Little Red and the Big Bad Wolf

“Ellie!” Ariella exclaimed, running down the stairs. “You’re back! I figured that Puck had screwed up completely and you were never going to take him back. You’re too good for him.”

“Uh, hello?” Puck snapped at her. “Standing right here.”

She shrugged at him like, ‘So what?’ before throwing her arms around me quickly. “I’m glad you’re here again.”

“Well, Puck and I aren’t back together,” I told her, just so that there wasn’t that awkward air between us. “But I had to come back here because I just missed you.”

She grinned broadly, but Puck let out a snort. “I have no idea why you’d ever miss her.”

I elbowed him and turned back to Ariella just in time for her to say, “I bet Mom would love to see you, too. Want me to go get her for you?”

“That would be great,” I agreed with a nod. “Thanks.”

Ariella shot Puck a glare before running up the stairs, calling for her mom.

“Why do you have to be so mean to her?” I accused Puck, slapping him on the arm. “She really is a sweet girl.”

“Try living with her,” he rolled his eyes.

“I have,” I reminded him. “Kind of.”

“You spent more time with me though.” A smirk was plastered on his face, and it took all my self-control to keep from slapping it right off.

“Not anymore.” Alright, so that was mean. Oh, well.

Puck’s mom greeted me a lot like Ariella had, with a lot of smiling, laughing, and enthusiasm. Plus, the added part that she was glad that I was back with Puck.

Her face fell a little when I informed her that I wasn’t actually back with him, but she recovered pretty quickly. “As long as you still come back and visit.” When Puck disappeared into the kitchen for a moment, she leaned down and whispered jokingly (I think it was jokingly, anyway), “Nice job smartening up. I figured you’d realize that you’re too good for him eventually.”

Of course, me being as tactless as I was, I let out a loud laugh, which made Puck look at me a bit strangely when he came back into the room. “What’s so funny?”

“We were just thinking about your face,” I shrugged. “But you see the humor in that, since you have to look at it in the mirror every morning.”

“Ha. Ha,” he replied dramatically, his face having as much emotion as a brick. “You’re so funny.”

“Thanks.” I shot him a wide grin before resuming the conversation about school that I was having with his mom. Shockingly enough, she barely knew about anything academic at McKinley. I figured she would, considering her son was such a scholar.

That was sarcasm. Clearly.

Somewhere around five thirty, Puck yanked me off the couch, where his mom was trying to tell me how not to destroy a grilled cheese sandwich.

Pouting my lip, I asked in a tone that sounded like one would use for a toddler, “Aw, does someone need more attention?”

“No, I’m just saying that you probably want to get home now. You know, your sister’s probably worrying and stuff.”

I raised an eyebrow at him. “Seems like someone is just a tad too eager to meet my sister, aren’t they?”

He gave me a smirk before taking my hand and pulling me toward the door. “Bye, Ms. Puckerman!” I called, even as I was disappearing out the front door. “It was nice to see you-!”

And I was cut off by Puck slamming the door behind me.

“You,” I informed him, pulling my hand back to my side with as much grace as possible, “are a jerk. You couldn’t have at least let me say good bye to your family?”

“Why would you even want to see them anyway? They’re not that great. Not as great as your sister, I’m sure.”

“If you hit on my sister, I swear to God that I’ll murder you. She’s, like, thirty.”

“I’ve gone way older, but I’m not going to hit on her. She’s your sister, after all. Though I’m not saying that I won’t…observe.”

“Don’t let me see you checking her out,” was all I had to say about that. It wasn’t like there was much I could do about his grossness, anyway. I didn’t have a claim on him anymore, so I couldn’t hate him for checking out anyone, even if it was my sister.

The thought kind of made me shiver a little.

Soon enough, we pulled into my driveway, right behind Aileen’s car. “Alright,” I warned Puck as I was opening my door, “try to be as charming as you can. Because she loves Sam because she thinks that he’s cute and polite. And sweet. All of which you’re not.”

“Please,” he scoffed, running a hand over his head, “I graduated from ‘cute’ when I left the third grade.”

“I swear, one of these days, I’m going to punt you.” He opened his mouth, probably to question me, but I cut him off by getting out of the car and slamming the door behind me.

“Hey!” I greeted as I walked into the house. “There’s someone here to meet you!”

Aileen already had on her ‘I don’t like you’ face as she walked into the kitchen, leaning against the fridge. Just how she knew who she was going to meet, I didn’t know. Maybe we were already too in-sync.

“Hi,” Puck grinned widely as he walked into the house, “I’m Noah Puckerman.” Then, he stepped forward and extended his hand.

“Trying too hard,” I whispered into his ear, but he seemed to ignore me.

“Nice to meet you,” Aileen replied, not looking like she meant it at all. For a couple of seconds, she looked him up and down, sizing him up. “So you’re the infamous Puck.”

“What has Ellie said about me?” he laughed, trying to keep the air light.

“Oh, you don’t want to know,” she teased, turning around and taking a bottled water out of the fridge. “Nothing good, definitely.”

Kill me now. Well, that was certainly embarrassing. “Yup, she definitely likes Sam more than you,” I told Puck at a normal level.

Aileen nodded in agreement, raising her water bottle to me. “Amen!”

“Well…” Puck trailed off, “has Sam ever sung to you?”

“Oh, God…please don’t,” I put a hand on his chest and started backing him toward the door.

“I just want to get on her good side,” Puck expressed innocently, making his eyes wide.

“Yeah, Ells. Just let him try.”

“This is gonna be hell,” I muttered as I sat down at the table and put my face in my eyes, peeking through the holes made when I spread out my fingers.

“Come on, Aileen,” he sang, clapping as the line ended. “Well, I swear-"

"What he means," I peeped up as backup.

"At this moment...you mean everything!" he finished, his smile growing as he sang. And there was some definitely checking-out on his part.

“Alright, that’s enough,” I laughed aloud, remembering the rest of the lyrics of the chorus. “You’re done.”

Aileen was chuckling though, shaking her head. I wondered if that meant that Puck had gained any points in her book.