Sam
Back at the Morales residence, they divided up the rooms by having Mike take the floor in Artie's room while Sam and Kurt took the room upstairs next to Santana's. After a brief jam session downstairs, with Artie's trusty acoustic guitar, Santana, Kurt and Sam headed upstairs. Kurt called first dibs on the bathroom and, knowing Kurt's skincare routine could take longer than most of the girls he knew, Sam took advantage of an opportunity to interrogate Santana.
"Hey," he said, appearing in her open doorway. He hadn't counted on Santana being kind of sloppy, but she was. Her dresser was covered with make up products and her clean laundry was folded up in the only chair in the room, making it unusable.
"Hi, Sam," she said, turning and frowning a bit, clearly already aware she'd come under his scrutiny. "Come to ask me about Artie?"
"Well, yeah, Artie's a friend," Sam said. "So, I guess I have. What's your angle, Santana? Is this some kind of conquest, some ploy to make out with every guy in the school?"
Santana affixed one hand to her hip and narrowed his eyes. "You have me mistaken with your girlfriend," she shot back. "Why do I have to have an angle? Can't I just like a guy?"
Sam held up his hands in surrender. "Forgive me," he said. "He's just not your usual type. Does it have anything to do with, you know... you being bored and him being around?"
He could see that she was getting angry now, and shrank back a bit as she approached him in the doorway, her eyes narrowed in disgust. "You're not the good friend you claim to be," she shot back. "If you think so little of him."
Sam wasn't quite finished. "I am a good friend," he insisted. "I'm a good enough friend to know when to protect a decent guy like Artie who doesn't need a girl who just likes him because he's the only guy around!"
Before Santana could say anything, the bathroom door creaked open to reveal Kurt, who had one towel wrapped around his body, all the way up to his chest, with a second towel in his hair. He was in the process of wiping some kind of grey, bumpy cream stuff all over his face.
"He's not," Kurt piped up. "Not the only guy around, that is. I'm sure Santana's had the opportunity to meet other potential suitors this summer. And, hey, we just learned Matt Rutherford lives down the street. If she wanted to rekindle an old flame there, she certainly could..." Rubbing the grey stuff into his pores, he continued when neither Santana nor Sam cut him off. "... It isn't so hard for me to believe, Santana. Besides, if I do say so myself, Artie was looking rather dapper this evening. He's been working out, hasn't he?"
"Thank you, Kurt," said Santana, crossing her arms in front of her and smirking at Sam, who found himself at a loss for words.
"Fine," Sam said, at last, not sure what good it would do to argue about it anymore, especially now that it was two against one. He didn't say another word about it. But when it came time to crash on the twin bed by Kurt's, he found it difficult to go right to sleep. Scenes of Artie, having his heart broken by a careless and callous Santana, played over and over in his mind for the better part of the night.
Mike
"I'll sleep on this side tonight," said Mike, as he spread a couple blankets and a pillow on the other side of the bed, opposite from the side that led into the restroom, where Artie typically parked his chair for the night.
"It was really great of you guys to help," he said. "Even Matt. Hey, speaking of, you didn't want to stay with him at his place tonight? Not that I'm trying to get rid of you or anything, I just remember you guys are friends."
"Oh, no, we are," said Mike. "But, well, you and I are friends, too."
And anytime Artie was in a relationship, as seemed to be the case with Santana now, Mike had to admit that he felt better about that friendship, for he could feel okay about being with Tina. She'd told him before that Artie had been her first and only friend at McKinley for two solid years. Mike, who had attended the same school his whole life, remembered knowing who she was (afterall, she was Asian) but not really acknowledging her much until glee club. In many ways, he still felt a little like he'd taken something that didn't belong to him. He also had some memories of the guy who'd once been in the same grade, on his same soccer team, but had then disappeared for many, many months. Mike remembered then how Artie had finally shown up at school again, for about three days, now in a wheelchair, now quiet and withdrawn and sad-looking. And then he was gone again.
"So, Ike has some video games," Artie said, moving himself from wheelchair to bed in a series of smoothe movements. "They're kind of old, but still good. Want to play Mortal Combat?"
"That's not old, that's vintage," Mike commented, with a laugh. "Sure, let's play." As Artie was in the middle of ripping out his heart (in the game), Mike decided to ask him about what he'd seen earlier, "So, what's the deal with you and Santana? Is that really happening?"
Artie frowned. "Why the tone of surprise, Mike?" he paused. "Did you, um, ever go out with... Santana?"
"Oh, no, no," Mike said, then trying to make sure he didn't sound like he was saying anything would have been wrong with that, he quickly clarified. "You have me mixed up with Matt. We went on a few dates, nothing serious, me and Brittany and her with Matt." Mike snickered a little. "I think she, uh, got tired of Matt not saying anything. Like, ever."
"Yeah, why is that?" Artie wondered. "Tonight when he was talking about the musical at his new school, that was probably the most he's ever said to me."
"Strong silent type," said Mike, with a shrug. "That's just Matt. Anyway, Santana just needed someone with a stronger personality, someone a little more sure of himself..."
"Trying to be," Artie said, looking a little worried now. He had to be keeping track of Santana's history, had to be worried. He'd be crazy not to be. Mike tried to mask his own concerns about this new development between his friends. He didn't want to be cornered into staking any bets on Santana and Artie. He was sure they'd be okay, as far as summer relationships went, but it took a lot more to keep a relationship going. Especially if you were someplace different when it started. Like Columbus... or Asian camp...
Finn
Finn had been joining Sam on the night shift, unloading trucks at Walmart, and had spent his days sleeping in and then wasting away in front of screens until it was time to have dinner and go to work again. He, too, was happy to join in when Puck called him up on Friday with an invitation for a quick road trip to Columbus to visit Matt and Artie and to help Santana's future step-brother with his move.
The next day, which was Saturday, the guys finished doing all they could to help with the move, within just a couple of hours. It included the opportunity to rip out a bunch of old carpet, and Finn got to use sharp things, which brought him joy. Apparently, Ike, the dude in the wheelchair, who turned out to be both Santana's new step-brother and Artie's old penpal, didn't need much more help after that. He and Santana's brothers were going to work on putting in new laminate flooring and widening doorways for the rest of the day. Santana's father's then invited all of her friends to play a round of golf at the nearby country club where he was a member. Kurt declined the invite, for Santana had asked him if he wanted to come along with she and Jessa to visit a bridal boutique. So, Finn, Puck, Matt, Mike, Sam, and Artie all ended up out at the golf green on that beautiful Saturday afternoon.
As they unloaded and headed towards the grass, Finn found it only natural to lean down and take charge of Artie's chair handles, by means of giving a helpful push. Afterall, it was some pretty bumpy and uneven terrain. But, for the first time he could ever remember, Artie declined. "Uh, that's okay, Finn," he said, doubling down on his own pushing. "I got it."
As Finn let go and hung back, puzzling over what Artie had just done, Sam fell into step next to him. "You and Santana, you have a bit of... a history, right?"
"You could probably ask Puck and Matt over there, and they'd say the same thing," Finn muttered, gesturing to the two guys walking ahead of the rest of the group. Artie was right behind Puck and Matt, as Sam and Finn brought up the rear. Artie appeared to falter slightly as they reached an incline, but he recovered and showed no further signs of fatigue as he pushed onward towards the first green.
"Then my theory that she's chasing Artie out of boredom is correct," Sam said, looking troubled. "Or maybe she's curious about him. Who wouldn't be, he's a bit of a puzzle..."
"Sam?" Finn cut him off abruptly. "I think it's not any of our business, okay?" After sophomore year, when his business, namely the drama with Quinn and Puck, had become the prime glee gossip, Finn knew what it was like to be subject to everyone's scrutiny. Besides... "Artie's looking more and more capable of handling things for himself."
Kurt
He was happy to offer his services to Artie's friend's bride. Afterall, he'd helped his own beautiful stepmother, Carole, with all of the details for her recent wedding to his father. And it certainly beat getting a sunburn while standing around on a field hitting balls for several hours and talking about guy stuff. Kurt was happy to be one of the guys when it came time for this particular road trip, but he also wasn't afraid to decline an activity that just didn't suit. They'd all be together later, for a night out on the town at some local favorite called Dirty Frank's Hotdog Palace. He was going to seriously need to go on a juicing cleanse for several days after this little experience.
Santana was poised expectantly next to Kurt, who sat on the couch in the bridal boutique, patiently waiting for Jessa to change into the third gown. It was proving difficult to style the bride, who struggled with deciding how much she wanted her baby bump to take the spotlight on the big day, four weeks from today.
"Well?" asked Santana.
"Well, what?"
"Well, you're not going to bug me about Artie?" She went on, incredulously. "You don't think I'm a horrible person like everyone else does?"
"Santana, they don't think that," he said, pausing and chuckling for she had fixed him with a dubious expression. "I know, I used to call you Satan, too, but you called me Lady, a few times, so I think we're even."
"I just try to be really, really honest with people when I think that they suck." Nearby, one of the bridal consultants shot Santana a nasty look and hurried to another part of the store.
"I just think we naturally feel protective of Artie because — because.." How do I put this delicately?
"Because he's in a wheelchair," supplied Jessa, who had just stepped out in her next dress. Kurt immediately got up to walk around her and examine the quality of the stitching and the embellishments.
"It happens to Ike again and again," Jessa went on. "Do you know that something awkward happens to us ever single time we go out on a date? Like someone holding a door open for him at a restaurant and then letting it fall shut in my face." She smoothed out the front of the dress and examined the effect of the dress on the baby bump. Then she fixed her eyes on Santana's reflection in the mirror. "It's something you need to prepare yourself for."
"I-I can handle it," Santana stammered. And she quickly put the focus back on the bride that they were there to dress. "Jessa, I honestly love that one. And look how it laces up the back. You could loosen it if-if you get any bigger in the next four weeks."
"Oh, I will," Jessa sighed. She turned and examined the profile view, first one side and then the other. "But, I do feel beautiful in this. It feels bridal."
"Ladies, she's found the one!" Kurt hugged Jessa first, even though he'd just met the bride less than 24 hours ago, and then Santana joined in.
Isaac
Spending a day at his new place with his two old best friends had been refreshing. The guys went back many years. They'd been children when they all met, when the Morales family first moved into the house next to the López clan. Marcos was ten, Isaac was nine, and Carols was eight. They also had a two-year-old sister, Santana. Isaac had always been envious of the Morales family, for they were living in the same size house, yet his felt so empty due to it being just he and his mom.
When Isaac was sixteen, he was in the horrible accident that left him paralyzed. Through it all, Marcos and Carlos had been great friends to him. And then, after high school, that all started to change as the three drifted apart. The last time they'd all really been together, he supposed, was for Marcos' wedding last summer. And now Marcos had a baby girl that Ike hadn't even met yet.
Carlos was a contractor by trade, which meant he knew how to lay flooring and handle all the spacing and the grout. The other guys just followed his lead. Isaac ended up sprawled on the floor before he remembered that he was supposed to be taking better care to not agitate the wounds on his knees. Finally, he stopped, hearing Artie's nagging voice telling him to be careful and unable to ignore it anymore.
"What's wrong?" Carlos asked, as Isaac pulled himself back into the chair and examined the bandages on his knees closely, pulling up one leg of his joggers at a time. "You okay, man?"
Isaac sighed, not sure what he wanted to divulge, but he ended up explaining everything about the ReWalk, how he'd gotten carried away trying to use the thing, and how he'd put himself at risk for further complications if he didn't slow down.
"I had no idea," said Marcos, exchanging a troubled look with his younger brother. "Listen, Ike.. we owe you an apology. I feel shitty about not knowing Jessa. I feel even worse that you haven't met little Kinsey, she's my whole world, and now you're about to be a father, too, and you're gonna find this out for yourself."
"Yeah, man," Carlos agreed. "We haven't really been there for you, like we always said we would. Now that I'm getting older, I'm realizing that that's... really not cool. I'd like to get together... more than just.. once in like three years."
"Yeah, I'd like that," said Isaac, giving each guy a quick handshake and brotherly hugs. "And, hey, we're gonna be family now. So it's pretty much a given for holidays and..."
"No, no, way more than that, dude," said Carlos. "Now, uh, move because I have to put a piece of flooring down right where you're sitting."
Artie
When they all met up for hotdogs later at a popular local spot in Columbus, Artie smiled to see Santana making a point to move the chair next to her seat, giving Artie space to park right beside her. Immediately around them were Matt, Puck, and Finn, but Santana paid them little to no attention.
"How was golf?" Santana asked. "We found a dress for Jessa."
"Golf was good, I got the high score," Artie joked. Except he unfortunately wasn't joking. Isaac was going to have to teach him how, for he was terrible, but he'd still had fun.
"Can't wait to see this dress," said Isaac, putting his arm around his fiancé, who smiled and offered him a quick peck in return.
"Four more weeks from today," said Jessa, grinning widely. She looked around the table and added the next part, after getting a quick thumbs-up from Isaac to go ahead. "Listen, we-we don't know just a ton of people. We kind of keep to ourselves. But you all have done us such a huge favor by helping out today. Any friend of Santana and Artie is a friend to us. We'd like to invite you all back out for the wedding in August, if you'll come. Oh, and bring dates!"