acontrollist | I cried for you on the kitchen floor

"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.

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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."

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.

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?"

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."

"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."

"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."

Edited 2012-02-19 10:25 (UTC)

"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.

"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..."

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."

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."

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?"

"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.

I cried for you on the kitchen floor

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