One Love
Chapter 2
Quinn could not believe her eyes. If she had just been told it, she would have called the person a liar and moved on. The evidence however, was right in front of her eyes, sitting there in all its Mohawked, bad boy glory, strumming his guitar and singing sweetly.
"Does…uh…" Quinn stuttered, whispering to the woman next to her. "Does he come here often?" she asked.
"He started last Christmas actually. We all thought it was community service and all that, I mean look at him, but he came almost every day after school. So then it was just a Christmas thing right? But no, he just changed the songs. He goes for themes when a holiday is around and always sings happy birthday to the kids if they tell him. Lately he's been bringing in his friend in a wheelchair, Artie, I think the boy's name is," the woman explained. She looked Quinn over. "I haven't seen you around, although you look really familiar…"
"I'm here to pick up my sister's kid, uh, Riley, is the little girl's name," Quinn told the woman.
"Oh Riley! She's a sweetheart and my son actually has a huge crush on her," the woman said. "Oh! I'm Linda!" The woman – Linda – held out her hand and Quinn shook it, but she was barely paying attention.
Puck was sitting on top of one of the tables with an acoustic guitar, singing songs to little kids at Happy Kids West Inc. Daycare with a Santa hat on his head and a wet-on tattoo of a menorah on his cheek.
"Hanukkah, oh Hanukkah, the sweet celebration. Around the feast we gather in complete jubilation," Puck was singing to one little boy. The boy was swaying along with the beat, singing the song back to a beaming Puck. Puck had gotten most of the kids on their feet, singing and dancing to the Hanukkah song. Puck stopped singing for a second and turned to look behind him.
"What's wrong Noah?" a little girl asked.
"I have some friends I would like you to meet," he said. "This one here, you already know. This is Artie!" he yelled happily as Artie rolled out. The kids clapped and one little girl ran over and threw her arms around the teen. "This one here is my buddy Finn Hudson," Puck continued. "Okay, so that's it, bye," Puck said, pretending to leave.
"Puck!" one little boy squealed.
"Noah! Come back!"
"Puck, you can't leave yet!"
"Yeah, most of the parents aren't even here yet!"
"I'm just kidding!" he said, sitting back down. "We are going to sing Jingle Bells," Puck announced. Everyone – even the parents, Quinn noted – started clapping. However, the little girl who kept referring to Puck as Noah looked confused.
"But Noah, aren't you Jewish?" the girl asked.
"Why yes Sharon, I am Jewish, which is why I, for the most part, do not sing Christmas songs," Puck told the little girl.
"But Noah, isn't Jingle Bells a Christmas song?"
"Actually, my dear Sharon, Jingle Bells does not include the word Christmas in it once. It has to do with holidays in general, but not just Christmas, so I can sing it," Puck explained. No one would have noticed it but Quinn, but she had noticed that Puck rolled his eyes. Quinn couldn't blame him – the little girl really reminded her of Rachel Berry.
"Okay, here we go. You guys ready?" Puck asked. Finn and Artie nodded. Puck plucked a few strings on his guitar and then started to strum.
"Jingle, jingle, jingle all the way. Oh what fun it is to ride in a one horse open sleigh," Finn sang out to a jazzy jingle bells.
"Dashing through the snow in a one horse open sleigh. O'er the fields we go, laughing all the way," Artie continued.
"Bells on bobtail sing, making spirits bright. What fun it is to ride and sing a sleighing song tonight, oh!" Puck sang with a smile. The little kids were dancing and the few parents that were here were smiling widely.
Quinn knew that Finn loved little kids, so she wasn't surprised that he got into it. Artie was just a loving guy in general so when he grabbed a few kids and started spinning them, it didn't surprise her, nor the fact that the kids seemed to love him.
Puck however, did surprise her. Quinn remembered he was good with kids from the time they babysat (she ignored the butterflies in her stomach when she remembered how good they were with the kids and tried focusing on the fact that he had been sexting Santana that night) but she didn't realize how good he was with kids. It wasn't weird that all the little girls loved him but the fact that even the mean looking boys and the parents were getting into it surprised Quinn.
For just a second, Puck caught her eyes. At first, they were surprised, worried, then pleased, and then elated. Quinn smiled at him and he grinned back before going back to singing to that little girl Sharon and what looked like her brother.
When the song finished the three boys bowed and a teacher came up to talk to the parents quickly. Quinn noted that they would be closed next Friday, but open Christmas Eve, then slithered through the crowd to get Riley.
"Hello Auntie Quinn!" Riley cried out, wriggling out of Artie's lap. Quinn ran up and she saw surprise light up Artie and Puck's faces.
"Riley is your niece?" Artie asked incredulously.
"Yup."
"I thought I told you guys that," Finn said, scrunching up his nose in thought.
"Nope," Artie said. Finn shrugged, then tactfully rolled Artie away and they left Puck and Quinn alone.
"Uh…Quinn?" Puck asked, looking nervous. Quinn raised an eyebrow.
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing, it's just…well…Shelby enrolled Beth here. Usually, Beth isn't here but Shelby had to put in extra hours at work to pay for Christmas so…Beth is here," Puck mumbled. Quinn froze.
Her heart stopped and sank into the ground, shivers broke out throughout her body, and she felt like an elephant was sitting on her chest, keeping the oxygen from her lungs.
"Oh," was all that she was capable of.
"Hey there," Puck said worriedly, reaching out to grab arm. She hadn't realized she was swaying a bit.
"Sorry," she said. "Um…is she…you know…is Beth…good?" Quinn asked.
"Yeah. She's beautiful and she's really smart. She's a fast crawler and she can walk a bit already. She can also say 'momma' and uh…well…" Puck got shy again.
"What?"
"I taught her to say my name," he said. Quinn laughed. "Although sometimes it comes out as 'uck' because the p sound is really hard for her. She can say Finn and calls Artie 'Ari' since she can't say the t sound yet," Puck informed Quinn. Quinn laughed again. "Do you want to see her?"
"Um…" Quinn looked at Riley. "Would you mind if I went to see someone?" Quinn asked the little girl.
"No ma'am!"
Quinn looked at her watch as well.
"You got a hot date or something?" Puck asked saracastically. Quinn looked at the ground, suddenly very interested in her shoes. "Oh. Sam?" Puck asked.
"We don't have to talk about him."
"No, it's fine. I mean, you two have been dating a while, so you know, I'm used to it or whatever," Puck said.
"You sure?"
"Yeah. Quinn, I'm a big boy now. I can tie my shoes and reach the top shelf and everything," Puck said with a smile. Quinn bit her lip and nodded. She noticed a small smirk when she bit her lip but thought maybe she imagined it.
"Okay. So, um, yeah I'm going to see a movie with Sam soon," Quinn told Puck. "I could stay a bit longer though, you know, just to see her maybe," she said. Inwardly, Quinn chastised herself for stumbling over her words so much, as she wasn't sure whether it was because of Beth or Puck.
She had managed to stay away from Puck relatively effectively, even though Mr. Shue insisted on pairing them up for dances. He claimed that they were a good height, but Quinn had this weird feeling that Mr. Shue wanted her and Puck together, much like Finn and Rachel did and had been hinting at for a while now.
Quinn pretended that it didn't make her insanely jealous when she saw him with Santana either, or the fact that Puck never seemed exactly joyful when Santana was suction-cupping herself to Puck's side. Quinn also ignored the fact that no matter what sweet thing Sam did, her feelings for him never seemed to progress pass a tingly fondness, versus her feelings for Puck, that seemed to just grow stronger as time went on. Quinn liked spending time with Sam. She even enjoyed kissing him – he was a pretty darn good kisser. Puck's company…Puck could still make her heart sky rocket with a simple smile.
Quinn had been ignoring a lot of things lately.
Puck led her over to where a group of mothers were huddled with buggies.
"Hey there ladies," Puck said, laying the charm on. They all smiled, a few kindly and a few with smiles that said that they would like nothing more than to get Puck all wrapped – or unwrapped – for Christmas.
"Loved the songs today," one woman said.
"Thank you very much," Puck said. "Um-"
"Uck!" a little voice squealed. An adorable baby girl with black hair that naturally curved into a Mohawk, olive skin, big blue eyes, and an angelic glow to her was sitting in a buggy.
"Quinn!" Shelby said in surprise. "Hi!" Quinn managed a weak smile. "How have you been?"
"Pretty good."
"That's great!" Shelby said, seeming to mean it.
"Uck?" the little girl asked.
"'Sup Beth?" he asked. Beth pointed to Quinn.
"Uck?" she asked again.
"This is Quinn," Puck said.
"Ken?" she asked.
"Quinn," he said slowly.
"Kin?" she asked, correcting herself.
"That's about as close as you're getting," Puck told her wryly. Quinn put Riley down and the little girl ran off.
"Hi Beth," she said, her voice shaking.
"Shoes!" Beth yelled happily, holding out a foot.
"We went shoe shopping a few days ago and I got her a new pair," Shelby said with a smile. Quinn nodded and bent over to get closer to the little girl.
"I love your shoes. They are so pretty," Quinn said. Beth smiled and giggled.
"Kin," she giggled. Quinn smiled. "Hug?" Quinn looked up at Shelby who nodded. Quinn hesitated, not exactly wanting to hug the child – her child – for fear of not being able to let go. Quinn leaned forward anyway and wrapped the little girl in a big hug.
Quinn felt like the queen of the world when Beth wrapped her little arms around her neck. She pulled back much too soon. She needed to leave before she started crying.
"I should get going," Quinn said.
"I'll see you around Quinn," Shelby said, sincerity dripping from her voice. Quinn nodded and hurried away in the direction of the bathroom. Puck followed her and came into one stall bathroom right behind her.
"You gonna be okay?"
"Yeah. I think I would have reacted better if I knew I was going to see her."
"I see her all the time. Some days it's a lot easier and some days I avoid them both because I can't take it, you know?" Puck offered. Quinn nodded. Puck came closer to Quinn but she held her hand up.
"You better not be inching closer because there's mistletoe over my head," she scolded. He smiled.
"It's the bathroom Quinn," he pointed out. She looked around.
"Oh." Puck squatted down next to her.
"I missed you," he said quietly, so low that she could barely hear it.
"Puck-"
"I just thought I'd get it out there," he said. "I miss you, I still want you, and I'd still dump Santana in a heartbeat for you," he told her. Quinn forced her gaze away from the wall and into the brown abyss that were Puck's beautiful eyes.
"I thought you weren't going to fight," she reminded him.
"I'm not. I just…wanted you to know. I heard…I hoped…that you and Sam weren't doing so hot," he said.
"Yeah, well…" Quinn mumbled, not willing to let on the reason why she and Sam had been failing as of late.
Quinn had noticed – even though she really didn't want to – that Puck had gotten very close to her, too close for comfort. There were his loving eyes, pleading with her to say yes, outlined by his beautiful eyelashes, his strong set face lined with worries that no teens should be lined with, and his lips, his perfect, lovely, teasing lips right there, right there, just begging to be kissed. His tongue snaked out and licked his lips, and she wanted to groan, he was just tempting her, just teasing her and –
"Quinn?" he whispered, breaking into her train of thought (although not helping her resolve).
"Puck?"
"I still love you," he whispered huskily. She leaned in closer, completely against her will.
"Do you?" she asked. He nodded. "How do you know?" she asked him. She certainly didn't know what she felt.
"I look for you in the halls all the time. I like talking to you. I've been with a million girls Quinn but just hold your hand is like, a major freakin' turn on, way more of one than when I am actually with a girl. I could talk to you all day. I could…"
Quinn stared at Puck. He had just summed up almost exactly how she felt about him. He might has well have been reading her mind. Did it mean that she loved him? Did it mean...
Yes. It meant it. Somehow, somewhere in her gut, in her mind, in her heart, she knew it meant that she loved him, even if she didn't want to.
"Puck?" she asked again. He raised his eyebrows. "Kiss me." His mouth dropped open.
"You mean it?" She nodded and Puck smiled and leaned in the rest of the short distance between their lips.
Waves of happiness were crashing around Quinn. This was it. This wasn't just a kiss, it could never be just a kiss. It wouldn't matter if they broke up years – although hopefully that would not happen – down the road, she would remember this kiss forever, this perfect and awe-inspiring kiss. She marveled at how wonderful she felt, full of light and love and happiness. The last time Quinn had felt this happy was when Puck had sang One Love to her stomach and held her all night long. Even including that day, it seemed to be nothing compared to the butterflies that were beating around in her stomach.
Quinn pulled back.
"I have to get my niece home," she whispered, slightly out of breath.
"Oh right. We should probably get her," he said. He looked at her, worry in his eyes. "Quinn, was that kiss your way of saying yes or…"
"I have to get to the movies so I can tell Sam that I don't think we should see each other anymore," Quinn cut him off.
"Really?" Puck asked, his eyes widening in joy.
"Really."
"Good," he said firmly. Quinn rolled her eyes. They got up and walked to the door.
"Puck?"
"You didn't just change your mind did you?" he asked hopelessly. She smiled.
"I love you too."
And she meant it with all her heart.