I honestly can't believe I'm back in Lima, Ohio of all places. I thought I left this place behind once I graduated high school over ten years ago. Yes, I did come back home from time to time for holidays and random occasions, but I never expected to see myself back here anymore. I was asked by two very important people to attend a special event, so I chalked it up as a loss and flew home for them. I refused to stay with my mom, what thirty year old slept in the same bedroom they had when they were a kid? I was only going to be in town for two days so I rented a room at the Lima Motor Inn. It was a cheap motel, but I needed a place to lay my head at night. I dropped my bags off and waited outside my room for my ride to the dinner I was expected to attend.
"Artie!"
"Hey girl," I excitingly greeted my friend. She and her husband exited the car and helped me in as her husband folded my chair and placed it in the trunk before getting back behind the wheel. "Let's get this show on the road!"
"How was the flight from Santa Barbara?"
Oh yeah, I live in California now. After my first year of college all who was left in New York was Blaine, Kurt, and I. For the first few months it was great, we did all the bro things you could think of. That summer we stayed in New York and did all the touristy things you would think of. When Mercedes' mall tour came to New Jersey all three of us were there for the incredible show. After that it did get a little lonely, until junior year. Blaine got a lead role in a show on Broadway and things just steamrolled from then on. By my last year of college our group grew, Sam came back and Tina transferred to NYU. Once I got my degree in my hand though I was on the next flight out of the city. I loved New York but I felt like I couldn't achieve my dreams there. I was moving on to the west coast. Lucky for me, Mercedes and Mike let me crash at their place until I got my barring.
I thought New York was a hard adjustment, well, Los Angeles was just as hard. In New York I could travel by public transportation, but in LA I didn't have that luxury. The city was known for it's epic traffic so of course everyone drove. I hated relying on someone else to give me a lift to places. I remember begging Mercedes to drive me all the way to Malibu which made her miss an important meeting with her record label. That wasn't the first or last time my friends sacrificed their careers for mine. Mercedes kept reassuring me that since she got a taste of fame and success that it was now my time. That's why I love her, she was always willing to put other people before her. She put Santana on her debut album and they both blew up. Brittany and eventually Mike became her main background dancers and that helped start their careers.
"How you guys feelings about this?" I asked as we drive up to the entrance of the restaurant. "I mean your first loves are marrying each other."
"Artie," Mercedes snapped and whipped her head around to face me. She took a deep breath to calm herself and placed her hand on her pregnant belly. "They came to our wedding and there wasn't an issue, so we are all fine."
"I just find it really awkward," I commented.
"Babe," Mercedes turned to place a hand on her husbands shoulder. "Go get Artie's chair and I'll call my mom to check on Mikyla."
"Sorry," I apologized as her husband got out the car to retrieved my chair from the trunk. "Cedes, I didn't mean anything by what I said."
"I know," she sighed. "It's just a sore subject for him."
"I don't know why," I shrugged my shoulders. "You've been married for six years, with an adorable baby girl at home and another one on the way."
"Sometimes things like this remind us of what could've been," Mercedes enlightened me with her all knowing wisdom. "Babe, let's go."
The three of us walked into Breadstix and couldn't help but laugh. Nothing had changed since high school. The establishment looked the same and I swear some of the wait staff was the same too. Maybe I was just losing my mind, but I don't think I am. Rolling into the place did take me back to the good old days. Simpler times really, back when things were easily solved by singing a song that expressed your feelings. I wish adulthood was like that. If I had an issue at work I needed to express myself properly, not sing my heart out to a Journey song from the 1980's. I wish.
"So," I awkwardly spoke when I realized we were the first people to arrive. "So much for fashionably late. That's what I get for arriving with the old married couple."
"I needed to pee!" Mercedes defended herself. "Until you have a person resting on your bladder, you can't complain."
"Got it," I laughed and spotted the table that was obviously set up for the dinner party. "Do you know who else is supposed to be here?"
"Just us, the bride and groom of course, and the wedding party," Mercedes answered and turned to her husband. "Mike, babe, can you get me a water with a splash of lime?"
"Yes dear," he obliged and kissed her cheek before he tracked down a waiter for the water.
Mike and Mercedes were married, an odd pairing that I still look at with a side eye. The signs were all there though, just look at the first half of senior year. Every time she came back, he was right beside her. We all just blew it off as an odd coincidence not knowing years later it made perfect sense. She flew back to Los Angeles to start her tour and Mike helped choreograph it, the rest as they say, is history. It wasn't an epic love story by any stretch of the imagination but it was theirs to tell. The only thing I can add is that they're good together, for each other. It also helps that they make the cutest fucking kids.
When I moved to LA in 2017, I was in for a big shock. A lot if things had changed. The solid couples you expected were no more. People were breaking up and exploring new things all around me. I think the idea of the real world shocked the hell out of a lot of us. Rachel was filming the last season of her show, Mercedes was recoding her sophomore CD and I was a struggling director. Santana and Brittany lived out here too, but moved to Chicago a year or so later. Mike had finished college the year before and packed all his things and moved to the west. It was a mini McKinley reunion but we knew things weren't the same. We were all holding on too tightly to the past and what we knew, we were too afraid to explore the future and the great things around us.
"Ryder, stop calling your mom every five seconds. Joshua is fine."
My head popped up at the familiar female voice just as Mike rejoined Mercedes and I at the table.
"Babe, this is the first time we've left him since he was born. Cut me some slack, please."
"Well, since you said it so nicely," the blonde girl teased and kissed his lips with such ease. "Arthur Abrams, what a sight for sore eyes."
"Kitty," I greeted her with a nod of my head and a gracious smile. "Long time no see."
"Twelve years," she causally replied as she sat in the booth, directly next to me. "If you want to be exact."
"Which evidently you do," I heard Mercedes mutter under her breath which caused me to smirk in amusement.
"Oh, Mercedes, Mike, nice to see you guys too," Kitty greeted them in a sugary sweet voice that was nothing short of fake.
"I see things are well for you," I comment and causally shook Ryder's hand as a greeting. "Married, I assume?"
"Two years next month," Ryder proudly replied and took a seat directly across from his wife. "Your loss was my gain, dude."
That comment got a Kitty like reaction from her. It was obvious that she kicked his shin underneath the table by the way his body jerked up as he hissed in pain. Did I regret breaking up with the girl all those years ago? I honestly don't know. I was a kid still and we both knew that once I moved to New York for college, we wouldn't last long. We had seen so many relationships fail due to distance, why were we gonna be the exception to the rule? I do regret the way we broke up, I sent her a text message as soon as my bags were unpacked in my dorm room. Without a warning or sign I just broke up with her. I'll admit now that I was heartless. I was in a big city with tons of girls at my disposal, I needed to be free and I didn't want to hurt Kitty. Which now I realize I did. But she was now married to Ryder so things couldn't have been that bad for her.
"You married, kids?" Kitty asked and casually played with the straw in her drink. It was obvious that she was purposely showing off her gigantic engagement ring and wedding band set.
"Nope," I reply and shockingly don't feel any guilt or regret as I answer. "Work got in the way of real life, I guess."
"How is Hollywood?" Kitty asked. "I saw your name pop up a few times on my TV screen this past season. No movies?"
"Kitty," Ryder hissed at her obviousness rudeness.
Movies really didn't work out for me. I directed some indie films during my first two years in Los Angeles, but like most indie movies, they went nowhere. I didn't give up though, not right away at least. I pounded the pavement each and every morning trying to convince studio heads and other industry people to hire me, a no named kid from Ohio, to direct the next big Hollywood blockbuster. I was usually laughed off the lot or given a polite no from people. It sucked but I knew that was the business I was wishing to be a part of. God bless Rachel though. She talked to the heads of Fox and they let me intern alongside the directors of her show. By the end of the fourth and final season, I directed two of my own episodes. Things started to work its way up from there. People took notice and I was getting more offers to direct TV shows. It wasn't my ideal job but I did it anyway, it gave me the exposer I needed, it paid my bills so I could finally find a place of my own. So, for the last six years my name has been a regular staple on late night TV dramas and comedies.
The personal life took a backseat once my career became my main love. I obviously dated in college but never had a real, lasting relationship. I guess all of my important relationships happened in high school. Once I got to Los Angeles I was weary of starting something. I didn't want to end up being with someone who only used me to further themselves somehow. I looked around me and all I saw was all my friends either in love or married with a family, and it did bum me out on occasion but I was more concerned with my career. I'm still young though, I have my whole life ahead of me.
"Blaine!" I greeted him as he walked into Breadstix, his infamous smile on his face.
"Hey, man," he replied back and pulled me into a brief hug before he greeted everyone else. He sat next to Kitty and immediately grabbed her phone like it belonged to him. "So, how's Josh? He teething yet? Ryder was telling me he thinks that he is."
"Hold up," I interrupted their conversation with a raise of my hand. "You guys are friends?"
"Yea," Blaine answered like it was no big deal. "Katherine and I grew close over the last few years, right?"
"Katherine?" I gawked.
"I stopped going by Kitty once I passed the bar," she explained. "No one would hire a lawyer named Kitty. Katherine is more professional."
"Lawyer," I repeated and felt my jaw drop, I saw Mercedes and Mike's do the same. "Umm congrats I guess."
"The fact that you didn't know baffles me, I am Tina's lawyer after all," she continued to enlighten me.
Kitty, uh, Katherine's words jarred me a little. Was I really missing out on a lot? I felt like I had a good grasp on things where my friends were concerned. I kept in contact with a large majority of my friends from high school while still maintaining relationships with people I met through work. I refused to be the person who's life depended on the acceptance of people from his past. They all meant something special to me, but people did grow apart. It was inevitable. Coming back to Lima and knowing I was going to be around a lot of people from my high school days did excite me. Besides Mike and Mercedes, I hadn't seen a lot of them in years. I did talk to Sam and Tina often, Blaine too. Everyone else sort of disappeared. It wasn't like they weren't important it was just that life got in the way.
"Finally," Mike huffed when the soon to be married couple arrived alongside their parents.
"Sorry," Tina sheepishly replied. "I had a few work things to tend to before we left."
"I told you to leave work behind for the next week," Blaine jokingly scolded her and pulled her into a warm, tight hug. "Your class will still be there even if you're not."
"Artie, dude," Sam greeted me. "I'm so glad you made it."
"I did RSVP," I huffed. Why was everyone so shocked to see me? Did I really give off the vibe that I didn't need these people anymore?
"I'm glad you're here," Tina concluded and side eyed her future husband. "Mike and Mercedes too."
"Yea, why are they here?" Ryder asked and everyone finally took their seats around the table so we could finally start the dinner.
"Mike and Mercedes took us out to dinner when they got engaged," Sam explained. "As a way, I guess, to ask our permission. Which in turn brought Tina and I together."
"That's all of the story we can divulge in front of our parents," Tina teased. "Let's just say that a lot of tequila was involved."
"Got it," I nodded in recognition.
The dinner went surprisingly well. Sam and Tina were calm for two people who were about to get married the next day. I thoroughly enjoyed the stories that were shared between friends and family. I didn't know much about their relationship, except that it started six years ago. I wasn't shocked to learn that Blaine was Sam's best man and Ryder and Sam's brother, Stevie, were his groomsman. I was oddly taken aback to learn that Kitty was the matron of honor and that one of Tina's friends from college were her other bridesmaid alongside Sam's sister, Stacey. So it was blatantly obvious that I had missed a few things over the past few years.
The next morning I was preparing myself for the actual wedding ceremony and waiting for Mike and Mercedes to pick me up again. I was admittedly nervous to see the rest of my McKinley friends. Some I saw or spoke to often and some who had fallen off my radar once high school was in my rearview mirror. Like Puck and Quinn, I hadn't seen or spoken to them since my high school graduation, twelve years ago. Same went for Rachel, once her show was over she was on the next flight out to New York and I hadn't really spoken to her since. I always knew that Marley, Jake, and Unique all lived in the Los Angeles area as well but I hadn't had the chance to speak to them in a long time.
The wedding ceremony was beautiful. Sam cried as did Tina, of course. I sat next to Mike and Mercedes, my buffers. They were the two friendliest people around so sticking by them seemed like a good idea. I causally waved and mouthed a hello to the people who sat around me that I knew. The last time most of us were the same room was probably the last day of our glee club all those years ago. It was great to see so many familiar faces. Once the reception rolled around I found myself sitting at one of the two tables that was obviously for the McKinley crew. The older members sat at one table while I was squished between Marley and Unique at the newer kids table. It was good to get reacquainted with people I once called friends.
"How's life?" I threw the question out to make small talk. The awkwardness at the table was palpable. The next table over were obviously enjoying themselves by that loud sound of Rachel's laugh intermixed with Mercedes cackle.
"Good," Jake nodded. "I-I actually saw a billboard for the new show you're directing. It was on Sunset."
"Sweet," I cheered. "So, what are you guys doing with your life?"
"We're married," Marley answered and grabbed Jake's hand. "Almost three years now, have a little boy too."
"Whoa," I breathed at the realization. "Congrats guys."
"What about you?" Unique asked. She briefly turned to the strange guy sitting next to her and smiled widely in admiration.
"Work," I simply answered. "I'm a busy bee between the months of August and April, which is good."
Luckily the roar of the room covered up the obvious lull of our conversation. Sam and Tina were being introduced to the crowd as the new Mr. and Mrs. Sam Evans. It was really great to see the smile on their faces, their genuine happiness. I spotted Kitty shooting Blaine a knowing look as they both left the table and walked up to the DJ and grabbed two microphones while they were being introduced. The crowd was informed that Blaine and Kitty would be singing the song the newly married would be dancing to as their first dance. Of course they were, any chance Blaine had at performing he took it. Without fail both McKinley tables laughed as we all recognized the Maroon 5 song. Typical Blaine. Halfway through the song the DJ invited all couples to join the married couple on the floor. That's when it really hit me, I was alone. Ryder even got up to sway next to wife as she sang. Rachel and Kurt were the other single ones around me but they even got up to dance together. I even spotted Mr. Schue and Miss Pillsbury dancing together. After the song everyone returned to the tables smiling and laughing at all the excitement
"You okay, babe?" Mercedes asked as she sat in Unique's vacant seat.
"Fine," I waved her off.
"Artie," she said sternly.
"Uh oh. Don't use your momma voice with me," I joked.
"Let's go," she commanded and stood up while taking my hand. "I need to call and check up on Mikyla and we need to have a talk."
"Fine," I huffed in frustration and followed her out the reception hall.
Mercedes took her phone out of her bag and quickly dialed her mother to check on her daughter. I took my phone out of my pocket and checked my emails and text messages to see how everything was going on in California. I was going to be gone from work for a few days, I needed to make sure I still had a job when I got back to Los Angeles.
"So, Artie," Mercedes sighed as she placed her phone back in her bag with a loud snap. "What's your problem."
"I'm fine," I reiterated stubbornly. I adjusted my glasses with a defeated sigh as Mercedes gave me her classic side eye. "I'm happy."
"Okay," she nodded in recognition. "No one is saying you aren't."
"I know. I-I just feel subpar compared to everyone else," I explained and pointed towards the hall we were previously in.
"Why?"
"I'm not married," I explained with a pained sigh. Just a few short hours ago I was perfectly content with my life, but now to see everyone else around me made my question my life choices. "I feel as if everyone else is looking down at me because of it."
"You're ridiculous," she concluded with an exasperated sigh. "No one thinks of you as a lesser person because you're not married. You're thirty, you aren't dead."
"Cedes," I pleaded with her. "I didn't even know Jake and Marley were married and I found out they live like twenty minutes from me. Did I really fall off the face of the earth?"
"I see you," she laughed. "So obviously that's all that matters."
"Obviously," I sarcastically agreed with an eye roll. "I've lost touch with so many people. We promised to meet back up in New York six months later and no one was there."
"Life got in the way," she shrugged her shoulders. "We all had other obligations."
"I speak to just you and Mike," I huffed. "I'm even surprised I got invited to the wedding!"
"Artie," she said in a soothing motherly voice. "Sam and Tina still look at you as once of their close friend, obviously."
"I think it was a pity invite," I scoffed.
"No," Mercedes snapped. "I will not let you be a Debbie Downer, you will enjoy this night with your old friends and celebrate the great friendships you still have."
I hate when Mercedes is right, and sadly it happens often too. Damn her, she got wiser once she became a mother. Once we returned to the hall I did start to loosen up and let my hair down and have fun. When I wasn't being dragged onto the dance floor by Mike or Mercedes, I was getting reacquainted with old friends. Each one of them filling me in on their extraordinarily lives. I had pictures of weddings and children being thrusted in my face. Kitty and Blaine's toasts got the reaction they were hoping for, laughs and tears from almost everyone in the room. I had the privilege of dancing with Tina a few times before Sam pulled his wife away for a dance or mandatory pictures.
"Artie!"
"Yo Artie!"
I laughed and shook my head at my name being called by both Puckerman brothers who were gathered by the bar. I made my way over to them and immediately had a shot of Jameson shoved in my hand. Ryder, Blaine, Mike, Sam, and Kurt joined us moments later.
"What are we toasting to?" Sam asked as he took the shot glass off the bar.
"Finn," Puck replied.
"Man," Sam spoke somberly.
"He's here with us," Puck reassured him with a pat on Sam's back. "He's always here with all of us. He's been there for every step each and every one of us has taken."
"Preach," I whispered with a quick raise of my hand in agreement.
"So gentlemen, raise your glass for the man, the myth, and the legend that was Finn Hudson," Puck instructed as we all raised our shots in the air before downing them. "Miss you buddy."
"I've missed you guys," I spoke truthfully. "We can't let another ten years pass before we see each other again. Weddings shouldn't bring us together."
"When do you head back to California?" Kurt asked me.
"Tomorrow afternoon," I answered and slammed the shot glass on the bar with a loud clank.
"Bros brunch tomorrow," Sam suggested. "Our flight to Puerto Rico leaves in the mid afternoon. The girls are planning to get together for brunch so why not have a bros brunch."
"I'm in," Puck said as everyone else nodded in agreement.
"Awesome. Tomorrow at noon at the Lima Bean," Sam told us. "Now excuse me gentlemen, my wife beckons."
The party raged on to the wee hours of the morning which made getting up the next day extremely difficult. I didn't get back to my motel room until two and I was expected at the Lima Bean at noon, why did I agree to that? It was obvious Mike was feeling my pain when he picked me up. He was sporting sunglasses and you could just tell by how he spoke that he was feeling the pain of the party.
"Hey you guys made it," Blaine greeted us with a smile and a cup of coffee.
"How are you so cheery?" I asked with a rasp to my voice due to my alcohol consumption the night before.
"Tina made me promise that I wouldn't drink like a frat boy last night," Blaine quoted Tina perfectly, even perfecting her voice a little. "So I had a glass of champagne during the toast and then the shot with you guys."
"Smart man," Ryder told him and patted his back weakly. "This is my first night out since becoming a father, I needed to drink."
"I got the same lecture from Tina too," Sam laughed. "She didn't want me to look puffy for our pictures."
"Such a control freak," Kurt realized from his seat next to me. He brought his coffee cup up to his lips and smiled around it. "I'm so proud."
"No chick talk," Puck demanded, still wearing his sunglasses even though we had been inside the coffee shop for at least ten minutes now.
Brunch at the Lima Bean, which in actuality was just all of us drinking coffees and eating muffins to nurse our hangovers, was a lot of fun. I was being reintroduced to my old friends. I made it a mini mission of mine to take notice to each and every little thing everyone said. I didn't know when I was going to have the chance to see these guys again. Mike I could see everyday, we were attached at the hip. I made a promise to see Jake and Marley more often seeing they lived so close to me. Blaine even said next time he was in Los Angeles that he'd come find me so we can spend time together. Ryder agreed that he and Kitty would make a trip out west once school was in winter break, because shockingly Ryder became a teacher. Puck even mentioned that he and Quinn were going to spend the holidays in Los Angeles as well, with their two kids. It was all a little mind boggling, but I was pleasantly excited to see all my friends in two short months.
Once I got back to my motel room and got myself organized I was off to the airport. It was a quick forty eight hour trip but it was worth it. I had the chance to go back to my hometown and reconnect with people I hadn't seen in years. As I waited for my plane I skimmed through all the pictures I had taken on my phone of the day before. I was proud of myself when I realized I had captured a breath taking photo of Sam and Tina's first kiss as husband and wife. I just knew I needed to send them a copy of that. I had a ton of pictures of me and the guys and a few with each and every girl sitting on my lap. Overall, I did enjoy myself. I came back to Lima feeling a little wearily of seeing these people again after so long. I now leave Lima feeling like my eighteen year old self again. He was someone who felt like he was on top of the world and surrounded by the greatest people who he could call friends.