Kurt got back out of the driver's seat and rushed back into Scandals and found Sebastian as quickly as possible.
"Come with me now. I need you to help me." Kurt grabbed him by the upper arm, pulled him out into the parking lot and pushed him towards Blaine's car. "Get in and drive." Sebastian looked confused, but took the keys and started the car.
"Where's Blaine?"
"That's why you're driving. I don't know. He walked off too drunk to be alone and claimed that he was going to walk home. He lives like 10 miles from here. We have to find him." Kurt pulled up his Find My Friends app and clicked on Blaine's name.
"Why did he walk off?"
"Not the issue at hand. Turn right. Slow down. Up there, on Maple - turn left. He's down a few more blocks. Right on Clark. Be careful – he could be in the street."
Sebastian drove slowly, but Blaine wasn't anywhere to be seen.
"Pull over and park, but leave the lights on. He's got to be close by."
While walking around the area, Sebastian and Kurt both started calling for him. "Blaine?"
Sebastian could hear a faint voice, "Opening myself up. I needed to open myself up."
"Kurt!" Sebastian called out. "I found him, but he's sitting down in this driveway. Come help me get him up and into the car."
Kurt ran over to where he could hear Sebastian's voice calling from. "Blaine, come on, help us out here. Try to stand up."
"He's out of it. He keeps mumbling something about 'opening himself up'. What does that mean?"
"I don't know. We're just going to have to carry him. Grab him under his arms. I'll grab his legs." They managed to carry Blaine over to the car. "Let's sit him down so we can get the back door open. Go around to the other side and climb in. I'm going to lift him up into the seat and you can pull him in while I lift from this side." Sebastian followed Kurt's directions and they managed to get Blaine into the backseat.
"I just need to do this for Tony," Blaine said.
"What on earth is he talking about?" Sebastian asked.
"I don't think I want to know," Kurt answered. "How much did he have to drink?"
"I saw him with three different bottles of beer."
"Great," Kurt said sarcastically.
"What's going on?"
"That's yet to be determined, but here's what's going to happen. I'm driving back to Scandals. You're getting in your car and you are going to follow me to his house. We're going to get him inside, in his room if possible. We'll leave his car in his driveway. Then, you're going to drive me home. Were you going back to Dalton or were you going to go home tonight?"
"Home," Sebastian said as they pulled back into the Scandals lot.
"Fine. Get in your car and follow me to Blaine's. At least you won't have to try to sneak into Dalton after curfew."
When they got to Blaine's house, Kurt walked up to the front door, unlocked and opened it quietly and looked inside. He didn't see anyone, but he could hear the faint sound of a TV coming from upstairs. He went back out to Blaine's car. "Okay, no one's downstairs, but I don't think we can get him upstairs without someone noticing, so we're just going to put him on the couch and leave him there."
They carefully carried Blaine inside. After Kurt got him laid out on the couch, he reached into Blaine's back pocket, took out his wallet and removed the fake ID. He slipped his keys on the end table with his wallet. On their way out, Sebastian locked the doorknob lock on the front door and pulled it closed quietly.
Once they were back in Sebastian's car, he said, "Okay. Tell me what this is about."
"Well, obviously Blaine doesn't hold his liquor well."
"Clearly," Sebastian deadpanned.
"He told me he only had one beer, but he was way too far gone for just one."
"That doesn't explain why he walked off and what he was talking about. Who's Tony? Wait...Tony as in West Side Story Tony?"
"I don't really want to think about it. Just tell me that you won't take him out drinking again. He clearly makes bad choices when drunk. This is not his first 'bad decision while drunk' episode."
"Okay. I won't take him out drinking. If he asks for another ID, I'll tell him 'no.'"
"Thank you."
"Why won't you tell me what's going on?"
"It's personal."
"Fine. Tell me how to get to your house, so I can take you home."
Kurt gave him directions. "Thank you for doing what I asked. I'm sorry that I can't explain anything any better right now. I need some time to think and to piece together what happened."
"Well, for what it's worth, I'm sorry you didn't have fun. I thought we could just relax and hang out. Scandals is pretty lame, but Lima isn't exactly Paris."
Kurt snorted, "Obviously."
"Are you 18?"
"Yeah."
"If you ever want to go out someplace less lame and you can spend the night out of town, let me know and we'll go to this great 18 and over dance club in Columbus. I'll even spring for a hotel room."
"I'll think about it. Text me the name of the place and I'll look it up," Kurt said reaching out his hand.
Sebastian handed Kurt his phone so he could put his number in, which he did quickly and gave it back.
"Well, thanks for helping me out tonight. Things could have gone much worse if you had refused to help me." Kurt got out of Sebastian's car and went inside.
Sebastian pulled away, heading for the nearest McDonald's to get a large coffee so he could stay awake all the way back home.
()()()()-()()()()-()()()()
Kurt went inside and found that Carole was sitting up in the living room waiting for him. "Your dad isn't home, if that's what you're wondering."
"I know I'm late. There's a reason, although I'm not really all that thrilled to tell it. I could use some advice though. Is Finn asleep?"
"I doubt it. But he's in his room."
"Can we go out back and talk in about 20 minutes? There's something I need to do first."
"Sure," she said as she got up and grabbed a jacket. She sat back down with her book and waited for Kurt to come back to the living room.
Kurt went up to his room to call Rachel and to change into his pajamas.
"Why are you calling so late? Do you know what time it is?" Rachel asked quite perturbed.
"Yes, I know what time it is. And yes, I know it's too late to be calling."
"Why are you calling me?"
"I need you to be 100% honest with me."
"Okay," she said, still sleepy.
"What does Blaine need to do for Tony that involves opening himself up to something?"
"Umm..."
"Rachel, answer me."
"Well Artie was talking to me and Blaine after rehearsal the other day and brought up the fact that neither one of us was doing a good job of portraying sexual awakening and encouraged us to open ourselves up to exploring our sexuality. Blaine and I made a pact to do that before the show opens so that we can portray the characters more realistically."
"Good night, Rachel." Kurt hung up.
She called back.
He turned his phone off. He sat there stunned. Just a few days back Blaine had thought that his right hand was satisfactory and wanted Kurt to be comfortable? And a pact with Rachel and a few too many beers overruled Kurt's comfort?
He got up and started to change. Either you can't tell or you just don't care!flashed back to Kurt's mind. Which was it? They had been dating for seven months and never touched "south of the equator", then suddenly Blaine's ready to go all the way in the back of his car? He went downstairs to talk to Carole, but first he removed the fake IDs from his wallet and put them through the shredder in Burt's office. He grabbed a jacket too.
"Hey, honey. You ready to talk now?"
"Not really, but I need to." They moved out onto the back porch and sat in the dark. The area was faintly lit by the light coming through the patio doors.
"This is a topic that my dad won't discuss without getting weirded out. Are you okay with talking about boys and dating?"
"Sure, honey. I'm not going to be weirded out."
"How about a deal where I tell you the truth and we keep this between us?"
"Do you need a lawyer?"
Kurt laughed, "No, definitely not."
"Okay, then. I think I'm good."
"So, tonight. I didn't tell you the whole truth."
"I'm familiar with the concept of telling parents completely true statements that are incomplete. I was a teenager once, you know," she laughed.
"You know that Blaine came by and picked me up. So, I did technically 'go out with Blaine' like I said I was going to. We didn't go to the movies and dinner like we normally do, though. We met up with a new Warbler that Blaine met recently when he went to visit Dalton. He got both of us fake IDs, which I have already shredded."
"Good choice about the IDs."
"So, we met up at Scandals, which is why we needed the fake IDs."
"I've heard of Scandals. Go on."
Kurt explained exactly what had happened.
"And that's why you're late."
"Yes."
"So, your boyfriend you've done nothing with, pushed you to do something, and then got mad and walked away drunk?"
"Yes."
"And you hunted him down, took him home, made sure he was safe, and then got someone to bring you home?"
"Yes."
"You getting caught in a bar while your dad is running for Congress would not be a good mix, unless you are intentionally trying to make him lose."
"Right," Kurt realized the stupidity of his choice.
"I'm not going to ground you for breaking curfew or tell your dad. I would rather you boys do the right thing and look out for someone's safety than to make it home on time. A text of, 'I'm running late – will explain.' would cut down on me worrying though."
"I'm sorry. I don't think it will be an issue any time soon because I don't think I'm going to be seeing him anymore."
"I think that's a reasonable decision. Is this temporary or permanent?"
"Can I ask you something potentially embarrassing?"
"Sure, but I retain the right to not incriminate myself," she smiled and winked at him.
"Of course," he replied. "So, what would you do if one of your best friends and your boyfriend made a pact to lose their virginity in order to portray a role in a play more accurately?"
"This isn't a hypothetical question, is it?"
"Not really, no."
"I'd be mad. Is that what this was about tonight? He didn't just get drunk and horny? Not an uncommon thing, I suppose. Although, that never makes pushing someone to do something they don't want to do acceptable. What he did was wrong and borders on sexual assault – or attempted sexual assault, I suppose."
"Attempted at most. It was completely unsuccessful because I managed to get out of the car. But yes, I believe that is what tonight was about. When we found him, he was muttering something like 'I need to do this for Tony.'"
"So, he went from zero to a hundred practically overnight?"
"I'd say from ten to a hundred. I mean we have kissed."
"So, you've decided you're breaking up with him?"
"Can you think of a reason not to?"
"A relationship is based on trust and you don't trust him now. So, no I can't think of a reason to stay with him."
Kurt really began to fall apart. "I wish I didn't have to go back to school. I thought things would be better. Last year before I went to Dalton, Mr. Schue said he had planned a solo for me for Sectionals, and then I left. I got nothing at Nationals, even after I came back after they begged me to. Not even a single featured line."
Carole nodded.
"Blaine is the new featured artist, it seems. Last year, Finn said that me singing with Sam in Glee club would get Sam killed. Singing in private, in class, where no one but the Glee club members could see. But for Sectionals this year, Blaine and Artie are singing a duet. And then Blaine is featured with Artie, Sam, Finn and Puck on another song. Tina is the lead on the other song. I have three lines in that song. Mike has about three times that many lines in the song. Mike, who only recently even began to sing in class. I'm applying for music programs and I'm barely featured."
"Oh, honey..."
Kurt continued, "Blaine agreed not to audition for Tony because he's a junior. No one else auditioned specifically for Tony because the other guys knew that I needed it. Yet, he auditioned singing a Tony song, and they asked him to read for it, which he did. And they cast him. I eavesdropped on the directors' casting meeting. I'm too much of a 'lady'. I'm not believable as a male lead. I might as well quit."
"Wow, you've had a lot weighing on you, haven't you, honey?"
"I needed Tony and Blaine got it. Now, Rachel is running against me for Senior Class President. Why do I even bother?" Kurt paused, wiping his eyes. "Clearly, my own boyfriend doesn't find me attractive. If after seven months, he's never been interested in anything besides kissing me and it takes alcohol and a pact to improve his acting to have any interest, I am not the right person for him to be in a relationship with."
"Oh, honey."
"Please don't make me go to school tomorrow. I want to stay home and research colleges. I need to find more places to apply. I may still apply to NYADA, but I don't think it's the place for me. It's going to be full of people like Rachel and Blaine. People who are willing to do whatever it takes, and I'm not willing to be that kind of person."
"Doesn't the play open tomorrow night?"
"Yes. And I'll go and do my part and leave before everyone else."
"You can stay home, as long as you actually do research and show it to me. I will call the school and tell them that I will make sure that you have recovered enough to be there for the play tomorrow night."
"I'm breaking up with him after the play ends this weekend. I don't want to get blamed for him being unable to focus because he lost the 'love of his life.'" Kurt said with finger quotes.
"What are you going to tell your dad?"
"Irreconcilable differences?"
"That's pretty vague."
"Dad likes vague when it comes to me and boys."
"If you say so."
"I think I'm going to rejoin the Cheerios. At least I'll stay in shape and Sue will give me a chance to be in the spotlight."
"If that's what you want, then go for it."
"I wonder if I can work out a deal where I only have to wear the uniform to school once a week."
"It can't hurt to try. You're sure you don't want to be in Glee club anymore?"
"Not really. Not with Rachel and Blaine. They aren't in my classes, so if I drop out of Glee, I won't see them much."
"This is your last year in high school. You should do whatever makes you happy."
"Happy is so far from here, I can't even see it with a normal telescope. I'd settle for not miserable at this point." He sighed. "I know I'm dramatic, but it just never ending it seems. Thanks for talking with me."
"Thanks for trusting me, honey. I know all of this is hard, but honestly it's better to end this now than to draw it out and get pulled in further. It's felt like you've been less and less yourself lately. Muting yourself, in a way."
"I just wanted peace, but I think that's like wanting a boat to not rock in a hurricane. Staying onboard is leaving me too battered. I think I have to get off the boat." Kurt stood up to go back inside. "Good night, Carole."
"Night, honey."
()()()()-()()()()-()()()()
He turned his phone back on when he got back upstairs. He saw a text from Sebastian
-Are you okay?
-Not really. Not yet.
Sebastian called and Kurt answered.
"Are you going to tell me what happened?"
"I need you to be honest with me, if you expect me to be honest with you."
"That's fair."
"Do you really pick up guys at Scandals? Other than the guy I was talking to at the bar, I don't think there was anyone else in there that was under 25, maybe 30."
"No. I usually go to the 18 and up clubs in Columbus. They're a lot closer to Dalton and a lot more fun. But I don't pick guys up there either. I just go to dance and have a good time. I don't drink. I have to drive back to school or drive home."
"You know I heard what you said before I walked up that day in the Lima Bean. That whole 'It doesn't bother me if it doesn't bother you.' line is a big problem for me. You encouraged my boyfriend to cheat on me."
"I was honestly just trying to see how far he was willing to step out on you. He flirted with me from the time he walked into the rehearsal room at Dalton. He had coffee with me that day at school and then again a few days later. He was completely eating up the attention and not talking about you at all. All I had heard about was the epic Klaine romance from the Warblers. How you stole away their lead singer. But the romance didn't seem so epic when he was all into flirty, attention-seeking, coffee dates with me. I just wanted to know how many lines he would cross. I already knew who you were. I had seen videos of Sectionals and Regionals from last year. I want the Warblers to win. I studied last year's performances by both the Warblers and New Directions. I've seen lots of videos of you. I think my favorite is the one from Victor Victoria or maybe year-before-last's cheerleading Nationals."
"So, you knew our story. You knew who I was. You were curious."
"Yes."
"Why?"
"I wondered why a guy would leave out talking about his super hot boyfriend."
"What?"
"What what?"
"I mean why would you say that I'm super hot?"
"Do you not own a mirror?"
"Of course I do, but you aren't answering the question."
"You look like you walked off a runway."
"Thanks?"
"I'm serious. I mean, you don't fit in here. But you are gorgeous."
"Did you go home and start drinking?"
"I'm not drunk. I drank a large coffee to stay awake on the drive back. That's it besides the Sprite you saw me drinking in Scandals earlier."
"Back to the Lima Bean. You acted like you didn't know who I was."
"Yeah, because Blaine had never told me anything about you. And obviously, he hadn't told you anything about me."
"And you were hitting on him because you were curious as to why he was being flirty with you?"
"Mmm hmm."
"And what would you have done if he had said 'okay' to your 'it doesn't bother me' proposition?"
"Probably agreed to the date, then backed out. He's not really my type."
"Oh, really."
"Really."
"And your type is?"
"That's personal."
"Fair enough."
"So, what happened tonight?"
"Not yet."
"Okay. Why weren't you featured in the New Directions Nationals set last year?"
"Um..." he paused. "I'm never featured."
"Why?"
"I'm not manly enough to get the male lead, Rachel is preferred over me for a ballad, and singing a duet with the gay guy is a death wish at McKinley?"
"Did you not audition for Tony?"
"How do you...? Oh, right. He went to Dalton to brag. You already knew about him being Tony."
"He brought tickets for all of the Warblers to come watch him."
"He likes attention, so that's not surprising."
"Don't you pay attention to him? Why is he seeking it out from other guys? I'd have to say, you looked pretty into him that day at the Lima Bean, but you sat at the bar for quite a while tonight."
"I'm not quite sure what you're getting at. He's never really shown any of that kind of interest until tonight, much to my frustration."
"Who was the guy at the bar?"
"Someone who used to go to McKinley that wasn't out. I was surprised to see him there."
"If he's trying to stay in the closet, being seen at the local gay bar probably isn't going to help that."
"It's his life. We weren't friends before. But speaking of bars, I can't go back to any. Things are changing and I have to think about things more carefully. My dad is running for Congress and I can't ruin his chances of winning."
"Wait, your dad is Burt Hummel?"
"Yeah."
"My whole family supports him. Surprisingly, we actually live in the 4th District even though we live outside of Columbus."
"Yeah, well the 4th District is the weirdest shaped district. Gerrymandering at its finest."
"That's true."
"Were you really in France? Or is that part of your spiel to catch guys?"
"I was really in France. I spent the last two school years there. I went to Dalton before that. My dad is the state's attorney. My mom is a professor at OSU. She took a two-year position at a university in France. I went with her."
"So, you're a senior."
"Yes, finally. At first when I came back, I was given junior status because I'm missing some of the required courses that juniors take, but my mom got it all worked out. I have a weird set of classes this year. And room for only one elective. I have AP US History, AP US Government, two English classes – AP English and American Literature, Pre-calc, AP Art History, and AP French."
"Why are you up so late? You're going to fall asleep in class tomorrow."
"No classes tomorrow. We have teacher in-service days, tomorrow and Friday. That's how I could go out tonight. I don't go out on school nights. I don't break curfew at Dalton either. You're not the only one that has standards to live up to. My dad would not put up with me getting into trouble at school. I'm not that kind of person anyway. I figured tonight was okay because Lima is so far away from where I live that no one would recognize me since I doubt anyone in my dad's circle hangs out in small-town gay bars when there are such nice places in Columbus, but I'm not going to go back. You're right. It's too much of a risk. My dad doesn't deserve to have his name dragged through the mud because of me."
"I see. Look, we didn't meet under good circumstances and tonight was basically horrible. But if you decide that you can be yourself and not some weird façade that you're trying to project, then I'll give you a chance. I'm not interested in false pretenses and posturing."
"What are you suggesting?"
"Are you busy Sunday?"
"No."
"Okay. Do you want to go to the Columbus Museum of Art with me? I went once when I was at Dalton, but I'd love to go back."
"Sure."
"Okay. There's an IHOP off 270, east of Dublin. Meet me there at 10:00 on Sunday. We'll eat and go to the museum together from there."
"I know where that is. I'll see you at 10:00 then."
()()()()-()()()()-()()()()
Kurt did his research just as he told Carole that he would. One thing he realized is that not all of Ohio was as bad as he thought. He found a lot of LGBT friendly places in Columbus and other places around Ohio. He also found several colleges that he was interested in and started to figure out what he might need to do to get into them. He definitely needed more on his CV. He needed to find a vocal teacher. He found a theater group in Marysville that he planned to check out since the Lima Theatre Guild had closed down after not being able to get the funding for Les Mis back in sophomore year. He was also going to look to see what there might be in Toledo that he could join. He needed to start seeing the roadblocks in Lima as hurdles to jump rather than dead ends.
That afternoon, Carole came in to see what he had been doing. "These look good, Kurt. I see you have been busy today. I'm sure that your dad will help with the voice lessons if it's something you really need to get into college. Why don't you start by calling OSU and see where that leads? Maybe someone can point you in the right direction."
"I'm going to call the community theater group in Marysville too. It's an hour away, but that's not too bad if I can actually be involved in a real production. I hope it's not too late to audition for whatever they're staging for Christmas. Or maybe Columbus or Toledo."
"I'm glad you're more upbeat about your options."
"Yeah. Me too. Next is to get rid of the baggage. I'm breaking up with Blaine Sunday morning. And Rachel and I are through. This isn't the first time she's done something that has really hurt me and I'm tired of giving her chance after chance to stab me in the back. It's time for some emotional Kevlar."
()()()()-()()()()-()()()()
Sebastian woke up late Thursday morning, but after making himself a nice breakfast and a cup of coffee, he managed to get his act together and get the long paper he had been assigned for the following week done ahead of time.
He spent Friday and Saturday doing what he had been assigned for the next week, working ahead.
He spent more than a reasonable amount of time thinking about Kurt and wondering what had happened in the Scandals parking lot. Nothing he came up with was pleasant. He was genuinely looking forward to breakfast and the visit to the museum on Sunday.
His mom caught his staring off into space smiling at dinner Saturday evening. "Happy is a good look on you."
He blushed.
"Oh, I see. What's his name?"
"Kurt."
"I see. Well, if he makes you smile like that, I think I like him already."
"He asked me out to breakfast tomorrow and then to the art museum."
"Well, I really like him now."
()()()()-()()()()-()()()()
Kurt managed to perform his role in West Side Story while actively avoiding Blaine for the next two days. Fortunately, there had been no Glee rehearsal on Friday to allow their voices to be rested for the performance that evening. He couldn't manage to completely avoid Rachel, but he kept their interaction to the bare minimum and told her that he was resting his voice.
He talked to Coach Sylvester and rejoined the Cheerios. He left his phone off Saturday and showed up for the two shows. He bowed out of the cast party Saturday night and asked Blaine to meet him Sunday morning at 8:00 at the Lima Bean.
Kurt was waiting at a table in the back, away from as many people as possible. Blaine found him easily and sat down.
"Hey, Kurt. I hope you're feeling better. I know you missed school Thursday and then you've been laying low since then."
"I'm fine."
"Why did you want to get together so early?"
"Because I need to talk to you and I didn't want to do it during the play."
"Okay."
"Blaine, I can't do this anymore. We can't be a couple anymore."
"Wait, what? You're breaking up with me?"
"Yes."
"I changed schools to be with you."
"I told you not to do that for me. You said it was for you. And from my perspective, it's working out quite well for you. You have a duet at Sectionals, with a split main lead on another song and you got Tony in the play. You're doing quite well for yourself at McKinley."
"You know they asked me to do Tony."
"You could have said 'no.'"
Blaine said nothing. He just stared at his coffee cup for a while before he spoke up. "You're breaking up with me because I'm getting better parts than you?"
"No, I'm breaking up with you because I don't trust you anymore."
"What do you mean?"
"What do you remember about Wednesday evening?"
"It's a little fuzzy."
"I would imagine so. You were drunk off your butt. I had to get Sebastian to help me find you and get you home. And the things you were saying led me to call Rachel."
"Oh. Oh!"
"Yeah, 'Oh!' I know about your pact."
Blaine looked away.
"I can't be with someone who sees something that's mine as a commodity to be used for their own personal gain. My body, my choice. You weren't interested enough a week ago to deal with my 'layers', but then a few too many beers and a school play, and suddenly my layers weren't enough to prevent you from trying to take what you wanted from me in the backseat of your car. And then you had the nerve to say you were just trying to be 'fun and spontaneous'. I don't think what you had in mind would have been any fun for one of us, being totally unprepared for that to take place. And at the time, it seemed like I was the one in line for a world of pain since you were being quite grabby."
"I was too drunk to think clearly."
"Obviously, drinking is a bad idea for you altogether. The last time you got drunk, you weren't thinking clearly and made out with Rachel."
Blaine looked somewhat embarrassed.
"Anyway. I can't do this. I can't wonder if I am going to be safe when you drink. I can't wonder anymore whether you actually even find me attractive at all. I can't be with someone I can't trust."
"But Kurt, I love you."
"That may very well be true, but Wednesday night, you showed that you don't really respect me. You know you don't handle alcohol well, yet you got drunk on a school night leaving me to take care of you, which I obviously couldn't do alone once you got argumentative and walked off. If Sebastian hadn't come to help me when I asked, I don't know what I would have done. You tried to walk home drunk from Scandals. That would be like a 2-hour walk in the daylight when you're sober. Plus, I had your keys since I took them when you started drinking. How were you even going to get into your house? And what would your mom and dad have said when you got there, IF you had gotten there, without your car?"
"It was my grandma. She never says anything. She would have just opened the door and let me in. But as I said, I was too drunk to think clearly. "
"Obviously."
"I'm really sorry."
"That may very well be, but sorry doesn't fix the lack of trust I have now."
"What about school? What about Glee?"
"Well, you're free to go back to Dalton if you really did just come to McKinley for me, but I don't really think that's true though. No one has hassled you at McKinley. You can easily stay. I'm quitting Glee Club after Sectionals and making some other changes in my life. It's obvious to me that I don't have what it takes to make it into NYADA. I lack the cutthroat skills that you and Rachel have in spades. So, I'm going to figure out exactly what it is that I want to do with my life and work to achieve that. It's obvious that I will never have a spotlight role in Glee. I'm just in the background. I don't learn anything about vocal training or music either. I am going to change things. I'll use my free time to work on my college applications."
They sat there in silence for a few minutes.
"So, this is it, then?"
"This is it." Kurt stood up and left.
()()()()-()()()()-()()()()
Kurt pulled into the IHOP lot just before 10:00. Sebastian was waiting for him outside.
"Hey, gorgeous," he said as Kurt walked up.
"I thought we discussed that you were going to turn your 'player persona' off and let me meet the real you."
"That wasn't me being a 'player', as you call it."
"Sure," Kurt sighed.
They went inside, were seated and started looking through the menu.
"Do you prefer some other nickname?"
"Wait, you actually think I'm attractive?" Kurt asked disbelievingly.
"Again, I ask, do you not own a mirror?" Sebastian teased.
"Plenty of mirrors, dearth of compliments."
"Well, then you're in the wrong crowd. Come with me to one of the clubs some weekend and you'll see."
"Whatever you say. I'd have to see it to believe it."
Sebastian flashed him a smirk, "I can make that happen, just let me know when."
"Speaking of compliments though, I really like this look," pointing to Sebastian's clothes. "This is a huge step up from frat-boy-wannabe in that hideous striped rugby shirt you were wearing the other night. You were dressed like Finn."
"Who's Finn?"
"My stepbrother who has no fashion sense whatsoever. He's a senior as well. My dad married his mom not quite a year ago."
"Yeah, well, that was my attempt at blending in with the locals. I didn't think that my typical French wardrobe would be appreciated in a backwoods dive gay bar."
"Never stopped me."
"So, I've seen."
The waitress walked up, took their orders and their menus. She came back with their coffees right away.
"So, AP Art History. That's what made me think you might go to the museum with me. I've never had anyone I know be willing to go to anything like that with me. I went once on my own last year on a teacher in-service day rather than just sit around Dalton all day."
"My mom is actually an art history professor at OSU. She was doing research for her new book while we were in France. So, I've spent lots of time in museums. I really do love art though, so it's never been a bore to spend time in them with her."
"Do you paint or draw?"
"I do. Both actually. I take private lessons though. I don't take art at Dalton. I'm working on building my portfolio. I'm applying to art schools."
"I'd love to see your work sometime. I sketch, but mostly just fashion. I'm decent at faces, people, and clothes of course, but I don't paint or do any real artwork."
"Hey, don't sell yourself short. Fashion is like moving visual art if done well."
"I never really thought about it like that."
"I'm thinking that living in Lima may have stunted your thinking about a lot of things."
"No doubt."
The waitress brought their food. They continued to talk while they ate.
"Do you actually make any of the things that you sketch?"
"I tailor a lot of the clothes that I wear. I buy things off the rack at Goodwill and resale shops and fix them up. I also make some things completely from scratch. I made the kilt that I wore to prom last year."
"You have guts."
"Or brain damage."
Sebastian laughed. "So, are you applying to fashion design programs?"
"Well, so far, only to NYADA."
"NYADA is a Broadway training school for the most part, isn't it? I mean I guess you can probably study costume design there. Why not apply to other schools too?"
"Another thing that living in Lima causes – lack of appropriate guidance counseling and college planning. I started researching other places Thursday when I didn't go to school."
Sebastian nodded.
"If I'm going to pursue music, I need serious training, not my background singing role in Glee. Plus, Krupke is the only part I've had in a play. Our play last year got cancelled."
"What was it?"
"Rocky Horror."
"In Lima?"
"Thus the reason it was cancelled. Mr. Schuester clearly didn't really think through his choice."
"Who were you?"
"He offered me Frank-n-Furter, of course, but I counter-offered Riff Raff"
"You turned down a lead?"
"I was getting dumpster tossed already and my bruises had bruises from the locker shoves. Being seen in a publicly performed play as a sex-crazed transvestite was NOT going to help me survive school. Keep in mind that this was not long before I transferred to Dalton."
"What's a dumpster toss and why were you being shoved into lockers?"
"The Neanderthal jocks at McKinley take great pride in making sure that I know that my gayness is not an acceptable thing to spread around the school. And a dumpster toss is just what it sounds like. The jocks grabbed me and tossed me into the dumpsters."
"And the teachers did nothing about this? Is that why you transferred?"
"I transferred because my life was threatened. And no, the teachers didn't do anything. Even with the death threat, the student was reinstated a couple of days after his parents appealed to the school board. That's when I transferred."
"Wow."
The waitress noticed that they had finished. She put their bills face down on table and cleared their place settings.
"So, you didn't want to be Frank-n-Furter, but you showed up to prom in a kilt?"
"The kilt is actually men's clothing. And it was an homage to the royal wedding."
Sebastian smirked. "Yeah, because so many people at McKinley know what an 'homage' is and what the difference between a kilt and a skirt is."
"Point taken, thus the comment about brain damage earlier."
They paid their bills and headed outside.
"My car or yours?" Kurt asked.
"Actually, I don't live far from here. Why don't you just follow me to my house and you won't have to leave your car in the lot here."
"Sure." Kurt got in and followed him to his house. He parked and got into Sebastian's car.
As they pulled out of the driveway, Kurt said. "So, tell me more about yourself. So far, I know that you're the new lead Warbler and an artist, whose mother is an art historian and author and whose father is an attorney. You spent two years in France. Tell me about that. I would LOVE to go to Europe some day."