One: Summer Days
It was a hot day in July. There were grey clouds in the sky. Lexi Dillon was sprawled on the floor of her cousin's bedroom, absentmindedly colouring pictures of Disney Princesses from a colouring book that Kurt had found her. Her best friend was somewhere between the house and the airport, hopefully already on his way back with Blaine in the passenger seat. Kurt was tapping away at the keys on his laptop on the other side of the room. Lexi whined, "Louiiiiiiiisa, when are Blaine and Danny going to get here?"
"I don't know, Brigitta," replied Kurt, not really paying attention.
"Lou, you've been texting Blainie since his plane landed and you're telling me you don't know when they're going to get here?" snapped Lexi.
"Why don't you text Danny?" Kurt asked.
"He's driving, genius. I can't text him! For one thing, it's dangerous and for another, it's illegal! Actually, it might not be in Ohio, I don't really know, but it's illegal where I learned to drive and probably should be everywhere," replied Lexi.
Kurt laughed. "I guess you're right, 'Gitta." He sent Blaine a text message that said: Lexi's anxiously awaiting the return of her boyfriend. Do you know when you guys will be here?
A minute or two later, Blaine replied, And you're not? I'm offended! Dan says we'll arrive in a few minutes. You can tell Lex that we're almost there.
"Blaine says that they're almost here," Kurt told his cousin. She gave him a thumbs up and then returned to colouring. As promised, a few minutes later Danny and Blaine arrived. When she heard the car pull up outside, Lexi ran downstairs and flung her arms around Blaine's neck.
"Blainie! You're heeeeeeeere! I missed you!" she exclaimed.
"Lex, you seem more excited to see me than Kurt is," Blaine replied.
"B, he sees you all the time. I only see you like… sometimes!" exclaimed Lexi.
"I thought you said she was waiting anxiously for Danny to return," Blaine said quietly to Kurt.
"Did I say her boyfriend? I guess I should have said that she was waiting anxiously for my boyfriend," Kurt replied amusedly. After Lexi released Blaine and began talking animatedly with Danny, Kurt gave Blaine a quick hug. What they didn't notice was that the sky had been steadily darkening since before Danny and Blaine had even arrived. Then the first raindrops fell on their heads. An arc of lightning crackled across the sky. Danny grabbed Lexi's hand and pulled her through the front door of the house and probably down into the basement. Kurt looked at Blaine. Since Christmas, there hadn't been any bad storms whilst they had been at school. Blaine's light brown eyes were wide with a fear that Kurt had seen in Lexi's hazel ones far too many times before. Kurt imitated Danny, taking Blaine's hand and walking inside. They found Lexi and Danny in the basement. Lexi was sitting on a couch with a sewing project in her hands. Danny was sitting right next to her.
Blaine looked at the project she was holding. "Lex, you can sew?"
"Yeah, my mom taught me how when I was little. Don't you remember, I told you the first time we were in a thunderstorm together," she responded, not looking up.
Kurt and Blaine sat down on another couch. Kurt asked, "Blainie, when did you guys meet? I had thought you only knew each other from that show you did together, but there aren't many thunderstorms in December."
"We were fourteen. It was summer, and my family had decided to send me to a theatre camp. I didn't think I was going to like it, but then I met these two," began Blaine. He remembered the first day like it was yesterday, and told the story to Kurt in a faraway voice.
It was June. A hot, sticky late June day and the auditorium was slowly filling with 12-17 year olds. Blaine was sitting alone, on the opposite side of the auditorium from most of the others in an empty row. Inching towards where he was were a pair of kids that were about his age. One, a girl with brown hair and darkish eyes, was looking around the room and whispering to the other, a boy with dark hair and lighter eyes. As they approached, Blaine heard the girl say, "Oooh, Danny, I don't like this. There's so many people here who are our age. We can't just say I don't like grown-ups much, 'cause they're not grown-ups! Oooh, Danny, I don't like this…" The boy was whispering back to her, trying to calm her down, but it didn't seem to be working. Then she spotted Blaine. She walked up to him, took a deep breath, and said, "Hi. I'm Alex Dillon. This is my best friend d-d-d-Danny Baker. Who are you?"
"Ali, I thought you didn't want to talk to people," Danny pointed out.
"I dunno, he just seems like… like someone I'd get along with. Plus, he's just one person. Can you see me introducing myself to anybody who's in a group?" Lexi replied. Danny shook his head.
"I'm Blaine Anderson," Blaine said, not quite sure where he got the courage to reply to her question from.
"N-n-n-nice to meet you, Blaine," said Lexi. Blaine was kind of distracted by the fact that her speaking voice was kind of the way Luna Lovegood sounded in his head. She seemed nervous, like she didn't usually talk to people other than Danny. Blaine waved a little bit.
"Awww, you met Lex when she was still super shy," Kurt said when Blaine finished his story.
Blaine replied, "Yeah. But I was pretty shy then, too."
There was a crack of thunder. Lexi squealed and jumped backwards into Danny. He calmly whispered to her, "It's okay, Lex. We're inside, we can't get hurt. You're fine."
She nodded and continued working on her project. Kurt simply put his arm around Blaine, who moved closer to him and put his head on Kurt's shoulder.