The next day, Kurt awoke with a heavy heart. By the time he had left Blaine's house the previous night, the boys had planned out their week leading up to Blaine's departure. Once reality had set in, Kurt found himself feeling dread with every passing moment. 'We have to make the most of this week, don't let it affect you. Don't let it show.'
Kurt pulled up to Blaine's house with the picnic basket packed and a smile on his face as Blaine raced out of the house, blanket in hand. Blaine settled in the car without giving Kurt enough time to even unbuckle his seatbelt to step out and say a proper hello.
"Hi." Blaine breathed and Kurt smiled widely at the slightly out of breath boy next to him.
"Hey, B." Kurt hesitated for a second before leaning over to press a light kiss to Blaine's lips. He smiled at the gasp that escaped Blaine's mouth.
XXXX
Kurt looked over to Blaine and saw him smiling like a goon and it made him chuckle to himself. 'I'm going to miss that.'
"What's the grin about?"
Blaine met Kurt's gaze as he ripped off a small piece of bread and threw it into the pond. "Nothing, I just think it's silly how much fun watching these ducks swim around is. I love it. Let's add this to the list of something to do again before Friday."
Kurt's heart sank at how the easy use of 'before Friday' was thrown into Blaine's vocabulary.
XXXX
They spent the entire afternoon on the bank of the pond. Kurt was reminded of their very first date the summer before as the sun began to set and the ducks continued to swim peacefully on the pond. Kurt turned his face away from Blaine as he quickly wiped the few solitary tears that had managed to escape his eyes.
On Sunday, as Blaine studied himself one last time in the mirror he smiled at his reflection. His face had mostly healed; the bruise was still a barely noticeable light green but the swelling had completely gone away and his cut on his jaw was only a faint red line. He flattened out the fly away chunk of hair with a little extra gel and nodded once to himself.
'Let's go. Kurt is waiting. We only have a few days left. Make the most of it. But…what if he doesn't actually want to spend time with me and he's doing this because he feels guilty?…no. That's not Kurt. Few more days. Relax.'
FROM KURT: Hey you, I saw the movie is playing every hour so no matter when we finish with dinner we will be able to catch a showing. I'm excited to see it! And for dinner! My tummy is grumbling at the thought of it. ;)
TO KURT: Awesome. I'm about to leave my house. See you soon! :)
Blaine smiled, took a deep breath and walked downstairs to his car with renewed enthusiasm.
XXXX
As Blaine and Kurt walked hand-in-hand through the mall towards the movie theater, they passed Blaine's favorite bookstore. He smiled and looked to Kurt.
"I remember the last time you offered for me to join you at a movie here."
He chuckled at Kurt's eye roll, "Yeah, I remember that. That was the first of many gasps we heard in the past year. It's strange we never came to this theater while we were actually dating."
Blaine nodded and shrugged, "We preferred movies in. Easier to cuddle that way; if I do remember your words correctly." He added with a wink.
"Yeah, yeah." Kurt's blush made Blaine smile wider as he squeezed Kurt's fingers.
Monday found Kurt and Blaine at the Lima Bean before Kurt had to go to the shop for work. Kurt fiddled with the lid of his coffee cup as Blaine spoke about Cooper's sudden enthusiasm for New York after their many arguments between New York and LA.
"Apparently he finally sees my side that the New York schools will help with my theatre training more than the LA schools, which will be more film based. Their theatre programs are great, just not as great as New York. Since I'm going for both Musical Theatre and Music, he finally caved and realized that we don't share the same ambition. He's a sore loser." Blaine chuckled before taking a sip of coffee.
"I'd like to meet him sometime." Kurt said and blushed at his admission. 'I might as well throw myself at Blaine and say 'Let's get married now, Blaine!' Dumbass.'
"You will. Someday."
Kurt looked up to meet Blaine's hopeful gaze; he couldn't help but feel a sense of hope, too.
"Um, awesome." Kurt said anticlimactically, "Oh! My dad gave me Thursday off as well, by the way. So now I have Thursday off to spend with you, and Friday off so I can see you off at the airport."
"Oh! Great! That's exciting! Does this mean I get to plan a lot of fun things to do on Thursday?"
Kurt laughed easily, "Sure. Whatever you want, B. I'll be there at your whimsy!"
Blaine's smile warmed Kurt's heart. Kurt reached over and grabbed Blaine's free hand that wasn't occupied by his coffee. He slowly rubbed his thumb over Blaine's knuckles and watched as Blaine's smile faltered a little. 'Please don't shut me out. Is this too much? But…'
"The movers will be here this afternoon to take my stuff."
'Oh.'
"Well, that's exciting!" Kurt studied Blaine's solemn face for a moment, "Right, B?"
Blaine nodded slowly, "Yeah. It's just weird. Everything's actually happening and…it's just so soon. I'm ready…but…I'm not."
Kurt smiled comfortingly, or so he hoped, "Everything will be great, Blaine. It's exciting. Plus, this way, when you get to New York all of your stuff will be there already." Blaine nodded again while staring at their clasped hands, "Who's letting them in at your apartment?"
"The landlord. You're right; it'll be a good distraction when I get there, trying to place everything in the apartment the way I want."
Kurt nodded, 'Too bad I don't have that luxury.' "Then classes will start."
Blaine nodded again. "Then it'll be Christmas."
Kurt hummed his agreement. "Then it'll be Christmas. See, everything will be perfect."
Blaine's small smile brought hope to Kurt once again. 'He'll be fine. It's just nerves.'
Random Thoughts Page 13
Everything will be okay, right? Perfect. What does that really mean? I don't want to leave Kurt. We love each other. Some days it feels like too much; some days it feels like not enough. I need to make Thursday perfect. I know I'll cry when I need to leave on Friday. Thursday is my last chance to show him we will be alright. We have to be. Christmas…It's so far away…I wish my parent's cared about their reputation enough to make Thanksgiving something important as well. They cared last year, what makes this year different? Maybe Cooper woul-no. I can't ask him for that. Christmas…No. Focus on what you have now, not what you have to worry about in the future…Thursday. Perfect. It has to be.
On Tuesday evening, Kurt ran out of the shop, dragging his father behind him, only to find Blaine standing by his car with a large bouquet of flowers. Kurt stopped short and gasped.
"Hey, Kurt. I, uh, might have roped your dad into helping me again."
Kurt turned to his father and Burt threw his hands up in surrender. "Hey, he's leaving in a couple of days, I couldn't let him down. Why do you think I was so insistent that we rode together today? I didn't suffer through the fifteen minutes of showtunes for the hell of it."
Kurt couldn't suppress his giggle. "You love showtunes, don't even lie." He said before turning to Blaine, "Hey, B. Sorry, I didn't properly say hello."
"It's okay, th-these are for you." Blaine said while holding out the bouquet of flowers to Kurt.
Kurt accepted them with a blush, "Thanks, B. They're perfect."
They both smiled widely and Kurt slid into Blaine's tight embrace. As Kurt began to pull away, he felt Blaine keep his arms loosely around his waist, he smiled widely before leaning in and kissing Blaine deeply. After a moment, there was a loud clearing of a throat behind Kurt; he smiled as he broke the kiss.
"Uh, boys, don't you have dinner or something to get to? You're standing in the way of my exit." Burt said teasingly.
"Ugh, dad! We were having a moment." Kurt retorted, equally as teasingly.
"Yeah, I could see that. Now move." Burt said in response as he removed his cap and threatened to throw it at Kurt and Blaine.
"Sorry, Burt. We're moving." Blaine said as he tugged on Kurt's hand.
All three laughed as Burt began pulling away in Kurt's car. Kurt turned back to Blaine and smiled at the grin on Blaine's face.
"Dinner?"
Blaine nodded, "Dinner."
XXXX
As the duo walked up to the Hudmel's front door after dinner, Kurt turned to face Blaine and saw the contemplative look on his face.
"What's on your mind, B?"
Blaine jumped slightly; Kurt smiled softly as Blaine met his gaze. "Uh, Kurt. I'm just…w-well I'm thinking about us."
Kurt's heart dropped, 'Stay strong. Protect yourself. Protect him.' "What about us?"
"Well…us. Like…What are we?" Blaine looked to the ground and shifted in his spot.
'Protect yourself.'
"Blaine. You're leaving." Blaine nodded slowly but stayed silent. Kurt sighed, "B…I love you. You know that. But…I don't want to tie you down. You're going to New York. There are going to be so many guys begging for your number and…" Kurt had to take a steadying breath as tears threatened to escape, "I love you, but I don't want you to hold back because of me. And I don't want our demise to be because someone cheated." When Blaine's head snapped up, Kurt held up his hand, "I'm not saying you would, or that I would, but I just don't want it to happen. You deserve to be free in such an amazing city." Kurt squeezed Blaine's fingers to show he was done talking as Blaine's gaze fell to his feet again.
"I don't want to be f-free. You could never hold me back. I would never cheat on you, and I'm sure you'd never cheat on me. I want n-nothing more than to be yours. I love you, so much, Kurt. It hurts me to think of you f-forgetting me."
Kurt felt his heart breaking, "Blaine, I could never forget you. And I know it's unlikely that we'll cheat…I just worry. And we will keep in touch and stay very close and come Christmas we will spend time together and next year I'll hopefully move out there and if we still feel the same then we can work something out…just the distance will be horrible. We won't make it."
Tears fell from Blaine's eyes. "How do you know that?"
"I don't."
"Then why can't we make it work now? I-I mean you just said we'll stay close and talk and Christmas will be amazing and…and I don't want anyone else except you."
"I don't want anyone but you either. I just can't hold you back, B. I can't."
Kurt leaned in and kissed Blaine's cheek before slipping inside his front door before Blaine could say anything else. Kurt's heart broke into a million pieces. 'It's the right thing. Protect yourself.'
FROM BLAINE: Tomorrow?
Kurt smiled and took a deep breath.
TO BLAINE: Tomorrow.
On Wednesday, Blaine surprised Kurt for lunch again. Upon deciding to surprise him, Blaine was worried that Kurt would feel awkward after their conversation the prior evening. Once he saw Kurt walking towards him with a large smile on his face, all of Blaine's worries disappeared.
XXXX
That evening, Blaine picked Kurt up from his home and they went to dinner at Breadstix. As they sat in the booth, Blaine kept staring at Kurt and remembering how they had shared their first date at the very same restaurant and how everything was so unsure for them at the time, but they had hoped that things would work out. 'Just like now.'
"Uh, Kurt? I-I'm sorry about last night."
Kurt's confused eyes met Blaine's honest ones. "What do you mean?"
Blaine swallowed and blushed, "When I asked about…us. I just realized that, well, we love each other and that can be enough. We were never even meant to be together to begin with and we had hope and love and that kept us together. I think if we hold on to that…we can make it."
Blaine's eyes glazed over with tears as he watched tears cascade down Kurt's cheeks. They clasped hands tightly and didn't care about the old couple in the next booth over who were glaring at them. The only thing that mattered was the two of them.
"B, I love you so much. I do have hope for the future. Thank you for understanding. I think we can make it. No…I know we can."
A/N: I don't own Glee nor its characters. I'm sorry this is late, I wasn't feeling well yesterday. Next update is part one of the longest day. Thanks to everyone who reviewed/followed/favorited. Your support means the world to me. We were at 200 followers, but I lost one, so thanks for getting us there, let's see if we can get back there, yeah? ;) Only a few more to go until the end. MUAH!