And Picks Up Speed
Okay people! As promised last chapter, Blaine does make an appearance with a AVPMS refrence! No dreams this chapter.
Its time for a Glee-wind
Previously on Wake:
He is jolted awake when he falls into a huge, beautiful bedroom.
There are framed posters of Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner on the walls. At a desk sits Santana, doodling on the edge of her notebook. Kurt tries to blink himself out of the room. He feels himself sit up in the sleeping bag, but his motions don't affect what he sees. He lies back down, resigned to watch.
Santana is drawing hearts. Kurt walks toward her. He says, "Santana," but no sound comes out. When someone knocks on the bedroom window, Santana looks over and smiles.
"Help me open this window, will you?" she asks him. It's the nicest thing she has ever said to him, and this confuses him.
Kurt stares at Santana. Santana stares back, then points to the window with a jerk of her head. Kurt, feeling compelled, stumbles over to the window next to Santana and they open it. Rachel climbs in.
She is naked from the waist up.
And has breasts the size of watermelons.
The breasts sway from side to side when Rachel scrambles over the sill.
She walks through Kurt and stands shyly in front of Santana.
Kurt tries to turn away, but he can't. He waves a hand in front of Rachel's face, but Rachel doesn't respond. Santana winks at Kurt and folds Rachel into her arms. They embrace and kiss. Kurt rolls his eyes, and suddenly all three are back in Mr. Montgomery civics classroom. Once again, Santana is embracing someone in the aisle. It's Rachel. She leads Rachel to the front of the room. Kurt can see that no one else in the class gives an ounce of notice to the naked Rachel and her enormous breasts.
Kurt sits up in his sleeping bag again and shakes his head wildly. He feels his head banging on the ground as he falls backwards, but he is unable to remove himself from the classroom. He is forced not only to be there, but also to watch.
Santana glides to the supply closet and leads Rachel in there with her. Kurt, against his wishes, follows. Santana closes the door once Rachel and Kurt are inside, and Santana starts kissing Rachel on the lips again.
Kurt lunges in her sleeping bag blindly. And kicks Santana, hard.
And Kurt is back in Rachel's living room.
Santana sits up, hair disheveled, and scrambles around to look at Kurt. "What the hell did you do that for?" Santana is furious.
Feigning sleep, Kurt peers out of one eye. "Sorry," he mumbles. "There was a spider crawling over your sleeping bag. I saved your life."
"What?" She shrieked, frantically looking around her sleeping bag looking for the spider.
"Never mind, he's gone."
"Oh, great. Like I'm gonna get back to sleep now." She fumed and laid back down on her sleeping bag.
Kurt grins in the darkness. Its 5:51 A. M.
7:45 A. M.
Something nudges Kurt's legs. He opens his eyes, wondering where he is. Its pitch dark. Rachel turns the sleeping bag flap off Kurt's head. "Wake up, sleepyhead. The sunlight is blinding."
"Mmph," Kurt grunts. Slowly he sits up.
Rachel is balancing on her haunches, eyeing him, one brow raised.
Kurt remembers. Does Rachel?
"Did you sleep well?" Rachel asks.
Kurt's stomach twists. "Um, yeah." He gauges Rachel's reaction. "Did you?"
Rachel smiles. "Like a baby. Even on this hard floor."
"Ah, hmm. Well, that's great." Kurt scrambles to his feet and untwists from his pajamas. "Where's Santana?" he asks.
"She left about ten minutes ago. She was acting weird. Said she forgot she had a piano lesson at eight." Rachel snorts. "Duh."
Kurt laughs weakly. He's starving. The two teens fix breakfast. Rachel doesn't appear to remember her nightmare.
Kurt can't forget it.
As they munch on toast, Kurt steals a glance at Rachel's chest. Her breasts are the size of half an apple, each.
Kurt goes home, falls into bed, thinking about the strange night. Wondering if this ever happens to anyone else. Knowing, deep down, it probably doesn't.
He falls into a hard sleep until late afternoon.
Decides sleepovers are not for him.
They'll never be for him.
And that's what you missed on GLEE!
Words: 4,025
June 7, 2009
Kurt is sixteen. He buys his own clothing now. Often he buys his own food, too. The welfare check covers the rent and the booze, and not much else.
Two years ago, Kurt started working a few hours after school and on the weekends at Lima Nursing Home. Now he works full-time over the summer.
The office staff and the other aides at Lima Home like Kurt, especially during school holidays, because he'll pick up anybody's shifts, day or night, so they can take a last-minute sick day or vacation. Kurt needs the money, and they know it.
He's determined to go to college. He wants to go to NYADA with Rachel. He wants to make it big on Broadway one day. His dream is to get the part of Tony in a reproduction of West Side Story with Rachel as Maria, for she is the only girl Kurt could possibly kiss without wanting to puke.
Five days a week or more, Kurt puts on his hospital scrubs and takes a bus to the nursing home. He likes old people. They don't sleep soundly.
Kurt and Rachel are still friends and next-door neighbors. They spend a lot of time at Kurt's house, waiting for Kurt's mother to pass out in her bedroom before they watch movies of some Broadway play and talk about boys. They talk about other things too, like why Rachel's father, Leroy, is so angry all the time, and why Rachel's other dad, Hiram, doesn't like company. Mostly, Kurt thinks, it's just because they're grouchy people. Plain and simple. Whenever Rachel asks if she can have Kurt sleep over, her Daddy Hiram says, "You just had a sleepover on your birthday." Rachel doesn't bother to remind him that that was four years ago.
Kurt thinks about Beth and wonders if Rachel really is an only child. But Rachel doesn't seem to talk about anything with sharp edges. Maybe she's afraid they might poke into her and then she'd burst.
Rachel and Santana are also still friends. Santana's parents are still rich. Santana plays tennis. She is the head cheerleader with her best friend Brittany. Her parents have condominiums in Vegas, Marco Island, Vail, and somewhere in Greece. Santana mostly hangs out with other rich kids. And then there's Rachel.
Kurt does not mind being with Santana. Santana still can't stand Kurt. Kurt thinks he knows the real reason why, and it doesn't have anything to do with having money.
June 25, 2009, 11:15 P. M.
After working a record eleven evenings straight, and being caught by old Mr. Wyane recurring nightmare about World War II seven of those eleven evenings, Kurt collapses on the couch and kicks his shoes off. By the number of empty bottles on the ring-stained coffee table, he assumes his mother is in her bedroom, down for the count.
Rachel lets herself in. "Can I crash here?" Her eyes are rimmed in red.
Kurt sighs inwardly. He wants to sleep. "Course. You okay with the couch?" he asks his friend.
"Sure. Thanks." She replied as she flops herself onto the dainty couch.
Kurt relaxes. Rachel on the couch would work fine.
Rachel sniffles loudly.
"So, what's wrong?" Kurt asks, trying to put as much sympathy in his voice as he can muster. It's enough.
"Dads yelling again. I got asked out. Dads say no." She states.
Kurt perks up. "Who asked you out?"
"Jesse. From the body shop." She replies in a dreamy voice.
"You mean that old guy?" Kurt amends.
Rachel bristles. "He's twenty-two."
"You're sixteen! And he looks older than that."
"Not up close. He's cute. He has a cute ass." Kurt has to silently agree with that statement.
"Maybe he plays Dance Dance Revolution at the arcade."
Rachel giggles. Kurt smiles.
"So. You got any liquor around here?" Rachel asks innocently.
Kurt laughs. "There's an understatement. Whaddya want, beer?" He looks at the bottles on the table. "Schnapps? Whiskey? Double-Jesseff vodka?"
"Got any of that cheap grape wine the actors in Broadway drink before they go on stage?"she asks.
"As long as there is no cough syrup, crushed Oreo cookies and whatever the hell else you put in that one cocktail." Kurt says, referring to Rachel Berry's House Party Train-wreck Extravaganza.
"God no, never again." Rachel replies, and the two friends laugh.
"At your service." Kurt hauls himself off the couch and looks for clean glasses. The kitchen is a mess. Kurt has barely been here the past two weeks. He finds two sticky, mismatched glasses in the sink and washes them out, then searches through his mother's stash for her cheap wine assortment. "Ah, here it is. Boones Farm, right?" He unscrews the bottle and pours two glasses full, not waiting for an answer from Rachel, and then puts the bottle back in the fridge.
Rachel flips on the TV. She takes a glass from Kurt. "Thanks."
Kurt sips the sweet wine and makes a face. "So what are you gonna do about Jesse?" He thinks there's a country song in that sentence somewhere.
"Go out with him." She replies simply.
"Your dads are gonna kill you if they find out."
"Yeah, well. What else is new?" They both settle on the creaky couch and put their feet on the coffee table, deftly pushing the mess of bottles to the center of it so they can stretch out.
The TV drones. The friends sip their wine and get silly. Kurt gets up, rummages around in his bedroom, and returns with snacks.
"Gross, you keep Doritos in your bedroom?" She asks.
"Emergency stash. For nights such as these." Since Mother can't be bothered to buy any actual food at the grocery store when she goes there for booze. Kurt thinks.
"Ahh." Rachel nods.
12:30 A. M.
Kurt is asleep on the couch. He doesn't dream. Never dreams.
5:02 A. M.
Kurt, forced awake, catapults into Rachel's dream. It's the one by the river. Again. Kurt's been here twice since the first time, when they were thirteen.
Kurt, blind to the room his physical body is in, tries to stand. If he can feel his way to his bedroom and close the door before he starts going numb, he might get enough distance to break the connection. He feels with his toes for the bottles on the floor, and goes around them. He reaches out for the wall and finds his way into the hallway as he and Rachel are walking through the forest in Rachel's dream. Kurt reaches for the door frames first his mother's bedroom (hush, don't bump the door), then the bathroom, and then his room. He makes it inside, turns, and closes the door just as Rachel and Kurt approach the riverbank.
The connection is lost.
Kurt breathes a sigh of relief. He looks around, blinks in the dark as his eyesight returns, crawls into bed, and sleeps.
9:06 A. M.
When he wakes, both his mother and Rachel are in the kitchen. The living room is cleared of bottles. Rachel is drying a sink full of dishes, and Kurt's mother is fixing her homemade morning drink: vodka and orange juice on ice. On the stove is a skillet covered by a paper plate. Two pieces of buttered toast, two eggs over easy, and a small fortune of crisp bacon rest on a second paper plate, next to the skillet. Kurt's mother picks up a piece of bacon, takes her drink, and disappears back into her bedroom without a word.
"Thanks Rachel, you didn't have to do this. I was planning on cleaning today."
Rachel is cheerful. "It's the least I can do. Did you sleep well? When did you go to bed?"
Kurt peeks in the skillet, thinking, discovering hash browns. Wow! "Um not long ago. It was close to daylight. But I was so tired."
"You've been working ridiculous hours Kurt."
"Yeah, well. NYADA, remember? One day. How did you sleep?" he asks.
"Pretty good." She hesitates, like she might say something else, but doesn't.
Kurt takes a bite of food. He's famished. "Did you have sweet dreams?"
Rachel glances at Kurt, then picks up another dish and wipes it with the towel. "Not really."
Kurt concentrates on the food, but his stomach flips. He waits, until the silence grows awkward. "You want to talk about it?" he asks her.
Rachel is silent for a long time. "Not really. No." she says finally.
August 30, 2009
It is the first day of school. Kurt and Rachel are juniors. They wait for the bus on the corner of their street. A handful of other high school kids stand with them. Some are anxious. Some are terribly short. Kurt and Rachel ignore the freshmen.
The bus is late. Luckily for Blaine Anderson, the bus is later than he is. Kurt and Rachel know Blaine, he's been trouble in school since ninth grade. Kurt doesn't remember him much before, the word was that he flunked down into their grade. He was often late. Always looked stoned. Now, he looks about six inches taller than he did in the spring. His gold-red hair hangs in greasy ringlets in front of his eyes, and he walks with shoulders curved, as if he were more comfortable being short. He stands away from everyone and smokes a cigarette.
Kurt catches his eye by accident, so he nods hello. He looks down at the ground quickly. Blows smoke from his lips. Tosses the cigarette down and grinds it into the gravel.
Rachel pokes Kurt in the ribs. "Lookie, it's your boyfriend."
Kurt rolls his eyes. "Be nice." They both know that Blaine is as straight as an arrow. Everyone knows that Kurt is the only out guy at their school. Though he has his suspicions on some of his classmates, Santana being one of them.
Rachel observes him carefully while he's not looking. "Well. His pox-face cleared up over the summer. Or maybe the new fancy do hides it."
"Stop." hisses Kurt. He's giggling, and feeling bad about it. But he's looking at him. He's got to be about as dirt poor as Kurt, judging by his clothes. "He's just a loner. And quiet."
"A stoner, maybe, who has a boner for you." Rachel giggles.
Kurt narrows his eyes, and his face grows sober.
"Rachel, stop it. I'm serious. You're turning mean like Santana." Kurt glances at Blaine. His jeans are too short. He knows what it's like to be teased for not having cool clothes and stuff. He feels himself wanting to defend him.
"He probably has shitty welfare parents, like me."
Rachel is quiet. "I'm not like Santana."
"So why do you hang with her?" Kurt asks her.
She shrugs and thinks about it for a minute. "I dunno. 'Cause she's rich."
Finally the bus comes. The ride is forty-five minutes to school, even though the school is less than five miles away, because of all the stops. Juniors like Kurt and Rachel are considered by the unwritten bus rules to be upperclassmen. So they sit near the back. Blaine passes by and falls into the seat behind them. Kurt can feel him push his knees up against his back. He peers through the crack between her seat back and the window. Blaine's chin is propped up by his hand. His eyes are closed, nearly hidden beneath his greasy curls.
"Fuck," Kurt mutters under his breath.
Thankfully, Blaine Anderson doesn't dream.
Not on the bus, anyway.
Not in chemistry class, either.
Or English.
Nor does anyone else.
Kurt arrives home after the first day of school, relieved.
October 16, 2006, 7:42 P. M.
Rachel and Jesse knock on Kurt's bedroom window. He opens it a crack. Jesse's dressed up, wearing a thin, black leather tie, and Rachel has on a slinky black dress with a shawl and a hideously large orchid pinned to it.
"I saw your light on in here," explains Rachel, regarding the unusual visit. "Come to the homecoming dance, with us, Kurtie! We're not staying long. Please?"
Kurt sighs. "You know I don't have anything to wear."
Rachel holds up a white and black suit so Kurt can see it. He begins to squeal. "That looks like a copy of the outfit John Travolta wore in Saturday Night Fever!" He takes the outfit out of her hands and studies it closely.
Rachel is laughing happily at this, "I bet this'll fit you. I got it from our attic. You can keep it, I don't think my dads will notice it's missing. And I've got shoes that'll go with it." Rachel grins evilly, holding up a pair of shiny black platform shoes.
"I haven't washed my hair or anything." Kurt complains as he runs a hand through his hair.
"You look fine, Kurt." Jesse says. "Come on. Don't make me sit there with a bunch of teenybopper airheads all night. Have pity on an old man."
Kurt smirks. Rachel slaps Jesse on the arm.
He meets them at the front door when he is done getting dressed.
"I feel like a million bucks." He says as he climbs into Jesse's car and they drive to McKinley.
9:12 P. M.
Kurt drinks his third cup of punch while Jesse and Rachel dance for the billionth time. He sits down at a table, alone.
9:18 P. M.
A sophomore girl, known only to Kurt as Sugar, who claims to be a self-diagnosed Aspergers, asks Kurt to dance.
He regards her for a moment. "Why the fuck not." he says. He's a head taller than her.
She rests her head on his chest and grabs his ass.
He pushes her off of him, muttering under his breath, finds Rachel, who was still dancing with Jesse.
"I'm leaving Ray." He says bitterly to her. "I've got a ride home." He adds. Rachel waves blissfully from Jesse's arms.
Kurt attacks the back door of the school gym and finds himself in a heavy cloud of smoke. He realizes he's found the Goths hangout. Who knew?
"Oof," someone grunts. He keeps walking, muttering sorry to whomever it was he hit with the flying door.
After a mile wearing Rachel's dads a little too small shoes, his feet are killing him. He takes off the shoes and walks in the grassy yards, watching the houses evolve from nice to nasty as he goes along. The grass is already wet with dew, and the yards are getting messier. His feet are freezing, his thin socks not giving him much protection.
Someone falls in step beside him, so quietly that he doesn't notice him until he's there. He's carrying a skateboard. A second and third follow suit, then lay their boards down and push off, hanging slightly in front of Kurt.
"Jeez!" he says, surrounded. "Scare a guy half to death, why don't you."
Blaine Anderson shrugs. The other guys move ahead. "Long walk," says Blaine. "You, uh-" he clears his throat "okay?"
"Fine," he says. "You?" He doesn't remember ever hearing him speak before.
"Get on." He sets his board down, taking Kurt's shoes from his hand. "You'll rip your feet to shreds. There's glass and shit on the ground."
Kurt looks at the board, and then up at him. He's wearing a knit beanie with a hole in it. "I don't know how."
He flashes a half grin. Shoves a long golden lock of hair under the beanie. "Just stand. Bend. Balance. I'll push you."
He blinks. And then gets on the board.
Weird.
This is not happening.
They don't talk.
The guys weave in and out the rest of the way, and take off at the corner by Kurt's house. Blaine pushes him to his front porch so he can hop off. He sets his shoes on the step, picks up the board, nods, and catches up with his friends.
"Thanks, Blaine." Kurt says, but he's gone in the dark already. "That was really sweet." he adds, to no one.
They don't acknowledge each other, or the event, for a very long time.
So! I told you guys we would have some Blainage this chapter! I hope you all enjoyed the little West Side Story, Rachel Berry's House Party Train-Wreck Extravaganza, and Saturday Night Fever references I made. Some of you pointed out that Rachel should have been replaced with Brittany for last chapter. And it will later be Brittana, just wait till chapter 4 or 5 when they go to Stratford for a fieldtrip and Kurt has to room with Santana because the boys didn't want him in their room. Then it gets to be really good Brittana. The only reason its Ratana/Santahel is purely for plot. you'll see... So I want to know, do you like the whole Rachel and Jesse plot now, or would you like to see some Finchel fluff? So go vote on my poll on it.
And please review, I get all these alerts but it makes me sad when no one reviews because I feel that I'm not holding you guys in suspense enough. I love it when people tell me what they liked about my story.
So please review.
Beware of Garden Gnomes,
LatinMagicWriter is on fire