After his admission, Everett had decided to leave it up to Katie to come to him. He had known it would be hard for her to take, it had been hard for him to admit, but he hadn't even guessed at how she'd felt and that must have only made it worse…

"Katie?" Everett said breathlessly at the sight of her behind his locker. He blinked, but when he opened his eyes again, she was still there.

"Hi Everett," Katie said, her small, weak smile as soft and sweet as he'd remembered it to be. "Look, I'm sorry I haven't talked to you for a while, but after you said what you did, it took some time for me to…" Everett waited patiently for his friend… was she still he friend? To find the words. "It took some time for me to get my head around it."

"I'm sorry too," Everett said when he was confident she wasn't going to say any more. "I'm sorry if I ever led you on or made you think that there could be something between us. I'm so sorry Katie. You're a beautiful girl and any guy would be lucky to have you, but..."

"It's ok," said Katie. "I'll find him one day."

"Katie," said Everett after a long silence between them. "Katie are we… I mean, can we still be friends?"

"Sure," she said. "And you know, thanks for opening up to me like you did. I'm glad you felt comfortable enough to do that."

"About that?" said Everett. "Katie, do you think we could keep this between us? I trust you, but I don't think I want everyone else knowing…"

She nodded after a pause. "I can understand that, and when you're ready, I'll be right next to you, ok?"

"Sure. Thanks Katie, I appreciate it."

"Everett?" she called as he started to walk away.

"Yeah?" he asked, turning back to face her.

"I'm sure my Dads would be happy to talk if you wanted. I can't exactly say I've been there, but they have."

"I… I don't think I'm ready just yet," he admitted in a whisper. "I'm only just coming to terms with it myself, it's all new. But when I am, ready, I might just take you up on that."

"I talked to him," Katie said quietly as she slipped onto the lounge beside her father.

"Who? Everett?" Kurt asked, and she nodded. "How'd it go?"

"Good, I guess. I mean, we're still friends. But those feelings are still there… It's sort of hard."

"They might be there a while Sweetie," said Kurt. "But it's like your Aunty Mercedes said, you get over it eventually."

"I suppose," Katie said uncertainly.

"Oh don't you worry honey. There'll be a guy one day who'll sweep you right off your feet and then you'll be head over heels for him instead."

"You think so?" Katie asked quietly.

"How could anyone not with a girl like you?" Kurt asked, making his daughter's cheeks colour sightly. "But I am happy for you that you can still be friends."

"So am I," Katie said. "Everett's a really good friend and I'd hate to lose the friendship we do have."

"Stop worrying about it Sweetie," Kurt said, kissing her forehead lightly. "Because you're still friends. It'll be ok."