A/N: I'm back with what might be the last part of my story, the last hole to fill in. I have written these all out of order, like Star Wars, so there may still be continuity things for me to fix here and there. Since my last story (The Rest of the Journey) ended with the end of season 3 and what follows in my series (Going Public) starts at the beginning of season 5, I haven't told you what happened when Artie met Kitty. So, here it is..
When Artie Met Kitty
"Paradise by the dashboard lights..."
Artie Abrams been unable to stop singing their catchiest tune from Nationals all summer long. Today, he was drifting across their backyard pool on his raft, sucking on a grape popsicle, living his best life. He enjoyed spending some time completely alone while also pretending that the unfinished application to the Brooklyn Film Academy wasn't going to be waiting for him when he went back inside.
Artie generally liked the summer. The only problem was that he had no routine and no major responsibilities beyond helping his mother with whatever project she had in mind around the house. It tended to lend itself to laziness. Not that Artie minded laziness, but as someone who spent a lot of time sitting, he felt like people generally perceived him as lazy. Consequently, he spent a lot of time trying to prove them wrong. But during the summer, he kind of let that go a little. Just don't ask him what he did all summer.
Everyone else had summer jobs. Sam and Blaine were both spending their summer as lifeguards at the community pool. They also taught swimming lessons. And Sam flirted with girls, dissuading any of them from showing interest in Blaine by telling them he had a boyfriend. Tina had spent one more summer at whatever-the-name-of-that-tech-camp-was where 99.9% of the kids and counselors were Asian. (But he was trying not to sound racist and call it Asian Camp.) Mike had been there again, too. Even Quinn had a job. She was a nanny for Beth in Akron all summer. The point was, everyone had some kind of summer job except for Artie. And yeah, he did feel left out, when he thought about it for very long. But he also felt pretty lucky to have a pool and a decent tan.
"Artie, your phone was ringing." Speaking of people without jobs... Amy interrupted his peaceful solo swim as her voice rang out, and he raised his head to look at her, tilting his sunglasses and gazing up to see her approaching the side of the pool. "It was Quinn. You wanna call her back?"
Artie had deliberately left his phone inside so he could enjoy his pool time, undisturbed, but Amy knew that a call from Quinn was something he'd want to be interrupted for. Ever since Quinn spent a good chunk of her senior year in a wheelchair, they had been especially close. Their closeness went back further than that, of course, since Artie and his family had supported Quinn before and after the birth of her child.
After accepting his phone, he quickly dialed her back. He and Quinn had texted often that summer, but an actual call was kind of rare. He knew she was usually in the middle of entertaining a two-year-old, though, with trips to the zoo or the children's museum. Shelby made sure there was no shortage of activities for Quinn to entertain Beth with that summer.
"Hey you!" she greeted him. "Perfect timing. I just got Beth to take her nap."
"Yeah, Amy said you called," he replied. "It's great to hear your voice. How's PT going?"
"It's been going really, really well." Quinn only had one lingering consequence of the accident last fall. She still attended weekly therapy sessions for strengthening and endurance, having transferred her care to an outpatient program in Akron for the summer. "I'm hoping maybe they'll discharge me before I go to New Haven."
"It's a process, don't rush it." Artie's comment earned him a polite chuckle. Ever since last spring, when Quinn had boasted to the Glee club that she would be dancing by Nationals, thereby creating a state of internal panic, Artie had been gently but firmly reminding her to be patient with herself and the healing process.
"I know, I know," she said. "Back to the reason I called. Artie – you need to check on Tina. She and Mike just broke up."
"Say what?" Artie shook his head in disbelief. "No, they just got back from camp, and when I talked to her, they were still going strong. Are you sure? Why'd she call you?"
He didn't mean any offense by the last question. Tina had never exactly been close with Quinn, so it just didn't make sense to him why Tina would call her. Luckily, Quinn didn't act phased by his reaction at all.
"Well, she wanted to know if I had ever looked into tattoo removal and how much it had cost me," she explained. "When I told her I hadn't, she burst out crying and gave me the full story. Well, not everything... I still don't know what the tattoo thing is about."
Artie processed this quietly and it took him a minute or two to respond. "Can you call Mercedes?" he asked. "Look, I love Tina, I do, but seeing as we used to date, there's just some things we can't talk about."
"I did call Mercedes first," Quinn told him. "She's still on vacation with her family and won't be home until Saturday. And I'm in Akron. So that really just leaves you. Can you put your history with her aside and go check on her?"
Artie bit back a groan. He didn't want to leave his raft, but someone had just given him a job to do, and an important one at that. "Yeah. I'll do it."
Tina was home alone, and since a very small part of him wondered if being alone with her at her house with her in a vulnerable state would put them at risk for getting too intimate, he opted to meet her out in public. The Lima Bean was as good a place as any. It would be a nice, neutral place to sit and talk.
And, just to make sure he didn't accidentally turn into Tina's rebound date, he invited the first available person he could find to join them, Brittany S. Pierce.
"So, how's Santana?" Tina was making a point that she didn't really want to talk about Mike just yet by turning the topic of conversation to Brittany instead. Artie decided to be patient and wait for it to naturally come up.
"She's good, just already really busy with cheerleading practice..." Now Brittany looked a little depressed, too, and Artie remembered that she was also his ex. This did not bode well for him.
"Mike was getting really busy with his summer intensive classes too, and he's only been there a week..." Tina's eyes looked watery. "That's why I told him it was for the best if we ended things now, just to make it less painful and drawn-out."
"Wait, you broke up with him?" Artie had just assumed it was the other way around. Tina just dropped her gaze to her lap and nodded miserably. "Sorry... I just thought... then what's this about a tattoo?"
Tina looked alarmed as he accidentally blurted out what was probably supposed to be a secret. She looked at Brittany, who didn't appear phased by this news at all, then whipped her head back around to give Artie a sharp look.
"I wanted to get a tattoo of a dolphin for my eighteenth birthday," Brittany said, airily. "Because they're just gay sharks, you know. But I got scared that it would hurt a lot, so I didn't do it. You're really lucky, Artie. You could get a tattoo below your waist and you wouldn't even feel it."
Leave it to Brittany to put her own spin on things. "Fair point," he said, before turning back to Tina. "So, you did get a tattoo then? And it had something to do with Mike?"
Tina looked around, as though someone might suddenly overhear this shameful tidbit of gossip. "I got it on my hip," she began, lowering her voice so that Artie had to lean forward to hear. "It's not huge or anything. I was really getting serious about Mike after camp, so it says 'Mike Chang Forever' with, you know, like a number four in the word..."
Artie was glad they were interrupted by the barista because he was about to say something stupid like, why did you do a thing like that when you weren't married to the guy? Because, upon careful review, that comment did sound pretty judgmental. His brain was finally catching up with his mouth.
"One hazelnut latte for him," sang the chipper barista, as she approached the table. The Lima Bean was a friendly place, and if you were seated, they always brought you your drink. This spared Artie the awkwardness of going up to a counter and not being able to reach. "One cafe mocha for her, and one non-fat skinny vanilla latte for her."
Artie raised an eyebrow at Tina's drink order and its many modifications. "Well, don't act surprised," she barked at him. "Just trying to be smart. I'm afraid to step on the scale but I know I've gained weight. So now I'm gonna start my senior year fat and single."
"You're not fat," Artie told her.
"You're husky," Brittany added, in a way that was probably meant to be helpful but just made Tina scowl at her.
"There's nothing wrong with starting senior year single," Artie said, trying to move past Brittany's comment and reassure their unhappy friend. "It's better even. Leaves the door open for new opportunities. Besides, you don't want to be tied down. You're about to go to Brown and find someone perfect for you there."
"If I get in," she moped again. "It's early, I know, but no word yet. I can't stand all the waiting. Waiting to hear about college, waiting for some guy to sweep me off my feet... always waiting."
"Hey, guys." They were interrupted by Kurt, who was barely recognizable as Kurt, since he was wearing a Lima Bean apron over a boring shirt and slacks instead of one of his designer outfits.
"Hey, you really look a lot like our friend, Kurt," Brittany told him.
"Britt, it's me," he said, with an amused smirk. "I just got a job here for some extra cash. Just living at home and helping out in the garage when I can. I'm saving up for when Blaine and me go to New York next year. I'm gonna do a few classes at community college, too. Trying to see if I can talk Finn into registering for a class or two as well."
"How's your dad, Kurt?" Artie wanted to know. The last time he had been by the garage for an oil change, he'd talked to Finn while he waited. Burt had stepped out to say hello, and Artie noticed all his hair was gone, even his eyebrows. It didn't look all that unusual for an older man, but still, it reminded Artie than Kurt's father and Finn's stepfather was very sick.
"He's doing well," Kurt reported, brightly. "With any luck, he's about to finish his last round of chemo. Then he'll have some more scans to see what the next step will be."
"Hey, Kurt, you've got to refill the biscotti barrel every 15 minutes!" The female barista's voice rang out, gesturing for Kurt to return to his post.
"Oops," he said. "Duty calls. See you guys later."
"I never expected Kurt to stay home a year after high school and work instead of heading straight to New York," Tina commented, as the other guy walked away, and Artie was glad for the subject change, even if it was a lead-in to gossip about Kurt.
"Well, Kurt's dad is really important to him," Artie reasoned.
"And Blaine," Tina added.
"Yeah, but I don't think he's staying home for Blaine," Artie said, feeling the need to defend their friend. Everyone was saying that Kurt stayed home because of Blaine, and maybe a small part of that statement was true or maybe it was an just an added bonus. But Artie believed that Burt was Kurt's real reason for staying home. For a long time, it had just been Kurt and his dad, since they'd lost his mother to cancer. And now that his dad was battling the same illness, of course he didn't want to pack up and leave.
The coffee shop's front door swung open and a flash of red and white caught Artie's eye. Several of the Cheerios had just arrived, already wearing their uniforms even though school hadn't even started yet. Artie shot Brittany a quizzical look, wondering why she wasn't with them.
"Those are the newbies," Brittany explained, before he could ask. "They're at Cheerio bootcamp this week. This is my fifth year, so I'm excused for part of it."
A girl with a blonde ringlet for a ponytail stood at the back of their line and talked eagerly to one of the brunettes. Artie did a double take. It wasn't just because of the uniform and the ponytail, but the girl looked so much like Quinn that, for a second, he thought it was her.
"Who is that?" Artie wanted to know, gesturing as subtly as he could towards the blonde.
"That's Quinn, silly," said Brittany.
"Uh, no Britt," Tina said. "That's not Quinn. Quinn's graduated and she's in Akron right now, working for Shelby all summer."
"Oh, right," Brittany said. "Well – I don't know her then. She does look a lot like Quinn."
Artie watched the Cheerios finish placing orders as he, Tina, and Brittany sipped their coffee and continued chatting. The Cheerios took over the couches at center of the shop, which several people promptly vacated as soon as they approached. Artie focused on watching the one who looked like Quinn. She didn't look exactly like Quinn, now that he got a good look at her face, but she was definitely similar. And pretty. Very pretty.
He was thinking about his own current social status. Surely winning Nationals would give Glee club something of a boost. Perhaps the knowledge that they too were winners would improve their standing with the Cheerios. Being that he had one more year to get this whole thing right, plus the fact that he was kind of proud of his tan and his devil-may-care summer style, he decided to do something bold. There was only one way to find out where Glee club stood with the Cheerios. He set his coffee cup on the table and unlocked his breaks. His path was clear.
"I'm going to go talk to them," he said, decisively, before Tina could try to talk him out of it. "All the Cheerios who went to Nationals with us graduated, so we do need to replace them, right?"
"You could leave the recruitment process to Brittany," Tina suggested, as Artie wheeled away from their table, ignoring her attempt to dissuade him from his mission.
"Whoops, didn't see you!" The female barista who carried their drinks had to do a dance to get around his chair, as he blocked her path to the girls. Thankfully, she didn't spill anything.
"Sorry!" he exclaimed, blushing furiously. The blonde one he had been staring at noticed him, at the worst possible moment, and gave him a critical look. Down, then up, the chair being the first thing she'd seen.
As the barista passed drinks to them, around Artie and over his head, Artie felt his face growing warmer. He had to recover from this not-so-smooth first impression. So, naturally, opening his mouth and blurting something out was a great way to do that.
"Hey, ladies, I'm Artie," he said. "Senior member of the New Directions, McKinley's glee club that just won the National championship in Chicago last May. On behalf of the Glee club, I'd like to welcome any newcomers to McKinley."
"Are you what they call the 'Welcome Wagon?'" the blonde asked, quick with her witty comeback as she gestured to his wheels and got a laugh out of those in the group brave enough to laugh. The rest just looked uncomfortable.
"Took the words right out of my mouth," he said, meeting her eyes and sticking out a hand, momentarily forgetting that he wearing his gloves and they weren't his newest or his nicest. He noticed her eyes land on the glove, which he promptly removed before putting his hand out again. She gave him a rather reluctant handshake. "I didn't catch your name."
"I'm Kitty," she said, before taking a sip of the drink she'd just been handed. She made a face and promptly stood up. She marched over to the counter and cut in front of the line of people waiting to place orders. "Excuse me. Garçon?"
Kurt turned around, looking slightly frazzled. "Oui, mademoiselle?"
"My iced latte's too cold," she told him.
"It's an iced latte." He blinked a few times.
"It's an iced latte that's too cold," she said, setting it on the counter and pushing it toward him, her words dripping with disdain. "I'm gonna need you to make me a new one."
Artie didn't know what else to do. Just because she was a Cheerio who looked like Quinn didn't mean she was Quinn. Feeling a bit defeated, he rolled himself back to Tina and Brittany, while Kitty stood by the counter and drummed on her fingers on the countertop as Kurt remade her drink.
"So, who was she?" Tina wanted to know. "I can't believe you just went up and talked to that whole group of Cheerios like that."
"That was Kitty..." Artie looked over his shoulder just as she happened to turn away and notice him looking. He immediately turned around. "Uh, and she's..."
"Currently staring you down," Tina reported. Artie didn't dare turn back around. "Kitty, eh? Looks like her claws came out. What did you say to her?"
"Nothing, I just introduced myself," Artie said. He didn't want to talk about it, so he hastily changed the subject. "Anyway, I have an idea, for your tattoo. It wouldn't involve removing it, but it would involve going back to your tattoo parlor. How'd you get them to take you anyway? You're not eighteen."
"A friend that went to camp with me let me use her ID," Tina explained. "We sort of look alike, to the casual observer who thinks all Asian people look alike. Anyway, it worked, I passed myself off as her."
"I see," said Artie. "Well, you'll have to borrow it again. See if they can change 'Mike' into 'Make.' And then add an 'e' to the end of 'Chang.' So, you have 'make change forever." He concluded with a smirk and a sip of his latte. "Change is good."