird and people watchers. There's an old man that sits and reads the daily paper every morning at the same time on the same bench. Rachel assumes he's probably been doing it for years and it always makes her smile. He waves today as she passes him and she grins as she waves back.

She likes New York. It's been a long road getting here but she's glad she finally made it.

Her phone rings halfway through her jog and as much as she wishes she could ignore it, she knows it could be her agent with an audition. She clicks her Bluetooth before saying hello.

"Hey bitch, what are you doing?" She rolls her eyes at her best friend's normal telephone greeting and glances around as she turns a corner.

"It's 8:30, San. What do you think I'm doing?" Her friend snorts.

"Well, if you were anyone else and you were out of breath answering the phone, I'd assume you were just boning. But, because I know you…" Rachel laughs and slows her job to a fast walk.

"I'm not going to let you finish that sentence. What are you doing up so early, anyways? It's Saturday. Shouldn't you be passed out or hiding in your apartment with the shades drawn while you consume massive amounts of Gatorade to get over your headache?"

"You're fucking hilarious. I'm up because I have that stupid company picnic today that I can't get out of. Stupid lawyers and their stupid families. If I wanted to spend the day with a bunch of bratty kids, I would have gone to my sister's." Rachel laughs out loud as she stops to take a breath. There are more joggers out now and she rolls her neck as she glances out over the water.

"You should come jogging with me sometime. It really is so nice out today." Santana scoffs.

"Yeah, no thanks, I'd rather do anything else. I'd rather let my dentist drill my teeth with no Novocain. I'd rather have sex with Kurt. I'd rather…" Rachel rolls her eyes as she stretches.

"Okay, okay, I get it! Look, San, I should really get back to my…" She's distracted immediately by a gorgeous man jogging past her. His basketball shorts are riding low on his hips and there is no shirt to be found. He's tall with tanned skin and the most amazing arms she's ever seen.

"Rachel…Rach…what's wrong? Are you getting mugged? Please tell me you're not getting mugged, I left my pepper spray at some guy's house the other night." She snaps back to reality when she hears her friend's voice.

"I'm here. I'm fine."

"What's going on with you? Why do you sound like you just had an orgasm?" Rachel blushes and looks around even though she knows she's the only one that can hear her.

"I just saw the most…beautiful man. I don't even know how to describe him. He was just…wow." Santana laughs on the other end and Rachel knows her mind is in the gutter. That's one of her favorite traits of the girl, her ability to make any situation completely inappropriate.

"You need to go find him. Go find him and stop working out in the lame way and start working out in the fun way." She can imagine the mischievous expression on her friend's face and it makes her laugh.

"I really need to get back to my work out…"

"Yeah you do…" She laughs and tells her that she'll call her back and starts her jog again. She's not going to go looking for the guy, but if she happens to see him again then it is what it is.

She doesn't see him again though and she doubts that she ever will. New York City is a big place and who knows how many people jog here every day. She's not going to let some guy she's only seen once work his way into her brain.

She doesn't expect to see him the next day. She decided to run the same track today, breaking her rule of changing up the scenery. She's completely lost in her music when she feels a breeze past her and he's jogging ahead. He turns around and gives her a quick smile and she thinks she might burst into flames. Now that she can see him up close she can tell that he has hazel eyes that practically sparkle in the sun. She makes fun of herself for even thinking such a thing but it's true.

She stays back a little so she can watch him run and she's enjoying the view. She can tell he's playing some sort of rock music by the way he bobs his head up and down as he runs. He moves gracefully and she wonders if he plays any sports, or if he's just naturally agile. She eventually feels like a stalker just following him around so she turns up her iPod and focuses on her jog. She's reaching down to change the song when she runs straight into his back.

"Oh my goodness, I am so sorry!" She can tell she caught him off guard but he hardly moved an inch. He's pretty solid, she can tell that much from running into him. It felt like hitting a brick wall. He pulls an ear bud out and she can hear "Rock You Like A Hurricane" blaring from the little speaker. He gives her an amused look as she brushes herself off.

"Y'alright there?" She dares a glance at his face and blushes when she sees him smirking back. She nods as she stands up straighter.

"Yeah, yes. I'm okay, thank you." He smiles as he pulls the other headphone out of his ear and turns off his iPod.

"I'm Puck…you run here often?" She's wondering if that's some sort of pick up line when he laughs. "That's not a pick up line, if that's what you're thinking." She blushes again and she really wishes she would stop doing that.

"Of course not. I'm Rachel. I've been jogging here a few months, I just moved here." Her cheeks burn as he looks her up and down.

"Fresh off the bus from Iowa?" That makes her roll her eyes and she shakes her head.

"Ohio, actually." He laughs as he fastens his ear buds back into his ears.

"Well, it was nice to meet you, Ohio. Maybe I'll see ya around sometime." She doesn't get a chance to respond before he winks at her and returns to his jog.

She fishes her cell out of her pocket and sends a text to Santana to meet her for lunch. She backtracks and jogs back to her apartment to finish early for the day. She thinks a girl's day is just what she needs.

She laughs as soon as she sees her other best friend Kurt sitting at the table with Santana. He jumps up and gives her a hug before she sits down.

"Okay, tell me all about this new guy! I want every dirty detail!" She rolls her eyes and asks for a water when the waiter comes to the table.

"There are no dirty details. I've only seen this guy twice in my lifetime. " Santana scoffs as she takes a bite of her salad.

"Honey, I could spill dirty details on guys I've only seen once in my life." Kurt gives her a look and she just shrugs while Rachel giggles.

"Honestly, you guys, it was nothing. It was stupid, really. I wasn't paying attention, I ran into him. He said his name is Puck…what kind of name is Puck?" Kurt rolls his eyes as he picks at his bagel.

"Maybe he plays hockey? Or maybe he's good in bed…you know Puck rhymes with fu.." Rachel smacks her friend in the arm.

"Santana! We're in a restaurant; can you behave for five minutes?" Santana just gives her a sweet smile and goes back to her meal. She's known the girl almost her entire life, and when they agreed to move to New York together she was excited that she'd have her best friend there to experience it all with. They are as different as night and day and Rachel wouldn't have it any other way.

"So are you going to see him again?" Kurt is the romantic of their little group and he believes that fate with always come through in the end. Rachel isn't a cynic by any means but she doesn't so much believe in fate as she does hard work and patience. She met Kurt in the first theater class she took when she moved here. She considers him one of her best friends, even though she hasn't known him as long as she's known Santana.

"I really don't know. I didn't notice him before yesterday, but he's ran the same track two days in a row. Maybe he only goes weekends, or maybe he only jogs in that area, I just don't know." She digs in as soon as her waiter brings her veggie burger. They manage to finish their meal without anything else said about him, and by the end of the day, she's so exhausted that when her head hits the pillow, she doesn't realize his face is the last she thinks about before she falls asleep.

She doesn't seem him the next day, or the day after that. She takes a different route on Wednesday because she's bored of the same view after running it four days in a row. She skips her Thursday run for an early morning audition, and by Friday she's sure she's never going to see him again. When Saturday rolls around, she actually convinces Santana to jog with her, and sure enough there he is. She slows down and Santana looks at her weird before she sees him ahead.

"Holy fuck." Rachel just laughs and nods and they jog next to each other for a minute without saying anything. She thinks now that it's pretty obvious that he only jogs on the weekends, and that he must only use this track. He might live around here, or maybe he has a job where he only has time on the weekends to jog. She's curious about his story, where he's from, what he does.

He's stopping to stretch when they pass by him and he smiles at them.

"G'morning ladies." They smile and wave as they pass and as soon as they are out of sight they stop jogging.

"Wow, he's literally sex on a stick." Rachel shakes her head and laughs.

"I know, right? I don't even know what to do…" Santana laughs as she stretches her arms above her head.

"You fuck him until you forget your name, that's what you do." Rachel hisses her name and looks around. "Oh come on, he can't hear me. Even if he was around, he probably has Def Leppard or Lynyrd Skynyrd or whatever it is guys like him listen to blasting in his ears." Rachel just rolls her eyes and turns her own iPod on, making sure Santana sees her push the play button. Santana laughs and flips her off before turning on her own.

They don't see him for the rest of the day, but she's sure that if she decides to take this route tomorrow he'll be there again.

She's not sure if she's excited or nervous about the idea of seeing him again. Then she realizes it's stupid to be worrying about it at all so she doesn't.

She tells herself as she adds lip gloss and a swipe of mascara to her beauty regime the next morning it's only because she feels like it. She also knows that she's lying.