"Sam, please," Blaine pleaded with his friend. "I promise, we don't even have to stay long."
The blond grimaced, then gave a stern look to his friend. Over the last couple of months, Sam and Blaine had gotten to be close friends. If Sam was being honest, it was a closer friendship than he would have expected to have with a gay guy. Not because he was homophobic, not in his view, he just never thought he would have that much in common with a gay dude. Blaine was proving him wrong, and he really liked spending time with him now, but he was dubious about this.
"I don't know Blaine. All those private school preppies, it doesn't sound like my idea of a good time, and there's no way I'm gonna fit in with them."
"They don't bite, I promise. Plus, most of them still feel terrible about how everything went down last year. They'll be on their best behavior. I just don't want to go by myself. I need my wingman."
"Can't Tina be your wingman?"
Blaine sighed. "Tina is coming, but that doesn't mean I don't still need you there," he said, grabbing a hold of Sam's forearm and squeezing a little. "Just please. I promise next weekend, we can hang out and we can do whatever you want."
Letting out a deep breath, at last Sam relented. "Alright," he conceded before turning very serious. "But only because I want to finally force you to watch Avatar next weekend."
A bright, contagious smile burst across Blaine's face. "You won't regret it. I promise," the boy assured Sam. "Okay, now I've got to pick out which bow tie I'm going to wear. I'll pick you up at seven, alright?" The two exchanged their own personal little handshake before Blaine skipped off. Sam watched his friend leave, and just when he had passed through the front doors of the school, Tina stepped out from behind the corner.
"You think he bought it?" she asked Sam, placing her arms on her hips as she looked up at him.
"Yeah, I don't think he suspects a thing."
Tina nodded her head. "Good. I know Blaine wants to see the best in the Warblers, but I don't trust them. They're up to something. I don't know if it's about trying to get in his head before sectionals, or trying to recruit him back or what, but we've got to find out. Tonight might be our only chance."
Sam nodded his head but didn't say anything. Blaine had been so excited, giddy almost about the party. There was obviously something going on, but he also felt bad that he and Tina was so distrustful. Something just felt off, and Sam knew to trust his instincts by this point, but he hoped for Blaine's sake that he was wrong.
It was a simple enough plan. Blaine's parents were out of town, and, as luck would have it, they only lived about 20 minutes away from the Smythe residence, where the party would take place. And residence was the right word for it. It looked like a castle, with stone walls and canted bay windows on either side of the door.
"Dude, does Sebastian have like, servants?" Sam queried, poking his head out the window to take the place in.
Blaine scrunched his face. "No, Sam. Don't be silly," he replied, quietly hoping not to be proven wrong when they stepped inside. With the window rolled down, they could hear the indistinguishable thump of the bass coming from the backyard. Parking in front of the house, Blaine was quickly out of the car, opening up the back seat.
"Why thank you, Blainey," Tina said, touched by the gentlemanly gesture, although in truth he had just needed to grab something out of the backseat. He unearthed an elegant bouquet of white lilies and lavender, which had been hidden away in a plastic bag just well enough that Tina hadn't noticed. Sam raised an eyebrow. Flowers, especially ones which had obviously been carefully chosen, seemed like an odd thing to bring to a party with a bunch of old friends.
Wandering into the house and following the music on to the back porch, the trio received a boisterous welcome from the Dalton guys. It was double tap hugs for Blaine all around, though everyone was more than hospitable to Sam and Tina. It only took a moment for Blaine to get to Sebastian, the evening's host, with his flowers in tow.
Sebastian's eyes dropped just a moment as he took in the flowers. It was such a perfectly Blaine thing to have brought. Not beer, not booze of any kind, but flowers. It was adorable. "You brought me flowers?" he asked, maybe just a touch too much surprise in his voice as Blaine looked down at them, suddenly feeling a bit silly about it. "And they match your bow tie," Sebastian remarked with a grin.
Sam's eyes went wide for just a moment as he realized what was going on, but he quickly covered it up. Butting in, he extended a firm hand out to Sebastian. "Hi Sebastian," he cut in, being just a tad stiff with the handshake. Blaine might have been happy to move on after the rock salt slushie, but that didn't mean his best friend was.
Sebastian picked up on that, and he understood it really. "Sam," he answered, steady as ever. His own grip was not quite as firm as Sam's, but he wasn't about to back down either. Taking the flowers from Blaine, he turned back toward the house. "Let me find a vase for these. There's rum punch over on the table, or club soda if you don't want a repeat of opening night, killer," he said with a wink. Okay, maybe he was rubbing that in Sam's face just a little bit, but he couldn't help himself. "Make yourself at home and I'll be back in just a few."
Sam kept up the polite face until Sebastian had turned around before frowning at Blaine. "Opening night?" he questioned, leaning down so only Blaine could pick it up.
Blaine held up a hand, brushing aside the comment. "Relax. It wasn't like that," Blaine assured him, although, that had not been for Blaine's lack of trying.
For his part, Sam believed Blaine, but that didn't mean he wasn't still dubious of Sebastian. The guy was suspect, and Blaine's heart had just been broken. It was Sam's job to make sure nothing bad happened to him, and Sebastian Smythe had potential to be something bad. He and Tina would have to keep close tabs on the pairing all evening. Speaking of Tina, looking around, Sam realized she had vanished. "Hey, where'd Tina go?" he asked, before spotting her, standing in the middle of a circle of three Dalton boys, enjoying being the center of attention. "Damn, she looks like she's having the time of her life," Sam remarked, grinning, almost proud of her.
Following Sam's eyeline, Blaine grinned himself, but for a different reason. "Well, not for long. Those guys are all gay."