Forever Has to Start Somewhere
Chapter 25: Blame It On the Alcohol
"I think I made a mistake," Rachel said as soon as Jesse picked up the phone.
"Oh?" She could hear the amusement in his voice. "What'd you do?"
"Noah found out that my dads are out of town and convinced me to have a party."
"Really?" Disbelief this time and a hint of pride. "How did that happen exactly? Because I love you, but you are definitely not the type to throw a party while your parents are out of town."
"Well, you know how Finn's been supporting me on the original songs?"
Jesse hummed in agreement. "I still don't understand why he has to be all sneaky about it."
"Neither do I," Rachel agreed with a frown. If Finn truly supported her on her original song idea, why couldn't he just come out and say it? She shook the thought from her mind as she continued, "Well, when I showed him the song I'd come up with, he suggested that I find a different inspiration."
"And so you agreed to let Puck throw a party in your house?"
"Yes. He agreed to keep it small, though. Glee kids only."
Jesse made a soft sound before asking, "You know, that's not going to stop him from busting open your liquor cabinet, right?"
"The thought occurred to me, yes."
"Are all of the glee kids going to be there?"
"Yes. Kurt is inviting Blaine as well so that he has someone with him while David's around."
"From what you've told me about them, I don't think anything will happen, but I'll let Adam know he might get a call."
"Mmm."
"I know you're doing this thing at your house, but be careful please?"
Rachel's lips quirked in an amused smile. "You sound like my father."
"I'm just worried about you," Jesse answered. "A lot can happen when you get a group of drunk teenagers together. I went to enough Vocal Adrenaline parties to know."
"We'll be careful," Rachel promised. "And I'll call you the next morning."
"Lovely."
In the distance, Rachel heard the sound of a key in the lock and the door opening.
She craned her head back to see Kurt pushing the door open. When he spotted her watching him, he said, "I'm here to make sure you don't wear anything horrendous."
She frowned at him for a moment before asking, "Why did you steal the spare instead of just knocking on the door? You must have seen my car in the driveway."
"Figured you wouldn't have a problem with me letting myself in," Kurt answered with a shrug. He stepped inside, slipping out of his shoes, and hanging his coat on the hook by the door.
"I don't. I'm just a little confused as to why you chose to break into my house."
On the phone, Jesse inquired, "Kurt?"
"Yes." She pushed herself up from the armchair. "He says he's going to help me pick an outfit."
"Not help," Kurt corrected. "I'm going to pick an outfit and your going to put it on without complaint."
She wrinkled her nose at him.
"Switch to skype?" Jesse asked.
"I'm not skyping you while I'm changing, Jesse."
"Change in the bathroom. I can talk to Kurt while you're in there."
She sighed as she followed Kurt up the stairs to her bedroom. "Fine, fine. I'm hanging up now. I'll call you in a moment."
Rachel sat in the v of Karofsky's legs, her back pressed against his chest, watching as Blaine spun the bottle.
She'd opted out of the game. She hadn't drunk enough to feel anything more than a pleasant buzz and had been able to point out that kissing another during a game was more acceptable when your significant other was in the room with you than when they were in a different state. The others, with the exception of Kurt and Finn who weren't drinking, had been too far gone for more than a few initial protests.
"Kurt!" Blaine exclaimed as the nose of the bottle came to a stop in front of him.
"Blaine," Kurt answered back. His cheeks were flushing a bright red and his lips were curled in a small smile.
"I get to kiss my favorite person!"
Rachel wasn't really all that surprised that Blaine wobbled as he leaned towards Kurt. Blaine was smaller than everyone else in the room – with the exception of her –, but Puck had been handing him drinks without any sympathy.
Kurt met Blaine halfway.
As his fingers curled around Blaine's neck and Blaine fisted Kurt's hair, Rachel felt Karofsky's hands curl.
She craned her head back.
His mouth was pressed into a hard line, pale pink lips turned white with pressure. His eyes were wide, a mixture of anger and jealousy and hurt stewing in them.
"Oh," she murmured as she took it in. She lifted a hand above her head, placing it on his cheek. The contact had his gaze drifting down to her. Her tongue was just loose enough for her to whisper, "You like him."
Karofsky's eyes widened further. Surprise and fear.
She curled her fingers against his face as she murmured, "I won't tell anyone."
He was tense against her for a few moments, his eyes darting around the room. The others were too busy hooting and hollering to hear their conversation.
"You can't," he whispered after a moment. His hand came up, resting over hers. "Please."
"I won't," she repeated. She flipped her palm so they were holding hands and squeezed tightly. "It's okay, David. It'll be fine."
The beeping of his phone on the nightstand roused Jesse from his slumber. He slung a hang behind him, groping blindly from his phone.
"'Lo?" he grumbled when he managed to bring the phone to his ear.
"Jesse!"
"Rachel," Jesse said. He resisted the urge to cry at how giddy and excited she sounded. If he hadn't known she'd been drinking already, he would have when he heard her. "What do you want?"
"Nothing!" her voice had a sing-song quality to it. "I just did a duet with Blaine and I started thinking about you because he goes to a different school too! Do you think if I dated Blaine they would threaten to kick me out of New Directions again? I hated when they did that with you."
"You already have a boyfriend," Jesse said. He couldn't muster the energy to be amused with his girlfriend's drunk antics. "Remember?"
"Of course! It's you!" Rachel answered. "I was just speaking hypothetically."
"You are the only person I know who can still use the word hypothetically when they get drunk enough to start dialing."
"It's three in the morning," Brody groaned from his bed. "Hang up on her or get out."
Jesse let out a groan of his own before swinging himself up. He wrapped his blanket around his shoulders before trudging towards the door.
As much as he wanted to be sleeping again, he wasn't going to leave Rachel when she was clearly out of her mind.
He slipped out of the room and slid down the floor, leaning his back against the door.
"Where's Kurt?" Jesse questioned, cutting Rachel off midway through her listing six syllable words she could still say despite her intoxication level. "Isn't he supposed to be taking care of you guys?"
"I think he's washing Tina's hair. She puked on it."
Jesse wrinkled his nose. He tilted his head back, letting his eyes drift shut as he followed with, "And Finn? He's sober too, isn't he?"
"He took Sam to get donuts."
"Why?"
"Sam wanted donuts. He said he was going to drive himself if Finn didn't take him."
"I see."
"Jesse?"
"Mmm?"
"Will you sing for me? We did karaoke and no one sounded as nice as you do."
"Uh huh." He took a minute, swallowing the urge to groan at the things he was willing to do for this girl, before starting the first song that came to his head, "I've been alone with you inside my mind. And in my dreams, I've kissed your lips a thousand times."
When Adam returned to his dorm after his morning shower, he found the notification light on his phone was blinking.
As he scrubbed his towel against his hair, he grabbed it from the nightstand and thumbed open his messages.
Kurt (8:34am):
Blaine and I kissed last night.
I can't decide if it sucked because it was horrible or because he was drunk.
Adam's stomach churned and he was suddenly glad he hadn't gone for breakfast before showering.
Adam had known Kurt had a crush on his friend, had sat through numerous conversations where Kurt attempted to analyze Blaine's actions, but it had never seemed to him like there was a real possibility of them getting together.
He let out a heavy sigh as he started a reply.
As much as he didn't want whatever was happening between Kurt and Blaine to continue, for more than just one reason, he wasn't going to leave Kurt waiting.
Above all else, Adam wanted Kurt to be happy. Even if that meant dealing with how the possibility of Kurt spending less time speaking to Adam and more time with his potential boyfriend made Adam feel.
En: I really am not sure how I feel about this chapter so your feedback on it would be super appreciated.
I didn't plan on Rachel finding out about Karofsky, or it going to smoothly. But I thought Rachel would probaly realize it's something you wait for someone to tell you if she was sober and Karofsky would have been very confrontational (as he is with both Kurt and Santana when they find out) if he was sober.
So yeah.
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