A Chance Meeting
Summary: Emma meets Shelby.
Disclaimer: I own nothing. If I did there would be no Shelby.
Speculation on how WEMMA gets from TPOM to BR.
Emma takes a deep breath as she pulls open the door to the conference room. She hates these professional development days, the time spent out of McKinley, away from her students…..away from Will. She quickly surveys the room; the tables are arranged in a circle with three metal folding chairs along the perimeter. She sighs; she's going to have to get up close and personal with complete strangers.
She scans the room again, weighing her options. There is a table on her left where two older women are sitting talking and drinking coffee. Emma began to make her way over but stops in her tracks when the grey haired woman spills the contents of her coffee cup. Quickly, Emma takes stock of the situation and moves to take a seat at an empty table on the opposite side of the room. Disaster averted!
From her seat, she looks around hoping to spot a familiar face, but there are none. As the speaker makes his way to the front of the room, the teachers milling around move to take their seats as well. Emma reaches into her bag to retrieve her legal pad and a pen. As she settles in her seat, she realizes that she is no longer alone. A brunette is sitting at the table; head bent, rifling through her purse, no doubt looking for a pen. Thankfully, Emma notices, the woman seated herself at the end of the table, leaving the seat between them empty.
"Crap," the woman mutters.
Emma smiles and reaches into her bag to get another pen. "Here," she says holding out the pen.
"Thanks," the woman replies taking the pen. "I hate these things. Such a waste of time."
Emma nods in agreement and turns to pay attention to the speaker who apparently had just introduced himself and asked them to do the same. She listens attentively as the teachers in the room introduce themselves to the group, giving their names, positions and schools.
At last it was her turn. "I'm Emma Pillsbury. I'm the guidance counselor at McKinley."
She turns to look at the woman next to her as she says, "Shelby Corcoran. Math teacher and director of Vocal Adrenaline. Carmel High."
Emma can't believe it. She's sitting next to the director of McKinley's rival glee club. Maybe she could do a little digging and get Will some inside information. She'd do almost anything to give the kids, and Will, an advantage at Regionals, maybe even a little spying. She turns her attention back to the presenter and begins taking copious notes as he drones on about data collection.
Hours later the presenter pauses, taking in the restless audience and announces that it's time for a break. People begin shuffling papers and moving around. Before Emma can get up to go get some fresh air, she feels and hand resting on her forearm.
"Hey, you work at McKinley?"
Emma looks up to see that Shelby has moved into the seat next to her. She nods and tries to take her arm back without seeming rude.
"You must know Will Schuester then."
Emma shifts in her seat. "Um, Will. Yeah, I know Will. He's a Spanish teacher."
She's being evasive she knows it. Why is Shelby asking about Will? Is she looking for information about New Directions? After what happened at sectionals when Sue leaked the set list, Emma is on her guard. She won't give up any information that might hurt those kids.
"How well do you know him?" Shelby is looking at her intently. She's making Emma uncomfortable.
"Pretty well, I guess. I see him in the lunch room. We talk." Emma's feeling a little uneasy now. "Why do you ask?"
"He came to watch a rehearsal a few weeks ago. He wanted to talk about Jesse. He was concerned about Jesse dating one of his students," answered Shelby. "He was worried there would be trouble."
"Will really cares about those kids," Emma replies.
"He's not bad to look at either."
"Um…no I guess not," Emma stammers.
"Great kisser too."
The statement is so matter of fact that Emma almost believes that she misunderstood.
"We got to talking after rehearsal ended. We ended up back at his place. We made out like a couple of horny teenagers."
"But he's…," Emma is at a loss for words.
"….married," Shelby interrupts. "Yeah, I know. That doesn't matter."
The color has drained from Emma's face, but Shelby doesn't notice. She continues, "He said he was seeing someone, but it wasn't working out."
Emma's heart is pounding. Shelby is still talking but she can't hear a word. Her mind is racing. This woman had been kissing Will a few weeks ago. How could that be? SHE herself had been kissing Will a few weeks ago. Hell she had thrown herself at him, practically begged him to have sex with her. It wasn't working out? What the hell was that supposed to mean? What did Will do with this woman?
"I gave him my card but I haven't heard from him. Is he still seeing that woman?"
The annoyed expression on Shelby's face brings Emma back to the present. Shelby asked her a question and by the looks of it, she wants an answer.
"Is he still seeing that woman?"
"No," Emma replies. "Not that I know of."
Emma begins to pack up her stuff. She can't sit here anymore, the room is suffocating her. She needs to get some air, she needs to get into her car and scream. She can feel Shelby's eyes on her, taking in her frantic movements.
"What are you doing? It's not over."
Yes it is, Emma thinks. "I've got to go," she tosses over her shoulder in Shelby's general direction. She has to get out of here, away from the busty brunette who definitely doesn't look like she has any hang-ups about sex. "I'll tell Will you asked about him."
Without looking back Emma makes her way to the door, not caring what people will think about her leaving early. She's hurt, devastated even; but she promises herself that she is not going to cry. She's angry and she's going to let Will Shuester know EXACTLY how she feels.