Welcome to my new story! This is super fun to write and honestly it get's better than this chapter, trust me.
Enjoy! :)
"Life is a series of collisions with the future; it is not the sum of what we have been, but what we yearn to be." -Jose Ortega y Gasset
KURT
"I need a job!" I say flopping down on my bed beside my best friend Mercedes who is reading an old magazine of mine.
"Why do you need a job?" she asked in that flat tone that suggests she's not listening which is probably true because she hasn't even looked up from the magazine.
"Because I spent all my money on a pair of designer sandals and now I don't have enough for the designer shades I want." I complain and she gives an unconvincing shrug.
"Shame." she mutters. I love Mercedes, I really do but right now she is not being the listening ear I want.
"You don't get it," I try to explain. "It's summer, I need sunglasses!" she sighs and throws away the magazine.
"Listen Kurt," she says with an annoyed tone. "We've had this conversation many times before. You always want more money but even if you say you're applying for a job you never do."
"I've never said I wanted a job before!" I protest.
"Last week you said you needed to pay for those designer sandals, three weeks ago it was a pair of shorts, two months ago it was a sweater and five minutes ago it was a pair of sunglasses." she lists with a superior smirk.
"All right but I've never seen any job openings so how can I apply." I say defensively.
"This is where you're going to love me!" she says and I have to raise my eyebrow. "The rec centre that I work at has an opening for the summer and I told them I have a friend who may be interested." I wrinkle my nose.
"Thanks 'Cedes but I don't want to spend the summer wiping kids noses and changing their diapers just to earn a couple of bucks." Mercedes works at rec centre's day care. Moms can drop their kids off while they take a spin class or use the gym or anything else. She loves it because she loves kids but she's crazy if she thinks I'm risking juice getting spilled on my clothes.
"It's not at the day care centre." she says with a chuckle and now I may be a bit interested. "The guy who works the snack bar failed a couple subjects so he's taking the summer off and going to school. The hours would be Monday to Friday from nine to six and you would get paid fourteen dollars an hour which isn't bad." I considered it. Sitting at the concessions wouldn't be so bad, and that was pretty good money for what I would be doing but I still was a bit sceptical on the whole "job" thing. I had only ever worked in my dad's tire shop and that was only when I wanted to, the money we saved got put away towards my college. It would be nice to have a little extra money but this was summer and I'm not sure I want to spend it working.
"I don't know." I say unsure.
"We could eat lunch together every day and you get all the free fountain drinks you could want!" she said with a cheeky smile. I again raise an eyebrow at her and she gives an annoyed huff. "C'mon Kurt, there's tons of people our age who go to the arena and plenty of cute guys who play hockey all summer and you would be able to see them unlike me because they all love snacks." she says very seriously and I laugh. I doubt I'll meet anyone special, especially a hockey player, but the idea of maybe making a friend or two, maybe a coworker who was really nice, was quite intriguing.
"I'll think about it and talk with my dad, he'll definitely have an opinion." I say and she gives a triumphant cheer. I just have to roll my eyes and laugh, as much as we annoy each other we always have the other's back and that's why we're best friends.
~.~
Friday night dinners were a tradition in our house, started by my mom but continued by everyone who has been part of our family. First me, dad and mom, then just dad and I, and eventually me, dad, Finn and Carole. This seemed like the perfect opportunity to bring up my plan for the summer job.
"So do you boys have anything planned for the summer?" Carole asked unknowingly giving me the perfect set up to tell my dad. I'm not sure how he's going to take it, he always wants me to work in the shop and he might even be mad. Although I doubt it.
"Well actually Mercedes mentioned that there is a job opening at the recreation centre she works at just for the summer and I was thinking of taking it." I say casually.
"If you want a job why don't you just work at the shop?" my dad asked in an equally casual tone, he wasn't mad, just curious.
"I don't really want to spend the whole summer changing tires and oil, plus this is a chance to make some new friends." I explained anticipating this reaction, what I didn't anticipate was Finn speaking up.
"Actually Burt, if it's okay with you I would like to work in the shop this summer." my stepbrother surprised me with this one, I thought he was just going to sit around and play video games all summer. My dad gave him a questioning look before nodding.
"Yeah Finn, that would be great!" he said with a smile.
"See, everything works out perfectly!" Carole said with a grin. "Anyone want dessert?" she asked getting up from the table.
"Me!" Finn and dad said at the exact same time and I rolled my eyes. Those two so alike I'd swear they were actually related.
"I'm going to go call Mercedes and let her know I've made up my mind about the job." I say also getting up from the table but no one is really paying attention because Carole has just brought out a big container of ice cream. "Watch your heart dad, goodnight everyone." I say flatly then head upstairs. Dad and Carole wish me goodnight but Finn is to busy seeing how much he can eat before he gets a brain freeze to talk. I have Mercedes on speed dial and I call her as soon as I get to my room.
"'Cedes, our summer jobs are officially a go."
~.~
"So Jenny manages everyone and since the snack bar only really needs one person to operate it there will be nobody else you have to take orders from." Mercedes explained to me as she drove us to my first day at the recreation centre.
"Well that's good!" I say happily. Having somebody to constantly take orders from would be a major downer for the summer.
"So when we get there you'll have to fill out some forms but you basically have the job, I told Jenny about you and she really wants to-"
"Where are we going?" I cut off Mercedes as she took a turn that was definitely not in the direction of the rec centre.
"Oh yeah," she said sheepishly and I gave her a suspicious look. "I drive someone else to the centre every morning, they work with me." she said vaguely which I found weird because we tell each other everything, she was the first person I came out to.
"Who is it?" I asked carefully.
"You'll see." she muttered and soon we were pulling into the cheap local motel.
"Ah so lover boy works at the centre too?" I teased her.
"Me and Sam are not dating!" she protested. I just nodded, not believing one word of it, I could tell they were a couple not long after prom but they seem to want to keep it secret. I didn't care, I just loved to see her get flustered and blush when I caught her talking about him for to long or in to much detail. She honked the horn and not just Sam but Sam and his siblings all came parading out of the motel. It was hard to tell they were homeless they looked so happy.
"Hey Kurt!" Sam greeted me as he got in the back with his brother and sister. He didn't seem to be surprised so I'm guessing 'Cedes told him I was coming, which only proves they speak more often then just friends. "Stevie, Stacy, you guys remember Kurt right?" I smiled at the two blonde kids who nodded answering their big brother. They were really cute! Since him and 'Cedes started dating, or became "friends", the three of us have hung out a lot and I sometimes help the Evans family out. Play with the kids for a bit so Sam and Mercedes can have some alone time, or sew together some clothes for Stacy.
"Sam works with me and the kids get to go to activities for free." Mercedes explained to me, and I nodded understanding now why they were here. Not that they had anyone to watch them anyway.
"I get paid a bit of money and the twins get to have fun and get out of the room for a bit." Sam said happily.
"That's great!" I reply enthusiastically because I'm happy for my friend. I remember when I had a crush on him, it seems silly now considering he's dating my best friend. My female best friend. There is no jealousy or awkward feelings but I do sometimes feel like the third wheel. Oh well, that's what they get for denying a relationship!
"Jenny's really nice and once Mercedes told her about me she said she wanted to do something to help." Sam said. Again, the amazing Jenny was brought up into the conversation.
"Well I can't wait to meet Jenny, she sounds nice." I comment.
"She's amazing!" Mercedes says and I raise my eyebrows because no body get's this much praise from Miss Mercedes Jones.
~.~
When we get to the rec centre Sam and his siblings go directly to the day care but Mercedes comes with me to meet Jenny and get established. She leads me past the front desk to offices and a small kitchen.
"From 2:00 to 2:45 you get a break, you can hang here with some of the other staff and me and Sam will try to get as many breaks around that time as possible but our schedules change a lot." Mercedes explains and I nod. Then a lady, probably in her mid twenties peeks her head out from behind one of the cubicles. She has long red hair that is tousled in a way that would look messy on someone else but frames her face so well and gives her a casual beauty. She had big brown eyes that were smiling at us and freckles splashed over her face, arms and chest. When she hops up from the desk letting out a small squeal Kurt can see she's wearing khaki capris and sneakers along with a simple navy and white striped t-shirt.
"Oh, you must be Kurt! Mercedes has told me so much about you, I'm so glad you decided to take the job!" The lady gushed. "I'm Jenny so I basically run this whole ship but don't worry, I'm not going to boss you around." she winked and I smiled. Mercedes was right, Jenny was awesome and I liked her all ready. "I can show Kurt around and everything if you want to get to work." Jenny said to Mercedes sweetly.
"Sure." she nodded before turning to me. "I'll see you at lunch right?"
"Of course you will, I didn't change yours and Sam's schedules all around for nothing did I?" Jenny answered before I could.
"All right, see ya." Mercedes said with a laugh then left.
"So Kurt, this is your first job?" she asked. I thought this question would make me nervous but the way she asked it seemed more like a casual friend than a boss. Her voice in general was soft and rhythmic, flowing in a melodic fashion that made me wonder if she could sing.
"Well I helped out in my dad's tire shop before but I've never had a serious job really." I say calmly and she nods, scribbling something on a clip board.
"Mercedes told you about the details of this job right?" she asked and I nodded. "Okay well all you have to do is fill out these forms with some generic information, school, age, address, etcetera and then the job will be yours!" she explained cheerfully.
"Awesome!" I said and sat down to start filling out paperwork. Jenny sat at the office computer filling numbers into charts and things before she got a call and had to leave the room.
"Just come and find me when you're done, I'll be running around somewhere!" And with that she left me alone. The paperwork wasn't difficult and I was soon finished so I set out to find her and start working. I wasn't really paying attention to where I was going and I was reading a large screen listing the classes and events that were in progress when I slammed into somebody and fell over.
"Oh my gosh I'm so sorry I wasn't watching where I was going!" the other person replied frantically.
"It's okay, I wasn't either." I said squinting as the pain in the back of my head started to subside and the world was coming back into focus. Kneeling down beside me looking extremely worried and a bit guilty was a boy, probably about my age. As he helped me up I got a clearer view of him, he wore a rep hockey jacket and his sweat soaked curls framed his face in a way I had to admit was quite hot. "I'm Kurt," I said holding my hand out on impulse.
"Blaine." the boy said with a handsome smile. "I'm really sorry are you sure you're okay?" he asked again and I was a bit confused as to why he was still talking to me. Then again, hot guys don't usually apologize to me at all if I'm knocked over. In fact, they usually knock me down on purpose.
"I'm totally fine." I assured him.
"Great!" he said.
"Hey Blaine, who's your friend?" a guy asked coming up behind Blaine wearing the same hockey jacket. I'm guessing they just had a practice.
"Oh, we just ran into each other." Blaine said.
"So where do you know each other from?" the blonde asked again and I laughed.
"No, we don't know each other he means we literally collided with each other a minute ago. I have a goose egg to prove it!" I explained rubbing the back of my head.
"Oh." the blonde said looking a bit confused.
"This is Jeff." Blaine introduced the boy while shaking his head.
"I can introduce myself thank you very much!" Jeff exclaimed dramatically and Blaine rolled his eyes. "I am Sir Jeffery Sterling of Dalton, I play right wing on Westerville's double A team along with my friend Blaine here and we are dapper businessmen, don't be fooled by the sweat and lack of product in our hair." he continued and I raised an eyebrow. Right now I wasn't sure what to make of these guys. They seemed nice, but also a little insane. Hopefully they would be around a lot this summer and I could get to know them better, they seem like the type of people I could get along with and the fact that Blaine is totally cute is just a bonus!
"Well I actually do have somewhere to be, but hopefully I'll see you guys around." I said giving a wave.
"See ya!" Blaine said cheerily with another grin.
"Have a fine day good sir!" Jeff yelled as I was walking away in a horrible attempt at a British accent, I just kept walking to try and find Jenny. Those boys are definitely interesting, no matter how crazy they seem.
Blaine
I turned to Jeff as Kurt walked away and gave him a look of confusion and annoyance.
"What?" he said innocently.
"Must you always scare away new friends before we get a chance to know them?" I ask a bit harshly but Jeff just smiles in an idiotic fashion.
"I like to think of it as testing our new prey. If I scare them off they are not worthy of hanging out in our epic group of friendship!" he said wrapping an arm around my shoulder which I shrugged off quickly.
"So basically you don't want me to get to know anybody, thanks, that's great." I mutter sarcastically and he laughs.
"Awww, is Blaine sad that Kurt had to leave so quickly?" Jeff teased in a baby voice and I had to admit I was a bit disappointed when Kurt had left he seemed like a nice guy and all my current friends are just as insane as Jeff so meeting someone normal would be a great change. Of course I didn't want to give Jeff the satisfaction of being right, so I ignored him. "You know he was kind of hot." Jeff continued.
"You have a boyfriend." I said brushing off his start of trying to talk me into a relationship.
"Yeah, and I'm sure Nick would agree that that guy was pretty hot." he said and I rolled my eyes. One of the many past times of my friends who are all in relationship is to try and hook me up with someone. The thing is the only other gay guys I know are Nick and Jeff and they are very happy with each other. Not like I would date them if they were single anyway, too much crazy.
"Give it up Jeff I'm not going to find another openly gay guy in Ohio, let alone at an arena!" I say annoyed.
"Not with that attitude you won't!" he said and I just had to ignore it. We had this conversation at least once a week and it was just tiring by now. Three more of our teammates caught up with us and Nick and Wes seemed to be covered in a sickly green liquid while Nick was babbling apologies and David was just laughing.
"What happened?" I asked looking between the three of them.
"The idiot spilled his slushy all down the front of me." Wes snapped and I had to hold in my laughter. Wes was a bit of a control freak and something like this would put him in a very bad mood for the rest of the day. Sometimes Jeff would do things like this on purpose just to see Wes blow a gasket.
"All right Nick, I've taught you well!" Jeff said slinging an arm around his boyfriend who gave a guilty look.
"I didn't mean to and I said I was sorry like a hundred times!" Nick said sheepishly, he could be a little thick at times but he always had good intentions. If he caused something like this it was definitely an accident.
"Sorry isn't going to get the stain out of my shirt now is it?" Wes said glaring at both boys, Nick at least looked apologetic where as Jeff looked as if this was the best thing that had happened to him all day.
"Okay Wes calm down, you can get a new shirt out of your car when we put our gear away then we'll meet back up here to have some fries and stuff. Everybody cool with that?" David said in his usual levelheaded way.
"Yeah, whatever." Wes muttered before storming off towards the exits.
"That sounds great David, I think I'll get a green slushy!" Jeff yelled very deliberately in Wes' direction, he just kicked a vending machine and continued his storming. They all chuckled and I just had to shake my head.
"That's fine David, see you guys in a few minutes." I said before following in the direction Wes went towards the parking lot.
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So more Warbler antics coming and maybe even some drama? We'll see...