Apologies for the very very short chapter 3. I just needed to get it out.

"Will! Did you get Emma to come with us?" Shannon asks me.

"No." I say. And I feel that Shannon sees that something's wrong.

"You get in a fight with Bambi?" Shannon asked. That was one of the nicknames she gained while I was away. Bambi really did remind me of Emma.

"You could say that." I run my fingers through my hair. "I was just giving her advice. Well tried giving her advice."

"Let me guess, about her divorce?" She asks. We've been talking about that a lot lately.

"I was telling her that if Carl didn't file the divorce yet then she should. But she was making reasons, again." I put my head in my hands.

"Well she's not in a relationship with someone else. Why should she rush? It takes a lot of money Will, and it's not that easy. You were in that situation too remember?"

I look at her in defeat.

"You want to ask her out don't you?" Shannon asks. And God she was right.

"I just don't want to rush things."

"That's why you want her to get divorced?" she chuckles.

"I guess," I rub the back of my neck.

"You kidding me? She's going to say yes to you even if she's still married Will. Everyone knows that." she says sincerely.

"If she wants to be with me then she should have filed the divorce right? We all know how it ended up when we dated while my and Terri's divorce wasn't finalized."

"You have a point Will." Shannon says. "That's why you should come to Rosalinda's with me tonight even if Emma's not there. Lighten up,"

"Yes I really need a break from everything. The students are getting harder to control." I answer.

"So tonight at eight. Have dinner, already, we don't want your stomach to hurt afterwards."

"I'll see you there Shannon." I smile.

I send a text to Emma. I couldn't have it in my conscience for her to get mad at me.

Hey Em, about earlier today, I'm so, so sorry. I didn't mean to come off that harsh or mean. I just wanted what was best for you, what would make you happy.

I waited, and waited, and waited. She didn't answer. So I let her be.

I had dinner and left for Rosalinda's, walking, it was near and I don't think I'd be in the condition to drive later on.

Shannon was already there a shot of tequila in front of her.

"Will! Come here!" She says drinking a shot in one gulp. "What do you want?"

"I'll have a Long island ice tea." I tell the bartender and he nods.

"They have a singing contest later on so don't get too drunk." Shannon says.

"I'm pretty good at keeping myself not drunk." I say. That was a lie but Shannon would never let me get a drink if I told her the truth.

God, what about Emma? Is she still mad at me?

The bartender gives me my drink and Shannon goes to talk to some guy.

I was alone. So I drank, the Long Island was kicking in. I almost finished the tall glass in front of me.

Shannon seems to be here all the time so she knows a lot of people. I take a sip of my drink. Wow this is good.

"Do you want a dish to go with that?" A waiter asks.

"No, I'm fine." I say. "Can I get another glass of this?" I ask him.

"Yeah of course."

He came back with the glass and put it in front of me.

"You alone here?" he asks. I'm glad he's talking to me, it's lonely and that's not fun.

"No my friend is here with me. She left me to talk to someone else."

"Shannon Beiste?" he asks and I look at him surprised.

"You know her?" I ask furrowing my eyebrows.

"Of course, she's a loyal customer." he answers.

"I was inviting a... friend over but she declined." I sigh sadly.

He laughs.

"You sure she's just a friend?" The guy laughs again. "You seem so down that she declined."

"We had a past." Was I going to tell a stranger about my life? Why not?

He nods urging me to continue.

"So a good eleven years ago I was married to another girl named Terri." I pause. "Are you still interested?"

"Yeah, why not? This is better than waiting tables." he answers me.

"Yeah so Terri isn't the ideal wife. But we were together since high school so I didn't have the heart to leave her even if I knew that the marriage was falling apart. And that's just the beginning."

"Wait, wait, who's the friend, not so friend you were talking about?" The waiter asks.

"Okay her name is Emma, and that time she was the school's guidance counselor and I was the director of the glee club and the Spanish teacher." I pause, shifting in my seat.

"What's your name Sir?" he asks.

"Will." I say smiling.

"Well Sir Will, my name is Antonio."

"Okay Antonio, thank you for staying here with me and pretending to be interested in my story." I say and he laughs.

"I'm interested." he says nodding.

"Okay so anyway my ex-wife faked a pregnancy, and that was the last straw. In a few weeks she was out of the apartment we shared for five years. And I started dating Emma."

"Wait, it only took a few weeks for a divorce? I thought it took longer than that." he says confused.

"That's exactly it! Emma and I rushed the relationship, I wasn't officially divorced yet but the papers were being filed." I tel him taking a sip from my drink.

"Okay so, wow man one relationship after the other."

"Yeah I know, anyway things got complicated and Emma found out something that I didn't want her to."

"What did you do?!" he gasps.

"Let's just say I wasn't very faithful." I say shaking my head. He nodded. "Anyway Emma started dating her dentist but I didn't give up. I couldn't give up. I loved her, I still did."

"Tough situation to be in man." he says.

"So I tried to impress her and I thought she was leaning back to our relationship but then she got married to him over the weekend, in Vegas."

"Wait the guy didn't even propose?" he asks in shock.

"No and I was furious, but I didn't show her that of course. So anyway there was this substitute teacher who came in and let's say I thought I could have forgotten about Emma." I pause to take a sip on my drink. "But she got divorced while I was still in a relationship with that substitute. But later that week she dumped me saying that she knows that I still love Emma."

"That's harsh."

"Very, but anyway I didn't want to rush things, so we became friends and everything, we became good friends again." I nod. "But then a friend of mine by the name of April came to town-"

"Okay so wait what's the name of the guy Emma married?"

"Carl."

"How about the substitute teacher you dated?" he asks again.

"Holly."

He breathes deeply. "So Holly, Carl, April, Will and Emma. Okay I think I got it." He nods telling me to continue.

"And April asked me to come to New York, offering me a job to be on Broadway. And since it was my dream to be on Broadway I accepted the offer. I left Lima, still very in love with Emma."

"What the hell dude! You left the girl of your dreams here?" His eyes widen.

"She didn't seem to have feelings for me. And it's my dream we're talking about here." I clarify.

"Okay so what happens next?"

"I realized that I need Emma, five years later. And five years later I come to her office in the same school we were in years ago and I find out she's married to Carl." I say sighing.

"Carl? The guy she got divorced to?"

"Yeah that Carl but they've been very distant from each other ever since Emma started becoming my friend again."

"Wow that guy is the jealous type." he says laughing a bit.

"And here I am, sitting next to you, telling you about my life." I say nodding.

"Wow sir Will, you aren't planning to make a move on Miss Emma?" he asks curious.

"I wouldn't make a move! I don't even know if she has feelings for me." I furrow my brows and put my hand on my head.

"You'll never know if she has feelings for you unless you ask her or you make a move on her."

"She's not divorced yet." I tell him. "And Antonio, we had a fight this afternoon."

"About what?" he asks. "Well if it's okay for you to tell."

"She was being stubborn. I kept telling her to file the divorce already but she wouldn't. She says it's too complicated. And she didn't understand why I wanted her to get divorced. She was asking me for one valid reason and I have a reason but I don't know if I could handle telling her."

"Are you still in love with Emma?" he asks me.

"Yes. There I admit it, I'm still in love with her."

"Then why don't you tell her just that? That's a very good reason." he says nodding.

"But I couldn't just go ahead and tell her that." I tell him.

"Maybe you should be more confident Sir Will. I don't think Emma and her husband just drifted away, in my understanding she and her husband drifted away because you and Emma became really good friends. If she didn't have feelings for you, she'd stop being friends with you and continue to make her husband happy but she chose you Sir Will."

He was right. God he was right.

"Th-thank you." I say smiling.

"Antonio! Antonio!" the manager calls out.

"It was nice meeting you Sir Will, and thank you for the trust."

"No, thank you for staying with me, you're advice really means a lot." I say smiling to him.

He smiles back and leaves.

I can't believe a stranger just walked into my life and told me everything that I needed to hear.

At that I walk out of the bar, paying for my drink and not bothering to tell Shannon that I'm leaving. The singing contest was forgotten as well.