Chapter 7: Stress

Sam loosened his tie, and opened the top button on his shirt. Interviews suck! He replayed the last three hours, while he changed into jeans and a T-shirt. Three hours of trying to say the right thing. He had a tension headache, and he was starving.

Quinn looked up from her laptop when Sam walked into the kitchen. "Hey, how did it go?"

"I don't know." Sam grabbed a beer from the fridge, and joined Quinn at the table. "Everyone was very friendly, very polite. I couldn't read them, at all. I have no idea what they really thought." He took a long swig of his beer, and flopped back in his chair. "Well, one down, two more to go." He looked over at Quinn. "How's it going with you?"

"I'm freaking out." Quinn grimaced. "You'd think after all these years in school, I'd have learned to handle exam periods better but no, I still stress out."

"When the pressure gets to me, I run. What's your coping mechanism of choice?"

"Bubble baths."

Sam laughed. Quinn went back to studying, and Sam studied her. Even with all the end of term stress, Quinn seemed more relaxed than she ever had at McKinley. She wasn't constantly fighting for approval from others anymore. This more self-confident Quinn was easy to be around, and even more attractive. Sam wondered what would have happened between them in high school if they hadn't wasted all their energy trying to be popular.

Quinn closed her laptop, and piled her books to one side of the table. "I'm cooking tonight. Want to help?"

"Sure, what can I do?"

Quinn set Sam up with onions, peppers, a knife and a cutting board. As she filled a saucepan with water, and got the pasta, she glanced over at Sam. He really was a nice guy. Why did she cheat on him, again? Oh, right, Prom Queen. How pathetic was that!

She poured oil into a frying pan. Sam held the cutting board for Quinn, while she scraped the chopped vegetables into the pan. They were standing very close together, their shoulders touching. Quinn looked up at Sam, and their eyes locked. Awareness hovered in the air, and then it was gone. Sam smiled. "Team work."

Kurt pulled his messenger bag off and started to throw it on the couch, when he remembered that he shouldn't do that anymore. Not now, when the couch doubled as Sam's bed. He carried the bag with him, to the kitchen, where he could hear Sam and Quinn talking.

"What's for dinner?"

Quinn turned from the sink, where she was rinsing pasta. "Hi! Bruschetta and fusilli with marinara sauce."

Sam stood at the stove, stirring the sauce. "Hey, Kurt."

"Sam" Kurt looked at the food preparations. "What can I do?"

Quinn transfered the pasta to a large bowl. "You can set the table."

Talk flowed easily between them over dinner; exams, interviews, end of term madness. They were comfortable with each other. They teased each other, and interrupted each other, talking over each other, laughing. After dinner, Kurt grabbed the wine, and they moved to the couch in the living room. They finished the bottle, while watching repeats of the Big Bang Theory.

Quinn put her empty wine glass down on the coffee table. She curled her legs up under her, and leaned her head on Kurt's shoulder the way she always did when they watched TV together. The show cut to a commercial, and Sam turned to the other two, smiling. Kurt looked over at Sam, still laughing at one of Sheldon's lines. His eyes were glowing, his smile open; more relaxed than Sam had ever seen him. Were Kurt's eyes always this beautiful? Sam turned back to the TV. He wasn't aware of moving but, obviously, he did because when the next commercial started his arm was around Kurt's shoulders, and his fingers brushed the edges of Quinn's hair.

The next morning Sam was stretching his legs out, getting ready for a run, when Kurt came out of his bed room. "Hey."

Kurt took in the stretches, and work-out clothes. "Going for a run?"

"Yeah. You run?"

Kurt leaned against the wall, and yawned. "Used to"

"Come with me."

"Sam, I'm not even awake yet."

"It's better that way. Go on. Get your stuff. I'll wait for you." Sam pushed Kurt back towards his room. "Come on, dude. I hate running alone."

"O.K. fine, but you owe me."

They followed a route that was all quiet side streets; a circuit that took 45 minutes to complete. Kurt hadn't run in a while so Sam kept the pace moderate. By the time they trudged up the stairs to the apartment, they were both sweating. Kurt took two bottles of water from the fridge, and handed one to Sam. He leaned back against the fridge, as Sam flopped onto a kitchen chair.

Kurt finished half his bottle in one long gulp, and brushed damp hair out of his eyes. "I'm out of practice."

"But you feel good, right?"

"My hair's a mess, I'm sweaty, and my legs are killing me." Kurt grinned at Sam. "But yeah, I feel good."

Kurt raised his arm, tipping his head back to finish the water. The hem of his shirt slid up, revealing pale skin above his running shorts. Kurt was always dressed, most of the time covered in layers, every button done. It was only a few inches, but this was naked Kurt skin, and Sam couldn't pull his eyes away.

Kurt threw the empty bottle in the recycling bin. "Do you want to shower first?"

Sam shook his head. "Nah, you go ahead. I've gotta do some crunches."

"And that is why I'm never going to have abs like yours." Kurt sighed, and walked out of the kitchen.

Sam finished his water. The patch of skin that Kurt had inadvertently flashed, ran on replay in his mind. What the hell?

Kurt tapped on Quinn's open door. She was reading in bed. "Can I interrupt you?"

Quinn threw her book aside. "Please!"

Kurt sat on Quinn's bed. He spoke softly, almost whispering. Sam was in bed in the living room, but Kurt wanted to be sure that he didn't hear. "Am I wrong, or were you and Sam having a moment in the kitchen yesterday?"

"You saw that?"

"Yep."

Quinn nodded. "Yeah, that was weird. It was almost like…."

"You wanted each other."

"Yeah."

Kurt looked away from Quinn, thinking. "Did you notice last night while we were watching TV Sam…?"

Quinn broke in before Kurt could finish. "Put his arm around you."

"Yes!" He looked at Quinn. "That's weird, right? I mean I know we're older now, and gay's gone mainstream but straight guys don't usually put their arms around me."

"You want to know something else? When his arm was around you, his fingers were in my hair."

Kurt looked down at his hands. "We went running this morning." Kurt glanced at Quinn quickly. "I think he was checking me out."

They sat silent for a while, staring at each other, wondering. Quinn took Kurt's hand. "Do you think he likes both of us?"