Glee: Race to the Finish (the fifth book in the Glee series)

Chapter 66: A Special Evening

"That was great," said Ryder as he dried his wet hair with a towel. Julie stood across him, wrapping a towel around herself and watching him dubiously. "Seriously," he said. "You lasted much longer in the water without freaking out and sinking."

They were standing at the entrance of the neighborhood pool, having just finished another one of Julie's lessons.

She forced a smile, though she was very disappointed about all of this. "When you're around for me to grab onto I can relax. But then you swim away and I panic and..."

"The hardest part is just getting over the fear," he reminded her. "Once you get over that, floating and swimming won't be an issue." She nodded, though she still wasn't very happy that she'd been at this for three days and still couldn't last very long above the water. "On a different note," Ryder continued, "I made reservations for tonight. Very fancy restaurant. Me in a suit. You in dress. What do you say?"

"I'd have to find a sitter," she said.

"I already talked it over with Kitty. She said she'd watch the twins."

"And Ben? Is Marley ok with staying in?"

"Well, actually, Marley and Bree will be out on a double date so I pulled out the big guns and asked Quinn Fabray to babysit for the evening."

Julie crossed her arms and gave him a coy look. "Oh. The St. James'... This must be a pretty big deal then."

"The biggest," he said with a smile.

"Is it the night? Will I be updating my status from 'In a Relationship' to 'Engaged' when the night is over?"

He made a face, pretending not to know the answer. "If you're lucky... But if I were you, I'd make sure I wore waterproof makeup. There may be tears."

She smiled and said, "I can't believe I'm about to say this but I want to to go and get our driving lesson over with. Come on!"

***

While those two made plans for the night, Harmony plotted her future. She sat in her house reading through various audition posts her agent had sent her. As she was reading a casting call for an insignificant indie film, a knock on the door startled her.

She closed down her computer and walked across to the house entrance, opening the door and finding Shawn there, his hands in his pockets and half a smile on her face.

"Hey," he said.

"Hi," she responded. She wasn't sure if she should let him into the house, so she walked outside with him instead and said, "I hadn't heard from you in a while. What are you doing here?"

"I've been in and out of meetings," Shawn sighed. "My publisher really wants another book but I don't really have any other ideas. And this is my only break for another week so I figured I'd better use it and come see you."

"So you're leaving then?" she asked, a frown on her face.

"Tomorrow," he nodded. 

Harmony let out a deep breath. "Ok," she said. "Then I guess we'd better make the most of today. Come on in." She stepped aside and together they walked into the house.

***

"Are you asking me out?" Jake said as he stood in Sam's condo with Bree, who had stopped by to see him. 

"It's just dinner," Bree said. "And it's not a date. We'd just be making sure that Marley feels comfortable. It was supposed to be Stefan and me with his friend and Marley but he's still god knows where with god knows who doing god knows so I was going to try to hold off on the date until later but I called the guy, Max, to set it up for Marley and he can only do tonight and I really want to get her out dating for the first time in forever but she won't do it unless I'm there and I don't want to third wheel so please. Jake, please, please, please. Just go to dinner with us."