Tugging her dress down another inch, Rachel slipped over to the bar, leaving the rest of the girls behind at the table. For all the confidence she put on, it was really just a front. Rachel wanted more than anything for people to like her, those of the male persuasion especially and she seemed to be getting nowhere.
There was Sam of course, her lovely prince but she was pretty positive that despite her flirting in character, all the times she’d slipped out of it as well he’d bought that she was just acting and assumed she wasn’t interested. And she couldn’t tell you what was going on with Sebastian, she felt like she always had to one up him but he was certainly attractive and charming despite the fact that she knew he was just as much of a player as any of the guys.
And then there was Puck, or Noah, or whatever she decided to call him, mostly based on the way he was acting. While it was true that girls tended to have a thing for bad boys and he certainly qualified as that, he rubbed her the wrong way and left her feeling incredibly vulnerable and undesirable.
That encounter was the main reason she’s slipped away from everyone else. They already thought that she was mostly a buzz kill and she really didn’t need any of them to catch her crying. Because as much as she was trying to hold herself together, the shots she’d already taken had her just wanting affection so it was best if she was alone for a little while.
After much deliberation and several minutes of staring at himself in the mirror, Blaine decided to attend the karaoke night after all. It was supposed to be girls only, but Marley was kind enough to invite him anyway - or did he invite himself? But then Puck had gone and said things about Blaine not being an adequate protector of the girls - not that he thought they needed anyone’s protection - and it had really struck a nerve because Blaine had been working really hard in the past few years to shake off that more feminine, sensitive, fragile side of him that had gotten him into trouble with his peers in school more times than he ever cared to think about.
But he loved singing, and he really wanted to hang out with the girls, so he decided to go anyway. Screw Puck and his opinion of Blaine. Of course someone so badass would think Blaine wasn’t masculine or manly or whatever he’d meant. Blaine was going to this bar and he was going to be the most awesome boy the girls had ever hung out with.
When he arrived, his eyes danced across the room, first spotting Rachel sitting alone at the bar, then Britt, Marley and the others at a table behind her. Hie eyebrows furrowed together, concern for Rachel growing in his chest. He’d never really felt like the two of them had hit it off as friends like he had with Quinn or Brittany, but seeing the girl hunched over the bar wasn’t something Blaine was about to ignore. He moved through the crowd, feeling the heavy beat of music in his ears, through his whole body.
“Not dancing with the others?” he asked in lieu of a greeting, sliding onto the stool next to her and propping his elbow on the bar, face in hand.
