Chapter 23: One Step Forward
"A caramel latte and a medium drip for this guy. And maybe I could get him to split a biscotti." He said winking at the barista attending us, effectively causing her to blush. I rolled my eyes, knowing all too well what Sebastian was doing.
"You know my coffee order?"
"Of course I do." he said furrowing his eyebrow.
"You know you really shouldn't do that to people." I said after getting our drinks and sitting down. The Lima Bean was actually really packed today.
"Why not? It's fun." He said with a smirk.
"I still can't believe we'll both be going to nationals." I said taking a sip from my coffee.
"The only reason you guys tied with us is because you guys are last years favorite. If you guys were nobodies, we would have been the lone winners. We were definitely better than you."
The air was tense to say the least. I looked over at Sebastian who stood with the Warblers, elegant as ever, standing tall and proud.
"In third place, the Mennonite Glee Club!" The Amish group went to collect their trophy. We clapped for them, even though we knew that second and first place would belong to either Dalton and McKinley.
Marley squeezed my hand. She looked nervous, her face pale and her lips moving as if she was praying. I was probably equally as anxious as she was, but I learned how to keep my composure; one of the things that rubbed off on me after spending so much time with Sebastian.
The judge had a surprised look on his face. "Moving on to Nationals in Los Angeles, the New Directions and the Dalton Academy Warblers!" The crowd stood up and cheered. A second of confusion passed by both show choirs before everyone started celebrating. We were moving on to Nationals.
I waved over Tina, Artie, Sam, and Britt when I saw them all walking into Lima Bean. After ordering their drinks, they pulled a table to sit with us.
"Hey guys! What're you up to?" Artie said.
"We're just talking about regionals last week." I said bumping fists with him.
"Yeah. That was definitely a twist." Tina said.
"It's exciting though! All of us in Los Angeles together." Britt said.
Sam put his arm over Sebastian's shoulder, to which Sebastian reacted by giving him a confused sideways glance. Clearly Sebastian didn't think they were as close as Sam thought. "So are you coming to watch us perform tomorrow?"Sam asked.
"What's tomorrow?" Sebastian asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Our opening night for Grease." Tina said as if it was blasphemous that he even asked.
"Crap."' Sebastian muttered under his breath. "I completely forgot."
"You can't make it?" I asked a little hurt.
"I told Hunter that I would go with him to Columbus. It's his first time going to a big city. Columbus is the closest thing this state has to city life." Everyone's eyes went wide and looked away from Sebastian. He looked around confused, clearly missing something.
"What?"
"It's opening night and Blaine's prince won't be there." Britt said. My face showed how irritated I was. I knew I was being selfish, but I had told Sebastian about it weeks ago.
"B, I'm sorry."
"That's fine. You should go with him." Sebastian gave me a look but decided to drop it, probably not wanting to argue with me in front of everyone.
"There are other performances." Britt suggested.
"Yeah, but none as important as the first." Tina said. Sebastian gave her a look, sarcastically thanking her for mentioning that.
"Well. I think this is the part where we make our exit." Artie said backing up from the table.
"No, you guys can stay." I said.
"We only came here to get coffee's. We're actually on our way to the mall." Sam said. "We'll catch you guys later."
"Bye Sebby. Bye Blaine." Britt said hugging us both.
When they had all left, Sebastian grabbed my hand. "Is there anyway I can make this up to you?"
"There's nothing to make up for. I'm okay, I promise. I wouldn't make you cancel on him." I hope the smile on my face was convincing enough.
"What's wrong Blaine?" My mom said, noticing that I was a little distant.
"Nothing mom, I'm fine!" I said smiling at her before giving her a hug. "Where's dad?"
"He's in the bathroom. " Just then my dad came out of the bathroom.
"Have you seen all the indecencies the teenagers write on the stalls? And what the hell is a glory hole." Oh god…I placed my hand over my mouth, trying not to laugh at what my dad had just asked. Some kids walked by as my dad had said that, turning around to stare at my dad.
"Calm down." My mother said rolling her eyes.
"Are you ready?" My dad asked me, placing a hand on my shoulder.
"Yeah. A little nervous but I'll make it. Thanks for coming guys. It means a lot."
"Where's Sebastian?" My dad asked.
"He won't be able to make it tonight. He has plans." My parents looked at each other, realizing why I was so out of it.
"Son, you do realize that although you two are dating, you are two different people. You won't be able to spend every moment together. I don't want you to get too attached to him, in case...you know." I knew his words were true. I did need to realize that sooner or later, we would probably be going different ways. I didn't know what his plans were for next year, but I wanted to push it till the last minute if I could.
"Thanks dad. Well, I better get going. We start soon. Make sure to get good seats." I hugged them before turning down the hall and make my way backstage.
Everybody was already back stage by the time I got there. We were all sharing in small talk when we heard someone coming towards us.
"Break a leg guys!" Everyone turned around to see who was talking to us. Who we didn't expect to see was Mrs. Schuester.
"Mr. Schue!" Everyone yelled excited to see the former (or present…?) director of the glee club.
"What're you doing here!" Finn said running up to him to give him a hug.
"Well, I'm officially back! Congratulations on your win at regionals by the way, are you guys ready to take a second national championship?" Everyone cheered and clapped, excited that he was back. I always liked Mr. Schue, but I probably wasn't the closest to him, only spending a full year last year with him. The new kids were on the same boat as I was; only knowing him for a couple weeks before he left for Washington.
"So does that mean you're taking your job back?" Finn asked.
"Well, it seems that everyone warmed up to you. And you've led the team to a regionals victory, so I'll just be there for support. But as for the actual director, the title is still yours."
"Guys, we're on!" Artie said. Everyone hugged Mr. Schue before we got ready to start the play.
When the play was over, we all celebrated and soaked in the audience's applause. It had gone down perfectly, with only a few mishaps here and there but nothing that the audience would have noticed.
"Marley! You were incredible." I said hugging her tightly.
"I'm so glad you were my Danny. You were amazing." I kissed her cheek before going to congratulate everyone else.
"Hey, we're all heading over to Bread Stix. Want to come with?" Sam said patting my back.
"Y-yeah, I'll be there." After everyone had gotten there things together and changed out of costume, we started to make our way out.
I ran out to see if I could catch my mom and dad before they left, completely forgetting that they had come to the play. I saw them standing outside of the auditorium, waiting for me to come out.
"That was incredible sweetie! You did amazing, I'm so proud of you!" My mom said pulling me into a hug and crying as she was congratulating me.
"You were amazing. I can't believe we were blessed with such a talented young man." My dad said shaking my hand. "I'm proud of you son."
"Thanks dad. It means a lot." I said hugging him. It felt as if my dad was fully accepting of everything. It was good to finally hear my dad saying he was proud of me.
"There's someone here to see you Blaine." My mom said, looking past me.
"You were amazing." I turned around to see Sebastian standing there with an edible arrangement.
"Sebastian!" I said running up to hug him. "You came?"
"Of course I did." Sebastian leaned down to place a kiss on my lips before turning a little red realizing my parents were behind us. "I'm sorry I was such a jerk yesterday. I should have known that a boyfriend is supposed to place his significant other before his friends. Still learning, even after 5 months into this."
"Thank you Sebastian." I said taking his gift.
"I hope you like fruit and chocolate. I feel like I buy too many flowers for you. Not that an edible arrangement helps my bad ass image anymore than flowers do, but…"
"Who doesn't love an edible arrangement?" I said laughing, wrapping my arm around his waist.
"Mom, dad, it's nice to see you guys again." Sebastian said to my parents. They both smiled; Sebastian finally felt comfortable enough with them to call them mom and dad.
"Likewise! You should have seen how upset Blaine was earlier before you were here." My mom said as my dad wrapped his arm around her.
"MOM!" I could feel my cheeks heating up.
"I'm sorry about that." He said looking at them. "I was being a bad boyfriend."
"What do you say we all go to dinner tonight to celebrate my son bringing down the house? Sebastian, I assume you're spending the night at our place?" My dad said. This wasn't the first time that we've had a meal together, but this felt a little awkward having the first dinner with my parents and my boyfriend.
"I'd love to. And I don't know, if Blaine will have me then I don't see why not."
My mom laughed. "You think Blaine would pass on an opportunity to spend time with you?"
"Mom...seriously? Isn't it the father who is supposed to embarrass their kid?" My parents as well as Sebastian started laughing at my misery. Obviously.
Don't count me in tonight at Bread Stix. –Blaine
Tell Sebastian I say hi. –Sam
It was actually a little embarrassing how well my friends knew me when it came to Sebastian. I looked up to smile at Sebastian, happy that we would all be enjoying a nice dinner together. I didn't expect to see his face expressionless; his eyes looked sad, his gaze on the floor, his mind far away from here.
"I'm assuming your father isn't actually home?" I asked. Sebastian and I were on his way to his house after Sebastian had told my parents that his father was home for the weekend and that he wanted to introduce me to him. Chances were Sebastian was just horny.
"Got that right killer."
"Why did you not want to stay at my house?"
"I just wanted it to be us tonight." Sebastian looked distant again. During dinner with my parents, he looked as if everything was okay, but after getting to know him, I knew something was off.
"Is everything okay?"
"Definitely." His response was quick. Simple. Not wanting to enter into any detail.
When we arrived at Sebastian's house, we went to his room so that we could change into something more comfortable before lounging around the house. I threw myself on his bed to lie down to wait for him to be ready and felt my head hit something hard.
"Ow. What the hell? Clearly I can't throw myself on your beds anymore." I said rubbing my head and looking at what the object I hit was.
"An anatomy and physiology text book? I don't think learning about the body in a textbook will do anything to improve your sex skills Bas." I said jokingly.
"It's not for…wait a minute? You think my skills in bed need improvement?" He said tilting his head and crossing his arms.
"Kidding." I said rolling my eyes. "I didn't know that Dalton even had Anatomy course."
"Yeah, it was available as an elective."
"Why'd you choose it? I imagine it's hard."
"I…I was actually thinking about going to college for medicine."
"You want to become a doctor?" I asked surprised. I knew he could do it; Sebastian was one of the smartest people I knew. But he had never mentioned an interest in medicine or science. I guess I was silly to think that he would go to a school for something along the lines of theatre or the dramatic arts.
"Yeah. Is that weird?"
"No! I just don't remember you ever mentioning it."
"Yeah, I've been looking into it for some time now but I'm still not sure what I want to study. I really enjoy show choir and theatre though, so I'm kind of torn."
"Well, don't you only need to take certain classes for medical school? Why don't you major in theatre or something and then take the required classes?"
"That's what I was thinking." Sebastian said, putting on a long sleeve shirt and sweatpants.
"Sheesh. You're showing too much skin Sebastian, I might get turned on." I said laughing. Sebastian smiled before grabbing my by my hands and walking us out of his room to go downstairs.
Sebastian and I were sitting on his couch watching whatever was on TV; I was too distracted to really focus on anything. We were sitting there for an hour, not really having a full conversation and barely even touching once. I leaned my head so that I could kiss his neck, cradling his face with my hand. I pulled him in for a kiss, licking and sucking his lip, asking for access to explore his mouth.
Sebastian abruptly pulled away when I slid my hand under his shirt to caress his chest. "I don't have protection." He said looking away and taking my hand off of his face.
"We can go buy some?" I offered.
"Maybe later." This was so out of character for Sebastian. He would never turn down an opportunity to have sex; it kind of stung when he rejected me. Why was he acting like this?
After another fifteen minutes of sitting there without saying a word, I decided to break the silence "So, where do you plan on applying?" I could feel Sebastian tense next to me.
"Blaine." Sebastian's gaze was on the ground. "The reason I wanted to bring you here was because I wanted to talk to you." I could feel my stomach churning. Why was I so nervous about what he was going to say?
"About what?" I reached my hand to hold his hand, but he flinched and moved his hand away. This was going to be bad.
"M-my...my mother called my father and told him about our visit. I never told him that I didn't break up with you." I choked hearing his words. I knew this was bad. Sebastian breathed in heavily and closed his eyes. "At the end of the academic year, my father is sending me to live in London. I'll be attending college there...I-...I-I'll be studying abroad for the next 4 years."
Sebastian opened his eyes, allowing for a single tear to roll down his cheek. It felt as if I had just woken up from a beautiful dream. In that instant, I felt as if my entire world was shattered.