Little Red and the Big Bad Wolf

One foot in front of the other. That was the only thing filling my mind as I stormed down the hallway, not letting myself cry. Not in school, where anyone could see me. Where Santana could smell my broken feelings, where Puck could see my weakness.

“ELLIE!” Speak of the devil… But I refused to turn around. He would see my red, watery eyes and know immediately that the whole thing had gotten to me. I was supposed to be hardened-beyond-caring Ellie. Not some girl who felt so attached to her boyfriend that she fell apart when he cheated. That wasn’t right.

My eyes were fixed on the tiles under my feet, still trying to keep the tears from falling down my face. And then…I walked into something.

Or, I corrected myself as I looked up, someone. Puck, standing in front of me, Mohawk and all…almost radiating hurt.

“Well, you’re a hypochondriac,” he snapped at me. “Singing that song about being honest and you won’t even talk to me.”

“I think you mean hypocrite,” I replied back with just as much venom. But he was right, and I knew it. After all, I did want him to stop pestering me and tell me the truth.

“Whatever.” His eyes bore into mine as unsaid words and unsettled tensions flowed between us. “So do you want to hear the truth or not?”

“I don’t know,” I answered truthfully. My stomach was turning, and I was afraid that I was going to puke. That would ruin the whole moment. Not to mention how unpleasant it would be… I hated vomiting.

“Well, I’m gonna tell you anyway. I slept with Santana! More than once over the summer. You happy now?”

I let out a snort and took a step back. “Thrilled, really.”

“I was…” He let out a breath and made a hateful face, but I knew that it was directed at himself, not me. “I was trying to keep you from…getting hurt.”

“Well, good thing,” I responded with thick sarcasm. “Because I’m not hurt at all. I’m so glad that you slept with her and kept it a secret from me so that I had to find out from her.”

Puck paused for a second, looking from side to side as he pondered my words. “Wait…really? So I’m forgiven?”

“NO, you dunderhead!” I slapped him off the side of the head before taking a couple of steps back. “I’m disgusted at you. I can’t…why would you that to me?”

“What was I supposed to do, huh? You saw me, like, three times over three months of vacation, and even then, it was a fast update thing. I’m a dude, and I have needs. You just weren’t coming through.”

And there were those tears, hot and fast, falling down my cheeks before I gathered the strength to keep them back. “I hate you. I hate you so much, and I can’t believe you did that to me. We’re done. We are so fucking done.”

Mid-turn, Puck grabbed my arm and forced me to face him again. “You didn’t let me finish. I’m…I’m…” He took a breath. “Shit, this is harder than I thought it would be. I’m sorry. I feel really bad about sleeping with her. I wish that I hadn’t.”

Angrily, I rubbed my cheeks and sniffled, trying to calm down my shuddering breaths a bit so that I could talk understandably. It was obvious, at least to me, that he was telling the truth. He seriously regretted it. But to me…that didn’t change a damn thing.

“It’s good to know that you regret it, but you’re not winning me back that easily. Actually…” I turned around to be dramatic and started walking. “It doesn’t look like you’re going to be winning me back at all. Go back to Santana and get some more STDs, why don’t you?”

He screamed my name again, but I was already gone mentally, and once my foot hit the concrete of the outside stairs, I was completely gone.

* * *

“Well,” Aileen sighed at dinner, propping her elbows on the table and resting her chin on her hands, platter-style, “someone’s chatty today. I’m assuming you talked to Puck?”

Instead of answering, I pushed my food around my plate some more and let out a snort.

But she managed to gather all the information she needed from that. “So he did sleep with her, huh?”

Another grunt.

“Huh. Well, then he’s a jackass and he’s really not worth your time, is he?”

“I know that…but he did so much for me, you know? And I tried to do just as much for him, but he obviously didn’t think too highly of me, since he cheated on me the second that I wasn’t around all the time.”

“Ellie…I know you’re hurting. Trust me, been there, done that.” She rolled her eyes for dramatic effect before looking back at her dinner, piercing a piece of skinless chicken with her fork. “But if he cheated on you…there’s nothing that’s going to keep him from cheating again.”

“He cheated on me more than once over the summer.”

Her blue eyes opened to saucers before she let out a short, mocking laugh. “Then you kick his ass to the curb, no matter how sweet he seemed to be. Because he’s not worth a damn bit of your effort. Not after that.”

“I know. Just the look on his face…”

“He’s hurt. But he shouldn’t have been an asshole. If he really cared about you, he would have been true. Plain and simple.” Aileen popped the last bit of her dinner into her mouth before standing up. “By the way, I expect that to be eaten. I had a friend in high school who was anorexic and bulimic. I know all the tricks.”

Grumbling, I started eating, even though my stomach was queasy from all the drama that had been going on. I hated it. More than anything else.

It wasn’t just that Puck had cheated on me, though that hurt like a bitch. But with Santana? He knew how much I hated her. And he didn’t give a damn.

Well, I decided, taking a sip of milk as I gave a death glare to the flower wallpaper sitting in front of me, now…neither do I.