I cried for you on the kitchen floor

[acontrollist]

"Tony wait."

"I'll try to be home early, Birdy, I promise." He's tying his tie as they cross the kitchen from upstairs. Rachel hasn't even gotten dressed yet, still in her blue nighty. He's walking pretty fast, and Rachel's taking two steps for every one of his, barefoot and so tiny as she chases him through the kitchen while he tries to grab a quick breakfast.

"You always say that and it never happens. It's your day off, Tony! You promised me today!" She reaches over to try and pry the milk out of his hand but he jerks away, slamming it down on the counter.

"This is my job!"

"I"m your wife!" She slams both hands down on the counter, the noise covering the crack in her voice. "I'm your wife, and you made me a promise. Robbie is a completely capable TA, you just can't let him handle the class for one half day because you're a control freak!" Tony whips around so fast that Rachel actually flinches, but all he does is stare her down for a good long minute. Grabbing the milk again, he almost throws it back into the fridge, slamming the door and stalking across the kitchen. "I'll grab something on the way."

"Tony, don't. Please don't. Stay home. Robbie can handle the class for today! You only have 3 classes because of the assembly. You said so yourself."

"We'll talk about it when I get home."

"What will there be to talk abou-" He shuts the front door behind himself. Hard. And she's left standing in the threshold between the kitchen and the living room, hands fisted as her side, shaking as she tries not to cry.

Comments

[likeasexshark.livejournal.com]

He parked in the front of the house along the curb. Tony had bitched him out enough about parking in the driveway. It wasn't right. He didn't live here. It wasn't appropriate. He thought it was stupid. He didn't want to pick a fight about it though. He had already done something that could get him fired. He probably shouldn't rock that boat anymore.

He wrapped the vacuum hose around his arm and rested the leaf skimmer on his shoulder. He bowed his head as he passed Tony on the driveway. He was climbing into his car and it was obvious the man was pissed. Not to mention he did hear the two of them yelling from the front yard. Voices carried.

He dropped the supplies in the backyard and glanced at the window. He frowned and shook his head. He made his way to the door and hesitated to knock. He finally pushed the door open and stepped inside. "He's an ass."

[acontrollist.livejournal.com]

Rachel jumps upon hearing the door opening. For a second, she thinks maybe Tony changed his mind. Of course, the hopeful look on her face crumbles almost instantly and she turns away, she hopes before he sees how heartbroken she looks. "So are you, sometimes." She tries to joke but fails, lifting her hand to her mouth to hide the way her lip quivers.

[likeasexshark.livejournal.com]

This is true. He was a big asshole sometimes. He could be quite the jackass when he put his mind to it. He was trying to be nice to her though. He cared. He listened. He didn't do any of that shit with anyone. 'Cept her. He took his sunglasses from the top of his head and put them on the counter. "Why are you letting that jackass get to you? It's his loss if he'd rather go hang out with a bunch of underdeveloped teenagers instead of you."

[acontrollist.livejournal.com]

"It's his job." She shrugs, taking a shaky breath. "I understand that. I know that, it just-...he promised." She really shouldn't be pouring her heart out to him, she knows. All it will do is give him more incentive, more fodder to flirt and push and try to break her resolve. But nonetheless, he is, once again, the closest thing she has to a friend. And sometimes she needs to talk. "He has a TA for days like this...I just wish he would take a day off. Just once."

[likeasexshark.livejournal.com]

It hurt him that she only saw him in this tarnished light. She only saw him as this wedge trying to drive itself into her unhappy marriage. He was just trying to help. He was just trying to make her smile when most of the time all she did was frown. She deserved to be happy about something.

If that guy couldn't see that she was ten times better than a class full of asshole teenagers then he was a moron. People called Puck the idiot, but he had his shit straight. "What were you guys gonna do?"

[acontrollist.livejournal.com]

She saw him as more than that, really. He was her only real friend, too. He was the only person she could talk to, that'd listen to her. It was her morals that got in the way of her appreciating all of that for what it really was. Because the truth of the matter was that Rachel liked him too. She was just scared. Between knowing that she was cheating on her husband, knowing that if she left Tony she would have no where to go, and guilt over having feelings for another man, she was just-...stuck.

"Just...I don't know. Spend some time together." She sniffled, moving to the sink to splash some cool water on her face, trying to counteract the puffiness she knows is there.

[likeasexshark.livejournal.com]

Believe it or not he would have actually enjoyed spending time with Rachel. He didn't constantly want sex. He wasn't an animal. Well. Maybe in the bed, but otherwise he could be decent. He could be a good dude. Though right now it was a little difficult for him not to tilt his head and try to imagine what was underneath that nightie. Damn she looked good in it. He needed to find a proper distraction.

He stepped into the kitchen further and hopped onto a counter. He smiled over at her by the sink. "I play the guitar. It's out in my truck." No one knew about this hobby. Finn was the only one, but that was mainly because the jammed together some weekends. "I could go get it and you could really show me your pipes."

[acontrollist.livejournal.com]

Her smile is tentative, weak. But it's there. These are the times, really, that make her wish Tony was Puck sometimes. Even though he infuriates her sometimes, sometimes he's like this. Unerringly sweet. "Aren't you supposed to be working?" She asks softly, standing up straight. But it's not a no.

[likeasexshark.livejournal.com]

He pushed his shoulders up and shrugged. His smile grew as he studied her. She wasn't as upset as before. She wasn't crying like the day before. She seemed a little better. Maybe relaxed. "That's what's cool about being your own boss. You make your own hours." He nodded in her direction. "You game?"

[acontrollist.livejournal.com]

She thinks about it seriously for a moment. If Tony keeps coming home to an unfinished pool, he's going to start suspecting something. Even if she and Noah are just friends (disregarding last week's debacle, of course). And then he'll fire Noah and she honestly doesn't know if she could handle that. Once again, whether that the friendship or the feelings talking there, she doesn't know.

Finally, she gives in. "Fine. Just one song."

[likeasexshark.livejournal.com]

"Wise choice." He hopped down from the counter and bolted from the kitchen. He jogged down the driveway and to his truck. He pulled open the passenger side door and yanked the guitar case from the seat. He carried it back inside and kicked the door shut behind him. He set it down on the counter and popped it open. He pulled his favorite girl free and tucked her under his arm. "Ladies choice."

[acontrollist.livejournal.com]

"How long have you been playing?" She asks, pulling herself up onto the counter. She's completely forgotten that she's wearing just a flimsy little nighty that just reaches past mid-thigh. He looks so natural with that guitar under his arm. He says she can pick, but all she does is blush and shrug a little. "I don't know what you can play."

[likeasexshark.livejournal.com]

"Since I was in middle school. My mom thought it'd be a good way to get me to focus." He shrugged. "It wound up doing the opposite. I started using it get girls in high school." He managed to get his fair share with his trusty guitar. Those chicks went nuts for that type of shit.

He leaned back against the counter and held the guitar close to him. He kept his eyes up top the best way he could. "I got something." He started to play after counting himself in. Need You Now. It did speak volumes in this situation.

[acontrollist.livejournal.com]

"Well it did get you to focus on something." She points out, laughing a little. Rachel always saw the girls swoon over dudes that played guitar (she went to an all girl's school, but if one of them managed to snag an outside guy who played guitar, it was always the first detail they shared) and she always wondered why guys didn't feel the same way about girls that sang.

She knows this song. Of course she does. And she's not going to read into it, which stopping him and picking another song would be. "Picture perfect memories scattered all around the floor..."

[likeasexshark.livejournal.com]

He never thought of putting it that way. The guitar got him to focus, but it wasn't on the things his mother wanted. Focus was focus though. She couldn't be too choosy now could she? 'Sides he was doing pretty alright if you asked him. He had shaped up nicely from his high school days.

Puck had a hard time focusing on the song when she was singing. Part of him just wanted to stop and listen to her go. He liked listening to her sing. It made his stomach a little flip-flopy. The feeling wasn't exactly normal because it did make him feel a little chick like, but he'd ignore that part. He did manage to get through the entire song without messing up or stopping his playing to focus on her.

Puck held the guitar against his upper body tightly and nodded his head. "You're really fucking good at that."

[acontrollist.livejournal.com]

For the first time in a long time, Rachel's at peace. She sings idly all the time, of course, but Tony kind of gets frustrated when he's sitting around trying to read or grade and she's really singing. It throws off his concentration, he says. And when she sings in the house all by herself, everything echoes and it just makes her feel lonlier than she already does.

At least here, with Puck, someone seems to be appreciating her voice and she's losing herself in the music again, leaning against the counter and letting her eyes slip closed after a moment as she sings. She can imagine she's on stage, that the crowd is cheering for her, that she hasn't given up her dreams for a little bit.

She opens her eyes as she finishes the song, reaching up to swipe at some stray tears before Puck can see them. It feels like she's always crying lately. But his compliment makes her smile. "Thank you."

[likeasexshark.livejournal.com]

Puck saw enough of Tony to think the guy was a major douchebag. If Rachel told him the things that he missed when he wasn't working then he would knock the guy out. The dude seemed to be living in some sort of fucked up world where his needs were the min concern. The guy was gonna smother his own wife with his needs before she was thirty. That wasn't cool in Puck's eyes. Dick move, bro. Dick move.

He saw the tear swiping, but he chose to keep his mouth shut. She didn't want to talk about it and he didn't want to make her talk about it. If she wanted to cry that was totally cool. Just as long as she wasn't crying right after they did something dirty. That kind of killed his ego. "How come you don't do that shit all the time?"

[acontrollist.livejournal.com]

"It distracts Tony." She shrugs. She doesn't mention the part about the echoing because, well...she already seems like a pathetic housewife. Hell, she is a pathetic housewife, barely dressed and singing with her pool boy. It's like some stage opera. The whole thing ends with Tony trying to shoot Puck but shooting her instead. Or something.

"Whenever he's grading or reading, you know. Which makes sense. My Dads soundproofed my room when I was a kid for the same reason." Totally not the same thing, Rachel knows, since her Dads were always very encouraging and soundproofed her room because she had no concept of time and would sing at 2am.