"You are an amazing singer", Sofie said as he sank down in the seat next to her. "You know that?"
"I do my best", Will answered and wiped some sweat off his face with his sleeve. "But I've never wanted to be a professional singer; I love teaching."
"I know what you mean", Sofie said with a smile, then cursed in her native tongue as her phone started to vibrate. "Shit, I forgot!"
She stood up and picked up her things.
"Sorry, Will, I've got to go. It's from my school; I'm supposed to have a teleconference with my headmaster."
"Well, then, I suppose I'll see you tomorrow?" he said, feeling his heart drop slightly because of that she was leaving. She smiled and nodded, before she hurried out of the auditorium, the phone pressed to her ear.
"Sorry 'bout that, Mr Schue", Finn said. Will turned back towards his students, frowning.
"What are you talking about?"
"I mean, sorry that she left", Finn said. Will's eyes widened.
"You tried to set me up with her, didn't you?" he asked.
"Look, you are probably the coolest teacher at this school", Puck said and put his feet up on the chair in front of his own. "You were down for weeks after the last break-up, and then this young, hot…"
"Puck!" Will exclaimed.
"I'm just saying that she's good looking, alright?" Puck said and held up his hands as a sign of surrender. "Well, she shows up and you look like a hungry wolf that just wants to jump her…"
"Puck!" Will yelled, even louder.
"But you haven't done anything", Rachel filled in. "Since you told us that we got you to realize that you couldn't let Ms Pillsbury leave when we sang My Life Would Suck Without You, we figured that it might work to get you and Ms Johnson together as well by letting you sing Teenage Dream."
Will groaned and leaned his face into his hands, wishing that this was all just a dream and that he would wake up without even having met Sofie.
"Guys, I appreciate your concern, but I've got to try and figure this one out myself", he said after a while.
"So you do like her, then?" Finn asked.
"Is it the age-difference that concerns you, Mr Schue?" Rachel suggested. "Because I know that there is no law that enables you to date her; you're both grown-ups and…"
"Guys!"
Will looked up at his students with a weary smile.
"Let's just… forget about this for now, alright? We've got regionals to think about."
The days passed and Sofie didn't seem to have changed, towards him or anyone else. Deep inside him he secretly wished that him singing Teenage Dream would have made her fall into his arms once he came up to her, but she hadn't. She was still in control.
"I've always wondered if the teachers or the students are the happiest ones when the weekend comes", Sofie said. They were sitting in their office (yes, Will had started to think of it as 'theirs', not 'his'), it was Friday afternoon and the last few students had just moved out of the school.
"Well, the students might think that it's them, but I'm not sure", Will said with a smile. "Both teachers and students spend the Friday with their friends or in front of the TV, or maybe out on a bar or restaurant, then they spend the Saturday shopping, hanging out, drinking, and then they spend the Sunday working."
Sofie laughed silently and nodded in agreement.
"It's not that much of a difference, then", she said and put the finished papers she'd been writing in their folder. "Is that what you spend your weekend doing?"
"Well, not every weekend, but some of them, yes", Will admitted. "What about you?"
"Reading, writing, listening to music, eating some good food, then working on different projects for school", Sofie said with a shrug.
"Not hanging out with friends?"
"Sometimes, but then we often end up discussing schoolwork anyway, so we often bring our papers with us."
Will stared at her, then put his pen down.
"Look, I think that you need to learn how to relax, even with people that you work with", he said and leaned forward on his elbows. "How about I cook you dinner tonight?"
"You can cook?" Sofie asked, raising an eyebrow at him.
"Well, I'm not a masterchef, but I can do some things at least", he answered. "What do you say; dinner at my place at six thirty?"
"I'd say that would be nice, something new for a change", Sofie said with a smile. "Just a quick question though; what do you plan to cook that doesn't take more than forty minutes?"
She nodded at the watch and Will gave up a surprised shout when he realized that it was already half past five.
"Oh crap!"
Sofie laughed again and shook her head at him.
"Ah, well, come along and we'll pick up some take-away on the way", Will said and rose, shoving the papers that he needed to finish into his bag.
After picking up some pizza, they arrived at Will's apartment. Sofie sank down in the sofa, placing their food on the table in front of her while Will headed into the kitchen to get plates, cutlery, glasses and something to drink
"Smells lovely", Sofie said and grinned at him.
"It would have been even better if I'd cooked", Will pointed out and placed his load down on the table as well. "Hope you're alright with wine?"
"Wine's good", Sofie said and started cutting the pizza.
They ended up having a great evening. Will refused to talk about anything that was related to work, hoping that that would be the key to getting Sofie to let go of the control. It didn't seem like that; despite laughing and joking, she was still in control. It was driving him crazy.
"Why do you always seem to be so in control?" he asked. They had just poured the last wine of the second bottle into their glasses and it was obvious that the alcohol was starting to kick in.
"I don't know", Sofie admitted, taking a sip of her drink. "Maybe because of that I need to prove to myself that I'm strong or something."
"But you are strong."
"Yeah, well, it took some time to get to where I am now", Sofie responded. "I was bullied during the first five years of school and no-one did anything about it, so my confidence was really low after that. I've spent the rest of my life trying to build it up again and that has caused me to feel that I need to be in control of everything; I've got plans for everything that I need to do."
She took a sip yet again and Will realized that she might break down in front of him if he didn't do anything. But didn't he want her to lose it? There was a stirring in his pants and he leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees and let her continue.
"I mean, I basically do not go out to bars and such because of that then I might lose it and I do not want that to happen, because I do not want to get hurt like that ever again", Sofie said.
"I'm sorry", Will said silently. "I didn't know…"
"I don't know why I came here, honestly", Sofie continued, barely listening. "It's not like me to just drop everything and agree to come over to dinner to someone I've known for a week or so. Especially not when…"
She hesitated and looked down on the glass in her hand.
"What?" he silently asked.
"You know that the students think that you're the hottest teacher at McKinley, right?" Sofie said. He nearly dropped his glass in surprise.
"What? No, that's impossible."
"Well, they do", Sofie said and took another sip of her wine. Will waited for her to continue, but she didn't. She just stared out at the empty air in front of her.
"You agree with them?" he asked.
"I didn't say that", Sofie snapped, then put her glass down and rose. "Thanks for inviting me, Mr Schue, but I think I should be going."
"Sofie, wait!"
He put his glass down next to hers and rushed after her, blocking her way. She groaned.
"Don't do this", she begged.
"What?"
He stepped forward and she took a step back, and so they continued until she hit a wall. He blocked her escape by placing his hands on either side of her, cooling them against the painted concrete. She shivered as his breath touched her face, her chest heaving.
"Sofie", he whispered, leaning forward to place a soft kiss on her forehead. "Lose it, for me."
"Will…"
"Please."
She grabbed his head and forced him down, covering his mouth with hers. He moaned and pushed back, wrapping his arms around her, grabbing her hair with one of his hands and moved it aside to kiss his way down her collarbone.
"Lose it for me, baby", he mumbled against her skin. "I need you to lose it."
Looks like things are heating up...
