WARNING: This chapter is confusing…even to me. The first part is very fluffy, just kind of build up material, but after the page break (GLEE~GLEE etc.) it gets into some serious, story-changing, plot affecting stuff. I do hope you enjoy it. Song suggestion for first part: "Baby, It's Cold Outside" (Glee version OF COURSE)

Three weeks of wobbling around in her cast while she tried to remain focused on things other than Connor and glee club went by far too slow. Winter break was a fast approaching, and while all of Lori's teachers scrambled to get tests in, the choir room became a sort of sanctuary. Mr. Shue had put up a little Christmas tree the Monday before break—it was now covered in little blue stars. Lori could never stop marveling at the joining of worlds in that little room. Religion, race, age…none of it mattered to her friends.

The Friday before break had brought about a meeting dedicated entirely to feeling good and singing about feeling good. Everyone gave out little presents, and Mr. Shue had worn a Santa Claus hat.

Lori came in on that day smiling like a Cheshire Cat. Despite a broken leg, a confusing…guy-friend?—and missing out on her very first chance at competition since her performance rehab, the first half of her freshman year had been pretty good.

She sat down next to Kurt, who was happily humming away. She stifled a laugh. "You kinda look like an elf."

"I do not!" he protested.

Lori eyed him again. A red sweater and black jeans wouldn't make anyone else look like an elf, but there was something about Kurt that just did.

"Whatever."

The rest of glee club was spent caroling around Brad's piano. Brad hadn't said anything to her—or anyone else as far as she knew—since her run in with Azimio, but as she left the choir room, he tapped her shoulder and gave her a warm, 'Happy new year'.

"So, what are you doing for Christmas?" she asked Kurt as they left the choir room arm in arm, buzzed on bliss, him still humming 'Deck the Halls'.

"Eh. Not much. A couple of my relatives are coming, I think. I'll probably end up making Christmas dinner, but that's no big deal."

"Your dad doesn't cook? What about Finn's mom?"

"Neither of them are fantastic, I hate to say. What about you? Any big plans?" Lori noticed they were walking in sync, the boot on her leg she had traded in the cast for clunking along, and smiled.

"Nope. Tree, relatives, presents: the usual."

"Sounds good to me."
They walked contently down the halls, still arm in arm, still whistling various carols.

Then, someone else whistled. It was a new song, still Christmas, still pretty, still very close. At first Lori was startled, but judging by Kurt's reaction, she had nothing to worry about.

"Oh my gosh…" Kurt whispered under his breath, trying to hide a smile. "I totally forgot." He sighed. "I warn you in advance:" he turned to Lori. "He's a Christmas person."

Lori was confused. That is, Lori was confused until they turned the final corner in on their way out of school, and Kurt suddenly wasn't beside her anymore.

At first she tottered a little on her bad foot without the extra support she had a moment ago, but as soon as she balanced herself, she finally caught sight of where Kurt had gone.

Blaine had been waiting around the corner, also dressed in brilliant red, a sprig of some kind of plant in one hand and Kurt's waist in the other.

"Aww…" Lori chortled. "Wait, baby's breath?"

"Gimme a break!" Blaine laughed, pulling Kurt closer. "Do you know anywhere you can buy a single branch of mistletoe?"

Lori thought for a moment. Then, shrugging said, "Got me. Do proceed."

It was a short kiss; a more poetic person may have called it fleeting or even chaste, but it was long enough for Lori to get out her iPod and scream, "Say, 'Christmas'!"

She was able to get four pictures of them in their matching sweaters (which was not planed, Kurt would have her know) before he took her iPod and threaten to run it over with his newly snow-chained car.

For the first time that Lori could remember, they all headed to leave out the same door, and for the first time, she had heard Blaine sing.

"Baby it's cold outside…" he crooned as he sauntered down the hall.

Kurt had most certainly been right about Blaine's voice so long ago. 'Angel' was definitely a sufficient description.

"…They're just like ice…" he sang continued to sing his little part of his one person duet.

"C'mon, Kurt!" Lori egged on. "Don't leave him hanging!"

"I don't think so. You have no idea the story behind this song! I refuse." Kurt rebuffed.

Then Blaine cocked his head, and Lori was caught in the crossfire of one of the most effective pair of puppy-dog eyes she had ever seen.

Still very, very persuasive.

"Please, please, PLEASE!" she begged. "If you don't, I will! And I really don't think that was part of his plan."

With an eye-roll and a sigh, Kurt gave in. "My mother will start to worry…"

"Beautiful, what's your hurry…?"

So Lori was a one person audience to an impromptu, acapella Christmas carol as they continued to walk down the halls. By the end though, she really was feeling like her presence was less than necisary.

"…Oh, but it's cold outside!"

By the time they had swayed their way to the door, it was hard to distinguish where the red of Kurt's sweater ended and Blaine's began. Lori couldn't help but smile.

"Gosh, I want a boyfriend," she sighed.

"I don't want to hear it!" Kurt called over his shoulder as they finally exited the building into a soft snow shower. "The opportunity is hanging right in front of you!"

"Kurt, I'm shocked!" she giggled back. "And with Blaine right there, too!"

"Oh, shut up and have a merry freaking' Christmas already!" He waved over his shoulder, sniggering away, as the blotch of red faded into the white towards the back parking lot.

"Hi," Lori said with a smile as she got into her mom's car.

"Well that took you long enough," her mom laughed back.

"Spontaneous Christmas romance:" Lori replied airily. "Would you want to miss that?"

"I suppose not." And they drove off

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For part one of my author's note, you may scroll to the bottom now. If you don't care, keep reading.

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The final night of winter break, Lori sat at her desk staring out her window, devastated.

Four times that week she had tried to get in touch with Connor. Four times she was met with his voicemail or hours waiting for a returned text. Finally, just ten minutes previous, her phone rang. She picked it up as fast as she could, and on the other end was Connor, sounding absolutely overjoyed. Turns out he had lost his phone in the mad scramble to get things ready for a new school—and he was really sorry about that—but he had great news. When he told her this, Lori couldn't help but be excited: the last time Connor had uttered these words, he had told her he'd be transferring to her school.

But when Connor told her about the ski trip to Michigan his pitying aunt had taken him on, and how he had met someone there, and how it turned out she went to McKinley, the high that the excitement had given her only made for a longer distance to fall. It was like someone had stabbed a knife through her heart.

Why she felt like this, she had no idea, though. She should have been happy for Connor and…Katherine. He was her friend, and he was happy. But then…why did it hurt so much?

A terrible, sinking feeling came with a thought that was hard for her to bear. Was Kurt right? Had Connor been more than a friend? No. He couldn't have been. She did the same things with him that she did with all her other friends: drink over sweetened tea at the Bean, talk about glee club, see movies…then again, thinking about it, she knew that she noticed the way he would just stare at her as she rambled, or how on the day of his announcement he had bought her a drink, or how she looked for his name on Facebook, or how she hoped every single text was from him…damn. She had a boyfriend.

She had a boyfriend, and she was so naïve that she had let him get away.

This thought unnerved her a little. She didn't like to think that she needed someone there to make her happy. She didn't like to think that she depended on anyone. She was ready to rip her hair out in confusion.

Suddenly, her eyes flew to the clock on her wall: 9:17pm…

"Hello?" Mr. Hummel's voice answered the phone.

"Hi, Mr. Hummel, it's Lori. Is Kurt there? It's kind of an emergency." She spoke quickly, wanting to get to Kurt as fast as possible without taking chances with his cell phone's erratic battery.

"Uh, yeah. I think so. Gimme a minute…" She heard him put a hand over the receiver. "Kurt! It's, uh…Lori! She says it's an emergency!"

"Hey," Kurt said a minute later.
What's—?"

"HELP ME!" she screamed.

"Calm down!" he hollered back. "And tell me what is going on."

By 11:30 that night, Lori had relayed with explicit detail everything Connor had told her about his trip and Catherine, she had explained her displeasure with the feeling of dependence and had made it very clear that she didn't want to hear one word from him about him being—dare she say it—right. During this time she had thrown something against the wall, almost fallen over her ankle boot three times, actually fallen once, and worked herself into tears.

"Calm down," he said over and over. "You'll still have glee club with him!"

"N-no I w-w-won't!" she sobbed. "He s-says that sh-she's shy, but he's gonna get h-her to j-join g-g-glee!"

Kurt swore under his breath.

"Then I guess there's only one thing left to do," he sighed.

"W-w-what's that?" She wiped her eyes and blew her nose.

"Show him what he's going to miss."

"What d-do you mean?" She was slowly gathering herself.

"Go to bed—well, early is out of the question now—but go to bed now, and wear something nice tomorrow, and in glee, you stand up there and you sing a song about the injustices of the world!" That was a direct order.

"B-but I don't know a song about the injustices of the world…" she whined pathetically.

"Oh my gosh…and you call yourself a teenage girl," he groaned.

"I still don't get it."

"How about the 2010 Grammy's album of the year?"

"I still don't know…"

"Taylor freakin' Swift, woman!"

Lori paused. "The walking cliché?"

"It worked for you once."

"I just needed a country song that time!"

"You should know by now: no one picks songs just to suit Mr. Shue's themes. Everyone sends a message with their songs."

"Everyone?"

"Yup."

"So what message did that rounding rendition of 'Walking on Sunshine' portray a couple weeks ago?"

"Not the point," she heard him say thought gritted teeth.

"Fine! I'll do Taylor Swift! I'll do it! But if I make a fool of myself, I'm blaming you."

"I can live with that."

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Monday morning came far too soon after she fell asleep. First period passed by in a haze, and the rest of the day dragged. She saw Connor once, in the halls, and he was alone. Finally the final bell rang, and with a fire in her heart, she made her way to glee.

When she arrived, Connor was standing awkwardly by the piano, a tall, thin, blonde girl by his side. She looked like Brittany, only with shorter hair and less…substance.

"Happy new year, everyone!" Mr. Shue called. "And to kick it off, we have two new members to audition!"

Everyone clapped enthusiastically…except for Kurt and Lori.

"Very nice, by the way," He whispered to her, eyeing her clothes. She had come accustomed to wearing skirts with her cast, but the royal blue v-neck sweater took a bit of getting used to.

"I try," she replied before Mr. Shue cut her off.

"First we have…?"

"Connor O'Brian, sir," Connor piped up, sounding very intimidated.

"Dude, cool it," Puck shot across the room. "This ain't Dalton."

"Um…" Mr. Shue began. "I thank you for your courtesy, but Puck is somewhat right. 'Sir' really isn't necessary. Ready?"

Connor nodded nervously and stepped forward, releasing Catherine's hand, and watching her take a seat in the corner.

"Ready."

Brad started playing something with a definite drawl. 'Country boy…' Lori thought.

And with his eyes locked on his new girlfriend, he began to sing.

"Baby, lock the door and turn the lights down low…"

Lori's eyes grew wide, and out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Kurt's lip curl in frustration.

Son of a gun, he was good.

"…Just to be your man…"

Lori mentally slapped herself. She felt Kurt nudge her foot with the toe of his shoe, and when she looked over, he shot her a glance that read, as clear as day, 'Holy shi—'

"Very nice, Connor." Mr. Shue said. "That was a well welcomed change of pace for around here. If you would take a seat and send Catherine up?"

As he made his way to his seat, he put a hand on Catherine's shoulder. She walked tentatively to the front of the classroom and stood leaning on the piano.

"Whenever you're ready," Mr. Shue said kindly.

"I-I'm C-Catherine Monroe…" she said, beginning to hyperventilate. Something evil inside of Lori smiled. "And I'll be singing… 'Love Song'."

She looked over at Brad who gave a polite kind of nod, but the second Catherine had turned around, he looked up at Lori and rolled his eyes. She stifled a laugh. Kurt noticed.

"You and Brad an item now?" he whispered.

"No. I think he just gets me." She paused. "You too, I bet."

"What are you—?" But he was cut off by Brad's playing.

And Catherine's singing.

"Head under water, and you tell me, to breath easy for a while…"

Almost simultaneously, Kurt and Lori's chins dropped.

She was awful.

Part 1 Author's Note: I definitely think 'croon' is an appropriate verb for what Blaine does. Just opinion. :D

I very much considered putting up part one by itself, but I figure that it was just too short. As cute as it was, I like my stories to at least have some kind of plot. I hope you liked the fluff before the drama. I also hate the term "puppy-dog eyes". I feel it is insanely misused and much too much of a cliché…but sometime there are no other words.

Part 2 Author's Note: Why I had Connor sing "Your Man": when I thought up Connor for the first time, I saw Scotty McCreery in Rupert Grint's body (circa "Goblet of Fire"). So there you go. Why I stopped it there: If I continued to the next 'section' this chapter would be at least nine pages long. So I will stop it here and hope to have Chapter 11 up by tomorrow night.

Peace!

~C.C.

P.S. if there is anyone out there willing to do so, I am accepting prompts to be used in an upcoming chapter. Four non-related words or a ten word sentence/phrase max. I welcome anyone to do so; please keep it P-G.