Something - Quinn Fabray

Chapter 28

"That was absolutely brilliant!" Ryan enthused as he and his grandparents exited the Ohio Theatre after the show. He continued to gush happily over the performance as Tom and Sarah listened to him chatter.

Tom smiled at Sarah. "You were right, he's just like Shelby." He glanced back at his grandson before returning his attention to his wife. "How is she?"

Sarah sighed. "James didn't take it too well," she told him quietly. "He walked out. I told her to call him, and she hasn't updated me yet."

Tom nodded. "Let's hope he answers her." He turned back to his grandson, who had wandered a bit of a distance away. "Hey, Ryan, we need to go soon. It's going to be another two hours back home, and we're supposed to have dinner with your mom."

The three of them got back into their car, ready to start the drive back to Lima. "Thank you," Ryan said to his grandparents. "For taking me here."

"Not a problem kid, we're happy to do it. That's what grandparents are for – spoiling their grandkids," Tom told him with a wink.

Ryan smiled back a bit weakly. "My other grandparents didn't really want to spend time with me," he confided. "Hiram's parents live in Florida, and they don't really talk much, and Leroy's parents didn't like the fact that he was gay. They didn't like me either, since they thought gay people shouldn't have kids. It used to get really awkward at family gatherings."

"Well, don't worry about that with us," Sarah said firmly, putting her irritation with the Berrys out of her mind. "We love you, and we don't care if you're straight or gay or whatever. You just be yourself, we'll love you no matter what."

Ryan was quiet for a while, unused to that level of acceptance from anyone besides his mom and Quinn. "Thank you. I love you guys too," he gave her a watery smile.

Tom decided to change the subject before the boy started getting weepy. "Speaking of gay or straight," he started with a sly smile. "I heard you have a girlfriend already."

That drew a smile from his grandson. "Yes, I do," Ryan answered happily. "Her name's Quinn Fabray, she's in my glee club at school. She used to be a cheerleader too, though she stopped last year. She's in Indiana for the weekend, we were actually texting during the car ride over to Columbus."

"When do we get to meet her?"

"Meet her?" Ryan hadn't considered this. Shelby had suggested that he invite Quinn over sometime, but that was just his mom. "Do you want to?"

"Of course we do," Sarah said, amused.

"Why?"

"If she's important to you, then we'd like to meet her," Sarah answered. "That's what we did whenever your mom or your uncle had someone new, we'd invite them over, get to know them a little."

Ryan thought about this, a little confused. He'd told Hiram and Leroy that he'd started dating Quinn when he was still living with them, and they hadn't really cared. Though he was quickly learning that the Corcoran family seemed to do everything the opposite of what his old family used to do. And he liked it. He supposed wanting to meet his girlfriend was just another one of those family quirks.

Another thought came to mind, though. "Did you do that with James?" he asked quietly, causing Tom and Sarah to exchange a glance.

"Yes, we did." Sarah turned to look at her grandson, only to see a sad little smile on his face.

"You don't have to do that, you know," he continued. "I know it didn't go too well at lunch."

Sarah was taken aback at this. "How did you know?"