A/N: Hey everyone! Chapter 4 is here! Just a quick note, the italics in this chapter are flashbacks. Anyways, hope you all like it and please read and review.
It had been about an hour since Rachel had left and Will was still sulking to himself and lightly crying. He would have been there longer if it wasn't for the night time janitor to knock him out of his trance.
"Mr. Schuester? What are you still doing here? It's after five," the janitor questioned while walking in with all his cleaning supplies.
"After five?" Will asked and the janitor nodded.
"Is everything alright?" the man asked noticing the look of confusion on his face.
"Yes, I guess I was just distracted and lost track of time," Will said getting up and grabbing his belongings.
"Goodnight, Bill," Will said as he left the choir room. "Night."
Once Will walked out of the school he found his car and angrily kicked the tire. He had cried everything out and was now so frustrated. Everything he had kept so secret about for five months was gone and taken away from him.
He didn't know what to do. He contemplated going home, but why would he? He knew more than likely Emma would not be there and why would she be? He had only cheated on her with another women, Rachel nonetheless. He would be going home to a dark and empty apartment and he really didn't feel like sulking any longer.
He couldn't even talk to Rachel either seeing as they had just broken up or as she liked to call it taking a break. He couldn't believe her when she had said that she loved Finn right before he hit him. It hurt him more than Finn's fist connecting to his face. He thought that they had a connection but maybe he was wrong.
Will suddenly swallowed and noticed his throat was very dry. The thought of popping the top off a beer and taking a long drink made him happy. Before he knew it he was in his car and heading to the nearest bar.
Drinking was something that Will had tried to cut back on but with nothing but heartbreak and loneliness, he found himself in front of a sports bar and walking in and sitting on one of the many stools at the counter.
He placed his order and not long after he was sipping it and drinking away his sorrows. After about the middle of his fourth beer, the bartender came over to him.
"Hey buddy, it's close to ten o'clock which means it's almost closing time. Why don't you go home?"
Will looked at him curiously. Had he really been there for almost five hours? They must close early on weekdays.
"Home? Why go home? I don't have anything to go home to," Will said with pain clear in his voice.
"It's not my place to say but maybe you should call someone to come get you. You have had almost four beers, you can't drive," the man said feeling Will's pain.
Will looked and him and thought for a moment. The man shrugged and then walked away leaving him to think. Who would he call? Emma? No. Rachel? No. There was no one who would come get him because all the people he cared about had left him. After sitting for another couple of minutes, his phone had highlighted Shannon. What the hell, Will thought and pressed call.
"Hello?" Shannon answered as she picked up her phone.
"Shannon! It's Will, listen I really, really need a favor of you," Will said slurring some of his words.
"Will? Are you drunk?" Shannon immediately asked remembering the last time they had gone out together.
"Yeah that was the favor I need. I need a ride because I can't drive," Will said.
"Emma is staying at my place. What am I supposed to tell her?" she asked.
"I don't know. I know I hurt her and she probably hates me but I need a friend, please Shannon?" Will asked with desperation in his voice. There was a pause on the other line as Will waited impatiently for a reply.
"Fine, but Emma cannot find out that I am helping you," Shannon said wondering what she had agreed to.
"Thank you, I'm at the sports bar close to the high school," Will said groggily.
"I'll be there in ten, don't go anywhere," Shannon said as she hung up.
Will waited patiently and finished off his last beer right before Shannon walked in. She spotted Will at the bar alone and for a moment she almost felt bad for him.
"Shannon! Thanks for coming. I really, really appreciate it," Will said as he got up and patted her shoulder while almost falling down.
"Yeah, whatever. Let's just go so I can take you home," Shannon said as she helped lead him to her car.
"I don't want to go home," Will said while they approached her car.
"You have to Will. I don't want to argue with you," she said trying to get him in the passenger seat but failing.
"Take me back to your place. Let me talk to Emma so I can tell her how sorry I am for messing up," he begged.
"No. I'm not letting you anywhere near Emma. Now either get in the car or walk home. It's your choice," Shannon said.
Will thought for a moment and decided that it would be best to do what she said because he really didn't feel like walking all the way home.
The car ride was mostly silent till they reached Will's apartment.
"Thank you, Shannon," Will said as they pulled into a spot.
Shannon just looked at him not really sure what to say. She was his friend but she wasn't sure how to feel around him after he cheated on her best friend, with a student nonetheless. She didn't think Will was that type of person.
"Just tell me this, Will, why Rachel?" she asked after a few minutes of awkward silence.
The question confused Will and he was a bit surprised that she had asked. There were many different things about Rachel that he loved. Her talent, her beauty and her independence. Of course Rachel had flaws but that made her more human to him and he could understand her unlike most of the teenage boys in the glee club. As he thought, he realized that there were so many times were he had slipped up on his feelings for Rachel even if he didn't realize them yet and it all started way before Nationals.
Will remembered thinking all the way back to regionals and her original song idea. The group thought it was crazy but not him. He thought it was unique and would separate them from the other groups. He remembers thinking how mature Rachel was and how proud he was of her. During the performance she would look his way and it would make him smile but he knew he was stupid to think that look was for him as Finn was standing right in front of him.
After regionals came the nose incident as he liked to call it. Finn being his clumsy self, had accidentally punched her causing her to consider plastic surgery. He remembers telling Emma that Rachel was a beautiful girl. He wonders if even back then if he had realized his feelings for Rachel. If he did he didn't contemplate them long or if he had he tried to push them away.
Even though those memories were so long ago, they were still fresh in Will's mind. They were the little things that led them to be together the night of Nationals and start a relationship.
"Will? Will!" Shannon yelled at him trying to bring him back to reality.
Will snapped out of his thoughts and memories and looked at her with pain on his face. She was waiting for him to say something and he tried to think of a good enough answer.
"Look, I know it was terrible of me to cheat on Emma but Rachel, is special. She's talented, beautiful, independent, everything you could want. I understand if you don't support my decision but know that I did love Emma," Will said afraid to look at Shannon's face. Afraid to see the disappointed look of what could be his only possible friend.
She gave him a half smile and nodded her head. Will unbuckled the seat belt and leaned over to give her a hug.
"Thanks for everything," he said while Shannon just nodded at him.
It took a while for Will to get to his apartment seeing as he had no balance but once he was there he went straight to his bed and crashed on it.
What have I done? he thought to himself as he ran a hand through his hair. He sighed and opened his bed side table to put his phone in and look for the television remote to try and distract himself. His hand reached something but it wasn't the remote. It was a blue velvet box.
He pulled it out and studied it. He sighed again as he forgot he put that in there. It was Rachel's birthday present that he was supposed to give her in a couple of weeks. He remembered the day at the mall with Rachel telling him what to get her.
"Oh you don't have to get me much, just five things on this list," she said as she walked next to him.
"Five things?" he asked curiously. It seemed like a bit much to him.
"Yes, Will, mind you it's not only my birthday but the week of our sixth month anniversary," she said playfully. "It has to be special."
He couldn't believe that he and Rachel had been together for almost six months. It had gone by so quickly and soon she would be graduated and off to NYADA.
"Will, we have to stop here. There is a beautiful gold star necklace that I want to look at," she said as she dragged him inside.
"It's perfect," Rachel said as she held it in front of her examining it carefully.
"How much is it?" he asked.
"It's one hundred and fifty dollars," Rachel said looking at the tag.
"I'm sorry, Rach but it's too much," he said.
Rachel put her acting skills to the test and pretended to look like she would cry.
"No that's not going to work on me," he said playfully.
"Please, Will? It's on sale even," she begged.
"I'm sorry, Rachel. I can't afford it," Will said.
"Fine, if you must be so cruel," she joked as she put it back on the rack.
After they left they went around the corner to the coffee shop in the mall. They placed there drinks and waited on the side.
"Hey Rach, can you stand in line and get our drinks? I need to use the restroom," Will said.
"Sure, I'll just be at a table," she replied.
"Thanks," Will said as he gave her a quick kiss on the forehead and took off in the other direction. However he went past the bathrooms and went back towards the jewelry store.
He knew it was perfect for Rachel the moment she picked it up but he wanted it to be a surprise so when she asked him to buy it he had to use his power and say no.
"Hi, I'd like to buy that gold star necklace my girlfriend was looking at," Will said as he stepped up to the counter. It was almost six months of them being together and every time Will said girlfriend it still made his stomach flutter.
"It's a lovely choice," the woman said handing it to him. "Would that be cash or charge?" she asked.
"Cash please," Will said. He almost paid in credit card but he remembered Emma and how she liked to go over the bills with him seeing as she had moved in. He didn't want her to get suspicious. It was already hard for him to sneak out of the house to meet Rachel, he didn't want her to find that he was buying her things as well.
"What's the occasion?" the woman asked.
"Oh it's her birthday and our anniversary," Will said proudly.
"That's lovely. How old will she be turning?"
"18," Will said not realizing his mistake. The woman eyed him suspiciously realizing that Will had to be at least in his thirties.
"I mean twenty eight," he said quickly, trying to cover up his mistake.
"Wait, I think I know you. Don't you work at Mckinley?" the woman asked. "I think I saw your glee club at sectionals. My daughter is in the Unitards."
Will panicked for a minute thinking of how terrible it would be if this women knew he was a teacher there and that Rachel was a student.
"No, you must have me mistaken for someone else," Will said nervously. "If the necklace is ready, I'd like to have it. I'm in bit of a hurry," he asked trying to leave as soon as possible.
"Alright, here you go sir," the woman said as she handed him the bag.
"Thank you," Will said and quickly raced to leave.
He threw the bag away in the nearest trash can and slipped the box in his coat pocket. He reached the food court and smiled as he saw Rachel sitting at a table for two with their coffee. He walked over like nothing was wrong and continued the day without suspicion.
Will replayed that day in his head thinking of how even just a couple of weeks ago he and Rachel could have been caught by the store clerk.
He realized that their relationship had been trickery than he thought and now that it was out in the open there was only one thing he had to do before it spread around the school like a wild fire.
He had to resign.