A/N: First of all, I just want to say thank you to everyone who has took the time to read this, and those who have set up alerts etc - I've been really overwhelmed with the amount of emails I've had and really, it means a lot to me. I want to thank Michelle for being an amazing Beta, Beth for being so amazing and incredibly supportive whilst I'm writing, and then to Ainjel, who is one of my best friends and someone who encourages me to write. Thank you all. Sorry this chapter is shorter than I had anticipated, I guess you'll all find out why in Chapter 4!

"Kurt..."

"Hmm?"

A pair of glistening blue optics peered up from the cup of coffee that he'd been stirring for the past five minutes, his chin glued to the knuckles of his left hand as he did so.

"I was asking about this weekend," Rachel replied, her eyebrows raising in question as she noted just how long Kurt had been stirring the coffee - of which had no sugar in and didn't even need stirring. Kurt stopped and sighed, sitting back in his seat as he placed the plastic spoon flat on top of the napkin to his right and looked at his friend who was currently giving him a look as if she was prodding him to talk. The truth was, Kurt hadn't even remembered making plans and heck; that was the last thing on his mind right now. "Did... did you forget? Kurt, we've had this date marked on our calendars since-"

Before Rachel could start babbling, he held up a long, pale finger as if telling her to stop. Instantly, like a dog being told to sit, she did - though she was just as curious, her big brown eyes looking into his, disgruntled at being stopped in mid flow.

"I haven't forgotten, no," sighed Kurt, his voice as smooth and soft as ever, but with a hint of a warning that told Rachel he wasn't in the best of moods right now. Then again, who could blame him? In the past three weeks he had hardly seen anyone. Not Blaine, nor Sebastian, and this was the first time he'd met up with Rachel too, which was unusual considering they went to the same college and had certain acting lectures with the same tutors. It was like Kurt had drifted away. Rachel gave a slight nod and smiled at her friend, glad that he hadn't forgotten about their plans at least, though it was worrying that he hadn't been returning her calls or engaging in conversation as actively as he normally would. He hadn't shared any gossip or given her any 'light' fashion tips to prevent her from dressing like what Kurt could only describe as Lizzie McGuire crossed with a Powerpuff Girl.

"Rachel Berry, you know nothing about me if you think I would ever turn down seeing a production of Wicked with you."

"You've just-" the female's voice faltered, unsure of how to phrase herself without causing offense to Kurt, "you've been distant. You never return my calls, you're always 'busy', I hardly see you during class, and it's as if you're completely avoiding me. It's- not because I wore the pink and yellow color-block dress was it?" (The dress that Kurt had strictly advised her not to wear in fear of her looking like something you would find in a Dr. Seuss film).

"You mean you actually bought it?"

Rachel gave a half shrug and scratched and the back of her neck nervously, Kurt simply pinched the top of his nose to try and relieve himself of any images he was having of his best friend in that hideous frock, "I don't mean to avoid you, Rachel," the young man murmured, "Honestly? I have no idea what I'm doing. I can't concentrate on my auditions, I'm failing to learn my lines, I'm having trouble sleeping, I'm worried about next year and my summer placement... I even doubt my relationship with Sebastian which has never happened before - at least not until Blaine pranced in and started acting like the Mark Darcy to my Bridget. Oh my God, that's it. That is my relationship in a nutshell; I'm torn between Daniel Cleaver and Mark Darcy. Then there's me, Bridget Jones."

"And how is Sebastian?" Rachel tossed back with a dull tone, ignoring the comedy reference completely. She still hadn't forgiven Sebastian for everything that had happened in the previous years that they had known him, despite the fact that the New Directions had beaten the Warblers, Rachel still wouldn't let it go, though 'for the sake of love and peace' she was quite happy to act as one of his 'neutral allies', as she phrased it.

Kurt responded to the question with a shrug and painfully dragged on the awkward conversation, explaining that he and Sebastian had spoken on the phone every night but they were both too busy to meet up. They would Skype together and text a lot but it wasn't quite the same as having your boyfriend there in person - and that was what Kurt needed right now, he needed Sebastian to be there physically. Mainly to stop his thoughts from straying to someone else. Kurt was starting to feel lonely, which was partly his own fault due to his sudden decisions to blow off any plans that he was being asked to make or ignoring phone calls that he had received from friends, unless it was Sebastian.

With a heavy sigh, he paused, took a sip of his coffee and gave a sad smile, "And then there's Blaine."

The long haired brunette didn't even have to say anything before she was getting up from her seat and leaning down to give her friend a tight hug. It was more than obvious that Kurt and Blaine still had something there, and it seemed that only Blaine was willing to act on it. Kurt, however, had decided that after the constant chasing – he wanted to move on. But, no matter how much Kurt and Blaine denied it, Rachel could see everything.

Kurt rested his head on her shoulder and inhaled the flowery and fruity scent of Rachel's perfume. He smiled. It was her scent, the one he'd gotten used to since being around her so much. To him, it was welcoming these days, whereas in High School he probably would've told her that it smelt like something his Aunt Mildred would feed to her cat.

As Rachel sat down the two friends found themselves looking into one another's eyes - almost as if they were speaking telepathically.

Kurt knew what she was looking at him for.

"I can't speak to him."

"Why not? Kurt, you and Blaine are friends-"

Instead of replying, he covertly lifted his cup of coffee to his lips and blew against the hot liquid, taking his time as he went to take a sip just so as he could avoid the conversation.

"You still love each other," Rachel cooed, her voice quiet and treating the conversation as if she's just spoken forbidden words that couldn't be uttered, "it's obvious."

"But I'm not dating Blaine, Rachel. I'm Sebastian's boyfriend. Blaine has nothing to do with the equation, he and I are just friends."

"Kurt, we both know that there's more to your friendship than that... you love him. It's not exactly difficult to see-"

"Maybe it's not difficult to see it, but it's difficult for me to let go... Okay? I have to let him go."

Rachel's mouth parted as Kurt snapped; he'd never done that before, even when they battled for solos, certain roles in class, he'd never been this bad. "Oh, Rachel, I- I am so so sorry."

"It's okay," she whispered, her eyes avoiding his with the sudden shock of her friend raising his voice to her.

"I know that you're not too fond of Sebastian, Rachel, and I know that, yes, I still have feelings for Blaine but, I need to move on - I can't let high school happen again. He's just... a chapter in my life. He's my first love, of course it's going to be difficult, and I can't stop thinking about him-" Kurt's eyes closed as he thought everything over, from the beginning of their relationship to their last moment together when they broke up. "I just need to be away from Blaine right now."

Rachel Barbra Berry messaged you.

Blaine looked at the tab in his internet browser with fondness as he saw his old friend's name flashing every few seconds. Without hesitation, he clicked the tab and looked at the small instant messaging box in the corner of the screen.

Rachel Barbra Berry:
Hi! How is my Tony this evening? :-)

The dark haired boy smiled and held a hand to his lips as he laughed softly at the nickname. At this point, Blaine didn't even feel worthy to have a nickname like that - since studying at NYADA, Rachel had many leading partners who could easily beat Blaine's portrayal of the handsome Tony from West Side Story, and of course, Blaine was only a Junior back then and somewhat inexperienced in the acting forte.

Blaine Anderson:
Hey, Rachel! I'm good. Are you? I haven't heard from you in a while, actually.

Rachel Barbra Berry:
I'm great! I've just got back from watching Wicked with Kurt, we managed to get backstage passes and took a look around the set which was perfect, as I imagined. Even better than the first time Kurt and I took an unexpected visit to the stage. It was wonderful. Of course, I adored the show but I thought that Ellie Harper (Elphaba) lacked the enthusiasm that Elphaba is supposed to maintain. Even I could nail that role, in fact, whilst I was watching the only thing that was making the performance better was that I could picture myself perfectly in it.

"Oh, wow," Blaine mumbled, reading over what Rachel had to say. He wasn't quite expecting a monologue, or the next 'War and Peace' novel.

Blaine Anderson:
I'm pretty sure you could be Elphaba if you auditioned for it.

Blaine Anderson:
How was Kurt?

Rachel Barbra Berry:
Why, thank you! I knew there was always a reason why you were my favourite leading man, besides the great acting of course, but the compliments that you provide me are always heart warming and ones that certain people fail to give to me, so thank you for that!

Rachel Barbra Berry:
Kurt is okay.

'Kurt is okay'. Was that it? Blaine read over the three words as if Rachel was speaking a foreign language - there was always something more to say about him.

Before Blaine could reply, he noticed Rachel was typing once again.

Rachel Barbra Berry:
You should hang out with him! Take him out some time! With Sebastian not around I'm sure he could use company from a friend. If I take him in the day time as I'm more of an early bird and then you take him of an evening to work around your busy schedule, I'm sure we can work this out.

Blaine read every word of what Rachel was saying and figured that this would be his chance - if he got closer to Kurt, Kurt would want him back, maybe it wouldn't be the same as it was back when they were at McKinley but how different could it be? He still loved Kurt, that he knew.

Blaine Anderson:
That could work.

Rachel Barbra Berry:
Of course it will work, and it means that we have more time with Kurt, rather than him being around Sebastian constantly...

For the first time, Blaine didn't bother reading the rest of her message. This was brilliant, in fact, no, Rachel Barbra Berry was a genius. This would be Blaine's one chance at proving to Kurt that Sebastian is cheating, and to make the entire plan more convienient, Cooper (being the talented actor that he was) managed to find out the guy that Sebastian was seeing on the side.

Blaine Anderson:
Honestly, I'm quite excited.

"Hello?"

"Kurt! Hey, it's Blaine, how're you doing?"

"Oh, hello, stranger. I'm just watching a re-run of Project Runway... and how are you?"

"I'm great. Hey, uh, I was wondering... do you want to go to Jupiter's with me tomorrow night?"

"Jupiter's?"

"Yeah, uh, I know you're not fond of nightclubs but-"

"I'd love to."

"You... you would?"

"Why not? Sebastian is working, I don't have any plans and I haven't spoken to you for a couple of days. It'll be fun."

"That it will. So um... Is ten o'clock tomorrow evening okay?"

"That's perfect."

"Great... I'll see you then."