Folle Sagesse
AnniKay
Sam/Mercedes/Puck
Disclaimer: I own Nothing…Murphy, Falchuk, and Brennen along with Fox and others own this fandom and all the characters there in…Anything you recognize obviously belongs to them
*****PLEASE NOTE: Thanks for this story's title goes to MsLadyThankYouVeryMuch. The Title translates into Foolish Wisdom.*****
****THANKS to everyone who has taken the time to review! Your encouragement helps more than you know!****
Thank all of you for being avid readers & reviewers of my stories:
I appreciate all of you.
Boredom Busting Fic Reread Rec
To Mercy, From White Chocolate by Princess976
Isis Aurora Tomoe You are the most awesome Beta ever. Thank you for being such a help in my time of need!
Where the Hell Are My Friends (LANY)
Mercedes PoV
Midterms were seriously unpleasant, though I did kick ass in my judo exam. I could not tell you which was less happy, the papers, the group project or the exams. It was so bad that we were happy that we had rehearsals every evening after everything because we needed to move…to expend some physical energy to even out with all of the mental energy we'd been putting out. Rehearsals were quite interesting too because Rainbow decided that Mike should Skype in whenever he could. Apparently, if he could learn the dances that way, she would let him get some stage time in over spring break with the dancers he'd be working with over the summer. Santana pointed out that Tina was really used to backing me up, so they might make her sing with them too. It was definitely a thought. When I asked her if she was ready to try that, she jumped all over it. She made sure she was on with Mike when he Skyped in, so she would be prepped too. Blaine was more than happy to join the Dam Bros for South by Southwest, so we could maintain our symmetry there. I wasn't sure what Rainbow had planned for the dancers since it would put the dancers at four and three. But she knew what she was doing, so I didn't worry about it. Micromanagement was not the way to ensure creativity.
By the end of that week, we were done with all our damn tests and everything school associated and we were ready for our three performances at South by Southwest. Saturday Morning we were up early. Even though it was a per diem day, we still took everyone to breakfast on us. Quinn and James had driven down the night before and were flying out with us. Ryan, Ben and Jon were coming with us to join Adams and Karofsky in acting as our roadies. Okay, so really they were there for the free tickets and paid for them with their heavy lifting. All the venues we were performing at had their own sound and light techs. Unfortunately, Jamie was already committed to an Off-Off Broadway play. She was pretty sure that the opening night would be the only night, but she had gotten it cleared with NYADA and it was important for her future. So while we'd miss her, we totally understood. Surprisingly, Seth and Summer had heard about the trip and bought their own tickets. Maybe that wasn't that surprising. Since we weren't paying we couldn't put them to work. They had gotten all the info from Hudson and gotten a hotel room at the same place we'd be staying.
The flight was fine. It was under five hours long and we'd forked out the extra money for the premium economy seats for our people so no one was too uncomfortable. At first, we'd only done regular seats and the vision of super tall Justin in one of those seats was enough to make even the most dour person chuckle with unrestrained glee. When we got to Austin-Bergstrom International Airport, we all discovered the sheer genius of Hudson and Haja. Hudson had arranged all the flights, San Francisco, Columbus and New York so that we all got to Austin with in the same thirty minutes…well forty-five, the flight out of Columbus was delayed a bit. Haja had rented a bus…a limo bus…to take all thirty of us plus all our clothes and instruments and everything to the hotel. OMNI Barton Creek Resort & Spa was huge, it was over four thousand acres of golf courses, tennis courts, pools and a spa.
The hotel rooms were really nice. They were clean. They were well appointed. Our room was the Ben Crenshaw Suite. I loved it because not only was it only Austin pricey, but the room was on par with something we'd have paid a hell of a lot more for in LA or Manhattan. The room had a dining room table that sat six, two really comfortable couches and four comfy leather chairs, plus a large kitchenette. I was actually a little surprised that it had an ice maker, mini fridge, and a small sink. Seriously that hotel room's kitchenette had more counterspace and cabinets than some apartments. Which was great because if we brought in snacks, we'd have room for them. The bedroom was really pretty with a large walk-in shower and jet style tub. Though to be honest the silver painted branches detailing in the light fixtures were throwing me.
We got everyone checked in, up to their rooms…our room checked over by the Rangemen. They had a new toy with them that would make sure there were no recording devices in our suite. There were none to be found, but the thought that it might have been needed was creepy and scary, so we tried not to think about it while we unpacked. Almost before we could really finish, Tina and Mike were in our room. "Cedes, I missed you so much." Tina started crying as she hugged the stuffing out of me. "It has been so hard keeping Mike from driving down to LA to beat the breaks off of that Macardo asshole."
Mike gave me a look that clearly said, 'we both know that it was Tina, I had to talk down'. The truth was probably somewhere in the middle. Though honestly, Tina was a lot more violent than most people realized. She just kept it to thoughts, usually.
"Ooohh girl, Sam's cousin got his hands on that guy. When he bailed out, he didn't go home, he went to Cedars. Ranger had a guy on him until we left LA. Somehow, they got their hands on the doctor report. That asshole was seriously fucked up. According to Stephanie Plum, he had to have spent at least a week pissing blood."
"Good. He's lucky that Santana couldn't get her hands on him." Mike laughed.
"Me, please…Sue and Sugar had almost talked Don Motta into having the guy dealt with by his Italian cousins." Santana said as she, Artie and Britts joined us. There were hugs for Tike who we rarely got to see face to face since were on two different coasts. "He said that he'd be stepping on some toes."
Sam's blush told Puck and I that the toes Don Motta was talking about were probably attached to people with whom he shared some DNA, or at least they employed his family members. "Yeah…So Tina, Mike…you guys excited about this summer?"
That wasn't even subtle…but it worked. We were talking about the tour when Kurt and Blaine came in. As soon as Kurt realized what we were talking about, he ran out and before I knew it he had come back with his special iPad in its KAMA case. "Ruth and I have been working on the wardrobe for the tour. Want to see?"
"No, Hummel, we have no desire to see what we'll be wearing to go on stage in front of God only knows how many people." Santana's sarcasm was palpable. "That couldn't be of any interest at all to a bunch of performers."
Fighting off a smile, it did no one any good to encourage Santana's sarcasm with laughter, I looked over at Tike as a thought entered my head. "Do you guys mind if we get the rest of the Crew up here to see what has been decided on? Give everyone a chance to get to know each other, too."
"Of course not." Mike was quick to answer.
Tina nodded. "Yeah, we'll be spending all summer with them on tour buses. I personally would love the chance to get to know them ahead of time."
I sent out a text and within twenty minutes all of the suite's eighteen actual seats were taken and there wasn't that much floor visible either. It wasn't even just the Crew; the New Directions were littered among them. Everyone was talking and laughing and it was pretty much exactly what we all needed. Lauren and Artie were able to get some stuff from their rooms that even let Kurt put the pictures from his iPad up on the big ass TV. "Okay. So, we divided the country into eight regions. A couple of the regions have some pull out shows…like pacific has LA as a whole different kettle of fish. The South has Atlanta and Miami as their pull-out shows. What we're trying to do with that is tailor the stage apparel to be fashion forward, but not so out there that the average concert goer will be too shocked or appalled or even worse…won't be able to connect. Another thing it allows us to do is cater to outdoor venues verses indoor…and to hopefully make sure no one gets heat stroke or whatever."
"Wow…you guys put a lot of thought into this." Sam said from behind me. He was gently massaging my shoulders as we sat on the couch with me leaning back against him. I was a little surprised when he tensed up. "Umm…I just realized…I don't actually know what we're wearing this week?"
I stopped, turned and looked at him. "Really? Not for any of the three performances?"
Sam shook his head. "I know that you told me to bring my old brown cowboy boots and favorite jeans for one of them. You told me to bring the black Prada work boots and the ones I wore on New Year's Eve. I made sure that I had at least three pairs of dark boxer briefs. I did all that…but I don't know what I'm wearing when…other than the stuff I brought just to wear around."
Kurt just shrugged. He wasn't sure that he or Ruth had actually shown any of them what they would be wearing. They had sent everyone a list of things they needed to make sure they brought with them that the stylists knew they had in their closets as well as the appropriate panties or boxers. "Oh…I'm sorry about that. Well," he pulled up a different file. "As you know, Tuesday is the Radio Stage in the ballroom. So, Bubbie, yes Puck…I stole your Bubbie. I don't have any living grandparents and she said you would just have to share. Anyway, Bubbie and I decided that that one would be the casual-club look…Casual…but still very high class. Red will be the main color for that one." He showed us a red trapeze dress for the female dancers, they would wear black, ballroom dance shoes with the very simple dress. The males would be in black, wide legged slacks and a red zip front vest. Tina, Tana and Xena's dresses were cold shoulder swing dresses that were red, black, pink and white stripped. Each woman would be in a different pair of modernized Mary Jane pumps, based on height and personality. Blaine had agreed to wear the same thing as the Dam Bros, black jeans, black Tims, and a red polo with black trim. My dress was more fitted through the body. It would hug my curves but had ruffles at the sleeves and the hem. It also had a deep V neckline…I'd need a bandeau or something to go under it. It wasn't something I would have picked for myself, but it was adorable and since I didn't want the whole sequins all over the place look just yet. It was coming…but at that point I was seriously willing to leave that to Queen Bey.
Puck and Sam were both in tight red button down shirts that looked like they were going to be sexy as fuck. The biggest difference between the two shirts was that with the cuffs and collar turned out, one showed a black and white check material and the other was just basic red. Their dark charcoal, almost black slacks would show their asses off perfectly. But where the colors were similar, Puck's were wide legged jeans and Sam's looked more like slacks you could go to a work site in if you were an architect. They would be fine in an office and yet good on site. Erika and Cass were in black tops and red pants, while Dave, Justin and Artie were all in the same red shirt and black pants as the Dam Bros and Blaine…well…Dave wasn't his shirt wasn't a polo, it was a tank top that he could shed when it got soaked through…and his pants were cargo pants to hold extra drum sticks.
Everyone loved the looks. I had one concern. "I like that. My only thing is that those shoes…god they are gorgeous. Anyway…I can't wear tights or stockings with those." I pointed out.
Kurt's smile was wicked. "Oh yes, you can. Bubbie and I got you the toeless hose."
"Well then, I'm golden." I assured him. "What are we wearing Wednesday?"
"Okay, well, Wednesday is not my favorite night. It's the Spotify house party, so Bubbie went with local fashion trends…and local means Texas."
"So, that's why y'all wanted me to bring my cowboy boots." Sam nodded in understanding.
Kurt sighed. "Yup." He started showing the styles we'd be in.
"Well, yee-damn-haw." Santana groaned. "Bubbie Ruth can keep those boots in the wardrobe closet or whatever. I will never wear them again."
Brittany disagreed. "I like them. They are cute."
The simple truth was that other that Sam and Brittany, cowboy boots weren't something any of us would have bought for ourselves. Neither were the dresses or skirts all the girls were in. the guys totally lucked out, red based flannel shirts over funny statement tees in red and white or black and red plus jeans and, of course, the boots. Still the costumes weren't something that any of us really objected to. It would be fine. When Rainbow asked about the final show, the outdoor concert that benefited charity, Kurt's eyes enlivened. There was some cohesion…but the main similarity was that each of us would be wearing a statement tee that spoke about some aspect of our personalities. Much like the tees the guys would get to wear under their flannels at the house party the night before.
My shirt was a purple, tunic length tee that simply read polyamory. I'd be rocking black, Capri length leggings and black espadrille wedges with it. Puck and Sam were in the men's version in the same shirt, just bluish gray for Sam and regular gray for Puck. Their shirts were put with simple jeans and boots, black work boots for Puck and his cowboy boots for our southern gent. Like me Tana, Tina and Xena would be in leggings and a tee shirt. Tina actually got a choice. "Because I know you so much better than Bubbie, she gave me the job of picking your shirt. I could not decide between the black with white writing that said 'You Call Me WEIRD like it's a bad THING!' shirt and the gray with black writing one that says 'do all THINGS with kindness'. So, we went with dark gray leggings that wouldn't look out of place with either one." He tapped something else. "All the ladies are all in black wedges of differing styles, though they all have the light colored wedge. Xena, your leggings are green to match the lettering of your 'It's an ARO Thing'. Tana, we went with a dark gray 'hashtag, LOVEWINS' shirt for you…slightly lighter leggings, and of course the wedges complete the look."
On to the next images. "Dancers, you ladies actually all have the same saying on your shirts…they are just in different colors." He showed us hot pink, light pink, and black ladies tees and a light gray long sleeved, blouson tee that all read the same war cry. 'On Wednesdays We Smash The Patriarchy'. "Like the female singers, you'll be in leggings, but over those you'll have long swirly chiffon skirts. We went with the split, soft sole dance shoes in colors to match your shirts. Jax…you and Sim are in black, wide leg jazz pants with your statement tees."
"Man Sim…I think I'm jelly of your shirt…'Started from the Closet, Now We're Queer'…that's hilarious." Jax laughed.
"Oh yeah…what do you think of this then." Kurt said wickedly. The next pic was a familiar black and white looking tee shirt.
"Straight Outta The Closet." Sim groaned. "Man, can we switch I love Ice Cube…like seriously. 'Straight Outta Compton' was my JAM in high school." Jackson didn't have a problem with switching shirts.
Kurt shrugged. "If they fit, no problem. I just didn't want to, you know, put the black guy automatically in the NWA based shirt."
"The stereotype avoidance is appreciated, but if you don't mind?"
"No, it's cool." Kurt assured them. "Mike, your shirt sums you're outlook up perfectly." He showed us a black shirt that read, 'Straight, Christian & for Gay Rights'. Mike nodded in agreement. "Okay, so Blaine and the Dam Bros…Adam, I love your shirt. It says 'Humanity is My Race, Love is My Religion and Peace is my Weapon'."
"That's deep." Adam nodded. "I like it."
Kurt smiled happily. "Damien, for you I picked… 'God is Bisexual. He Loves Everyone'."
"Hell yeah." Damien laughed merrily. "What have you got for your boothang?"
"Blaine has a Legalize Love shirt. We can get married in New York, but until marriage is universal…the struggle will never stop." Kurt said pulling the picture up. "All the male background singers' shirts are black with white, or rainbow coloring. Well, Blaine's shirt has the lettering in red, but the male figures are both bigger and white."
"What about us, Hummer?" Dave shouted from where he and Cassidy had gotten tired of waiting.
"Satan, why on earth did you and Puck share that little tidbit?" Kurt groaned. "Dave, you actually have a choice… 'Black Lives Matter' accompanied by the iconic raised fist…or 'Smash the Patriarchy' accompanied by a slightly less iconic fist with an afro, I think, around it."
He showed the drummer both options. They were both men's racer back tanks. The BLM shirt was gray with black writing and the Patriarchy shirt was black with white letters. "Let me think on it for a minute. Come back to me." Dave said thoughtfully.
Kurt was understanding. He moved on to Cassidy. She and Erika would both be in denim capris with black and cork wedge sandals like the rest of the chicas who weren't dancers. Cass's shirt was gray and in black letters proclaimed to the world, 'Well the Patriarchy isn't going to Fuck itself'. Erika leaned over and gave her a high five. Erika's shirt was black. It said 'I Play Like A Girl…Try to Keep Up' with a little picture of a headstock and neck of a bass or guitar next to it. Cassidy had to return that celebratory gesture. Justin's shirt was black too and had a grayed out picture of a man with a guitar leaning against a wall with 'Save the Music' in graffiti next to him. Artie also had a decision to make. He had a choice between a black shirt with the polyamory symbol on it or one with the picture of the guy in a wheelchair that read 'Stupidity is not a handicap…Park Elsewhere'.
"Oh, the Park Elsewhere shirt for sure. Since neither Tana nor Britts have poly shirts…it makes it look like I'm in the middle of Commune's relationship. Plus too…I'm always seeing normies parking in the handy spots. Assholes." Artie swore.
Kurt made a notation. "Great…so…Dave, have you had enough time to reach a decision?"
Dave looked up. "I want the BLM shirt. It's important…ya know."
Kurt nodded. "Yeah, we know." He started typing, sending the final decisions that had been reached to Bubbie, so she would know preferences for the future.
Quinn looked up from her conversation with James, Ben and Jon. "Okay…is the work completed, because I'm kind of wondering what we are doing when you guys aren't performing."
"I'm wondering when we're going to eat." Santana chimed in jokingly.
I looked at Sam. He looked at Puck, and we all shrugged. "Umm…Why don't we get Hudson and see what she has planned?" I finally suggested. "I know she likes to take a bath after a flight, but she's probably done…right?" I grabbed my phone and texted her. Hudson actually started the practice when she realized that she usually had nothing to do when we first got to hotels because Sam, Puck and I were you know getting our grove on.
Of course, our super-efficient PA was there only moments later. She had big bottles of sunscreen, folders and itineraries for everyone. "Everyone has a platinum pass. That will allow you to see everything when you aren't at a KAMA show…and it will allow you to get into the KAMA shows too. I've included the schedule and the information you'll need on locations and such. But you should each down load at least the SXSW GO app, as well as the GroupMe app to coordinate your activities and schedules. This evening you are scheduled to go to the spa this evening at seven. They are, very kindly, opening after hours for our group."
"Damn, y'all balling like that?" James joked. "Uncle Steve don't even get that kind of treatment."
I gave him a complete screw face. "You know Steve Harvey don't wait on a chair at any barbershop in the continental United States." I shot back easily. "But still…why are they being so nice?"
"There are restrictions. Everyone gets four treatments. One facial, one body treatment, one massage and one mani-pedi. The lists are in the folders telling you who gets what when…there are no other options. We cannot make changes. Oh, and ladies, as I said in the email I sent you with your flight information…I hope that you took care of hair removal. Their waxing ladies are not here this evening."
Every female there assured Hudson that it was already taken care of. Of course, she already knew about me and roughly half the New York crew because she handled all our schedules. Whether we asked her too or not. "Good. Now tomorrow, you guys have your choices of whatever you decide to do. There are gaming events at South by Southwest that I'm pretty sure that the guys will want to hit. There are a ton of movies and concerts and whatever. The limo bus will take everyone over at ten in the morning and bring everyone home at one AM…then do the same again on Monday. KAMA and crew, your itineraries show practice times as well as mike checks and performance times. New Directions…your itineraries only show the performance times. You will all still have plenty of time to explore. Friday, we're checking out at three and have to be at the airport by five. You have until two to two-thirty to explore the resort, you can UBER back over to the event…as long as you and your luggage are in the limo bus by three thirty at the absolute latest."
She checked something else before continuing. "Oh…and KAMA crew, don't forget next Saturday is the photo shoot for the CD cover. You guys don't have to be there until noon…Sam, Mercedes and Noah…you guys are there at nine."
"Okay…now what about dinner?" Santana asked putting her hand in the air just to be extra facetious.
Hudson shook her head. "Dinner tonight is in the 8212 Wine Bar and Grill at five. We'll have the place to ourselves for the most part…but you all might want to go change. You never know when someone will take your picture around these three."
It was unfortunately true. I almost hated seeing everyone heading to their own rooms. It was really nice to see all of the crew and the New Directions and Ryan, Seth and Summer plus Ben and Jon all getting to know each other and getting along for the most part. Quinn and Summer would never really be friends…probably because they were the same architype, but I would never say that one to my friends. They were both good people…they just shared all the same negative traits. Besides, they got along OK so I was good.
On the other hand…since everyone rushed back to their rooms Sam, Noah and I were able to christen the hotel room's pretty shower. I was feeling pretty damn fly after our shower, so I lotioned and put on some sexy as fuck purple lingerie before pulling on a dress that lived up to the name the designer gave it, Guilty Pleasures. The dress was lilac and plum off center color-block and had a gorgeous silver floral detail where the four front panels met. The dress had a really wide, fairly deep V neckline. I was really bad too, I didn't want anything to distract Noah and Sam's view, so while I wore my big ass diamond and platinum hoops. I didn't wear a necklace of any shape, form or fashion. Instead I went with quite a few bangles on each arm and just my engagement ring. I shoved my phone, my mini-wallet and my room key into a pretty black purse. I dithered for a moment before grabbing a pair of four inch heeled, black strappy platform sandals.
I'd gotten pretty happy with the idea of southern weather and all I'd brought with me for shoes were sandals of every shape, color and style to go with my clothes. I'd brought a lot of shorter dresses, capris and shorts too. I made a quick decision and laid out a simple purple and white sundress and flip flops so I could do a very quick change before we went to the spa a little later. With the facial and other treatments that were scheduled, I didn't bother with makeup beyond some pretty lip gloss and moisturizer. Of course, Sam had thrown on some khakis and a simple white button down and was good to go. Puck was in dark wash jeans and an ivory pull over that made his skin fucking glow. I still loved the barely stubble look he was rocking, but I wondered how he would look with his thick brown hair long enough to tug. Especially as he started the gauging process. I had to get rid of that thought since there would be no time for another shower with my men between dinner and spa time.
We headed down to the restaurant near all the meeting and ball rooms. It was quite a walk from the rooms. I was so grateful that we'd all taken the time to get a lot more dressed than we had been chilling out in the suite. The walk did give us a chance to see a lot of the rest of the resort. We decided that rather than going back to South by Southwest on Friday morning, we'd all meet at the indoor pool and just have morning of fun and relaxation before we had to head back to our real lives. When we arrived at the restaurant, everything was in readiness. They had rearranged the tables so we would feel as if we were all together and close and intimate. It was great. The menu definitely told you why they put wine bar before grill. There were like five options for each course, and like a zillion wines to choose from. We all limited ourselves to two glasses with our dinner and a lot of water. No one wanted to be drunk off our asses trying to walk back to our rooms at six fifteen in the evening.
Conversation flowed around me as we all picked and chose our desserts and all I could think was my life was well and truly blessed and I was more grateful than I could put into words.
Time of Our Lives (Pitbull & Ne-Yo)
Finn PoV
I could not believe how much fun we had over our spring break. That first night we had dinner together…but not like McDonalds or anything stupid and childish like you expect when you hear the words 'college kids on Spring Break'. We got dressed up and went to a real restaurant. There was wine that went with specific things. Like I got the steak, which it turned out was a filet mignon…and they get really testy with you when you order it well…but anyway, with my steak I had a glass of merlot. But Lauren got the shrimp risotto and she had a glass of chardonnay. It was awesome. Then after dinner we went to a spa. That was cool but weird. When we got there they had us kind of wash off and put on their robes and house shoes. Then we broke into couples, thruples or groups for our 'treatments'. After the year I'd had the year before the word treatments made me sweat a little bit. But it was cool. They weren't like the breathing treatments or the PT treatments from after my car accident. They were actually kind of awesome. First Lauren and I had a deep tissue massage with a rosemary sea salt scrub in the same room. It was really intimate…which I didn't expect since there were the two masseuses there with us. I do not think I had ever been so relaxed without having cum a bunch of times before in my life. But the whole massage thing had a different effect on Lauren. She had my dick in her mouth almost before the door closed behind the massage artists. The second my dick was hard she was riding me to happy town. After we got done, I was even more of a puddle of Finn.
It took us a little while to get our breath back. When Lauren was completely satisfied, we hit the showers again really quick before we separated for our next treatments. I had felt a little bad for holding everyone up…but every single couple or thruple who had their joint massages for their first treatment was in the showers too. Even Mercedes, Sam and Puck where there and they got massages all the time. I tried not to think about the fact that Kurt and Blaine were there too. It wasn't a gay thing…that was my brother. And not to be funny, but there was just something about Kurt that made thinking about him and sex at the same time seem just really, really wrong.
All of us ND alum guys and Vince headed in to get our facials…so funny, we were dudes getting facials. But they were special men's facials, so that was at least something. We had what the spa people called the gentleman's sea escape facial but since Puck had a big hard on for something that he'd had done on his first trip to a spa, Hudson had added a back facial too. I wasn't going to complain about that. My back didn't itch for two weeks after that back facial. It was awesome. But what was even better was just spending that time talking and laughing and joking with my friends. Vince and James really helped Az educate us on a lot of stuff we'd never thought about until, well, we got our heads out our asses. "But I thought racism was way over. I mean, we have a black president." I finally said confused.
James shook his head. "The world, on the surface got less racist. There were no more fire hoses or lynchings or whatever, but those feelings never went away. The people who were raised to think that you and I are basically different species, they went on to teach their kids to believe that way and those people taught their kids. But while they were teaching their kids that black folk are inferior, the smarter ones also taught their kids to hide those beliefs because society on a whole said that they refused to feel that way anymore."
"Oh, so because of changes in societal expectations…it sent the hate underground. But shouldn't it be getting better now. I mean, there have to be more people like us than like them? Right?" I asked desperately.
Vince sighed. "The truth is that the answer to that is both yes and no. Things are getting better, but nowhere near as fast as they should be. The problem is that the blowback against Obama…yeah some of it was politics and policy…but most of it was just plain racial. I mean, the man saved the auto industry, kept the recession from getting even worse and has been bring back jobs like a boss. But they still can't give him credit and a lot of them are still questioning whether he is even an American. W…was a damn moron but because he was white he was alright."
"Oh…I liked Bush…he kind of made me feel like if he could grow up to be president maybe I could too." I admitted quietly.
Every single person in the room sighed. The lady, Alabama, who was doing my face patted my cheek. "Oh, aren't you just the sweetest. Now, Sweetheart. Here is the problem with having a C borderline D student as President…they are only as good as the people doing their thinking for them. Here in Texas, W had his people to do his thinking for him. As President, he had the Arch-villains Cheney and Rumsfield in his ears…damned devils on both shoulders. Now he's going down in history as the worst president of the last hundred years…well, ceptin' for Nixon. So sad, because here to tell that man really has a heart of gold."
"When exactly did this country start looking for the dude bros for president. Sure, it is cool to have a president that is comfortable with the common person, but the fact that people are always talking about 'the educated elite leadership' as if it is a bad thing…that's just bull shit. Finn, you know I love you like a brother. But if you ever run for president…unless Lauren or Artie is your running mate, I've gotta vote for the other guy." Puck said honestly.
I just laughed and threw a towel from the side of the chair at him. "Truth be told, I'd go with Mike for my running mate…with Lauren as my First Lady and Artie, Tina and Cede on my cabinet. But definitely Mike for my VP…he is a lot nicer than the rest of you when I say something stupid."
That had us all discussing which people in our clique would make the best president and who would be the worst. We actually decided that the best would be Artie or Mike and the worst would be Santana…she would so take over the world. But since she would probably do stuff that made a lot of sense, maybe she wouldn't be so bad. Lauren would be right there with her…but the truth was that I loved her too much to admit that to anyone…even myself really. Then we left politics, thankfully and started talking about school. For the most part all of us felt we were on the right tract for us.
All of us except Karofsky. "I picked my major based on…I don't know. I guess, it was my dad's major and I didn't really know what I wanted to do. But I've started taking some of the criminal justice courses now and I fucking hate it. It's just so boring."
"So, what do you want to do?" Az asked him. "Don't say you wanna do something gay like drop out and run away to Paris or something. I'm asking you to tell me what you'd like to do with your life."
"Fuck you Az. I am gay. You got the memo." Dave shot back.
Az laughed. "If I hadn't known before I got to your dorm room yesterday, I'd have known for sure after. Your roommate had a cock like a fucking horse and you were taking that shit like a champ." He pointed at me. "Y'all think I'm joking…but LaKeith, his roommate and buttbuddy, had to be at least thirteen inches…and fucking thick too. It was ridiculous…and Dave had that shit in his ass like it wasn't nothing."
Kurt sat there for just a second. Before he blurted out, "You WATCHED?!"
Az just shrugged. "Who wouldn't have? I mean…I ain't gay myself…but that was a sight to behold."
"You shouldn't have watched." Kurt huffed.
"Man, Hummel, you are the only one here who wouldn't have took the time to watch." Azimio defended. "Dave might be a bit of a pudgy bastard…but his roommate is on a fucking swim scholarship. If I was ripped like that I'd be swimming in the pussy."
"No one else would have watched. None of you would have watched would you?"
Alabama laughed. "Darlin', I've paid for gay porn and didn't get something that sounded as hot as what he described. Just looking at your friend over there...plus the promise of a thirteen-inch black boy with him. I'd have watched so hard that it would have been like using my brain to tape it for future viewing." Several of the other spa matrons fully agreed.
Dave blushed and looked both uncomfortable and proud at the same time. Finally, he decided to own it. "He knows how to use it too."
Sam scoffed. "Oh please, like it is hard to be good when fucking another guy. We've explored the equipment since the first time out dicks stood up. Puck knows how much I love him…but getting him off is easy as hell compared to Mercy. Sometimes, I, and I am man enough to admit it…if it weren't for Puck, Mercy would be sore disappointed in my performance at least thirty-five percent of the time. I don't have enough mouths and hands to work all her pleasure points. Hell, Artie...how the hell do you manage two?"
Artie laughed and bowed up proudly. "Because I gots it like that…and Britts helps me with Tana and Tana helps me with Britts. I want to know how all the hetero-normative guys handle their women on their own. Well not Finn…Lauren tells him exactly what to do and draws him pictures if he needs it."
"Shut up…Lauren can't draw." I pointed out. "But yeah, I like it when she tells me what to do. What about Mike? It's just him and Tina." I diverted the attention to our other friend.
Mike's smirk was seriously pride filled. "Once you know what works, you add to and vary…but never take away from the things she wants most. It helps if you have a way to clue into their browser history and see what kind of things they are into. Like everyone, Tina has her kinks. I just follow her moods. But what I want to know is…how did we get from helping Dave figure out what he wants to do with his future…to just talking about sex?"
Puck picked up what Mike was laying down and took us back to the safer, less likely to get us stuck on the couches in our hotel rooms, topic. "Alright Dave…so what do you want to be when you grow up?"
Dave shrugged. "The dream is to go pro. It's the only reason I'm still not really out on campus and shit. I mean, Michael Sam has proven that the NFL is not as ready for inclusion as they thought they were or whatever."
"Dude, you can major in anything and play pro ball if you're good enough on the field." I reminded him. "What you have to do is think about what you would want to do, either after your pro career is over, or what you would do if, heaven forbid, you threw out your shoulder or your knee or whatever and couldn't play anymore?"
Dave looked like he was thinking hard. "I think…I guess I would want to help kids…maybe a social worker. Or no…you know what I would love to do…I'd want to be a guidance counselor. Ms. Pillsbury was great senior year with helping us get to college and all that. But the emotional stuff…I'm pretty sure she hated every second of dealing with that shit. And usually she just ended up giving you a pamphlet that may or may not have actually been pertinent to the problem."
"Well, in her defense, she has pretty rampant OCD. Maybe the emotionally messy stuff got on her nerves as much as physically messy stuff." Mike pointed out.
I shrugged. "Burt said that Coach Sylvester hired more guidance counselors who could handle the emotional stuff while she mainly deals with the career counseling stuff."
"That's real good…but it's not just her. It is pretty endemic that if there are cases of bullying in schools, they best they do is to try and work with the victims…if they do that much. But even then, they don't focus on helping them become strong enough that the bullies have to find someone else to pick on. And they sure as hell don't work on the bullies…getting to the root of the problems that lead them to pick on people. How much better would things have been if Ms. Pillsbury or anyone at all really, had just taken the time to talk to me and figure out why I was harassing Hummel? Maybe I could help the next asshole get over himself…maybe I can help the next Kurt not to have to run for his life." Dave finally completed his line of thinking.
One of the other spa matrons spoke up, kind of surprising all of us. "My sister-in-law is a guidance counselor. She has degrees in early childhood education and child psychology. But you'll need at least a Master's degree to get a job."
Dave looked a little sad about that. But Vince had a good point. "Man, get your undergrad. If you make the pros, you can take classes towards your Masters during the off season."
It was like the sun came out for Dave. "Yeah…I'll set up a meeting with my advisor when I get back to campus. I'm gonna do it."
"That's good Dave. I still want you to go pro though. Then when you take your team to the super bowl…you can talk them into getting KAMA for the halftime show." Sam encouraged.
"Yeah…maybe I'll just get them to just get Mercedes. I remember Sam Evans trying to beat my ass in the Titan's locker room." Dave teased.
The ladies in that room were finished with us and sent some of us on to get our body treatments. The single guys went for their massages. The herbal poultice smelled a little funny, but the wraps were really warm and it felt awesome. After that the New Direction and ND adjacent guys were back together and we had these awesome hot stone massages for our hand and arms and legs and feet. We had to dip our feet into these, like, vats of some special version of candle wax. Then they did this thing where they like sloughed all the dead skin and callouses off our feet and cleaned up our nails. I kind of felt stupid when I realized that we'd had a mani-pedi. I probably would have liked it better if they had waxed all the knuckles of our fingers and toes…that really hurt. That was the last of our treatments and we all had to shower off and get dressed. I noticed that Hudson gave the person who had lead us through the spa all night a big envelope which I was pretty sure was like the tip for the night. That was awesome.
We all headed up to our rooms and Lauren and I had a great night breaking in that bed. The next morning, we got up and had breakfast in Commune's suite with the rest of the crew. That was really cool. It was great getting to talk with everyone face to face. Of course, we also had to sit through Puck and Sam proudly showing us all pictures from Nikki's birthday. Then we reminded them that almost all of us had seen them already. Nikki had sent me and Lauren some of them the very next day. But they were proud and happy. We'd all sent Nikki gifts ourselves and she's sent us all really nice thank you notes. She was such a good little girl. Plus, she helped me with my math homework and didn't make me feel stupid that she could do it and I couldn't even though I was the same age as her dad.
After breakfast, we returned to our rooms and got dressed then everyone piled into the limo bus with the Rangemen and drove into Austin to enjoy all the things South By Southwest had to offer. We got to see Furious 7 and it was cool as hell. I mean, it was sad about Paul Walker and everything. But it was a good action movie. We listened to a lot of small bands and stuff playing different places. I thought it was weird having security guards with us everywhere, but Mr. Jones had had Burt ask me and Lauren to stick kind of close to Puck, Cedes and Sam, and I didn't wonder if other parents had passed their kids the same message because we didn't break up and go do our own things. We had fun hanging all together. It was better that way. We had lunch at a place called Clark's that was actually a seafood restaurant, but they had an amazing cheeseburger. It was so good. We went to some of the tech panels in the convention center and Lauren actually got to talk to some of the big wigs at Apple and a few major players in some other tech giants. That made her seriously happy. What made her even happier was that someone had given Hudson the idea to have cards made up for all of us giving basically our name, the field we'd be going into after graduation and our contact information. She appeared out of nowhere and handed the Apple guy, who was ridiculously interested in learning more about Lauren's ideas on net security, Lauren's card. That was seriously major.
As we walked around…I noticed how much product placement there really was. Like Capital One was sponsoring KAMA's concert on Tuesday. Samsung had a charging station. AT&T rented lockers for personal items. NIKE had a great place where people could skateboard and we could shoot hoops. It was really awesome. Somehow, we wandered into the CNN Grille, which was a restaurant where they conducted interviews. Zain Asher spotted Mercedes before we could turn around and make a getaway. Before we could exit the building, she had approached our friend and not only did she get Cedes into a chair. Carl Aziz pulled Puck into a 'conversation' and Athena Jones got Sam. I was shocked when a guy came up and introduced himself as Mark Preston and he wanted to talk with Lauren and I about the car accident and the guy who had hit us. There wasn't a whole lot we could say. We did discuss the information that was already a part of the public record. But we didn't get into the civil case that was pending. Fortunately, Mr. Preston didn't seem to want to. He wanted to find out more about the political fallout. Like how now that district had a democratic representative because of the fall out of the Republican favorite son being a coke head who ended the career of a promising young Buckeye. It was curious…very weird.
When we finally escaped the interviews, of course, Mercedes, Sam and Puck's took a lot longer than me and Lauren's, we checked out Pandora's Discovery Den. They had some music from some of the people that KAMA's Brantley was looking at for opening acts for their summer tour. Some of the music was really, really good…but some of it…not so much. I mean, a lot of the bands had great musicianship, but their vocals sucked ass. Or their vocals were good and their musicians needed a hell of a lot more lessons. Or, in more than a few cases vocals were alright, musicians were passable but the lyrics were so bad I was pretty sure that I could have written better lines when I was in my coma.
The whole day was great we had dinner there too. Then we went bar hopping. After the accident and all, none of us were big into drinking. Well, Az and Dave kind of were…I might have been to, but not after seeing first-hand the consequences of the dumb decisions people made when drunk and-or high. Tuesday, our friends Puck, Sam and Cedes became KAMA. There were rehearsals and sound checks and all of that. Their show started at eight, after a set by an indy band called Twenty-One Pilots…though there were only two of them, so I guess they were just a duo. They were good though. Their musicianship, vocals and lyrics were all good…I liked them. But I had to say, they were going to be famous, but when KAMA took the stage it was easy to tell the difference between soon to be and already were.
They didn't do all their songs…just the first album, the songs they'd had on the SongBird soundtrack and then 'Believe' and a Bob Dylan cover of an old civil rights song called 'The Ballad of Emmitt Till'. That song was so deep and depressing. But…Oh my GOD! Mercedes had the entire room in tears. Especially when she moved from that into a verse about the little boy that had been killed in Cleveland by that bad cop guy who should never have been a cop. Fortunately, that one was before the intermission and DJ Ca$$ brought all our happy back. Tina and Mike looked like they were always a part of the crew. Well, Mike didn't exactly look right, because I was used to KAMA's two to one dancer ratio. They'd incorporated Mike in but it still seemed that something was missing, like the two girls who should have been there to balance him out. I guess, that Mike threw off the background dancer's typical symmetry, but they just set them up in a girl boy, girl boy, girl pattern, so it worked. Tina and Blaine joined in with the background vocalists and wow…it made the under vocals even deeper and richer. The voices blended great. If the first half was love songs and movement songs…then the second half of the set was all their baby making songs. Seriously, by their second encore…where they covered Prince's 'When I Lay My Hands On U', I was ready to talk Lauren into making an early night of it.
But we'd all said that we were going to "Comedy Night Two". It took about an hour after the end of the concert for all of them They were filming it as a special for Showtime. There were like seven comedians and the host. It was an okay mix, four guys and three women. I liked the host better than most of them. I got his jokes. It was funny when he was talking about being in an interracial relationship and how it made sure there would be less white people. Of course, Lauren loved those jokes too. She loves biracial kids. I was pretty sure that we were going to end up adopting at least one or two…in addition to the one or two of our own that I would hopefully be able to talk her into. Lauren was convinced that she was too big to get pregnant. She thought she was like the 'My Big, Fat, Fabulous Life' lady on TLC. But I saw stuff like the big women who didn't know they were pregnant and it gave me a lot of hope. I liked the thought of adopting a couple of kids, but I wanted to give the world another Lauren too.
The rest of the week went by so fast. Even going to three KAMA shows in three days, I never felt like I was bored or like it was the same thing on repeat. They did a great job of varying their set list and their choreography to make each show something that could totally stand-alone even for those people who came to all of the shows. And it wasn't just those of us who graduated with them and who they had gifted with the trip who were at all three concerts. They had a serious fan following. It was fun to watch the girls who didn't just want Puck and Sam to sign their boobs, they wanted Cedes to do it too. Her face the first time one of those chicks flirted with her was so funny. We got pictures. We showed them to her later. She chased us through the entire 'Gamer's Experience' sponsored by EA Games, seriously everything there was sponsored by somebody, until she caught me. People don't realize that Mercedes Jones is like an amazing climber. She shimmied up me until she could reach the phone I had out stretched in my hand. She took it, but I'd already sent the pics to everyone there with us.
It was great to spend time with everyone and to make our friends forget whatever it was that they were keeping from us in the name of us not worrying or whatever. Of course, someone got Cedes' Finn climb on video. It showed up on TMZ, but thankfully, they just pointed out that it was good to see that KAMA was just like everyone else. When they got together with lifelong friends, they forgot to act their age too. One of the dickheads said that I must have been really strong not to topple over with Mercedes weight fully on my torso. I was happy when one of his co-workers threw something at him and another slapped him upside the back of his head. I didn't like it when people tried to make fun of Cedes size. She was my friend and she was beautiful.
By the dinner time Thursday, we were all tired as hell. KAMA was officially off duty and we were all tired. I mean, I'd never felt heat quite like that. I think we were all sick of having to put on more sun screen every two hours. We just wanted to chill out and relax. So, we all went back to the resort and showered and changed into swimsuits with tee shirts and cover ups. Hudson had worked her magic and we had the entire interior pool to ourselves. She, I was guessing it was her, had ordered us a boatload of some of the best barbeque I'd ever eaten in my life, even better than Dr. Benton's though I would never admit that to anyone, ever. We spent the evening swimming and playing and just enjoying the time with our friends. It was what college spring break was supposed to be like. Though really the whole week was like a dream college break. Lauren and I had made love every night in that massive bed…it was awesome to just make love without having to be creative to deal with two people our sizes in a twin bunk. Friday morning, we even got to play three hours of Ma'am and Finnie before we showered, packed up and met the others in Commune's suite to relax until it was time to go. I was more than happy.
Which was good because the airport was absolute madness. It was completely packed. Like the fire marshal might have to shut it down level of packed. We all ended up saying our goodbyes right after we made it through security since we were all leaving from like five different gates. I made sure to thank Hudson for helping make everything so awesome that week. I knew it was part of her job, but that didn't mean we shouldn't show our appreciation. Lauren, Dave, Az, Vince and I made it to our flight…only because none of us were small and together we could force the crowded corridors to bend to our wills. Unfortunately, our flight wasn't as pleasant. What was supposed to have been a straight, four hour, non-stop flight started with an extra forty-five minutes on the tarmac. Worst of all there were like five babies on that flight and sitting still for extra time wasn't something that made any of them happy. When we made it out of that airplane in Columbus, we were so happy it wasn't even funny.
But then getting back to our dorm, made me a little sad. I missed that big hotel bed in the worse way. For the first-time Lauren and I considered moving off campus. We didn't want to leave Vince behind. So, we dragged him into the conversation too. His original scholarship had forced him to live on campus…but Coach would be pulling him off that one and giving it to an incoming freshman that coming fall. His new scholarship would be based on both academic and sports performances. Not surprising since his GPA was higher than mine. It was a method that Coach often used when he was pretty sure that his candidates just needed a chance to show what they could do…prove who they could be. Since Vince had shown that he was a hell of a lot smarter than he'd allowed people to believe in East Texas, he wouldn't be forced to live in the dorms but he would still have that option and he would still have his meal plan covered.
We also, among the three of us, decided that we'd need to bring Karofsky and his boyfriend-slash-roommate with us. If Dave wanted his sexuality to remain a mystery…then they could not continue to keep having sex in their dorm room. Someone would find out, rumor would spread and there would be no way to keep it from scouts and pro coaches. But if we could manage to find a place with three or four bedrooms…we'd be able to give him cover. He and LaKeith could just be roommates. No one would be able to know for sure. We could give them that coverage. Lauren decided that she would rake the point on finding us somewhere. "I know you guys. You'd have us in a former meth lab…or someplace so far from campus that we couldn't conceivably get back and forth without so much trouble it just isn't worth it."
Me and Vince both knew she was kind of right. He and I would just look for the cheapest place we could find. Of course, she was figuring out how to even start looking, figuring out budgets, requirements…everything. And she was doing all that while managing her course load and her practice schedule and meets. So, me and Vince took over making sure that our dorm room was clean and kept stocked with snacks and bottled water. We forced ourselves to keep and maintain our schedules without relying on Lauren to make us. I talked to Dave and LaKeith and explained the plan and exactly why they needed to go in with us. LaKeith was all over it. He hated living in the dorms…but there was no way he could afford to live off campus and have the car he'd need to go back and forth.
Lauren and I were also prepping for the coming civil trial. The week after finals we would have to testify. Since the guy had pled guilty, Mr. Berry and Mr. Harris were sure that it was mainly a matter of letting the jury decide how much Paley needed to pay to make things right. Mr. Berry often brought the Triplets with him. Three biracial babies to play with kept Lauren's temper from flaring up when Mr. Berry mentioned the word 'makeover' and started talking about how important it was that we presented ourselves in the best possible light. Somehow in the course of the conversation, Lauren and I ended up asking him for more information about how to find a place to live off campus and explained that it would be five people but four bed rooms. I think we ended up answering more questions than he did. By the time Easter weekend came around we were all ready for the break. Lauren was, officially, the National Champion collegiate wrestler in her weight class. There was interest from the US Olympic team for her to compete in twenty-sixteen. That was a dream come true for my beautiful girl friend. Dave was pretty much just as happy if for an entirely different reason. Since LaKeith's family was not exactly happy with his sexuality, he only went home for Christmas and summer. For Easter, with all of us going back to Lima, Dave dragged him home to meet his dad. The semester was weeks from being over and I couldn't believe how quickly the time had flown by. I just needed not to let myself get distracted and I'd pull off a B for the semester. Still, sometimes I just couldn't wait for the summer.
Okay, so first, Yeah, I know I've repped the Princess976 story before, but it is what I was reading. Yes again. I needed some happy and 'just don't give a f*ck about anything but getting his girl back Sam' makes me happy.
Second, Sorry for the delay. Sometimes Life Sucks and it threw my schedule a whole day off. GRRR!
Hope that everyone will for give me and review anyway.
Third, saw a great meme the other day that made me laugh til I almost peed myself.
Person praying
prayer= God grant me patience and serenity because if you give me strength and courage, I'm gonna need some bail money to go with it.
Fourth, drop me a review and let me know what you think of the chapter and what questions you're still looking to have answered. (Or your favorite meme to live by...LOL)
#surviving&resisting
TTFN,
Anni