A/N: Well, here you go, chapter eleven and the second part of the scavenger hunt. This chapter really did not want to be written and I apologize for its shortness.
Chapter twelve will be up on Saturday, so I really hope that this means I will be able to get back to the twice a week updating. We're halfway through vacation now, which means we are halfway done with the story.
If you haven't read it yet, I did write and post a short Trent/Kassie last night titled So He Did. It's only rated M to be safe.
I want to give a big thank you to my awesome beta, cyclopsr, for being totally awesome. Love you!
Happy Reading!
Task Five: Find the big guy in the U.S.S. Ripley. Make sure to give him a hug.
Task Six: Stand under 'the boar's head' and get a picture.
Finding and completing the first four tasks had been relatively easy for Tina, Mike, Blaine, Scott, and Thad as Kassie tagged along. The group had managed to find a very helpful local that seemed to know where everything on the list was located. After the elderly gentleman had wished them luck as they parted ways, it had taken only two and a half hours to find and complete the first four tasks.
They were heading to the U.S.S. Ripley- the Ripley's Believe It or Not! Museum when Kassie got a phone call, causing her to leave the others to check out the strange museum without her.
Thad followed behind the rest of the group, smiling to himself as he watched the two couples who walked with linked hands. Mike and Tina were perfect together, the Warbler happily noted. And Blaine hadn't looked this happy since he first met Kurt- this Scott guy was good for his friend. Now if only he could find someone.
He wasn't able to linger on the thought long though; Blaine was the first to see the statue of a very large man. With a shout and jump of elation, the short man led his friends to the over-sized man. As Scott found a fellow tourist to take a picture for them, the rest of the team gathered around the statue, Blaine crouching down in front of it to hug its plastic legs, while everyone else tried to hold it by the waist.
The camera flashed and Tina thanked the woman who just smiled at the group before leaving.
"Okay. So what's next?" Thad led the way out of the strange museum as he spoke over his shoulder at Mike, since it was the Asian who had the list.
"We're to stand under 'the boar's head'," Mike answered, pocketing the list and taking his girlfriend by the hand.
Hand in hand with Scott, Blaine nodded. "The guy earlier said that there is a restaurant somewhere on the beach called 'The Boar's Head.' Knowing Kassie, that is probably the place to start."
After calling up one of his fraternity brothers, Scott managed to get the location of the restaurant, and half an hour later the five teens found themselves standing under a sign in the shape of a boar's head.
"I would assume we are in the right place," Thad shrugged, pulling his phone out of his pocket.
"It's rather nice. I wouldn't mind eating here," Tina turned to Mike, clenching his hand in hers.
"We can come back tonight."
Blaine shook his head at the couple and found a patron who was willing to take a picture of them. The five teens gathered under the sign, arms looped around each other with Tina in the middle. Hearing a soft click, Thad took his phone from the man and thanked him before they took off with only one task left to complete.
"Sebastian?"
Pushing the door to the house open, Kassie stepped into the living room to see the boy in question slumped in a chair, head bowed. "Sebastian? What's going on?"
Sitting on the edge of the coffee table, the brunette gazed at the seeming broken boy and frowned. From what little she knew of the Warbler, this was not Sebastian's usual behavior. At all.
"Sebastian?"
Finally. Blue eyes looked up and met her own and what she saw in those eyes made the girl want to recoil. She wanted to back up, run, and leave him to deal with his own problems. She didn't want to help shoulder the pain, sorrow, fear, and regret she could see. But she didn't. There was no doubt in her mind that she was probably one of the only people to see Sebastian Smythe this vulnerable.
"Reynolds…"
And he broke down. He hadn't felt like this since he left Paris. He hadn't let himself feel much of anything really. Through the tears that he couldn't bother trying to wipe away, Sebastian did the one thing he never thought he would find himself doing; confiding in someone. He began to tell this near stranger who was friends with the ex he tried to force into having sex with and was best friends with the boy he stole his ex from. How could he have let this happen?
"I… God, Reynolds. I fucked up. Like… worse than with Blaine or Kurt or anyone… I went to a gay bar last night and… I sang. An Adam Lambert song. I was good. Better than good. I was better than Lambert himself. After I left the club… After I left, it felt as if someone was following me. I shrugged it off. I blamed it on the alcohol. Figured after some sleep, everything would be fine."
The tears finally stopped, but Sebastian couldn't help the way his voice seemed to crack as he spoke. "I left this morning and the feeling was back. I thought I saw someone following me while I was walking around town, but I shrugged it off. I thought maybe someone else was heading the same direction as me. He was there. In Hollister. He…"
Taking a deep breath, the boy turned his hand over, exposing a dark bruise that wrapped around his wrist. "He wouldn't let go. I… I thought it was all over. He knew my name, where I went to school and everything. I thought…"
Once again, the tears threatened to fall as he felt himself pulled into a warm embrace.
"What happened was not your fault, Sebastian. Whoever that man is, it's him that has a problem. You're just too damn sexy for the boys to resist." The girl chuckled softly, eliciting a small smile from the boy.
"He'll go away. If you want, we can call the police; they should probably be told about this creep anyway."
"No," Sebastian shook his head. "I don't want to involve the police. Not yet."
Unhappy, but unwilling to argue, Kassie shrugged. "Fine. But for now on, you aren't leaving this house alone. Got it?"
"Yeah." Sebastian nodded as he stood, wiping at his eyes as he headed for the stairs. He needed a shower. Maybe he could scrub the dirty away.
"Oh, and Reynolds?"
"Yeah, Seb?"
Forcing the corner of his mouth up a bit, the boy smiled. "Thanks."
He was already half-way up the stairs when he heard a faint 'You're welcome.'
Task Seven: Get 'Shipwrecked' and take the 'Pirate's Plunge.'
Having done some research on the area before vacation even begun, Jeff knew exactly where the last clue led. He, Nick, Quinn, Trent, and Artie had this last stop left and they would be able to rush back home and hopefully win. Losing just wasn't an option for the blonde.
Trent pushed Artie's chair through the main gate of the water park and the five teens were given their pre-paid wrist bands for the rides.
"Your girlfriend really thought this through, Trent." Artie looked up at the other boy who could only nod.
"She's always been this way. She doesn't do anything halfway and always has to have a plan."
"Yeah? Well I plan on getting my thrill on," Jeff grinned, his fingers laced with Quinn's, who was using her other hand to hold Nick's.
"Exactly how are we going to get Artie down that thing?"
The ride was huge, and Quinn, who was terrified of heights, had a problem with riding the thing as well. Phone vibrating, the only girl in the group checked the message.
"Well, never mind, guys. Kassie said that all we have to do is make sure Artie is in the water. The rest of us have to ride."
They got an inflatable raft for Artie and got him in the water, making sure he had the camera in a plastic bag so he could record for them while keeping the camera dry.
Nick and Jeff went first, climbing the stairs to the top of the ride. It was set up as two slides side-by-side so the riders could race each other to the bottom. The boys barely paid attention at the guy manning the ride told them how to cross their arms and steer with their bodies, keeping their heads up the whole time.
Shooting his boyfriend a playful look, Jeff sat down at the edge of the slide. "You are going down, Duval!"
With a scoff, Nick shook his head. "I don't think so, Sterling. Wanna make a bet on it?"
"Sure. I'm still going to kick your ass."
"More like kiss it. First one down gets to kiss Quinn."
"Love, we do that already, but deal."
And they took off. Both boys screaming as they went down the slide, Jeff slightly in front, Nick close behind. The ride straightened out and Nick shot forward, hitting the pool just moments before his boyfriend.
"I won! Ha! Take that Jeffrey!"
The boys scrambled from the pool, Jeff glaring daggers at his boyfriend when the darker haired teen grabbed their girlfriend and pulled her in for a celebratory kiss.
"Nick! Ugh! You're soaking!" Quinn squealed with a laugh, pushing the boy from her, only to find herself in her blonde boyfriends' arms. "Jeff! You, too! Get back!"
The boys chuckled as they pulled the girl in for a three-way hug, soaking her front and back.
"It's your turn, Quinnie."
"You're going to get wet anyway."
Smacking her boys, Quinn just grabbed Trent by the hand and pulled him away. She would rather ride with him anyway.
It was just after three in the afternoon and Sebastian and Kassie were sitting on a couch watching Mythbusters when Kurt, Dave, Rory, Puck, and Pauley came bursting through the front door, literally running into the living room. The look of relief when they realized they were the only ones there was comical to the two teens who had just been relaxing.
Thrusting his phone at Kassie, Kurt grinned broadly as he tried to catch his breath. The girl took the phone and began to flip through the pictures and watched the videos that had been taken. Rory's reaction to the giant keyboard was apparent and she bit back a laugh at the look of pain on Puck's face as he lay on the bed of nails.
Handing the phone over to the boy on the couch next to her, Kassie let Sebastian take a look at the evidence.
"Well?"
"Well what," Kassie asked with a smirk.
"Did we…"
Kurt's question was cut off by the arrival of Quinn, Artie, Nick, Jeff, and Trent. Brittany, Santana, Mercedes, Lauren, and Sam were right behind them.
Taking back Kurt's phone, Kassie put on her best poker face and held it out to her friend.
"Congratulations team four; you have won."
The other two groups filed in as Kurt and Dave shared a quick kiss, while Puck pulled Pauley and Rory into a massive hug. Santana and Mercedes didn't take the loss very well, but everyone else just congratulated the group and began sharing stories of their day. It was Rachel who finally, after more than fifteen minutes of everyone talking over each other and Kassie and Sebastian sharing exasperated looks, who got everyone to quiet down just a bit.
"Hey!" Climbing onto the coffee table, Rachel yelled again. "Hey! Guys!"
After the room went quiet and everyone was focused on her, the short girl continued; "Don't we have a karaoke contest tomorrow?"
The room broke out into talk again and took it another several minutes for the girl to get the attention back on her. "Okay. So, I figure us girls should do a number for sure. I don't know about the boys though, especially since there are so many of you."
Sebastian stood, his calm demeanor back in place. "I suggest the guys split into two groups. We could make it another competition. The girls versus the guys from the New Directions versus the Warblers."
"That," Finn nodded, "is actually a good idea."
From the corner of his eye, Sebastian could see Kurt and Blaine exchange a meaningful look, but one glance over at his new friend? told him to keep his mouth shut. Not that he really cared all that much, but maybe having some of these guys as friends wouldn't be so bad.
The boys split off into their two groups, Scott and Pauley taking seats in the living room with Lauren who had decided she didn't want to compete either.
Watching the three groups go off in separate directions, Lauren, Kassie, Pauley, and Scott all exchanged wary looks. Tomorrow was going to be interesting.
A/N: Again, I am so sorry for how short this chapter is. Chapter twelve should more than make up for it, though!
Hugs and cookies,
-ktattoo
