AUTHOR'S NOTE:

Thank you so much to everyone who reviewed the last chapter! I appreciate you all and your feedback so much!

Similar to chapters you may remember from my story "Getting to Know You", this chapter contains some of my very rusty French. It's probably choppy, badly conjugated, and may just even be wrong overall. My apologies, I am trying my best! And if anyone reading this is fluent in the language and spots any mistakes and wants to help me out, my DMs are always open. ;)

Chapter 30: Groupe de Trois

SEBASTIAN

After taking most of last week off to be available to work on Artie's short film, Sebastian was excited to get back to work on Monday.

Well, not excited, exactly. But he didn't mind it either.

He and Sam were scheduled to work together again that afternoon. Sebastian had yet to work a shift without the other guy, and for that, he was thankful. Sam had become somewhat of a security blanket for him, and he liked having him there to lean on if customers were difficult, or just to entertain him with his various impressions whenever the night was slow. They made a pretty good pair.

"The pool party the other day was awesome," Sam told him as they were sitting outside on their break. They'd settled themselves in their usual spot– under the shady tree, on either side of the picnic table.

"It was pretty fun," Sebastian acknowledged. "A good way to let loose after a long week."

"Definitely," Sam nodded. "It was nice to have almost everyone together before we all split our separate ways in a month."

"Don't forget about the baby," Seb added cheekily. "From what I hear, she was an original member of the New Directions, too."

"Yeah, well, that was back before my time on the team started," Sam replied. "But I'd heard all about her and seen pictures. It was nice to see Puck and Quinn so happy like that. This past year was kind of hard for both of them. Seeing their-baby-that-isn't-really-their-baby was probably good for them."

Sebastian knew it was none of his business, so he didn't press further on either of those topics. He also didn't really care, so that was that.

"She liked you," Sam continued, taking a lick of his cookies and cream flavored cone.

"Who?"

"Beth. You were good with her."

"Yeah? Well, I don't know why that would be," Sebastian told him, brushing off the compliment he wasn't sure he deserved in the first place. "She's, like, the first toddler I've ever interacted with."

"For whatever it's worth, Stevie and Stacey thought you were pretty cool, too," Sam reminded him. "And, you know, some people don't need a lot of experience to be good with kids. They just are. Maybe Ms. Corcoran was right. Maybe you could be a teacher. Kids are exhausting sometimes, sure, but they're never boring. I kind of like the idea myself, some days. A good teacher can change somebody's life! Look at what Mr. Schue has done for all of us. I kind of like the idea of having that kind of impact on people."

To Sebastian, it seemed like Sam was the one person that everyone in the New Directions adored unconditionally. He was genuinely a good guy who cared for everyone and wanted to see everyone smile. He was empathetic, and kind, and patient. Of course he would be a perfect teacher someday. Sam would be good at it for all the reasons why Sebastian wouldn't be.

But, of course, Sebastian didn't say all of that. It would have been far too nice. "So… you want to coach Glee Club?" he joked instead.

"Well, no. Maybe? I dunno," said Sam. "Still sounds a lot more appealing to me than sitting in an office cubicle somewhere like my dad…"

"Well, you have little siblings," Seb reminded him. "You've already proven yourself to be capable of all of that. I don't know why Beth liked me. I mean, she's, what? Two? She probably just likes everyone. Not so sure that we should let one good moment determine the course of my life."

He didn't know why he was acting so resistant to the idea. He supposed that this was some sort of defense mechanism– deflecting praise like this.

On one hand, as someone who wasn't entertaining many potential leads for his future, he knew that he probably shouldn't be so opposed to things that multiple people have suggested he may be good at. Maybe they were seeing things in him that he could not. On the other hand, while he admired Sam's apparent admiration for teachers like Mr. Schue and the impact they could have on their students' lives, Sebastian knew that wasn't what he was meant to do. After all, he'd never been known for his empathy and patience.

"Well, whatever. It was just a suggestion," Sam said, shrugging, clearly not wanting to waste what was left of their shift's break arguing with a stubborn Sebastian Smythe. "Anyway, you and Artie should host more big parties like that. None of our other friends have pools, so I'll bet everyone would show up for them."

Sebastian took a bite of his vanilla soft serve and tilted his head thoughtfully. It would be pretty fun to turn that into a regular thing. But, of course, he'd have to clear that idea with Artie first, and then they'd have to get permission from Nancy and Dad. The last thing he and Artie needed would be to have a huge rager without giving the parents advance knowledge and wind up grounded for the rest of the summer.

Sebastian's father had never been much of a disciplinarian. Thanks to that, Sebastian had gotten away scot-free in many instances where he probably should have been in trouble (recently, he'd come to wonder how much this little tidbit may or may not have contributed to some of his behavior issues that had extended into his adolescence. But whatever! He was working on that!). Seb knew, however, that Nancy wasn't the same way. She wasn't afraid to give her kids a talking-to and punish them accordingly when necessary. His step-mother was a very nice lady, but Sebastian had no desire to push her to her limits and wind up on her bad side. If he and Artie were going to take on the role of hosting all of the friend group's summer gatherings, then they were going to make sure they had permission to do so beforehand.

"You know what could be kind of fun?" Sam wondered out loud. "Maybe Artie could rally all of us New Directions kids, and you could invite your Warblers," he suggested. "We could have a big party with both teams together."

"After all that happened last year?" Sebastian raised an eyebrow. "I don't know…"

"C'mon, wasn't it you that was ringleading all that stuff anyway?" Sam reminded him matter-of-factly. The other guy had a way of phrasing things that made even the most pointed of comments not seem offensive. That must have been some kind of talent. He was lucky.

Sebastian shrugged half-heartedly, not wanting to admit Sam was right. The tension between the two rival teams last year had almost entirely been his doing.

"We forgave you for all of that," Sam continued, peeling away the wrapper from his sugar cone before biting down and speaking with his mouth full. "Even Blaine did after what happened with the slushie in that parking garage. You're Artie's brother, and we all like you now. I'm sure it couldn't hurt to, you know, bridge the divide between the two teams, right? Go into the new school year with a fresh start and put all of last year's drama behind us?"

It wasn't a terrible idea, Sebastian could at least acknowledge that. But he still wasn't sure about a lot of things. How would his fellow Warblers feel about that? And– more importantly– would he even be a part of The Warblers come September? Sebastian still didn't even know if he would be brave enough to go through with transferring, or if he even wanted that.

"Maybe," Sebastian eventually said, pairing the statement with a noncommittal shrug before standing up to toss his now-empty styrofoam bowl in the trash. "I can talk to Artie about it later."

Their break was long over by then, and Sam followed Sebastian back inside, each of them donning their aprons, ready to get back to work. To their surprise, however, Mr. Sanderson– their boss– wasn't alone when they returned.

"Perfect timing!" Mr. Sanderson greeted them. "I want to introduce you to Missy. She'll be working here for the rest of the summer. Today's her first day, and I figured that you two could show her the ropes."

Sebastian noticed the way that the girl's eyes grew as wide as saucers as she took in the appearance of her new coworkers. Seb didn't think it was conceited of him to think that he and Sam were pretty easy on the eyes. That was a fact. They'd both been pretty blessed in the looks department, and it seemed like this girl could recognize that.

"Of course!" Sam exclaimed, always eager to meet someone new. Yet another way that he and Sebastian differed. "Nice to meet you. I'm Sam Evans."

"Missy Gunderson," she introduced herself, shaking Sam's hand. Her attention moved to Sebastian next, and… was it just him, or was she giving him a slow, drawn-out up-down as she took in his presence? "And you are?"

"Sebastian Smythe," he answered, shaking her hand. He figured that he'd at least put on an act of being pleasant. First impressions, and everything.

"Very nice to meet you, Sebastian," she said, her eyes twinkling.

"The pleasure's all mine," Seb replied, using that charismatic charm he was known for. The way that he could exchange his typically snarky personality for a pleasant one at just a moment's notice was a special skill of his. It was like a party trick– now you see it, now you don't.

Just from their brief initial interaction and the way that she was still looking fondly at him, Seb could tell that Missy was one of those girls who liked to flirt with any guy she found attractive. Though the attraction was not reciprocated, Sebastian was flattered by Missy's interest, especially as it seemed that she had taken a particular liking to him over Sam.

"Did you just move here or something?" Sam asked, handing her a clean apron for her to hang around her neck. Mr. Sanderson disappeared into his office just then, leaving the boys to show Missy the ropes as they got to know each other. "I don't think I've ever seen you around."

"We moved from Muncie, Indiana at the beginning of the summer," she told them. "But my mom told me that if I wanted to get a whole new wardrobe before school starts, I'd have to pay for it myself." Then, turning once again to Sebastian, Missy said, "Hey, what happened to your foot? You weren't working too hard on the job, were you? Because I'm trying to score a last-minute tryout for the cheer team, so I can't risk getting hurt."

Sebastian had nearly forgotten that he was even wearing the boot. His foot was feeling a lot better these days, and he had an appointment at the end of the week to get a new set of X-rays to see if his fractures had healed once and for all. He could see the light at the end of the tunnel.

"Pool accident," was all Sebastian told her, leaving it at that. "Are you starting at McKinley? What year are you? My sister's a Cheerio."

"I'll be a junior this year," she nodded. "Do you boys go to McKinley?"

"I do," Sam answered, just as Sebastian shook his head.

"I go to Dalton Academy," Seb replied. "We're gonna be seniors."

"Ooh, an older prep school boy," she commented, pretending to fan herself off dramatically. "Just my type. But isn't everyone… you know… gay there?"

"Well, not everyone," Sebastian started to say. "But I–"

"Okay, good," Missy cut him off. "Because you're too good-looking."

What was that supposed to mean?! Sebastian just tried to keep his face from showing how utterly ridiculous he thought that statement was. Just because he was hot, he couldn't possibly be into guys? How did those two things even correlate?

He was about to ask her that directly when a fun little idea popped into his head and caused him to reconsider.

There were no rules that said that he had to disclose his sexuality to anyone who asked. Especially not this girl that he'd only just met. So why not have a little fun with it instead?

Sebastian thought of himself as somewhat of a professional in the world of hitting on boys, but girls were something he had very little experience in. He didn't understand them or their interests, to the point that he was not even sure of what to say to flatter them. It was uncharted territory, and the idea intrigued him.

"Oh, yeah, what a waste that would be!" Sebastian agreed, shooting a glance Sam's way as he said so, and catching Sam's eye. The other guy looked confused by Seb's motives for lying to this girl, but mimed that he was zipping his lips anyway. That motion was as binding as a written agreement, as far as Sam Evans was concerned.

Sebastian didn't want anything out of this other than some attention and an exercise in acting. Just because he's gay didn't mean that he couldn't flirt shamelessly and have a little fun, right?

"What about you?" Missy asked, turning around and asking Sam. "Are you gay?"

"Oh, uh, no. I mean, I used to dye my hair so that it was a brighter shade of blonde to try to look like Patrick Swayze in Point Break, so some people used to think I was, so I stopped doing that," Sam explained. "I'm straight. But I'm not on the market, though. I kind of have a girlfriend."

This was news to Sebastian. Was Sam telling the truth, or was he just joining in on Sebastian's game?

"Ooh," Missy squealed. "You 'kind of' have a girlfriend? Sounds juicy. Do tell."

"Yeah, Sam, do tell," Sebastian urged.

"Well, uh, her name is Mercedes. I don't really know how to explain it, but what we have going is casual," Sam explained. "We secretly dated a little bit last summer, but then, well, my dad lost his job and we moved. I ended up moving back to Lima in the fall, but by then she had already moved on and was dating someone new. This lineman on the football team. I wasn't exactly respectful of that and tried to convince her that we could pick up right where we'd left off, but the timing was all wrong. She was committed to Shane, and I didn't want to accept that."

"What changed between then and now?" wondered Missy.

"They broke up eventually, and, of course, I was still waitin' for her, wanting to rekindle what we had," Sam said. "But she was hesitant to start anything new before she graduated, you know? She's going off to LA, gonna record a few records, and then she's gonna be a big, big star someday. She wanted to focus on that."

"But…" Sebastian said, encouraging Sam to keep going.

"But I wore her down some. Begged her to at least give us a fair shot. So she did, against her better judgment, and now we've been just taking things slow. I don't think we're actually, you know, boyfriend and girlfriend or anything. But, I'm committed to her if she'll have me. So… it's complicated."

Sebastian could tell now that Sam wasn't playing along with his game of pretend or making any of this up. This was real. Sam Evans was in love. And the girl he was head over heels for would be packing up and leaving for college in a few weeks, leaving him to wonder about what the fate of their relationship would be.

That whole situation sounded like somebody else Sebastian knew.

Sam was saved from explaining his and Mercedes' current predicament any further by a father, a mother, and a son who approached the order window.

"Hey, how can I help you?" Sam asked them, ready to show Missy how it's done. As he did this, Sebastian turned around and busied himself with washing some of the dirty ice cream scoops in the sink against the far wall.

"Ah… Je ne parle pas très bien Anglais," the customer said apologetically. "My English… not good."

Sebastian perked up upon overhearing that. The man's thick accent awoke something within him that he'd forgotten was there. It sounded so familiar. It reminded him of home.

"Parlez-vous Français?" Sebastian asked, wiping his hands off on a dish rag and walking over to stand next to Sam at the window. "Moi aussi, je parle Français."

"Ah, oui, super!" The tourist dad looked relieved before asking Sebastian if he was French. "Êtes-vous Français?"

Sebastian nodded eagerly. "Oui. Je viens de Paris. Je vis ici dans l'Ohio depuis neuf ans." ("Yes. I am from Paris. I have lived here in Ohio since I was nine years old.")

The man told Sebastian that their family was visiting the United States for the first time. They were on a road trip, driving from New York to Los Angeles. Sebastian didn't envy them– he could only imagine what their trip had been like so far, not only because it must be difficult to be in a new place and not speak the native language very well, but also because of how boring of a drive that must be. The midwest had earned the nickname 'the flyover states' for a reason. They were intensely boring to travel through and exist in, with very few things to offer besides corn fields and cows… and, apparently, family-owned roadside ice cream shops.

"Comment puis-je vous aider?" Sebastian asked. "How can I help you?"

Sebastian translated the menu for them and collected their orders of chocolate, mint chip, and cookie dough before turning around to hand the list to an awestruck Sam and Missy. They were shocked by the ease at which Sebastian had slipped into his long-forgotten French persona.

"Ooh la la!" Missy gushed once the family had walked away, happily enjoying their ice cream cones. If she hadn't been falling for him before, she surely was now. "Where did you learn that?!"

"He's a real Frenchman! He was born there and everything!" Sam jumped at the opportunity to explain. "Isn't that just incredible?" He put his arm around Sebastian's shoulders affectionately, clearly attempting to get the girl to like him even more. Seb appreciated the way that Sam was still playing along with his little game, but now he was almost going overboard. "When he first told me that, I didn't really believe him since he wouldn't say something for me in French, but as it turns out, he hadn't been lying after all!"

Sebastian just shrugged, not knowing what else to say. For someone who usually reveled in attention like this, Sebastian didn't know why he felt a little bit embarrassed right now. "It wasn't that big of a deal."

He was proud of himself for his ability to step in and help the tourist family, even if his French was a little rusty and his absent accent made the words coming out of his mouth sound unnatural and wrong. He may have messed up a word or two as well, but overall, he'd had a rather pleasant conversation, especially considering that he hadn't used the language in almost a decade.

Once the moment had passed and the adrenaline had died down, Sam and Missy had diverted their focus elsewhere, but Sebastian was left feeling very differently than before. It was a feeling that was sad, and big, and empty. That family– the father, the mother, and the young son– reminded Sebastian so much of what his own family had looked like at one point in time. And it stung.

With his whole entire being, Seb adored the family he had now. Nancy, Griffin, Ella, Artie… he loved each of them individually, and imagining a life without them now seemed impossible. But part of Sebastian still longed for that period of his life back. He hadn't known that the time he had left with his mom was limited and that he didn't have forever. He hadn't known how good his life was when he was living it. Of course, he was just a child then. There was no way he could have known what was coming around the corner. Part of him wished that he could live two lives at once: one filled with the innocence of a childhood unmarked by any kind of hardship, and one surrounded by the love and affection of his siblings.

"Surprise!"

Sebastian was snapped out of his reverie by the noisy arrival of Blaine and Tina at the order window. Sam's expression brightened at the sight of his friends, but Missy– who had no idea who these teenagers were– and Sebastian hung back.

"Hey guys!" Sam greeted them. "What are you doing here?"

"Just wanted to swing by and visit you," Tina said, resting her elbows on the counter. "And see if you maybe wanted to hang out with us tonight after you're off."

At this, Sebastian returned to the task of washing the dirty ice cream scoops– the ones he'd abandoned when the French family had shown up– and decided to listen in on the conversation between the little trio that Sebastian had come to despise that summer.

What about Artie? Sebastian silently wondered to himself. C'mon Sam. Tell them that they should ask Artie to come too.

"Sure, that sounds great!" Sam replied, evidently not receiving Sebastian's brain messages.

If Sebastian hadn't already been irritated by Blaine and Tina's presence, he sure was now. Sebastian was enraged on Artie's behalf; these three were supposed to be his friends, and yet, they hadn't made it a priority to hang out with him all summer. (The time they'd spent together while shooting the short film last week didn't count, Sebastian decided, as that had been Artie inviting them to hang out, not the other way around.) Even after Sebastian had attempted to subtly confront them at the pizza place in June about excluding Artie, he didn't think that they'd ever actually made the effort to include him. And now, here they were, planning yet another night spent together without sparing Artie a single thought.

Eventually, Sebastian just couldn't stand by and listen to this happen anymore.

"Hey, you know what?!" he snapped, dropping the scooper he was holding into the metal sink rather aggressively as he spun around. When he saw the three alarmed faces looking his way, though, Sebastian thought better of it and cut himself short.

Despite his good intentions, Seb knew that Artie would just about die of embarrassment before giving Sebastian a pretty severe tongue-lashing if he heard that he had said something (no matter how much this groupe de trois deserved a piece of his mind). So at the last second, Sebastian bit his tongue and amended what he was going to say. His outburst had gotten their attention, though, and Tina and Blaine were still blinking back at him, wide-eyed, as they stood on the other side of the order window.

"You guys have to order something if you're gonna come and stand there," was all Sebastian said. "This isn't a social club. It's a business."

"Okay, sure, I guess we can order something…" Blaine said, pulling out his wallet. "I'll take one scoop of Rocky Road. T, what would you like? It's on me."

Sebastian walked away, slumping down onto his trusty rolling stool and leaving Sam to handle his friend's orders. Missy, with her arms crossed, came to stand beside where Sebastian was sitting.

"That was hot, the way you commanded charge like that," she told him, which he shrugged off. He wasn't in the mood to continue his little game of pretending to be straight anymore. The fun had run its course. "I take it there's some history there?"

"You could say that," Sebastian replied, still eavesdropping on Sam, Blaine, and Tina's conversation.

They made plans to meet at Tina's later that evening, and Sebastian's blood began to boil. He couldn't believe they were doing this again– planning a time to hang out with one another, with obviously no plan to include Artie, even after they'd been made aware of how it had bothered him to be left out previously. And who knows how many other times they'd hung out without him so far that summer? Once is a mistake, twice is a pattern, three times is a habit. There was no way that they'd conveniently forgotten about the fourth rising senior in their friend group over and over again. It was evident that they didn't think it was a big deal to exclude him, or– even worse– that they just didn't care about Artie's feelings.

The more Sebastian thought about it, the angrier he became.