"Blaine's going to kill you if he finds out you looked at his journal." Mercedes said. Blaine guarded that journal like it was the Holy Grail.
"Blaine asked me to read it." Kurt replied smugly, closing the journal the same way Blaine does when someone walks into the room. "He said he writes better than he talks."
Good, that smirk made it easier for her to nurse her grievance against him, now that he was happy again.
"Robert Mapplethorpe or Dorothea Lange?" she asked, turning to look at Tina.
"Who's is the one with the naked men?"
"Mapplethorpe. Lange is the dust bowl."
"Naked men or dust bowl. There's a dilemma. Where are you applying?"
"Ohio State and a bunch of East Coast art schools. Art school is more expensive than I thought."
"Yeah, that's why I'm staying local. Definitely Ohio state for me." she looked at Mike, who was waving around an early admission from Stanford. As far away from her as his mother could arrange.
Tina pulled out her sketchbook and started drawing her wedding dress. She was going to be a fairy tale princess and Mike would be sorry he picked Stanford over her. A train so long it had to be carried by 10 people. No, that's ridiculous. And she didn't like the mermaid look. She erased the bottom half. A ball gown for a princess. Did she even need a train, or a dress that dragged on the floor like that? She shortened the dress a little, tea length it to show off the super cute shoes she'd be wearing.
"Isn't that kinda short?" Mercedes asked, looking at the sketch.
"I has to be short, so it won't get tangled in the wheels."
"Wheels?" Mercedes asked with a snicker. "Why are you worried about wheels?"
Yes, why did she say 'wheels'?
Maybe it was because Artie was at this very moment singing "Hey Julia" and Julia was her middle name? Coincidence. She made the dress floor length.
Hey, hey Julia you're acting so peculiar
I know I'd never fool you in a million years
You're a strain on my eyeses and you're full of surprises
Love materializes soon as you come near.
There's a sensation you create,
Robs me of my sleep and I've forgotten the date
My head started spinning soon as you started singing
And like a fish I just rose to the bait.
Coincidence.
Mercedes was looking at Tim and thinking about Robert Mapplethorpe. "I have to reschedule tonight." she said after rehearsal was over.
"Fine. I can't make it so you'd be stuck with Alice anyway. Going somewhere fun?"
"Going to look at naked men. It's smut in a magazine, art if it's hanging on the wall. Go figure."
"You like Mapplethorpe? I'm going, not specifically to see that but still, want to go together?"
"Okay. Does Ali want to go?"
"No, not her thing. Photographs of guitars and she'd be all over it."
"How was your date?" Blaine asked the next morning at breakfast.
"It wasn't a date. I went with a gay guy to look at pictures of naked gay guys."
"Fine. How was that?"
"You've seen a naked gay guy before." that made Blaine blush. "But I have to say it's not true, seen one seen 'em all. Once you get over the titillation factor and concentrate on the lighting and composition you can see why Mapplethorpe was a big deal."
"So did that help you make up your mind, seeing the exhibition?" he said, trying to get off the topic of male nudes.
"Pretty much. It's not like I have access to celebrities and guys willing to pose nude. Weddings, families, that's where I think I'll end up. Photojournalism might be a stretch but it's doable."
"Why not performing? You're good enough."
"You're not going into performing. It's writing, right? Well, I'd rather be behind a camera than in front of one. Rachel was right when she said I don't have the drive. I'll probably just sing on the weekends or something."
Blaine was holding a copy of the school literary magazine, hot off the presses. He glanced at the cover, a time-laspe photo of the front of McKinley. The exposure was so long that the students coming in and out were faded, like ghosts haunting the building. "Becoming" was emblazoned on the front of the magazine. Mercedes waved her copy. "Nice poem."
"Thanks. Nice cover."
"Thank you. You like it, not too pretentious?"
"No. It's perfect. Hey, Kurt." Blaine called to his boyfriend who was walking down the hallway. "Got something to show you."
"Falling"
I was looking at the ocean for the first time
The water was warm and the waves were crashing, crashing, crashing
I stood there and let them wash over me
You warned me to be careful
When I tripped the water caught me and told me it loved me
And I was going home
The people on the beach screamed
(or so you told me later)
And the lifeguard made me come back
I was at summer camp for the last time
The water was cold and I was drifting, drifting, drifting
Thinking about things
You told me I'd be better off not thinking about
When the raft was tipped over
The water caught me and told me it missed me
It still loved me and I was going home
It was just a stupid joke
(or so you told me later)
And the counselor made me come back
I was sitting in the kitchen like I always am now
You were talking, talking, talking
You wanted to know when I was going to get over this
I said I was getting over it right now
You warned me about my attitude and told me to stop mumbling
Then you asked if I was okay
Only this time you waited for an answer for a change
And you threw water in my face
Only it was the wrong kind, it doesn't love me
Lemon-aide
(will you say later?)
You tried to make me come back
The medicine cabinet loves me and this time I'm going home.
"Well?" He searched Kurt's face for clues. They were sitting in the mostly deserted courtyard.
"This was right before you went to Dalton?"
"This is why I went to Dalton. This is why my parents got divorced."
"Remember when your mom came to town, that weekend after Mercedes' parents were buried? You two made tamales and you had to go out a buy something?"
"Yes, I remember."
"We had a nice long chat, your mom and I. I asked her why she didn't like me."
"You did?"
Kurt nervously watched Blaine walk out the door to get whatever it was they needed to finish those tamales. That left him alone with Blaine's mother. He'd met Mrs. Anderson a couple of times before, knew she didn't like him and had a good guess why.
Rachel had once described Blaine as 'vaguely Eurasian' but his looks weren't from Asia, or maybe Asia by way of the Bering Sea. Actually, she seemed a lot more relaxed than the last time he'd seen her. "My grandmother was from Lima, Peru. Now Blaine lives in LIma, Ohio, strange isn't is?"
"Yes."
"Have you always lived here?"
"Yes."
"Do you like it, living in such a small town?"
"Yes."
"You know, Blaine says you're quite the talker but I'm not seeing it."
"Can I ask why don't you like me?"
"It's not that I dislike you as a person." Carmen Anderson said wiping her hands on her apron. "I don't really know you. The problem was, when you have a baby, a son, you naturally think about weddings and grandchildren. And a wife, I've always visualized Blaine with a wife. He's never acted gay, as if there's such a thing as 'acting gay'. I've learned that however he acts is 'acting gay', but at the time I thought gay people were easy to spot. Like you, you're what I imagined gay men are like. I really thought it was a phase he was going through. We both did, his father and I. Until that dance. He was so stubborn about going and we figured he would get it out of his system once and for all. Then we get a phone call from the hospital. He was hurt so badly, physically and mentally. S we settled on Dalton. No girlfriend yet but a mother hopes, you know? I mean, there was a whole school full of girls right next door. And then you, you were undeniable proof. And he is willing to give up everything for you, so what can I say? He's happier than I've seen him in years."
"He thinks he was the reason you got divorced."
"I keep telling him that's not true. After he left, we realized the only thing we ever talked about was "What to do about Blaine." So actually, the divorce would have happened earlier. Unfortunately his new stepmother doesn't like competing with Blaine, but I think that would have been a problem regardless. The cost of Dalton was never an issue until after they got married. When his stepbrothers were born it was all his father wanted to talk about, how expensive everything was. I think they used you as an excuse to stop paying tuition. Unfortunately I can't afford Dalton on my own."
"Blaine understands about that."
"I need to learn to trust Blaine's judgment." She smiled. "I just want to apologize for how hostile I've been in the past. You didn't deserve to be treated like that." She held her arms open for a hug. "Can you forgive me?"
"Yes, Mrs. Anderson."
"You can call me Carmen." she said hugging him.
Hey Julia - Robert Palmer
FF_2947886_ - Page 5 of 5 - Word Count: 1018
