Title: Why'd You Come In Here Looking Like That?
Author: lil-miss-chocolate
Rating: PG
Characters: Terri, Will
Genre: Romance? Maybe, not sure.
Warning: Terri being mind bogglingly self centred.
Spoilers: Up to Journey to be safe.
Disclaimer: Not my toys, I just play with them.
Summary: Terri goes to a bar and sees a familiar face
Word Count: 950ish
Author Notes: This is what happens when I get Limewire and therefore access to Dolly Parton's entire collection. I get a song stuck in my head, and the only way to get rid of it is to write fic about it.
Songfic that tells the story of Dolly Parton's Why'd You Come In Here Looking Like That?
Terri entered the bar a little nervously. She'd never gone to a bar with the intention of finding a date before – she'd already been married to Will by the time she turned twenty one. Terri perched herself carefully on one of the bar stools and ordered a small glass of red wine. She sipped her drink as she surveyed the room. It was slim pickings tonight – there were only a few men she deemed 'acceptable', and most of them already had dates.
Terri heard the piercing shriek of microphone feedback, and winced as it faded. A man's voice boomed through the room, "Sorry about that, ladies and gentlemen." He cleared his throat and started his spiel, "And now, ladies and gentlemen, I have great pleasure in introducing our first performer of the evening, William Schuester. Give him a big hand!"
Terri turned in horror to the stage in the corner, which she had not noticed on her way in. Sure enough, her ex-husband was walking on stage, looking like every cowgirl's dream with a cowboy sitting jauntily atop his curly hair. Sitting at the side of the stage behind a drum kit was a tall boy with dark hair, he looked vaguely familiar. Terri realised it was Finn Hudson, one of Will's Glee Club, one of the ones who'd come to work at Sheets & Things. She also recognised the well built teen strumming a guitar next to him. She spent a moment trying to remember his name (Hamlet? Othello? Oberon? Something stupid from Shakespeare, she was sure) before turning her attention back to her ex-husband, who was grinning at the audience in his usual goofy manner.
She took in his cowboy boots, and his jeans that were so tight they looked like they'd been painted on, as he started to sing:
"People always coming up to me and asking,
'Will, what is your secret?
With all you do your attitude just seems to be so good;
How do you keep it?'
Well, I'm not the Dalai Lama
But I'll try to offer up a few words of advice:
You'd better get to living, giving,
Don't forget to throw in a little forgiving
And love along the way."
Terri froze to the spot as he sang. She'd finally worked up the courage to go out, to try and find a date, and he just had to be here, singing about how he'd got over her so fast. She watched him looking at each of the women who were standing near the stage in turn, making each of them feel like he'd singled her out specially. Some of the younger ones had been eyeing up the drummer and the boy with the guitar, but no woman could resist Will when he turned on the charm.
Terri watched him strut up and down the stage. She'd thought she might have finally been over him, but hearing him sing brought all her old love for him rushing back. He might have irritated her, he might not have been perfect, but she had loved him all the same. And, it appeared, she still did.
She'd heard through the grapevine about all his shenanigans with Emma, Shelby and April, and at the time thought she was glad she'd got away when she had. But now she was jealous of each of those women. The way he used to look at her, with so much love in his eyes – now he was out with a different woman every night it seemed. The worry that he might have cheated on her niggled at the back of her mind. He certainly seemed very close with Emma whenever she'd seen the two together, even when they'd still been married. But when he'd looked at her like he had done, all her fears and worries fell away.
Will was in his element – dancing on stage in front of an appreciative crowd, he clicked his high heeled boots on the wooden floor. And in those snug jeans, with that open necked shirt and that broad brimmed hat, he could easily have stopped traffic.
Terri almost snorted aloud – he was so handsome he could have stopped traffic in a potato sack. He flashed a grin to the back of the room, where she was sitting in half shadow, and Terri felt her heart skip a beat, just as it had when she was sixteen years old and he'd arrived at her door to escort her to prom.
Will stepped off the stage and took the hand of one of the female audience members, and danced a few simple steps with her as he continued the song.
"You'd better get to knowing, showing,
A little bit more concern about where you're going
Here's a word unto the wise;
You'd better get to living!"
As he moved along the line of women, he appeared to be most definitely getting to living, as far as Terri could see.
A thought struck her – she wasn't exactly hidden. He might have seen her and be doing this just to show her how much better off he was without her. He was just hard-headed enough that that was the sort of thing he might do, she thought, spitefully. And now he trying to make me feel as bad as he can.
She sighed as he remounted the stage and danced with his back to the audience. Every woman in the room (and a few of the men, it seemed) was checking out just how tightly those jeans covered him from the waist down to the top of his boots. He moved around the space, completely at ease, with a confidence she'd not seen in him for years.
Just when she thought she was getting over him – why did he have to come in here looking like that?
Well, I've never written Terri before, and that was a challenge in and of itself. Let me know what you thought of it!
The song Will sings is Dolly's "Better Get To Livin'", which is also a great song.