Little Red and the Big Bad Wolf

“Please?” I pouted, hovering one of my ear buds near Puck’s ear. “Just put it in your ear and listen for a little bit.”

“No.” He shot me an annoyed look. “I’m not listening to anything because I know that it’s going to be some bubblegum shit.”

“Well, you need to sing some bubblegum shit, so you might as well tune in.” A tauntingly wiggled the ear bud again, but he wasn’t biting.

“I’m thinking about refusing to do this assignment. It’s not like I can fail or anything. And I don’t want to sing friggin’ N’Sync or whatever.”

“You,” I started, poking him in the side, “are a complete prima donna. Did you know that?” Then, making my voice as low as it could, I did my little Puck imitation. “I’m too masculine to sing a little pop song. I’m too good for that. But most of all, I’m showing everyone that I’m not secure enough with my masculinity to sing whatever the hell I want without them judging me.”

He narrowed his eyes to slits as he glared with fury. “I wore a purse today!”

“And yet you refuse to sing pop.”

We had a stare down for a second before he finally let out a loud groan. “Fine. Give me the stupid ear bud.”

Smirking with victory, I placed the ear bud in his hand and started the song, looking at Puck as the lyrics started. Of course, I had to sing along. I wasn’t sure that it was really possible for me to listen to music without doing some sort of singing along/humming.

It’s Ellie, bitch

I see you
And I just wanna dance with you
Every time they turn the lights down
Just wanna go that extra mile for you
You got my display of affection
Feels like no one else in the room but you

We can get down like there’s no one around
We can keep on rockin’, we keep on rockin’
Cameras are flashin’ while we’re dirty dancin’
They keep watchin’, keep watchin’
Feels like the crowd is sayin’

As I went into the chorus, I almost expected Puck to pick it up and start singing along with me. But he didn’t, instead just watching with an amused face as I continued to belt it out without any restraint.

In the middle of my second series of “Gimme more”s, he wrapped his arms around my waist from the back and kissed between my shoulder and neck. For a second, I lost my focus and closed my eyes, since it felt good. Really good.

But then I shrugged him off and rolled my eyes. “You know you’re on probation. Don’t do that.”

“But what else was I supposed to do? The lady was asking for more.” He had on that stupid seductive smile of his, and it took me everything I could do to rip the ear bud out of his ear and tuck my iPod back into my bag.

“You’re such a jerk.” I plopped down on my bed, eyes facing the ceiling with my arms crossed on my stomach.

“Which you love.” Puck followed suit, actually lying a decent distance away instead of basically being on top of me.

“Nope. I hate it.” Pondering a little more, I continued, “You know, I wonder why I went out with you once, never mind twice. After all, you don’t really have any qualities that I actually like.”

“Oh, please. I’m hot. I’m funny. I’m a great singer. I’m an awesome kisser.”

“And modest,” I added sarcastically, letting out a little laugh.

“What’s not to love?” The scary thing was that he was actually serious.

“You know…” I trailed off, patting his shoulder. “I think that this subject is just going to die. You really don’t want me going into everything that I hate about you. Anyway, we still need to find you a song for Glee Club. I’m feeling that Britney idea. We just gotta find the right song.”

“I’m. Not. Singing. Britney Spears.”

“Are you going to make me do the spiel about you questioning your masculinity again?”

“You know, it’s nothing coming from my teammates, since I can beat them up anyway. But coming from my girlfriend…”

“All the more reason to do as I say, isn’t it?”

Puck sighed, but he couldn’t exactly deny it. “Whatever.”

“Guys,” Aileen interrupted, knocking harshly on my door, “is Puck staying for dinner?”

“You can come in…” I laughed. “We’re fully clothed.”

“I didn’t figure that you wouldn’t be…” She opened the door and stepped into the room, shutting it behind her. “Unless you give me a reason to be worried about that.”

“Nope.”

“So, Puck, are you staying?”

“That’d be cool,” he shrugged.

Clearing my throat and nudging him, I tried to give him a not-so-subtle hint to rephrase it, but he totally ignored me.

Aileen shot me a look and mouthed, “Sam’s better,” before leaving.

Right when she left, I slapped him. “Why are you such an ass?”

“What did I do?” The sad thing was he seriously didn’t know. Sigh.

“You weren’t polite. Aileen’s a sucker for polite people. She’s still pushing for me to be with Sam, even though he has a girlfriend.”

“Ellie.” Puck looked into my eyes, putting his hands on my shoulder. “Your sister is ridiculous.”

“My sister’s really cool. Especially compared to my mother…” I shuddered for a second as I remembered that horrible waste of human space. Any space, actually.

“Your mother was…” He stopped and smiled. “I’m not gonna finish that thought.”

“Smart.” Then, a thought entered my mind. “You know, you could sing Justin Bieber.”

“I’d rather sing Britney.”

“AH HA! I’ll take that as an agreement.”

“I didn’t agree to anything!”

“Tell that to my tape recorder.”

His eyebrows pulled together as he looked around the room. “What tape recorder?”

“I don’t have one. I just felt like saying that.”

“You’re a freak.”

“Takes one to know one.”

“ELLIE! PUCK!” Aileen screamed up the stairs. “DINNER!”

We shot each other looks before darting out of bed and into the hallway. Puck almost won, but I kind of shoved him when we were near the end of the staircase, so he had to take the extra time to get his balance back. Which meant that I won bragging rights.

“Gosh. Maybe you should start hitting the gym again. I mean, if you can’t even beat me down the stairs to food…there’s not much hope for you,” I gloated as I scooped some mashed potato onto my plate.

“Just watch it, Elegance,” he sniffed. “You’re pushing it.”

“You call me Elegance again, and you lose your…” I let that thought trail off, remembering Aileen at the last second. My face flushed bright red, and she pretended not to notice.

The rest of dinner went alright, though Puck forgot his manners a couple of times. Thankfully, it only took a kick in the shin for him to remember, instead of forgetting completely.

Though, after he left, Aileen turned to me seriously and said, “At least he’s trying. He gets credit. But it’s a work in progress.”

“I know,” I sighed, watching him pull out of the driveway and into the street. “I know.”