A/N Thanks to all the favourites, follows and reviews. They are all amazing.
Sorry it's taken me so long to put this next chapter up but I caught my brothers sick bug and have been unwell for the last few days... Hope this makes up for it! Also I have posted a new story for you all as well. It's a new Klaine fic called Invisible. Hope you check it out and enjoy. It's only the prologue so far.
I don't own Glee or the characters.
Chapter Fifty Five
Marley was really very grateful to Blaine for his pep talk. She had gone and spoken with her mother that very same day, telling her what was going on and that she was really very sorry, and since then she had eaten heartily. She knew one thing from this near disaster. She was never going to take advice from Kitty ever again. No matter what it was. She and her mother felt that they owed Blaine something though for being so kind and thoughtful and so her mother had baked a batch of cookies, since she told Marley that that was always on his tray without fail every single day. Cookies. Blaine loved his cookies. Nervously, she slowly walked up to the older boy, who was fiddling around at his locker and listening to something that Tina was talking to him about. Well, half listening anyway. Tina could go on sometimes.
"Um, hey Blaine. My mum and I just wanted to say thanks for what you did for me. It was really thoughtful of you. We wanted to give you something to say thank you. It's nothing much but, here." Marley shyly held out her hand with the Tupperware box of cookies in them and Blaine graciously took them, opening the box to see what was inside.
"Oh wow. Cookies. My favourite. Thanks so much Marley, you shouldn't have." Blaine thanked the girl, genuinely touched at her gift.
"Well, really it was my mum who made them, but I'm glad you like them." She smiled happily at him as she blushed slightly and said her goodbye's after an awkward pause, not knowing what to say to either older member of glee.
"Tell your mum thanks!" Blaine called after her and she nodded, her grin wide. She was happier than she had been for quite some time.
Blaine looked after the younger girl fondly before turning back to Tina's rant about whatever it was she was ranting about. He offered her a cookie to placate her and she eagerly took one as he delved into the box himself. Thank you Marley's mum. I really need cheering up right now and this was the perfect gift. Blaine smiled a small smile as he bit into his perfectly baked cookie. Maybe today won't be so bad after all, even if Kurt doesn't call...
Kurt was sitting in his small cubicle at Vogue, twirling his pencil absently around his finger. It had gotten very late but still Kurt didn't really fancy going home to listen to Rachel twitter on about Brody any more. He wished she would just make her mind up as to whether she would go out with him or not because it was starting to get very infuriating. He really didn't need that right now. Not with what was going on in his life. Truth is I'm just trying to avoid everything right now because I don't want to admit to him what happened. A stray tear betrayed Kurt and fell down his face, which he wiped away quickly in frustrated anger at himself. No. stop it Kurt. You can do this. Just forget it and move on. Sighing Kurt pushed himself away from his desk and started to switch everything off in the building so he could go home. When he heard a squeak as he turned one of the lights off, he immediately flicked it back on to reveal his boss Isabelle Wright still sitting at the conference table, looking frazzled.
"Hey. Sorry. I thought everyone had gone home." Kurt stepped through and apologised, sitting on the corner of the table next to Isabelle to see if he could help. Anything to stop him going home, even if it was just a few minutes.
"What are you working on?" Kurt eagerly asked, loving the distraction.
"Oh, just the sweeps." Isabelle waved off her work with one hand and smiled warmly at Kurt, who was fast becoming her favourite intern.
"I love those!"
"Why thank you. So, what are you still doing here Kurt? Shouldn't you be snuggling up on a couch Skyping your gorgeous boyfriend that you've gushed to me about a hundred times?" At those words Kurt's face crumpled completely and Isabelle's turned to one of great worry, lines creasing her forehead as she looked at him almost with motherly affection.
"Oh Kurt. I'm sorry. Has something happened?" Placing her hand onto Kurt's caused unshed tears to escape and roll down his pale cheeks. How am I supposed to tell her. To tell him.
"I...I'm not really speaking to him at the moment..." He quietly mumbled to his boss, and sometimes confidante.
"Why? Is the long distance thing not working?" Kurt shrugged, chewing his bottom lip so Isabelle couldn't see it wobble and he nodded his head. Not for the lack of Blaine trying though. Kurt missed Blaine so much it was beginning to cause a chasm in his insides. One that he didn't think he could fill any longer. He knew it was stupid. Blaine would be here in New York soon, but his pain and loneliness just seemed to be consuming him. And yet he was the one causing it himself by not talking to Blaine in the first place. Kurt knew it was all on him. Everything that was going wrong. He was probably hurting Blaine so much right now. The one man who loved and cherished him more than anyone else in the entire world. Why am I doing this to him? What am I doing? Why am I so intent on causing Blaine so much pain?
"How long has it been since you talked to him Kurt?" Isabelle asked warmly, making Kurt think of his mother briefly.
"I don't know. A week, maybe two." Kurt lied. He knew exactly how long it had been. To the day. To the second in fact, but he was never going to tell anyone else that. Ever. "I should talk to him, shouldn't I?" He smiled wanly at his boss, knowing exactly what she was hinting at.
"I think you both need to talk about why you think your relationship isn't working honey. You need to be completely honest with him." Kurt nodded once more, knowing that what Isabelle was saying was right. He needed to talk to Blaine. He just wasn't sure if he could...
"Now go and have a great Thanksgiving. I take it you're going home, so it's the perfect opportunity to talk to your man." Isabelle told her intern, pushing him gently towards the door.
"Actually no. I don't have the money to get home right now. Rachel and I are holding a little orphans' dinner in Buskwick." Kurt blushed as he revealed his slightly embarrassing plans to Isabelle Wright.
"Oooh rustic."
"What are you doing for Thanksgiving?" Kurt asked think she would be off doing something really glamorous and stood daydreaming slightly over what it might be.
"Well, I normally go to Gore Vidal's and play pictionary, but this year I thought that I would just pick up a turkey pizza and curl up to watch something on TV."
"You can't do that." Kurt looked down at her horrified. "Come to our thanksgiving dinner." Kurt pushed, thinking that she would be a welcome reprieve from Rachel and probably Brody as well.
"Why thank you. Can I bring some friends?"
"Sure! The more the merrier right?" Kurt perked up at the thought of spending Thanksgiving with some sophisticated fashionistas as opposed to his annoying best friend and her hulk of a sort of boyfriend. Things may be looking up after all...
"So everything set then?" Sam asked as Blaine just got off the phone with his future self. They had half an hour to go till sectionals and Blaine wanted to make sure that everything was set for him to go to New York straight away after the competition was over. His bag was packed and lying in the corner of the room away from prying eyes and hands.
"Looks like it." Future Blaine sounded more sober than he thought he had ever heard before and had told him he would meet him at the airport ready for their flight. Since the competition finished quite late the both of them were going to have to get a plane in the early hours of the morning and sleep in a hotel room till morning before Blaine went round to Kurt's. Thankfully Finn had offered to drive Blaine to the airport and Blaine could not have been more thankful to his tall friend than at this precise moment in time. Nervous to say the least, Blaine sat down heavily onto one of the chairs to wait for the competition to start. Please let Kurt be ok with all this. Please let him not hate me. I don't think I could cope with that. He's everything. He always has been and always will be.
"Hey, it's going to be ok bro." Sam exclaimed quietly so none of the others could hear their conversation as he sat down beside his best friend in the corner of the choir room.
"Is it? I just don't know any more Sam." Blaine gulped down the lump forming in the back of his throat. He couldn't afford to get emotional right now. He needed to stay focused. He was going to tell Kurt. He had to. It was his only card he had up his sleeve. He had used up all the rest a long time ago.
"Yes it is. You know how I know that?" Sam told his best friend firmly, watching as Blaine looked up into his eyes with pain and hurt quite evident in them.
Blaine heaved a humongous sigh. "How?" he asked tiredly.
"Because you are never, ever gonna give up on him. That's how."
Blaine stopped, touched by what Sam had just said. Sam really, truly believed in him. That he could solve this whole thing and save Kurt. Save what they had between themselves. "Thanks Sam." He wrapped his arms around his friends neck tightly and pulled up to him, Sam reciprocating the hug which Blaine, not knowing before hand, really needed.
"Ahh, that's what bestie's are for, right?"
The members of New Directions clapped from the wings as the show choir before them had just finished. Blaine felt that they sang some very strange songs but who were they to talk. They were about to sing freaking Gangnam Style! The Warblers, led by Nick had been really good and Blaine had been proud of them. If they won tonight it would be because they deserved it. As he sat on the step of the stage he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. Taking it out and looking down he saw Kurt's name flashing. Oh my God. Kurt's calling me! Pick up you idiot. Blaine deftly pressed to receive the call and rushed to the sides of the stage to talk to Kurt in private.
"Hey Kurt." Blaine eagerly welcomed Kurt into the receiver. He could hear party noises going on as well as the New York traffic and he almost smiled at the memory of Kurt telling him about his orphan's dinner turning into a full on party.
"Hey." Kurt started. He sound's so sad. Why does he sound sad? "I, um. I'm sorry I haven't called you lately. I.. I don't really have a good excuse."
"Kurt, what's wrong?" Blaine worriedly asked his lover, all happiness at Kurt calling him disappearing into smoke.
"I, um, I need to talk to you. I've been avoiding it but I can't forever. It just gets worse the more I do." Kurt told Blaine stuttering, sounding close to tears. Blaine's heart faltered at those words and he told himself that he would be strong for this phone call. Kurt sounded as though he needed him to be the strong one and so that's what he would be.
"Oh honey. Whatever it is, it can't be that bad. I'll come see you tomorrow morning, bright and early yeah? Then we can talk about this properly together and sort it all out. I want to tell you something anyway." Blaine soothed Kurt over the phone, but felt a sense of dread start to blossom in the pit of his stomach. Kurt sounded very weird on the phone. Sad, and yet something else that Blaine could not recognise no matter how hard he listened to Kurt's voice.
"I'm not sure even you can fix this one Blaine. Although I wish with all your heart that you could." Kurt sighed and sniffled down the phone and the worry grew inside Blaine till it was almost bursting. God I just want to go to him now. Why do I have to do this competition? Why?
"We can fix anything if we're together Kurt. I know we can. Look, I've got to go, they're calling us on stage. I'll see you tomorrow. I love you."
"I love you too Blaine." Kurt choked out before hanging up his end of the phone, but not before Blaine heard an audible sob escape his lips. Blaine bit his lips in his mouth as he walked back to the New Directions, his worry heavy in his heart and knowing he had to wait. It was torturous for him but he couldn't show it. He would get through all of this and be by Kurt's side before he knew it. That's it Blaine, just take one thing at a time.
Blaine's leg nervously shook up and down as he sat in his window seat in the plane. The New Directions had won the competition earlier and the Warblers had all graciously congratulated them. He felt bad that their competition season was already over. They were an amazing team and they deserved better, but up against the national show choir champions, they just couldn't compete. All the way through the performances and congratulations thereafter, Blaine had only one thing on his mind. Kurt. He needed to get to Kurt. He couldn't even remember singing. All of his friends had told him how amazing he had been. That they didn't think they had ever heard him perform so well. But it was all a blur to him. He didn't care. He just wanted one thing.
"Can you please stop that? It's really irritating." Future Blaine grumbled to his younger self and pointed to his leg, which Blaine sheepishly held still. They were, of course, posing as father and son. One flight attendant had stared at them in awe at how similar they looked, before flirting outrageously with the older Blaine, causing him to roll his eyes at her fumbling attempts at seducing a gold star gay. Younger Blaine had only smirked a little at that scene and then promptly went back to anxiously fidgeting over Kurt and his phone conversation he had had with him earlier that evening. What had Kurt meant? Blaine just didn't know at all and it was killing him. He needed to get to Kurt, and fast.
"Sorry." Blaine grumbled. "What do you think Kurt could be upset about? He thinks its something that we can't fix." He desperately asked his elder self, who only sighed in response. When Blaine didn't hear anything further, he started to poke his future self annoyingly till he elicited a response. When the older Blaine closed his eyes and furrowed his brows, Blaine poked even harder and he watched as future Blaine's brows got increasingly deeper the longer he poked, but he never got any effect out of him. Blaine gave up eventually and sat sulkily in his seat.
Turning, he thought speech might change things. Being polite never hurt in Blaine's book. "Blaine?" No response.
"Blaine?" When he got still no response he went back to poking and he called out his name again. "Blaine?"
"What!" His elder self roared in fury. "Jesus, you can be bloody annoying when you want to be, can't you?" He rubbed his arm unconsciously at the torrent of pokes he had just received from his younger self.
"Well what do you think it is that's upsetting Kurt?" Blaine implored to his older, hopefully wiser self, his eyes wide in hope. Future Blaine rolled his eyes and sighed loudly once more.
"I don't know. So just sit down, stop thinking about it over and over in your head till you work yourself into a freaking panic attack and start thinking about what you are going to say to him about our story."
"Ok..." Blaine quietly replied to his grumpy, older self, who had taken to closing his eyes again, leaving Blaine alone with his thoughts as he stared out the window of the plane into the darkness.
I really hope that Kurt is alright...
