Another chapter, and wrapping up the first week of Artie being away, but by no means the drama ;) I've actually been writing this one for a while, and it was harder than I expected, but I think I'm happy with it now. Please tell me what you think!

"Dude, your club has more drama than my mom's favourite soap!" Sean said, laughing so hard Artie could barely understand him. He shrugged; what could he say? It was kinda true.

It was Sunday afternoon and they were hanging out in Artie's room. The place was very quiet on Sundays, there were only a few sessions on and a lot of people left at the end of the week. There wasn't much to do but make friends with the people around you. And so, after a couple of days of awkwardness and one of complete avoidance, neither of which Sean understood, Artie asked if he wanted to hang out. They could play computer games on his laptop, he offered.

Suddenly, Sean's grinned widened with what Artie suspected was a terrible idea. He reached over and turned the laptop slightly so he could screen better.

"Let's see if your girlfriend's online, I wanna meet her!" he said, looking so excited Artie was already worried. For once, he hoped Tina was busy hanging out with Mercedes or something.

"I don't know if-" he started, but Sean had already connected him and pressed Tina's name at the top of the contact list.

Tina looked a little surprised at the sudden skype call, and so she should be. They'd talked since the couple of days when he could only text her, but not for long and only on the phone. He hadn't actually seen her face in nearly a week.

She looked as beautiful as ever.

"Uh, hi?" she said, smiling uncertainly at Sean. She recognised him from last time, but still wasn't quite sure who he was, or why he had Artie's laptop.

Artie sighed, and pulled the laptop across so that his face was in view as well, Tina's smiled instantly widened.

"Hey," she repeated.

"Hey Tee," he smiled, and pointed to Sean, "this is Sean, my neighbour. He wanted to meet you."

Tina waved at Sean, who nodded his head in that way that reminded Artie way too much of Puck.

"Art can't stop talking about you, so I thought, lemme meet this chick." He said and Artie shot him a glare. Because no one called him Art but his dad, and well, he didn't really like him calling Tina "chick." Looking back at the screen though, he saw her giggling and blushed. Okay, so maybe he did talk about her a bit...

"It's nice to finally meet you, Sean. Artie has told me about you too," Tina smiled, tucking her hair behind her ear.

"Only believe the good stuff," Sean smirked and Tina laughed.

It seemed to be going alright, to Artie's relief. Tina explained to them the extent of the nothing there was to do in Lima, and how the weather had ruined summer plans for everyone. Sean told them, about his own town which was a couple of hours from Lima, and apparently, equally as dead.

And then came Sean's sudden change of topic, "So Tina," he started, "what's it like going out with a wheelchair?"

Tina's eyes widened and she glanced warily across the screen at Artie. He was pretty sure he had stopped breathing.

She smiled a little, "What wheelchair?" she asked, hoping the joke's intent would be clear.

Artie let out a low chuckle, but Sean apparently wasn't satisfied with her answer. "No really, I wanna know what it's like from a walking chick's side."

Tina flinched slightly at "walking chick" and Artie's mind flew to the first time Sean mentioned his ex-girlfriend. He knew this wasn't going anywhere good.

"Uhhhh," Tina said, hesitantly and Artie half didn't want her to answer the question. They hadn't even talked about this between them, not really. Let alone to someone else.

"Um, the chair doesn't really change who Artie is, and I don't like people based on how they get around," she said finally, shrugging and not taking her eyes off Artie. After a short pause, she turned back to Sean and smiled, "What's it like? It's exactly what it would be like if he could walk. Except that now, he can give me rides around school."

Artie grinned as he remembered when Figgins caught him giving Tina a ride on his lap and told them off because he would "not have these shenanigans at this school".

Sean nodded thoughtfully, as if he was grading her answer. Artie wanted to tell him to cut it out, but hoped he'd back off now that he got his answer.

"So you don't wish he could walk?"

Apparently not.

"I don't –" Artie started, but to his surprise, Tina interrupted him, "It's okay," she smiled softly, "the only time I ever wish Artie could walk is when he tells me how much he wishes it. I only want what he wants, what would make him happy."

Artie blushed, and he wished he could have hugged her right then. Or even better, kissed her. He hating having to watch her through a screen at this moment.

Sean was quiet for a while, but the awkwardness remained. Artie was trying to think of an excuse to cut off the call right there. Or to get Sean out of the room.

"Uh, Sean?" Tina said tentatively. Her voice sounded different over the video than in real life, deeper.

Both Sean and Artie looked up towards the webcam, Artie half-smiling not quite sure what to say.

"Obviously I can't imagine what it's like... but it kinda sounds like you want someone to talk to and I know that Artie...or I, would be happy to. Whether it's about the chair, or... girls?" Tina said, biting her lip as she finished, the last part was a question, because Sean seemed pretty bitter about her being Artie's girlfriend. And she didn't have much experience with guys, but it was kinda obvious what that meant.

Sean shook his head, trying to appear fine, but Artie swore he saw his eyes tears up for a bit.

"Tina, do you know how much harder this makes everything?" he asked, and Artie groaned, audibly. But Sean seemed to ignore him. Tina though didn't know what to say, so she just nodded.

"Yeah, I mean-"

"Do you know how hard it is for people like us to do things," Sean interrupted, "like...like have sex."

"Hey!" Artie said, poking Sean in the shoulder which seemed a lot more threatening in his mind.

Tina's eye widened and she just stared into the monitor. They hadn't even talked about sex at this point. Well, she knew he... worked. But they hadn't come close to anything yet. His hand was just barely under her shirt at this point. Which was usually because they rarely hung out somewhere that was both alone and private for long enough.

Artie looked into the screen and saw Tina blushing furiously, still silent. Obviously she'd thought about it, just like he had. He blushed as well.

Sean turned to him, ignoring the laptop, "What? She put out yet?"

Artie shook his head, this was going too far. "Sean, you need to leave."

"Chill out -"

"Sean, just- Just go!" Artie raised his voice and pointed to the door. Tina swallowed nervously on the other end. Artie never yelled, he never raised his voice. Apart from the one time in the choir room. Angry, upset, frustrated... Artie didn't yell.

"Jeez, fine. I'm going." Sean muttered. Artie was glad he had stayed in his chair so he could just turn around at wheel himself out.

Once the door closed behind him, Artie looked back at the screen. Tina was still there, biting her lip, her finger twirling her hair nervously.

"I'm so sorry, Tee," he started. "I had no idea he'd -"

"It's fine," she shook her head, "It's okay...He's got some issues to work out, huh?"

Artie nodded slowly, "He had, uh, this girlfriend. Who dumped him, pretty recently I think. For a jock."

"Oh," Tina said sadly, then thought for a second before looking at him, "Ohhh. Artie, is that why you..."

He looked at her, questioning what she was dragging out, but having a pretty good inkling of what it was.

"Is that why you avoided me this week? Because of what he said?" she asked finally.

He bit his lip, glancing around the room, not exactly answering but telling her everything she needed to know.

"Artie..." she sighed, but she wasn't annoyed. She wished she could be there with him. Hug him, kiss him. "I'm not running away. I promise. Especially not with some jock."

He looked back at her, believing her. She wouldn't, he trusted her. But that didn't stop him from wishing things could be different. But wishing didn't help. At least, not wishing for that.

"I miss you Tee," he said finally and a smile crept across her lips.

"I miss you too," she said, "seriously, the next three weeks have to faster than this!"

He nodded, he'd never agreed with anything more.

Don't hate Sean tooo much, he'll be back :P