Kurt popped open the microwave door right as it beeped and was pouring popcorn into a bowl when Mercedes yelled at him from the other room.

"What's taking so long, boo?"

"One must always strive to be a good hostess!" chimed Kurt in a singsong voice as he came back down the stairs into his bedroom, "Sorry the popcorn took me from our gossip-mongering for so long, but chill, girl, we have all night." He set the food down on the end table, where it soon lay forgotten as Kurt and Mercedes had more important things on their minds.

"I know, but it just feels like there's so much to talk about! We haven't had a real girls' night in forever." Mercedes and Kurt were both excited to be having a sleepover for the first time in what had been far too long. If Kurt were honest with himself, he knew he felt a little guilty about it because the main cause of the recent distance between the two friends was his boyfriend. Ironically, though, Blaine was also the reason for their reunion tonight.

"Too true. I don't remember, where was I before food distracted me?"

"Something about the other day when me and Sam ran into you at The Lima Bean."

"Of course. So actually, something absolutely momentous happened mere seconds before I caught sight of you two," Kurt distractedly grabbed the remote and turned off the TV, which had been left on for a musical he and Mercedes had seen a dozen times, and while he was turned away Mercedes took the opportunity to allow herself a knowing smile before quickly reverting to her well-rehearsed look of intrigue.

"Come on, Kurt, you are being such a tease!"

Kurt could not build it up anymore and continued, "Well…Blaine told me he loved me." Kurt was looking away when he spoke, but could not help shifting his gaze to Mercedes to gauge her reaction.

Mercedes had practiced her reaction for this moment. She widened her eyes and let her mouth go just a little slack, enough to be believable without being comical, "No! Really? Well don't just leave me hangin'! What did you say? How do you feel about it? Am I supposed to be happy for you as your best friend or be concerned? Kurt, you can't just say that! Talk to me, boy!"

Kurt almost laughed at her reaction. It was so very Mercedes—the very reaction he thought she would have—that he did not pick up on its contrived nature at all. He hesitated before responding to her excited barrage of questions, "Well, see…that's the thing. I said 'I love you too,' but I swear it took what felt like an hour to get the words to leave me."

"Yeah, I guess you did look a little shook up when you waved me and Sam over."

"Oh! That reminds me," Kurt had a sudden thought, "why were you there with Sam?" He could not help narrowing his eyes at Mercedes in exaggerated suspicion.

"Pssht, what are you implying?" she laughed it off, "I told you, we just ran into each other outside. Besides, Sam's a nice guy, you know, can't a girl have friends other than the high-maintenance Kurt Hummel?" Mercedes knew she was pushing it with the Sam plug, but she felt a duty to emphasize the platonic nature of her and Sam's still-secret friendship.

"Yeah, I guess you're right. I don't know about this 'high-maintenance' nonsense though," Kurt trailed off with a smirk.

"…Kurt."

"What?"

"Boy, don't think you can get an obvious subject change like that past me! Come on, we're not done with this Blaine business. You're the one who brought it up. It's out there now, and we're talking about it, damn it."

Kurt sighed and looked up from the same spot on his bedspread he had been absentmindedly picking at for the past minute, "I know, I know. It's just so much to process. Forgive me for taking my time." He gave his friend a halfhearted smile to show he was trying not to be too heavy. Mercedes just pursed her lips and inclined her head towards him in a look that told him all too clearly that she just wanted him to spill.

"Okay, well first of all, I guess I have to tell you that I think me saying 'I love you too' was a reaction to how unexpected Blaine's L-word was."

"So did you not mean it?"

"I don't know!" Kurt was clearly distraught, and Mercedes scooted over and put an arm around her friend, "I mean, I guess I do know. It's just hard to acknowledge because I never thought I'd be the person to say it when I didn't mean it, you know?"

"So you didn't mean it…" Mercedes leaned her head against Kurt's and played the supportive friend, but in her head she screamed in relief and made a mental note to text Sam as soon as possible.

"Now don't get me wrong. I care about Blaine, I really do. I care about him a lot. I wanted a boy for so long, you know that, and now I have one. And that makes me so happy. But sometimes, when my self-awareness isn't so clouded by Blaine fever, I really think what if I shouldn't be with him? I know, I know! Why would I think that in a million years, right? But…I don't know, Mercedes, sometimes I just feel like Blaine doesn't really care about me. Like, me as a person. Does that make sense? Like I'm just a trophy, or one more person he gets to have worship him. Not that I worship him," Kurt caught Mercedes' eye and he smiled slyly, "but I seriously wonder if that's not how he really feels, on some level."

Mercedes was silent for a few seconds. "So—"

"—I know I just said a lot really quickly!"

"No, I got you, Kurt. I don't blame you for kinda ramblin'. That's a lot of shit to deal with. Love is a big deal," Mercedes paused again, "So I guess what you're sayin' is, you don't think Blaine really meant it? So you couldn't really mean it back."

"Yes, that's it exactly!" Kurt sighed, content just to be with his best friend at this moment. He was so glad he finally talked about these misgivings he had been having. "Mercedes, I'm so glad we have each other. We need to do this more, especially since the summer's coming up and we'll have so much free time. I've missed our girl time this past year, what with me transferring to Dalton and getting involved with Blaine, and then the stress of preparing for nationals after I came back to McKinley."

"Kurt, I couldn't agree more. And you know us divas gotta stick together," she giggled and pushed Kurt over.

"Mercedes, what—!" Kurt laughed as he got hit full in the face by a pillow and the night descended into a heated pillow fight.