Author's Note:
Sorry for the delay in getting to the festivities, but I'm fairly sure that most of you didn't really mind the wait... [grin]
Okay, enough from me ... on with the festivities!
Don't know anything, don't know anyone, and certainly don't own anything. (I wish though!) Please feel free to review with constructive criticism, etc.
10 - Preparation
Blaine and Dan spent the weekend before the fourth sprucing up the backyard. Blaine absolutely loved it as Dan taught him how to use a pressure washer to clean the deck and patio and then the hedge trimmer on the bushes and shrubs around the yards perimeter. As Blaine had refused to let him mow the lawn, Dan found himself wondering again as to the mental state of any parent who would frown upon a young person that eager to learn and help with chores around the house.
Kurt had come over earlier in the week and helped them inventory their serving pieces, tables and chairs so that he would know what to ask others to bring. He had decided that they would use the rectangular folding tables that Dan had as a buffet, some round ones that his dad and Carole had for the adults sit around, while the younger people would sit at picnic tables provided by Dave's parents and Rachel's dads. Her dads would be unable to come due to a prior engagement, but they told them that they could use whatever they needed for the party. Everyone else would just need to bring chairs or blankets to sit on for the fireworks later that night.
Late Sunday afternoon, once all of the clean up was done in the backyard, and Blaine and Dan had cleaned themselves up, Kurt came over for their final planning session. Dan sat in one of the chairs reading over his notes from the lecture series he was taking as Blaine and Kurt sat on the sofa with all of Kurt's notes and diagrams spread across the coffee table.
"I still can't believe you're voluntarily taking classes over the summer," Blaine said looking over at Dan.
Dan glanced up from his notes and said, "Well it beats grading your homework and then doing my own during the school year."
"Yeah, but isn't the whole idea of school to get done, graduate and move on?" Kurt said.
"Maybe, but in my field they're always working on new stuff and it's actually fun to keep my hand in and find out what else they're working on," Dan said. "Plus the more enrichment credit hours you rack up, the more you get paid." He winked at them.
"Okay, I can see that one," Blaine said laughing.
"Okay, so you guys and the coach have the meats, buns and chips covered," Kurt said checking them off his list. "And Rachel said she was bringing her own veggie substitutes, so that just leaves the sides and desserts and such."
"Well, let's see," Blaine, said, "Sam said his folks were bringing their Tennessee Bourbon Baked Beans, which should go over well at least with Puckerman."
Dan snorted a laugh.
"Okay," Kurt said rolling his eyes, "Carole is making a pasta salad and Dad and I are making my Mom's special deviled eggs."
"Dave said his folks are bringing his mom's Cheesy Squash Casserole," Blaine said.
"Squash?" Kurt said sounding unsure.
"It's good," Dan said. "She's brought it to every company picnic and always left with a clean dish."
Blaine nodded, "Cool."
"Brittany said that she and Artie are bringing fudge," Kurt said. "How are we set to deal with his chair?
Dan looked up. "Well the front walk up is level, so he can roll in the front door with no problems." He thought a minute. "My bathroom should be fine for him, the doors may be a little tight, but his chair should clear them and there's plenty of room in there for him to get around. I'd have him have a look and make sure so that he's not embarrassed or anything if he really has to go later."
Blaine smiled. "Good idea."
"Um ... the decks the only problem in the back," Dan said. "He can roll around the house on the driveway and into the back yard and the patio is fairly level. Just make sure you put your buffet down there and he should be good to go. You didn't notice any ruts or holes when you were mowing did you." Blaine shook his head. "Then he should be fine."
"Glad you mentioned where to put the buffet," Kurt said erasing part of his diagram of the back yard. "I was planning to put it on the deck so that the elderly didn't have to walk the steps."
Dan arched an eyebrow. Kurt grinned over at him then went back to sketching in the buffet on the patio of his diagram.
"Oh, Jonny is bringing his girlfriend and he said that they're bringing potato salad," Kurt said.
"He used to be such a player," Blaine said shaking his head, "it's hard to picture him settling down with one girl."
"Well Nick said they've been going out pretty steady ever since we left Dalton," Kurt said. "Oh, and Nick said that he and Jeff were bringing chips and salsa." Blaine gave him a look. "I know, I told them that they didn't have to bring anything but themselves, but he said that they didn't want to feel like freeloaders or crashers."
"Well I know that feeling," Blaine said. "I just wish more of them could have come, but three's better than none I guess."
"I know you really wanted Wes and David to come," Kurt said. "Leave it to them to start college the summer right after graduation."
"Well that leaves Puck and Lauren bringing the drinks," Blaine said.
Dan stopped and looked up at them, his eyebrows raised.
Both boys stared at him. "Non alcoholic," Kurt said. "Believe me; we all learned our lesson last time."
"Mm hmm," Dan said before going back to his notes.
"Oh, my Mom said she's bringing Lola Nenette's Turon Saba," Blaine said.
"Her what now?" Kurt said.
"They're Pinoy Banana Spring Rolls," Blaine said.
"Pintos and Bananas?" Kurt said scrunching his face.
"Pinoy not pinto," Blaine said laughing. "They're an old family recipe. It's bananas rolled in brown sugar and then rolled in spring roll wrappers and fried. They're like candy, absolutely delicious, especially Lola Nenette's. Mom's aren't quite as great as hers ... but they're close."
"Family recipe?" Dan asked. "I didn't know you were part Filipino."
"Yeah, on my mom's side, so I guess I'm just under half," Blaine said. Kurt still looked lost. "My mom's family is originally from the Philippines, that's what Pinoy means."
"Then why did Mr. D just call you Filipino?" Kurt asked confused.
"They're both the same thing..." Blaine said looking confused as to how to explain it.
"I think Pinoy is more informal and Filipino is more ... proper," Dan said.
"Yeah," Blaine said. "We call ourselves Pinoy and other people call us Filipino."
"I definitely had no clue. How exotic," Kurt said smiling at him. "I always knew you were special, I just didn't know how special."
Blaine shook his head and kissed him.
"By the way, who's Lola Nenette?" Kurt asked. "Is she famous? Like the Julia Child of the Philippines or something?"
"Well she's famous to me," Blaine said grinning. "Lola is the Tagalog word for grandma; she's my mom's mom."
"Who do they tag along with?" Kurt asked looking confused again.
Blaine closed his eyes and laughed. "Okay the country is the Philippines, people from there are Pinoy or Filipino, and the language is Tagalog or Filipino."
"Okay, that's complicated," Kurt said.
"Sorry," Blaine said with an exaggerated frown. He leaned over toward Dan and said, "I guess I shouldn't tell him that the language is based on Chinese, Japanese, Spanish, English and even a little Sanskrit should I?"
Dan shook his head.
"Let's just stick with exotic, shall we?" Kurt said with a wide-eyed nod.
The next day Kurt was the first to arrive with Carole and Burt. They walked around the house to find Blaine and Dan putting up a volleyball net. Upon seeing Kurt, Blaine ran over to give him a kiss.
"Need some help?" Burt called.
"Apparently," Dan said. He was in mid-whack with the hammer he was driving the pole in with when Blaine left him.
"Sorry!" Blaine yelled.
"It's okay, you two can go ahead and get the tables set up where you want them," Dan said shaking his head.
Burt came over and held the pole as Dan finished driving it in until it was steady.
"Where's Finn?" Dan asked as they moved over to set the other pole.
"He's picking up Rachel and her picnic tables," Burt told him.
"Ah," Dan said, and then he thought about it. "Sure the two of them can handle them?"
"Puckerman's supposed to be helping him," Burt said. "If the two of them can't handle it, I'm fairly sure that Lauren can."
Dan laughed as he drove the pole home. The two then set about hanging the net as Carole helped them to straighten it out.
"Are we already dividing the elderly from the young?" Dan asked her.
"No, I've just learned that when it comes to party planning and the like, you just get out of his way," Carole said with a little roll of her eyes as she smiled. "It might be annoying if he wasn't so good at it."
They had just finished tightening the last tie down and made sure that the net was steady when a chestnut haired woman rounded the house into the back yard.
"Excuse me," she said.
"Mom!" Blaine yelled as he took off down the steps of the deck. He stopped short when he reached her as he registered the tray in her hands. He smiled and took it from her in one hand as he threw the other arm around her, and kissed her on the cheek.
"Here let me," Kurt said once he reached them. "Do these need to be refrigerated or anything?"
"No," she said. "Room temperature is fine, but they should stay out of the heat or they'll all stick together." He nodded and took them into the house.
As the other adults reached them, Blaine stepped forward. "Mom, these are Kurt's parents, his father Burt and his step-mother Carole."
"Pleased to meet you," Mrs. Anderson said shaking both of their hands. "Kurt told me so much about you when we had brunch, I almost feel like I already know you."
"And, Mom, this is Dan," Blaine said as he stepped behind Dan and gave him a gentle shove forward via a pat on the back as he squeezed his shoulder with his other hand.
Dan couldn't help but laugh, Blaine was as animated as an elementary school child during show and tell. The only other time he could remember seeing him so excited was during a performance. "Nice to finally meet you Mrs. Anderson."
"Likewise, Mr. Deen," she said. "I can't thank you enough for taking care of Blaine, and imposing the conditions that you did on him. I was so worried until he called."
Dan nodded. "Why don't we all go up on the deck and claim the good seats before everyone else gets here." They laughed as he gestured a welcome and they all headed for the steps.
Finn, Rachel, Puck and Lauren were the next to arrive. Finn and Puck lugged the two tables from the back of Finn's truck as Lauren carried the benches around the house two by two. Rachel came around the house pulling a little red wagon filled with cases of pop and her vegetarian selections. "You are all welcome to try them of course," she said as she handed them to Kurt to be put into the refrigerator with the rest of the meats. The pops were placed into a cooler with ice to chill before everyone else arrived.
Kurt and Blaine made the introductions as Coach Beiste arrived with bags of hot dog and hamburger buns, which Rachel took and placed where Kurt indicated.
In front of the house, Dave pulled up in his truck with the Karofsky's picnic table in the back as his parents pulled up behind him. His dad was helping him to unload it as the Evans pulled up.
"Dave, Dave, Dave, Dave!" Stacy yelled as she hopped out of the car and ran toward him.
"How's my favorite munchkin?" Dave said as he put down the bench he had just lifted over the truck's tailgate. He knelt down as she hugged him around the neck.
Stevie came over and shook his hand. "Hey dude!" he said.
"Little man," Dave said with a nod of his head as Sam walked up smiling.
Their parents exchanged greetings and then their dads carried the table around as their moms carried their covered dishes to the backyard. The boys grinned a greeting to each other as they touched hands briefly.
"I hear somebody likes my piggy back rides!" Dave said. Stacy nodded. "Up for one now?"
"YEA!" she squealed.
He hefted her up and then carefully balanced her as he picked up the bench he'd just put down. He tucked it under one arm as he held onto Stacy with the other hand and headed around the house.
"Give me a hand little Bro?" Sam asked Stevie.
"Sure," Stevie said with a shrug.
Sam lifted the last bench out of the truck and then took one end as Stevie took the other and they walked it around to the backyard.
"Volleyball, huh?" Puck said to Blaine.
"Well all of you guys are on the football team, but the girls and my friends from Dalton aren't, so we figured it would be a little more fair than football," Blaine said.
"I don't know," Finn said. "You played a pretty mean game that day when we helped you move."
Blaine tipped his head proudly. "Well I try."
Dan walked over to the garage and after a short time rummaging, he reemerged with a Frisbee, a baseball and some gloves. "Hey, Sam, think these'll go over well?"
"I think we can put them to use," Sam said smiling as he jogged over and took them from him. He gave Dave and Stevie the gloves and ball as he and Rachel started tossing the Frisbee around with Stacy.
A short time later Mercedes, Brittany and Artie came around the driveway with the Warbler boys in tow.
"We found these guys loitering out front," Mercedes said pointing over her shoulder with her thumb.
"Hi guys!" Blaine and Kurt said as they jogged over.
"Almost didn't recognize you all without the snazzy blazers," Kurt said.
"I thought we'd established that you loved the blazers," Blaine said tipping hisd head toward Kurt grinning.
"It all depends on who's wearing them," Kurt said.
"Yeah, well I'm fairly sure you think Blaine looks good in anything," Nick said grinning. "And probably nothing..." he said more conspiratorially.
Kurt arched an eyebrow high and tipped his head to the side as he pursed his lips. Blaine was impressed by the lack of a blush.
"Hey, guys," Jon, said trying to fight his laughter. "This is my girlfriend Sherry."
"Nice to meet you," they both said.
"Oh, here's the fudge I said I'd bring," Brittany said taking it from Artie's lap and handing it to Kurt. "It's Mr. Tubbington's favorite thing ... except for fondue of course."
"Of course," Kurt said with a wide-eyed nod.
"Mr. Tubbington?" Jeff asked.
"Her cat," Mercedes said with a sideways smile.
"Okay," Jeff said as he and Nick looked at each other.
"You may want to put it in the fridge so it doesn't melt," Brittany said. "I'd take it out once we get ready to eat though because it tastes way better warmer." Kurt nodded and sat it on top of the bowl of potato salad that Sherry handed him and headed inside with them.
"Hey, aren't you guys a few people short?" Jon asked after looking around.
"Yeah," Blaine said. "Mike and Tina are councilors at a camp for Asian kids and Quinn is away visiting her grandparents. Santana said she try to make it if she could though."
"Oh, I saw Trent the other day at the mall and he said to be sure to give you his best," Jeff said. "He was going away this weekend to see his grandparents too."
Later, after some not so spectacular experimentation with sparklers, it was still daylight after all; Sam and Rachel took Stacy on a trip to the nearby play park for Stacy to try out their swings. Then the teens decided to gear up for volleyball. After some discussion, they decided just to divide, McKinley versus Dalton, with Blaine shoring up his old school.
Saying he was tired of playing catch, Stevie suggested that Dave play with the other guys while he watched them. Artie suggested that he take the other side of the net and help him referee, and he jumped at the chance to help.
The guys and Lauren divided four on four, leaving Brittany and Mercedes to cheer on McKinley and Kurt and Sherry to cheer on Dalton while the parents looked on as they talked amongst themselves.
The marathon tournament had just begun as Sam and Rachel returned with Stacy. They watched for a while before Stacy became bored and wanted to play Frisbee again. Sam volunteered to play with her so that Rachel could keep watching the others. After a wild toss by Stacy, though, the Frisbee ended up on the roof of the garage.
"Oh no!" she said. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to lose it." She looked on the verge of tears.
"It's okay, Stace," Sam said reassuring her. "We'll just see if Mr. D has a ladder and I'll go get it for you. Here, let's go see," he said offering her his hand. She took it and the two walked over to the deck. "Hey, Mr. D?"
"Yeah, Sam?" Dan answered.
"You wouldn't happen to have a ladder would you?"
"Why? What's up?" Dan asked.
"We had a little oopsie with the Frisbee," Sam said glancing over his shoulder to the garage roof.
Dan looked over and saw the colorful disc perched about half way up the garage roof. "Uh," he said as he looked at Stacy's sad face. He wasn't sure if she was sad that she wasn't going to be able to play anymore or if she were upset that she'd lost his toy, however, knowing how polite and mannered Sam was he suspected the latter. "I'll get it for you," he said.
"Oh, you don't have to..." Sam started.
"No, you're not going up on the roof," Dan said. He walked down the steps and started toward the garage.
"At least let me hold the ladder for you," Sam said following him.
"Um, nah, I've got it," Dan said. "You just keep Stacy occupied." Dan went around the back of the garage and Sam heard a couple of thuds, which he figured, were Dan moving the ladder into place. Then Dan appeared at the peak of the garage roof, walked down the slope, and picked up the Frisbee. "Here you go guys," Dan said sending the Frisbee sailing across the yard and over their head.
Sam followed it with his eyes as Stacy ran after it with a cheer. "At least let me hold the ladder for you..." Sam turned around and found Dan walking around the rear of his van dusting himself off. "... coming down?" Sam said sounding confused as the Frisbee hit him in the back of the head. "OW!"
"Sorry Sammy!" Stacy said then covered her mouth with her hands. "I thought you were ready."
"You okay, Sam?" Dan asked reaching him.
"Yeah," Sam said rubbing the back of his head. "How did you...? Nevermind. Thanks."
Dan nodded and returned to the deck and his conversation with the other adults.
As the heat of the day wore on, layers began to come off. Several of the girls tied their shirts baring their midriffs, Brittany discarding her shirt in favor of the halter beneath it. About half of the guys' shirts came off all together as well. As Blaine stripped down to his tank top, Kurt took his shirt and carefully folded it and sat it on the table beside Sam as he sat atop it helping Stacy cheer Dave on.
Sam chose an inopportune time to succumb to the heat. Dave just happened to look his direction as Sam peeled his shirt off and used it to wipe the sweat from his face and chest. As Sam looked up and locked eyes with him the ball Jon had just served pegged Dave right in the side of the head, knocking him off his feet.
"Oh my God!" Sam said jumping up and running toward him trying not to laugh.
"Ow!" Dave said as he took Sam's offered hand.
"I'm so sorry!" Sam said losing the battle with his laughter.
"Love hurts, huh, Karofsky?" said Puck who'd seen the whole exchange.
"I am sorry," Sam, said kissing Dave's head.
"I think I hit my lips too," Dave said with a pout. Sam laughed again then kissed him.
"Yea!" Stacy cheered as Stevie rolled his eyes.
"How about a substitution due to injury Ref?" Sam said.
"Alright with me, if it's alright with them," Artie said.
"Why not," Blaine said. "We're ahead." The others agreed as Finn stuck his tongue out at him.
"Alright, let's wrap this up so we can eat!" Blaine yelled taking his tank of and tossing it to Kurt who grinned at him.
"Yer goin' down pretty boy!" Lauren yelled as she set up for the serve. She tossed it into the air and then pummeled it sending it hurtling over the net.
The ball was heading right for Blaine and Jeff's side of the net. As Blaine started backing, trying to stay under it, Jeff was eyeing it trying to get into a better position. With both of their eyes on the ball, everything moved in slow motion and as Blaine leapt for the ball, Jeff caught sight of him at the last moment and tried to check his advance.
There was a loud smack, then a sickening thud followed by a scream.
End note:
Phone call for a Mr. Hanger, first name Cliff... [evil grin]
I'm not absolutely certain, but it has been posited before that reviews can serve as a sort of lubricant for publishing, of course that's only a theory...