Glee: World of Chances (the fourth book in the Glee series)

Chapter 8: Single

"Writing session numero uno," Alex sighed, flopping himself down beside Sam in the studio. "How's it going?"

Sam shrugged, "Not well. Did you bring me the sandwich I asked for?"

"I bought it..." Alex responded. "But then funny thing... I sort of, you know, ate it."

"How is that funny?" a stressed out Sam replied.

Alex raised his shoulders as he answered, "You had to be there..?"

Sam shook his head, letting out a deep breath and turning back to his notebook. "I figured I'd write a song about Mandy but we've rarely seen each other in the last few weeks. In fact, the excitement has been so low lately that... Well, there was the New Directions reunion. It was fun seeing all of our friends."

Alex smiled and patted Sam in the shoulder as he stood back up and said, "You're welcome. Just write about that and don't thank me."

"But you didn't come up with the idea..." Sam said slowly. 

Alex placed two thumbs up in the air, ignoring him and getting out of the studio. Outside, Julie, John, Tyler and Sebastian were waiting.

"So how did your first session go?" Sebastian asked him.

"He has a topic now," Alex said. "My work is done. I'm going to go flirt with my girlfriend and distract her from her work now. Later!"

He dashed off around the corner towards the lobby while the rest of them waited to hear Sam's ideas come to life.

When Alex reached the hallway and saw Amity and Shana deep in conversation, he sighed. "I wanted to be the one to distract her," he whispered.

"Shana's very good at that," Leila said, appearing beside him and extending an arm out to greet him. "Alex, right? I'm Leila."

Alex nodded and shook her hand as he said, "I know. My roommate in college had one of your Welsh centerfolds up on the wall above his desk."

"I'm flattered," she laughed. "I don't mean to be forward, but I have a question. Do you know any friends who are single and interested in dating? Not dating me, dating men. See, I have a couple of friends in the area who I'm having dinner with at the end of the week and I'm desperate for some female company in the mix. Shana can't, so..."

Alex was about to say he didn't know anyone when he saw Julie walking into the lobby to meet Kitty and Bree at the door. He smiled and said, "How many girls do you need?"

***

"Ok, guys," Rachel said as she and Santana stood in front of the New Directions. "I know Finn has high hopes for you this week, which is why I can't stress enough the importance of good vocals. Without huge voices, you may as well have no voice, which means there's a lot of work to do."

"Don't listen to her," Santana said to the kids, leading to Rachel dropping her jaw in a dignified manner. "She's a Broadway baby, but I'm the real deal in what people know and care about. At least, you know, I will be. And I've been around these competitions as long as she has, so I can tell you for a fact that you won't win without good choreography. Every time that the New Directions has won at Nationals has been due to very nice moves, so you need to work on your booty shakin' skills."

Rachel shook her head, beginning to argue with Santana, who seemed pretty set on her opinion that vocals weren't the most important part of show choir. During their bickering, Jared took the time to walk towards Helen, but Kayli put an arm out and stopped him.

"What are you doing?" she asked him.

He gave her a look and said, "About to ask the future Mrs. McAdams out?"