Here is chapter 3...I'll just leave these up here until I get some reviews...they would mean the world to me. Remember, I have most of this story already written so I will post updates at the very least once a week - sometimes more than that depending on the review love I get. :)
OH Disclaimer: I own nothing - not Glee, not any of the characters - nothing! :(
CHAPTER THREE
Kurt had spent the past few weeks trying to ensure that his designs were perfect. However, he was suffering from a serious case of designers block. He had absolutely zero inspiration. Not since he had drawn Blaine's face as the model on one of his designs. After spending all day yesterday in his office accomplishing nothing, he decided to spend today at home. His direct supervisor told him it didn't matter where he sketched as long as his portfolio was ready in time for his meeting with Rosaline Spencer. This might have been a bad idea though. Even though Blaine had never been in this apartment he still felt somehow closer to Blaine here. He couldn't describe it but he did. And feeling anything about Blaine was completely out of the question. He had to get back on track. He had just over two months left until the meeting that would determine his future.
Kurt was just about to decide on dinner when he heard a knock at the door.
"Rachel? What's going on? What are you doing here? It's not Monday is it?"
"Kurt…are you so blinded by your designs that you don't even know what day of the week it is?"
"No…it's just been a bad day. Please come in." Kurt ushered Rachel into his tiny apartment and closed the door behind her. "What can I do for you? Would you like to join me for dinner?"
"Thank you but no. I just needed to talk to you about something." Kurt looked at her with confusion on his face. She had a serious look on her face…one that he hadn't seen in a long time.
"Kurt when was the last time you spoke to your father?"
"A few days ago. Why? Oh My God Rachel! Is something wrong with him?"
"No! Calm down! He's fine for now."
"Fine for now? What does that even mean?" Kurt had begun to pace around his living room.
"So he never mentioned anything going on with the shop?"
"No. Nothing. Rachel, tell me what it is that I don't know."
"Finn called me the other day. We were just catching up with each other. He asked me how Marc was and he let me know about how things were going with him and Lindsey. Apparently they're more serious than I thought. I can't believe they've been together for a year now. You do know this is the first serious girlfriend he's has since we broke up? I think he was hoping that I'd be a little jealous but I'm really not. I really am over him and…"
"RACHEL! What does any of this have to do with my dad's tire shop?" Good grief that girl always had the uncanny ability to turn things into being about her.
"Oh! Sorry! Anyway, Finn was telling me about this development company that wants to build a mini-mall on Glendale Avenue. Basically, they're trying to push your dad out but he doesn't want to sell. Apparently this little battle between your dad and the development company, Clover Inc, I think, has been going on for quite some time. Finn was a little concerned because it has your dad really stressed out. Carole and Finn have been trying to keep him calm but your dad really doesn't want to lose his business."
"Shit Rachel. My dad can't be stressed out. The doctor was very adamant about that after his first heart attack. If he gets stressed he doesn't eat right and those two combined could lead to another heart attack! Finn is useless when it comes to making sure my dad eats right and God bless Carole but she has a full time job. She can't watch after him all day! That's it! I need to go home! I'm the only one that can take care of my dad properly!"
Kurt jumped up and ran to his bedroom, Rachel closely following. "Wait! Rachel, why didn't my dad mention any of this to me? I just spoke to him a few days ago and he said absolutely nothing!"
"Kurt, slow down. You can't just leave and fly back to Lima. Have you already forgotten your meeting with THE Ms. Rosaline Spencer? That's why your dad didn't mention any of this to you. He doesn't want you to have anything distracting you from reaching your goals – achieving your dreams."
Kurt sunk down on his bed. Shit, she was right. What was he going to do? In all the excitement about what was going on at home and his father's stress level he had completely forgotten about the possibility of having his own fashion line.
"Damnit! Why did this have to happen now? Why are you telling me this if it was so obvious that my dad didn't want me to know?"
"I don't know Kurt. Finn asked me not to tell you. No one wants you to be distracted right now. But I know if it were my family involved in something like this I'd want to know. I just felt like you should know. But you really don't have to rush home. Finn said Carole is keeping a good watch on your dad and they've hired an attorney to help with the discussions going on between Hummel Tires and Lube and Clover Inc,. You really need to stay here and focus on your designs. Come on, let's go grab some dinner and calm down."
"Wait, they've hired an attorney?" Of course that would be the one thing that Kurt picked up on. Rachel really, really hoped she could steer this conversation away from the attorney Burt had hired. She couldn't believe her ears when Finn told her that Burt had hired Blaine. She didn't even know Blaine had become an attorney. Hell, she seriously doubted that Kurt knew either. According to Finn he wasn't happy about it either but Burt had insisted…something about despite Blaine's past Burt felt like he could trust him because Blaine was one the only attorney around that knew how important the shop was to Burt.
"Um, yeah. That's what Finn said." Please, please leave it at that Kurt, Rachel silently prayed.
"Who?" Damn Kurt! Maybe Rachel could lie her way out of this.
"Um, I'm not totally sure."
"Rachel, you're not telling me something. I know that look on your face. You know something and if you don't want me to hop on the next flight to Lima, you'd better tell me right now."
Oh, sometimes Rachel wished Kurt didn't know her as well as he did. "Um, Anderson and Son Law Firm." She said it under her breath, hoping Kurt would not hear her.
"Anderson? As in Mitchell Anderson? As in Blaine's father? And did you say 'and son'?"
"I might have said that, yes."
"Oh my God. Blaine really did become an attorney after all. Rachel, tell me, who did my dad hire. Mitchell or Blaine?"
"Does it really matter as long as someone is helping them with discussions?"
"Yes, Rachel! It matters! Who did he hire? Mitchell or Blaine?"
"Blaine"
"Fuck me…"
"Kurt listen…"
"No! Rachel, why would my dad hire Blaine? Blaine of all people? There have to be more attorneys in Ohio that my dad could've hired." Kurt really was at a loss. He was experiencing an extreme case of designers block due to Blaine invading his thoughts. He really didn't understand why that was happening either. Sure, Kurt thought of Blaine from time to time but he was always able to push him out of his mind. But Rachel had been bringing him up in conversation recently. "Is this why you've been mentioning Blaine more often?"
"No Kurt, that's not why I've been mentioning Blaine more often. I really don't know why I've been doing that either. I just know that no matter how many times you tell me you're happy, I know you're really not. Yes, getting your own fashion line will be amazing and I really want that for you but I also want you to find love."
"With Blaine? Rachel have you forgotten what he did to me? He CHEATED on me…with Sebastian of all people! Why in the name of God would you want me to get back together with Blaine?"
"Kurt I never said you should get back together with Blaine. I just don't think you've fully put the situation behind you. You stormed out of our apartment right after Blaine told you about Sebastian and you haven't seen or spoken to him since. There was all of this anger there and you never had closure."
"I had closure. I talked to Tina and Sam and they told me Blaine was miserable. That was closure enough for me."
"No, that is not closure. Tell me this. Do you know if Blaine dated Sebastian after you two broke up? Do you know when he cheated on you? Do you know if it happened only once or more than once? Was it just a fling between them or were there actual feelings involved?"
"I can't answer any of those questions nor do I want to. Did it ever occur to you that I don't want to know if Blaine slept with Sebastian more than once? The point is, it happened. And if it happened once or more than once it obviously means that Blaine didn't have the feelings for me that I thought he did."
"Kurt, I am your best friend. Do you think I haven't noticed you've been experiencing designers block? Every time I ask you about what style you're working on you give me some lame ass answer that tells me that you've got nothing. Now, I might not be the fashion expert that you are but I've spent enough time around you to know when you're bullshitting me. Which is exactly what you're doing right now. I know you need the answers to these questions before you can fully move on. Maybe you should go home for a few days and check on your dad, assess the situation, and maybe, just maybe have a long awaited chat with Blaine so you can finally put this thing behind you once and for all."
"Weren't you just telling me that I needed to stay here and focus on my work? That I needed zero distractions? Now you want me to go and talk to Blaine of all people? What makes you think I would ever want to do that?"
"Yes, Kurt I did say that. But that was before you dragged Blaine's name out of me and I can see that you're not over what happened. Can't you see this is all one big distraction? Maybe I shouldn't have mentioned this to you at all but I know you would have found out eventually and you would have been pissed at me when you found out I knew and said nothing."
Kurt knew Rachel was right and he hated that. He never wanted to admit that although the questions about Blaine and Sebastian were not questions he wanted answers to, he also knew that he would never fully move on and get past his designers block if he didn't get those answers.
"Kurt imagine for a moment that Blaine was not involved with what's going on with your dad's shop at home. Imagine that it was some other nameless attorney that Burt had hired. Wouldn't you want to go home to check on your dad?"
"Yes."
"So go. For the weekend. And if you're not comfortable with the possibility of seeing Blaine and getting closure then just tell your dad that while you're there that you don't want to see him. Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe you don't need answers regarding what happened with Blaine. Maybe just a change of scenery will cure your designers block and you can return to perfection once you get back."
Kurt let out a heavy sigh. "Ok, let's book a flight."
Blaine felt like he was making some progress with Burt's case. Those guys at Clover Inc, sure played hardball and Burt was right in hiring an attorney. He was sure that Burt would have accidently sold his shop without ever realizing it if Blaine hadn't entered the picture. Blaine was lucky in the fact that Hummel Tires and Lube was located on the corner of Glendale Avenue and all Clover Inc, had to agree to was shortening their mini-mall by one block. The problem with that was that meant eliminating one third of their stores and it was a mini-mall after all. There weren't that many stores in the mini-mall to begin with. Burt had made it clear to Blaine on day one that there was no amount of money they could offer him that would cause him to sell. Burt wasn't too thrilled about having his shop located beside a mini-mall but he would compromise that in order to keep his shop open.
Sure if Burt would agree to a settlement the payout should equal the amount the mini-mall would lose in the loss of stores if Burt did not agree to a payout. The problem with that theory as Blaine explained to Burt is that Clover Inc, expected to make up that settlement money by opening all of the stores they planned. Even if the mini-mall was only open for five years, the profit would be huge. It would far outweigh the cost of whatever settlement they paid Burt. That was why Clover Inc, was not going down without a fight. Burt didn't care. If it was a fight they wanted, it was a fight they were going to get.
Actually, the most difficult part of this case was his Mr. Anderson's constant involvement. Blaine was required to file a report to his father daily. Briefing him on the status of the case. The was nothing new. Status reports were common, but Mr. Anderson went over Blaine's status reports with a fine tooth comb, picking it apart bit by bit. It was clear that although Blaine was doing everything right, his father still did not have confidence in him to win this case. Blaine was making sure to work extra hard on this. He knew that his father had threatened him with his job if he'd lost but honestly, he didn't really care about that. Being a lawyer and working with his father had never been his lifelong dream. He'd made certain sacrifices for the happiness of others. In fact, sometimes he thought his father was trying to set him up for failure. Mitchell Anderson did not care about Hummel Tires and Lube. The only reason he wanted Blaine to win was for his reputation. But Mr. Anderson was not making it easy on him. On top of his case, Blaine was still being treated as an intern. He still found himself with a stack of busy work on his desk every morning. Blaine was required to complete research for the cases that other attorneys in the firm were working on while at the same time completing work on his own case and turning in his status report at the end of each day. Blaine grew more and more frustrated with his father everyday yet even though it required long days, Blaine knew he had to do this for Burt. This wasn't about Blaine's job or his future as an attorney. This was about Burt Hummel…and his family.
Blaine was glad that he and Burt were getting along. They never spoke about Kurt or the past. Although Blaine always knew when Kurt would call his father, which was often. Burt wouldn't say a word to Blaine, just silently excuse himself but the small smile on his face was a giveaway, which is exactly what he'd just done.
"Hey kid before we continue I'm going to need you to either cancel our meeting with those bonehead attorneys from those mini-mall people or you're going to need to take the meeting on Friday without me. Can you do that?"
"Sure Burt. I don't need you to be at Friday's meeting. I know exactly what you want and what you don't want." Knowing that Burt had just gotten off the phone with Kurt, Blaine couldn't stop himself from asking "Is everything alright? You've always wanted to attend every meeting."
"Everything is fine Blaine. I just need a break for the weekend. You know, no talk about the case, no stress and no offense kid, but no attorney."
"No problem. I'll just swing by quickly after the meeting on Friday to brief you and then you won't have to see my face until Monday."
"Blaine, I shouldn't be telling you this but I really need you to steer clear of here this weekend. Kurt is coming in for a visit."
"Oh…"
Ok, there was chapter 3. Reviews? Remember, reviews make me post updates faster! :)