Episode 6, Chapter 1:
Spotted: K and Lonely Boy, macking in the Meatpacking. Opposites do attract, but for how long? XOXO Gossip Girl
Long ago when European royals grew bored with palace balls, they took a page from the peons and added some pageantry. Couture and canapé are just another Saturday night until you add a mask. But preparing for a ball is an event in itself. Which is why queens invented handmaidens.
Rachel hadn't fully made it into Queen Q's court. She realized this Monday after eating her breakfast on the steps with the girls. Quinn pulled her aside to quickly remind her that she would be picking up the costumes the girls wanted to wear at the costume party titled 'Theatricality' on Saturday night.
"I didn't think I'd be a runner anymore. I thought I was one of you. I clearly proved myself at the sleepover."
"You did, but you're still in training so to speak. Just get the dresses, will you R?" Quinn had a juicy way of telling someone bad news. She couldn't quite wrap her mind around what Quinn said. Rachel left baffled and she had only five minutes after school to tell Blaine where she'd be for the next few hours.
"You're still their—"
"Say it, you can say it I'm still Quinn's lapdog!" Rachel moaned aloud dramatically. "If you had any idea what they did…" she trailed off before she told her brother about the deal she had to make with a rather slimy security guard, who caught her in Judy's warehouse. "It'll all be worth it when they invite me to 'Theatricality'."
"You're going to that? It's going to be a complete disaster. All those Upper East Siders trying to be all misunderstood and eccentric," Blaine mocked. He could already picture it in his head and it was nothing he wanted to be a part of. "They want to bring out their inner Lady Gaga, but it isn't going to work. And look, I'm more of a Katy Perry anyway."
"You really don't want to go? Blaine, this is bigger than Night of Neglect, okay? This is the party to go to. Kurt's going if Quinn's going. I'm doing errands so I can go. You can't blow this off like other parties; this could be your coming out!"
"I already came out," he smiled smartly that she handed him the perfect retort.
"You're not funny," she said dismissively. She grabbed her bag off the floor and picked up her chin superiorly, the way she often did when she didn't want to admit she was defeated.
Burt didn't know details. He only understood that she was helping one of her friends. It seemed a lot more work than usual. Four days straight, she worked like a mad woman and barely spent any time inside the house. He was concerned if she got any of her school work done. While she was in the middle of counting small boxes of rings she'd picked up at the jewelers, he asked her about it.
"You seem a little overworked. What kind of help does your friend need?"
"Dad! I'm going to forget what I just counted, please give me a minute," she said not looking up and repeating the number twenty-six in her head. She looked like a mad woman dressed in her pale pink Marc Jacobs beaded heart and arrow cardigan and matching Marc by Marc Jacobs bow ankle strap flats with her navy-blue H&M Button skirt. [Promos season 1]
"What's all the fuss about?" Burt asked her brother when he walked into the kitchen.
"She's acting as Quinn's lapdog for 'Theatricality' not even knowing if she'll get an invite to go herself," he said spreading his hands out jokingly before pouring himself a glass of orange juice. He was wearing a mint green Ben Sherman Wiltshire Check Button Down Collar shirt and a slightly darker green cardigan. [I have nothing]
"I am going to go!" Rachel hollered, scaring Blaine the littlest bit so he had to clean his mouth with a napkin.
"What is this 'Theatricality'? Is this a party?"
"It is, but it's not like the usual ones these people go to. This one involves costumes and I mean wild costumes. It started as masquerade ball, but then that got boring so they changed it. It's an ode to Lady Gaga, the more outlandish the better." Burt looked a bit horrified.
"And you want to go to this? Who will you even know there?"
"My friends," Rachel answered matter-of-factly.
"She means her 'new' friends, who I don't think are the best influences, but I'm just an older brother, so what do I know?" he smiled and shrugged his shoulder leaving Burt to deal with her. As he walked into his room with his juice, his ringtone played. He raced over and answered without a second look.
"Kurt?" he asked before he could stop himself. Luckily, he was right.
"Hey Blaine, I—I was kind of hoping I could—I'm not sure if you're busy tonight," Kurt said this as a statement rather than a question and groaned internallly. Way to go, Kurt!
"You want to go out?" Blaine asked him.
"No! I mean, technically yes. How do you feel about 'Theatricality'?"
"The costume party?"
"Well, there's kind of more to it. It's a bit last minute so I understand if you can't make it. I wasn't going to go, but then I got talked into it."
"Sure, for the moment, I don't have plans. I don't know what I'm going to wear."
"My costume is a surprise, but I'll let you know it's straight out of 'Bad Romance' I might actually be singing that tonight. The girls are forcing me."
"I can't wait to hear it then. I've got to get started. Hopefully Rachel can help me sew something together." Kurt gave him the details about where to go to pick him up and smiled into the phone as he hung up. He slowly drifted back into his world where Quinn was trying on shoes in front of his mirror in her pink Anthropologie Atwitter dress with a light pink cardigan. [Promos season 1]
"That wasn't so hard, now was it?"
"I can't believe I did that!" Kurt gushed. He'd gotten hot and sweaty, his two least favorite physical states. He was thankful he had on all black except for his dark grey tweed vest. [I have nothing]
"What's the big deal? You like the shrub. I thought you were official."
"We kissed, and it was amazing, but I wouldn't call him my boyfriend yet. You know how lucky, or unlucky, I am with those. I really don't want to screw this up," his face pinched into one of sadness, and Quinn jumped on the bed on her stomach and crossed her ankles. He felt sad, but clearly, she was in a much lighter mood than he was used to seeing her.
"What's got you so cheerful?" Kurt asked. Quinn smiled mischievously at his inquiry.
"I'm planning something for Sam tonight that hopefully he'll like. A hunt that will lead him to some colorfully dressed characters before he finds me at the end of the night."
"That sounds fun. He'll like that."
"You think?" she asked seriously.
"Of course, he loves you. Why wouldn't he?" Kurt answered.
"I want you to be one of the characters too. The last one before he finds me. Would you do that for me?"
"You want me to be a part of your magical night with Sam? Am I hearing right? How do you not want me a million miles away so I can't ruin it?"
"You won't ruin it. You'll make it better. I trust you, Kurt. Say you will, please," she begged, and when she begged, Kurt couldn't deny her. He smiled and laughed and they went over their costume plans again.
Someone in Blaine's life had disappeared a year ago, well, not vanished like Gone Girl and presumed dead. It wasn't the same as the boy who changed schools. This one was his friend; someone who'd always been a part of his life until her parents moved to Ohio. She, of course, went with them, and unlike what she said she would do, she did not keep in touch. Today, though, she was calling his phone while standing outside his Brooklyn apartment with one roller luggage.
"Hey Blaine, it's Tina," she spoke once the call was picked up.
"Tina, hey, I know I saw your name on the call. What are you—I haven't talked to you in forever—how are you?" Blaine dropped onto his bed. He was going to start his hair routine, but a call from Tina took precedence.
"I'm great, but I'm also tired. Do you think you could get me some water and a place to rest my feet?"
"Well, of course, I'd take care of you, but last I heard you were out-of-state."
"You've got some out of date information because I'm actually in Brooklyn right now."
"Tina, are you messing with me?" he asked excitedly before he heard a knocking on his front door that echoed through the phone call. "No way!" he yelled as he ran to the door opening it before his father could get to it. Burt looked stunned that he'd almost gotten his extended arm torn off with how fast Blaine ran. When he opened the door, Blaine started actually screaming.
"Am I good at surprises or what?" she radiated proudly. He hugged her tightly. She'd changed her style of dress since the last time he'd seen her. She had blue highlights and beanies before, but she was still the same Tina now with a gothic bride look in a Lip Service Lace Blouse with arm straps and matching cream skirt with Lip Service Like Clockwork waist cincher and Fluevog Zaza heels. [Never Been Kissed] Suddenly his glee died out and Tina knew why.
"You haven't called in a year Tay Tay. Why would you do that?" his voice peeped out like a mouse.
"Can we talk inside, Bling Bling?"
Sam had been antsy since he'd checked on his money. The only reason he wasn't so bummed about his performance in school was because of it. The only reason he listened to what his family wanted him to do was because of it. He'd spent the last week freaking out about it, and when he called the bank again, suddenly it was all back like nothing ever happened. He had to call Puck to make sure he wasn't crazy. It had been missing the day he'd looked at it.
He never thought his father was a bad guy. Sandy was not the most well-liked guy in the city and even among his friends' parents, but he wasn't "bad." There should have be nothing to worry about. Except there was. His dad was also acting strange around the house, especially the closer it came to 'Theatricality,' which just so happened to be the same night as Judy Fabray's dinner party. His father was clearly nervous about something.
Sam didn't understand the world of business. He tried, but it didn't make much sense to him. He knew his dad was good at it though. His mother's family had taken Sandy in and treated them like one of their own because he was good at what he did and made sure that family dollar was worth something. He couldn't ask his father about it. He just wanted to know for sure if something bad was going on. He enlisted Puck to help him out. Puck might have been a jerk about a lot of things, but he held a certain loyalty to those he cared about.
"What do expect to find snooping in your dad's office?"
"Puck, be quiet I told you to guard the door. That's all I want you to do," Sam said in his best Tom Cruise impression. His friend now understood why he'd dressed all in black and got upset with him for coming over with a red sweater—he was imagining they were in Mission Impossible. Sam filtered through some of the papers in his office not looking too close at any.
"Hurry, I think I see someone," Puck called out and watched Sam immediately hide under the desk. He laughed. "I was just kidding man, keep looking."
"This is serious," he said picking himself up. He looked through the drawers of the desk in front of him. One he couldn't open. "This one needs a key," he said. Puck left his post by the door to check.
"I got this," he said taking a lock pick from his back pocket.
"How do you know how to use that thing?" Sam asked as his friend started his work.
"My dad sometimes likes to keep the goodies from me: it explains why his 30-year Scotch is in his room, and not his wine cellar," he said popping it open. "Whoa!"
"What is it?" Sam asked pushing him to the side to see. There were thirty little packets of marijuana messily tossed among his receipts.
"Your dad?" Puck asked him curiously. As hard as he tried, he couldn't align the man with the contents of his desk. Sam couldn't believe it either. The implication looked him in the face. It was more than that though. His father was either an addict or a dealer drug; there was too much there to explain otherwise.
~A.N. Introducing Tina! It's about time for our favorite diva to enter the narrative. Also, about Sandy, how perfect is it for the storyline that both Sam's dad and Sandy have documented drug problems? I had to make that connection.
