Marley released Kurt from the bear hug she had given him.

"Is there anything I can help you with?" Kurt asked. "By the way, I love that dress on you."

"Um, maybe this duffel. I should have braided my hair because it keeps getting caught under the strap." She slipped it off and handed it to him. "And the dress is courtesy of Jillian. She let me go though all of the clothes she never wears."

"It looks a lot better on Marley than it ever did on me."

Marley rolled her eyes. "I'm sure it looked great on you," she looked down at it and smiled. "But I'm keeping it."

Kurt lengthened the strap a bit and put the duffel bag over his shoulder crossbody. He took her hand.

Sebastian grabbed Jillian's hand.

She turned and looked at him like he had lost his mind.

"Just relax, Jilli. It's just so we don't get pushed apart trying to get on the train. You don't know your way around yet. Once you do, you can do whatever you want, but we have plans for today and they don't involve playing hide and seek in the subway."

"Well, damn," Marley teased. "That's one of my New York City bingo squares."

Kurt laughed.

They stayed together as they made their way to the train.

"I have news," Marley said, once they were seated on the train. "I got the approval to graduate early. I'm so excited, and so ready to be done with high school."

"That's… shocking," Kurt said. "It's amazing, though. I didn't know you were even trying to do that."

"Only Jillian knew. She helped me research to see if there was a way to do it after we got to know each other and I told her about McKinley and everything. My first high school in Columbus offered seven classes per semester. McKinley only offered six. My new school in Columbus offers eight. It's super weird. Four classes a day with a Monday, Wednesday, every-other-Friday block and a Tuesday, Thursday, every-other-Friday block. Most people take three classes and a study hall in each block. The school counselor said that all of the jocks do, so they have more time to get homework done and still go to practices. Classes will be like an hour and a half long each. Anyway, I need 21 credits to graduate, so 7+6+8=21. I just have to take two English classes. And the junior and senior social studies classes. I'll have those, plus Chemistry, Algebra 2, French 3, and Choir."

"That's a lot of reading," Sebastian said.

"It is, but it will be worth it to get out of high school and move on. I'm just really over the drama of it all. And since my birthday is in August, I'll still turn 18 before college starts next fall. I'm applying to places here. I'm going to apply for scholarships too. Jillian and I are going to leave no stone unturned. And if I don't get any of them, I'm going to go to one of the CUNY schools because with my mom's income, I should be able to get grants and afford it without going a gazillion dollars into debt."

Kurt asked, "What about you, Jillian? Have you decided on college or not?"

"I'm going to apply to NYU for the fall. I think I might be interested in interior design like Aunt Nina. But I was also thinking that I might like architecture, specifically green design and using renewable resources."

"At NYU, like Mom?" Sebastian asked.

"I'm not sure. I haven't looked into it much yet, but I loved working on the Women Build project. I'm looking forward to working on more of Aunt Nina's projects this fall. Marley and I are going to sign up to take a woodworking class for six weeks with carpenter that one of the people we met from the Women Build knows. And we're looking for someone to give us sewing lessons. I know you could do it, Kurt, but I'm not sure Skype lessons would work that well. But if we can't find anyone, maybe we could give it a try. Mom's willing to pay for the lessons."

"Maybe it could work, but there are actually a lot of really good videos on YouTube. Maybe you should just start there with something simple and see whether you even enjoy it."

"Whether I do or don't, I'm going to learn how anyway," Jillian insisted. "I'm not going to live my life not knowing how to do basic repairs. It's Marley that wants to see if she likes it."

"I do want to know. I want to try a lot of things. High school just doesn't teach us about any real life activities. Or at least they don't tell us how what we're learning applies to real life."

Kurt nodded. He took his phone out and pulled up the photos of the finished costume he had turned in the day before.

"Oh, my God, Kurt. That's fantastic," Marley said.

Kurt turned the phone so Jillian could see next.

"Oh, wow. That is amazing. I am never going to be able to do that," Jillian said. "I'll settle for being able to fix a hem that comes out, to sew on buttons that fall off, and repair a long seam that opens, like my long boxers I sleep in. The thread in the seam popped and now my backside is going to be on view soon. I actually brought them with me in hopes that Kurt could fix them up easily."

"Two minutes – after my machine is set up. Super easy."

"Thank you."

"You're welcome."

"We're looking at taking cooking classes somewhere too."

"Aunt Victoria is a good cook," Sebastian insisted.

"I know. I've thought about that. Maybe we could do both. Going go a cooking class is like a fun social thing to do."

"That's true," Kurt said. "Maybe you could let your mom teach you to make your favorite meals and then take an Indian or Greek cooking class or something. That way it would seem like your dissing your mom's skills, but you're looking to branch out and learn other types of dishes."

"That's actually a perfect mix. I don't want Mom to think that I don't like her food because I do."

"You said your first high school was in Columbus. Why on earth did you move to Lima to start with?" Sebastian asked.

"The same reason we moved to Lima," Jillian said.

"She's right. My mom was a lunch lady at the elementary school in the district we lived in, but the school decided that it was more cost effective to have the meals delivered by an outside company and they let all of the lunch ladies go. McKinley had an opening. My mom took it. When our names moved up on the Habitat list back in the spring, I knew we'd move if we got selected. And somehow Sue started transferring all of the New Directions members to North Lima and Thurston when we came back from Nationals. My mom just decided to move us back to Columbus and started looking for jobs. We moved into a month-by-month place that was basically a rundown motel during the build, but it was okay. And now we have this adorable cute little house. My mom is so excited. I'm happy for her." Her expression changed excitement to concern. "I haven't told her yet about graduating early. That's going to be tough. It's not that I want to leave her alone, but I just want to live somewhere else for a while. Even if I don't stay in New York after college. It might be really cool to live in several different places around the country before I settle down somewhere. I've only ever been here for a few days and in LA for a few days at Nationals. There's just so much to see. I'm super stoked about going to Florida."

Kurt was really happy for Marley. She had been so distraught when she had first called Kurt back in the spring. He said, "I'm excited to go back. It's just so different there. Like you said. Even if it's not a place you'd want to live forever, it's really fun to visit."

"Is it stupid that I am sooo excited to go to Disney World?"

"If it is, then I'm in the same boat," Kurt said. "I've never been and I'm such a huge Disney nerd. You cannot even."

Jillian said, "Sebastian could rival you, I'm sure. Him and Alexis." She rolled her eyes, teasingly.

"We're just brave enough to admit it. You're a secret Disney nerd and you know it," Sebastian sassed back.

Jillian didn't respond. "How much longer until we're there?"

"Not too much, Jilli," Sebastian said. "You can stand up and stretch. No one cares."

"Ooh, good idea. It feels like we've been sitting forever. I don't know how you two fly comfortably at all. We're both 5'8" and we had no leg room."

"We're squished," Sebastian said. "It's not comfortable, but there's nothing to do about besides fly first class."

She stood up and moved around a bit, stretching her back. "That's better." She sat back down next to Sebastian.

Two stops later, they all got off and headed to the apartment. Kurt unlocked the door and let everyone in.

"Ooh, I like it," Jillian said as she got to the end of the kitchen wall. "It's modern, but it doesn't feel cold and impersonal. Those paintings are beautiful."

"Kurt's mom painted those," Sebastian said.

Kurt carried Marley's bag into their spare room and put it on the end of the bed. "There's room for you to hang things in the closet. We'll give you a few minutes to unpack." Kurt stepped out and made a quick trip into the bathroom.

Sebastian was waiting for him in the hall and took his hand and led him to their bedroom and closed the door behind them.

"Is something wrong?"

"Not at all, gorgeous." He stepped closer and kissed Kurt. "I just wanted to kiss you. I know you've been talking to Marley for months, but I don't know how she feels about PDA, especially gay PDA. And I very much wanted to kiss you. Not that that's anything new, but still…" His voice trailed off as he kissed Kurt again.

Kurt wrapped his arms around Sebastian's neck and played with his hair as they continued to kiss, causing Sebastian to moan slightly. Kurt loved how much Sebastian liked to have his hair played with. When they broke apart for air, Kurt pressed his forehead to Sebastian's and smiled. "You are a very good kisser." He pecked him on the lips. "They should have time to unpack by now. Let's not keep them waiting."

Sebastian let his hands slide down past Kurt's waist where they had been. "M'kay." He kissed Kurt once more. "Mmm. I love you."

"And I love you. Are you ready for our roles as go-fers?"

"Sure. Jillian has always loved bossing me around. Nothing new."

Kurt rolled his eyes. "You love her."

"I do. I did before, even when she was a pain. We're fine now. Like you said, she's happier. Happier people are nicer people."

"Come on." Kurt tried to step back, but Sebastian's hands on his butt didn't let him move. "No time for philosophical discussions. They're waiting, I'm sure."

Sebastian pulled him closer and kissed him once more before letting go.

X-X-X-X-X

Their shopping trip was successful and Marley purchased two geometric, Boho-inspired swimdresses with wide shoulder straps in muted jewel tones that looked like short empire waist sundresses and two pairs of mid-thigh length spandex swim shorts in navy and black, which mixed and matched with dresses.

On their way back, the guys took them to Mercado sin mancha and showed them where they did most of their shopping. Both of them had requested to get to see what it was actually like living in New York City, so the guys had planned to take them to do all of their normal errands. They had only done the actually shopping the day before because they had plans to see a free concert Saturday afternoon.

Once they looked around the market, they ate lunch at the taquería inside the store before they headed to Central Park.

After the concert, they walked around the park for a while before going back to the apartment.

X-X-X-X-X

When they got back, they all had big glasses of ice water.

"It feels so good in here. It's so hot outside." Marley said.

Jillian asked, "So what to you two usually do on Saturday evenings?"

"Honestly, schoolwork," Kurt answered. "Until recently, I worked Saturdays from 6 until noon. I'd come home, we'd eat lunch, do our shopping, put everything away, cook dinner together, eat, and then we'd do schoolwork."

"That's not very exciting," Jillian teased.

"Well," Sebastian said, "It may not sound exciting, but it was nice to just sit together, relaxed in our own place, and doing our work quietly."

"You were at the New Directions party, Marley."

Her eyes grew big, and then she nodded and rolled her eyes. "I told Jillian all about it."

"Before I moved in with Sebastian, I was living with Rachel and Santana, who hadn't quite grown out of her bitch phase yet. I mean seriously, one night they crept into my area of the loft and tried to stick my hand in warm water to see if it would make me wet the bed."

"No way," Jillian said.

"I have lots of examples of living in chaos. I barely had time to sleep and I needed to do well in school. Being able to just sit down and relax where I live and study without constant distractions is amazing. Excitement has a place in life, but so does calm and quiet."

"I get that. I know a lot of people love living in dorms, but I'm not feeling it. I think that's one of the main reasons going to college this year didn't appeal to me. I didn't want a roommate I didn't know. I didn't want the chaos and commotion and constant partying, but a lot of colleges require freshmen and sometimes sophomores to live on campus. That's one upside to New York City colleges is that most don't have that requirement, but I also didn't feel like coming here and living on my own. I'm not doing a good job of explaining it, but I'm glad I'm taking a gap year and giving myself time to figure out what I really want to do."

Sebastian said, "Unfortunately for Kurt, he still has two final exams this coming week, so he will be studying in our room while the three of us or the two of you watch a movie or listen to music and read or whatever you want to do. You're not prisoners. You could even go out. There are plenty of books on the shelves in your room if you'd rather stay in. Surely one of them would appeal to you."

"No worries. We brought our own books to read," Jillian said.

"Yeah, Jillian introduced me to a funny murder mystery series. I've been checking them out at the library." She went in the other room and brought out the one she was reading.

"Wait." He looked more closely. "I showed you the first one of these in Florida."

"You did. I started it there. When I went back to Columbus, I bought a copy to finish reading it and I told Marley about it. I told her she could read copy when I finished, but she went to the library and checked it out because I kept laughing when I was reading it."

Sebastian laughed. "Are they all as funny as the first one?"

Marley answered. "Well, there are 15 now, but we're only on number four. We're limiting ourselves to one every other week. And so far, yes. They're all just as funny."

Kurt said, "So… After dinner, I'll be heading to the realm of Statistics-land where outliers, means, medians, modes, and graphs of all sorts live."

Sebastian smiled. "I could join you and quiz you."

"Sure."

"Dinner first, though," Kurt said. "You two can observe or help."

X-X-X-X-X

The next morning, after Kurt artfully drizzled some glaze over the top of the loaf of cinnamon apple walnut bread he had made the night before, Jillian put birthday candles in the shape of the number 17 on it. They put it in the middle of the table along with the box and the small gift bag containing Jillian's gifts that Kurt had bought locally, wrapped, and kept hidden in the coat closet, along with the envelope that was from him and Sebastian.

Sebastian came out of the bathroom and joined Kurt while Jillian went to get Marley. Kurt lit the candles while she was gone. Once she stepped out into the living room, the other three began to sing to her.

Marley could not have looked more surprised. When the finished she asked, "What is going on?"

"It's a birthday party, of course," Jillian said. "Come on. Blow the candles out and make a wish."

She blew them out. "My birthday was Friday."

Sebastian took photos.

"We know, but we're celebrating today," Jillian insisted. She pulled the candles back off and laid them on a napkin.

Kurt grabbed a knife and sliced them each a piece to eat. "Coffee or milk?" He handed them their choices.

Once they had their drinks, they sat down together and ate.

"You really didn't need to do this."

"Of course, I did. I have never had a best friend and I've always wanted one. And now that I have one, I would be a terrible one if I didn't do something fun for you for your birthday. This is just the beginning."

"The beginning? This is already too much."

Sebastian fake whispered to Marley, blocking his mouth with his hand, "Just go with it. It will be more fun. She'll be happy if you're having fun. And people are nicer when they're happy."

Jillian played slapped him on the arm. "Sebastian!"

"What? It's true. I know from personal experience. Ask Kurt. Wait, never mind. Don't ask Kurt. Just take my word for it."

"I remember how sullen and what a smartass you were when you came back from Paris. Neither one of us was happy and we annoyed the crap out of each other. If you were annoying the crap out of Kurt, I'm surprised he speaks to you, much less wants to be with you."

Marley looked at Kurt. "I know what he did, in case you think I don't. Finn told me about that and about Jesse St James and when you had your set list stolen during your first Sectionals when we waited outside in the cold for everyone to show up last year when Sue made it so that we couldn't use any rooms inside the building. We were the only ones there for a bit. It was his version of a pep talk, which was mostly for himself. He said that New Directions had overcome those things and that being forced to practice outside the building wasn't going to bring us down either."

Kurt smiled and imagined Finn doing just that. He nodded. "That was a long time ago. He apologized back then and again this spring. As we got to know each other, I decided we were a case of meeting each other at the wrong time. He wasn't in a good place, and I was neurotic and trying to hold onto something I should have let go of. It wasn't a good mix. But we're good now. Really good. So are you ready to open your presents? The card and the gift bag are from us."

"I am. I'm curious." She picked up the card first. She laughed as she finished reading it. She looked at the gift card. "I've never heard of this store."

Sebastian said, "It's a place in Florida. It's so when we get there you can get some good shoes to wear to the beach. The beach we like has a lot of shells and you won't want to go barefoot."

"Thank you. I'm sure my feet will be very appreciative." She turned to Jillian. "I didn't see you pack any beach shoes."

"I left mine at the house in Florida. I don't need them in Ohio."

"Makes sense."

"Open the box next," Jillian said.

Marley unwrapped it to find a pair of cream-colored Vans with the gum soles.

"I got them because they'll go with all of your dresses and skirts. You usually wear your brown boots or dressy flip flops with them, which will not work for all of the walking and bike riding we're going to do, and I know you hate how your white Converses look with your dresses."

"I do. I wear them all the time with my shorts and jeans, but not my other clothes." She pulled out the contents of the gift bag. "These are adorable. I love them." She held a pack of low-cut socks in muted fall colors that would match her dresses and skirts. "Where did you find super low-cut socks like this with a ruffle opening? I like how the sock is all the same fabric, but the weave, or whatever, makes the opening ruffled like that. I'm going to buy more of these wherever they came from. I want all of my socks to look like this." She opened the package and put the cream-colored pair on and tried the shoes on." She got up and walked around, stopping once to adjust the laces. "They fit. So, what do you think?"

"Go put on one of your dresses and look at yourself in the full-length mirror in our room," Kurt suggested.

She came back a few minutes later and spun in a circle. "I love them. They're sporty, but cute. And the socks rock. I'm serious that I need you to take me to wherever they came from. I'm buying at least two more packs. Another pack of multi-colored ones and an all-white pack to wear with my Converses."

Kurt smiled. "We can do that later this afternoon after the stores open. If no one wants any more of this, I'm packing it up. We need to get ready to go to the flea markets." When no one moved to take more, he got up and put it away.

X-X-X-X-X

The four of them climbed into the town car when it pulled up.

As soon as Jillian pulled the door closed she introduced Marley. "Aunt Izzy, this is my best friend, Marley."

"It's nice to finally meet you, Marley."

"You too."

"So, did any of you find anything good?" Isabelle asked as they pulled off.

"I did," Jillian said. "I'm wearing it. It's this really cool belt. You'll be able to see it when we get out."

Marley said, "I found these really cool dangly earrings that aren't heavy. And I found some headbands that I really like. Oh, and some bangle bracelets." She held her wrist up for Isabelle to see.

"Nice. What about you two?"

Kurt said, "Well, I found some vintage fabric that I have no idea what I'm going to make with it."

She laughed. "Inspiration will come at some point, I'm sure."

Sebastian said, "I found a really old puzzle book from the 1920s."

"Only you, honey. You buy things that give you more problems to solve when you study physics and math that looks like someone dumped the alphabet, Greek symbols, and numbers on the page," she teased.

"I'm going to take the shorter ones and turn them into a game."

"Which you will trounce all of us at, no doubt," she winked at him.

He rolled his eyes. "We also found a cool cookbook."

"Now, that sounds more my style. I know you cook and so does Kurt, and you've never invited me over for dinner, despite knowing that I can't even make boxed macaroni and cheese come out tasting right."

"We'll fix that," Kurt assured her. "You tell us when you're free, and it's a date."

X-X-X-X-X

Marley and Jillian stood in awe as the walked into the Vogue Vault.

"So, you two can look around and try on whatever you want and Sebastian can take photos of you. And afterwards, I have a stash of stuff that's actually available for you to keep that you can look through, try on, and decide if you want to take it home with you."

"You've got to be kidding," Marley said.

"Nope. Not kidding, honey. We'll spend an hour playing dress up and then we can move on."

Jillian grabbed Marley's hand and pulled her towards the racks. "Come on. Let's find something amazing to put on."

Isabelle turned to Sebastian. "I know you don't have any formal clothes that fit you properly. I have put back a few suits for you to try. They'll still need tailored possibly, but I'm pretty sure that Kurt can handle that," she winked at him. "So, this way, if you please."

Sebastian looked at Kurt, who shrugged and shook his head slightly, indicating that he had no idea what Isabelle had. Sebastian followed her as she had asked. He went into the small dressing area and put on the first suit and came out. Marley and Jillian came out of the other dressing area at the same time.

"Oh, wow," Isabelle said. "Kurt, you have to go put on one of those suits from the rack that looks good with these three. We need some photos."

Kurt nodded and made a quick choice and slipped into the dressing room that Sebastian had been in and changed quickly.

The hour passed quickly as the four of them posed for photos, Marley and Jillian more than the guys, but they joined in when Isabelle insisted. She used one of the Vogue cameras and got some really good shots.

"Alright. Let's get these put back. I'll see what I can do about keeping that charcoal suit for you, Kurt. It really looks good on you. Sebastian, you can take all three of those suits. Kurt can get them looking perfect. You can sell that suit you were to Funny Girl. I love your mom, but she really should have let me buy your clothes."

Sebastian laughed.

By the time they finished, Marley said, "I'm going to need a suitcase. All I brought was my backpack and a fairly small duffel bag since I knew had to carry everything."

Isabelle said, "Not a problem. I actually just got a new set because the wheels on my larger pull-behind broke and it was a better deal to just get a new set than to buy another individual piece, which is ridiculous. But anyway, I have the smaller pull-behind and the carry on that goes with it in my closet in my donation stack. We'll swing by my place and I'll have Sebastian come up and get it."

"Are you sure?"

"I'm sure. We'll just lay these out in the back of the town car for now."