Disclaimer: Glee belongs to Fox and I own nothing!
So, this was meant to be the end. However, I had some lovely inspiration earlier for a bonus scene featuring a drunken Sebastian with a more sober Rachel (turning the table!). So if you stick around, you may get some bonus hilariousness even though this is technically complete as is. Enjoy!
"…and after it was discovered that Finn had already eaten the dessert earlier that day, I'd have to say that the unfavorable impression Grandmother had of him has been permanently cemented."
Kurt was re-telling the disaster that was the family obligation that had taken up most of his time this weekend. Fortunately, Kurt was free today to spend some time with Blaine before the school week. Blaine was exceedingly grateful – being with Kurt was normal. Natural. The world righting itself was something he needed after the party Friday night.
"How was the Warbler party?" he asked, curiously. Blaine opened the door to the Lima Bean and held it open for his boyfriend.
"Oh, you know, it was great. It was good to see all the guys again, especially Wes and David," Blaine started. Despite the party being Friday night and it was now Sunday, Kurt had been too preoccupied with relatives to send more than an occasional 'miss/love you' text. Blaine had yet to explain what had happened between Rachel and Sebastian, and to be honest he didn't even know how to begin to explain it. Would Kurt feel it was as weird as he did, or merely be grateful that Sebastian was no longer pursuing Blaine?
"I'm sorry I couldn't make it. It would've been a great reunion," Kurt said, eyeing him curiously. Blaine was never talented at hiding things and Kurt could probably tell.
"Yeah, they all missed you. They were sad you couldn't make it," Blaine said.
"Uh huh," Kurt said, his eyes narrowing. "Are you not telling me something?"
"Um…I'm just…how do I…?"
"Does this have anything to do with Sebastian?" Blaine could hear the anger in his tone.
"Well, yes," he admitted, "but it's not what you're thinking…" Blaine quickly said.
"Why don't we just ask Rachel, hm? If Sebastian was harassing you then I want the unedited version," Kurt said and then walked swiftly away from him.
"Rachel? But…" Blaine tried to say and immediately followed Kurt. Then he saw what Kurt had – that Rachel was sitting by herself at a table, coffee in hand and browsing through her phone. Rachel had only replied 'fine, thank you' to Blaine's text of 'how are you feeling?' yesterday, so he had no clue how she was feeling about anything that happened last Friday night.
"Rachel!" Blaine said in surprise.
She looked up at the call, but the original smile on her face reversed into a frown. Weird. "Blaine, I sincerely appreciate that you care but honestly, I am totally fine and can handle myself. I am making this decision having a complete hold of my senses."
Blaine was bewildered and he was sure it showed on his face. "What?"
"As a genuine friend, I am politely telling you to mind your own business."
"Rachel, I honestly don't know what you're referring to," Blaine said a bit helplessly. Sometimes he hated the tendency that both Rachel and Kurt had to just jump immediately into a conversation without any lead-in. They could usually catch on to what each other were saying but sometimes, like now, Blaine was simply lost.
"Why are you wearing a scarf?" Kurt said suspiciously, eyeing her. Okay, well that was off-topic, but Blaine knew how important fashion was to his boyfriend.
"It's cold," Rachel said defensively. She fidgeted.
"Not inside it isn't. And you don't typically wear scarves as evidenced by it being totally uncoordinated with the rest of your outfit," Kurt accused.
"I-I felt like it," Rachel said heatedly but avoided eye contact. Even Blaine knew that was Rachel-Berry-speak for she was hiding something.
Quick as a flash, Kurt reached out and snatched the scarf away from her neck. Blaine was honestly surprised at the sudden movement and so was Rachel who nearly spilled her coffee.
"Kurt!" Rachel hissed but it was too late for both Kurt and Blaine had seen what she had attempted to hide.
"Okay, I know for a fact that Finn did not give you that," Kurt said, pointing accusingly towards the dark bruise on Rachel's neck at the junction where it met her shoulder. Blaine stared.
"That's because Finn didn't," Rachel said angrily in response, rearranging the scarf to re-hide the hickey.
"It wasn't…?"Blaine trailed off in question, eyes wide. It was obvious as Rachel refused to look at him that it was, though. Sebastian gave her that hickey? He didn't notice that on Friday night. His stomach felt just as queasy as it did on Friday, now.
"Okay, someone needs to start making sense here because I am utterly lost," Kurt said, looking between Rachel and Blaine. Personally, Blaine felt it was Rachel's story to tell – especially since he didn't really know how to explain to Kurt exactly what and why whatever happened actually happened. Rachel, however, didn't seem inclined to explain.
"Did this happen at the Warbler party last Friday?" Kurt asked and even Blaine needed confirmation. Rachel and Sebastian hadn't met up yesterday, did they? All the things an unsupervised Rachel and Sebastian could potentially get up to for an entire Saturday…Rachel nodded and the knot in Blaine's stomach loosened.
Kurt rubbed his temples. "Let me guess. You got drunk again and made out with some Warbler." Kurt then smacked Blaine's arm. "Why weren't you watching her?"
"Me? But I-" Blaine started to defend himself but he was cut off.
"On the contrary, Blaine definitely could've paid less attention to Rachel."
Blaine withheld a groan as who else but Sebastian Smythe broke in with an incredibly large smirk. He proceeded to sit across with Rachel with a coffee in hand, looking incredibly amused at the situation. Blaine wished he could just gift Sebastian with some of the irritation that he felt.
"No one asked you," Kurt said derisively.
"And no one asked Blaine to play big brother on Friday night," Sebastian retorted back. "Or are you finally going to admit you were simply jealous?"
Blaine could see Kurt's confusion on his face before suddenly the pieces clicked for him.
"Oh my God, you let him touch you?" Kurt hissed angrily at Rachel. Blaine almost sighed in relief when it was Rachel that received Kurt's ire and not himself. But of course Kurt wasn't going to believe Sebastian's hype that Blaine was jealous - because the idea was ridiculous.
"Trust me, she would've let me do more than touch if –" Sebastian started but was interrupted by Rachel's squeak of "Sebastian!"
"Wait… are you two…on a…date?" Blaine asked. Rachel wouldn't usually come to the Lima Bean alone and he and Kurt certainly didn't know she was going to be there. It usually felt like Sebastian lived here but he actually sat at Rachel's table and looked comfortable – like he was invited. Blaine got the distinct feeling he was intruding on something.
"We would be if you two would leave," was Sebastian's reply.
Rachel blushed. Kurt was speechless. Blaine felt completely and utterly shocked that Rachel didn't regret her actions last Friday night and was actually seeing Sebastian when she was level-headed two days later. Wasn't the world supposed to be right again once they left Dalton?
"Aren't you gay?" Kurt asked bluntly. "Or was that whole hitting on Blaine thing just a passing fancy?"
"I go after what I want," was Sebastian's haughty reply.
"And now you want Rachel?" Kurt deadpanned. Blaine felt slightly sympathetic for Rachel who looked mildly offended.
"I definitely want the girl who wrote her phone number in lipstick across my chest," Sebastian said with a wink at Rachel, who promptly turned scarlet.
Kurt was, once again, speechless. His jaw actually dropped. Blaine himself was blushing at the memory – in embarrassment for Rachel, of course, not because the image of Sebastian's muscles was brought back to mind. Apparently Rachel had managed to write her correct phone number, though. Blaine was mildly impressed but more so irritated. He was honestly starting to wish that Friday night never happened, even though he had loved hanging out with his Dalton friends again.
"She was drunk," Blaine argued. He needed to get Rachel to see that Sebastian was bad news. Shouldn't she have regretted everything yesterday when she woke up? And Sebastian should know that what he had run into on Friday night really wasn't typical Rachel Berry behavior.
"And I need to see if she kisses just as well sober." Another wink.
Kurt seemed to be getting over his shock. "What about Finn?" he asked Rachel.
"What about him?" Rachel shot back. "We broke up."
"You always go back to Finn," Kurt said, rolling his eyes. Always, he mouthed to Blaine.
"We'll see about that," Sebastian said, giving a heated look to Rachel. She was blushing again but there was a small smile on her face.
Blaine felt like he was losing track of this entire conversation. Was Rachel really picking Sebastian over Finn? Were they really on a date? Why did that idea make him feel nauseous?
"And now, if you two don't mind, my date and I would appreciate some privacy," Sebastian said politely but with the obvious implication that Kurt and Blaine should leave immediately.
"Rachel…?" Blaine asked. He didn't know what he was hoping for – that she would tell them to stay? To deny that she was actually on a date with Sebastian? To admit it was all some joke or revenge scheme against Finn?
"I already told you two to politely mind your own business," Rachel said primly, crushing whatever weird hope Blaine may have had.
"This conversation isn't over, Rachel Berry," Kurt said darkly before he pulled Blaine away from the table and out of the Lima Bean – even though they hadn't gotten any coffee. "You," Kurt hissed to him as they walked back to Blaine's vehicle, "need to explain to me in exacting detail what happened on Friday night right now."
Yes, the world had upended and didn't appear to be righting itself anytime soon. The rest of the week was like watching a bad horror movie, Blaine thought. You could already see what was going on and who was going to die - you were just waiting for it to finally happen. No one was actually going to die, of course. It was just the analogy Blaine came up with to explain the madness that was happening the following week at McKinley.
All the signs were there. Not everyone saw them, but Finn was Kurt's stepbrother and Rachel his best friend so naturally Kurt and by extension Blaine kept a careful eye out.
Rachel received random, unexplained text messages throughout the day (except when Blaine knew were Warbler rehearsal times) that would case her to smile, blush, roll her eyes, or all three at once. She always responded immediately. She continued to wear scarves – which Blaine thought was rather obvious because she really didn't have all that many. Occasionally she would mix it up with a turtleneck sweater.
Kurt and Blaine never caught Rachel and Sebastian together again at the Lima Bean. Rachel's absence wasn't a surprise because she was never the regular customer that he and Kurt were. However, it was highly unusual that Sebastian no longer frequented the Lima Bean either, when usually he had shadowed their table a few times a week.
The biggest clue of all was the lack of sad, puppy-dog eyes that Rachel had always sent Finn's way. That look was now gone. Rachel Berry did not appear to be pining after Finn Hudson. Even more crazy? She didn't even seem to notice the sad, hurt looks that he sent her way. It was obvious that things were not right at McKinley.
One day after New Directions had won their Sectionals, the horrible monster that Blaine knew had been lurking (yes, it resembled Sebastian Smythe in his mind) finally reared its head in Glee. Blaine had the suspicion that Kurt had finally clued Finn into what was going on.
Finn, of course, had gone into a ranting lecture about how he and Rachel were supposed to be together, how she had promised they'd have senior year, how she was blowing their argument out of proportion. They were supposed to be together, he had said. She wasn't supposed to go making out with some random guy and meeting up with him when he obviously only wanted her for sex.
Okay, so it was obvious that Finn's source of information was Kurt. Especially since Finn had copied some of Kurt's phrases to describe Sebastian. Craigslist references? It had Kurt written all over it.
Rachel's reply left everyone speechless.
"You know what Sebastian appreciates about me that you don't, Finn? My intelligence. You know what Sebastian gives me that you don't? Confidence. You know what Sebastian has that you don't? Passion - and no, that isn't a euphemism for sex and honestly it's none of your business if it is. But you don't get to stand there and lecture me about my relationship with Sebastian because like usual, you don't have a clue. And yes, he may be snarky and insulting but he does so cleverly in a way that you couldn't begin to comprehend. And if you're so worried about Regionals, get a grip and act like the professional I already am. Because even if Sebastian ends up breaking my heart thirty seconds before we go out on stage I will still be able to give the most gut-wrenching, soul-rendering performance those judges have ever seen."
She took a breath.
"Personally, I feel like your showmanship could use a little work."
And with that, she executed the perfected Rachel Berry storm out. Blaine felt like clapping…or punching Sebastian in the face. Everything was kind of a mix of tumultuous emotions and conflicting desires and a rush of knowing that something major just happened but he didn't quite understand all the consequences of it.
By the time the Regionals competition was on them, the world still hadn't righted itself and this crazy backwardness was almost becoming normal. Because despite Finn's barbs and sad eyes, despite Kurt's vehement belief that Sebastian was going to break Rachel into pieces, and despite Blaine's desire for this only be a brief period of madness, Rachel Berry and Sebastian Smythe continued to see each other…go out together…date (like, boyfriend/girlfriend). And yes, Rachel had continued to wear scarves. Quinn had been nice enough to go out shopping with her for a few more as Kurt had refused on principle.
Blaine had been searching for the group of Dalton Warblers to congratulate them on a great performance after the New Directional's win at Regionals when he saw them. They were in a shadowy area of the hallway, but it was clear that it was Sebastian who had Rachel backed up against the wall. His blazer was open and his shirt untucked. Both of his hands were on her hips while hers were around his neck. It was obvious he had run into them post- (heated)-kiss.
It was almost worse than if he had caught them mid-make-out. Their foreheads were pressed together and they were simply looking at each other (they didn't even notice him) – and Blaine felt his stomach drop.
Okay, so maybe he could admit (only to himself) that he was a little jealous. It was just weird, knowing that if he had chosen differently it could have been him…in either position. So who was he jealous of? Sebastian for getting Rachel…or Rachel for getting Sebastian? Oh God, it couldn't be both, could it?
He needed to go find Kurt.