Time passed quickly, yet in a fog for Kurt. It was May. His father had begun dating Carole Hudson and Kurt had taken to her quickly. He enjoyed having a woman around. His father had been wonderful, but it was nice to have someone who could talk fashion and reality television with. Blaine had left a voicemail on Kurt's birthday and had stopped by once since then, but has been quiet other than those instances. The Warblers had met Kurt for his birthday celebration that Rachel insisted upon. They'd also gone out for coffee in Westerville twice; Kurt had gotten his license and Burt had given him a Navigator for his birthday and he felt the need to return the favor for all of the times they'd travelled to him.
May found Kurt onstage at Nationals in Chicago. His solo spot had been deferred to Puck when he'd refused to sing another solo. He didn't feel up for it and he wouldn't be forced into something he didn't want. Rachel and Finn had a duet that led into a group number where Finn accidentally slapped Quinn in the face with his uncoordinated dancing, causing her to stop midsong and scream at him, causing Rachel to stop and stand up for her man. Needless to say, they lost.
As Kurt rested in his hotel bed in the room of which he shared with an already asleep Mercedes, he allowed himself to cry. He had been hoping to come back victorious and show those Neanderthals that he was better than them and he had a trophy to show for it. He'd also wanted to make his father proud. He knew there was only one voice that could help him. That voice was the one that he'd been avoiding for months. Kurt grabbed his phone and stared at it for several minutes. Finally, he unlocked his phone and pressed the appropriate buttons before he could change his mind.
On the second ring the line connected, "Kurt?" Blaine's hopeful voice sounded down the line.
Kurt had to hold the phone away for a moment to let out a sob. Though hearing Blaine was what he needed, it was still so hard to hear him. The good and painful memories all flooded back. After a moment he brought the phone back to his ear.
"Kurt? Are you there?" Blaine said, his voice sounded on the verge of tears as well.
"Blaine, I-"
"Boo? You okay?" Mercedes' groggy voice floated from her side of the room.
Kurt quickly hung up the phone, placing it on the side table, "Yeah 'Cedes, sorry."
"It's okay. Good night."
"Yeah."
Kurt stared at his phone as the texts and phone calls started pouring in.
After hearing Kurt's broken voice on the phone, Blaine tried for two weeks straight to get him to talk again. Every day, all day Blaine would send some reminder that he was there, that Kurt could talk to him. The third time he showed up at Kurt's house, Burt made it very clear that Blaine was not to visit again until Kurt gave the green light. Blaine knew better than to mess with Burt.
Finally, Blaine decided to give Kurt some space. It had worked the last time and it might work again. At least, that's what his brain told him.
The school year finished and Blaine was reluctant to move home. The random weekends were okay, but with his parents' fighting becoming close to an every night staple, he didn't know that he'd be able to handle a whole summer of it. He said goodbye to his friends, and sang away the graduates and all too soon he was on the road back home.
When he arrived home, he was greeted by his mother, who had tears in her eyes. He stepped into the hallway and immediately sensed a difference. He hadn't been home in a month and as he looked around he noticed things that were missing. As soon as his mother shut the door, he turned on her.
"Mom, please tell me what's going on. Something's up." Blaine said, fear beginning to take over his body.
Sheila sighed and met Blaine's gaze, "Let's go to your father's study. He and I have something to discuss with you."
Blaine watched her as she passed; he swallowed the lump in his throat and followed her down the hall towards his waiting father. Once inside the study, Blaine saw his father sitting bent over a pile of papers with his brows furrowed in concentration.
"William? Blaine is here. Let's talk with him now." Sheila said, sitting in a chair across the desk from her husband.
William looked up, his hazel eyes meeting Blaine's, "Alright. Sit down Blaine." Blaine did as he was told, "Son, there's something your mother and I need to talk with you about."
Blaine's blood ran cold. His father's tone was icy. Uncaring. "Uh, okay. What's up?"
"Sweetheart, your father and I are getting a divorce." Sheila said, placing a hand on Blaine's shoulder.
Blaine's stomach dropped to the floor. His head knew it was for the best, but his heart thumped wildly in betrayal and sadness.
"Your mother has already moved most of her things to her new home. She will be finished by the end of the week." William said without looking at Sheila, "I will be staying here."
Blaine nodded slowly, looking to the floor as the first of his tears began to fall. He tensed as his mother kneeled in front of him and wrapped her arms around him.
"I know this is hard to hear, honey. It'll be okay. For all of us, this is for the best."
Blaine nodded again, leaning his head on his mother's shoulder. They stayed like that for several minutes until he calmed down somewhat. Sheila sat in her chair again, keeping a hand on Blaine's, squeezing tight.
"Now, Blaine. The way we see it you have two options. You can stay with me, continue at Dalton and switch off weeks with each of us during breaks and spend at least one weekend a month with each of us; or you can live with your mother, go to the public school near her and come see me two weekends a moth and switch off weeks between us during breaks. Usually parents don't give their children options here, but we know how important Dalton is to you, and we also wanted to give you the option of trying public school again. We will support your decision, and if you don't want to make one, that's fine too, we can figure it out. We just wanted you involved in your own future."
Blaine felt like everything was spinning. 'They want me to choose where I'm living? Public school? I'm going to be shuffled back and forth like a small child. What's happening?'
"Um. Where are you moving to?" Blaine asked, turning to his mother.
Sheila smiled widely and squeezed his hand again, "Lima. You'd be in the McKinley High School boundaries."
Kurt wiped the sweat from his grease stained forehead. He looked to his father, who was sitting on a stool finishing up some paperwork for the car he'd just finished.
"Dad? I think Mr. Laughlin's car needs a special order for this tubing. The one from storage isn't fitting properly."
Burt looked up and nodded, "Go on to the office and make whatever order you need. Then phone Bill and tell him you'll need a few extra days."
Kurt turned and walked into the office and grabbed the notebook with the phone numbers for the companies of which they order parts from. As he made his way to the phone on Burt's desk, Kurt undid his coveralls, removing his arms from the sleeves and letting it rest around his hips. It was far too hot for so many layers and the long sleeves made it worse.
Kurt sat down and looked out the window while the phone beeped, waiting for the parts company to pick up. He caught sight of a strikingly familiar gelled head. Kurt blinked hard and wiped the sweat from his eyes. The figure walked around the corner, looking towards the garage, but not crossing the street to get closer. Kurt's jaw dropped as his gaze locked on Blaine's. 'I'm having a heat stroke or something. Hallucinations. I should drink some water. Blaine is in Westerville. He stopped trying to talk to me in June. It's now the end of August. Stop. Water.'
"Hello?!" An annoyed voice said in Kurt's ear.
Kurt shook his head wildly and turned his attention back to his call, "Sorry, Sir. I need to place an order for Hummel's Tire and Lube in Lima."
XXXX
"So, kiddo, have you talked with Mercedes or Tina or Rachel or anyone recently?" Burt asked as they sat at dinner the following evening.
Kurt startled out of his thoughts, the hallucination of Blaine had really freaked Kurt out, but he didn't want to scare Burt, so he kept it to himself.
"Um, no. I saw Finn on Thursday though." Kurt said with a shrug.
Burt rolled his eyes, "Seeing him because he and Carole came over for dinner doesn't count. You only saw him because you had to. Why don't you take the day off tomorrow and go spend time with your friends?"
Kurt bit his lip, not wanting to admit that he hadn't spoken to his friends since the Fourth of July when Rachel came over and kidnapped him into going to a New Directions get together of celebration.
"It's okay, dad. They're all pretty busy and I don't want special treatment at the shop. I'm scheduled to work, so I'll be there."
Burt sighed but didn't make any further comments.
"Blaine, sweetie? I know you're nervous, but you'll see him no matter what tomorrow. School and Glee Club are both filled with unavoidable run-ins with him. Just call him and explain. It'll be better than startling him at school tomorrow."
Blaine sighed as he laid his polo over his pants on the back of his chair. "Mom, he won't talk to me."
"Then why didn't you go see him at the shop? Or at his house? Something." Sheila said with a hand on her hip. "I did not choose to live here just for you boys to avoid each other." At Blaine's guilt-filled frown she added, "Not that I'd want to live anywhere else, of course."
"I didn't want to seem desperate by tracking him down."
"So call him."
Blaine nodded, "Fine, but I won't do it with you standing over the top of me."
Sheila smiled in victory, "Alright, sweetie. I'll see you downstairs and we can figure out dinner." She kissed his forehead and walked out of the room.
Blaine grabbed his phone and sat down on his bed. He took a deep breath and hit the call button by Kurt's name. The phone beeped several times and went to voicemail. Blaine shook his head and hit 'end call' before making his way downstairs with his shoulders hung in defeat.
Kurt stifled a laugh as Brittany tried to explain the difference between a unicorn and a dolphin to Puck and Sam. He couldn't get his mind off of his phone, though. It had buzzed in his pocket several minutes prior and upon looking at the caller ID saw it was Blaine. After the hallucination, Kurt couldn't get his mind off of Blaine, but also couldn't find the courage to talk to him either.
Just as Kurt was about to get lost in his mind again, Rachel came bursting through the door to Santana's basement looking frazzled.
"GUYS! I just got back from orientation, I had to go late because my dads scheduled a family photo-shoot for this morning because you can simply never have enough Berry family phot-"
"Just get on with it munchkin!" Santana snapped.
Rachel glared at her before continuing, "Anyway, I got talking with Mr. Schue and apparently there's a new transfer student." She stopped there, but her eyes were begging someone to ask about this new student. When everyone remained silent, she threw her arms up in exasperation, "What's interesting about this student is that he, yes he, asked Mr. Schue about Glee Club! He asked for an audition! So, we're having an emergency Glee Club meeting before school tomorrow to audition this boy. I hope he's able to keep up with me vocally because I need someone to duet with who won't hold me back. No offense Finn."
"None taken." Finn said from his spot in front of the television where he, Artie and Mike were playing some video game.
"Well, did Mr. Schue say what this kid's name is?" Mercedes asked.
Rachel shook her head, "No, but I guess we'll find out!"
She skipped over and sat next to Finn and began chatting excitedly in his ear about the new prospect.
"I just hope he's hot, I need me some more eye candy around McKinley." Mercedes giggled into Kurt's ear.
Kurt hummed his acknowledgement. He didn't need more straight guys to look at. He just needed to get past these two years and get to New York.
"Are you okay, Kurt? I'm sorry I dragged you here after orientation. We can go if you want." Mercedes said, looking defeated.
Kurt grabbed her hand and squeezed it, "No, 'Cedes, I'm fine. Sorry, I'm just in my head again."
"You've been doing that a lot, and being super quiet and not Kurt-like. What happened to my diva?"
Kurt sighed, "I'm still here."
Mercedes shot him an unbelieving look but let it go, turning to talk to Tina.
A/N: I don't own Glee nor its characters. Thanks for all of the support, please let me know what y'all thought of this chapter! :)
