Another year gone, a new one begins...
The remainder of 2017 was a blur for the large group of friends. College and work took up most of their time and energy, as the pressures of finals loomed for some. Those in the world of work did not have it easy either, and missed the long vacations that school had given them. Flint had spent a week in the summer back home in Kansas with Izzy, and he had longed to escape back home to that other Manhattan from the moment that he arrived at his parents' house to find a surprise party filled with relatives and those people that his mother wished to impress the most. She had forgiven him for playing a Mormon on Broadway for that one night because he had won a small share of a Tony Award, and having been reminded to bring his replica award at least three dozen times in the two days before they set of, it was there for all to see. That was down to Izzy, as Flint had tried his best to leave it at home, with his excuse for doing so being that he had been distracted by someone that kept sending him non-stop reminders…
He had managed to escape a trip to the Ladies Circle the following day, but Izzy had not been so fortunate; he had been careful not to let her see his grin as she was driven away. If his dad had taught him only one thing about relationships, it was that sometimes you had to keep your real feelings on a subject hidden away to keep the peace. No sooner had the two women left than his father had sat him down and then handed him a small box, which contained an old and extremely beautiful diamond ring. As he admired it, his father told him that it had been his grandmother's engagement ring, and that his mother had passed it on to him to give to Flint for when he proposed to Izzy, with the reminder that she was not getting any younger, and that a great-grandchild would be nice… Flint had accepted it, and began to consider the question of proposing to Izzy. He had after all been going out with her for two years now, and she was due to qualify the summer after next. Maybe the time had come to give the whole concept of getting engaged serious consideration.
He did not do anything about it whilst they were still in Kansas. His mother was too busy showing them off to everyone for a start - and then there was her constant worrying about the imminent outbreak of war with North Korea. In the end, the young couple headed back to New York with the ring concealed in Flint's carry on bag, having promised that if Armageddon did loom, they would head straight back to Kansas. It wasn't a promise they would be able to keep in all probability in the worst case scenario, and in any case, both of them were realists; better a swift death in the city than a lingering one in Kansas. It was a sentiment shared by most of their friends as the paranoia about a nuclear strike grew. They smiled and indulged those acquaintances that were making up survival kits, and tried not to laugh at those people that thought they could stop deadly gamma rays by covering their windows with bed sheets doused in talcum powder…
As summer came to an end, the world did indeed seem to be falling apart. Storms hit the south of the country, and Mike's thoughts turned naturally to his old friend Matt down in Texas. He was lucky enough to have escaped the worst of the floods at home, but his training and game schedule had been seriously disrupted by it all. Then it was the turn of Florida to be battered by mother nature, as forest fires plagued the west of the country, and strong earthquakes hit Mexico. The latter was a bit too close to home for David, Mercedes, Jake and Unique. Sure, they had all felt tremors from time to time, but that came with the territory when you lived in California. All the recent big earth movements had been on the other side of the Pacific, however, or far down in South America. Mexico was right next door… They all brushed up on their earthquake drills, and David insisted that he and his two housemates made up grab boxes that contained their most important documents. They all started to have that worry in the back of their mind that one day soon the big one that everyone feared might come along. When Jake expressed his worries to his half-brother, Puck was silent for a moment, and then in a quiet voice, told him what he knew about the plans for just such a disaster that had been made by the air force. In particular, he told him exactly where he should head to afterwards to make it easy to escape…
Flint might not have proposed to Izzy that summer, but someone else did get down on one knee. Sebastian was summoned to the office of Vogue one afternoon by his brother, who met him at the front door, handed him a camera, and told him to start filming for him. Sebastian's protests that if his brother had wanted a cameraman he should have called Artie instead were ignored, and so he had obediently filmed all the way as he and Julian made their way to the editorial suite. They found Isabelle there talking to some of her colleagues; she didn't even get the chance to greet Julian before he was down on one knee, and there, in front of half the staff of the magazine, Julian Smythe asked Isabelle Wright to marry him.
Five minutes later Sebastian was sitting there beside his future sister-in-law, sipping on a glass of champagne that the legendary Anna Wintour had supplied herself to mark the occasion. Both of the newly engaged couple agreed that they did not want a long drawn out engagement, and a Christmas ceremony was being considered, though they would definitely not be holding it at the Rainbow Room. Sebastian was sworn to secrecy about the whole thing, more or less, being allowed to mention it only to Dave, until Isabelle announced the whole thing online. Naturally the moment that she was left alone in her office, Kurt had appeared to congratulate his former mentor, and promised that he would design the perfect dress for her. When Sebastian heard, all he could hope was that Jeff would have the time to copy it out….
Of course, the wedding of the online editor of Vogue could not be as quiet an event as they would have wished, and so in the end a compromise had to be reached over the actual ceremony, given that there was no way that Julian's mom could attend a wedding that so many of the media would be in attendance for. It was a small group then that made their way up to Vermont one quiet Saturday in early December; Sebastian and Dave were joined by Eloise and Julian's mom in the small registrar's office in the little town close to Jeff's aunt's farm. The lady in question knew the local official well, and after a quiet conversation via Sebastian, they had prevailed upon them to keep the whole thing quiet, just registering the marriage in the official way with no great public ceremonial.
Julian's one regret was that his son was not there, but they would remedy that easily enough with the lavish public ceremony in New York in the summer, which his mom could never have been invited to; it would be in the full spotlight of the media, not to mention having its own spread in Vogue. The only other guests at the ceremony in Vermont were Isabelle's mother and brother, the latter accompanied by his wife. All of those present would keep the fact that the two were married secret for the next few months, whilst Isabelle wrote a column for the online edition all about her wedding prep. Kurt had told her off for the deception, not that he and Blaine were not in attendance in any case, but he knew why it had to be done. All that they could hope now was that some lucky journalist did not stray across the details of the Smythe Wright nuptials before the big event…
By the time that New Year's Eve came round again, most of them had come to the conclusion that whilst the year for them had not been too bad, for the world as a whole it had been a bit of a disaster. Events in Las Vegas had ignited the whole debate about gun control once again, and had provoked a lot of drama in Washington. Trent had written Burt a speech like no other for the first of many debates, and those that heard it in Congress would later say that it was one of the most powerful ever made in those halls. At the end, Burt was given a resounding round of applause from the Democrat side of the chamber, and even garnered some support from the Republicans. Amongst them was Sue, whose own speech, though not quite as eloquent as Burt's, gave her own blunt assessment of the situation.
Fortunately, no-one was around to hear her later quip to Burt as they passed each other by chance in a corridor, that they should not introduce proper gun control legislation until someone shot at the current incumbent in the Oval Office… Burt was left shocked, and had it made it's way to the media, it would have provoked outrage in certain quarters. In other areas, Sue was proving to be a most effective politician, getting things done for those that had elected her. She also used her influence to stymie an attempt by Nick's father to get himself elected to the city council in Columbus. She had merely reminded the party officials of the views that he had expressed at the hustings last year; and had then told Mr Duval that if he pressed ahead, his wife would be more than happy to make public all that had happened back in Illinois. Given the sex scandals that filled the airwaves, the idea of electing a man that had had so many affairs to the council would be a disaster. His ambitions thwarted once again, Mr Duval made plans to leave Ohio and head to a more sympathetic state elsewhere. After all, there was nothing left for him there, and he had been offered something in Alabama…
Christmas that year was marked by a big celebration at Nick and Jeff's for all those that couldn't, or indeed wouldn't, go home to their families. Beats had volunteered to work that day in the MTA offices; he had just enough experience on the job now to be able to cope with the minor crises that could occur, and in any case, Elliott had also 'volunteered' to work the day shift at the Spotlight. Josh and Scott would be heading over to New Jersey to spend the day with the latter's parents. They no longer lived in Bergenfield, having decided to move further west to a smaller town away from the city. It was therefore safe for the two young men to go, knowing that there was no danger of a confrontation with the other three members of the Gilbert family.
Elliott had volunteered to work after he had been approached by Ollie Harwood. He had managed to secure the day off from the hospital, and was desperate to spend the whole day with Michelle, and that was only possible if Elliott stepped in. Ollie had also persuaded Thad to head to the city for the day, and he would have dinner with his brother and Michelle before heading over to join the party in the West Village. Ollie was not the greatest of cooks, but the dinner that he managed to provide was actually pretty decent, leaving Thad to ponder if his trash can was full with wrappings from Wholefoods, a fancy deli, or even from some grand restaurant. The main having been eaten, Ollie went into the kitchen to fetch the dessert; he came back with it, placed it on the table, and then got down on one knee in front of Michelle. His proposal might not have been the most romantic in the world, but it did not matter. Michelle said yes without a hesitation, and Thad was there to take the photo of the happy couple that would be put on Facebook as soon as Michelle had informed her parents. Thad was also secretly glad that she could see just how much her beloved Birdy approved too, as Wes stood at his side, grinning from ear to ear…
The spate of engagements did not go unnoticed amongst the younger generation. Flint found himself looking more and more often at the ring that his father had given him for Izzy. Then, one day early in January of 2018, he was caught doing so by Ethan. Flint made no attempt to hide the ring, instead handing it over to his roommate so that he could have a better look.
"It's beautiful. I am certain that Izzy will love it when the time is right for you to give it to her. As you might imagine, I am not that keen on the whole notion of weddings, but you and Izzy are so in love and you really compliment each other. You are a true partnership, and neither of you tries to exert any control over the other. I think that she will say yes as soon as you muster up the courage to propose, but I think that she'd probably prefer that you avoided the cliché dates like New Year, Christmas and Valentine's…" Flint nodded, knowing just how much Izzy hated the whole atmosphere surrounding those mass market events. "She is nearing the end of her course, isn't she? Another year after she finishes this one? I would propose this summer if I were you, as you both agreed not to get married until after she had graduated. That would give you a year to plan out the whole thing."
Flint chuckled, and said, "You mean that it would only be a year that I would have to deal with my mom trying to plan the whole thing? I think that prospect is what is putting me off. She won't like it that we aren't intending to head to Kansas to get married, and so the compromise will have to be that we will get married at a synagogue, not City Hall. The idea of all of the Warblers in a synagogue is kind of scary as well. I'm sure it will all be okay, but I need to start looking for a good one now. Maybe go a few times, get to know the Rabbi, that sort of thing. I'm not looking forward to that, if I'm honest. Going to the services at all will be hard enough given how long it's been, but what is worse, a single young man walking in will get all the mothers with unmarried daughters talking for a start."
"Well, I could come with you," said Ethan. "Confuse them and keep those women off your back until the truth is known,"
"You'd do that? Give up your Saturdays for me?"
"Yeah. You've done so much for me in the last couple of years that it is only right I return the favour," replied Ethan with a smile, which was instantly returned by Flint.
As the plans were made, their upstairs neighbour observed them. Beats could see that Flint and Ethan were getting closer, and that made him happy, if a little jealous. He knew that he was still Flint's best friend, but he saw a lot less of him, what with his work and his commitments with Elliott. They still had their secrets, and still shared little things that no-one else knew, but inevitably for Flint it was now often easier to talk to Ethan. When Beats first heard about the synagogue offer, he was a little put out that he hadn't been told first, but he knew in his heart that he would never have agreed to go with Flint. Organised religion in general did not sit too well with him. He knew he would have to go eventually for the wedding; after all, the one thing that had definitely emerged from it all was that Flint still wanted him to be his best man. He had begun to fear that he might be supplanted, or even have to share the task, but Flint had been quick to tell him otherwise. In the end, he would have to make a few trips to the synagogue nearer the time, but he would cope. He would do anything for his best friend…
Flint ended up finding his ideal place through a colleague at work. She had told him during a discussion about synagogues that her own rabbi had left her temple to head to the Village Temple on East 13th Street. She couldn't praise Rabbi Hirsch enough, and so Flint decided to head along to check things out for himself one evening after work. He was surprised at just how close the small synagogue was to his home and wondered albeit briefly why his mother had tried to get him to attend the Conservative Synagogue on Fifth Avenue, a much longer walk. He quickly concluded that the 'C' word had been an important factor.
He entered the building with a little trepidation, but ten minutes later he found himself having a coffee with the rabbi, an older woman who seemed to understand exactly where he was coming from the minute that he explained all of the issues. "This isn't the first time that I have had a bride and groom in your situation. Your young lady is from a very liberal family, but your mother is very traditional. Well here we can offer you the best of both worlds. I can put in all the touches that your mother would expect but still ensure that it is a day that you and your future wife will remember for all of the right reasons." Such was the presence of the lady before him that Flint decided there and then that he wanted her to officiate on his big day. He could easily attend services here from time to time, with no issues. Now he just had to talk to Izzy about what he had found out, and hope that she agreed with him.
Fortunately for him, Izzy had no objections to Flint finding a synagogue so that they could get married there in the future, as long as they still wanted to. The life of a doctor was not one which left much time for planning such things and she was glad that he had taken the initiative. She managed to make arrangements to go with him to his first service, both of them aware that it had been some considerable time since they had attended such a function. She was a bit surprised at first when Ethan joined them, but once he and Flint had explained their reasoning, she understood.
By the end of the service, she had to agree that he had chosen well. They had been greeted warmly by the majority of the congregation, although Izzy could tell she had upset a couple of the older women by existing in the new young man's life. However, Ethan was then suddenly the subject of their attentions, and he quickly made up stories of a non-existent wife that was working abroad, much to the amusement of his companions. The rabbi left them all feeling perfectly at home, and also had no issue with Ethan attending, even laughing when he assured her that he was a confirmed atheist. What he didn't like to admit, even to himself, was that the service had made him reconsider that position a little…
Flint could not resist the temptation afterwards to call his mom and let her know that he and Izzy had been to temple together, and after he had confirmed that they still weren't engaged, much to her disappointment, he let his mother talk to him about all things religious, answering as truthfully as he could, whilst not correcting the pronoun she used when asking about the rabbi. He could deal with that issue later…
So far 2018 was looking as if it would be a year filled with proposals and weddings, but it was also a year that would mark the end of an era for many of them. The vast majority of them were due to graduate, including Artie and Tina, whose courses had been longer than those of most of their peers. Then it would be off into the world of work for them all. Tina was already looking for a post in New York, and her success in that would mean that Mike would be moving into his own house in the West Village row that summer. Both he and his two roommates were still trying to ignore that fact, as they had become so used to having each other around. As had been the case with Beats and Flint, the close friends would not be that far apart afterwards, but the permanent addition of Tina to the mix would alter everything…
It was also a moment when Nick and Jeff had to start to consider the future for themselves as a couple. In just a few months, they would be finished with school. Nick would be looking for a job, determined to put all the training that he had been given to use, and trying to make an impact on the world for the better. For Jeff, there was less necessity to run straight into work; he had the diner, and he could spend time adding to his portfolio, as they had financial stability. His illustration work was also there to pay the bills, and that showed no hint of dying down. He knew that he would be the one at home for most time during the week, and he was quiet happy to be the one that carried out the majority of the chores as a result.
That situation also meant that he could quite easily be something else. He could potentially be the stay at home dad, taking care of the child that they had always talked about wanting. Jeff kept those thoughts to himself for the moment; Nick was busy with study all the time, and sometimes Jeff was lucky to even get a hug of an evening before his husband dozed off. Some people would have been upset by that, but Jeff was a realist, and knew that Nick was working hard to secure their future, and doing something that he felt so passionate about in the process. He could talk through the idea of having a child sooner, rather than later with him after graduation. In the meantime, he could start to consider who they could ask to be their surrogate…
For another of the circle of friends, 2018 was going to be the year in which their life would change dramatically, according to all the critics. Her vocal talents had not gone unnoticed in the world, and having lined up a string of hits on download, the record company decided that it was high time for Mercedes Jones to have her first big stadium tour. It would start in the south in the summer, move across to the east coast, conveniently arriving in New York in time for Julian's wedding, and eventually culminate at the Hollywood Bowl. It also included a date in Lima, at Mercedes' request, which would be quite the sensation for her home town.
To say that she was happy would have been quite an understatement; David was ecstatic for her, and showed that to everyone. This would be the tour that confirmed her as a major star, if the early ticket sales were anything to go by, with a complete sell out in New York within an hour of the date being announced, which lead to them having to add a second date at Madison Square Gardens. To play there was big, but the Hollywood Bowl was iconic, given all of the great artistes that had played there through the years. She began to assemble a crew, and to recruit backing dancers and singers. She briefly considered asking all of her friends from the New Directions, and indeed the Warblers, to come to L.A. to watch her perform at the Bowl, but Kurt had advised her against such a move, citing a whole plethora of reasons as to why she shouldn't. Mercedes did not question him as to why he was determinedly against her idea, nor did she notice the look of worry on his face the whole time he was making his case…