Shelby sat at her desk in her home office grading tests. She rolled her eyes a she marked another test D. For some reason her students had all done terribly on this test, she knew that her class was difficult, but the test results shouldn't be this bad. She looked over and noticed that her phone was lighting up, she was getting a call from Rachel. Shelby furrowed her brow, Rachel rarely called her but she still picked up the phone right away.
"Hey mom!" Rachel said in a cheery tone.
"Hi, Rachel, how are you?" Shelby replied with a smile on her face, she was happy Rachel called her.
"I was wondering if you might want to go out to dinner some time?" Rachel asked, "I haven't seen you in a while."
"I would love to!" Shelby replied "Why don't you come over to my place, I can make you dinner, or you can help me if you would like."
"That sounds great, how does Saturday night work for you?" Rachel asked.
"Saturday at 5:00." Shelby said.
"Yeah, that sounds good. I'll see you then." Rachel said, "Love you mom, see you soon."
Shelby grinned, "Love you too! Be good ok?"
"I will mom." Rachel said and they both hung up.
Finally Saturday night came around. Shelby heard the doorbell ring and she walked briskly over to open the door. Rachel was standing on the porch with a bag of food in hand.
"Hi!" she said rushing forth and giving Shelby a big hug. "I brought some food, I didn't want to show up empty handed."
"Oh good, please come in." Shelby said ushering Rachel into the house, it had been a while since Rachel had last been there. As they started to cook Shelby and Rachel conversed about their days.
"So, I'm just curious, why did you call me, not that I mind at all." Shelby asked.
"Out of the blue after school a couple of days ago Mr. Shue told me I should talk to you, it was really weird." Rachel quipped, "I hadn't talked to you in a while so I decided it would be a good idea to call you."
"So Mr. Shue huh," Shelby remembered saying something to him about her lack of communication with Rachel when they last spoke, "Do you like him? What's he like?"
"All these questions, are you just going to use my information to help Vocal Adrenaline eradicate New Directions?" Rachel said playfully.
"No, I'm just curious," Shelby responded, "He seems… I don't know, weirdly friendly."
"Yeah, he has always been really nice even though he has gone through some tough stuff lately. I don't know why you hate him so much." Rachel said as she began to cut vegetables for the vegan lasagna the two were making.
"I don't hate him." Shelby said leaning against the counter.
"It sure seemed like it the other day when we were working together." Rachel retorted.
"No, he was just getting on my nerves. He isn't that bad." I spoke with him, we have a better understanding of each other now."
"Wait, you spoke with him? When?" Rachel asked, she stopped what she was doing and turned to face her mother.
"The other day… its not that important." Shelby said trying to cove her tracks.
"No, I want to know now, why did you guys talk? Was is about me?" Rachel said getting feisty.
"Don't worry about it, it was nothing." Shelby said avoiding Rachel's question.
"Mom, just tell me please." Rachel begged, giving Shelby her puppy dog look. Shelby could never withstand that look and gave in to Rachel.
"We just went out for coffee to talk some things out, really, it's not a big deal." Shelby said as she started working on the lasagna again trying to avoid Rachel's stares. Rachel stood next to Shelby with her mouth gaping open.
"So you went on a date with him!" Rachel practically yelled.
"It most defiantly was not a date!" Shelby said turning red, "Stop asking so many questions, lets finish the lasagna." Rachel laughed at her mother's obvious apprehensiveness. Later that night after they ate their lasagna they sat in Shelby's living room and watched Funny Girl. Rachel covered herself with a blanket and sat closely to Shelby. Shelby put her arm around Rachel, pulling Rachel towards her.
"I think he likes you." Rachel said suddenly.
"Who, Mr. Shue?" Shelby responded inquisitively. "I'm sure he like me fine."
"No, I mean he likes you. He like likes you." Rachel insisted.
"Are you saying he has a crush on me?" Shelby said looking at Rachel, "I highly doubt that."
"Believe what you want, I'm just saying that's what I think, you'll see." Rachel said "I think you should at least talk to him again." snuggling into Shelby, Shelby leaned down and kissed her forehead.
"I love you, you silly girl." Shelby said and the two drifted off to sleep.