"Magandang gabi." Tim said. It was a guess, the nationality of the Asian woman at the counter, but she looked like his cousin so he took a shot. The dark-haired woman smiled and responded.
"Magandang gabi. Kmusta ka?"
"Mabuti naman. Ako si Tim."
"Ako si Esperanza." she held out her hand.
"Well, Esperanza," he said shaking her hand, "that's about all the Tagalog I remember. Hello, how are you, fine thank you. It doesn't come in much use here in Ohio."
"You're good. Drop you in Manila and you'd do just fine."
"Sometimes my dad wishes he could drop me off in Manila. Then I'd be heaping shame and disgrace on somebody else's family. Anyway, what will you have today? Coffee, tea, latte, hot chocolate, smoothie?"
"Coffee, thank you. And can I ask you a question? I'm looking for Kurt Hummel. I was told he comes here sometimes."
Tim frowned. Why was this gorgeous Filipino woman, Tim guessed her somewhere between 25 and 30, looking for a gay high-school boy? "Why? Not being rude, okay maybe it is rude, but he's a friend and..."
"Oh," she smiled again. "It's nothing like that. I need to talk to him, about Blaine."
"Hi, I'm Esperanza. Esperanza Santos?" she added at Kurt's blank expression. "Okay." she said sitting down opposite him, "that name obviously means nothing to you. How about Hope Anderson? Still nothing? So Blaine never mentioned he has a sister, or more accurately a half-sister." Kurt nodded. "Well, he does and that would be me."
"Blaine's not one for talking." Kurt said, adding this piece of information to his list of things Blaine never bothered to mention. "He mentioned his younger brothers, Spencer and Sterling. They're half-brothers, correct?"
"Correct. Blaine's mother is my mother. His father is their father. He lives with them. Our mother lives in Toledo."
"May I ask where you live?"
"I live in Philadelphia. I'm in town to visit Blaine." She spun her coffee cup in her hands. "He wants to move. To Philadelphia. Not that I wouldn't love to have him but...I think he's being impulsive."
"And you think I should take him back?"
"Not necessarily. He screwed up, big time. And the fact that you've never heard of me makes me think there's other things you haven't heard, things you should know before you make up you mind about him. Things he needs to let go of if he wants to make room for you in his life."
"Things like what?"
"Oh no," she said shaking her head "he'll have to tell you himself. If he can't, or won't, that makes your decision much easier."
"I met your sister." Kurt said, leaning against the row of lockers.
"You did?" Blaine said, opening his locker.
"Yes, She said you're thinking of going to Philadelphia. Why? Why not back to Dalton?"
"Besides the obvious reason, my dad, or I should say my stepmother, has gotten used to not paying tuition. I can't afford to go back to Dalton, not that I'd want to go there anyway for the most obvious of reasons."
"Because Sebastian's there?"
"That would be correct."
"He acted perfectly normal at Regionals. He even congratulated us without any snark."
"Who knows how long that's going to last? I'm not going back." he shut his locker. "I just don't want to be here, around you, anymore. I mean, this whole being friends thing is fine in theory but every time I see you it reminds me what a idiot I am." He opened his locker, remembered he didn't need anything in it, and shut it again. "You don't trust me, you'll never trust me again. I understand why you feel that way. It's hopeless."
"I'd like to trust you again." He touched Blaine's arm lightly. "She said there's things I need to know, before I make any decisions."
"Did she say what they were?"
"No, she said that was up to you."
Blaine closed his eyes, as if he were making a big decision. "We're going to Toledo this weekend, Hope and I. Do you want to come, meet my mother?"
"I thought your sister's name was Esperanza."
"It is, in Spanish. It's Hope in English."
"Oh. When do you need to know? If I'm coming with you or not?"
"By Friday's okay. There's a guest room you can stay in. We'll be back by noon Sunday."
I remember that time you told me you said
"Love is touching souls"
Surely you touched mine
'Cause part of you pours out of me
In these lines from time to time
Oh, you're in my blood like holy wine
You taste so bitter and so sweet
Oh I could drink a case of you darling
And I would still be on my feet
I would still be on my feet
I met a woman
She had a mouth like yours
She knew your life
She knew your devils and your deeds
And she said
"Go to him, stay with him if you can
But be prepared to bleed"
Oh but you are in my blood
You're my holy wine
You're so bitter, bitter and so sweet
Oh, I could drink a case of you darling
Still I'd be on my feet
I would still be on my feet
Blaine watched Kurt singing in the choir room, his voice sweet and pure. Like that day he sang Blackbird, the day he realized he loved Kurt. He wasn't trying to sound like Joni Mitchell, he was being Kurt, sweet beautiful trusting Kurt. Kurt who deserved better. Mercedes and Rachel were both learning forward, examining Kurt's performance for clues to his state of mind. They are so dissimilar Blaine thought, like ying and yang, but together they seem to be helping him to heal. They both jumped up, applauding when he finished. They both said the song was competition ready. They both scowled at Blaine as he walked to the front of the room
Lonely is the room, the bed is made, the open window lets the rain in
Burning in the corner is the only one who dreams he had you with him
My body turns and yearns for a sleep that will never come
It's never over, my kingdom for a kiss upon his shoulder
It's never over, all my riches for his smiles when I slept so soft against him
It's never over, all my blood for the sweetness of his laughter
It's never over, he's the tear that hangs inside my soul forever
Well maybe I'm just too young
To keep good love from going wrong
Oh... lover, you should've come over
'Cause it's not too late.
"That's deep." Sam whispered in her ear.
"What? Who didn't know Blaine could sing?" Mercedes answered, trying to push away any sympathetic feeling she was starting to feel towards Blaine.
"Yeah, but who knew he felt things? He seems nice enough, but kinda cold, you know?"
"That from the guy that sang about a man who can't decide between staying home with his girlfriend and going fishing."
"That's a really sad song." Sam said with a smile. "And that's ironic comment coming from the girl who sang about a drug dealer."
"Well, I bet he was sad when the cops kicked down the door. I told Schuester I can't get into all this "Week of Heartache". I'm just not feeling it."
"I guess it's all my fault you're not feeling the angst. Speaking of which, there's not a decent fishing hole within 100 miles of here."
"And I care, why?" she asked with a half-smile.
"Oh, you know you care! And you know why."
She suppressed a laugh. "Let's see if we can come up with something to make up for the shocking lack of fishing holes in western Ohio."
"It can't hurt to go." Rachel said, flipping through outfits for her date tonight with Finn. "You always wanted to meet his family." She held up a cotton candy pink dress. Kurt shook his head. "His sister will be there if he tries anything." She held up a robin's egg blue dress. He shook his head. "You said she was nice, the sister?"
"Yes, Esperanza is nice. Also totally different from Blaine. She dresses very..bohemian I guess you'd call it. Blaine grew up with money in America, and she grew up poor in the Philippines. Blaine's dad was in Manila for business. Their mom worked at the hotel, head of the housekeeping staff, and she was also raising Esperanza alone. Esperanza's dad died a couple of years before. They fell in love, got married and moved here. She was ten when Blaine was born. Ten, fifteen years later they got divorced and the mom moved to Toledo, where there's an uncle and some other family. Anyway the stepmother he's mentioned before and that's how they're different. Esperanza told me all of that over a cup of coffee. Blaine – not a word. Like it was some deep dark shameful secret." She held up a navy blue dress. He nodded. "I don't know why you buy pastels. Where are you going?"
"Art gallery reception down at the college. Double date with Sam and Mercedes, wanna come?"
"Strange place for a double date."
"Well, Mercedes really likes art. That's why Sam likes it and also because it's free. Finn's trying to make up to Sam for that stripper foolishness. Why don't you come too? We're just going to the reception together. After that Sam's got to go to work, at that coffee house you like. I'm not sure what Mercedes is doing later."
"Let me check with Mercedes to see if she's busy later. If it's okay with her, sure, I like art."
Esperanza studied the canvas in front of her. The Muses. Four girls, sitting at a table in what looked like that coffee house she visited last week. She stepped back to get the effect of the overall composition. She stepped forward to look at the brushwork.
"What do you think?" asked Tim from the coffeehouse.
"Hello, Tim. Is this that same coffeehouse?"
"Yes, it's McKenna's." He studied the painting too.
"I really like the skin tones of the girls. Sometimes black people are hard to paint, but this is a good job." The four muses were a fair-skinned blond, an olive-toned Latina or possibly Native American, and honey-colored bi-racial girl and an African-American girl. They were sitting at a table, laughing like they'd been captured mid-joke. "I also like that they're not holding lyres and shit. That would be hokey." She pointed to the canvas hanging next to the one they were looking at. "And this one, same girl, totally different feel." It was a portrait of the bi-racial girl and a white boy, sitting on a bench, heads touching, smiling. Maybe a comedy/tragedy theme because the girl's smile had a touch of sadness to it, sadness missing entirely from the boy. "Much more ambiguous. It's hard to tell the relationship between them and between them and the artist, where it's obvious that they're friends in the other painting."
"Do you think these are good?" Tim asked frowning at the paintings.
"The artist needs a little more polish but the eye is there, that's the most important thing. For a college student, I'd guess third/fourth year, it's damned good."
"Are you an artist?"
"No" she said laughing. "Ask anybody who's seen my work. I'm a buyer for a chain of boutique hotels. Mostly abstracts and landscapes. I'm here visiting family and decided to drop in." she looked at the price tag on the Muse painting, $200. "This would go for twice that on the East Coast. I live in Philadelphia but New York, or better yet Washington? I'm buying one, not sure which one yet. This one, AB, seems too intimate, too personal to be hanging on a stranger's wall. Yes, I'm buying the Muses."
"Hello Tim, Hope." Blaine said walking up to them.
"Esperanza." she corrected him, rolling her r's just a bit.
"That's really nice, Tim." he said, missing the correction as he stared at the painting. "When did you have time to do this?"
"You painted these? And you let me ramble on. Suppose I said it was awful?"
"That would be good to know, if a professional art buyer thinks I'm an awful painter. Save me from wasting a lot of time."
"So how do you know my brother?" Esperanza asked.
"Blaine's your brother?" he looked closely at the two of them. He would have never guessed, but people never guess Alice and Ben are twins either. "School. I'm a senior at McKinley. I also take classes here."
"You're still in high school? Maybe I will buy both. You're going to be valuable one day."
"Hopefully while I'm still alive and get to spend the money."
"Tim, when did you finish?" Mercedes said hugging him from behind. "It must be still wet. Awesome! Can my dad buy it?"
"Too late, sold it." he said with a laugh. "Meet Blaine's sister, Esperanza. Santos, right?"
"Correct." she looked from the girl in front of her to the girl on the canvas. Tim had done an excellent job in capturing her.
"Mercedes, Mercy, was my inspiration. Only there's three Graces and I had four models I wanted to paint. Therefore, Muses instead of Graces. The lyres are on the coffee cups and the jewelry. " Esperanza noticed Mercedes in the painting was wearing a lyre necklace and her coffee cups had a musical staff on it. Actually there was more detail to the painting than she'd first noticed.
"Tell you what Mercedes. You dad can buy this one if Tim agrees to takes a commission. I'll send you a picture of one of our coffeehouses, I need that for the background. $600 and that's still a good price." She pulled a business card from her wallet and handed it to him. "Blaine can reach me anytime."
Blaine was staring across the room at Kurt, who was standing with Sam, looking a photograph. "Excuse me" he said heading towards Kurt.
A Case of You – Joni Mitchell
Lover You Should Have Come Over - Jeff Buckley