"But the weirdest part of all was that while it had been happening—once I'd gotten used to the idea, I mean, of this hot guy hanging out with me—it hadn't actually seemed that weird at all. It was like that smile Will had given me that day in the park, the one I hadn't been able to keep from returning. It had just seemed natural, even right, to smile back, just like it had seemed totally natural—natural and, yes, right—to have Will there, joking around with the silverware as we set the table, laughing at my Graul's bag boy imitation." (Meg Cabot, Avalon High)
Blaine looked down at their joined hands again. He'd unconsciously been playing with Kurt's fingers while telling the story. Now he stilled his hands and waited for a reaction, any reaction, from Kurt.
"Blaine?" Kurt's high, melodious voice called his attention again. "You're not pathetic. Wait until I tell you about my embarrassing crushes …"
Kurt told him what had happened with his first crush, Sebastian. He told it very plainly, yet Blaine could see how deeply it had hurt him, and it made him stiffen up and ball his hands into fists. If he disliked Sebastian Smythe before, that was nothing to the absolute fury he now felt towards him.
Then a thought occurred to him. "So … You were a child actor? Does that mean it actually WAS you who played Argyle?"
Kurt nodded. "Nobody knows, though. I tend to avoid the limelight since I left "A Tree Called Life". I used a pseudonym and the character looked and behaved like he was on the wrong side of seventy. Basically, the only part of me that was recognisable was my eyes, and I'm stunned that you connected Argyle with me. Not even my father recognised me, and he's seen the film about a zillion times."
Blaine coloured up and bit his lip. "I've seen it many times as well. I … I love Mark Easterbrook's novels, especially "Breathless". And the film adaptation is sublime."
"Though it scares you witless," Kurt chuckled.
"Though it scares me witless," Blaine confirmed.
They were silent for a moment, and then Kurt sighed.
"Well, I should get on with it, shouldn't I? My embarrassing crushes?"
Blaine squeezed his hand and said softly: "You don't have to tell me if it makes you feel uncomfortable."
Kurt shook his head, sincerity blazing in his eyes. "It's strange, but I actually feel very much at ease with you. And I want to share this with you."
Blaine smiled and said: "Thank you. I'm glad you do."
Kurt seemed to debate where to start his story, biting his lip.
"So then I went back to Lima, to live with my dad. I had visited him often, of course, with my aunt and uncle, but I had to get used to him all over again. And it came as a shock to me that he had a girlfriend. Her name was Carole Hudson. She was a single parent as well, and her son Finn was about my age."
"At school, Finn was very popular. He was the quarterback of the football team, he was dating the head cheerleader, and he was kind of a jerk. When I started going to William McKinley High, he and the other jocks would throw me into dumpsters, bump into me on purpose, slushy me, and generally make my life miserable."
"But then our parents decided it was time all four of us got to know one another better, and the Hudsons started coming over for dinner on Fridays. And that was … Let's say it was an eye-opener for Finn. He slowly went from being homophobic to accepting me and actually looking out for me. He didn't bully me anymore, and he stopped others from bullying me."
"And, well … Call it Stockholm syndrome or just plain foolishness, but the more I got to know Finn, the more I crushed on him. I knew he was straight, but he was the only boy in the whole school who was nice to me, and I just couldn't help myself."
"It was also thanks to Finn that I made friends at William McKinley High. He was in the glee club and got me to join, too. I was afraid for the backlash at first, scared of being bullied even harder when people found out I joined glee club, but it actually got better instead of worse. When I got slushied, there was always a gleek around to help me wash the slush out of my eyes and hair."
"And the music helped a lot, too. We dealt with our emotions through singing, and we got very close sharing all that with each other. The New Directions are like a family. Granted, a dysfunctional family with lots of quarrels and misunderstandings, but a family nonetheless. They all have my back and I have theirs."
"Anyway, by the time my dad married Carole and the Hudsons moved in with us, my crush had luckily petered out. I grew to love him like a brother, and we're close, but I really don't understand how I ever managed to crush on him. He's such a typical straight guy, strewing his dirty socks everywhere, eating like a pig and leaving hair in the shower drain."
Kurt daintily scrunched his nose up in disgust.
Blaine chuckled, then said: "I take it that's Rachel's husband then?"
Kurt nodded. "At first, Finn was dating the head cheerleader, Quinn, but she got pregnant and the father turned out to be Puck, not Finn. So Quinn and Puck got together and Finn started dating Rachel. He proposed to her in our senior year, and they got married right after sectionals and had Sarah about a year later."
"Rachel was planning to come to New York with me, and to study at NYADA while I went to Parsons. She actually got into NYADA, but when she found out she was pregnant, she decided to stay in Lima and to take classes at the Columbus State Community College. She had to drop out of those classes as well when the pregnancy took its toll on her body and gave her severe back and pelvic pain."
"So she became a stay-at-home mom. A few years ago though, she decided to start a business, and now she's quite well-known as a planner of children's birthday parties and a baker of specialty cakes."
Kurt sounded sad at that conclusion, and Blaine could see why. "She must be really talented, to have gotten into NYADA. That school is very exclusive."
"She is incredibly talented," stressed Kurt. "She should on Broadway right now."
Rachel seemed to have heard that from across the room, because the next second, she was shouting: "Karaoke! Let's sing!"
And sing they did. Blaine listened and watched with wide eyes. He already knew that Rachel had a powerful voice, but there were two other girls, the black one Kurt had been talking to and a filthy-mouthed Latina, who could definitely give Rachel a run for her money. They duetted on "I alone" and they really killed it.
They were followed by a tough-looking guy dressed like Hellboy, who surprisingly sang a sweet love song, "I'm Your Man".
"That's Puck," clarified Kurt. "I take it he and Quinn are fighting again and he's trying to get back into her good books."
Puck's performance was followed by Rachel singing "Let it go".
After her song, she flashed a mischievous smile and announced: "I hear that a few Warblers have infiltrated this New Directions reunion."
The crowd booed playfully.
"Hey now, be nice. Shall we ask them to come up here and sing for us?"
That got a resounding "YES".
"Alright then, Blaine and Jeff, would you come up here please?"
Blaine looked at Jeff, who seemed as stunned as he felt, but they obediently joined Rachel.
"What will we sing?" he murmured to Jeff. "Raise Your Glass? That seems kind of appropriate?"
So that's what they sang, and they got a nice applause for it.
Afterwards, Blaine stayed with Nick and Jeff for a bit, and then searched for Kurt again, but he was nowhere to be found. When Blaine asked Rachel, she said he'd gone home.
He felt a pang of disappointment that Kurt hadn't said goodbye to him before he left, but he guessed he couldn't complain. He'd talked to Kurt for hours and had pretty much monopolised him, so he couldn't grudge Kurt's friends their time with him.
He looked at his watch and saw it was almost three in the morning. The good thing about having spilled his drink and then talked all night was that he wasn't drunk, so he could drive back to Westerville and sleep in his own bed instead of crashing at Tina's. He fetched Niff and they said goodbye to Tina and Mike and drove home.
Before he got into bed, he texted Kurt.
To: Kurt Hummel
I really enjoyed talking to you tonight - Blaine
To: Kurt Hummel
And your costume ticked all the boxes. You looked gorgeous. - B
To: Kurt Hummel
I'm sorry I missed you leaving. I hope we can meet up again sometime. - B
To: Kurt Hummel
Sweet dreams x - B
These are the songs mentioned in this chapter:
"I alone", a duet by Anouk and Sarah Bettens
"I'm Your Man", by Leonard Cohen
"Let It Go", by Idina Menzel (from the Disney film "Frozen")
"Raise Your Glass", by Pink