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

I mumbled something to myself as I woke up, lifting myself heavily from Puck’s chest. Yawning, I glanced at the clock to see that it was almost seven.

It took a second for everything to come back, that Puck and I had fallen asleep. A blush overtook my face as I shook Puck’s shoulder.

“C’mon, get up,” I urged, shaking him harder when he didn’t respond.

He immediately slapped my hand away and glared at me before realizing who I was. “Oh, I thought you were my sister.”

“Um…thanks…?” I responded, standing up. He sat up and ran his hand through his lack of hair before looking at my alarm clock.

“How long were we asleep?”

“A couple of hours,” I admitted. “My mom is so going to kill me.” It struck me then that Mom wasn’t home. If she was, then she would have found us and probably murdered me. And grounded me. In that order.

His stomach growled loudly in response, and I let out a burst of laughter. “C’mon, let’s go get some food.”

Puck followed me down the stairs and into the kitchen, where I went through the fridge for leftovers that I could heat up. Coming up with nothing, I sighed as I leaned against the counter.

“Why don’t you just make something?” he suggested like it was obvious.

“Because I can’t really cook,” I replied in the same tone.

He hesitated for a second. “I thought all girls could cook. Isn’t it genetic or something?”

“No. And guys cook, too. It’s not just a girl thing.” He opened his mouth, but I cut him off, foreseeing what he was going to say. “And no, girls do not belong in the kitchen.”

“I wasn’t going to say that,” he defied, but the look on his face told me otherwise.

“Okay, sure,” I allowed, trying my best to keep the sarcasm out of my voice. It didn’t work too well.

“Can't you make grilled cheese?” Puck questioned, thinking it was probably the easiest thing to make.

“Um…actually…” I thought back to the last time I tried. Somehow, I had slipped the bottom piece of bread out from the sandwich and the cheese burned on the pan before I could take it off the stove. The smoke alarm went off, and Dad woke up, freaking out that there was a fire. “No.”

He rolled his eyes. “You’re not much of a girl, are you?”

“Um…thanks. I appreciate that.” Instead of attempting to make grilled cheese sandwiches again, I took out a box of Cinnamon Toast Crunch and put it down in front him, soon followed by a couple of bowls and the gallon of milk. “Knock yourself out. It’s self-serve.”

He smirked a little at my joke before pouring out his cereal. Then, he picked up the gallon and popped off the top. Tilting it to get it in the bowl, he missed completely, dousing the counter and getting it all over the floor.

“Oh, look…” Puck trailed off, as if he was sorry and pathetic. “I guess I can’t even make a bowl of cereal.”

I turned up at him, looking shocked, but also not completely able to keep the grin off my face. “I hate you so much,” I laughed.

“No, you don’t,” he told me with confidence. “Then you wouldn’t have used me as a pillow after I fell asleep.”

“I didn’t fall asleep like that!” I lied. “I must have moved closer to my sleep.”

“So you want me, even when you’re sleeping,” he pointed out, getting closer to me with every word.

My mouth stayed shut, since I wasn’t totally positive how I was supposed to retaliate to that. After all, the whole thing had been a lie, but I’d just dug myself deeper.

“Clean up the milk,” I ordered him, changing the subject as I handed him a roll of paper towels.

He slopped the mess around for a while, which I knew he did on purpose to irritate me. It worked, of course, and after a couple minutes, I took the paper towels from him and cleaned it myself.

“Thank you,” he smiled as I threw out the sopping towels and started to wash my hands.

“You’re a dick,” I informed him, but grinned to show that I didn’t care.

“I know.”

After shoving his bowl of cereal into his chest, I made my way to the dining room and sat down at a table. “I forgot the spoons.”

Scraping my chair away from the table, I made my way into the kitchen and grabbed what I needed, handing one to Puck as I sat down again.

We ate in silence, only the sound of our crunching cereal in the air. It wasn’t too awkward, which was good.

While I was staring to wash the dishes, Puck came behind me and threw his bowl into the sink over my head. I turned around, laughing and slightly shaken. “What if that had hit me?!”

“It wouldn’t have. I have good aim,” he insisted.

“Yeah, well, I’m lucky to be alive,” I snapped back.

He came forward and kissed me quickly. It wasn’t supposed to work. I was supposed to stay strong and annoyed when he kissed me, but since I wasn’t truly angry in the first place, that plan kind of failed miserably.

The front door opened, and I pushed Puck away from me. Mom was standing there with bags of groceries in her hands, staring back and forth between us.

“Well,” she said simply, “I guess I should have seen this coming.”

“What do you mean by that?” I started slowly. As a therapist, she could misjudge situations and try to make them into something they weren’t.

“Your father left, and now you’re trying to fill the space that he left.”

“Whoa, you kiss your dad like that?” Puck burst out.

I ignored him for a second, turning back to my mom. “It’s not like that!” I argued. “Puck and I started going out before Dad left.”

“You would have told me,” she concluded. Leaving the bags on the counter, she retreated up into her room, shutting the door behind her.

For a while, I seethed in silence, throwing the food items where they belonged and pretty much ignored Puck’s existence.

“Red, I’ve waited long enough,” he stopped me. I looked down at the bread in my hand and realized that wasn’t going to do much if I wanted to hit him over the head. “You gotta tell me…you and your dad didn’t…”

“NO!” I screamed loudly. “She means emotionally, like…I’m filling a void that was left. You don’t know therapist talk.”

He let out a loud sigh of relief before taking the bread out of my hand. “Good.”

“I told you that I hadn’t been kissed when you kissed me,” I reminded him.

“That doesn’t mean it didn’t start after that.” He put the bread into a random cabinet, which was the wrong one, before turning back to me. “I just wanted to make sure. Incest is disturbing.”

“Thanks for giving me your take on that, but don’t worry about it.” I moved around him so that I could the bread where it was supposed to go. If it was in the wrong place, it would drive me crazy.

“Anyway,” he started, “I should probably be getting home. Let you unpack the groceries and sleep and shit.” He leaned forward and kissed me for a second before leaving out the door.

“Bye,” I mumbled after he closed the door behind him. That was a heartfelt goodbye…

After the groceries were put away, I went upstairs and showered, letting the hot water burn on my sensitive skin.

Even though it was not even nine and I had slept for two hours that afternoon, I fell asleep quickly. Dancing was killing me.