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

Chapter 16: Perfect Duos

Jake and Stefan walked into the shop, however, eliciting a tiny ring from above the door, so Bree looked up and spotted them there.

"Hey, listen, I'm going to call you back, ok?" she said, hanging up her bluetooth quickly. "Well, well, well," she crossed her arms, staring at the boys. "Not the two people I expected to see here. Certainly not together. Stefan, shouldn't you be in college? What are you doing with each other?"

"Oh you know," Stefan answered nonchalantly. "Just hangin'." He leaned his shoulders back slightly so Jake patted his back to straighten him up and gave him a look.

"I was driving out of the station when I saw Stefan walking out on his own," Jake explained, a reason which was much more credible to Bree. "So then I offered him a lift but I had to make a stop here first."

"And why is that?" she asked curiously.

"I needed to check in about Riley," he answered. "Without her or Kitty around."

"Why not Kitty?" she asked, aware that Stefan had started snooping around her merchandise boxes.

As the blonde placed a lilac lace crop top to his chest, Jake responded, "I feel like Riley lies and then Kitty covers for her. I don't know. They're just too much alike to count on either of them for this. So what has Riley been up to?"

"Uh..." Bree muttered, remembering that Riley was now handing out with a potentially more devious girl and wondering whether she should say something. Instead, however, she took upon herself to point out, "Finn's probably the best guy to ask about how she's doing. He sees her every day, and around her friends, which is probably the best indication."

As Jake considered this and began to dial Finn, Stefan walked over to Bree, a smirk on his face as he said, "So... You hear the good news?"

With fake enthusiasm, she gasped, "Prince William is in town!"

"Prince who?" Stefan asked, confused. "Um, no. I meant my news."

"Oh," Bree said, not hiding her disappointment. "No, I haven't heard anything."

Despite her not asking, he said, "I've been drafted for the Cleveland Browns. You know... the football team? Why don't you look more excited?"

"I don't really follow football," she sighed, disinterested. "And those teams I do know of are much more impressive."

"I currently am the star player of the top collegiate team in the nation," Stefan bragged. "I could've gone to play with the freakin' Patriots. But I wanted to stay close to home and it was either Cleveland or Cincinatti."

"Aren't they rivals?" she asked nonchalantly, thoughtlessly rearranging magazines on the register counter.

"So you do know about the teams!" he pointed out with too much excitement for her liking. She looked up and raised an eyebrow, so he got to the point, which was, "Well, anyway, I'm moving back to the Lima area now. The rich neighborhood, of course. I've been talking to that hot glee chick, the realtor, and I've got myself lined up a pretty sweet pad on the east side of town."

"Ooh, what a shame," Bree said sarcastically. "I'm on the west."

"I know," he grinned. "So are Marley and Peyton and a few others, I gather. And meanwhile, I'm over by a lot of our mutual friends. Across the street from Jake and the Hudson-Berry clan... Just a few blocks from Alex and Julie and Amity. You know, all those other pals I'm sure you visit pretty often. So it looks like we'll be seeing a lot of each other."

"Might I remind you," Bree said, leaning in as though she was about to say something incredibly fascinating, "that there's a girl who will probably want to move in with you as soon as she hears the news... You know... Blonde, spunky, calls herself your girlfriend..."