And Here's What You Missed on...GLEE

“Ughh…” I groaned as we walked out of Glee. Sweat was dripping down my neck and back, my hair was sticking to my face…I was just not a pretty sight. “That was miserable.”

“You’ll get used to it,” Puck assured me, shrugging.

“Carry me,” I joked, reaching my arms up to him. He just smirked at me, so I put my arms down and pouted dramatically.

When we were almost out the door, Puck raced from down the hallway (I hadn’t even realized that he’d stopped walking) and scooped me up into his arms, bridal-style. I let out a scream that echoed through the empty hallways. He chuckled, looking down at me, and turned to the side so we could get through the doorway.

“I was kidding, you know,” I laughed. My arms were wrapped around his neck, feeling the clammy skin.

“Really? I didn’t realize that.” He tried to play the joke off without showing any emotion, but the corners of his lips were pulling up slightly.

“You’re so stupid,” I informed him, shaking my head.

“Ahem,” a voice cleared their throat from behind us. Puck turned, still smiling, to find Santana standing there.

His face fell, and he put me down so quickly that I didn’t have time to regain my balance. Thankfully, I only stumbled a little and didn’t fall on my butt. That would have been ten times the embarrassing.

“Okay,” she started, looking between the two of us with disgust. Why was I feeling so much like an elementary school kid that had gotten caught sharpening the crayon in the pencil sharpener? Not that something like that happened to me… “I get that you two are together now, or whatever, but do you really have to shove it in everyone’s faces? PDA…so last year.”

“More like story of your life,” I rolled my eyes. “You’re really the last person to be preaching.”

Santana started forward, but Puck put a hand on her collarbone. “Stop. Do you guys really want to get kicked off Glee? I know I’m hot and everyone wants me, but really…” he turned toward Santana, “And…I’m kind of with Ellie now.”

It took everything I had not to let my jaw drop and stare at him in shock. I didn’t expect him to do that, not against Santana. That kind of showed that he was willing to stick up for our relationship…that he was actually kind of serious about trying to do this the right way.

Or maybe I was reading way, way too much into his words.

Apparently, Santana took it as a sign to step away. After shooting me another dirty look, she marched away, rejoining a confused Brittany, who was watching from far away.

“Wow,” was all I could say, turning to look at Puck.

“What?” he questioned, his voice having a slightly sharp edge to it.

“I’m just kinda surprised you did that. Asserted that you were with me.” He gave me a cocked eyebrow, and I felt my face heat up. “Never mind.”

“Why wouldn’t I? Everyone kind of knows it.”

“I don’t know. Just because you and Santana have been kind of a thing for so long?”

“Well, not anymore.” He smiled and put his arm around me. I went on my tiptoes and kissed him for a second before we climbed into his car.

“So,” Puck started conversation after a couple minutes of silence as we started toward my house, “are you doing anything this weekend?”

“Nope. Why?” I turned to him and smiled a little.

“Just wondering if you were free to hang out.”

For a second, I waited for him to ask me if I wanted to go out, but he didn’t. I laughed for a second to myself, but he didn’t hear me.

A couple minutes later, we pulled into my driveway, and he leaned over to kiss me. Right away, he started trying to deepen it, but I pulled away. “Not yet.”

He let out a loud sigh, but smiled to show that he was kidding. “Fine, fine. Go.”

“Thanks for driving me!” I exclaimed before shutting the door. Inside the house, it was really quiet. Eerily quiet.

“Mom!” I called out. “Dad?”

But no one was home. I checked around for any notes that could be lying around, but there weren’t any. Oh, well.

Immediately, I ran to my room and did my homework quickly, depositing it to the side. Then, my hand reached for the TV remote. When my TV came to life, it showed Dr. Phil trying to talk some reason into a woman who was constantly flirting with guys over the internet and in person when she was married with kids.

My phone vibrated, and I reached to get it, my eyes glued to a commercial with melted chocolate pouring from a pot into a mold. My stomach growled, wanting the sweet taste badly, so I patted it for a second.

“It’s okay,” I assured it, flipping my phone open to read the text.

hey red hows it goin

Smiling slightly, I texted back that I was watching Dr. Phil.

wat?! why would you watch that

You’re just jealous because you’re not Dr. Phil.

o yea i just wanna be balding and ugly

Admit it, you love the accent.

I was grinning like a goof over my phone when the front door opened. Rolling my eyes, I acknowledged that Mom was home, and I heard her climbing the stairs.

Another text came in, Puck telling me that he was not attracted to Dr. Phil at all. In the middle of a reply that insisted that he was, I heard a sob.

My eyebrows knitted together as I got off my bed as quietly as I could and made my way to the door. I opened it a small sliver, peeking only one eye out. After a few seconds, it became clear to me that my methods were not going to get me any more knowledge.

It was obvious when I leaned against the doorframe of Mom’s room that she wasn’t going to hear me. She was sitting on her bed, holding a piece of paper in her hand and crying loudly, as if she didn’t care if I heard her or not.

My stomach dropped as I realized what happened. Sure, I had been rooting for it for a long time, but now that it was actually happening…I just wished things would go back to how they were before.

Not the fighting before, but before even that. Back to when I was really young, and my family actually loved each other. It was so long ago that I barely remembered it, but I could vaguely.

After watching Mom for a few minutes, I made my way back to my room, thankful that she hadn’t caught me watching her. She might have wanted to make me talk about it or something, which didn’t sound too great for me.

I finished the text that I had started and sent it to Puck, but I was too distracted to reply when my phone buzzed again. I stared at the new show that had started, not knowing what it was, but it didn’t look too good.

My mind was foggy for the rest of the night, not knowing what was going on. I knew that I went through my nightly routine as normal, but I didn’t quite remember when I had.

The next morning, Puck approached me at my locker, looking kind of annoyed. “Why didn’t you text me back last night?”

With my mind still in a daze, I looked up at him. “I think…I think my parents are getting a divorce.”