Plus One

chapter 15: Morning After

Puck was woken by the sound of a hair dryer. He rubbed the sleep from his eyes and pushed himself up on his elbow to watch Quinn for a moment.

He wondered why she was up already. It wasn't even nine yet, brunch wasn't until eleven and usually Quinn liked to stay in bed until the last possible moment. When they had dated, or whatever, Quinn loved cuddling in the morning. Of course, he'd liked the cuddling too, mainly because it often led on to other things. 

He climbed out of the bed, pulled on a bathrobe and padded over to where she was sitting. He met her eyes in the mirror and smiled. “Good morning.”

“Good morning,” Quinn replied neutrally.

He bent down to kiss her, but Quinn jerked away from him and he ended up tonguing her ear. His heart sank. He should have known it was too good to be true.

“Can we talk?” He asked.

Quinn blinked in surprise and shut off the hair dryer. “I'm sorry, I couldn't hear you over the sound of that. Did you say talk?”

“Yeah.” Puck grabbed another chair and pulled it over to the dressing table. “About us. About last night.”

“Oh, that,” Quinn rolled her eyes. “Don't worry, Puck. I’m not going to bring up the 'R' word. It was just a one time thing, no big deal.” She turned to the mirror and switched on the hair dryer again.

Puck took it from her and turned it off. “I don't want it to be a one time thing. I want it to be a big deal. I want a relationship with you.”

Quinn's mouth fell open, but she shut it quickly and a range of emotions flitted across her face. Surprise, happiness, fury, shock.

He picked up her hand and held it in his. “I know that I don't deserve another chance, after how I treated you the last time. I was a fucking idiot back then. I was scared shitless of how I felt for you. But I’m not scared of that anymore. The only thing I’m scared of now is that you won't give me another chance.”

Quinn ripped her hand from his. “Why should I give you a chance? You broke my heart, Puck. How do I know that you won't do the same again?” 

She stood up to pace the room, but Puck grabbed her by the shoulders and held her in front of him.

“I was a kid back then. I was too immature and too stupid to handle a relationship like the one you wanted. I didn't think I was good enough for you,” he said. “But I’m not that kid anymore. I've grown up, I've matured.”

Quinn snorted.

“No, I have,” Puck protested. “I have a good job. I have my own place. Granted it's about half the size of this bedroom, but it's my own place. I do volunteer work once a week. I... Would the old me have willingly agreed to be Finn's gay boyfriend this week? Would I have come to a wedding, held his hand in public, danced with him, wore a suit for him?”

There was the ghost of a smile on Quinn's lips. “He didn't blackmail you?”

“No. I did it because I owed him a favour, a huge favour,” he smiled hopefully at her. “If I can be a good boyfriend to Finn, I think I've proved that I can be a good boyfriend to you.”

“You had sex with me while you were dating Finn,” Quinn joked.

Puck grinned. “Eh, we had an open relationship.”

Quinn laughed and Puck took the opportunity to pull her to him and kiss her. This time she allowed him to, and responded eagerly. 

But when they pulled apart, there was still some doubt on her face. “I don't know, Puck. It's still hard to trust you.”

“I know. That's fair,” he agreed. He's pretty much agree to anything she said right now. He was so close to getting her back and he wasn't going to fuck it up this time. “All I’m asking for is a chance. I'll prove to you that I’m serious, and that you can trust me. I'll do anything to prove it to you.”

A smile spread slowly on Quinn's lips. “Anything?”

Fuck, he'd walked right into that one.

Finn and Rachel had decided to take a walk in the hotel grounds before going to brunch. While the hotel's garden was nowhere near as spectacular as the Weston Estate, it did offer lots of privacy. So Finn and Rachel were able to walk hand in hand, and duck behind bushes and trees to steal kisses without Finn having to worry about his cover being blown.

Not that there was many people around that early. Most of the wedding guests were still in bed sleeping off the late night and the copious amounts of cocktails they'd consumed. 

“You know, I feel great this morning,” Rachel said. “I don't even have a headache, which is pretty unusual for me after I've been drinking. How many cocktails did I have last night?”

Finn grinned. “You had four of the alcoholic ones, then Quinn switched you over to the kiddie cocktails and after that all you drank was fruit juice.”

“Oh.” Rachel blushed adorably and Finn couldn't help but pull her into his arms and kiss her. 

He felt giddy with happiness and excitement. “I can't believe we're together,” he exclaimed. “I've dreamed about it for years and it's actually come true. It's amazing.”

“I know,” Rachel agreed. “I feel like I’m a princess in a fairytale. Like, if I sang, bluebirds would join in.”

Finn laughed. He knew the feeling. “I've been in love with you for so long.”

“Since when? When did you first fall in love with me?” Rachel asked, genuinely curious.

“I think it was the first time I saw you,” he admitted. “It was the first day of school and I climbed down from the bus and you were playing with Quinn. I knew there was something special about you right away.”

“Finn!” Rachel laughed. “You were six. A six-year-old does not fall in love at first sight.”

“What can I say? I was a very advanced child,” Finn grinned. “OK, maybe it wasn't love, but you fascinated me. The first time I realized I was in love with you was when we were twelve and you were doing a book report on To kill a mocking bird. You were wearing a yellow top and a pair of jeans. You loved the book so much that you talked non-stop for twenty minutes. And I knew I loved you.” 

Rachel smiled and kissed him sweetly. “Thank you.”

“Also, it was the first time you wore a bra.”

“Jerk,” Rachel squealed. She slapped him on the shoulder playfully. 

Finn wrapped his arm around her and held her close. “When did you fall for me?”

“Actually, it wasn't until Freshman year of high school,” Rachel said. “We were in the library and you were working on an algebra problem and it was besting you. You kept biting the pen and running your fingers through your hair. And that was it for me.”

“Wow, so you liked me in high school?” Finn shook his head, mentally berating himself. “So much wasted time.”

“How come you never asked me out?” Rachel asked. “Quinn used to always say that you liked me. I didn't really believe her, but she was very insistent. So I waited and waited. But you never asked me out.”

“I don't know. I was too shy, I guess,” Finn confessed. “Or maybe I'd gotten so used to watching you from afar that I never thought to try something different. But, I’m going to put that right now.”

He plucked a flower from a nearby bush and stood in front of Rachel. “Rachel Berry, will you go out with me?”

“Yes, I’d love to,” Rachel said as she accepted the flower. She put it behind her ear then wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him.

So finchel are finally official!!! What do you think Quinn's plan is to get puck to prove he's serious about them? Also there is not that many chapters left so this story will be ending soon!