The ancient freshman English teacher Mrs. Kettlemeir was famous for telling every single one of her classes every single day that everything made sense in context. Never had Kurt found that statement truer than after seeing Leah Rutherford in action. Ever since Mr. Schue made his announcement, Leah had been a whirlwind of motion, directing everyone to cars, easily sorting people into groups and leading the way on the brief trip to the hotel before crowding into a small restaurant she swore was great for dinner. She talked, she teased, and she bounced. The girl was perpetual motion and could probably exhaust Rachel.
Add Leah to two hyper-active younger brothers and mother that didn't seem to know a stranger to hear Matt tell it, it was no wonder Matt (and his father to a lesser extent) was so quiet. He probably figured he wasn't going to get a word in edgewise and just gave up, Kurt reasoned. And most likely, he had been right that assumption. Kurt wasn't sure he had seen Leah's mouth stop moving since the moment Mr. Schue gave up control to her.
"So, now that everyone else is settled you and I can talk." Leah smiled at him as she sat down in the empty chair next to him. "I'm Leah by the way in case you have an incredible terrible short term memory."
"I remembered. Kurt." He smiled back at her. "And I'm glad to see you have better taste than that shirt implied at the performance today."
"Hey. I am all about school spirit." Leah laughed.
"And the sign was clearly all about embarrassing your brother." Kurt guessed, referring to the yellow cardboard creation she had held up throughout most of their performance that spelled out "Matt is Awesome" in glitter. Along with the rest of the team, he had almost erupted into giggles at the first sight of it and if it hadn't been for Matt's whispered threat of skinning them all alive on the bus if they so much as chuckled they probably would have. As it was probably only he and Mike were the only ones on stage reasonably confident Matt really wouldn't do anything that drastic.
"Well yeah. Don't you have a sibling you love to torture?"
"It works more the other way around with us." Kurt admitted gesturing to where Finn sat between a still dueling Rachel and Santana. Ok so he couldn't actually claim credit for that particular event but it was fun to watch Finn grow ever increasingly uncomfortable and anxious. "Although you are doing quiet the job tonight so I thank you."
Following Kurt's gaze, Leah looked over and laughed. "Your welcome. That particular seating arrangement just looked like fun if I could swing it. Plus since I made sure Matt sat over there, I figured if it got too heated he would step in since he's annoyingly nice like that."
Kurt had to hold back another wave of giggles at the look Matt shot his sister as he caught them looking at him. Leaning down, he returned with a pen Kurt assumed he had grabbed out of Santana's open bag on the floor. Scribbling quickly on the back of a napkin, he held it up for both of them to read. "Whatever she says, it's a lie. "
"Yes sadly that's true."Leah mocked sighed. "He's not perfect."
"I had my suspicions of such." Kurt nodded sagely. Maybe it was closer to say he had hopes of such things. It was so much easier to get over a crush once you found out they did things like drink directly out of the milk carton and placed the now diseased container back in the refrigerator for poor unsuspecting souls to use on their cereal a few minutes later. Kurt still felt an involuntary gag at that particular memory.
"Yes. He…." Leah leaned closer to him and whispered dramatically "can't change a spare tire. It's an embarrassment to the entire family."
"Well that explains why he swore me to secrecy when I had to do that for him."
"You changed his tire?" Leah giggled.
"Yes." Kurt huffed. "My dad does own a garage after all. I've worked around cars since I was 8 I'll have you…"
"Calm down honey. I wasn't going there. Just I'm pretty sure I now have confirmation that a great majority of his friends have changed his tire in the past year. It's absolutely pathetic that he can't figure it out yet."
"Sorry." Kurt blushed a little at her laugh. "I get a little touchy about that."
"Let me guess, no one actually believes you can do it until you show them up?" Leah guessed. "Yeah I get that."
"Not everyone. Just certain someones." Kurt allowed.
"Certain someones? Like the guy who keeps winking at me?" Leah motioned with her head towards where Puck was sitting; trying to push off the paper hat Brittany had placed on his head without the blonde noticing.
"Not so much Puck today but the Puck at the start of school? Sure."
"Puck? That's Puck?"
"Oh that's all he needs to hear, that his rep has reached Columbus." Kurt groaned. "But yes that's Puck."
Leah held up one finger and smiled with a gleam in her eyes. "If you can indulge me for just one minute, I can win twenty bucks from my brother."
"Sure…"
Clearing her throat, Leah spoke in a voice loud enough to carry across the entire restaurant. "No I will not go out with you Puck."
It was the height of being undignified to actually spit water out of one's mouth , but it was exactly what Kurt did at the sight of Leah's calm face and Puck's outright confusion. Covering his mouth to keep from laughing any more (after all it was still Puck) Kurt looked up from the table to see Matt doing the exact same thing. Catching each other's eyes it was too much for either one and they exploded into laughter, quickly joined by the rest of the club. Even Mr. Schue and Brad seemed to be trying to keep it together.
"There. Now that the unnecessary sexual tension has been removed from the room, we can just relax and have a good time." Leah announced, still laughing herself.
"He's adorable. I love him and if you don't make a move you're an idiot" Leah whispered out of the side of her mouth as she slid into the end seat of the row. "Plus you owe me twenty bucks."
Looking down the aisle to see Kurt safely seated out of earshot, Matt rolled his eyes. "I'll buy you that t-shirt I saw you eying when we came in here. That should cover it."
"Ok that's true but still he really is great." Leah patted his arm. "I can see why this sucks so hard for you."
"Thanks. I had forgotten about all that for ten minutes." Matt pointed out, looking over to make sure Brittany was still trying to figure out the whole Playbill thing and Santana trying to shove Puck off of her to pay attention to them.
"Again all could be avoided if you just tell the truth. But since you seem to like misery, I will say if spandex, glitter, platform boots and disco music doesn't make you forget your issues for awhile, there really is no hope for you."
It really wasn't fair to consider Mamma Mia an actual musical, Kurt debated as the ridiculously silly ending number began. First off it was a jukebox musical based on the songs of ABBA of all the groups in the world. And there was no story to speak of. Really? The idea of a DNA test to solve this whole "who fathered Sophie" question never gets considered? But, Kurt allowed, it didn't try to pretend to be in the class of West Side Story or Next To Normal. It was just a big ball of cheesy fun. He shouldn't have been surprised the songs lent themselves so well to dancing, after all it was disco music, but some of those numbers had been damn impressive. It wasn't just him who hadn't been able to stop talking about the chorus line of men in swim fins at intermission. (And it probably wasn't just him who nearly cracked up at the mental image of Finn trying to dance with the props.)
Which all went to say that while he would never in a million years and probably not even on his death bed admit to liking this show, he was standing up with the rest of the audience at the curtain call with a big smile on his face.
As the actress who played Donna started into the encore version of Dancing Queen, encouraging everyone to sing along and dance with them, Kurt found himself singing along. Standing between Mercedes and Quinn, he threw his arms over their shoulders as they began to sway in time with the beat before Finn jostled them, motioning for them to look down the aisle.
Seeing the rest of the club paying more attention to whatever it was in the aisle rather than the stage, Kurt strained to look around the heads of the rest of his team. Giving up, he lifted himself on top of his seat, actually being on the same level as Finn for once in his life.
There in the aisle Leah and Matt were dancing some routine they had clearly done for years. They twisted and turned in perfect time with each other. Clearly they were restricting their movements due to the tight space but it was still breathtaking to watch. As the spotlights swirled around them, Matt's face almost glowed with the combination of his smile and the laugh he was trying to contain as Leah made faces at him whenever they faced each other. They were attracting attention from every nearby theater patron and Kurt was willing to bet they would get applause to rival the cast once they finished.
As the music began to reach its conclusion, a single spotlight stilled on the siblings as they continued with something they must have done since childhood. As the last note faded and the applause began, Kurt felt a firm tug on his sleeve. Looking down to make sure he didn't land on Quinn's adorable black kitten heels as he was yanked back to solid ground, he looked up to find himself face to face with one seriously annoyed Mercedes.
"When we get back to the hotel, you and I are having one mother of a long talk about this dopey love-struck look on your face White Boy. And don't think you're getting out of it by inviting Mike to come with you."