Blaine hummed to himself as he arranged his books in his locker Monday morning. He hadn't been able to get the mud stains out of those red pants after all, but everything else was pretty much perfect. He'd replayed the date with Sam in his head in his head all night, and when he woke up he realized it hadn't even been a dream; it had really happened!
And there was Sam now, walking down the hall toward him. Blaine felt himself smiling like an idiot. He'd have to tone it down a bit, he knew. They were definitely together—they'd discussed it and decided it was "official"—but they hadn't talked about how or even if they'd reveal their status at school. Blaine assumed they'd let the glee club know, but as for the rest of the school, that was undetermined. He didn't want to go back into the closet, but he also didn't want to push Sam to come out before he was ready.
What he didn't expect at all was for Sam to walk right up and kiss him. On the mouth. Right there in the crowded hallway. The kiss definitely did not go unnoticed by passersby, although Sam seemed pretty oblivious to the reactions. "Sam, what are you...?"
"What? We're going out. I get to."
"Yeah, but..." Blaine gestured at the hundreds of kids in the hallway.
"You know what? Fuck anyone who doesn't like it. If you didn't like it, I'd care. But frankly I don't give a shit what any of these assholes think." Sam flung his arms out and accidentally slapped Artie, who had just rolled over to them, in the side of the head.
"First of all, ow," Artie said.
"Sorry, dude."
"Second of all, I'm not an asshole, asshole."
"Obviously I didn't mean you."
"Obviously. And third of all, you don't care what assholes think about what?"
Sam wrapped his arm around Blaine's shoulder and announced, "We're going out!" Just in case anyone other than Artie had missed the kiss a minute ago.
"Good for you!" Artie said, punching Blaine in the arm. "I have to warn you, though. Sam was going out with Brittany."
"Yeah, but they broke up," Blaine said.
"Right. But listen to what I'm saying. Sam was going out with Brittany."
"Okay..."
"Do I have to spell it out for you, man?" Blaine just looked at him blankly until he continued. "Sam is used to having certain needs met. Frequently."
"Oh!" Blaine felt his face grow warm.
Sam pressed his mouth to Blaine's ear. "Don't let him freak you out. But, uh...yeah, we should probably talk about that, actually. Like, sooner rather than later."
During study hall, Tina dragged Blaine over to Mrs. Mikolajczyk's desk. "May Blaine and I be excused to the library, please? We have some student council work to do." Mrs. Mikolajczyk let them go, and Tina pulled him out to the parking lot.
"Where are we going?" Blaine asked.
"Your car, obviously."
They got in Blaine's car. It was another warm day; Blaine opened the windows. Tina leaned the passenger's seat way back and stretched her legs out so her feet rested on the side mirror. "So congratulations," she said.
"Thanks," Blaine said, smiling. He hoped she was really happy for him. She didn't seem mad, at least.
"Remember when we both had stupid crushes on people who couldn't possibly return them?"
"Yeah." Blaine leaned his head back on the headrest. "I guess I'd tell you that anything's possible, but..."
"No. I know." Tina smiled at him. "If you're not willing to give girls a try, though, I'm going to."
"What?"
"Seriously. I'm done with men."
Blaine thought she was joking. Probably. But he decided to play along. "So are there any sexy, sexy ladies you have your eye on?"
"Brittany would be the obvious choice, if she were still here." Tina smiled again, a bit lewdly this time. "And she has really nice tits."
"Tina!"
"What? She does. And if anyone can probably give me some good carpet munching tips..."
"Stop! Before I have to stab myself in the eardrums."
"If I show you pictures of me and Brittany doing the nasty, will have you have to stab yourself in the eyeballs too?"
"Yes. Please don't."
"Well, if that's how you feel about it, then I don't want you going down on me anyway."
"I'd be really horrible at it," Blaine admitted.
"The worst," Tina agreed.
"So are you happy for me?"
"Of course I am, Bling-Bling." She swiveled so her head was against Blaine's side and her legs were sticking straight out the window. It looked excruciatingly uncomfortable, but Blaine didn't say that, he just rested his hand on top of her head. "Put some music on," she told him. "It's almost time for lunch. We'll go inside then and everyone else can be happy for you too."
"Sure. What should we listen to? 'I Kissed a Girl'?"
"Yeah, actually. But not the craptastic Katy Perry one."
"You did not just call Katy Perry craptastic."
Tina took out her iPod and queued up the other "I Kissed a Girl," the 1995 Jill Sobule one. Blaine wondered if she was actually considering...well, as long as she didn't insist on sharing the lurid details. They listened to the song four or five times, Tina singing along, before it was time to go inside for lunch.
Fourth period was just letting out and the halls were filling up. Sam saw them on his way out of history and ran over to them. He kissed Blaine on the mouth again and said, "I've missed you! I wish we had some classes together."
Blaine thought Sam was being adorable but way too naïve about how much PDA they could get away with without anyone caring. And he was afraid he was about to be proved right when he saw most of the wrestling team spill out of the gym. "Maybe we should cool it a little..."
"Please," Tina said. "Like there's a gayer sport than wrestling. Not you, Lauren."
Lauren Zizes stopped and looked at them. She didn't have a sarcastic comment...or any comment at all.
"How've you been?" Sam asked. "Ever think of coming back to glee?"
Bobby Surette and Phil Lipoff barreled between Sam and Blaine, pushing them to either side. They laughed like morons and Bobby said, "Pardon us, ladies."
"Did you spend all morning trying to come up with that awesome put-down?" Sam said.
"Listen to who's got a sassy mouth all of a sudden," Bobby said. "What else have you been doing with that sassy mouth, faggot?" He tried to push Sam into the locker, but Lauren stood between them.
Her eyes piercing Bobby's, she said in a low and calm voice, "I am having a really, really bad day. If I were you I wouldn't want to see what will happen if you fuck with my friends."
Phil put his hands up and backed away. Bobby wasn't that smart. He looked past her, to Sam, and said, "So you have to hide behind girls now?"
"He didn't mean anything, Lauren—"
"Stay out of this, Lipoff." Lauren took her glasses off and handed them to Tina. "Would you hold these for me, hon?"
"Lauren, it's really okay," Sam said. "I don't care what this—"
"Not about you, either, Evans."
Before anyone saw quite how she'd done it she had Bobby's hands pinned behind his back and she was slamming him face-first into a locker. A crowd gathered and started chanting "Fight! Fight! Fight!" Sam and Lipoff managed to pull her off, but not until his nose was bleeding pretty badly.
Coach Beiste charged out of the locker room and the crowd dispersed. "What the hell is going on here!?" she demanded.
No one answered for a minute. It was Bobby who finally broke the silence, saying, "Zizes and I were practicing some wrestling moves."
Beiste snorted, clearly not buying it. She hauled everyone who hadn't run off—the three glee kids and the three wrestlers—down to Figgins's office. But even there, Lauren and Bobby stuck to their story that they were practicing wrestling, and no one contradicted them.
Figgins gave up pretty quickly and told everyone to get out of his office and get back to class or wherever they were supposed to be. They were about to go when Beiste leaned forward and said, "Lauren, what is going on with you?"
Lauren made a noise that sounded like...it sounded like a sob. Everyone sat in stunned silence until they heard another one, unmistakable this time. After taking less than a minute to compose herself, she looked every person in the room in the eye, one by one, and said, "If anyone outside this room hears of this, I swear I'll—"
"Lauren, come on. What is it?" Coach Beiste asked again.
"Do any of you remember Henry Nelson?"
"Sure," Bobby said. "He was like the best senior on the wrestling team when we were freshmen."
"Isn't he engaged to your sister?" Phil asked.
"He was."
"So they broke up?" Blaine said.
"Close. He was killed in Afghanistan. Now if you'll excuse me." Lauren stood up and walked to the door. "I don't know why I even came to school today. I think my sister might need me."
She walked out and left the door open on a very quiet room. Sam silently took Blaine's hand and Blaine took Tina's. Coach Beiste—she wouldn't have even known this kid, he would have graduated before she started at McKinley, but she had tears in her eyes. Bobby and Phil looked at each other. Bobby shook his head and muttered, "Henry fucking Nelson."
Figgins told them again to get out, and this time they did. Phil and Bobby went wherever the hell it was they were going, and Blaine and Sam and Tina went to the cafeteria. Kitty saw them come in together, all still holding hands, and said, "I heard you guys were a couple. I didn't hear you were a threesome."
Tina let go of Blaine's hand. "Artie, did you know a kid named Henry Nelson? Three years ahead of us? On the wrestling team?" Artie shook his head, but he didn't ask why Tina was asking and she didn't tell him.
"That could've happened to Finn," Blaine whispered to Sam. "Thank God he got kicked out of the army."
"I've thought about joining," Sam said quietly. "If I don't get into college."
Blaine hugged him tight. He buried his face in the crook of Sam's neck and said, "Please don't." But his words were muffled; he knew Sam wouldn't be able to hear him. He moved his head back and looked into Sam's eyes. "You'll get into college. You will. But even if...just don't join the army, okay? Please?" Maybe Blaine didn't have any right to ask that, but the idea of Sam going away and, and...having people trying to kill him...literally trying to kill him...No. He just couldn't. "Please?"
