Chapter Seven
—xx—
The buzzing of his phone on his forehead elicited a long, angry groan from Jesse St. James' lips; when it persisted, he struggled to open his eyes and grasped it in his hand. With an angry, scratchy voice, he answered, "Hello?"
"Well, it's nice to hear that you're still alive after how drunk you were last night, Jesse."
The sound of Blaine's voice caused the older boy to sigh deeply and accept the fact that he needed to wake up. Sitting up, he rubbed his forehead. "Yes, well, I'm rather surprised myself. Wait—how do you know that I drank last night?"
Blaine chuckled into the phone and replied, "You mea, you really don't remember? You drunk dialed me last night—well, rather, this morning."
Jesse froze, eyes wide, and nearly dropped his phone. No, he certainly did not remember that tidbit of information. "Er, no, I don't quite recall that bit of last night. What, um, what exactly did I convey to you in this drunken conversation?"
Blaine laughed into the phone. "I'm not entirely sure myself. I think you were asking me why I wanted to duet with you, but you weren't making a lot of sense."
"Oh," he snickered nervously, "Well, you know, when one is inebriated they say strange things…"
"I figured as much," the younger boy sounded almost irritated. "Anyway, are we going to rehearse today? Auditions are Wednesday so I figured that we could practice every day. I think that will ensure that we definitely get picked."
Jesse sighed in relief at the change of subject and agreed. "Sounds excellent, Blaine. If you'll let me get dressed, we can meet in thirty minutes."
"Great. How about we meet in the Warbler commons? Try to warm up on the way there if it all possible so we can rehearse for as long as we can."
"Alright. I'll see you then, Blaine." He hung up the phone and breathed out a huge sigh of relief just as his roommate groaned in his bed and sat up.
"Jesse, is it possible for you to tone it the hell down? It's still early, god dammit."
"Samuel, calm down," Jesse retorted. "It's nearly one-thirty in the afternoon. Get the hell up."
The blonde ruffled his hair in frustration and sat up, groaning aloud. "Oh, fuck, what did I do last night?'
Jesse stripped his pajamas from his body and grabbed his towel, "I'm not sure, Samuel. Apparently, I drunk-dialed Blaine."
Sam snickered from across the room, "Ohhh, I remember. I said that you would have to call him when I… oh. Oh. Oh, shit." Suddenly, the blonde sprung from his bed, and looked around the room frantically. "Oh, shit. Oh, shit. Fuck."
"What the hell are you so worked up about, Samuel?" Jesse wrapped the towel around his hips.
Sam finally located his phone and then looked down at it in horror. "Holy shit… I… kissed Kurt last night. Oh, god." He dropped his phone and started frantically ruffling his hair. "Oh, god, what—why did I do that?"
Jesse chuckled as he opened the door. "The very same reason that I called Blaine last night: very large amounts of alcohol, my friend, and the fact that the two of us undoubtedly have feelings for these people."
Before Sam could respond, Jesse left the room and alone with his regrets. He grabbed his phone off the floor again and scanned his texts, which read:
Samuel, you call me right now!
Samuel Evans! What is going on!
Samuel! Why did you KISS me?
Oh, boy, Sam. You are in trouble with Kurt.
Samuel if you don't call me first thing in the morning I'm going to come down there and slap you!
Sam groaned. Of the five texts, four were from Kurt and one from Blaine. The blonde fell back on his bed and grabbed his hair in two handfuls. As if he could sense that he was awake, Sam's phone buzzed with a phone call from Kurt. The boy threw his phone in shock and watched the battery separate from it, almost in slow motion.
He knew he should get up, put his phone back together, and call the boy back. But the more immature part of him was thankful that his phone had at least stopped ringing, and he let it sit, half-destroyed across the room.
—xx—
Jesse jogged down the hall of Williams Hall and out the double doors. The brisk autumn hair sent a shiver down his spine when it hit his still-damn hair, but he neverminded it as he slipped into the Main Hall of Dalton's campus. Blaine sat right outside the Warbler lounge, checking his watch with a troubled look on his face.
"I'm here, I'm here, Blaine." Jesse panted, "Sorry that I'm late. It took me longer to dress myself than I had thought it would."
Blaine frowned at him over his shoulder and then stood. "It's fine, it's just less time to practice. You know, when you asked me to do this duet with you, I thought you'd be serious about it."
"I am, I am, I assure you." Jesse frowned, "I never let Sam talk me into going to those lame high school parties. I apologize, Blainers." He took a deep breath and grabbed Blaine's hand, looking him in the eye. "I promise I am one-hundred percent dedicated to getting this duet with you from this moment on."
Blaine grinned at him and said, "Stop it, okay? You're forgiven."
Jesse chuckled and released his hold on Blaine. The two walked into the lounge and collapsed on a couch together. "Alright. So, where shall we begin on this? I think that we should share the verses and then harmonize the choruses."
"That's what I had in mind as well. I think you should take lead in the chorus, too, Jesse." Blaine looked down at his sheet music, effectively missing the stunned look on his partner's face.
"What? Why would we do that? I'm only third lead."
The sophomore boy looked up and smiled, "So? You're the reason we're having the audition. It took courage for you to stand up and demand that we change things. Besides, third lead is just a title the council gives. I think your voice is way better than mine."
Jesse fought the impending flush flooding his cheeks, something that he could normally do without even thinking. "I suppose if you insist, then we can try it that way."
"Alright, well let's try to read through it then, acapella. You've heard this one before, right, Jesse?" Blaine was more than aware of Jesse's obscure music tastes and knew that it was entirely possible that he hadn't.
"Of course, Blaine. I don't live beneath a rock."
The younger boy grinned, and then took a deep breath before beginning to sing. Jesse nearly missed his cue he was so stunned. He'd heard Blaine sing before—numerous times—but there was something uniquely special in being sung to by the boy one is interested in. He was also pleased to discover that the exchange between the two was easy and did, in fact, sound better than the duets he'd heard from Blaine and Sam.
Once they reached the chorus, though, something in him changed. He watched as Blaine danced around the room, smiling at him and singing with perfect pitch in a gorgeous harmony to Jesse's melody. Jesse somehow managed to make it through the chorus without missing a note, and then the rest of the song. Even he found himself moving to the music in a manner like Blaine's, and at the end of the song, the two found themselves back on the couch they'd started on, out of breath.
There was a moment of long, awkward silence and eye contact until Blaine finally spoke. "Jesse, that was amazing! I hear you sing so rarely, and you've never sung with me," he placed a hand on Jesse's knee, earning a hitched breath—that went unnoticed—from him. "You are just incredible. We're definitely gonna get that part."
"Yeah," Jesse panted, uncharacteristically ineloquent. "It… was good."
"What's wrong?" Blaine frowned, tightening his grip on his friend's knee. "We'll practice more, Jesse. Don't worry."
"No, it was spectacular, Blaine. I must apologize," He stood with a start, "I have to go."
Leaving the younger boy in a confused state, Jesse stormed from the room and out into the chilly afternoon. He leaned against the brick wall and breathed out, hard.
Something had changed. Something was different. And then it came to him.
He was hopelessly and quite unfortunately in love with Blaine Anderson.
—xx—
A/N: Short chapter, I apologize. Hope y'all like it anyway.
maria
