Shooting the Breeze
Ch 4: I Do
Disclaimer: I don't own anything from Glee
Authors Note: This is when trouble enters paradise. Before you send me desperate reviews in protest please take into consideration that I am a hopeless romantic and it will almost surely end in happiness. Also I couldn't help but give Santana a part in this chapter again. What can I say I love writing her funny bitchy comments!
Ryder looked from the choir room door down to his cell phone. It was an hour and a half after school ended and Blaine was still nowhere to be seen. Today had started off as such a good day. Jake had taken his advice of making it a Valentines week and had serenaded Marley in History class. He looked up at the band who seemed to be bored. Worst of all they seemed to be sending him sympathetic looks. This really sucked. He quickly punched in Blaine's number and let the phone ring. He was about to give up when Blaine finally answered.
"Hello."
"Hey Blaine where are you?" Ryder asked trying to keep his voice down since he could practically feel the bands eyes on him.
"I'm at the Lima Bean. I ran into Kurt and Mercedes and they insisted on taking me out to catch up." Blaine said. Ryder could hear the happiness in his voice.
"You're at the Lima Bean…Blaine did you forget something?" Ryder said trying to keep the hurt out of his voice. A few moments past were he could only hear Kurt and Mercedes laughing in the background.
"No I can't think of anything. Look can I call you back I'm kind of busy right now?" Blaine said hanging up before Ryder could say anything. Ryder stared at his phone for a few minutes before sighing.
"Hey guys you can go ahead and leave. He's not showing up. Sorry for wasting your time." Ryder told the band that started putting away their instruments. Ryder sat there staring at his gift. How could Blaine do this to him? Not only did he leave him waiting for him but he had forgotten that they were supposed to meet all together.
The band having finished packing up started to leave sending him sympathetic looks. The guitar player came up to him and patted him on the back.
"Sorry that it didn't work out. It was the perfect song and everything." He said looking down at him.
"Yeah it was, but I guess it doesn't matter." Ryder said still staring at the gift he had spent an hour or two finding for Blaine.
"I know it's not my place to say but you deserve better." The guitarist said before leaving the room. Ryder stared at the empty doorway and could feel the tears building up in his eyes. He grabbed his back pack and made his way to his locker. He had spent so much time on this. It had taken him two days to memorize the song and even longer to actually find the damn gift. How could Blaine ditch him for his old boyfriend and his fag hag?
Ryder opened his locker and was about to throw the gift in before he stopped himself. He opened it and stared down at the cuff links inside. It had taken forever but he had found these cool little Ironman cufflinks that would have looked amazing on Blaine. He was going to give them to Blaine after serenading him with Ed Sheeran's Kiss Me. He wiped away the tear that was running down his cheek before throwing the gift into his locker. He slammed the locker shut. Maybe it wasn't as bad as he thought. Maybe Blaine really had gotten carried away at the chance of hanging out with old friends. Sure he hadn't said anything about Valentine's Day and had been treating him more like a friend than a boyfriend lately but that didn't mean anything. He was most likely waiting until the wedding to give him his gift.
Sam was sitting by himself in the church and was feeling kind of uncomfortable. Everyone was here already beside Ryder. Blaine had walked in with Mercedes and Kurt. He had then gone to sit with Tina without even saying hi to him. Where was Ryder? Wasn't he coming with Blaine? A few minutes later Ryder walked in by himself. He had looked around the room stopping at Blaine before walking over to join Sam.
"Hey dude what took you so long?" Sam asked.
"Nothing it just took me longer than I thought it would for me to get ready." Ryder said in a weak voice. Sam felt a tight unpleasant feeling appear in his chest as he took in Ryder's appearance. His eyes were really red as if he had spent the last thirty minutes crying and his suit was kind of messy as if he had thrown it on last minute.
"Hey what's wrong? I can tell something is bothering you." Sam asked.
"It's just that Blaine stood me up yesterday after school to hang out with Kurt. I was going to give him his first Valentine gift. I even had the band there waiting to sing to him. It was so embarrassing." Ryder said not looking him in the eyes.
"I'm so sorry dude."
"Then he was supposed to pick me up today and give me a ride to the wedding but apparently he forgot me again because when I called him he said he had gotten a ride with Kurt and Mercedes." Ryder said looking like he was about to cry again. Sam put his arm around Ryder's shoulder and pulled him against him.
"That was a dick move. Blaine's my bro but he shouldn't have done that to you." Sam said. Ryder only nodded as he leaned into Sam. Sam had to tell his body not to react to the warm pressure of Ryder at his side. This was not the right time for those kinds of thoughts.
"I know it's not much but I'm here for you and I'll make sure you aren't alone at the reception." Sam whispered to his friend. Ryder looked him in the eyes for the first time since he got here and gave him a smile though it was kind of a sad one.
"Thanks man, you really are one of my best friends." Ryder said turning to face the alter. Sam felt a painful tightening in his chest. He didn't want to be his best friend, he wanted to be more. He wanted to be the one that made his face light up in pleasure and the one to cause him to laugh. Ryder had the most beautiful laugh he had ever heard. For once Sam wanted to be the cause of it.
"Well that was a disaster." Sam said to himself as he sat at the table alone. He was staring at Ryder who seemed to be getting more miserable with every moment. He was putting on a good show but he wasn't fooling Sam. He had watched as Ryder had handed a gift over to Jake. Apparently Ryder had been giving Jake ideas for Valentine's Day. Ryder was really too nice for words.
"Oh my God, can you stop mopping for one minute. You're ruining my buzz." Santana said as she sat down with a drink.
"I'm not mopping." Sam said as he took a sip of his coke.
"Oh sorry I meant staring at dreamboat over there with longing eyes. What is your problem? He's over there alone. Go over there give him this drink and ask him to dance." Santana said pushing the drink over to him.
"He doesn't even like me and he's with Blaine." Sam said miserably.
"Dear lord saving me from idiot boys." Santana mumbled before continuing, "It looks to me like Blaine's to busy frolicking with Kurt to remember that he has a boyfriend. Also the way he was cuddling up to you at the church tells me he might have more feelings for you than you think."
"He was only taking comfort from me." Sam denied.
"Whatever! Stay here and act out your little tragic love scene or go ask one of the boys you're lips over heels in love with to dance. I don't care I'm going to go dance with my girlfriend and if I play my cards right I might be able to convince Quinn to have a threesome." Santana said before walking away.
It took a minute or two to get that image out of his head. Before he could think too much about it he picked up the drink and walked over to Ryder. He places the drink in front of him and watched with a smile as he jumped.
"It looked to me like you might need something stronger." Sam said as he sat down.
"I really do." Ryder said taking a sip of the drink.
"Hey I thought I said we were going to have fun here." Sam said.
"No you didn't." Ryder said with a smile.
"Oh I must of have just thought it then. Either way there is no way I'm going to let you sit here by yourself. Come and dance with me." Sam said holding out his hand.
"Are you sure about this? I mean I'm a guy and people might not like us dancing together." Ryder said letting Sam pull him out of his seat.
"Definitely, you're more important than everyone else here." Sam said as they walked to the dance floor. He was able to see a small batch of pink appear on Ryder's face before they started dancing. It was a fast moving song that let them both forget their problems. Neither one of them were really good dancers when a song wasn't choreographed for them, but they had fun.
The only kind of dancing he was good at was dirty dancing, something left over from his stripper days. He wasn't sure about doing any of that with Ryder, but had been pleasantly surprised when Ryder had blushed and had let out one of those beautiful laughs Sam had been craving for.
The music slowed down and Sam found his arms full of a hot hard body. Think of something else anything else. It would be bad to get an erection while dancing with Ryder. Ryder was a few inches shorter than him and was letting him lead. Sam's heart sped up when Ryder lowered his head to rest on Sam's shoulder.
"Thanks for doing this for me. You've made this day way better than I thought it would be." Ryder said. Sam could feel his breath against his neck with every word and couldn't help but shiver in pleasure at the feeling.
"It was nothing man. Like I said you're special to me." Sam said with a goofy smile as he swayed them around the dance floor.
"It wasn't nothing, it was important to me." Ryder said with emotion making Sam's smile grow impossibly bigger. They continued dancing and Sam couldn't be any happier. Like most times in his life something had to come around and ruin his day. When the slow song ended Kurt and Blaine got on stage to perform a duet. He felt Ryder stiffen in his arms and was reminded that Ryder wasn't his. That this wasn't like his fantasies, they were just friends.
"Are you okay?"
"Yeah can we just get out of here?" Ryder asked.
"Sure let's go." Sam grabbed Ryder's hand and led him out of the dance hall. They walked in silence to Sam's truck. When they had gotten in and had the car started Sam finally turned to his friend.
"Do you want to go get something to eat?"
"Not really, I think I just want to go home." Ryder said. They drove to Ryder's house with nothing but the music from the radio to distract them. When they pulled up to the house Ryder turned to him and smiled at him though it wasn't as strong as the one Sam had gotten at the dance.
"Thank you so much for putting up with me today. I know I must have been a real downer." Ryder said.
"It was no problem. I had a really good time. Dancing with you has been the most fun I've had in a very long time." Sam said letting his mouth talk without permission from his brain yet again.
"Well than it has been my pleasure, to give you this perfect night." Ryder said with a huge smile. Sam felt himself lean towards Ryder as if drawn to him.
"It really has been perfect." Sam said closing the distance between them. He saw shock in Ryder's eyes right before their lips met. At first it was awkward since Ryder didn't react, but soon Ryder was kissing him back and it was perfect. He slowly lent back in disappointment. If only he didn't have to breathe.
"Wow…what was that? I thought you were straight?" Ryder whispered staring at him in wonder.
"I…I thought I was but I guess I'm really bisexual since I haven't been able to stop thinking about you these last few weeks." Sam said staring at Ryder's kissed red lips. He started to lean down to kiss them again when a hand against his chest stopped him.
"Wait we can't do this." Ryder said in a breathy voice. Sam felt his face fall and felt like a bucket of water had been poured onto him. He felt that unpleasant tightness in his chest again.
"No I didn't mean it that way. I really do like you it's just that I have to figure out what's going on with Blaine first." Ryder said.
"Oh yeah I guess that makes sense." Sam said sitting back in his chair before running his hand through his hair.
"I mean it's pretty obvious that Blaine's still in love with Kurt. I don't really see how our relationship will survive this. I'm actually pretty sure it's over but unlike Blaine I don't cheat on my partners." Ryder said looking sad and determined.
"That's a good thing." Sam said feeling that tightness in his chest start to fade.
"Can you wait for me to figure out this mess?" Ryder asked looking at him with pleading eyes.
"Of course I can wait. Like I said you're special to me." Sam said with one of his goofy smiles.
"Thank you so much for this and tonight." Ryder said leaning over and kissing him on the cheek. Sam watched as he got out of the car and walked to his house.
Why did he feel guilty for making a move on Ryder? Blaine had been a jerk and abandoned Ryder at the very sight of Kurt. Not to mention that he had seemed to forget that Sam even existed, which had hurt way more than Sam wanted to admit to himself. Blaine didn't deserve Ryder. He didn't deserve Sam either, Sam thought as he started to drive home. The thing was that he still loved Blaine and he knew that this would hurt him, even if he had caused it himself. This was one giant mess. He had wanted to get all of them together and instead it had turned out like this. Maybe it was a foolish dream to believe that he could have both of the men he wanted. Maybe this was the best he could get.
Santana was having one of the best nights of his life. Brittany was back in her arms and Quinn was one drink away from falling into their bed. Sure her buzz ad been ruined for a few seconds by the drama fest that was Sam's love life but it had quickly gotten better.
"Hey what's wrong with Blaine Warbler?" Brittany asked pointing across the room. Santana looked across the room to find Blaine looking lost and confused. Kurt was nowhere to be found. Santana couldn't hold in the snort of contempt.
"It looks like he finally noticed his current boy toy left a long time ago." She said with a smirk.
"Awww that's sad. You should go talk to him?" Brittany said.
"Why should I? It's his own fault he fell under the screechy sirens call of Lady Hummel." Santana said taking a sip from her drink. Brittany sent her a sad disappointed look. God she hated that look it made her feel something unpleasant in her chest.
"He's our friend." Quinn spoke up, her words slurring a little. For a second there Santana had forgotten she was even there.
"You don't leave friends alone to suffer." She continued before going back to her drink. Damn it, It looked like she would have to go talk to Blaine or her chance of a threesome were gone.
"Fine I'll go talk to our baby Warbler but you so owe me." Santana said standing up. Brittany clapped in happiness while Quinn seemed to be lost in her drink. She walked over to Blaine and watched how he seemed to be getting more frantic by the minute.
"If you're looking for Ryder he left with Trouty mouth." Santana said.
"What? When was that?" Blaine asked looking confused.
"It was about an hour ago. Around the time you were making sweet, sweet love to Lady Hummel on stage in front of everyone. I'm kind of surprised you were able to separate yourself from the blood sucking china doll that is Kurt Hummel. I was starting to think it would take an act of God or a fashion disaster on the Rachel level to do that." Santana replied, enjoying the pain Blaine was in.
"Why would he leave without saying goodbye?" Blaine asked in confused pain. Santana almost laughed out loud at the comment before noticing that the little hobbit was serious. Now she was starting to get pissed. She didn't even know Ryder and she felt angry for the way he was treated today.
"Oh I don't know, but maybe it had something to do with the fact that his boyfriend has been ignoring him for the last few days. Or maybe it had to do with the fact that he had to watch his boyfriend follow his ex around like a love sick puppy. Or it was most likely the fact that this boyfriend decided to do this all on Valentine's Day." Santana practically shouted. Wow that had felt really good.
"Oh my God, I'm a terrible person." Blaine whispered looking utterly defeated. Oh not right now. Not right now. She could feel something in her chest tighten and demand that she comfort the waste of space in front of her. What was wrong with her? She used to thrive in others misfortunes. Now she was helping every little gay boy she came along. Next she would be adopting puppies and cooing at babies.
"Look I'm only saying this because somehow when I wasn't looking I turned into the Fairy God hag for every gay boy in Ohio, but it's not as bad as you think. Sure you were a horrible person that left your boyfriend who was already feeling insecure about your feeling for him alone on Valentine's Day. Sure you did all of this to follow your Ex around with enough drool coming out of your mouth that a janitor has literally been following you around mopping it up." Santana said.
"How is this supposed to help?" Blaine asked looking even more depressed.
"My point is that it's not your fault that you fell under Hummel's siren call, even thought it does sound like someone scratching a chalk board. He was you first love, after all not many things can fulfill your fetish for pretty inanimate object. Kurt is the prettiest Porcelain doll you'll ever find. You'll just have to beg and grovel for Ryder's forgiveness and when he doesn't forgive you like he's inevitably going to do, you'll have to fight for him. Show him that you really care about him." Santana said looking really uncomfortable.
"Thank you Santana that was really helpful." Blaine said giving her a surprised look.
"Sure whatever… I have a threesome to get to and an appointment with my doctor to make." Santana said walking away. What was wrong with her lately? She had been helping people left and right. It was way more than her biannual good deed. Was niceness a decease? Knowing her luck it was sexually transmitted. Crap did that Whale Finn Hudson give her it when he was busy trying to suffocate her with all of his blubber. Now that she thought of it she really only started to act nice to the glee club after that nightmare inducing incident. Oh crap she really needed to meet with her doctor before she ended up feeding the homeless or something else equally nauseating.
She looked across the room to where Quinn and Brittany were making out. Well, that could wait until she was done introducing Quinn to the pleasure of lesbian love.
"Hey Ryder, can I talk to you for a minute?" Blaine asked walking up to him. Ryder closed his locker and sent Blaine a look that told him that it was just as bad as Blaine had thought it was.
"So you finally decided I was worthy of your time. What did Kurt finally go back to New York?" Ryder asked crossing his arms.
"Look I'm sorry that I treated you that way. I don't know what happened I guess I was just so happy to see my old friends and I let that go too far." Blaine said trying to find the right words.
"If it was just your friends I might have been able to forgive you but it wasn't just them. You were throwing yourself at Kurt as if nothing was going on with us. It was the most embarrassing and hurtful thing anyone has done to me in public." Ryder said with tears in his eyes.
"I'm so sorry. It's just that things ended so badly between us. I guess I just needed closure. I'm so sorry. Nothing happened between us. Nothing I swear! You have to believe me." Blaine said in desperation. He could feel his own eyes fill with tears.
"I do believe you, it just doesn't matter. I don't know if you're still the guy I fell for or if he ever really existed." Ryder said before starting to walk off.
"What about us?" Blaine asked.
"There isn't an us, at least right now." Ryder said before walking away.
Blaine sank to the floor and let the tears flow freely. He was an idiot. How could he have let the fake fantasy of getting back together with Kurt ruin the real fantasy he had actually had with Ryder? He had messed up there was no denying it, but there was no way he was going to let Ryder go without a fight. He would prove to him that Kurt was nothing and that he could be a better boyfriend. He didn't know how but he was going to do it.
Authors Note 2: Please don't kill me or give up on this story. I know that Blaine and Ryder are separated but it's not the end. I promise it gets better. After all, every good story needs some conflict. Author runs and hides from the disapproving looks.