Chapter 2: Hope
After his conversation with Finn, Kurt began to feel a little better and behaved more like his old self, but there was still that thought at the back of his mind that Finn was wrong about this. Finn hadn't actually told him how he knew the new guy and he wasn't sure exactly when this new guy was meant to be starting at the school, so Kurt decided to just keep his eyes peeled and continued to mentally and literally cross his fingers.
Kurt kept his eyes open over the next few days, examining every guy closely as they walked past or else sat in the same classroom as him. He had seen them all before so they were definitely not the new guy that Finn was talking about. None of them striked him as anything special; they all walked in the same guy slope, their eyes were usually trained on the chests and butts of the cheerleaders and they all dressed with hardly any fashion sense whatsoever (not that Kurt really expected every gay guy in the world to have the same flair for fashion as he did.)
But no, in his foraging, not once did he come across someone who he'd never seen before, looked gay or paid Kurt any ounce of interest and attention. They either glared at him or didn't even notice Kurt looking at them and as they days passed, Kurt lost a little of his determination to find the guy that Finn'd guessed was gay and just went on living his life, clutching onto that small bit of hope he needed to keep himself going.
Finn had yet to mention anything about the guy yet and Kurt wasn't going to push it because he knew that if Finn knew anything he'd tell him. So for a couple of days, he let it out of his mind until Finn could give him more information and the guy turned up. He distracted himself from all of it by putting a lot of hard work into everything else that was important to him: friends, family, Glee and fashion.
He hanged out with Mercedes more, as Quinn went Cheerio's crazy again, and that and Finn's continuing brotherly friendship and lack of family troubles, helped him be the Kurt that he really was. The Glee club seemed to notice the change into his old self, that even Puck grinned at him and said something about being glad to have the Kurt back so he could pick on him again. So, even getting teased was a welcome advance into his previous life.
Everything was going ok, but on the Monday after a weekend hanging out with Mercedes at the mall and chilling at home with his family, Kurt's world seemed to change all over again.
He was at his locker getting his books out for his classes. He had a test for Spanish coming up and he was practicing verbs in his head as he gathered his books and closed his locker. Without paying attention to what he was doing, Kurt span away from his locker and walked off, muttering to himself and looking straight ahead. He was concentrating so hard that he missed what was right in front of him and ran head long into someone, tripped over, dropped all of his books and made whoever he had walked into trip over and drop all of their books too.
Kurt jumped up immediately, and spun around saying, 'oh, my god, I am so sorry! I wasn't paying attention. Are you – "but it was at that moment the person on the ground looked up at Kurt and smiled easily at him.
Kurt's breath caught in his throat as he stared at the guy he had just pummeled over. He had never seen this boy before, ever in his entire life, and he was pretty sure that as soon as he saw him he didn't want to ever look at another guy again. This guy was so gorgeous, but not in the usual model way. He was unique looking, like a painting that could never be recreated or reproduced. He had dark brown hair that was cut sort of oddly and jaggedly. On any one else Kurt would have said that it was the worst of all haircuts, but on this guy it worked really well. The hair shaped his slightly sharp edged face, which was enveloped with a soft creamy complexion and flushed cheeks over high cheekbones. But it was his eyes that were the most captivating. They were an aqua colour, so aqua it looked like he was wearing contacts, but Kurt didn't care if he was because they looked amazing.
The guy smiled slowly at Kurt as he stood up. He looked at Kurt intently and slightly amusedly before saying, "hey, it's cool, man, we all lose our heads sometimes."
Kurt blinked and looked away from him, turning pink. He was bedazzled and for a moment he couldn't say a thing but then he cleared his throat and look at the boy, smiling confidently. "Yeah, I guess we do, and um… I'm glad I didn't injure you or anything." The boy laughed and Kurt smiled before looking away and dropping down to pick up his books.
When he stood up he found the boy still there watching him and holding his books, too. It was then that Kurt noticed what the boy was wearing. He obviously wasn't into the big fashion labels that Kurt was, but he couldn't say that the guy didn't have some style. He sort of reminded him of the way Finn dressed, but it was much classier. He was wearing dark blue skinny jeans (that were perhaps almost as expensive as Kurt's were), a thick blue checkered hoodie and black high-top converse sneakers. He looked like a skater guy, but a very, very clean one.
The boy held out his hand. "Well, might as well introduce myself. I'm Sam, just started here today and you're the first person I've bumped into. Literally," he said, smiling.
Kurt stared at his hand before reaching out and shaking it. It was felt soft and perfect in his hand. Kurt cleared his throat. "Hello, I'm Kurt Hummel, it's a pleasure to meet you," he said, in his most pompous voice.
If Kurt's voice annoyed him, Sam didn't even blink. He just grinned at Kurt before dropping gripping his hand and saying 'yeah, cool. Pleasure to meet you, too' before dropping it and looking around. "This school is super small compared to my last school. Don't you get bored?"
Kurt raised his eyebrows, his face still flushed from the feeling of Sam's hand gripping his. "Of course but, you get used to it, trust me. Where did you used to go?"
"New York College. In New York, obviously," Sam replied smiling.
"Wow," Kurt said. "I've never been there. Well, I've never set foot anywhere else except this cow town."
Sam laughed. "Yeah, well, New York's worth the visit, but it does get tiring after awhile. I like the quiet here, it's nice."
"You say that now, but – "Kurt began, but he was interrupted by a yell from down the hall. It was Finn and he was walking up to them waving his hand and smiling widely.
He reached them and held up his hand to Sam, who turned around and high fived, him smiling and yelling, 'hey, man! What's up?"
Finn grinned. "Not much, man, not much. Enjoying Lima so far?"
"Mostly," Sam said, grinning.
Finn nodded and looked at Kurt, smiling lopsidedly. "Oh, have you two already met?"
Kurt nodded, raising his eyebrows at Finn who nodded slightly. So Sam was the guy Finn had been talking about but Kurt wasn't sure how he felt about this. There was something in Sam that he definitely, and instantly, liked, but how could he know that Sam was like him? It wasn't obvious to him and Sam just seemed like a friendly, ordinary guy guy. Like Finn. Oh, hell no, do NOT go there again Kurt!
Sam looked from Kurt to Finn. "Are you guy's friends?" he asked.
Finn nodded. "Sure, but actually, he's my stepbrother, too. We live together."
Sam nodded. "Awesome. You must feel lucky to have each other, two cool dudes like you."
Finn laughed and Kurt blushed. Kurt cleared his throat and asked, "So, how do you two know each other?"
"We met at Football Camp a few years back," Finn answered. "Haven't caught up since then, but we keep contact and Sam told me a few months ago he was moving here, so there you are."
Kurt nodded. "Cool." He glanced at Sam, who smiled easily at him, before mumbling, "Well… the bell kind of went 10 minutes ago so… should probably get to class. Nice to meet you Sam…see you later, Finn," he said, looking at him pointedly before turning and walking off down the hall.
Kurt didn't really see Sam the rest of the day; though when he did he was hanging out with Finn or the football team and he was acting exactly like any of the guys, though Kurt noticed that he never made any attempts of bullying.
Kurt couldn't help wondering what Finn had been playing at. He's said that he'd thought this guy, Sam, was "secretly gay" but from what Kurt could see, this was crossing the line. He saw Sam checking out girls and smiling at them with as much bravado and interest as the other guys and there didn't seem to be any uneasiness in his personality or social skills. He was just a super, super nice guy.
But nevertheless, Kurt found that he couldn't stop thinking about the way Sam's hand had gripped his or the way Sam had been watching him or the way his eyes glittered like the sun on the ocean…
Stop it, Kurt! Stop it, Kurt!
After school, Finn knocked on Kurt's bedroom door and called out, 'hey, Kurt? Can we talk?"
Kurt opened the door for him and let him in.
Finn grinned and went and lounged on the couch like he usually did, watching Kurt intently.
"So, what did you think?" He prompted when Kurt didn't speak.
"About what?"
"Don't play dumb, you know exactly what I'm talking about."
"Don't use that line on me again." Anything to get the conversation away from what he knew Finn wanted to talk about.
"Oh, sorry," Finn said apologetically.
Finn was silent for a moment and then he piped up, "So? What did you think of him?"
"Of who?" Kurt asked, still playing dumb.
Finn rolled his eyes and said softly, "he asked about you at lunch."
Kurt's head jerked up. "Did he? What did he say?" he blurted before he could think.
Finn grinned. "Ah, so you do like him."
Kurt turned red. "Shut up and tell me what he said."
"He just asked how long we've been step brothers and he asked how long we've known each other and he asked about Glee club, too. I think he's going to join."
Kurt's mouth wobbled. "Really? He can sing?"
"Sure," Finn nodded. "He's really quite good. It's funny how I always make friends at football camp that can sing," he added to himself.
Kurt shook his head and sighed. "Well, it will be nice to have a new member, but I really think you're wrong about him being gay, Finn."
Finn frowned. "Oh. Really? So, you didn't pick up any signals?"
Kurt laughed darkly. "What, like looks of luring desire? No. Definitely not." Kurt sighed. "He's just the same as you, Finn. I can't… that can't happen again."
Finn shook his head. "It won't. I know that he's not like me… he's like you."
"How do you know that?"
Finn shrugged. "He's just not interested in girls. I mean, he's dated a couple but it never turned out well… they dumped him because he wouldn't do anything with them except a bit of kissing…I've noticed that his eyes are kind of blank when he's looking at girls…"
Kurt sighed. "That might not mean anything. Maybe he's one of those people that just wants the right person… the right and only girl."
Finn shook his head. "No way. Sam doesn't know what he's looking for, but I really think that it isn't any girl. Besides I noticed today –"
"Oh, of course, you noticed him staring at you didn't you? He likes you! Because everyone always ends up liking Finn Hudson – "
Finn rolled his eyes. "That is not true and anyway, you're picking on your old self right now –"
Kurt opened his mouth to speak but Finn talked over him and said – "No, I was actually going to say that I noticed him staring at you. And his eyes weren't blank at all; they were all sparkly when he was asking about you. So there!"
And with that, Finn turned and left the room, grinning widely and leaving Kurt sitting there dumbfounded with hope rising in his chest stronger than ever before.
