Hey guys - sorry about the delay in updates. I am snowed down with work at the moment so this will probably continue for a while

This chapter is pretty short but has some interesting things happening...

Enjoy

Chapter 20 - Return

The day came. It came all too soon.

Looking up at the huge white building of Wilde, I was filled with the same nerves, the same butterflies, the same sense of dread, but for a completely different reason. Dad said his goodbyes pretty quickly, knowing for once that I didn't like him to hover. This time however, I was desperate for him to stay, desperate for him to put my bags back in the car and take me home. But I knew I had to stay. I'd spent a whole holiday completely removed from Blaine – I'd had my mourning time. Now it was time to move on.

I spent a lot of time dithering in the ground floor rooms, saying hi to Steven, Wade and Connor who had all already arrived and unpacked their things. Connor had been skiing, Wade had taken a trip to California and Steven had gone back to visit his family in Hawaii – his tanned skin now even darker and more enviable than before. When asked about my holiday I told them about Scott's visit, but didn't elaborate much further. Wade offered to help me carry my things upstairs but I declined. This was something I needed to do on my own.

Even without the extra weight of the bags my body still felt heavy and it took a lot of effort to get me up the stairs – even more so to traipse down the corridor, especially past Gabriel's room. (I'd had a couple of texts from him over the break but had tactfully chosen to ignore them) When I finally reached room 23 I stopped, gazing up at my nameplate and sighing. The reminders of Blaine were everywhere before I'd even begun. Once I'd fiddled around in my pocket to get my key I turned the lock and the door swung open. My room looked the same as it had when I'd left. Funny. Somehow I'd expected a change. Yes, the cleaners had gone round and spruced up the surfaces (they had with every room in Wilde) but there was still that feeling in the air. Ergh. Dropping all my bags on the floor I walked straight over to the bed, falling down so my face hit the pillow and I groaned. Welcome back.

After a while I slowly began to unpack, trying not to think about how I'd done this the first time so full of enthusiasm, and it wasn't long before people started appearing at my door.

"Heello." My head jerked up on hearing the familiar voice and I jumped to my feet, running over and giving Artem a huge hug.

"Artem! How are you? How was your Christmas?" At first he seemed confused with all the questions, but eventually he smiled.

"I went back to Russia, it nice to see my family."

"Ah, that's nice. It's so good to see you!" I went to hug him again, but suddenly realised he looked…sheepish. "What is it?"

"Um… This is…Ashley." I watched his arm move to signal to a space behind him and moved to see a pretty brown haired girl standing with her hands nervously clasped together. Oh.

"Oh! Hi!" Waving my hand I watched the girl smile, before raising her hand to wave back. "Wait a second…is she?" Artem blushed. "Yes she is!" I'd heard about their coffee date towards the end of term (I sadly hadn't been able to fulfil my promise of accompanying due to me being unable to leave Wilde) but was surprised and ecstatic to recognise Artem's dance partner from St Jades.

"Oh wow it's so good to finally meet you!" Holding out my hand Ashley reached out to shake it. She had striking eyes – I could see why my friend was hooked.

"It's nice to meet you too. Artem talks about you a lot, he says you really helped him during his first term." Feeling my cheeks flush with pride I smiled.

"Oh, I was only doing my best. He's a cool guy to hang out with anyway."

"I know." Ashley slipped her arm through Artem's and I had to furiously contain the 'aww' that threatened to escape from my lips.

"Have you seen Stefan?" Returning my attention back to my friend I shook my head.

"No, sorry. But I'm sure he'll arrive soon."

"Oh well. Have fun packing!"

"Unpacking Artem, unpacking." A goofy smile spread across his face and I watched the pair walk back down the corridor hand in hand.

Minutes later another three knocks graced my ears.

"Open up loser!" I almost sprinted to the door, flinging it open and assaulting Scott with another hug.

"Hey, hey dude, I need to breathe!" Laughing, I loosened my grip, but still kept hold for another few seconds before letting go.

"How are you?"

"Well, in the week since I last saw you I have been fabulous. Managed to get my highest ever score on Wii baseball. You?"

"Yeah, I'm good. Oh-" Rushing back into my room I fished around in my things before bringing out the object I wanted. "You left something at my house." Holding out the lightsaber towards Scott I saw his face break into an unmistakeable smirk, something he didn't even try to hide.

"Oh. I was wondering where that had got to."

"Indeed..." Both exchanging huge grins I handed the weapon over and Scott immediately began swinging it around, obviously having missed the piece of plastic more than was normal for a human being. As we laughed I noticed Nathaniel coming out of his room and waved in greeting.

"Hey Nathaniel!" The Head Boy immediately bounded over to us.

"Hey Kurt, hey Scott! You guys have a good Christmas?"

"Awesome. I trained Kurt in the ways of the Jedi." I snorted at the confused look Nathaniel gave me, shrugging my shoulders so he nodded and pretended to understand.

"Nikki and I went to Chicago to see The Producers. She loved it." As he continued I saw him glance my way, our eyes sharing a look that took me back to our heart to heart at the end of last term.

"Who's Nikki?" Scott asked

"My sister."

"Oh, cool." I smiled, for some reason enjoying the hidden meaning behind the story.

"That's great. I'm glad you had a good time." Nathaniel smiled, before his eyes suddenly caught something and his expression changed.

"Oh, Kurt, you have something on your door." Reaching over to yank something softly from the wood he strained his eyes to see, before his face changed again.

"Oh."

"What?" Scott craned his neck to get a look, before he went funny too. "Oh."

"What is this?" Snatching the note from Nathaniel's hand before either of them had time to say anything else I held it to my face to read, before my stomach dropped.

If you missed me as much as I missed you, come to the archive room at 5pm

Blaine

I don't know why he'd signed it – I recognised his handwriting every time. If anything the signature made my heart lurch even more – he wanted me to know it was him.

"Dude-" Scott began to talk, but I held my hand up to stop him, my eyes still fixed on the note.

"The first contact I get from him in weeks and he writes me a note…" My voice was too low for either of them to hear, so I looked back up and spoke again. "Um, I should really get on with my unpacking now, so I'll see you guys later ok?" I knew both of them were uncomfortable with leaving – I could see Scott itching to say something – but I smiled convincingly and eventually they relented.

"Ok, laters bro."

"See you in a bit." I watched the two of them depart, before slowly turning back round and closing my door behind me.

Oh Gaga.

What was I going to do? I threw the note onto my bed, watching it fall and settle. The sight of it there was unnerving, but I couldn't bring myself to destroy it. This was contact – pathetic schoolboy contact – but contact all the same. Did I want this? I thought back to all the times I'd lain on my bed, watching my phone, begging for it to ring. But if he had rung, would I have wanted to answer? Would I have been able to listen to his voice after all that had happened between us? And if I wouldn't – how would I be able to cope with seeing him?

Abruptly I jumped onto my bed, snatching up the piece of paper and reading it again. 'If you missed me as much as I missed you'… He'd missed me. Whilst the claim was hardly watertight, and had no indication as to how in-depth this missing had been, he'd missed me. And I sure as hell had missed him.

"Blaine…" I whispered, tracing the neat cursive handwriting with my finger. What was I going to do? Looking up at the clock I saw it was nearly 3pm.

I had two hours to figure out.