Kurt wished that every day were Friday, because that meant that his weekend with Blaine would be starting. And now their relationship had taken a new twist. Were they…engaged? No, Kurt thought more along the lines of "committed". They were in a committed relationship.

Kurt jumped from his bed to his dressing table. And there it was. The beautiful ring that Blaine had given to him. He smiled as he slid it onto his right ring finger. It was perfect. It meant that there was no one else for either of them. He hadn't told his parents, or Finn, about the ring yet. For some reason, he just wanted to keep it to himself for a while, a secret he and Blaine had between themselves. But he would show them today. Of course, they'll be thrilled for him. They know that Blaine makes him happier than he's ever been. He looked down one more time at the intertwined initials—B and K—and then slid the ring off before he got ready for the day.

After his shower, Kurt made sure that his nails were perfectly manicured before getting dressed. It was Wednesday. Two more full days before Friday and Blaine. Finally deciding on an outfit, he dressed, and then put his ring back on. What did Blaine call it—betrothed? He liked the sound of that. Looking in the mirror, he smiled widely at his reflection. Kurt Hummel, you are betrothed to Blaine Anderson. He turned off the lights in his room, and headed upstairs for breakfast.

Kurt sat at the table waiting for everyone else. He didn't feel like eating much, really. He has two tests today, and that always worked his stomach into a knot. He was thankful that almost all of the drama was out of his life now. Karofsky—or David, as he now calls him—had stopped his one-man reign of terror against him, and it felt good to walk through the halls without fear.

"Dude, nice look". Finn walked into the kitchen and reached over to tousle Kurt's hair, but he pushed him away.

"I'm trying something new. You should perhaps invest in a mirror yourself. Or at the very least a comb. Just saying." Kurt enjoyed mornings like this.

"I'll have you know that I have never had a complaint from a girl about how I look."

"That's because if she was raised properly, she knows that if you can't say something nice, don't say it at all". Finn made a sad face, and then sat down across from Kurt.

"Where are the elders?"

"I heard that, Kurt." Burt joined the boys at the table.

"Sorry, Dad. So listen, I have something to tell you all."

"You're pregnant?" Finn was the only one that laughed at his lame attempt at humor.

"No, Finn…Blaine and I have not been in any hot tubs…oh, wait…isn't that how Quinn said you got her pregnant?" Kurt then remembered this was not public information, and mouthed, "I forgot" to Finn.

"Excuse me?" Burt was now interested in the conversation. "Finn?"

"It's just a joke, Dad. Everyone knows you can't get pregnant from a hot tub. Right, Finn?" Kurt was trying hard not to laugh.

"Right."

"Ouch. What the hell? Why did you kick me?" Burt looked at Finn, who then looked at Kurt, who was rolling his eyes. Kurt decided that Finn had been made to squirm enough. "Carol, where are you?"

"I'm here. Now come on…between the three of you, you couldn't come up with something to eat on your own?"

As she walked to the refrigerator, Kurt clanged his dad's coffee spoon on his cup.

"So, family…I have some news on the relationship front." Kurt had his hand on the table, and was moving his fingers to try to be subtle and show off his ring.

"Well, what's the news?" Burt took a sip of his coffee, and told Kurt to stop fidgeting at the table.

Kurt then put his hand up to his mouth, so that the ring would be facing all of them. Still nothing. Kurt wondered how it was that he had the three most oblivious people walking the earth sitting around this table with him. He couldn't take it any longer—

"Look! Isn't it beautiful? Blaine gave it to me."

"Honey, you're going to have to stop flinging your hand around so that we can actually take a look at it." Carol grabbed his hand, and looked at his gift from Blaine. "It's beautiful, Kurt."

"So are you guys engaged now?" Finn was laughing, as was Burt, but then they realized that Kurt wasn't.

"Your brother asked you a question, Kurt." Burt had stopped to look at his son, waiting for a response.

"I think engaged is such a dated word, don't you?"

"Then what word would you use, Kurt?"

"I prefer "betrothed". It has a nice romantic ring to it". Kurt was looking at the blank expression on Finn's face.

"Isn't that what a horse eats from?

"That's a trough, honey." Carol patted Finn's hand, then looked back at Burt, who was still waiting for an answer from Kurt.

"Whatever it is that you're calling it, what is the meaning of this ring from Blaine, Kurt?"

"Well, it means that we made a promise to each other that we will always be faithful …that we love each other…and that, someday, we will be married to each other." There was silence around the table.

"I thought you would be happy for me. I'm in a committed relationship with the man that I love."

"Kurt, you've been together as a couple for a few months. Isn't this an awfully big step to be taking at your age?" Burt looked to Carol for moral support, but she was looking at Kurt with a face that he was unable to read. "And really…married? We live in Lima, Ohio, Kurt, not New York City."

"And besides, sweetie…like your Dad said…you haven't known each other that long. There is so much more you both need to learn about each other, to make sure…"

"I know everything I need to know about Blaine. He loves me, and we share everything. I thought you all would be happy for me, but I guess I was wrong."

"I'm happy. I like Blaine." Finn felt like Kurt needed some help here.

"We like Blaine, too. But things seem to be moving a little fast, don't you think?" Burt hated getting on Kurt about this, but it needed to be said.

Kurt was suddenly feeling defiant. "Our relationship is a lot further along than you think. We don't just walk around holding hands like two twelve year olds, you know."

Finn looked at Kurt and shook his head, silently willing him to stop before he said anything else.

"Do you think I don't know that, Kurt? You two are practically living together half of the week. You think I don't know what goes on between two people in that situation? Give me a little more credit than that".

"And give Blaine and I credit, Dad. We're not stupid. And we know what we want."

Carol tried to diffuse some of the tension. "All we're saying, Kurt, is that you both have your whole lives ahead of you. Don't rush things".

"I need to go. Thank you all for your support." Kurt pushed away from the table, and left for school. He looked at his watch. Two more days.

He grabbed his phone as a new message came in from Blaine:

Have I told you lately that I love you?

Kurt texted back: You have, but it's always nice to hear. I love you too. I can't wait to see you.

So I may be a little late getting to our place on Friday. I have something I need to do after school. Won't take long.

Warbler business?

Almost a minute went by before Blaine wrote back: Something like that.

Kurt thought the answer was an odd one, but perhaps Blaine had a lot on his mind. They had missed some school with the issues they've had recently, and were both trying to play catch up.

Off to class. much love, my Kurt xx


The day finished off as any other day, and Kurt headed home for what he thought would be round two of the " Kurt & Blaine versus The World" discussion, but there was nothing. He went down to his room, and when Finn came home after practice, he offered to make some popcorn and maybe watch some television with him. Always in the mood for snacking, Finn agreed.

"Finn, can I ask you something? And I want you to be honest with me. You don't think that Blaine and I are crazy planning our future, do you?"

"Nah..I don't think your crazy. It's just that you guys don't really know a whole lot about each other, that's all. But I think you two are great together. I like Blaine a lot. And he makes you happy, so what difference does it make what I think, right? So now stop talking so that we can watch something."

Friday finally arrived, and Kurt packed up his bag for the weekend. He walked through the kitchen and grabbed his phone from the charger. He always laughed when he saw everyone's phone lined up getting new life breathed into them. As he ran out to the car, he yelled over his shoulder "I'm off—have a good weekend" to anyone within earshot. He opened the door and tossed his bag and the phone onto the seat next to him.

As he pulled out of the driveway, his thoughts were all about Blaine. They have a fairly quiet weekend planned- Relax at home tonight, a movie tomorrow night, and buy some things for the house—he stopped referring to it as the "guesthouse, because it sounded so temporary—on Sunday. Then back home to start the week all over again. He wondered how late Blaine was going to be. Before he could pick up his phone to text him, the incoming message tone sounded, but it was not the familiar sound of his phone. He'd grabbed Finn's phone by accident. He would just text whoever it was back and let them know that he had Finn's phone and would give him the message. He would drive back in the morning to switch phones. If he wasn't so anxious to see Blaine, he would do it now, but he wanted to be there waiting when Blaine walked in. He loved that "honey, I'm home" moment between them.

As he picked up the phone and looked at the message, he could feel his eyes getting wider as tried to focus on the words.

Just saw Blaine and some dude having coffee. Should we tell Kurt?—Sam

Kurt pulled his car over and re-read the message. Blaine said he was going to be late because of "Warbler business". Was he lying to him? No, he wouldn't do that. Kurt needed to trust his boyfriend more than this. He was sure that Blaine would explain everything when they talked later about their day.

He wrote back:

No need to. I'm sure everything is fine. Where are you?

The outlets. They're in that coffee shop near the end. Should I hang out? —Sam

No, it's fine. Thanks for watching out for me. Kurt realized what he had written, and then changed it to "watching out for my brother".

Against his better judgment, Kurt turned his car towards the outlets. The very same outlets where Blaine had sung for him. What was he going to do if he saw them there? And what did he know, other than Blaine was having coffee with someone. He felt like he was driving in slow motion, and when he finally got to the outlets, he pulled into a spot near the end where the coffee shop was located.

As he walked towards the shop, he saw them. They were seated across from each other at a table near the windows. He kept a safe distance so that Blaine would not see him spying on him. Kurt saw Blaine check his watch, and say something to the person with him. As he crept a little bit closer, Kurt could see that the person was about their age, and had almost the same coloring as Blaine. Not as handsome, but not bad looking at all. This caused a little bit of a jealous twinge in Kurt's stomach. But not as much as seeing this unnamed person placing his hand on Blaine's. What Kurt didn't see, as he ran back towards his car, was Blaine pulling his hands away, and getting up from the table to leave.

Kurt fought back tears as he drove back to his house. Not their house. He pulled into the driveway, and walked through the front door, where he ran into Finn—literally.

"Hey, what's up? Why aren't you with Blaine?" Finn looked outside to see if perhaps they had decided to come back here to hang out.

"Blaine's busy. Here." Kurt tossed Finn's phone to him, and when Finn looked at the messages, he found the one from Sam.

"Kurt, don't overreact. You just got finished telling us this week about how much you two love each other. Why are you getting upset over him having coffee with someone? You hang out with your friends all the time without him."

"He knows all of my friends, Finn. They're his friends now too. But this guy, I have no idea. And he lied to me. He said he was going to be late because of something to do with the Warblers. He lied to me."

"How do you know that? That could have been exactly what they were talking about. You have to trust him, Kurt. It's not going to work out if you don't. Let me ask you a question. Do you think about cheating on Blaine?"

"Of course not. Never".

"But yet you're so convinced that he would do it to you." Finn was trying to be sympathetic to Kurt, but he felt that he was not thinking clearly. He grabbed Kurt's hand and held it so that they were looking at his ring. "Don't you think this means something, Kurt?"

"They were holding hands, Finn." This was an exaggeration, Kurt knew. He saw this guy put his hands on Blaine. Nothing more.

"Come on, Kurt. Blaine wouldn't do that. He loves you. After what you guys have been through, why would he risk that?"

Kurt didn't have an answer. He started to head down to his room, when Finn grabbed him by the shoulders and pointed him back towards the door. "Go…you're not going to sulk like a little girl. Blaine is expecting you. Call me if you need me, but I expect that you won't".


Kurt got back in his car and started towards their place. Finn was right. He shouldn't overreact without all of the facts. His phone buzzed, and he checked the message:

Hey, beautiful. Where are you?

On my way. Was talking to Finn. Do we need anything?

If you want to grab some snacks, I'll find something for us to watch. Hurry…our bed is missing you. xx

Kurt stopped at the 7-11 just down the road from where their little home is. He grabbed some drinks, chips, and the newest Vogue magazine. As he walked up to the register to pay, he saw him. The guy from the coffee shop. Kurt walked up and stood next to him at the counter to pay, trying to size him up without being too obvious. He turned and looked at Kurt, and said something that Kurt thought sounded like "Hey". As the cashier was helping him, he looked down at Kurt's hand on the counter and said, "Wow, I had an old boyfriend that gave me a ring just like that. Do you mind…?"

Kurt held out his hand as the stranger looked down at his finger. "Huh…almost identical. This must be some kind of karma. I just had coffee with him after not seeing him for over a year. Says he's with someone, but a fella can hope..."

Kurt felt like the room was beginning to spin, and he tightened his grip on the counter. Before he even asked the question, he knew the answer.

"So what's the name of the one that got away?"

"Blaine Anderson. He's from around here. Do you know him?"

"No… I don't think I do".