Author's note: So I decided to post these over here since I've filled over a dozen prompts and you have to be a member of the LJ PuckRachel community to read the drabbles filled on the meme. As I said in the description, each chapter will be a different prompt fill.

First one up:

Prompt:

"Just one dance, Berry. Then I'll leave you alone forever."

It takes one phone call. One phone call on a Friday night is all the separates Rachel from the happiness she felt before then to the confusion that seems to haunt her now. And the lead up to her junior prom, which should have been full of excitement, now feels like a chore and she's not even sure she wants to go. If she didn't have a boyfriend who so desperately wanted to take her, she would stay home.

...

Her dress is gorgeous, she knows. It's long and silver, strapless and beaded, with a slit up to her thigh. Her toes have been manicured and she's in a delicate pair of silver, strappy heels that give her nearly two more inches of height but an immeasurable amount of confidence. Finn looks so handsome in his suit and together, they smile while her dads and Burt and Carole all snap a hundred pictures. But as they leave, her Daddy puts his hand on the small of her back and nudges her gently. When she looks up at him, he winks and blows her a kiss. Her smile isn't quite reaching her eyes and Daddy knows it.

The ride over to the hotel where the prom is being held is quiet. Finn's got the radio on and she can tell that he's nervous and jittery as he taps his fingers along with some 80s hair band that's blaring through the speakers. For two weeks now, Rachel's felt like she was living in a murky haze. Nothing has outwardly changed at all, though. She's still with Finn and had been for nearly ten months now. They're still singing duets in Glee, going on dates every weekend, and are a McKinley power couple. But ever since that phone call, Rachel's felt like it's all a charade.

Finn kisses her cheek when he helps her from the car and she smiles up at him, curling her fingers around his forearm as they walk into the building. They're directed to the ballroom and when they get inside, Rachel's actually impressed. The decorations are sheer and wispy and the room almost looks enchanting. As soon as they have their picture snapped, they make their way towards the tables where the other Gleeks are waiting. Rachel's relieved that he's not there yet. Ever since that phone call, she's been avoiding him. She refuses to meet his eyes and goes out of her way to not see him. Considering he's a part of her life as a classmate and teammate, it's difficult. And factoring in that he's been on the fringes of her life, seemingly always there in one form or another for a lot longer, it's nearly impossible to fully circumvent him. But she's done it as much as she can and she hopes that tonight, they won't cross paths. This night is about her junior prom with her boyfriend Finn. It has to be. She needs to find a way through this haze and reconnect with what she felt prior to a 2am phone call two weeks ago.

Rachel engages in conversation with Tina, who's on Mike's arm. Mike's eyeing the dance floor and finally can't control himself anymore. With a gentle tug at Tina's elbow, he pulls her out among the throng and starts dancing. Rachel sees Artie sitting at the table, watching the pair with a pained look in his eyes. She reaches down and squeezes his shoulder reassuringly and he smiles before his eyes lock on Tina again. Rachel can't help but think that it seems a lot of the Glee boys are pining for people that they can't have.

"Hey, Rach, you wanna dance?" Finn asks once the conversation has slowed down. Rachel nods and takes his hand and lets his large, awkward frame lead her to the floor. Their arms go around each other easily and comfortably and Rachel leans her head against his chest and closes her eyes. She loves that Finn is so solid. And her relationship with him is solid. Well, it was. Before that phone call and before her mind started spinning with these thoughts and feelings, it was. Now it's still there and it's still solid but yet it feels… it feels like it was built on sand and now it's just one good shakeup before it collapses down around them like a house of cards.

When the slow song ends and a fast one comes on, Rachel opens her eyes and lifts her head. Finn bends to kiss her and once they part, she turns toward the table. It's only then that she feels his stare. She discreetly surveys the room but can't see where he is. He's not with the other Gleeks and she doesn't see him with the jocks, either. But she can feel that he's there and suddenly, the haziness seems to thicken and she starts to wonder if she's going to make it through the night.

Finn leads her to the table and she plops down, sucking down some ice water from a goblet. She hears a chair scrape across the floor and looks up to see him pulling out the chair across from her. Her heartbeat seems to catch, pausing just long enough to make her lose her breath before it begins to beat erratically. She hears him talking to Artie and then the two of them are laughing but she refuses to look his way. Instead, she and Brittany admire each other's corsages and up-dos. When a slow song comes on again, Finn says, "Rach? Do you care if I dance with Britt?"

Rachel gulps because the words from that phone call from two weeks ago seem to come rushing back with Finn's question. If he dances with Brittany, she's going to be left alone and exposed at this table. But she can't very well protest a friendly dance so she feels herself nodding and then watches when Brittany quickly stands up and takes Finn's hand and they disappear onto the floor. She hears Puck clear his throat and she knows he's trying to get his attention but she won't look at him. She can't. She feels like she's frayed and all it will take is one look from those hazel eyes to completely unravel her. So she sits there and watches Finn's arms wind around Brittany as they dance across the floor. And when that song ends and another song comes on, Finn stays out on the floor with Brittany and Rachel decides she's going to escape to the bathroom. But then he's standing in front of her and his arm is on her shoulder and she can't avoid him anymore.

"Wanna dance?" he asks.

Rachel shakes her head. "No, thank you, Noah. I think I'll pass."

She feels his hand tighten on her shoulder and he says, "Just one dance, Berry. Then I'll leave you alone forever."

Artie is staring at them strangely so she acquiesces and stands up. Puck takes her hand and leads her out onto the floor, his arms wrapping around her the moment they fall into step.

"You've done a hell of a job avoiding me," he says. His voice is low and she can tell, from the thick way the words sound, that he's burying his frustration.

"I…Under the circumstances, Noah, I thought it was for the best."

Puck snorts and links his fingers together at the back of her waist. "For the best for who? Because the way I see it is that if you weren't affected by what I had to say, you wouldn't have spent the last two weeks avoiding me."

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Rachel shakes her head and lets the lies flow easily off her tongue. "Did you ever think that I was giving you space out of the embarrassment I feel for you? I mean, you had the nerve to call me, your best friend's girlfriend, while you were drunk and say… and say those things."

Puck's eyes narrow and he stares her down. "And then you started pretending like I didn't exist. You know what that tells me? That tells me that you feel the same way that I do but you have no idea how to fucking handle it because it's not part of your 50 year plan for you and Mr Perfect."

Rachel starts to argue but Puck shakes his head and continues. "Because if you didn't feel the same way, you wouldn't act so fucking jumping whenever I'm around now. You feel guilty."

"I have nothing to feel guilty about!" Rachel argues. "I haven't done anything wrong!"

"Nobody said you did, Berry. But, shit. I put my fuckin' heart and my rep on the line to tell you like a goddamn douchebag that I've got a thing for you. I've tried to ignore it and kept blaming it on the tiny little skirts but dammit, there's more than just friendship between us and you fucking know it. Yeah, I called you when I was shitfaced but what I said was true. If you don't feel it, too, fine. Just fucking tell me. Stop avoiding me and tell me. I'm a big boy and I can take the rejection. But I think you do feel it and you're just scared."

Rachel meets his eyes and her lips part. There's so much she could say right now. But then she sees Finn out of the corner of her eye and he's watching them intently and it makes the haze start to crowd around her again and so she says, "I don't feel that way about you, Noah. Now please leave me alone." And when she slips from his arms and leaves him by himself in the middle of the dance floor while the song still plays, he doesn't follow her.

The rest of the prom is miserable for Rachel. She dances with Finn and Mike and Sam and, even though she doesn't mean to, she finds herself seeking out Noah. Her eyes scan the crowd but he's nowhere to be seen. And she doesn't feel his eyes on her at all so she knows, even without confirmation, that he's gone and he's not coming back.

Although it's clichéd and expected to get a hotel room after the prom is over, Rachel declines and tells Finn that she has a massive headache. He looks very disappointed and Rachel feels awful but she can't stand the thought of being in that room with him and doing those things with him when her mind keeps falling to someone else. So instead, she kisses him on the lips sweetly and chastely before letting herself out of the car. She waves at him until his car disappears and then she goes inside and grabs her own keys off the hook by the door.

Minutes later, she's parked in front of the small white house with the green shutters that's just three streets over. There's one light glowing in the living room window and his truck is out front but his mom's car isn't. And as Rachel sits there, her eyes fixed on that warm light emanating from the house, her tears collect and begin to fall. She's so confused. Before that phone call, it had been so easy to ignore what she felt and pretend that there wasn't anything there. But with the ringing of a cell phone and just a sentence full of honest words that keep replaying in her head, everything is now off-kilter. Her life is now spiraling out of the beautiful control with which she normally has over it just because Noah said, "I want to be with you and I think, if you'd let yourself admit it and not freak the fuck out, that you want to be with me, too."

When Rachel pushes the door of her car open and steps out onto the street, she realizes that there's no going back. But then again and even though she's been strictly practicing denial and avoidance, there was really no going back once her phone pulled her from a deep sleep two weeks ago. She makes her way through his yard and stops midway, pulling her heels off and letting the cold, damp grass soothe her aching feet. But it does very little to soothe the ache in her heart and the pounding in her head because there's really only one thing that will soothe those. Once she's climbed the two concrete steps up to the door, she takes a very deep breath and then knocks softly.

Puck pulls the door open almost immediately and he's still in his tux pants but his shirt has been replaced with red sleeveless one. He's got a can of soda in his hand and he seems both surprised and annoyed to see her. "What?" he asks, his voice cold. "I thought you'd said everything you needed to say when you basically told me to fuck off in the middle of the dance floor."

Rachel wipes a tear from her cheek and looks down at the heels now dangling from her fingers. She hears Puck shift and she knows he's waiting for an answer. When she looks up at him, she takes a deep breath and smiles through her tears. "I lied to you, Noah."

Puck looks a little stunned but pushes the door wide open so that she can come through. Once she's inside and they're standing there, staring at one another, she almost panics. But then he puts his drink down and grabs her wrist and pulls her against him. He places a soft kiss against her forehead and lets his large palm slide down the back of her head to settle on her neck. And when he whispers, "We'll figure it out," against her hair, she's relieved that the haze that's clouded her for nearly two weeks seems to start dissipating. He's right, she knows. He's absolutely right. They will figure it out.