Chapter 44: Never Can Say Goodbye
ARTIE
As finals week was winding down to a close, Artie couldn't believe that he was nearly done with high school.
On Friday- the last day of school before their commencement ceremony on Saturday- he only had one test and it was in the afternoon after his lunch block, so he was able to head into school late. Any typical teenage boy would have used this opportunity to either sleep in or cram in some extra study time, but not Artie. After getting up to complete his bathroom routine, he crawled back into bed- something very rare for him- and used his extra time to read a few chapters of his book. Sebastian and Ella hadn't been so lucky as to have his finals schedule, so Seb had driven both of them to school himself that morning.
By the time Artie finally got out of bed for real and started getting ready, it was already ten o'clock. He felt strangely "behind" instead of refreshed like he'd expected to- like he'd wasted half of his day by doing nothing productive.
There was only one cure for a slow start to the day: a venti coffee from The Lima Bean.
Normally, the coffee shop was bustling with high school students, but not today. It was unusually quiet, and he didn't even have to wait in a mile-long line to order. Because of this, Artie was even more surprised when he heard a familiar voice call his name as he waited for the baristas to make his drink.
"Artie?"
Artie's head shot up from where he'd been thumbing through his Twitter feed and he glanced over his shoulder. He let out a small gasp when he saw the bright smile and accompanying wave that he knew all too well.
"Quinn!"
She was not who he expected to run into on his coffee run, but it was a welcomed surprise. She bent over to give him a hug, which he gladly returned.
"I thought I saw your car out front!" She exclaimed.
"Can't miss it," Artie joked, glancing out the glass front door to see where his trusty Volkswagen Jetta was parked in the accessible spot closest to the entrance. With the scratches on the back door on the driver's side from the many, many times the frame of his chair had scraped it, Artie's car was unmistakable.
"How are you?" She asked sincerely, her green eyes sparkled as they looked intently into his blue ones.
"Good," Artie nodded truthfully. "I'm just here getting my morning coffee. Just a cold brew- but the big kind. I'm barely functional before the caffeine hits."
"I remember," she said with another warm smile at his tendency to word vomit when he got flustered.
Artie blushed. It was easy to forget that he'd spent nearly every day of an entire summer with this girl. She probably knew his coffee order by heart still, thanks to the many mornings they'd spent here. She'd been the most important person in the world to him at one point in time, but now it almost felt like he was talking to a stranger.
Artie struggled with himself for a moment before glancing back up at her. "Hey, what do you have going on? Wanna grab a table and catch up?"
"I'd love to," she replied.
After she ordered and had received her iced latte, she came over to join him at the accessible table. She was wearing a pink dress with polka dots on it that fell right above her knees, coupled with a single strand of pearls and her hair curled. Her look made her look a lot older than just nineteen, but Artie still thought that she looked beautiful.
"So, what are you doing here at this hour? Shouldn't you be at school?" Quinn asked, taking a sip of her drink. "I never would've picked you as one to play hooky."
"No! I mean, I'm not!" He vehemently shook his head. "I only have one final left. European Geography. But it's not until this afternoon. I'm not skipping!"
"Artie, I was kidding," Quinn laughed. "Isn't that the class that Puck barely passed last year?"
Artie nodded, remembering what a fiasco that had been. "Yeah. I signed up for it as a GPA booster. I learned all of the material last year, to help him out. I'm not worried about the test. I'm sure all of the answers will be part of that song from 'My Fair Lady'. You know the one," Artie told her. "The rain in Spain stays mainly in the plains," he sang, eliciting a giggle from the girl across from him as she nodded.
"Well, a little birdy told me that you're Valedictorian. Were you planning to tell me that at some point?"
"By default," Artie corrected her. "Tina and I were tied for the top spot. The situation wasn't ideal. We got into a pretty nasty fight about it. Sue had us each write a speech that we would give at graduation if we won, but Tina made her entire speech about how I should get the title. I think she was trying to apologize." Artie sighed at the end of his long-winded explanation of the situation. "So, I'm Valedictorian, yes, but only by default."
"Don't sell yourself short, Artie. That's still an amazing accomplishment," she reminded him.
He shrugged. If he had a dollar for every time somebody told him not to discount himself, he'd be able to pay for his entire first semester at USC. He couldn't help the way that his brain worked. It's hard to start seeing yourself as worthy of all of your accomplishments when you've spent so long trying to convince yourself that you're not.
"Plus, there's no shame in being number two either," Quinn said, sitting back smugly. "I was Salutatorian, remember? I had that number one spot locked in until I fell off the wagon there for a minute and joined The Skanks…" She shook her head. "Then the title went to Mike Chang. Still, it was an honor to be second in the whole grade."
"Yeah, what's up with that?" Artie asked with a grin. "The Glee kids always graduating at the top of the class every year, I mean."
Quinn shook her head with an identical expression on her face. "I don't know. Mr. Schue said something once, about how being involved in the arts makes us 'well-rounded'. That must be it."
"Must be."
"Back to Tina for a second…" Quinn said. "I always see her on Instagram, posting her PDA pics with that Warbler. Are they going to stay together?"
Artie shook his head. "They're already on their 'pre-break', as T's been calling it. It's basically when they're hooking up, but hooking up with other people, too." Artie rolled his eyes.
"Well, you and I both know that it's smart of them to call things off before she goes to Brown," Quinn told him. "Tina can't be tied down."
"Don't I know it," Artie let out a sort of pained laugh. All these years later, the thought of Tina leaving him for Mike Chang while at Asian Camp still kind of stung. "What about you? How was the rest of your freshman year? I don't think I've seen you since you were home for Thanksgiving."
"It was amazing. You're going to love going so far away for school," Quinn told him. "I think everybody should leave their hometown after high school. It's eye-opening, everything you can see outside of the borders of Ohio."
He nodded understandingly. Quinn looked like she was hesitating before disclosing more about what she'd been up to.
"Once I finally stopped chasing my unhappily-married psychology professor, I began to go to some parties where I met a lot more people. That's where I met my… current boyfriend. Biff McIntosh."
"McIntosh?" Artie furrowed his eyebrows together. "Like the apple?"
"His family planted the first McIntosh apple orchard in Pennsylvania," she explained. "We've been going out for about three months now. He's a good guy. Very proper, though. He's been insisting on coming back to Lima with me at some point, but I've been putting it off. You know how I feel about my past."
Artie nodded. That was one thing he and Quinn had always had in common.
"It's not that I'm embarrassed by it all, but I'm trying to present myself in a particular way. Biff's family is Philadelphia Main Line society, and if I get in with that, then my life is set," she admitted.
"Have you told him about Beth?" Artie couldn't help but ask, a bit mystified. "And how do you hide that Ryan Seacrest tramp stamp you got?"
"I pay my roommate to apply three coats of cover-up makeup to my lower back before I see him." She bit her lip. "And I plan to tell him everything else when I'm ready."
Artie must've had that concerned look on his face because she was quick to turn the conversation around on him. Artie hoped that she knew he wouldn't judge her for anything, but he had a habit of being overly worried about those he cared about. And he does still care for Quinn. A lot. Regardless, he could see how desperate she was to shift the focus of the conversation away from her budding relationship that was apparently full of secrets.
"What about you?" Quinn asked. "Are you, you know, seeing anyone?"
Artie wasn't quite like Tina, with all of the posting everything he was up to on social media, and Kitty was the same way. Their personal lives were exactly that- personal. They chose to keep what they were up to private, which explained why Quinn was so in the dark about his current relationship.
"Yeah, actually. Do you remember Kitty Wilde?"
"Yes, of course. I mentored her when the alumni came back to visit ahead of Sectionals," Quinn nodded. "Weren't you seeing Ms. Pillsbury's niece? Bonnie, was that her name? Whatever happened with that?"
"Betty, yeah," Artie laughed. "It didn't work out. The laws of physics factored in, among other things. We're still really good friends, though. She's great."
"So, Kitty. Wow. I never saw that coming," she raised her eyebrows. Quinn had always been very tell-it-like-it-is. Same with Kitty. Tina and Betty, too. Artie supposed he had a habit of surrounding himself with opinionated, independent women. That was something that he hoped wouldn't change any time soon.
"Ha, I don't think anybody really did," Artie said truthfully. "But it works. She's amazing, once you get to know her. She takes a while to warm up to, though."
He couldn't have predicted what Quinn would ask next.
"Does she still have that picture of me in her locker?"
"Ah, no, I don't think so," Artie shook his head. Now it was his turn to sheepishly bite his lip. "Not since she found out that we dated."
Quinn nodded understandingly, obviously hiding the smirk that threatened to appear on her lips.
"I like your outfit. It's a step up from your usual look," Quinn observed, causing him to blush again. Artie was wearing a white collared shirt, under a crimson USC quarter zip sweatshirt, with tighter-fitting khakis than he usually went for. "Did Kitty have anything to do with that?"
"A little. Her and Sebastian," Artie confessed. "He's as queer as a three-dollar bill, and my wardrobe has kind of been his passion project over the last year and a half."
"Well, whatever they're doing, keep it up. You look great," she said, before adding, "The college girls are gonna be all over you."
Artie didn't waste a minute before correcting her. "Actually we're staying together, Kitty and I."
He waited for her negative reaction- like the one he'd received from everyone else once they learned of Kitty and Artie's plans- but to his surprise, it never came.
"Oh. Well, that could work too. I believe you can make it happen. Just make sure you communicate. That's key, I think, to have a successful long-distance relationship. I haven't… I haven't been the best at that," Quinn said. "With you. Or any of the others either. I mean, Kurt, Santana, and Rachel… they're only an hour away- less than that by train- and I never see them. We've kind of distanced from one another."
"That's okay. It happens." Artie shrugged. "The friends we make in high school aren't necessarily supposed to be our best friends forever. You're across the country. It's understandable that we'd drift apart. But I know that I can call you at any hour of the day and that you'll pick up. Even… even given our history. No matter how long we go without talking, we'll always be close, Quinn."
"Do you really believe that?" She asked, looking at him skeptically.
"I do."
"You're … you're a good guy, Artie Abrams. Better than any of the ones that I've met in New Haven. Kitty is a lucky girl. I hope she knows that."
"She does," Artie answered confidently as Quinn smiled. "Can I walk you to your car?"
Quinn nodded, not even batting an eye at his casual use of the word "walk". The two friends threw out their now-empty coffee cups before heading out into the parking lot.
"Oh, and we're throwing a small graduation party tomorrow night. Just us Glee kids, past and present," Artie told her as she unlocked the doors of her sleek BMW. "We're thinking of swimming until it gets dark, then doing a fire pit or something. My dad will be in town for the ceremony, and he's gonna grill for us. If you're around, you should stop by."
She didn't hesitate before nodding. "I'll be there. See you later, Artie. Good luck on your test."
She bent down to hug him, planting a soft kiss on his cheek, her more intimate way of saying goodbye. Even though he was completely devoted to Kitty now, it was good to see Quinn again. She had always been an important person in his life, and he didn't see that changing any time soon.
…
SEBASTIAN
Even though the school year was over as of two-thirty on Friday afternoon, the same couldn't be said about baseball. Their season was still in full swing, at least until the end of the month, and Sebastian was happy about that. It meant he got to be a high schooler for a little bit longer and got to spend more time staring at the way his boyfriend's ass looked in those very tight pants.
Rumor had it, the baseball game today after school was supposed to have the biggest turnout of their season. The McKinley High student body had figured that attending the home game would be the perfect way to start off their summer break. As the team was leaving the locker room to begin their warm-ups, they were met by the hot sun blazing down on them and the throngs of fans cheering from the stands. Apparently, the rumors had been correct.
"Holy…" Ryder let out in surprise as the crowd came into view. "Now we really can't lose."
They were playing Fairbrook High School this afternoon, and as far as Sebastian had heard, they were pretty evenly matched with the Titans. It was going to be a battle to score the most runs, but Sebastian hoped that the presence of their new fans would add some fuel to their fire.
It was easy for Sebastian to spot Artie, who was sitting in his usual spot right at the end of the bleachers, behind the home team's dugout. Kitty was sitting beside him, and they both waved as the McKinley team came into view. It had warmed up considerably since this morning, and Artie had ditched his glasses for some shades and taken off his sweatshirt, folding it up neatly on his lap.
Sebastian trotted over to the bench under the guise of setting down his bag, but really he was going to get his pre-game breakdown from his brother.
"Okay, so we just watched Fairbrook warm up," Artie said, bracing himself by grabbing the chain-link fence that separated them with his black fingerless-gloved hands as he leaned further forward in his seat to whisper to Sebastian. "They're quick. You guys are gonna have to think fast and play smart. No stupid errors, okay? Lucky for you, their outfielders are kind of spotty. If you hit a ball to the corner, that'll be an easy double right there, maybe even a triple if you're fast. I really think you have a shot at winning if you're focused."
Sebastian nodded, taking a swig from his water bottle. Maybe, if the whole filmmaker thing didn't work out, Artie could make it as a sports analyst. He knew a lot about everything sports-related, having come from a very athletic family and having served as his siblings' biggest supporter at each one of their various sporting events after he wasn't able to participate in them himself anymore. His mind was very analytical, too, and he could spit out just about any player's stats from the last few years.
It was times like these where Sebastian wished that Artie could be out on the field with them. Without a doubt, Artie would have been one of the best players on their team, and it was a shame that he couldn't man third base like he did whenever they played in the front yard. Sebastian knew that Artie wasn't hung up at night, wishing that he could play; he was content with the life he was living. But that didn't stop Sebastian from imagining what it would have been like to take the field with his brother by his side.
"I should go," Sebastian said, thrusting his thumb over his shoulder towards where his boyfriend was pitching balls to warm up Ryder, who was squatting behind home plate in his catcher's gear.
"Good luck out there," Artie said back, holding his hand against the fence for a fist bump. "Make me proud."
Sebastian did just that. Taking all of Artie's notes into consideration, he was able to successfully make some far hits into left field, where the outfielder wasn't able to get to it fast enough. As a first baseman, his reflexes were quick- thanks to all of the practice from playing catch with Artie in the yard- and he was able to tag out all of the runners that came his way before they could make a base hit. In the end, the McKinley Titans reigned supreme over the Fairbrook Knights, with a score of five to nothing.
"What a way to start your summer!" Nancy Abrams said to her step-son as she gave him a hug and a kiss on the forehead. Nancy and Harrison had been able to leave the firm early tonight, in order to be there to cheer on Sebastian's team. "Do you want to have a few of your friends over for pizza? Artie's having Kitty over, and then there's Griff and Ella, and I don't really feel like cooking tonight."
"Sure, yeah! That sounds great, thanks," Sebastian replied, before turning to his friends. "Spencer, Ryder, do either of you have plans?"
"I don't think so," Ryder said, and Spencer shook his head as well.
"Cool. Wanna come over for a bit? Artie's mom's gonna order pizza."
Sebastian never imagined himself hanging out with Ryder voluntarily, but to his surprise, he had actually begun to enjoy having Ryder around. At first, the other guy seemed like a third wheel that Spencer and Sebastian just couldn't shake. Sometimes, Seb just wanted to hang out with his boyfriend alone, but it seemed like Ryder was always there. At first, Seb was incredibly bothered by it, but after spending more time with him, both in Glee Club and on the baseball diamond, Ryder was actually starting to become… not so bad. In the end, he was Spencer's best friend, and those two came as a package deal. Sebastian knew that if he and Spencer were in it for the long haul, he'd have to tolerate Ryder's presence, just as he had to do with Tina and Artie. However, after a while, he started to realize that Ryder was kind of cool.
At home, the three baseball players, along with Kitty and Artie, crowded in the living room as they consumed their pizza on paper plates. To the stranger's eye, the group may have been an unexpected one- having come from all different life experiences and social statuses- but their common link in Glee Club had been what brought them all together. That was another way that the New Directions were so vastly different from The Warblers. At Dalton, it almost seemed like everyone came from the same old money backgrounds.
"Seb and Artie, Mom wants you both to go through these and pick out some pictures," Ella said as she entered the living room holding two boxes, presumably filled with old childhood photos of each of the boys. "Something about wanting to hang some of them up tomorrow at the party." She deposited a box at each boy's feet before shrugging and retreating to the kitchen.
"Baby pictures on display at the graduation party?" Sebastian asked, looking at Artie with a raised eyebrow. "I thought we were keeping it small and low key."
Artie rolled his eyes with a shake of his head. "We are. Kind of. You know how my mom is quite the hostess. She likes to decorate."
"I want to see photos of you as a kid!" Spencer exclaimed, placing his hand on Sebastian's knee. "I don't think I've ever seen more than three or four of them."
"I've seen a million of Artie," Kitty gushed, grabbing the box before Artie could and removing its lid. "He was the cutest."
Sebastian took hold of his own box, opening it and shuffling through the old digital camera print-outs and Polaroids from his childhood. There was a picture of him holding a dripping cone in front of the Eiffel Tower with vanilla ice cream all over his face, one of him holding the family cat when he was a toddler, and even one of him throwing some sort of temper tantrum.
"Ha! This was how my 'grandpa clothes' phase started," Artie said, laughing at his own expense. "It was originally adopted to hide those ugly leg braces."
He passed around a photo of himself that was obviously taken not long after the car accident. He had two missing front teeth and was wearing a t-shirt and athletic shorts as he sat in a small blue wheelchair. He also wore acrylic leg braces, similar to the ones he'd used when Sebastian and Kitty had come to watch him at physical therapy, only these ones were shorter and only went up to his calf. Ella and Griffin were in the picture too, and all three smiled big, toothy grins at the camera, despite the fact that their lives had all recently been changed forever.
Having been a very frequent visitor to the Abrams-Smythe household, Spencer had put the pieces together long ago, regarding the events of Artie's accident. The same couldn't be said about Ryder, though, and Sebastian could only hope that he'd save his blunt questions for another time. It was true that Artie had become a lot more open and comfortable recently when it came to discussing his past, but Ryder could be an airhead sometimes. Sebastian just didn't want either of them to be put in an awkward position. Luckily, Ryder must have telepathically received the brain message Sebastian was sending because he kept his mouth shut as he looked over Artie's shoulder at the photos he was holding now, which showed the boy at age six or so, running along the beach.
"My only request is that you choose just one gymnastics photo for everyone to see," Sebastian grinned at Artie, who turned bright red. "Please, that's all I ask."
To humor him, Artie dug through the pile of photos in his lap before producing one and handing it to Sebastian. "How's this?"
Sebastian accepted the photograph and studied it carefully. Young Artie looked about seven or eight and wore a face of concentration as he skillfully swung his small body around on the pommel horse. The sports goggles that he wore in place of his glasses made it evident that the photo was of him.
"I like that one because you can almost see my abs through my leotard," Artie said proudly. "Sophomore year- when I was on the football team- I would have killed to have those abs back."
He was clearly very skilled at his sport, even at such a young age. As he glanced down at the picture again, Sebastian couldn't help but wonder if Artie would have still stuck with gymnastics today, if it hadn't been for everything that had happened to him.
"Aw, Seb, look!" Spencer all but squealed at the newest photo he'd come across. "I think this is from your kindergarten graduation."
Sebastian took the photo in his hands, and he almost let out an audible gasp. The young version of himself was sharply dressed in a dress shirt, chinos, loafers, and a bowtie under his tiny cap and gown. He held a diploma- that was written in French- as he smiled at the camera.
Beside him was his mother.
She looked so glamorous, in her fashionable all-white outfit with her light brown hair tied back in a floral scarf.
Sebastian felt his eyes welling up with tears as he rubbed his thumb over her face in the image. He hoped that the others didn't notice how the memory had activated a rare emotional response from him. He tried to mask it as best he could by forming his lips into a stoic line, but it hurt to know that his mother wouldn't be here to celebrate this upcoming life milestone with him, or any future ones either.
Sebastian felt the urge to bury this photo at the bottom of his box, but he couldn't bring himself to go through with it. He wasn't sure why, but a small part of himself wanted to display it tomorrow at the party. His mother may not be able to be there in person, but she'd be there in spirit, Sebastian was sure of it. If he could honor her on his big day, even in just a small way, he wanted to do just that.