Glee hiatus=almost over! :D This week has been so crazy hectic and the Klairs have been glorious to us! P.S. It's Darren Criss' birthday today!
I own nothing
Please please please review! :D
Everything had just about gone back to normal at Westbrook after Regionals, except now all the Cardinals were getting more attention than ever before. The shiny trophy that stood on the large desk in the middle of Cardinal hall was a testament to that.
It was an average day in the lunchroom, when Alex asked Gemma a blunt question. "What are you getting Blaine for his birthday?" He had made sure that Blaine left the table before he asked. He was clear that he wanted them to get together, but come on; he wasn't going to be that obvious in front of them both. He would only do that when he got one of them by themselves. So it was the perfect opportunity to see what Gemma had planned.
She choked on her Bugles. "His birthday? Oh my god, when is it?"
Alex feigned surprise. "You mean you're telling me that you don't know when your favorite soloist's birthday is?" She whacked his arm with the pile of chemistry notes sitting in front of her. "Stop it. Oh my god why didn't you tell me his birthday was coming up? And you didn't tell me when it is!" she added forcefully with a glare.
Alex rubbed his arm and pouted. "It's February 5th… Now I'm not going to help you with coming up with something amazing to give him, now that you've put me out of commission for baseball…" He rotated his shoulder dramatically as if he had thrown his arm out.
Gemma reached across the table to grab his shirt and spoke slowly. "If you don't help me, I swear to god those pictures are gonna find their way mysteriously onto Facebook. And what goes on the internet never goes away. Do I make myself clear?"
Alex nodded, afraid of what those pictures might contain and at her sudden intensity. He certainly didn't want to see them or get Gemma even madder. It was a little scary. "Now," said Gemma sweetly, sitting back, "can you go to the mall or something after school with me to find something? You're like his best friend, so you can tell me what he'd like."
Alex stared at her, then said, "Gemma, I can't. I'm arranging a new piece for the Cardinals tonight."
"Oh, well do that first, cause we have to rehearse that tomorrow!" Gemma smiled at him. "But after that, you'll do some digging, and see what he likes?" Alex just nodded back dumbly. Gemma tapped his nose with her index finger. "Thanks, Alex. You're the best!" He nodded again and got up from the table to ponder over that encounter with a puzzled expression on his face. How that went from his opportunity at teasing her for her obvious love for Blaine turned into blackmail, it was beyond him. But all he knew was that now he had to figure out something that Blaine would want from Gemma, and it had to be something good. He wanted them to hurry up and do something already, because he noticed the way Blaine had practically eye sexed her during Regionals when she was dancing. It was enough to make someone want to vomit, it was so ridiculous.
He skipped up to his room to find Blaine sitting at his desk, an intense look on his face as he studied something on the screen of his laptop. He had headphones in so he didn't hear Alex's sneaky approach. He was watching some video on YouTube, and when it stopped Blaine guided the mouse to the replay button. Then Alex saw what the video was, and couldn't help from bursting out laughing. Blaine heard him and quickly shut his laptop closed, tugging out his earbuds as he whirled around to face Alex.
"What are you doing here?" he blurted out, eyes narrowing as he tried to hug his laptop close to him. Alex just raised his eyebrows in amusement.
"Dude calm down, I just came up here to get my books for English…What were you watching?" He reached quickly for the laptop that was cradled in Blaine's arms and grabbed it before Blaine could react. He opened it to see what the video was. "Really?" he smirked. It was a video of Gemma's old glee club, and she seemed to be the one singing. He couldn't tell though, since it was paused. He looked at the replay button and saw that it had been clicked on 34 times.
"Holy crap, Blaine, how long have you been up here watching this?" he asked incredulously. Blaine sank further into his chair and wouldn't look Alex in the eye. "It's not the only one," he mumbled. "I was trying to see what her old group was like, since they were so good at Regionals. I was surprised that they were only the third runners up." He shrugged. "But then I found all of these." There was a playlist full of videos featuring Gemma at the bottom of the screen.
Alex just looked at him, a grin spreading across his face. He had an idea, and needed to tell Gemma right away…
The text from Alex read: Meet me in Cardinal Hall after rehearsal. I have the perfect present for you to give a certain someone—A
Gemma read the text with some uncertainty. She was a little unsure at what Alex had up his sleeve, but she wanted to find out, regardless. She really hoped it was a good idea, because she had no clue what she could give him off the top of her head. She wasn't going to ask him what he wanted because he would probably tell her not to get him anything. He was always like that. She thought he was far too modest, and sometimes he needed to accept a compliment or a gift every now and then. So that was why she wasn't going to ask him about it. This was going to be entirely a secret operation between her and Alex.
Cardinal practice went well, as they started to form a spectacular set list for Nationals coming up soon. They really wanted to steal the show, and tried to think of the best songs that fit their style and would showcase everybody's talent. By the end of the rehearsal, everyone left the room with ideas of songs popping in their heads, and blurting them out to the other Cardinals before they forgot about them.
Gemma lingered around the piano and sat down, plinking at the keys waiting for Alex to shut the doors so they could talk. He shooed Blaine out, claiming that he had to talk to Gemma about something with the new choreography. When he finally got rid of him, he closed the doors quietly behind him and sighed in relief. "Finally."
Gemma stopped her tinkering at the piano and swiveled around to talk to Alex face to face. "So? What is this amazing idea you have?" She looked at him expectantly.
"A CD," he said with a flourish of his hands. She raised her eyebrows at that. "That's it? That's all you can think of? I'm pretty sure he has like every single good CD in existence…" She folded her arms across her chest in annoyance.
"No, not like that kind of CD. A CD of you," he pointed at her.
"Me? Why would he ever want a CD of me?" She wasn't buying it.
Alex tsked at her. "No Gemma, you're not seeing the full picture here. A CD of you. Singing. Blaine loves your voice."
She really wasn't believing him now. "Oh, really? What makes you say that?"
"Because," he paused to smirk at her, "I just found out that he cannot stop watching those videos of you on YouTube. And since my friend still has no clue how to convert YouTube files to mp3s you are going to record him a quality CD with songs covered by you."
She put aside the fact that Blaine had watched all those embarrassing videos of her to scoff at Alex. "Wouldn't he get embarrassed? He probably didn't want me to know that he's seen them all." But then again, I've seen all of his, she wanted to add.
"C'mon, it's the perfect present. He would really love it." He pleaded with her.
She sighed. "Fine. Then you have to help me with the song selections." Alex grinned at her.
"Oh, I'm way ahead of you on that one."
By the end of the week, Gemma was feeling pretty confident in the song choices that she and Alex had picked out. They were all good songs that showed off her voice, and had nice meanings to them. She had grumbled quite a lot at some of Alex's suggestions, but in the end she actually decided to go with a few of them because she personally really liked them (she wasn't going to tell him that, though).
Saturday rolled around, and it turned out to be a nice and sunny day, quite crisp for the first weekend in February. Blaine woke up groggily, but it was okay because he didn't have to go home that weekend. His parents had set aside the next weekend to celebrate his birthday since something had come up that they had to attend. He didn't really care, as long as he didn't have to spend his birthday doing something that he didn't want to be doing. He was plenty content with staying at school with his friends for his birthday.
He rubbed his eyes and ran a hand through his hair, free of gel because he had uncharacteristically taken a shower the night before. He started showering at night since the competition to try to erase those thoughts from his mind because he was having trouble sleeping. It wasn't until he was fully awake when he noticed his room.
Alex, Lucy, Gemma, Jeff, Jaime, Jesses, and countless other Waldorfs were crowded into the dorm room and had party hats on their heads. "Surprise!" they cried.
He blinked in shock. "Wha—What are you all doing in here? I was sleeping!" His voice was thick with sleep.
"All the better to surprise you! Tricking you into a surprise party is so clichéd! Surprising you as soon as you wake up is so much better!" said Jesse.
He rolled his eyes, stretched for a second in his bed, yawned and then got up. "Alright, fine. Do what you want. What do you need me to do?"
"Just stay there and close your eyes," directed Jaime. He closed them impatiently, and sighed through his nose.
He heard a lot of sounds that would probably frighten him if he knew what was causing them. He just waited until the noises died down and he asked with an irritated sigh, "Can I open my eyes now?"
"Yup," was the affirmative answer from Alex. He opened his eyes again to see the same people, but his room was completely transformed. It looked like somebody had puked some confetti birthday surprise all over his room. Above the door hung a HAPPY BIRTHDAY BLAINEY! banner, and streamers were taped up all over the walls and on every available furniture surface. Loudly wrapped gifts were strewn all over the floor since they didn't all fit on the coffee table by the TV. People were practically shoving gifts in his face.
"Whoa, you guys didn't have to do all this! I mean seriously, it's just a birthday." He felt quite a bit uncomfortable at all the attention. Some people backed off, but the majority hung around him, looking to Alex, not quite knowing what to do.
"Blaine, it's not every day you turn 18. Live it up and let us appreciate you and shower you with gifts. We love you here, let us show it. We wouldn't have gotten to Nationals without your voice and Gemma's dancing." Alex was serious. "Just let us do this for you."
Blaine looked around the room at all the people that admired him, and began to give in. He knew that he would have given anything to have all these amazing people with him two and a half years ago, and told himself to stop putting up walls. He needed to be more open, and he could use all the help and support for what he was going through—when it was the right moment to start telling people, of course.
Alex tossed him a long rectangular package wrapped in red paper with blue balloons covering it. "Open it," he commanded. The paper was torn off to reveal the largest Hershey's chocolate bar he had ever seen in his entire life. "What the—Alex what is this?" His eyes widened in shock at the sheer size of it, and he looked over at Alex, with half a crazy look in his eyes.
"It's your dream come true," he answered gently.
"Oh my god, where has this been all my life?" Blaine asked wildly.
"In a candy store, under some M&Ms." Blaine paid attention only to the chocolate and started to tear back the wrappings and attached his mouth to the bar. "Oh my god this chocolate is just—I can't explain all these things I'm feeling right now" There was chocolate smeared all over his face but he didn't care. He was in a sugary bliss.
"Geez Blaine!" said Gemma. "Don't give yourself a sugar coma! There's still more stuff people want to give you, and we'd kind of prefer it if you were fully conscious for it." He stopped mid-chew, and contemplated what she said. Then he looked at the floor and set the bar down carefully. "You're right. I uh, got carried away there for a moment."
So with that the rest of his presents were opened when given to him, and the gift givers began departing the cramped room until it was just Alex, Lucy and Gemma standing there in the middle of the room. Alex whispered something in Lucy's ear. She raised her eyebrows in a smug way but didn't say anything. "Hey Blaine, do you mind if Luce and I step out for a second? We forgot something downstairs and I need her help to get it," said Alex.
"Oh, yeah, sure. Go ahead," said Blaine. They left the room quickly, leaving just Blaine and a confused Gemma. Then it hit her. Of course they would try to get them alone! She narrowed her eyes at the door which they had just gone through. Oh those—she stopped herself mid-thought, and then remembered that she hadn't given Blaine her present yet. Then full realization hit her. Oh. Now I get it, she thought. They want me to give him his present in private…
"Blaine, I have to get something real quick from my room. I'll be right back," said Gemma, and she dashed across the hall to retrieve the small gift she had finally wrapped last night in shiny silver and red striped paper. She came back and went over to where he had sat down on the couch. Holding the present behind her back, she said, "Okay now, close your eyes."
He sighed. "Do I have to? I mean I've had to do that like a million times today." He glanced at the look on her face that said 'just do it or else'. "Okay closing my eyes now."
"Okay now hold out your hands. Yeah, there." He felt a small square object being placed in his hands. "Open your eyes, and the present." He carefully tore back the shiny paper and found that it was a CD.
"Oh wow thanks," he said. Then he saw what the CD contained. All it had said on the front was Mixes by Gemma. He turned it over to see the contents on the back. It was a lot of his favorite songs, as well as some that he didn't know. He took it out of the case and placed it in his stereo to listen to it. The first track didn't quite sound like the song he knew at first, but then he understood why.
"Oh my god. Wow, Gemma. You recorded all of these?" She nodded at him. "Alex gave me the idea, and he helped me with the arrangements."
Blaine didn't know whether or not to kiss and hug Alex or punch him in the face for basically telling Gemma of his YouTube obsession with her videos. It was (probably not) a coincidence that his favorite songs happened to be ones that Gemma had covered when she was at Greenwood.
"This is just amazing, thank you so much," he pulled her into a huge hug. "You know I really do like the sound of your voice," he whispered into her ear. His warm breath tickled, and she drew back, mildly surprised that he would admit that so freely.
"You know, come to think of it, I'm not the only one with embarrassing YouTube videos from the past." His eyes widened in shock. "Oh my god you know about those?" He was freaking out now. "Who told you about them? Alex? Lucy? Jesse? Jaime?" he demanded. He had to find out so he could do something about it. Just what, he didn't really know. But he wouldn't let them get by without some sort of consequence for her finding out about them.
"Actually, I found them on my own. It was before I really knew Alex and Lucy that well. And for the record, it's okay to sing those songs. They're too cool not to," she tried to reassure him because she could see the distraught look on his face.
He smiled a little at her, before thanking her again. "Just, thanks. I really like it." He hugged her again.
Then they heard giggling coming from outside the closed door. They both stepped back and rolled their eyes. "Alex, Lucy, come on. Don't eavesdrop. It's rude," pointed out Gemma.
Then the door opened and Alex walked in with a giant cake in his hands. "Sorry, but we just got curious when the talking stopped." He winked at them and Gemma's face went bright red. Blaine just looked at him darkly.
"She was giving me my present, and I thanked her for it," said Blaine. He was getting sick of this teasing. He knew that he wouldn't have a chance with Gemma, especially since she's seen his embarrassingly dorky side. And it wasn't fair to Gemma either. She didn't need to hear this crap from Alex. She was probably creeped out by it, especially since she knew that he looked her up on the internet without her permission.
"Whatever you say Blaine, whatever you say," was Alex's remark, as he cut a slice of cake and offered it to Blaine. "Now, Lucy and I are going to eat cake with you, but when we leave, I want you to use this cake for however you see fit."
Blaine said nothing but the pissed off look on his said it all. Alex dodged the piece of cake that went his way, and it flew into the wall, splattering frosting everywhere. Alex ran out of the room, laughing, "Blaine calm down! I'm just kidding!"
Blaine wasn't buying it. "Leave. Now." He was fuming. Alex had gone too far this time. Lucy left the room quietly to look for Alex. They could still hear his faint laughter downstairs. It didn't seem like he understood how pissed off Blaine was.
"I think I'll leave now," said Gemma awkwardly. Blaine just nodded at her, looking at the floor, clenching his fists. How did a great day turn into such a mess? He knew he was going to need to straighten this out later, try to find Alex and talk to him and explain what was going on. But right now, he needed some alone time. He rubbed his forehead as he sat down on his bed. What he needed was a shower, and to relax.
After his long shower, he wiped the steam from the mirror and looked at himself in it. His hair was still plastered to his head, but some of the curls broke free from the rest and stuck up. He ran a hand through it and put it back on the counter. He flexed his arms—he wasn't super buff, but he worked out frequently and had nicely toned arms. Looking at his bare chest, he winced a little. He was pretty pale. Not as pale as the nearly translucent Jaime and Jesse, but pale considering his mom had color. She was half-Filipino, and that's where he got his crazily curly hair from. But he figured that he colored after his dad, who was very white. He sighed, because he always looked so pasty next to Alex, who was Samoan. His dark hair only accentuated his paleness, but he was okay with it. He always thought he looked weird with tan skin, so he could accept being pale. At least he didn't have to worry about burning in the sun. He got a light tan every summer, but it was better than burning.
So as he looked himself over, he was satisfied with himself. Why wouldn't anyone like him? He knew he was nice—he tried to practice that daily, since he could have used all the niceness in the world at some point. He was talented, sure, and he wasn't bad on the eyes. So he didn't really get why Gemma didn't seem to be into him. Maybe he was still being too forward. He toweled his hair dry and pulled a tee shirt on.
Walking over to his bed, he turned on his stereo to turn up the volume slightly. The CD that Gemma had given him was still in it and he listened to her voice softly filling the room. He wasn't going to turn it up any louder—he didn't want her to hear—but he just wanted to listen to the sweet sound. He wanted her so badly, but it seemed like she didn't want him. This was probably the best he was going to get.