It was alcohol awareness week, and the New Directions were to perform a song at the assembly about the dangers of alcohol. It just so happened that Rachel Berry was coerced to have a party on this specific week.
Vee sat down on a washing machine, playing with her nails in the quiet room. Rachel ushered Kurt and Blaine over to them, handing them two drink tickets each as she showed them around. Vee had declined hers, she never wanted to drink in the first place.
"This party blows," Vee mumbled to Kurt, crossing her arms.
"Vee, no sitting on the washing machine, remember?" Rachel reminded, getting Vee to begrudgingly step off the washing machine.
Blaine looked uneasy, understandably so, he'd barely known anyone there. The fact that he was willing to accompany Kurt told her how much he cared about him — it was sweet.
"I regret this," Kurt mumbled back as Vee nodded.
She threw on her best smile as she greeted Blaine. "It's so great to see you," Vee gave Blaine a hug.
"Likewise," Blaine replied. "It's nice to see all of you."
"To spy on us?" she questioned.
"Actually, I think that you guys are trying to get me drunk," Blaine turned it around and pointed a finger at her.
Vee scoffed. "If you can get drunk off of two wine coolers, I'd truly be impressed."
Santana strolled over with a frown on her face, clearly bored. "Uranus, could you work your charm on Berry? I want my booze," Santana complained. "This party is lame."
"You want charm? Ask Finn," Vee rolled her eyes. It was obvious Rachel wasn't over Finn, you could see it on her face, her eyes practically morphed into hearts.
"Oh please," Santana scoffed. "That Cabbage Patch Kid has made it clear that he is staying sober. Besides, there is no way he's helping me after I exposed Quinn for cheating on bleach blonde Bieber with him."
Blaine stood there awkwardly after hearing what Santana had to say. Vee thought it would be good if she acquainted them. "Blaine, this is Santana Lopez, Santana, meet Blaine Warbler." She gave him a handshake accompanied by a warm smile that Vee couldn't decide whether was real or fake.
"Nice to meet another one of you guys," Blaine laughed nervously, intimidated at the sight of her.
"So you're the guy Kurt's been raving about," she gave a sly smile to a wide-eyed Kurt. "He has standards. Clearly. I would so let you — "
"Santana!" Vee cut in. "You must've finished both wine coolers."
Santana responded with an eye roll. "Maybe, but I'm not a lightweight."
"Right," Vee looked her up and down.
"Puck!" Santana called over. "What the hell? You were supposed to get us drunk."
"I am. Thanks to me, Rachel's letting me break into her dads' liquor cabinet," he said smugly before heading towards it.
"Let's party!" Rachel yelled, announcing that actual alcohol was to be served.
No. No, no, no. This was bad. Not only was it illegal, but it was also completely stupid. It was alcohol awareness week, and there were literal fifteen-year-olds in the room. Call her uptight, but she hated alcohol. For good reason.
It always led to bad things. No exceptions. Scanning the room, everyone instantly looked excited after the announcement of booze. This night had just gotten worse.
...
"Let's play spin the bottle!"
Vee had regretted coming instantly. Almost everyone was drunk, and most of them were acting irrationally. Santana was weeping loudly, Quinn and Lauren were yelling at Puck, Tina and Mercedes were laughing as if they were high, Brittany was taking off all her clothes (which Artie seemed to love), Rachel was all over Finn — it was madness.
Sam's turn was first, and Vee secretly hoped the bottle would land on her. Spoiler alert: it didn't. It instead landed on Brittany, and Vee hid her annoyance as the pair began to make out.
Once they stopped — with cheers from their friends — she picked up the bottle harshly and spun it quickly. If he could make out with Brittany, why not her? The bottle finally came to a stop, and she knew for a fact this wasn't her lucky day. Everyone else seemed to be cheering her on, but the pair that was supposed to kiss didn't feel too good.
"Let's just get this over with," Vee sighed.
"Just be happy I'm not that drunk," Puck replied, looking equally as annoyed.
Their lips crashed into each other, and surprise, surprise, Puck wasn't so bad. He was actually gentle. She was pleasantly surprised at the soft feeling, melting into it. Her hands made their way to his neck, and his made their way to her face.
Unlike Puck, Vee didn't have much experience with boys or relationships. In fact, her first kiss was with Mike, and it was just a peck. Their whole relationship was fake, of course, so she wasn't sure if it actually counted.
After what felt like forever, the pair finally pulled back, with Vee's face flushed and Puck licking his lips. It was unusual, she peered her eyes off him quickly. He, on the other hand, continued to stare at her. She was gorgeous, of course, but he still liked Lauren. Maybe he did have a slight crush on her months ago, but he was over it now. At the moment, he only hoped Lauren was jealous.
Everyone was cheering loudly, or almost everyone. Sam Evans sat there dumbfounded, his face stuck in a frown. The familiar feeling in Vee's stomach rose in Sam's, but it was unfamiliar for him. He felt a combination of emotions — anger, frustration and something that felt vaguely like sadness. He brushed it off, taking another sip of his drink to forget.
It was Rachel's turn now, she picked up the bottle and spun it, but Vee felt a tap on her shoulder before she could see who it landed on. She looked up and saw Kurt call her over. They both went to a corner of the room, watching as Blaine and Rachel started to kiss.
"What was that?" he asked. "I thought you, and I quote 'weren't into him?'"
"I'm not, it was just a stupid game. Everyone keeps saying that he likes me or I like him but it's clearly not true. He's into Lauren, as you can see," Vee pointed to the two, with Puck putting on her glasses playfully. "They're really cute, actually."
"I'll be off your case now, I swear," he said earnestly. "Anyway, are you okay?" he asked with concern in his voice.
"Why wouldn't I be?" she stared at Sam who was laughing at something Brittany just said.
"Don't make me say it," he shook his head.
Vee sat down on the washing machine once more, scooting over to offer Kurt a seat next to her. He took it, and she began to tell him everything.
"We had a moment," she admitted. Kurt's mouth hung open, but he didn't interrupt. She missed it. She missed him. "When I got the car, we went to In-N-Out and I practised driving in the parking lot. Then the most romantic Taylor Swift song started playing and we leaned in and then ... nothing. He pulled back. I drove him home and left as fast as possible."
"Yikes," Kurt scrunched up his face. "God, that sucks."
"I know," Vee threw her head back in frustration. "But hey, at least I get to harness all this pain into a song."
"I like your thinking," he rubbed her shoulder. "If it makes you feel any better, Rachel's completely in love with Blaine right now," he gestured towards the two. They were singing Don't You Want Me, their voices going well together.
"We are so doomed," she stared at them. She picked up their drinks — two glasses of lemon water — and handed one to him. "Here's to us, hopelessly in love and completely clueless."
They raised their glasses, finishing the icy drink as they watched Blaine and Rachel sing. Kurt then rested his head on Vee's shoulder, and they both sat there solemnly, comforting each other. Just like old times.
...
On the drive home, Vee made a couple of pit stops. She was the second designated driver, having to drop more people off as Finn couldn't do it all. She just had one more person left, then she could go home where Vanessa would positively kill her.
"Vee," Sam slurred. "You're adorable," he poked her cheek.
Ouch. Nobody wants to be called adorable by a crush. And the poking? That just made her feel even more like a child. And she was a year older than him.
"You're drunk," Vee replied. "And stop poking me."
"Alright, alright, alright," he changed the subject, doing his best impression of Matthew McConaughey. "You love my impressions, right?"
"Right," she assured. "You need sleep. And a lot of Aspirin."
Sam brushed it off, rolling his eyes at the comment. "Why didn't you drink, huh? Are you afraid to let loose?"
She really didn't want to say it. He was drunk, clearly not in the right state of mind, and tired. But she'd been hiding so much from him, and it felt right to tell him this. He was one of her best friends.
"Well, my mom was an alcoholic," she said simply. She wasn't going to get into it. It hurt. And she certainly wasn't going to open up completely to a drunk person. Even if it was Sam.
"Vanessa?" he asked in disbelief. "I'm sorry."
"Whatever, she's fine now," Vee said softly, keeping her eyes on the road.
"I miss you," he slurred. "Remember when we went to that midnight movie thingy? Yeah, that was so fun."
Vee let out a laugh. It was fun. "We had other commitments."
"No, I just let Quinn take over my life. And then she cheated on me," He said quietly. "She was a better friend."
Vee nodded. "She can be nice when she wants to be."
"What, so you like her now?" he asked.
"I guess you could say that."
Her relationship with Quinn was obviously complicated, but she had assumed they were friends, or acquaintances at least. Hey, she hadn't felt a negative emotion toward her in about a week.
"You wanna know a secret?" he asked to a nod from her. "I wished the bottle landed on you."
Keep driving, she thought to herself. He was drunk. It wasn't true. If it were, he would've kissed her when he had the chance. But he didn't. He didn't like her. He didn't want her.
"You're drunk," she sighed.
"You keep saying that, but that doesn't mean I'm lying," he pouted. "I was super bummed when you made out with Puckerman."
"Yeah? Join the club," she responded. "You kissed Brittany."
"That's different," he argued. "I've never liked liked Brittany, you and him have."
"Not this again," she huffed.
"Maybe not you, but he clearly had a thing for you at one point," Sam replied. "Why else would he have taken you everywhere or caught you when you fell?"
That was a surprisingly valid point. If he was talking about anyone else, she could chalk it up to kindness or the fact that she was a fellow glee clubber, but this was Puck. The bad boy who didn't care about anyone but himself. That was his reputation, but the real question was, was it true?
"You need to sleep," she repeated.
"You need to realise that Puck was in love with you," he said. "You're kind of clueless."
Vee scoffed. "Me? Clueless? You're the one who's clueless. I've been crushing on you since the day we met and you've just been leading me on," she ranted. "If you actually wanted to kiss me, you would've done it at In-N-Out."
Sam quieted down, and it stayed that way until they reached his house. She gave him a small wave as he got down, immediately speeding off afterwards. She shouldn't have done that. He might remember this conversation, everything she said. This night was a mess, and they were surely going to be worse on Monday.
...
It was Monday, and just as she predicted, everyone looked like a mess. Everyone but her, Finn, and Kurt. She was grounded for a week for coming home extremely late, she didn't try and argue that she was the designated driver. It would only raise more questions.
"Cute sunglasses," Vee smirked. "You look so — "
"Dead," Mercedes rested her head on her locker.
"I thought you would feel like that. Here, drink this," Vee handed her a bottle of coconut water.
Mercedes pushed herself off the locker groggily, taking the bottle from Vee. She drank it, her eyes lighting up. She drank more quickly, handing the bottle back to Vee once she was done.
"You are a lifesaver," she thanked, walking down the hallway with her.
"By the way, I'm grounded because I got home too late, so as far as I'm concerned, half the glee club owes me big time. Including you," Vee said, raising her eyebrows.
"I'll get you piano lessons," Mercedes scowled, slowly walking towards the glee club.
"Rude," she rolled her eyes in response. "Just don't drink anymore, I can't be babysitting all my friends."
Vee had gone out a couple of times to buy groceries for Vanessa, but she took a detour at Tina's house to give her some coconut water. She ended up staying a little too long because her babysitting led to her punishment being extended.
"No promises," Mercedes waved her off, joining the rest of the hungover glee club members. They all looked like crap. Sunglasses, hoodies, lots of layers — they looked and acted way worse than they did before. Blaine must've felt horrible.
The group was groaning about their hangovers, and Vee was very happy she couldn't relate. Finn had joined them too, and they exchanged a look that screamed 'yikes.'
"I am so happy I was the designated driver," he said, laughing at Brittany who had just walked into a wall. Vee stifled hers, Brittany was always kind and cheerful.
"Speak for yourself, I got grounded," Vee replied. Finn looked horribly guilty, so she spoke more to calm him down. "It's whatever, I still have my phone."
"I'm sorry," he sympathised. "But at least your not hungover."
"Yeah, never drinking. Ever. Especially after this whole mess," she eyed the group. Artie pulled out some Bloody Marys, and she stared in shock as they began to drink more. "Should we stop them?"
"Who knows?" Finn shrugged. "Maybe it's a good cure."
No, it wasn't. Contrary to what Finn or Artie thought, that was probably the worst cure. She would know, Vanessa had tried everything — sleep, soup, painkillers. She knew what worked and what didn't. And alcohol just made everything worse.
Noticing her worried expression, Finn softened. "Hey, they're already super drunk. And they're at school, so it can't get too bad. They'll be okay, I promise."
"You better be sure of that, Hudson, if I see anyone throwing up or anything — "
"I owe you twenty dollars," he offered a hand, one she took.
And by the end of the week, Vee earned forty.
anya speaks !
this chapter feels so short but it's over 2600 words?? anyway, this is like one of my fav episodes from my fav season so that's why i finished it so fast. but pls don't think i have the motivation / energy to update like this all the time because you will be disappointed. okay enjoy or whatever xoxo.