Be Free, Be You

When I walked into the library, I was shocked to find that Puck was already waiting there for me, a book open in front of him, smiling.

“I figured you’d skip out, since we didn’t have Glee Club today,” I expressed, sitting across from him.

“Well, I still need help with math,” he answered, as if that made completely sense.

“You also need to do your homework,” I countered, “but you don’t do that.”

“Maybe I’d do my homework if I had a sexy girl helping me,” he responded with a smirk.

It took a few seconds for his inference to sink in, and my face immediately turned a bright red with embarrassment. Not knowing how to address the possible-compliment, I turned his book around to face me.

“Really?” I questioned, looking up at him under my lashes. “You don’t get how to solve systems of equations?”

He raised his eyebrows. “Do you remember our first session? I didn’t know that x could change values. What makes you think that I’d be smart enough to figure out how to solve TWO of those things?”

I let out a long breath and ran a hand through my hair as I got ready for a very long tutoring session.

About thirty minutes later, he finally started getting the hang of it. “Okay, so I multiply this first one by two?”

“Right,” I confirm.

“And then these cross out…” His voice trailed off as his tongue poked out of the side of his mouth, his concentration focused completely on the problem in front of him.

Putting aside the knowledge that I was being creepy, my eyes fixed on him as he scribbled on the paper. His eyebrows were pulled over his eyes, furrowed with frustration, although the corner of his mouth was pulled up in a half-smile, like he was finally starting to understand. And was it okay for guys to have such dark eyelashes?

“I finally got it!” he exclaimed excitedly, throwing his pencil down on the table, not even bothering to pick it up after it rolled to the floor. “TAKE THAT, ALGEBRA.”

A librarian came out of nowhere, a pair of red rectangular perched low on her nose. I was fully prepared for her to scream at us, but instead, she just snapped a fast, “SHHHHH” before disappearing to wherever she came from.

Puck made eye contact with me, and then the two of us burst out laughing. As if we were best friends, sharing a silent joke with each other, in the middle of the library.

I picked up Puck’s pencil and put it in his hand before spinning around his notebook to check his work. And, much to my surprise, it was perfect.

“Good job!” I congratulated, putting up my hand for a high-five, a grin on my face.

But he took my hand and placed it on the table. “I don’t do high-fives,” he told me simply, his eyes boring holes through mine.

“Then what-” I started to say, but was cut off by Puck’s lips pressing against mine.

My heart went into overdrive as reality sunk in. Puck’s mouth was moving with mine. His tongue was flicking against my bottom lip. His hand was on the back of my neck, keeping my face attached to his.

Noah Puckerman was kissing me. The guy who I’d been crushing on since my first day of freshman year, when I saw him walking with Finn Hudson and another football player in the hallway. He’d bumped into me and laughed before saying, “Fresh meat.”

Sure, it wasn’t the most romantic first-encounter story, but it was ours. And I’d been watching him ever since.

And he was kissing me.

Finally, he pulled away and picked up his notebook. “Thanks for the help, kid. Same time tomorrow?”

“After Glee Club,” I agreed, trying my hardest not to sound breathless and smitten beyond belief. Even though I totally was.

He smiled one more time before disappearing into the hallway.

I took a deep breath and smashed my forehead into the table in front of me, making a high-pitched squeaking noise, the only sound that was able to survive the trip through my clenched teeth.

Finally, with a burst of energy, I gathered up all my things and darted down to the gym. I needed to tell Valarie what had just happened. She’d know what to do. She had plenty of boyfriends in the past, along with guys who have just liked her, or guys that she kissed and lost interest in.

When I got down to the gym, I went to the window and spotted Val immediately. She was thrown in the air, spiraling with grace, before landing perfectly and continuing with the routine.

About a minute into the song, she finally looked over at me, and I waved like a crazy person, trying to signal her to come into the hallway to talk to me.

She gave me an angry glare, snapping her head to the side subtly, trying to get rid of me, but I persisted, knowing that I really needed her advice, and my mind wasn’t letting me be patient.

Just when she looked like she was about to cave, Coach Sylvester started yelling, her voice audible, even in the hallway. And then Val was gone.

I put my back to the wall and gnawed on my lip, wondering what the hell I’d just gotten my sister into.