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Nick lifted his head as his phone rang. He tried to grab it without moving too much, and luckily succeeded. "Hello?", he answered tiredly.

"Move your ass, Duval!"

"Santana?"

"Who else? We're having a little party at Brittany's. Wes is picking you up in twenty minutes."

"I'm sleeping!", Nick answered and hit his head into his pillow. He knew the girl too well to think that she would let him go that easily.

"Then you're waking up now!" Her voice confirmed his concerns. "Come on, Nicky. It's a welcome party for Jeff, and I'm pretty sure that he would be very happy if you join us."

Nick sat up. "Why, did he say anything about me?"

The answer was a cheerful laughter. "Aww, Nicky. Sometimes you're so cute. You totally have to come over... pretty please?"

"You knew you would win!", Nick stated as he got up and lazily grabbed a pair of jeans from the floor.

"Of course."

"I'll hang up now. I can't dress myself with one hand."

"Nick Duval. Don't say you're naked right now... standing all alone in your room with nothing but my voice talking about Jeff..."

"Santana!" Nick's cheeks turned into a dark shade of red.

"I know you're blushing now. Aww, it's so easy to tease you, I just love it."

"Bye, Santana!", he hissed before he threw his phone back onto his bed. Quickly he dressed and went into the bathroom. How was it even possible to have a bed head from lying down for ten minutes? He grabbed his brush and tried to get control over the mess, but it was impossible. Nick sighed, got back in his room and grabbed his stuff. Then he headed down the stairs and walked into the living room.

"Mom, Dad? I'm going over to Brittany's with Wes and Santana. Her cousin transferred to our school and we want to welcome him."

"No drinking, no drugs, no orgies!" His father smiled and winked.

"And before you drive back drunken, stay over night. Or say that you already have planned to stay there, I don't want to know if you drink." She smirked as her husband glared at her. "What? You know how we were as teens. And Nick is a good boy, and I trust him. So let him have a little fun... I just don't want to know."

"Okay. This is embarrassing. I'll just go and wait for Wes... outside, yeah. Mh... don't wait for me, maybe I'll stay over night." He winked to his mother and left, but he still heard the laughter out of the living room. He was happy that his parents wasn't too strict, but on the other hand he'd never gave them a reason to worry. But still you're lying to them!", a small voice in his head pointed out. Or at least you're not telling them the important things. If you're honest, they don't really know you. Nick fought the annoying voice down and left the house in the second Wes stopped his car in front of the building. He hurried over and slipped into the car.

"That's what I call timing!", Wes stated and studied Nick. "You like like you were already sleeping!"

"Almost.", Nick admitted.

"Then why had I to drive you to the party?"

"You didn't had to. I had to get up because you were already on your way!" Nick frowned confused. The realization hit him at the moment when Wes' eyes lit up. "Santana!", they noted in unison.

It wasn't a long right over to the house where Brittany lived with her parents. Wes told Nick that Jeff lived with them at the moment, and that Brittany's parents were out of town this night, so the party was absolutely necessary. That was at least, what Santana had told him.

Only ten minutes later they stood in front of the huge white house. It was an open secret that Brittany's parents had lots of money, but on one really knew how they got it. Brittany didn't knew herself, she always said that the money were there since ever, so probably the whole family was rich. No one really asked because honestly – what did it matter? Only Sebastian still kept throwing questions at poor Brittany.

The door opened and said girl stood in front of them. "Hey. Come in!", she squealed. Her lipgloss was slightly smudged and she obviously wasn't sober anymore.

"Hey Brit!" The boys hugged the girl and followed her into the house.

"We're sitting in the garden, I hope you don't mind."

"That's great, it's still warm actually."

Brittany nodded in excitement. "Yeah, isn't it? We already thought about jumping in the pool."

"You have a pool in your garden? A real pool?" Nick stared at her with opened mouth.

"Of course. How should we jump into it when we didn't had one?"

The small group eventually reached the others, namely Santana and Jeff. The girl rose up and jumped both boys, hugging them happily.

"Well played, Lopez!" Wes smirked and shook the girl gently.

"You're not really angry, and you're here, so I think I won, didn't I?" She beamed one ear to another.

"Thanks for coming over!" Jeff waved with his bottle of beer. "What do you want to drink?"

"Depends!" The boys smirked and looked at Brittany. "Can we crash on the floor tonight?"

"No!" She shook her head. Santana raised a brow as she gazed at her girlfriend.

"I thought you said that they can stay over night."

"Sure. But not on the floor, they can sleep on the couch."

Nick laughed and hugged the blonde girl once more. "Thanks, Brit."

Jeff had pulled two more beer out of nowhere and handed them to the boys.

"Cheers!" They raised the bottles and drank before they sat on the grass in a loose circle.

"So, Jeff, do you like Westerville so far?"

Jeff shrugged. "I haven't seen that much yet. Maybe you can show me around at some time."

"Sure." Wes nodded and smiled, then he turned around and talked to Santana and Brittany.

"Tell me something about your show choir!", Jeff suggested as Nick shifted awkwardly and searched for something to talk about. The blonde boy suppressed a smile. It was cute how clumsy Nick acted. Santana and Brittany already had informed him that the boy was gay, but not openly yet.

"Crescendo?", Nick asked and grimaced slightly. "We used to be a group of friends who like singing and dancing together, but the mood is changing at the moment. A few members are so keen on winning that the fun actually dies."

"The brunette girl with the loud voice? Yeah, she seemed... lively."

"You can say annoying, it's the truth.", Nick offered winking, but Jeff shook his head.

"I don't like to judge people until I get to know them... even if this... Rachel was the name, right? Even if this Rachel girl makes it kinda hard to follow this simple rule."

"At least you try – that makes you an exception at Westerville High." Nick smiled appreciating before he changed the topic. "How comes you transferred to our School. I mean – is it okay to ask?"

"Yeah, sure." Jeff stretched his back and rubbed his neck before he continued talking. "I was attending a boarding school before. Only boys, ridiculous rich kids, protective teachers... it was like a little world on it's own. A safe place were others were trying to fight your fights. I just didn't want that anymore, you know? Take a shot of the real world."

"By 'only boys', do you mean that..."

"It wasn't a gay school, Nick!" Jeff burst out in laughter as Nick blushed violently. "But a lot of us were, yeah. It's not like it is a big deal. Nobody cared."

"We could swap our lives!", Nick suggested sheepishly. "You can have my spot at Westerville High, and I take a pink unicorn and fly over the rainbow to your magical boarding school."

Jeff still laughed. "It is a real school, Nick. And it surely isn't magical at all. They're just educating their students to be tolerant people."

"Yeah. Completely normal for a school. Obviously." Nick grinned.

"What made you so bitter?", Jeff blurted out without thinking. "I mean... sorry. But Santana and Any have told me a bit about their friends, and they said that you're still in the closet for most people – no offense here! Really!"

Nick drank a deep sip of his beer while he thought for an answer. "No offense taken!", he reassured and leaned back on his arms. "It's just... do you already know the system of public schools? Like, the popular kids, the jerks, the losers and so on? I'm a weird mixture, I guess. I'm in the football team, what makes me kind of popular. I don't care much about it, I'm thinking of quitting for a while now. Then, I'm a part of glee club, what makes me a loser. I don't care either, I just love singing and dancing. But if my so-called teammates would find out that I am gay, they would beat the shit out of me, I think. I mean... do you remember Kurt and Blaine? From the choir room?" Nick waited for an answer and continued talking as Jeff nodded thoughtfully. "I saw what they did to them. What they still do. From the place I'm in now, I can defeat them and make sure nothing too bad happens to them. If I'd came out, I would be just another victim and wouldn't have the chance to change anything. Worse, I'm the one who shared a dressing room with them for my complete time at the team. I would be dead!"

A hand cupped Nick's chin, tilting his face up. He met Jeff's narrowed dark eyes directly. Then cool fingers touched his cheek for an instant. "That's America!", Jeff stated with calm voice. "Being overweight is a disease and you aren't to blame for it at all, while being gay is something you can choose. Doesn't make sense at all, don't you think?"

Nick let out a shaking breath he hadn't noticed to hold for a while now. "I've never seen it that way."

"Maybe you should!", Jeff murmured, sitting back and letting Nick's face go. "You can love whoever you want, Nick. There's nothing wrong with that, and it doesn't make you another person. The people who are you're friends right now won't give a damn, and the one who do... well, they aren't real friends, so it's no big loss." He stood up and offered Nick a hand to pull him up as well. "Whatever, this conversation is getting way too serious for a beautiful evening like this. Let's jump into the pool, what do you think?"

"Oh, I... I brought no trunks..."

"Who cares? Just go in your boxers." Jeff was already pulling his pants down. "Any, San, Wes!", he shouted. "Swimming time!"

Three happy cheers were the answer, and maybe a minute later the boys and girl all jumped into the water. Nobody except for Nick seemed to care that they all were in their underwear, so the brunette decided not to think about it as well.

"Nick!" Santana called his name and jumped him. Nick, knowing this scene way to well, grabbed her waist and lifted her over his head. Since they were kids, they used to watch Dirty Dancing together, and Santana had always been a big fan of this certain part of the film. After a while Nick couldn't hold her anymore, so they broke together with a loud splash.

"This never gets old!", Santana cheered as she broke through the surface again, gasping for air. She looked around slightly confused. "Wait, where is Nick? - Uaaah!" She vanished into the water again. Just a few seconds later Nick's head appeared, a wide smile all over his face. He was followed by Santana, who was obviously fuming. "Oh, wait, Duval. My revenge will be horrible!"

It took almost no time until all of them were involved into a huge water fight which left them breathless when it was over. They crawled out of the pool, collapsing on the ground and holding their stomachs that hurt from laughter.

"It was the best idea you ever had to invite us over, Santana!" Wes gasped and rolled over to pull the girl into a soft embrace.

"I know. I always have the best ideas!" She smirked and sat up, trembling slightly. "We should dress again, otherwise we all will catch a cold. Brit, can I borrow some underwear from you? And Jeff, do you have boxers for those two idiots here?"

"Sure. Follow me, guys." Nick and Wes walked behind Jeff into the house. He showed them the way to his room, which was pretty much empty. "I was too lazy to unpack all my stuff until now!", he explained with a sheepish smile. "Here you are. The bathroom is the second door on the left."

Nick went to change first, followed by Wes and eventually Jeff himself.

"I'm kinda tired, actually.", Wes yawned and gazed over to the big couch in the living room longingly.

"Then go and sleep. We'll keep Santana from drawing on your face or anything comparable!", Jeff promised. Wes nodded thankfully.

"Sounds great, dude. See you all tomorrow."

As the door closed behind the Asian, Jeff shot Nick an questioning look. "Do you also want to sleep yet?"

"Not really. I were tired as hell as Santana called, but now..."

"You were? She told me that you and Wes insisted of visiting us this night."

Nick just laughed sympathetically. "That's Santana. You'll get used to it. Wes and myself know her since we attended preschool, and she manages to manipulate us nonetheless. You know what they say: Beauty always comes with dark thoughts. And Satan... sorry, I meant Santana is undeniably beautiful."

"If that's true, your mind has to be pretty dark as well." Jeff teased Nick, who was already blushing again. Jeff chuckled amused. "Oh, come on, Nick. Don't take everything so serious. Let's get back to the girls, from what I know about them, they're already making up stories in their mind what we're doing, and I wouldn't be too surprised if at least one of them includes a hot threesome."

Nigh sighed deeply. "I'm afraid you're right."

When they reached the garden, they noticed that their concerns were unnecessary. In fact, the two girls wasn't making anything up, they were making out.

"I don't want to interrupt them!" Nick whispered to Jeff, who agreed nodding.

"Let's see if we can grab a few beer and come with me into my room. I have a lot of space, as you saw earlier."

"Right." was all he answered. Jeff sneaked into the garden and grabbed as many bottles as he could carry, which were exactly six.

"If you would follow me, Mr Duval?" he asked with a fake British accent.

"I would be honored, Mr... mh..."

"Sterling.", Jeff added drily.

"Mr Sterling.", Nick repeated charmingly and offered Jeff his arm, causing him to chuckle lightly.

"I see, we're gonna have a lot of fun!" Jeff somehow managed to intertwine their arms without dropping one of the bottles and pulled Nick with him, back inside the house.

TBC