[AN: ... Not much to say here, so... Here comes another chapter, I hope you enjoy it!]
They pulled up at a building that was large and plain looking on the outside, although it had a few neon signs advertising different brands of beer on the wall by the doors. There were about ten people standing in line at the door, waiting for the crowd already inside to pay and move so they could get in as well, farther away from the door Kerri could see an outside patio where there was a couple full on making out against the wall, and she could hear the pounding beat of bass through the open door.
She had the distinct, dirty feeling that this was a club.
They got out of the car and Kitty told her to leave her coat in the car, so they wouldn't have to keep track of it.
As Kerri took off the coat she'd worn so no one else at the school had seen her clothes and gotten suspicious, Kurt actually looked at what she was wearing, he'd been too nervous before to notice.
She had on a pair of black heels that highlighted her calves, a pair of black with green heart sock material somethings that he could just see the ends of when she moved, with a short skirt that was making him have problems concentrating, and a green shirt that had only one strap, even though it showed the beginning of her cleavage, which was also making it hard for him to focus. Her hair was twisted up somehow, but it was so long that it still hung down to just past her shoulders, flaring around when she moved quickly.
Kerri looked up and saw Kurt staring at her. She blushed and looked at the ground, following Kitty to the door of the club.
Kurt took a moment to watch Kerri walk and gulped. He'd better watch out, because it was going to be hard enough to keep his own hands off of her, let alone anyone else who came by them.
They walked into a large room at least half filled with people, some of them were sitting at tables and talking or drinking, there was a pool table in the corner by the bar, and a few people crowded around the bar, but mostly the people were dancing to the loud music that made it necessary to use sign language to communicate well.
Kerri was still wowed by how Kitty had just leaned over and giggled to the man at the front desk, distracting him enough that he hadn't noticed that Kerri was still a few months shy of eighteen.
Kitty physically dragged Kerri out onto the floor to dance, and Piotr and Kurt followed.
Kitty started dancing, bumping Kerri, trying to get her to dance, but Kerri was hit by a wave of self-consciousness, wearing a short skirt, reveling shirt, heels, in a crowd of people... She started biting her lip and looking around nervously.
Kurt saw her pinched face and remembered how nervous he'd felt the first time he'd come to the club. He put his hand on Kerri's cheek and smiled at her when she looked at him. She smiled, but her lip didn't leave her teeth, so he leaned forward and said into her ear, "Kitty says you are supposed to let your "inner freak" out."
Kerri laughed out loud for once, although no one could hear it over the music, and he pulled back, holding out his hand to her, admiring the way the laughter lit up her face in the multi colored lights that were turning and flashing over the crowd. Kerri took his hand and started shifting from side to side in an attempt at dancing.
Kitty came close enough to talk to them. "Come on, Kerri, I saw you dancing on that game, I know you can do better, and Kurt, I've seen you dance at the club before," she gave Kurt a look saying he'd better start getting serious.
Kerri leaned forward so she could be heard. "There's no machine here to tell me the right dance moves."
"Well, just do what ever feels right! You don't need a machine to dance!" Kitty told them over the music and Kerri blushed, seeming to shrink in embarrassment. Kitty turned and walked back to Piotr, four feet or so away from them.
Kerri swayed a little with Kurt for a few minutes, then Kitty came back with two glasses, handing one to Kerri and one to Kurt.
Kerri sipped the bubbling clear liquid, expecting Sprite or 7-up, but pulled away with a strange taste in her mouth, like the soda machine had run out of syrup. "What is this?" She asked.
"Seltzer water, the tap water is warm apparently, but you have to stay hydrated here, it's hot and you're exercising a lot," Kitty told her.
Kurt took a sip of his drink, making a face at the strange tasting water.
"It's easier to down it all at once," Kitty suggested, trying not to smile too obviously.
They followed her advice, quickly drinking the water, and Kerri put her hand on her throat, wincing. "Ugh, I think the bubbles got me."
Kitty took the glasses back to the bar and Kerri started swaying again, holding Kurt's hands.
She was starting to feel the atmosphere, the frantic beats making everyone feel excited and happy, the feeling of fuzziness was there too, not soft and fuzzy, like Kurt, but warm and hazy, like just waking up from a good dream. Kerri started to sway harder, getting a little closer to Kurt.
Kurt saw Kerri step closer to him and his heart beat faster. She seemed to be loosening up, and not so worried about the other people around them.
Kerri closed her eyes, enjoying the atmosphere, and raised her arms above her head, now moving her body in more of a rolling motion than a sway. She bumped into Kurt and almost stumbled backwards, but she felt Kurt's strong, three fingered hands on her waist, catching her. She opened her eyes and laughed at herself.
Kurt felt Kerri's waist under his hands and hesitated, unsure what to do. He'd caught her as she'd almost tumbled back, but now he didn't know what to do with his hands, move them away? Leave them there? Pretend it was on purpose and keep dancing?
Kerri smiled at him, then stepped closer, dancing almost against him.
Kurt's eyes widened. He took his hands from her waist and danced with her, feeling his hormones trying to start raging, but he pushed them down.
He had to keep control. He didn't want to get too into it and pull her forward into a kiss when he'd promised her that he'd wait until she was ready.
She was bumping into him as she danced now, and it was getting harder not to notice how sexy she looked, dancing like it was only the two of them.
"You, ah, look like you could use a drink..." Kurt said, indicating the slight flush on her cheeks.
"Ok," she answered and followed him away from the dancing bodies. She wobbled a little as she followed Kurt to the bar and he asked for two ice waters. She held onto his arm, mentally cursing short heels for being in between the floor and a normal feeling high heel and making her have bad balance.
Kurt handed her her drink and she took a sip. "Mmm, this tastes so much better than the last one."
"Ja, no kidding," Kurt said as he drank his ice filled drink.
Kitty came up and pulled Kurt a little ways away from Kerri. "So, having more fun now that Kerri is loosened up?" She giggled.
Kurt was suspicious about Kerri's sudden relaxation now. "Vhat did you do, Kitty?"
"Nothing! ... Just slipped a shot into her drink... Kurt, don't look at me like that, it's only one shot, it's not even enough to make you tipsy," Kitty told him, defending herself. "It was just to help her relax!"
Kurt shook his head. "Kitty, I can't..."
"What?"
"I can't kiss her vhile she's drunk, it's not right..." Kurt said, feeling let down, there went his hopes of finally being able to kiss Kerri tonight.
"Kurt, I said it was only one shot, that is way not enough to get drunk," Kitty said. "Besides, if she wants to kiss you, she'd still want to kiss you, even if she was completely sober."
"Ja, aber, she has zhis problem- and I can't kiss her if she's drunk." Kurt didn't know how to explain it, and it didn't feel right to talk about it here in the dark beat filled room with all these strangers.
"She's not drunk," Kitty insisted, trying to convince him it would be ok to kiss Kerri if he wanted to, but at that moment they heard the DJ announcing, "We've got our first karaoke of the night, give it up for Kerrigan!"
A song started playing and they turned to see Kerri standing on the stage. "Ok, maybe she's tipsy..." Kitty allowed.
Kerri started singing the song and dancing. "Baby can't you see, I'm calling, a guy like you, should wear a warning, it's dangerous, I'm fallin'..."
"Ok, she's drunk..." Kitty admitted. "Is that the dance from that Just Dance game?"
"Ja, I zhink so..." Kurt answered. He looked around at all the men who were staring at her, watching her move as she danced, trying to look up her skirt...
Kurt felt irritated that they weren't even trying to hide it, although he couldn't say that his heart didn't beat faster as her skirt flipped around the tops of her thigh highs, flashing skin as she danced up there...
Kurt shook his head to rid himself of the distracting thoughts. "Vhat should ve do?"
"What do you mean?" Kitty asked.
"She's up zhere, drunk, vhat should ve do?" Kurt explained.
"Should we do anything? She's not making a fool out of herself, she sounds good, looks ok, no one is harassing her, why do we need to do anything?" Kitty wondered aloud.
Kurt couldn't think of an argument that didn't have to do with the fact that at least fifty of the men here were staring at his girlfriend, maybe having dirty thoughts, so he just went up to the stage to wait for her to come down.
The song finished and a few of the men who had been watching yelled out cat calls and whistles. Kerri stepped down and Kurt's hand was right there for her to hold onto as she came down the steps, panting slightly.
"That song is hard to sing and dance at the same time," she told him, her face full of excitement and joy.
Kurt pulled her away, through the crowd to the patio when she told him she was too hot.
They stepped outside and Kerri laughed, pressing against him. "That was fun!"
"Ja," Kurt said unsurely as Kerri put her head on his shoulder and laid against him.
"Mmmmmm," Kerri sighed in comfort.
She was so comfortable with Kurt; he didn't pressure her, she still worried about changing in front of him, but not as much as before, and he'd seen her tail, so she didn't have to worry that he'd freak out if it came out accidentally.
She wanted to kiss him, right now.
She smiled, finally feeling confident enough to do it. She pulled back, the smile still on her face.
Kurt looked at Kerri's beautiful face, her chin was down and she was looking up at him with a shy smile on her lips.
She started leaning closer and tilted her chin up, he could tell she was going in for a kiss.
Maybe Kitty was right... Maybe it didn't matter...
She had told him she wanted to kiss him, more than once. It was only her crippling nervousness that was stopping her.
But now she wasn't nervous, not at all.
He looked into her eyes, they were a little unfocused, slightly hazed.
He could kiss her...
But then...
Kurt didn't think he could live with himself, and who knew how Kerri would feel tomorrow; she might be happy, or she might feel betrayed.
Better to just live up to his morals as a gentleman, as he had been taught.
"Kerri, I can't," Kurt told her, putting a finger to her lips.
She stopped, confused. "Why not?"
"I- it's-" he stuttered, his finger falling, but she cut him off.
"Did I do something wrong? Is it the make up?" She put a hand to her face and looked down, "or the clothes?"
"Nein, zhat's not es," Kurt tried to explain. "You're drunk-"
"I'm not drunk, I didn't even drink anything," Kerri told him, confused.
"Vell, but Kitty gave you a shot," Kurt told her.
"I thought that drink tasted funny," she said to herself. "But one drink wouldn't make me drunk, I don't think... You just don't want to kiss me, now," she accused, suddenly angry, her old defenses of attacking before she got hurt coming back.
"Vhat?" Kurt asked, stunned. "I do vant to kiss you, but, you-"
"I'm not drunk!" Kerri snapped back angrily, stepping away from him; now came the attack and run part of the strategy.
"But Kerri, you look like you are, und-" Kurt tried to calm her down by explaining.
"I'm not," she interrupted him. "I'm not drunk, they are," she gestured around at the few other people on the patio. "I can feel that they are, but I'm not."
Kurt was unsure for a moment what she meant before he realized that she could actually feel how they felt. "Kerri, I don't vant to take advantage of you," he told her.
"Maybe I want you to," she told him.
Kurt gulped a breath of air, maybe I want you to? She was making it so hard not to kiss her.
Kerri took Kurt's silence as an answer and turned away muttering, "Maybe I'll find someone who will."
She walked away and two men standing by the doorway leaned closer to hit on her as she passed, "Hey, baby, I'll kiss you." "Yeah, get with a real man."
"Get away from me," Kerri said so viciously that they actually stepped back.
"What a bitch..." "Yeah..."
Kurt watched her walk away, feeling a painful squeezing in his heart, hoping he'd made the right decision.
Kerri woke up feeling sticky; her eyes felt sticky, she felt dried drool down the side of her face, her hair felt tangled.
She half rolled half climbed out of bed and her head swam for a second as she stood up.
She felt like she'd had a really bad headache last night.
She jumped in shock as she caught sight of herself in the mirror, her eyes were running all down her cheeks and her hair was a rats nest.
She tamed down her appearance as best she could. She was brushing her hair, looking in the mirror, and her hands above her head reminded her of how she'd been dancing with Kurt the night before, and she blushed even though she was also smiling.
Another vague memory flashed in her mind's eye.
She was going to kiss Kurt, she was almost there, and he stopped her.
She remembered yelling at him, saying she'd go find someone to take advantage of her.
She looked down, feeling horribly ashamed of herself.
She needed to apologize to Kurt.
Poor Kurt, he was only being his wonderful, kind, gentlemanly self.
Kurt was hanging upside down on the bars on his bed. He'd always felt very comfortable this way, and he needed comfort right now, as he worried about Kerri and how she was going to feel about him refusing to kiss her last night.
He was startled back into the present by a knock at the door. He dropped to the floor and opened it, surprised to see Kerri there. He looked at the ground, nervous about the reason for her visit. "Hallo..."
Kerri chewed her lip. "Hi..." They stood awkwardly for a moment, neither sure what to say.
Kurt was suddenly worried that Kerri had come to break up with him.
"I- I'm sorry..." Kerri finally said.
Kurt looked up at her, and his breath was trapped in his chest as he waited for the rest of her sentence.
"I- don't really remember everything that happened, but I do remember yelling at you for not kissing me... I'm sorry..." Kerri told the carpet at his feet.
Kurt let out a sigh of relief. "I zhought you vere going to be vutend still..." {angery}
Kerri looked up at him. "What? Why? I was the stupid one... I thought for sure you'd hate me for being such a bitch..."
Kurt's face shot to hers, not used to hearing her swear, and surprised that she thought he'd hate her.
"Maybe, I guess it's possible, that maybe I was a little drunk..." Kerri mumbled.
"How? Ve all said zhat it vas only vone shot," Kurt asked.
"Well, but," Kerri tried to think of a way to explain when another student walked by, giving an embarrassing, "Whoot whoot!" Kerri blushed and looked back at the ground.
Kurt waited until the boy had passed and asked Kerri, "Do you vant to come in and talk?"
Kerri nodded and went through the open door.
She looked up and realized that this was the first time she'd been in his room. She looked around and saw that he had a lot of movies, a lot of them were old, black and white, and the majority of them were pirate adventures, he had a few shelves of books, too, also mostly old and worn. She could tell from the titles that she could read that they were mostly swashbuckling romance types, not the romance novel kind, but the ones where the good guy pirate always got the girl, with maybe a little bodice ripping thrown in.
A smile lifted the corner of her mouth, and she looked at the rest of his room. There was a large bed with bars around the top, like it was supposed to be a canopy, but they were bare, and on the wall were framed posters from some kind of show, in German.
She moved closer to look at them and saw pictures of him. Flying through the air, doing incredible acts of flexibility. 'Show advertisements,' she realized.
Kurt stood awkwardly, watching her look around. He felt naked with her in his sanctuary, like he'd taken off his skin and she was inspecting his soul. "So, ah, vhat vere you saying?"
Kerri turned around and looked back to him, seeing a cross on the wall next to the bookcase and a rosary and bible on his desk with a few other things, and took a second to remember. "Oh, um, that I might have," she paused trying to get the words right.
"Remember when I was feeling things too much, after I accidentally changed in front of you?" Kurt nodded and she continued, "I guess that that's because I can do that all the time... I had it shut down pretty good..." She blushed and admitted. "But then you came along... And I guess I'm more open now... At least that's what the Professor said he noticed before... And, I guess, that one shot, made me lose the little inhibitions I was using to not be so permeable... And, well, what with it being a bar, and everyone being drunk..." She shrugged, then smiled humorously. "I guess I got empathy drunk."
"Vhat a strange concept," Kurt commented, his mind running over the part when she said he'd made her more open.
"Yeah, I guess I'll have to go back to being more guarded," she said, looking down at the floor.
"Kerri," Kurt was at her side suddenly from half way across the room. "I- ah..." He had been about to tell her not to go back to being so closed off; he enjoyed being with her, and she looked so happy now, he was afraid that she'd shut down again, and that the sadness would come back to her eyes, but he trailed off when he realized that even though she'd apologized about yelling at him, she hadn't said either way if she still wanted to "find someone else to take advantage of her," as she'd said last night.
She just looked up at him, waiting for him to continue, and he was careful not stand close enough to touch her. "I, zhat is, do you..." Kurt took a breath, "do you still vant to-"
Kerri caught on to what she thought he was going to say and her face turned down slightly. "Kiss you?"
"Nein... Find somevone-" Kurt felt like a knife of pain was stabbing into him, and he was glad when she cut him off, making it so he didn't have to finish the question.
Kerri realized what he was asking and her eyes widened as she leaned back a little. "No!" She denied, then quickly pressed against him, wrapping her arms around him as she looked into his eyes. "No, I still want to kiss you..." Her chin pointed down and she bit her bottom lip, even though a smile was in the corner of her mouth as she looked into his eyes.
"Ja?" Kurt asked, wrapping his arms around her.
"Ja," Kerri said and tried to move her chin up.
It moved a fraction of a hair, and Kerri was feeling encouraged about this. She was about to put her face up to try and kiss him, when a knock sounded on the door.
Her eyes whipped to the door, a look of frustrated agitation on her face. 'Really?! Almost there, and someone knocks?!'
Kurt looked to the door, asking, "Ja? Vie geht's?" {what's up (kind of, how are you doing/ what do you want)}
"Kurt, we need you for a mission, there's a building full of people that's about to go down, we think it's the work of the Anti- mutant Rally," Scott's voice came through the wood.
Kurt sighed. "Ja, ok, ein minuten, bitte." He turned back to Kerri, who was still staring at the door. "Sorry, liebling, I have to go save zhe vorld." {one minute please, darling (also means favorite)}
Kerri blushed as she looked back to him. "I'm your favorite?"
Kurt felt his cheeks warm as he realized what he'd said. "Ja..."
"Better let you go save the world then..." Kerri said as she kissed him on the cheek.