Author's Note: First of all, let me apologize for this chapter being so short. I've been experiencing a bit of a block with this story, so I'm trying to work through it the best I can, and that might mean a few shorter chapters until I can get the story line straightened out in my head again.
bethanycriss: I'm glad you like Conrad so much! He's a blast to write. He's kind of a mix between Kurt from the Laryngitis episode in season 1, Buck from United States of Tara, and the redneck boys I went to high school with here in Georgia. I'm sure he'll be back again soon :)
I don't own Glee or United States of Tara
Chapter 12
"So what exactly did you want to talk about?" Nick asked the boy sitting opposite of him in-between long gulps of Coke. He didn't go off campus too much, so going to the Lima Bean where he had unlimited free refills of soda was definitely something he was going to take advantage of.
"Oh, you know," the other boys answered casually, arm propped casually on the back of his chair as he sat sideways, his legs crossed loosely. "I just haven't had a chance to make very many real connections here at Dalton yet and you seemed like someone who'd make a good friend." The boy smiled almost painfully, trying his best to convince Nick that he was a good guy, when in fact, Sebastian Smythe was nothing more than a conman. He had every intention of being Nick's 'friend' for as long as it took to get the information he needed.
"That's cool," Nick replied casually, completely oblivious to Sebastian's true motives. Unlike Sebastian, Nick was a genuinely good-hearted person. He rarely disliked someone and when he did, it was only after giving them the benefit of the doubt a hundred times first. "Are you liking it here so far?"
"Yeah," Sebastian answered, placing his coffee cup down on the table. "Everyone's been so nice, especially the Warblers. Hey, speaking of, who is this Kurt Hummel I keep hearing so much about?"
Nick put down his glass excitedly. "Oh Kurt? He's great. He transferred here last year for a little while because he was having problems at his old school, but then he went back. He was a Warbler while he was here and he made a great addition to the group. We were pretty bummed to see him go."
"Wow," Sebastian said, with all the fake enthusiasm he could muster. "So, if he fit in so well here, why did he leave?"
"I don't really know all the details," Nick answered, furrowing his brow slightly. "He was bullied at McKinley by this stupid jock but then they worked out some kind of deal or something so he could go back. I don't know. You should ask Blaine, he knows all the details."
"Wait," Sebastian replied, mimicking Nick's confused look from a few moments earlier. "Kurt…is Kurt who Blaine is dating?" Nick nodded as he down another gulp of Coke. "Okay, everything makes a lot more sense now. But wow, that must be pretty tough on Blaine, huh? Long distance relationship and all?"
Nick shrugged his shoulders casually. "Nah, they seem to have it figured out."
Sebastian waited a few moments to see if Nick was going to add anything else before he began moving in for the kill. "Say, I heard something else that kind of confused me about Kurt."
"What's that?" Nick asked, putting his glass back down with concern.
"Well," Sebastian started, fiddling nervously with the paper sleeve of his coffee cup. "I feel horrible for gossiping, but….well, I heard that he had some…problems"
"What do you mean?" Nick asked, completely confused. This wasn't a good sign to Sebastian. "What kind of problems?"
"I overheard someone talking in the cafeteria about him," Sebastian said softly, leaning over the table so Nick could hear him properly. "About his disorder?"
Nick stared at the other boy for a moment. He was starting to feel a shadow of suspicion growing in the back of his mind. What was Sebastian getting at? "I really don't know what you're talking about. There's nothing wrong with Kurt."
Sebastian leaned back. Damn, he thought. I was really hoping to get somewhere with him, but he really doesn't have a clue.
"You know what?" Sebastian asked, putting on his patented charming smile. "They must have been talking about someone else. I shouldn't have assumed it was Kurt."
"It's cool," Nick said quickly. Maybe he was wrong about Sebastian's motives. Maybe he really was just trying to make some friends. "But hey, do you think we could make our way back to the school? I'm supposed to meet Jeff for dinner."
"Sure thing, Nick," Sebastian answered, standing up from the table. "Will you do me a favor though?"
"Yeah, what is it?"
"Will you just forget that I asked that question about Kurt? I feel really bad that I thought those guys at lunch were talking about Kurt and I don't want anyone to get a bad impression of me. I'm not that kind of guy." Sebastian could tell be the forgiving twinkle in Nick's eye that he didn't have anything to worry about.
"Sure, yeah," Nick nodded, smiling back at the other boy. "We all make mistakes."
"Yes we do," Sebastian replied, laughing a little too loudly. With that, the two of them headed out of the Lima Bean and back to Dalton. All the while, Sebastian started working on developing the next step in his plan.
Burt's fingers shook slightly as he typed the number into his cell phone. He checked it against the one he found online three times before hitting the send button and bringing the ringing phone to his ear.
After the third ring, someone picked up and from the sound of the voice, he was pretty sure he had the right person.
"Hello?"
"Uh, yeah hi," Burt stumbled as he realized for the first time that he hadn't prepared what he wanted to say in case he actually did get through on the first try. "I'm trying to reach Edward Szabo?"
"Yeah, this is Edward, who is this?"
Burt's heart pounded so hard, he thought he might be having another heart attack. He had no idea he would be this nervous, but then again, why wouldn't he be? After all, this was his son's life he was talking about.
"Edward," Burt cleared his throat and tried to steady his voice. "This is Burt Hummel. Kurt Hummel's father?"
There was a long pause. Such a long pause that Burt thought that maybe the call had been dropped, but then he could hear Edward breathing slightly on the other end.
"Do you remember Kurt?" He ventured. Still no answer. "Edward?"
"Don't call here again."
Burt heard the long beep in his ear signaling the dropped call and pulled the phone away in disbelief.
"What the hell was that about?" Burt asked aloud to no one in particular. When he had finally spoken, Edward's voice was shaky. Instead of sounding angry, like his choice of words would seem to suggest, Burt thought he'd sounded scared, almost pleading with Burt not to contact him. He thought briefly about redialing the number, trying again, but then another thought occurred to him.
Edward Szabo was the same age as his own son, and he'd sounded more than a little frightened. What if something had happened to him too? Even if nothing had and Burt was reading way more into the short interaction than was actually there, if it was someone from the past calling Kurt and Kurt had that kind of reaction, would Burt want that man to keep calling his son? Knowing that the answer to that question was 'no', Burt put the phone back down on his desk with a heavy sigh.
He'd spent all morning and early afternoon mustering up the courage to dial the number he'd found online the night before after talking to Kurt. He knew that Edward was either a junior or senior in high school at this point, so he waited until school would presumably be out to make the call. Now he had a few hours before he had to be home himself, and the thought of going back out into the garage and getting underneath another car just made him sick.
Working on cars was his passion, but right now, if it didn't have something to do with trying to save his son, he didn't want to even think about it. He had a one-track mind and his one lead had just told him never to contact him again.
