The next day, Nellie awoke snuggled in Blake's arms. Smiling, she turned in his arms to face him only to see him already awake and smiling at her.
"Creeper." she laughed, snuggling further into him.
"Good morning, beautiful." Blake replied, kissing her sweetly.
"Morning." Nellie smiled sleepily, before getting out of bed, laughing at the sad look on her boyfriend's face as he looked at the spot that she had vacated.
She left the room to begin making coffee and breakfast; she was soon joined by Blake who was pulling a fresh shirt over his head.
"Did you really sleep in that last night?" Blake asked, looking at her pajamas for the first time.
Nellie laughed as she looked down at her pjs. She stood there in one of his old shirts and a pair of his basketball shorts that she had stolen. She smiled and said, "It's what I wear every night."
"I've slept over here numerous times, how have I not noticed this." he laughed before beginning to help her with the traditional Saturday morning breakfast.
It was one of the many traditions of the small group of friends. Nellie made breakfast on Saturdays and then, on Sundays, they had a potluck brunch. They started this in sixth grade, when Nellie's parents first began their extended business trips.
"So, what are we making?" Blake asked, picking up the whisk that sat on the counter and twirling it.
"Cinnamon Roll Pancakes." Nellie replied, taking the whisk from him before he could drop it, "And if you're going to play with this, make yourself useful."
With that, she pointing to the ingredients to make her special scrambled eggs.
"Fine." Blake sighed playfully, before going to the other side of the kitchen to begin to chop up the peppers, onions, garlic, and potatoes that would be going into the eggs.
"Ah, and we find Nellie Vanderbilt and Blake James in their natural state of domestic bliss. One can only count down the days until the wedding bells ring." Michael made his presence known, walking into the house through the back door, "Smells delicious."
"Good morning, Michael." Nellie laughed as he seemed to automatically go to help Blake with chopping the veggies.
Finishing with the pancakes, Nellie grabbed the eggs and a giant bowl and began to get the egg mixture prepared. She cracked the eggs before adding milk, salt, pepper, a special spice mixture, gouda cheese, and then threw in the chopped veggies and mixed them together before pouring the mixture into the hot skillet as the boys set the table.
"I'm gonna have to eat and run today." Shanna sat as she walked into the kitchen with Dani as Nellie slid the eggs onto a platter, "I got scheduled to work today."
"You never work on weekends." Dani said, taking the platter from Nellie and setting it down in the middle of the table.
"I know, Christy messed up the schedule, I guess," Shanna nodded, "but I'll be back here by four."
"Good," Michael replied, "because it's game night, which means we get to have fun making Nellie embarrass herself."
"Why is that anyway?" Nellie asked, sitting down next to Blake, who was filling her plate up for her.
"You're just an easy target." Blake replied, kissing her cheek.
"I hate you all." Nellie responded, rolling her eyes.
The rest of the group just laughed and the topic changed to the Regionals set list.
"So, what songs do you want to do?" Dani asked, looking over at Nellie.
"I don't know." she replied, "I really want to do two of her new songs, 'Smile' and 'I Love You', but at the same time her old stuff would be more recognizable, like 'Complicated', 'Skater Boy', and 'My Happy Ending'. I guess I'll just have to see what Schue and Samuel have planned."
"You'll probably get one of the songs you want to do." Shanna replied, "I mean, you're singing lead."
"True." Nellie nodded slowly, "But I don't want to make it all about me."
"And we know you won't." Blake replied, taking half of her serving of eggs off of her plate and onto his.
"Just don't let Lily Mae or Mario overshadow you." Michael continued, laughing as Nellie playfully hit Blake when she noticed what he had done.
"I gotta run, guys." Shanna said, glancing down at her watch and standing up, "I'll be back as soon as my shift ends."
"Okay." Nellie replied, "Someone will be here regardless of whether I'm here or not."
"Yeah," Michael laughed, "Blake's planning on taking her over to his house so that he can get his fix before he's forced to share her again."
Blake just stuck his tongue out as Nellie's face darkened.
!
"He is such a disgusting, little, UG!" Shanna exclaimed, walking into Nellie's house at 4:15, slamming the front door behind her. Storming up the stairs to Nellie's room, she opened the door, pulling Blake off of the bed, and pushed the boy out the room. She waited for Dani (who had arrived with Michael as Shanna was getting out of her car) to enter before closing the door again, effectively wiping the dazed look that always appeared whenever she and Blake got a little heated off of Nellie's face.
"What happened?" Nellie asked, sitting up and trying to make it look like Blake hadn't been about to see what Dani had made her buy the previous day.
"Matheus changed the schedule so that I would be working the same shift as him." Shanna replied, pacing aggitatively, "The creep. God, why can't he just take a hint!?"
"Well, you haven't really been that forceful with him." Dani replied. When Nellie glared at her, she continued, "Well, she hasn't!"
"I think what Dani is trying to say is that you haven't really been very forceful when you turn him down." Nellie said, choosing her words very carefully, "I mean, I'm not saying it's your fault that he's being a creep to you, but, maybe, next time you should just say no, that you're not interested him."
"Yeah." Dani replied, "You could even make up a boyfriend as an excuse so you won't feel as guilty."
"You guys know I suck at lying." Shanna responded, finally calmed down and sinking down on the bed on the other side of Nellie.
"Then get someone to pose as your boyfriend." Dani shrugged, "Someone who knows you, who respects you, who could easily pass as a boyfriend."
"Someone like Michael." Nellie continued, smiling to herself.
"Are you sure this will work?" Shanna replied, looking unsure.
"Trust me." Nellie replied with a smile, "Michael can easily play the boyfriend who's crazy about you."
"I guess I'll take your word for it." Shanna laughed, smiling brightly, "After all, you know best."
"So…" Dani changed the subject, sharing a sly smile with Shanna.
"What were you and Blake up to when I got up here?" Shanna laughed as Nellie turned bright red and began stuttering.
"You've got a couple…" Dani squinted, pointing out the numerous, but small, love bites that covered Nellie's neck.
Nellie squeaked before running downstairs to yell at Blake, only to have him kiss her and make her forget why she needed to yell at him anyway.
"By the way," Nellie turned to Michael, "you and Shana are dating."
"Okay." Michael shrugged as Shanna sat down next to him and Dani took her usual seat at Nellie's feet.
!
"UG!" Dani groaned, walking into the high school on Tuesday morning.
"What?" Shanna laughed as Dani opened her locker.
"I hate my life!"
"Stop being so melodramatic."
"No! I won't!" Dani replied with a smile, "Have you heard from Nellie?"
It was odd for Nellie to go a day without talking to either of the girls and neither had heard from her since they left her house Sunday night.
"Michael said she was sick, but I don't think that's the case." Shanna shook her head.
Before either could say anything, Nellie walked past them, followed by Blake and Michael. The girls quickly fell into step with them.
"What-?" Dani tried to ask, but was pulled, along with Shanna, into an empty classroom by Michael.
"Her parents." Michael replied, closing the door, "They're not planning on coming home anytime soon. They would rather spend three months in Asia than see their daughter for a day."
The girls could tell that Michael was pissed, understandable so, when Dani asked, "How is she?"
"She hasn't really talked since she got off the phone with them." Michael looked down, obviously upset, "She hasn't even smiled."
"Poor, Nellie." Shanna replied.
Before either could say anything else, Dani left the room and hugged Nellie tightly; her best friend clinging to her tightly. Shanna joined the hug once she caught up to Dani.
"Oh, how cute." a sickly-sweet voice snidely cooed.
Pulling out of the hug, they saw Emily standing there, flanked Lindsey and Aylin.
"What do you want?" Dani glared at the group of girls.
"Just to let Nellie here know that her time as the invisible girl is over." Emily sneered, "As the new star of New Directions, she just became the number one target."
With that, the three girls walked down the hall and Nellie squeaked before running off.
"Nellie!" Blake yelled, running after her, followed by Michael.
"What should we do?" Shanna asked Dani, who was also torn between following Nellie and trying to find a way to get Emily to back off.
"We let the guys help Nellie." Dani said, after her inner struggle was over, "They're going to be the only ones who will be able to."
"What should we do?"
"We give Nellie all of our support and love. That's all we can do."
Shanna nodded and the two girls headed to their first class.
!
Later that day, the glee club sat in the choir room. As soon as Schue entered the room, Dani raised her hand.
"Yes, Dani?" Schue smiled.
"I have a song I'd like to sing." Dani replied, standing up and walking to the front of the room, nodding subtly to Shanna, Michael, and Blake, who's hand Nellie had had a vice grip on all day. Dani then smiled at Nellie, "Nellie, you are my best friend and I have always trusted you with my secrets because I know you would never judge me. You have always been there to pull me out of that dark place, so I'm gonna be there for you; to finally return the favor."
"Nellie," Shanna continued, standing to join Dani, "You were the first person to talk to me when I first moved here, you were my first friend, and you introduced me to the coolest group of people I have ever met. You are our glue, whether you know it or not. We have you to thank for everything. You're our sounding board, our advisor, our tutor, our best friend. I have you to thank for being able to actually call Lima home."
"Nell," Michael picked up, joining the girls, "I have known you my whole life. You're the coolest person I know. I feel what you feel, and I know that you feel the same. I would do anything for you. You're my best friend, a mind-reader. You know what's on my mind without me actually having to tell you anything; you're scary that way. But I wouldn't have you any other way. You're parents have no idea what they're missing."
Blake knelt down in front of Nellie, keeping eye contact with her during his whole mini-speech, "Nels, I love you, so much. It pains me to see you so sad. You are my best friend in the entire world. I don't know what I would do without you. You're parents should be proud of the woman their little girl has become, I know mine are. I would go to the ends of the earth to see you smile, to make you happy."
Nellie gave a barely there smile, which disappeared as Blake slowly let go of her hand, replaced by understanding (and a slight blush) as the intro to one of her favorite songs began.
"Darling," Dani began, pulling Nellie up, "You're hiding in the closet once again, start smiling."
"I know you're trying real hard not to turn your head away." Shanna took over, laughing as Nellie blushed, unable to hide her small smile.
"Pretty darling, face tomorrow, tomorrow is not yesterday, yesterday oh oooooh." Michael, took Nellie's hand and spun her around, before hugging her tightly.
"Pretty please, I know it's a drag. Wipe your eyes and put up your head. I wish you could be happy instead. There's nothing else I can do, but love you the best that I can. Yeah yeah yeah yeah" Blake pulled Nellie close to him as he sang the chorus, swaying with her, his smiling growing as hers grew.
"Darling," Michael took Nellie's hands and lifted her up onto the piano, hopping up and taking a seat next to her, "I was there once a while ago."
"I know," Blake stepped between Nellie's legs and laced their fingers together, squeezing his girlfriend's hands, "That it's hard to be stuck with people that you love when nobody trusts."
"Pretty please," Dani pulled Nellie off of the piano and the two girls did the dance they had made up when they were five, Shanna join Dani on the rest of the chorus, "I know it's a drag. Wipe your eyes and put up your head. I wish you could be happy instead. There's nothing else I can do but love you the best that I can. Yeah yeah yeah yeah."
"You're not the only one who's been through." Michael and Blake stole her away from the girls, circling around her, "I've been there alone and now so are you. I just want you to know, want you to know it's not your fault."
"It's not your fault." Shanna forced Nellie to look at her as she sang, "Your fault, your fault. It's not your fault, your fault, your fault, your fault."
"Pretty please," Michael picked Nellie up and spun her around, "I know it's a drag. Wipe your eyes and put up your head. I wish you could be happy instead. There's nothing else I can do but love you the best that I can. Yeah yeah yeah yeah."
"Pretty please," Shanna stole her back, smiling brightly, "I know it's a drag. Wipe your eyes and put up your head. I wish you could be happy instead. There's nothing else I can do but love you the best that I can. Yeah yeah yeah yeah."
"Darling," Dani slowed the song down, placing her hands on Nellie's shoulders before hugging the girl tightly, "You're hiding in the closet once again. Start smiling."
As the song ended, the rest of the small group gathered around the two girls, hugging them and giving Nellie as much of their strength as she would take.