The next day, the bell rang, signifying the end of third period, and Ryan and Quinn's English class. They stood up to leave and were at the door when Shelby called out, "Quinn, can I talk to you for a second, please?"
Ryan looked between his mom and his girlfriend inquisitively. Quinn gave him a small smile. "You go ahead, I'm sure this'll be quick." She gave him a kiss on the cheek before gently pushing him out of the classroom.
"You haven't told him?" Shelby asked, getting up to erase the blackboard.
"Not yet." Quinn didn't want him to know about this yet. "After. I'll tell him after."
Shelby nodded. "Are you okay? How are you today?"
Quinn just shrugged. "I've been worse."
"But you've also been better?" Shelby asked her knowingly. The teenager shrugged again. "I spoke to Miss Pillsbury, and she gave me the name of a good psychiatrist at Lima Memorial. I've called her, and she has an opening on Wednesday after class, if that's okay with you."
"Okay. I guess Wednesday is okay," Quinn said, fidgeting with the books she was holding.
"Good. Come to my office after class, I'll drive us there."
"Thanks." Quinn turned around and left the classroom, immediately going to her locker. She still wasn't sure what to feel about this trip to the doctor. Part of her kept telling her she was fine, that she didn't need any help. She could handle this by herself. But there was another part of her that was crying out for help, needed someone who could make her feel better, feel good about herself, again.
"Hey." Quinn almost jumped as she turned around. She calmed down when she saw it was Ryan. "What did my mom want to talk to you about?" he asked curiously.
Quinn just shook her head. "Oh, nothing important. I'll tell you later, we need to get to class."
..
That afternoon, Mr. Schue came into glee, late once again. "Okay, everyone, settle down. First, let's welcome back Noah Puckerman," He gestured at the mohawked boy, and everyone cheered. "Puck, I hope your time in juvie has taught you a lesson or two about right and wrong?"
"Are you kidding me? I ruled that place. All I did was crack skulls and lift weights all day."
"Oh wow, what a catch I can't believe I ever let you go," Quinn said sarcastically, making Ryan roll his eyes.
"And now," Mr. Schue cut in. "Drum roll, Finn... I have in my hand our competition for Sectionals next month. First, the acapella choir from the all-boys private school in Westerville, the Dalton Academy Warblers."
Santana held up a hand with a smirk. "Okay hold up. Like a million awesome gay jokes just popped into my head."
"And the other team to beat," Mr. Schue continued, "The Hipsters, a first year club from the Warren Township continuing education program. Now they are a glee club composed entirely of elderly people getting their GEDs."
Ryan raised a hand in confusion. "Is that legal?"
"How are we supposed to compete against a bunch of adorable old people?" Mercedes asked.
Puck smirked. "Are you kidding? Brittle bones; give one of those old ladies a good luck pat on the rear, shatter her pelvis."
"Moving on," Mr. Schue continued. "Since it seemed to get you guys jazzed about Sectionals last year I want to make this week our second annual boys-vs-girls tournament. So, split up into two groups and figure out what songs you're gonna sing."
Ryan's brain immediately went into overdrive, thinking up songs they could mash together. He noticed Kurt go over to the girls' side before Mr. Schue told him to join the boys' group. Kurt complied with a hard look on his face and hardly talked the rest of the meeting. Ryan had noticed he seemed to betting moodier and moodier lately. In correlation, Karofsky had been getting worse, too. He'd always picked on Kurt especially for being gay, and on Ryan for being the only kid who had gay fathers.
He shook his head quickly before getting back into performance mode. He could worry about that later. The performance always came first, and he focused back on the song selection for the competition. "Okay, guys, I've got a few mash-up ideas we could do, just like last year. I think we did really well with It's My Life and Confessions last year, so I think we should go with rock again, since it suits most of our voices." Well, Kurt's voice didn't particularly suit the rock genre, but they could work around it.
"Maybe we could do something with AC/DC," Sam suggested eagerly. "Something with one of those wicked guitar solos."
"Yeah," Finn agreed. "That would be really cool."
Ryan quickly wrote down some of the top AC/DC songs and began figuring out how to mix them together. "Hey, Kurt, do you have any ideas?" he asked, trying to get the other boy involved.
"No, not really," Kurt said disinterestedly. Ryan sighed. Well, if he didn't want to join, nothing he could do about it.
The next day, Sam Evans pulled up to Hummel's Tires and Lube shop after school in his dad's Chevvy pickup. They'd been having some engine trouble the past week, and his dad had finally decided to have it looked at. Since he had work, he'd asked Sam to look around for a garage. The family was still new in town, and they didn't know where everything was. Fortunately, Finn had told him today in the locker rooms that Kurt's dad owned a tire shop, and had given him directions. So here he was, with a car that was making weird rattling and gurgling noises, looking around awkwardly.
"Hey, Sam!" He spun around in confusion when he heard his name, before grinning when he saw a familiar face.
"Oh, hey, Ryan, what are you doing here?" He walked over to Ryan, who was working on a tire change.
The dark-haired boy grinned at him. "I work here. Part-time, obviously, and I haven't been here in a couple of weeks, but I've been working here for a while now." He gave another tug on the wrench. "I'll be right with you, unless you want to go get Mr. Hummel from the office."
"Nah, it's fine, I can wait," Sam said, smiling. He thought the other boy was pretty nice. He knew Ryan wasn't exactly popular at school, but he'd been nothing but nice to Sam since Sam had started at McKinley. Sam felt a twinge of guilt when he remembered he had almost kissed Ryan's girlfriend. Thank god Quinn had stopped him from making a complete idiot out of himself. That would have been bad. "This place is cool, it's kind like Tony Stark's workshop," he said, looking around interestedly at all the equipment.
"Not really sure who that is, but yeah, this place is very cool."
Sam gaped at him for a moment. "Tony Stark, you know, Iron Man? The one in the movie a couple of years ago?" Ryan looked at him blankly. "Dude, we gotta get you caught up on action movies."
"Hey, I got your Star Wars reference last time, didn't I?" Ryan bantered back. "But that might be fun, I've never really had anyone to watch things with." He inspected the truck. "Is this yours?"
"It's my dad's, it's been making this noise when we start it up, and we can't figure out what's wrong. My dad's a decent mechanic, but we decided it was time to take it to a shop," Sam explained.
Ryan nodded. He started the car, hearing a knocking sound, before shutting it off and opening the hood. "I'll just take a look then, let's see if I can figure out what's wrong. Don't worry, I know what I'm doing."
"You got any ideas for the competition yet?" Sam asked, as he watched Ryan tinker with the engine. "We need a mash-up by female artists, right?" Mr. Schue had told them this morning that he wanted the guys to perform songs traditionally done by girl groups, and vice versa. Which was sort of making things complicated. Plus Kurt wanted them to dress up in those fuzzy snake things...mambos? Or was it cobras? Oh wait, boas.
"That's right, and no, I haven't actually managed to think of anything yet," Ryan admitted, drawing back Sam's attention. "But don't worry, we can keep brainstorming. Unless you've got any ideas now?"
"No, but I've been listening to my dad's music collection, and he's got some stuff by the Supremes that sound like they'd be pretty cool." His dad had a pretty good vinyl collection.
"Hmmm," Ryan thought about it. "Yes, that might be a good idea. We'd have to think of something to mash it up with, but I'm sure we can come up with something by tomorrow."
Sam smiled, pleased. "Hey, I wanted to ask. Your mom's the English teacher, right?"
Ryan looked up at the sudden question. "Yes, why?"
"Just wanted to confirm," Sam nodded. "You guys sort of look alike, and you've got the same last names. But no one seems to talk about it."
"It's...complicated," Ryan said vaguely. "The New Directions know about us, but I don't think the rest of the school knows."
"How did that happen?"
"It's a long story, but she just started working at McKinley this year, and I just moved in with her over the summer. And my last name used to be Berry, not Corcoran. That's why most of the school hasn't really made the connection. I haven't exactly been advertising it, either."
"Oh." Sam nodded again. "She's cool. I'm pretty sure she thinks I'm kinda dumb though, I'm not good at English." Miss Corcoran was pretty cool, for a teacher, but Sam could never shake the nagging feeling that his teachers were just watching and waiting for him to screw up somehow, like one of those lions on Animal Planet that were always stalking the zebras.
"I highly doubt she thinks you're dumb. She's a really good teacher," Ryan said almost proudly. He knew firsthand. "You're dyslexic, right?"
Sam looked down. "Yeah. I'm working on it."
"Have you tried asking for a special ed teacher? I think I read about those somewhere...Oh." Ryan straightened up. "I think the engine bearings are worn down. If I'm right you're going to have to get those replaced." Sam craned his head to see.
"Oh." Sam scratched his head. "You wouldn't happen to know how much that costs, do you?"
Ryan hesitated. "I'm not entirely sure, but I think we're going to have to take the engine apart to do it, that might take a while," he said slowly. "I'll ask Mr. Hummel if you'd like."
A few minutes later Mr. Hummel had come out and confirmed the diagnosis. He quoted a price, and Sam's mouth dropped open in shock. Ryan didn't seem to be too surprised. "Okay, thanks, Mr. Hummel. I'm gonna have to tell my dad," Sam said. Burt nodded.
"Tell him you should get it replaced as soon as possible, you can bring it by anytime." He returned to the back to finish up the welding job.
Sam whistled. "Wow. I didn't know repairs could go that high."
Ryan chuckled at him. "Yeah, it depends on the damage, but I've seen repairs that run up to the point that it would actually be cheaper to buy a new car. One reason it's a bit expensive though is that your truck's pretty old. The parts are harder to find."
"Oh, okay. Hey, thanks, Ryan," Sam said. "See you tomorrow?"
"Yeah," Ryan nodded. Sam smiled before getting in the car and leaving. He had to get back home, he'd promised to take his little brother and sister to the park today.
..
A little after seven that evening, Quinn walked into Breadstix, scanning the restaurant for her boyfriend. She spotted Ryan sitting in a booth, waiting for her. She walked over, and she could see his face light up when he saw her. "Hi Quinn!" He stood up, giving her a kiss on the cheek. Then he let her sit down before he slid back into the booth.
She couldn't help her own smile, either. He just had that effect on her, even when she'd had a crappy day. She'd woken up out of sorts, she'd left her homework at home, and Sue Sylvester was extra bitchy these days since Rocky Horror fell through. She was also worried about that therapist appointment tomorrow, and her smile quickly faded.
"Hey. You okay?" Ryan put a hand on hers across the table.
Quinn nodded. "Yeah. I'm fine. Just a bad day."
Ryan squeezed her hand sympathetically. "Cheerios? I heard Sue was being extremely unreasonable ever since she lost her chance at the local Emmy when Mr. Schue cancelled Rocky Horror. She was perfectly poised to do an expose on the corrupting influence of the arts at public schools."
"Yeah," Quinn chuckled.
"Well, hopefully dinner - and your very special dinner companion - will get your mind off of that," Ryan said with a grin, handing her a menu. Quinn smiled, shaking her head.
Soon their orders were placed, and Quinn was flipping through the menu, wondering if her waistline would get away with having dessert tonight when she noticed Ryan staring at her. "What?"
"Just admiring my amazing girlfriend," Ryan told her, smiling at her adoringly. "You're beautiful."
Quinn blushed, lips curving into a smile. Logically she knew she was considered one of the hottest girls at school, but there were days, like today, when she felt really fat. They'd been occurring more after she'd had Beth - she'd made good headway in getting the baby flab off, but she was pretty sure she'd never get her pre-pregnancy body back - and it was flattering to know that her boyfriend thought she was beautiful. And more importantly she knew he wasn't just saying it to get in her pants. It was such a confidence booster to have someone tell you that you were pretty without expecting anything in return. "Thanks. You look pretty good yourself."
Their food arrived, and they started eating. As they were finishing up, they saw Santana, Brittany, Puck, and Artie come in and sit at one of the booths. "I didn't know Britt and Artie were a thing," Ryan commented. He wasn't surprised at Puck's presence, he was known for dating anything in a skirt after all, but he didn't know Artie was interested in either Santana or Britt.
Quinn rolled her eyes. "They're not. At least not yet. It's sort of insane. Puck and Artie came into the choir room while the girls were thinking up songs for the competition. They used some kind of reverse psychology to get Britt and Santana to go with them, it was weirdly fascinating. Not to mention stupid, I think everyone's IQ dropped ten points during that conversation. I knew Britt isn't all that bright, but Santana played right into it too."
Ryan looked at her weirdly, before shaking his head. "Okay. Speaking of song choices, have you thought of anything? The guys are having a hard time thinking of songs by female artists," he admitted.
"Well, we've got something in mind," Quinn said vaguely. She'd actually gone to Shelby to ask for song suggestions, and she had helped them out. But she wasn't going to tell Ryan that.
"Kurt wanted to do a Diana Ross number with feathered boas. You can imagine how that went."
Quinn couldn't help her laugh. "Seriously?" She could just imagine Puck and Finn dancing around in feathers and heels.
"I kid you not." He looked thoughtful. "Do you think I could pull that off?"
"Uh, no offense, but god no."
..
"Isn't your mom home?" Ryan questioned a little while later, as Quinn dug around in her purse for her keys, the two of them standing on the front porch of her house.
"Not tonight, she has a dinner even thing for work," Quinn explained as she unlocked the door. "Want to come in?"
Ryan checked his watch. It wasn't that late yet, Shelby wouldn't be expecting him home for another hour or so. "Sure."
Quinn smiled and led him into the living room, pulling him down onto the couch next to her. "Thank you for taking me out," she said sincerely. "I needed that."
"It was my pleasure," Ryan smiled, gazing adoringly at his girlfriend. God, she was so beautiful, he knew he would never get tired of looking at her. "I enjoyed it as well." He moved forward, giving her time to stop him if she wasn't in the mood before pressing their lips together in a tender kiss. He quickly lost himself in the feeling of her lips moving against his, and seconds later, the kiss started to change from sweet and tender to hot, deep, and passionate, becoming more and more intense before they had to break apart for lack of oxygen. The pair of them stared at each other for a moment, and Ryan's breath caught at the sight of his girlfriend, pale cheeks completely flushed, eyes dark, chest heaving as she tried to catch her own breath.
This time Quinn made the first move, and Ryan groaned as he felt her tongue swiping into his mouth, one of her hands cupping the back of his neck as the other roamed slowly over his chest. Their lips moved together in a heated frenzy, his hand tangling itself into her silky hair. He slipped his tongue into her mouth, and his eyes fluttered for a moment when he felt her moan into his mouth, sending an electric heat pulsing all over his body.
He pulled back from the kiss, as he breathlessly tried to remember how to talk. "I - you - isn't your mom going to be home soon?" The last thing he wanted was for Mrs. Fabray to walk in on the two of them on the living room couch.
Quinn shook her head, giving him a sultry smile, stroking a hand up and down his abs. "She said she'd be home late." She pressed a light kiss on his lips. "Relax."
"Okay," Ryan smiled, capturing her lips with his again, one hand settling on her hip while he braced himself against the couch with the other. To his surprise, he felt Quinn take his hand, slowly pushing it up into her shirt. He hesitated. "Are you sure?"
"Yes," she breathed out. "I need you." She crashed their lips together again, sucking gently on his lower lip. Ryan closed his eyes at the sensation, his hand instinctively tracing out a pattern on the blonde's stomach. He was in awe at how warm she was under his hand, how he could feel her muscles twitch as he skated over the flat plane of her stomach. He heard her moan breathily as he moved his lips to her jaw, stroking lightly at the skin under her top.
"Is this okay?"
"God, yes." Quinn pulled his lips back to hers, their tongues dancing together as their hands roamed all over each other. Ryan could feel his pulse thundering in his ears, and he pulled back, trying to get his body under control, but Quinn simply moved her lips to his neck, sucking gently at his pulse point, and he could literally feel all his blood rushing out of his head. Quinn kissed a trail up his neck, stopping to kiss at a sensitive patch of skin just under his ear exactly as she brushed hand lightly over his lap, and he almost lost it.
He was going out of his mind, he wanted - needed her - so badly, his whole body was running hot, he was so incredibly aroused. He was completely hard, almost painfully so, and if they didn't stop soon he wasn't sure he was going to be able to. He knew they needed to stop soon, but he couldn't.
Finally, he manage to wrench himself away from her, gasping at the sudden loss of her warmth against his skin. Quinn looked at him, pupils completely blown, chest heaving as she blinked in surprise. "What's wrong?"
"N-nothing's wrong," Ryan got out. "I just -" He stopped, embarrassed to say that he needed to stop, otherwise he was going to make a mess. "I think we need to cool down. Otherwise I'm not sure I'll be able to stop myself later."
Quinn nodded, blowing out a breath. "You're right."
Ryan leaned his head back on the sofa as he waited for his pulse to return to normal. "That was..."
"Incredible," Quinn finished with a smile.
"Yeah." Ryan smiled as well, relieved that she thought so too. He hadn't had any experience with this sort of thing, and if her were honest with himself he was a little insecure about how he would measure up to the other guys Quinn had been with. He knew it was sort of stupid, but still. It was a bit of an ego boost to know that Quinn had enjoyed what had just happened. He checked his watch a minute later. "I should go, I have to be home by ten."
..
Quinn went up to her room a few minutes after Ryan left. She needed one seriously cold shower after that. She'd never felt that aroused with anyone else before, never with Finn and certainly not with Puck, even if she had been high on alcohol that night. She shivered happily, thinking about what had just happened. Ryan was right, stopping had been the right call, and she was glad he'd stopped them. Because she wasn't sure she would have been able to.
And that was just what he loved about him. She knew he wasn't going to push her into anything she wasn't comfortable with. She trusted him. She smiled softly, tracing a finger over her lips.
After her shower, she heard her mom coming into the house. She sighed, knowing she should probably talk to her. But no, not now. She heard her phone chime with a new message. She picked it up.
Sweet dreams xox - Ryan
Quinn smiled.
You too xox - Quinn
The next day
Shelby flipped idly through a magazine as she sat in the waiting room of the psychiatry floor at Lima Memorial Hospital after classes the next afternoon. She had set an appointment for Quinn with Dr. Kyra Maddox, the psychiatrist Emma had recommended. Shelby had been sitting there for an hour when Quinn finally came out of the doctor's room. She looked up expectantly at the blonde.
"She, uh, she thinks I might have mild postpartum depression," Quinn informed her quietly. "She says it's different from person to person, and she doesn't think I need any medication right now, but she's advising me to get counseling. She gave me a list of therapists I could check out." She sat down next to Shelby.
"Then you should do that." Shelby looked at her for a moment. "Come on, we should get back to school." They got onto the elevator, getting off in the hospital lobby, both women silent all the way to Shelby's car. "Talk to your mom yet?"
Quinn shook her head. "No."
"You should talk to her soon. Especially if you're going to be doing the counseling sessions. She can help with finding someone you're comfortable with."
"How did you arrange this appointment anyway?" Quinn asked, glancing at Shelby curiously. "You're not my mom."
"No, but I'm your teacher. It gives me some leeway, and Miss Pillsbury helped."
"Oh."
"Did Dr. Maddox say anything else?" Shelby prodded.
"Just that I need to take care of myself. And I need a good support system." Quinn let out a sharp laugh. "Fat chance. I've got a mom who works all the time and a dad who pretty much disowned me. My sister's halfway across the country, not that it matters, and I messed things up with my best friends by being a selfish bitch," she said in a sudden burst of self-loathing.
"I'm sure that's not true, you've got a lot of people who are concerned for you. You've got Ryan, he really cares about you. You've got the rest of the glee club, and Mr. Schue and Miss Pillsbury. And you've got me too, if you ever need anyone to talk to. You know I understand how you feel. And I'm sure your mom will help if you talk to her."
"Yeah."
"And I'm sure you could patch things up with Santana if you tried."
"Have you met Santana?" Quinn took a deep breath. "Can we go now? I don't really feel like talking right now."
"Yes we can." Shelby started the car, driving back to McKinley High. "Just don't feel like you're alone, okay? You're not."
..
Quinn quickly left the car with a hurried thanks as soon as Shelby turned the engine to the Range Rover off. She made her way to the choir room and sat down in the nearest vacant seat, which was next to Mercedes. She saw Ryan trying to catch her eye, but she really didn't want to talk right now.
"Well, I hope you're happy," Mr. Schue was saying angrily. "Because Coach Beiste has quit."
"Wait, what?" Finn asked, confused. Over half the club was. "That's terrible."
"Yeah, that's not what we want," Sam said.
"That's the opposite of what we want," Artie spoke up. "The football team was actually winning."
"Well then, you'd better put your heads together and figure out a way to get her back, because I'm really ashamed of you right now," Mr. Schue lectured. "You really hurt someone who was a great addition to this school."
"Okay, wait. What exactly did we do?" Ryan inquired. Quinn was wondering that herself. She didn't remember any drama happening this week. Of course, that might have been because she was too wrapped up in her own issues right now to take notice.
Finn fidgeted. "We sort of figured out that picturing Coach Beiste in her underwear was better than a cold shower." Quinn stared disbelievingly at him, along with the rest of the girls, minus Tina who just blushed and looked straight ahead.
"Can I just say that this is what happens when people don't put out?" Santana interjected matter-of-factly. "If everyone just put out we'd have a winning football team." Quinn just rolled her eyes. Wait, did Ryan do it too? She wasn't 'putting out', as Santana so crudely put it. God, maybe that was why he wasn't pushing for more. Ugh, one more thing to add to her list of shit to deal with.
The meeting was soon dismissed, and Mercedes turned to her. "You okay, white girl?"
Quinn was startled out of her thoughts, looking at the other girl for a moment before she mustered up a fake smile. "Fine. Totally fine." She saw Ryan glancing over at her from the boys' huddle.
"All right," Mercedes said slowly. She'd been sensing something off with Quinn recently, she just couldn't put her finger on it. "C'mon, we should go dream up some rock songs for us to sing."
The blonde nodded and stood up to follow Mercedes out of the room, only to be held up by Ryan. She sighed, not really wanting to talk right now. "Yes?" She almost winced at the irritation in her tone but she shook it off.
Ryan blinked at her, obviously taken aback by her curtness. "Are you okay?"
"God, why is everyone asking me that?" Quinn asked in frustration. In the back of her mind she knew she probably shouldn't be going off at him, but everything was just getting to her suddenly.
"You were late to glee, I went looking for you, where did you disappear to?"
"I had something to do, I didn't realize I had to ask your permission to go places now," the cheerleader snapped. "And while we're at it, that's disgusting, Ryan, I know I'm not 'putting out', but that does not mean you get to think of Coach Beiste in a tutu to cool off."
"I didn't -"
"Look, I just had some stuff to do outside, that's why I was late. I'll see you later, we need to rehearse." She walked off to follow Mercedes, leaving her bewildered and hurt boyfriend behind.
..
Later that afternoon Shelby was in her office doing some paperwork when she heard a knock on the door. "Come in," she said absently.
"Hey Shelby."
She immediately looked up at the familiar voice, and sure enough, she saw James standing just inside the door to her office. "Oh, hi! This is a surprise," she said, putting down her pen.
"You busy? I though the school day was over, I can come back later."
"No, it's fine."
James smiled. "Actually, I was looking for Ryan."
"Oh, so I'm just secondary," Shelby said, nodding knowingly.
"Yeah, you just happened to be here," James deadpanned, taking a seat on the edge of her desk. "I need some help with putting up some stuff at the apartment, if he's free. It's a two-person job, but you could come too, if you wanted to."
Shelby shook her head. "I'll pass, I've got a meeting with some parents later. Besides, it'll be good for you and Ryan to spend some time together. Do the father-son bonding thing."
"Exactly what I was thinking," James smiled. "You could still come over for dinner, though. Tonight's gourmet menu is deep-fried egg rolls from Mr. Wang's Chinese place. Or something similar."
"Tempting."
"I know, right?" Another knock sounded on Shelby's door, and Ryan came in, not really waiting for a response.
"Hey Ryan," James grinned at him from his seat on Shelby's desk.
Ryan stopped in surprise. "What are you doing here?"
"I actually wanted to borrow you for a bit."
"Me? For what?" Ryan asked curiously.
"I need some help setting up some of the shelves in my apartment," James explained. "They're prefab, but they're pretty heavy and I can't put them up by myself. I thought we could set them up together, we haven't really spent any time together yet since I moved in."
Ryan couldn't help his broad smile, his mood picking up from his confusion over what had just happened with Quinn after glee. His dad wanted his help. "Sure."
"Just the two of you for now," Shelby added. "I've got a meeting, so I'll be around for dinner later."
"Okay," Ryan said agreeably.
"Great." James hopped off of Shelby's desk, walking over to where Ryan was standing. "Bye Shelbs."
"Bye, Mom!"
"See you later," she answered, going back to her work. James put a hand on Ryan's shoulder and the two walked out of the office. He noticed a big kid in a letterman jacket watching the two of them, but thought nothing of it.
..
"So, how was your day?" James asked his son as they went into his apartment.
"Oh, it was okay," Ryan answered vaguely. He'd gotten a lime slushy to the face this morning and been shoved into the lockers again by Karofsky, but that paled in comparison to the drama with Coach Beiste and the other guys. Not to mention Quinn's apparent ire with him. "How was your day?"
"It was pretty good, nothing big today. We picked up a guy with an allergy reaction." James looked at Ryan a bit curiously, noticing his deflection from his school day. He let it pass though. "You can put your jacket...anywhere you like, actually, I haven't got a coat hook set up yet."
Ryan smiled in amusement. The apartment was brand new, and James was the first tenant. While it was had the basic furnishings, the little things weren't there yet. "Okay, so what are we doing?" He looked around at the disassembled furniture parts leaning against the wall.
"Basically, it's a sort of bookshelf. I need you to either hold the parts up while we stick it together, or I'll hold it up and you put the screws in."
"Got it." The pair quickly set to work, Ryan telling his dad about the glee club's competition and the difficulty they were having coming up with songs. "It's mostly because the other guys don't want to do anything they deem as too girly," he explained. "And to be honest, they're kind of lazy. I mean, I'm not expecting the kind of drive I have, but they should have at least some initiative."
"Well, I can't really give any advice on the music, you'll have to ask your mom for that," James admitted. "But you're right about the initiative, you're not going to get anywhere if your guys don't want to work."
A few minutes later, Ryan got up his nerve to ask something he wanted to talk about. "Dad, I've sort of got a problem. A girl problem."
"Oh?" James looked at him inquisitively.
"Yes. And I know I could probably talk about this with Mom, but I thought that I'd ask you about it, since from my understanding men and women view romantic situations differently, and I wanted to get another guy's perspective. If that's okay with you, that is," Ryan ended a bit self-consciously.
James was smiling in amusement. His kid rambled just like Shelby did when he was nervous about something. It was cute. "Totally fine," he assured Ryan. "Something up with Quinn?"
"That's just it, I don't really know," Ryan said a bit agitatedly. "I thought things were just fine, but she came in late to glee this afternoon, and when I tried to ask her about it she pretty much bit my head off."
"Well, did you do anything that might have ticked her off?"
"No," Ryan said defensively. He'd been thinking about it, but he couldn't remember doing anything that might have upset Quinn. Unless she was upset about what had happened with them last night. And then there was today's little revelation with the Coach Beiste issue. "At least, I don't think so..."
"Sounds like there might be..."
Ryan reddened slightly. "We're sort of...moving forward...a bit in our relationship. With the physical side, I mean. Maybe she's not quite as comfortable with it as I thought."
James raised an eyebrow. "Were you pressuring her?"
"No!" Ryan said immediately. "I wouldn't - I always let her set the pace, and she said she was okay with it!" He ran a hand through his hair. "It's not that. Maybe she was mad at me about the Coach Beiste thing."
"The what?"
"It's kind of a long story..." Ryan sighed. "And kind of embarrassing. It's an issue with our new athletics coach, Coach Beiste. She's, well, I suppose mannish would be the right term to describe her."
"Husky lady with curly hair?" James asked.
"Yeah, how did you know?"
"I may have passed her on the way to your mom's office."
"Oh. Okay," Ryan shrugged. "Anyways, you know when you're doing - things - with a girl, and - things - start getting a little hot..."
James looked at him, amused. "Don't worry, kid, I'm not a total prude. I was in the army, I've heard a lot. You can say whatever you like."
"Okay...anyways, when the guys get a bit excited, and they need to keep from, you know -"
"Blowing their load?"
Ryan flushed. He wasn't used to talking about sex. He glared halfheartedly at James, who was smirking. "Yes. Well, the other guys have taken to, um, how do I say this. When they're feeling a bit too amorous with their girlfriends, and they need to 'cool down' a bit, they sort of think of Coach Beiste in embarrassing...positions..."
"Ah." He got it. "Okay."
"Yeah."
"Huh. Well, I'm all for finding your own mood killer, but I think that's a pretty mean," James said, shaking his head. "How do you think your coach would feel if she found out what you were imagining about her?"
Ryan nodded. "That's what I thought, and for the record, I haven't done it. But I was talking to some of the other guys, and they seem to think that it's okay since she doesn't know, and besides, they're just thinking it."
James thought for a moment. "Well, I guess it's just a matter of respect. Your coach is just that, she's your coach. And she deserves your respect, as a person." He sat back. "Here's the rule of thumb one I heard once. If you don't want some other guy thinking it about your mom, or your sister, or your girlfriend, or whatever, don't think it about anyone else."
Ryan thought about that. "That makes sense." He shuddered when he considered one of the guys imagining that with Quinn, or god forbid, his mom.
"Good, because that sounded kind of preachy, didn't it?"
"Just a little bit," Ryan smirked, as James handed him the next part they needed to put up.
"Anyways, back to the original topic. What does this have to do with you and Quinn?"
"Oh, right." Ryan started attaching the correct bolts to hold the parts in place. "Mr. Schue told us in front of the whole glee club this afternoon that Coach Beiste had found out, and naturally, the ones who didn't know about what was going on were mildly offended. And Quinn might have accused me of using...that particular imagery...to cool off whenever we make out."
"Do you?"
"Of course not!" Ryan said, offended. "I actually only found out about it this afternoon, and even if I had known about it, I'd like to think I had enough respect for Coach Beiste to not do it."
"Good," James nodded. "Did you tell her that?"
"I tried, but she wouldn't listen to me," Ryan said unhappily.
"Well, buddy, I don't really know what to tell you besides to go talk to your girl," James admitted. "It's possible that she just took issue with the whole coach situation, but maybe there's something else making her mad. Either way, the only way you're going to be able to fix it is by talking about it. Maybe give her some time to calm down, though."
Ryan nodded resignedly. "Okay." James was probably right. "I'm just very confused right now. I mean, we were fine last weekend. And we were really fine last night. Then today she's just unreasonably upset for some reason. It's like Katy Perry's Hot N Cold."
James nodded sympathetically before asking out of curiosity. "So, how far exactly have you and Quinn gotten?" That sounded gossipy, but never mind. He was just being a concerned parent, he did not want his kid to have to deal with STD problems or a teenage pregnancy.
"Oh, ah..." Ryan fidgeted. "We haven't really gotten, that is -"
"Use the bases, kid."
"We're halfway to second base."
"Ah." That was a little surprising, what with teenage hormones and especially since James knew the pair had been dating all summer.
"We're taking it slow."
"Good for you. That's usually a good idea. You don't really get anything by rushing into things. Just makes things worse."
"Yeah. Did Mom tell you about BabyGate?"
James glanced at him as he assembled the next part of the shelf they were setting up. "No, what is that?"
Ryan gave a half-smile. "A very long story."
..
Shelby knocked on the door to James' apartment at about seven in the evening. Ryan opened the door, smiling widely. "Oh, hi Mom." He stepped back to let her in.
"Hi Ryan." She gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. "How was your afternoon?"
Ryan grinned. "It was pretty good. We're almost done with the shelves, just a few more pieces to put up."
"Hey, Shelby," James smiled happily as he came up behind Ryan. "You're just in time, the food got here like five minutes ago." The three of them sat down at the table, Shelby smirking at the sight of the Chinese take-out. "Shut up," James said teasingly.
"I didn't say anything." They quickly dug in, and a moment later, Shelby asked Ryan, "Did you hear Coach Beiste quit all of a sudden today?" She frowned as Ryan choked on a sip of water. "What?" she asked confusedly.
"Oh, nothing," Ryan answered after coughing. "Yes, I did hear about that. The glee club is also going to try to get her to stay, after all this is the first winning season McKinley has had since RENT opened, and most of the glee guys are in the football team."
"Okay..." Shelby looked at him suspiciously when he wouldn't meet her eyes. She glanced at James, who had an amused look on his face. "What?"
James shook his head. "Nothing, it's nothing."
Shelby couldn't shake the feeling that there was something going on. "Okay, kid, what is it? Did you do something?"
"Thanks, Dad," Ryan grumbled. "You have zero poker face. Seriously."
"Well, it wasn't me," Ryan hedged. He cringed at the look on his mom's face. "You're not going to like it."
"Well that sounds encouraging."
"Fine. Don't say I didn't warn you," Ryan sighed. "Some of the glee guys figured out that picturing Coach Beiste in lingerie and stuff helps cool them off. Long story short, Coach Beiste found out and she was so upset she quit."
Shelby looked at James in confusion, then realization as she figured out what 'cooling off' meant. Her face took on a disgusted expression. "Okay...I don't think I want to know if you participated in this rather distasteful practice."
"I didn't, I swear," Ryan said hastily. "I just found out about it today."
"Good." She glared at James, who was hiding a laugh. Boys.
"On that note," Ryan continued, trying to move the conversation along. "We need a mash-up of two female groups, to be sung by the guys in glee club to Coach Beiste in order to apologize. Sam suggested the Supremes, and we're probably going to do Stop in the Name of Love. We just haven't thought of the right song to mash it up with. Any suggestions?"
"Not offhand," Shelby admitted. Quinn had come to her the other day, asking if Shelby had any suggestions for a rock mash-up for the girls. She found the fact that she was helping both the girls' team and the boys' team on song selection amusing, but she kept a straight face. "Give me some time, maybe we can find something in the music room when we get home.
Santana Lopez walked down the halls of McKinley to the choir room, students parting left and right for her. She smirked. Oh yeah, she loved the power that came with this uniform. Then she spotted Brittany talking to Artie as she pushed him in his wheelchair. The blonde was giggling at something Artie said, and Santana instantly felt her good mood evaporate. Who did he think he was, asking Brittany out? She and Britt had gone on a double date with Artie and Puck the other night, and she'd spent half the night pretending to listen to Puck's idiotic stories about juvie, and the other half glaring at Artie for making googly eyes at Britt.
They'd ended up going to Puck's place for some fun, without Artie, but Santana didn't exactly enjoy herself. She much preferred it when it was just her and B. She scowled again as she saw Britt put a hand on Artie's shoulder. Fuck. She stalked into the nearest classroom, which turned out to be the choir room. And since her luck was fantastic, Ryan was inside.
"Hello Santana," he said, glancing at her as she came in. "Is there something you needed?"
"No," she said shortly, tossing her bag on top of the piano as she sat down at the bench. She might have damaged the instrument but she didn't care right now.
"I'm sure my concern will be unappreciated, but what's wrong?" Ryan asked, just in time for Britt and Artie to pass by the door of the choir room. He glanced at the two, then at the irritation on Santana's face. "Oh. Hey, I saw you and Brittany with Artie and Puck at Breadstix the other night," Ryan said curiously. "What's up with that?"
Santana shrugged offhandedly. "Puck and Wheels asked us out and B wanted to go, so yeah."
"You should talk to her, you know."
"What?"
"Brittany. You two should talk, I'm sure you wouldn't regret it. I mean, isn't that what everybody's looking for? The person who makes them happy? I know you really like Britt, and she adores you."
"I don't know what you've been smoking, Corcoran, but me and B don't roll that way." She so didn't need him to be getting all up in her business right now.
"I actually notice a lot of things," Ryan said gently. "People don't seem to appreciate my comments though, even if I try to word them in an inoffensive way. I usually end up making them mad anyways. So I keep a lot of my observations to myself. Not to mention some of the things I know might be damaging to certain reputations."
"Well, if last year was you keeping things to yourself, then I don't think I wanna see it when you do decide to spout things off," Santana grumbled. Inside she was panicking, though. Was she being that obvious? She couldn't let anyone know she was into girls that way. It was okay for people to know she and B were having sex, everyone thought they were just doing it to make to boys hot. But it was not okay if people actually knew she had feelings for the tall, adorable, galactically dim blonde.
Almost like he could read her mind, Ryan continued. "I knew Tina was faking her stutter last year. I know Britt is a lot smarter than she seems. She makes all these weird comments, but she's not stupid. She just sees the world in a different way than the rest of us do." Ryan glanced at her. "And I think she likes you too."
"She does?" The question fell out before Santana could stop it. She shook her head quickly. "Whatever. It doesn't matter, you know why?" she said flippantly. "'Cause you're wrong. I don't like B that way. So fuck off and mind your own biz. I liked you better when you were scared of me." To her satisfaction, Ryan just stayed quiet. Okay, maybe that might have been mean. Damn, why did she feel like she'd just kicked a puppy? Those brown eyes of his didn't help with her conscience, either. "What's up with you and Quinnie-bear, anyways?" she asked, trying to change the subject.
"Nothing," he answered. "We're fine."
He didn't meet her eyes though, something Santana immediately picked up on. "Oh yeah? She seems pretty out of it these days. Although I guess she's not as much of a bitch now."
"She wasn't a bitch," Ryan spoke up, defending his girlfriend. "She was just...outspoken."
"Oh please. She was a manipulative bitch up until the preggo hormones kicked in, then she just became a weepy mess," Santana said dismissively.
Ryan glared at her for that. "You don't have any right to judge, she went through a lot last year. Do you think you'd fare any better if the school man-whore got you pregnant and then your parent's kicked you out for it?"
Santana faltered. No, she wouldn't have. She couldn't imagine her parents kicking her out with just half an hour to pack her things. Especially with what had happened this summer and with the surgery. She couldn't have done that without her Mami and Papi. And she couldn't imagine getting kicked out of the Cheerios, either. "Fine."
"Fine?" Ryan blinked, not expecting a concession.
"You're right. I'm a judgmental bitch, but maybe you have a point." She knew he did, and she got why Quinn did it. To be perfectly honest she probably would have done the same thing. But she was still a bit sore at Q for getting her demoted to the bottom of the pyramid. Seriously, that cow Tammy Davis in the third line needed to lose a few pounds. "But I'm right about Q, something's up with her. Did you mess her up?"
"No!" Ryan hesitated. "I don't think so. But you're right, she has been a little distant lately, but I don't know why."
"Huh. Well, I've known Blondie since eighth grade and when she gets really quiet then there's something messing her up. You should figure it out." The midget - though she couldn't really call him that anymore - was starting to grow on her, and she grudgingly did think he was good for Q. "But be careful, you push her too far and she'll slap you. And she slaps hard. Trust me."
Ryan looked at her in surprise. "Thanks."
"Whatever." Santana stood up, getting bored of this conversation. And he was making her want to spill all her secrets. Stupid puppy eyes. "I gotsta go, we're singing today and we're gonna kill it. Don't even bother thinking up of your own mash up, 'cuz the girls gots this." She smirked, starting to walk out of the choir room. "And remember what we talked about last year, Hobbit. You mess Q up, I mess you up. Even if I think she's a bitch right now."
"Noted."
..
After the girls' performance that afternoon, Ryan waited for Quinn to come out of the Cheerios locker room, where she was changing out of her costume. The girls had sung a mash up of Livin' on a Prayer and Start Me Up, wearing black leather rocker outfits. Finally, Quinn came out in her Cheerios uniform, stopping momentarily when she saw him.
Ryan gave her a small smile. "Hey."
"Hi." Quinn didn't meet his eyes. "I, uh, I need to get to the gym, I've got Cheerios." She started to move away.
"Wait, Quinn, we need to talk," Ryan said anxiously, falling into step with her. "I'm not really sure what I did wrong here. If this is about the Coach Beiste thing, I swear I never found out about it until yesterday, so I haven't even considered using her to calm down."
"It's not that."
"Then why were you upset with me yesterday?" Ryan asked, confused.
Quinn kept walking, but Ryan thought he saw her wince slightly before facing him. "I just - look. I'm sorry I snapped at you. I'm just dealing with some stuff right now, okay?"
"You know you can talk to me." He reached out to stroke her cheek lightly. Santana was right, there was something messing Quinn up, but she wouldn't tell him. And it sort of hurt.
"I know." She bit her lip. "Just - not yet, okay?"
Ryan looked at her worriedly. He wanted to help. But he didn't want to smother her either. Plus, there was that little tidbit Santana had thrown out earlier about what would happen if he pushed Quinn too far. "Okay," he relented. For now. "I'm right here whenever you're ready, okay?" He tried to convey all his concern for her in his offer.
"Okay." Quinn gave him a small smile. "Are we good?"
"Yeah. We're good." Ryan smiled at her gently as he took her hand. "I'll walk you to the gym." They set off, hand in hand. "Your performance was really good, by the way," he complimented her. His smile turned mischievous as he leaned in close. "I thought you were incredibly hot."
Quinn tried and failed to keep from smiling. "Well, maybe I can wear it again sometime," she answered sultrily. Her breath was hot in Ryan's ear and his heart almost stopped. Cool it, man, you do not want a hard-on in the middle of school...
"O-okay," he stammered out. They arrived at the gym a moment later, and Ryan gave her a searing kiss before he left, smiling when he saw the slightly dazed look he left on his girlfriend's face. "See you."
The next day Ryan stood with the rest of the boys, and addressed Coach Beiste, who Mr. Schue had somehow convinced to come. "Coach Beiste, this is actually the boys-vs-girls contest for glee club. But after the grievous insult that's been made to you, we've decided we would like to express our regret for what happened in musical form. We've made a special mash-up just for you."
"We just wanted to apologize for hurting your feelings," Sam said.
"Coach Beiste, we think you're awesome," Finn said. "And even though you're all hard and tough on the outside, that doesn't mean you're not the opposite on the inside."
"Like a chocolate turtle," Sam chimed in.
"Yeah, totally," Finn smiled. "You're nougat-y. And we totally get that now. You're like...a mash-up."
Will smiled despite himself. "Why don't you guys get to the song?"
Artie smiled too. "Yeah. Totally. This mash-up's dedicated to you, Coach. Hard and badass on one hand, and soft and curly on the other."
"And we hope it makes you smile," Puck added. "You're pretty when you smile. Seriously. It lights up the room."
Ryan nodded to the drummer, and he started the song off. Shelby had come through for him, finally coming up with the idea of mashing together the Supremes' Stop in the Name of Love and En Vogue's Free Your Mind. She'd even helped him come up with the arrangement over lunch yesterday.
And it worked. Somehow, the song got Coach Beiste to smile. And if Quinn's smile was anything to go by while Ryan was singing to her, the other girls liked it too. She came up to him after the performance, giving him a long kiss as she wrapped her arms around him. "That was great, Ry."
Ryan smiled happily. "Thanks." He returned the hug, and the two of them walked out of the choir room together. "Do you have plans for Sunday afternoon?"
"No, why?"
"I thought maybe we could go out, spend the afternoon. Maybe the mall. Whatever you like." He turned to his girlfriend, taking both her hands in his. "I know something's been bothering you this week. Don't worry, you don't have to tell me if you don't want to," he said, when Quinn opened her mouth to say something. "It's fine. I'm here to listen, but you're allowed to have your space, too. Anyways, I thought we could use some time to just relax. Whatever you want to do."
Quinn looked at him for a moment, a smile playing on her lips. "You're just amazing, you know that?" She hugged him, and Ryan contentedly wrapped his arms around her, relieved that he'd done something right. "I'll see you tomorrow, okay?"
"Okay," Ryan smiled, watching as she walked to the football field for Cheerios before he turned to go to his locker. Then suddenly, out of nowhere, a cupful of bright red crushed ice came flying into his face. For a moment he couldn't speak from the shock of the cold liquid.
"Nice!" Karofsky high-fived Azimio as they walked off, looking over their shoulders at Ryan. Ryan stood there in shock for a minute, before making his way to his locker to get his slushy kit. He pulled out the bag with his set of extra clothes and closed his locker. Then he stopped short as he was faced with his mom looking at him in surprise.
"What happened to you?"
"Nothing, just an accident," Ryan answered quickly. "Someone was walking a little too fast in the hallway while carrying an uncovered drink."
Shelby looked at him suspiciously. She knew something was going on in this school, she wasn't stupid. She'd seen quite a few kids with drinks on their shirts walking the hallways, and either the students here were unspeakably clumsy or someone was up to something. Unfortunately, if it was true, the culprits were quite adept at hiding from the teachers, since she hadn't seen anything. "Are you sure?"
"Yes. I'm just going to get changed."
"Why do you have spare clothes?"
Ryan gaped at her for a moment, trying to come up with a plausible answer. "For glee, because sometimes we have physically intensive routines, so I just keep a spare set in here for emergencies." That was okay, right?
Shelby studied him for a moment. Yes, that sounded reasonable, but she couldn't shake the feeling that there was something else going on. "Okay..." she said slowly. "Do you want a ride home, or are you waiting for Quinn?"
Ryan almost sighed in relief. "I'll take the ride, if that's okay."
"Of course. I'll wait for you in the parking lot, okay?" Shelby said, receiving a nod in return. She folded her arms thoughtfully as she watched him go. She needed to get to the bottom of this.