A/N: Yes, I'm taking some creative liberties here and mixing a couple of storylines around from different episodes that took place in different school years and assigning lines to different people. That's all part of the fun for me, so I hope you enjoy it, too. Happy to see some of my longtime readers are still reading! I know I'm taking it awfully slowly.
Connecting Grounds was a neat little coffee shop on the Ohio State campus that sold a wide selection of snacks and baked goods, in addition to coffee, of course. It was where he and Becky stopped to recharge after the tour. Having finally finished the well-orchestrated preview of the workforce certificate program known as TOPS, it was now time to sit down and mull it over with some coffee. Only Becky didn't like coffee. Artie talked her into a mocha latte with extra mocha, after they learned that these guys were purists and didn't sell anything that didn't at least have a little coffee in it. As for Artie, he ordered iced latte with an extra shot of espresso for an energy boost.
They found seating beside a window and a large fireplace. Artie pulled his chair up across from her, with a small coffee table between them, as Becky handed him his drink and then settled into the oversized armchair. Her shorter legs didn't quite reach the ground and, after having a little giggle about that, she tucked them under her and sipped her mocha, looking satisfied with the taste. "Mmm!" she declared. "I don't even taste the coffee."
"Shh, shh, don't let these coffee snobs hear that," Artie cautioned her, as she giggled again. Becky did a lot of giggling. He'd noticed that during the tour they'd just completed. It probably happened when she was nervous.
"I guess... if I'm going to be in college... I have to learn to drink coffee," Becky agreed, to which Artie nodded following a long swig of his drink, made by the barista to absolute perfection. He'd have to thank Amy for suggesting this place, one of her favorite spots to study and consume caffeine.
Out of the corner of his eye, he caught a group watching them. Becky's loud voice with her slow, effortful speech might have been the culprit this time, as opposed to Artie's wheelchair. Or it could have been the interesting combination of the two. Whatever the case, the gawkers looked away by the time they noticed him noticing them.
"So, Becky," Artie started in. "Let's debrief. Tell me what you liked, what you didn't like, all of it. Can you see yourself coming here in the fall?"
"Well, the Amy Abrams giving me a tour of the campus was... awesome." Becky regarded Amy, the former head Cheerio, as something of a mini-celebrity. And as for Amy, she hadn't minded the celebrity treatment one bit.
Artie chuckled. "You made my sister feel special again," he said. "To be honest, I don't think she's felt particularly special since her cheerleading days ended, so thank you for that."
"Lucky for me, I'm gonna be special long after my cheerleading days are over," Becky quipped. It was such a well-delivered, self-deprecating dig and she knew exactly what she meant by it, too. Artie wasn't automatically sure if he was allowed to laugh, but Becky was laughing, so he joined her. He couldn't help it; she was hilarious.
"To being special," Artie agreed, raising a toast. Becky picked up her hot coffee and clinked their cups together. Artie hid a smile as he peered over the top of his cup at her and took a drink. His friends had acted like he ought to be ashamed, for spending his weekend with Becky and for agreeing to take her to Sugar's party. He couldn't help but recall their awful reactions to spotting them eating lunch together on Thursday. He and Becky had enjoyed lunch at a private table together, so as to plan for their college visit day, which fell on the following Friday. Artie had felt a little self-conscious at first. Yes, people stared at them at lunch, but he'd ignored plenty of gawkers over the course of ten years. He had one more college visit day to spare, and he was happy to donate it to Becky's future.
But his friends weren't very understanding. At all.
"Why did we see you eating lunch in the cafeteria with Becky Jackson?" Tina wanted to know, ambushing him in the choir room in front of everyone.
"And what's this about her coming to my party?" Sugar wanted to know, coming up beside Tina and tossing her hair over her shoulder. "I kind of intended that for Glee kids and their dates only. I thought I made that clear when I handed out invites. Maybe you misunderstood, since you were out sick?"
"No, I didn't misunderstand," Artie countered. "I understood that you intend the party to be for us Glee kids and our dates. Becky is my date."
"Told you," Sugar muttered to Tina, though Artie heard her perfectly well.
He thought he'd noticed Kitty angling her body ever so slightly in his direction from where she was seated across the room, probably only pretending to listen to a conversation between the other sophomore members of the club while actually eavesdropping on them.
It didn't matter, because when Artie said the words "Becky is my date," the whole room stopped talking and turned to look in his direction. Mr. Schue even dropped his marker.
"Artie..." Tina trailed off, looking over her shoulder at Sam for help. "Maybe you need a Becky-vention."
"Yeah, dude, what's your angle?" Sam asked.
"I don't have an angle," Artie said, though that wasn't entirely true. At first, he'd only agreed to the date so she'd go on the college tour with him Friday. But now, he was imagining that Sugar's stuffy party was going to be a lot more fun with Becky around.
"Look, we think it's great that you're being so, so nice to Becky..." Tina started in again.
"I don't." It had been Kitty who cut Tina off with a comment from the back of the room. She rose from her seat with a smirk. "I know that girl. That girl's a sly, conniving bitch."
Tina, unsettled by Kitty's comment, added: "We just... we think you should be careful."
"Yeah, you don't want to lead her on," Sam chimed in, agreeing with Tina, naturally. Artie blamed himself for casting them opposite each other in the musical. "I mean, she's gonna think that you want..."
"What is she going to think?" Artie challenged him. "That she's fun to be around? That I have a good time hanging out with her?"
The room had fallen silent at that. Sam sent a sidelong glance to Tina that looked like a cry for help. Artie rarely took the floor in choir room drama. That was usually reserved for Rachel and Santana or maybe even Quinn, back in her pregnancy days, but he supposed it was finally his turn. But honestly, there were just a few things he'd been holding back from saying for... a while now.
"You know, you guys talk a good game how it's okay to be different, how it's what's on the inside that counts..." Artie addressed the whole room, his eyes landing on each and every one of them. "But I think you're just as narrow-minded as the rest of this school. I like spending time with Becky. She knows what it's like to be trapped by a disability. She doesn't care what people think about her. She's really optimistic about life, which is really amazing considering what life has handed her."
Interestingly, Kitty was the only one who didn't look away from him as he spoke. She seemed unbothered by the speech that was meant to shame them. As a matter of fact, she even nodded along with what he said. After feeling like she was never going to stop distancing himself from him, this was something of a win. Or it would have been... had Becky not already been his date. He hadn't even gotten the chance to work up the nerve to ask Kitty to the party. And now Becky was his date, so that ship had sailed.
But he wasn't sure he would have worked up the nerve to ask Kitty to the party anyway.
Yet now that he was sitting here at a coffee shop on the OSU campus with Becky, enjoying a cup of coffee and recapping the day with her, he didn't regret his choice at all. Someone needed to take a chance on her. Becky missed out on a lot of things due to her disability, more than he ever would have imagined. She summed that up now as she talked about her feelings about the college visit.
"But you asked what I didn't like. Almost everybody there in that program had Down Syndrome," she said, and Artie noticed how she dropped her head as though she was embarrassed to even bring it up. "It doesn't feel like they're trying to include us with the regular people very much."
The regular people. Artie's heart sank when he heard that wording in Becky's confession. "Well, uh..." he stammered, trying to work out a reply to that very honest and accurate observation. "So, I know the classes, they do have a lot of people with... with Down Syndrome. But, I mean, these classes aren't gonna be your whole college experience. There's no reason you can't be included in all of the activities available to other students."
"Coach always said that," Becky reminisced, wistfully. "She always kept her promise and included me. I'm gonna miss her a lot."
"Which is why I'm sure you're tempted to take that job she's offered you at McKinley," Artie pointed out, at which point Becky nodded and sighed deeply. And even though she didn't explain it, Artie interpreted what was meant by the heavy sigh. "But you also know you don't want to be in the same place you've always been forever... right?"
Becky's expression told him he'd pinpointed the dilemma. "Right," she said. "I just don't know if there would ever be... another perfect place for me. If any other place would ever feel like home." She paused thoughtfully. "And I can't take my cat with me to college."
"Which will just make your weekend visits extra special?" Artie ventured hopefully. "If it helps, Becky, my sister is graduating but she's pretty well-connected here. She'll know a lot of people that can help you get plugged in somewhere. And make sure you feel included.
"Maybe... but I'd have to ride the bus home every weekend to see Coach at the football games and to see Mr. Purrfect." She paused, and clarified. "That's my cat."
"I don't think that would be a problem," Artie agreed. "So, do you know what you want? Are you coming here?"
She looked nervous but resolute. "Yes." Setting her mocha latte aside on the coffee table, she rose and stepped towards Artie, stooping to give him a hug. She hugged him longer and harder than anyone outside of his family or Tina ever had. When she stepped back, he noticed she was crying a little.
"Don't be scared," Artie urged her. "You'll be great in college, I'm sure of it."
"So will you," Becky said, as she returned to her seat and wiped her eyes, smiling through her tears. "Did you find out if you got into the film school yet?"
"Er..." He'd gotten into not one but two film schools but he hadn't told a soul, not even his mother since he'd managed to get to the mail before she did and he'd hidden the two letters from Los Angeles and Brooklyn that had miraculously come on the same day. "No, not yet."
He felt terrible lying to Becky like this. But he wasn't prepared to unpack what it might mean to choose either of those schools. It might not work out. People might not take him seriously. And now, what with having not one but two schools to choose from, it was twice as hard. He had a serious case of Imposter syndrome. Unless you were Christopher Reeve and you'd been Superman in a past life, nobody in New York or L.A. was really going to listen to a nineteen-year-old Nobody from Nowhere, Ohio who used a wheelchair.
"Oh," said a crestfallen Becky. "Well, you will, I know you will. Grease was so good. Kitty was perfect for Sandy." She paused. "Tina as Rizzo not so much. I would have been better."
Artie cackled at Becky's blunt assessment of his final school production. "Thanks," he said. "How come you didn't audition? I would have loved having you in my show."
Becky shrugged. Artie was pretty sure it was the same reason he didn't personally want to be in it (until Jake had to drop out and he was forced to play Teen Angel). Therefore, since he knew why and he knew it wasn't an easy thing to talk about, he decided he wouldn't press it any further. Instead, he suggested they go ahead and leave to meet up with Amy, who had one last tour for them. Becky needed to see the dormitory she'd be living in. And she was going to be happy when she saw that she, in no way, would be separated from the other students just because she was part of the TOPS program.
They found Amy sitting at the front desk, working on her school work, clicking away at her laptop. She didn't have to do much while at the desk, other than occasionally call maintenance for somebody or greet any visitors that came by. She looked up and beamed at them.
"Saved from my final project," she said, rising from her seat. "I could use a break. Oh, and you brought me sustenance, too?" Amy commented on the iced coffee that Becky proudly placed on her desk.
"Becky's idea," Artie reported, glancing up at the girl who still positively idolized his sister just because she'd been head Cheerio once upon a time. "She just asked me what you usually liked to order."
"My treat," Becky said, proudly. "Actually, my mom's. I'm broke! Are pets really not allowed in the dorms, ever?"
"Only service animals," said Amy, and when Becky looked mystified, she clarified her statement. "You know, like for the disabled..."
"But I'm disabled!"
Artie laughed, not unkindly, and Becky just grinned proudly like she'd found herself a loophole. Amy just looked stumped. "Well, um, I guess you could always ask," she said, stepping out from behind the desk. "Here, I'll show you one of our available rooms. Prepare to be... underwhelmed."
The college visit with Becky just solidified why Artie was happy to bring her along to Sugar's party as his date that same weekend. Saturday came around, and now he was proud to show up as her date.
When they first arranged to go together, she'd even asked him what she should wear, so that they could match. He was sporting the weird but awesome red suit with the white ruffled shirt he'd worn to junior prom, simply because it was red and that was great for Valentine's Day. His mother even found him a lavender bow tie to pair with it. Becky, in turn, had picked herself out a lavender tulle dress and had accessorized that with a red sash and red flats. Artie's mom picked up a red and lavender wrist corsage for her and a matching boutonnière for him. They took pictures in his living room before the dance. Artie was pretty sure nobody else was treating this party like the prom, but Becky had never had a proper date before. It was important to her. Artie could respect that.
As he handed their tickets to Sugar on the way in, with a suddenly-timid Becky hanging onto the back of his chair for dear life, he had no regrets. Even despite the way Sugar looked down her nose at them.
Sam, Tina, and Blaine were already onstage, performing Britney's 3 in perfect harmony, and Artie was a little annoyed to be left out of a senior thing again. He figured they practiced while he was visiting Ohio State with Becky, though. Whatever. And as annoyed as he felt, he could only imagine it was but a small taste of what Becky dealt with all the time. Tonight was probably the first time she'd really felt included in four years.
Glancing over his shoulder, he grinned at her and asked: "Wanna dance?" He pointed to the makeshift dance floor where Brittany was currently dancing with Santana to one of her namesake's newer songs.
Becky nodded eagerly, her shyness melting away. She fearlessly joined Artie, alongside Brittany and Santana, as they tried to copy the two ex-Cheerios and their moves.
"My mom says I have 'Get-Down Syndrome!'" Becky joked, as Artie laughed appreciatively at that, for it sounded like the type of self-deprecating joke he would make, too.
"You wore your prom suit, Artie!" Brittany said, as she suddenly noticed him, while also not displaying the slightest reaction to who he'd brought as his date. "It looks nice with lavender but I liked it with the lime green, too, when you and I matched for our prom date."
He'd had to practically beg Britt for that date, too. To hear her even refer to it as a date was weird, because the way he recalled it, he was something of a last resort when Santana wasn't willing to do anything as public and demonstrative as being Brittany's date for the prom.
"He would have had more fun with me," Becky announced boldly. To be honest, all this prom talk was making him a little nervous. He didn't want Becky to hint that she wanted him to ask her. He hadn't given up the hope of maybe starting something with Kitty, even if it was getting pretty late in the game.
Speaking of which, he cast a look in Kitty's direction. He'd spotted her earlier and couldn't quite figure out the situation with the juniors and sophomores. Marley, Jake, Ryder, Sugar, Joe, and Kitty were joined by Jordan Stern, a.k.a. "Neck Brace Cheerio" who had suffered an unfortunate cheerleading accident and seemed to have incurred permanent damage to her neck. Amazingly, it didn't seem to slow her down, even though Artie could definitely vouch for the fact that it wasn't a good idea to take risks where the neck or back was concerned. Anyway, he couldn't figure out who was dating who in this situation. They'd all been gathered together at the same table all evening. Sugar had said no one would get in without a date. And Jordan wasn't in Glee, which must have made her someone's date. Which would have to leave somebody over there without a date...
When song ended, Tina wasted no time in hopping off the stage and approaching them. Sam followed her. As for Blaine, he'd brought Kurt along as his date and quickly skirted off to rejoin him. Mike hadn't been able to make it, which meant that Tina had partnered up with Sam as her just-friends date for this party.
"Brittany, Santana!" she said, rushing up to both girls and hugging Brittany. As for Santana, she kept a reasonable distance and played it much cooler. Artie wondered if she'd come to terms with being a college cheerleader, now that she and Britt were reunited.
"Hey, Becky, you having fun?" Sam asked, grinning at her.
"So much fun!" Becky exclaimed. And then, when Sam was out of earshot, she leaned over to Artie. "Sam grins too much. He looks like an insane person."
Artie struggled to hold it together at that comment. He offered to go get them both some refreshments, since Sugar had fancy cans of that La Croix sparkling water and cookies, which he could easily manage to carry in his lap. Becky agreed to that, then promptly joined Sam and Tina for a dance as Blaine and Kurt started back up the performances with their rendition of 'Teenage Dream,' Blaine's signature song.
Artie didn't see that Tina was following him until he reached the refreshment table and began collecting his snacks.
"Artie, I'm sorry," she said, as he wedged two cans of the weird rich people drink between his knees and began loading a plate up with cookies for he and Becky.
Artie was mystified by the apology. "Uh... it's okay," he said. "I know I was busy all weekend. You, Sam, and Blaine couldn't have invited me to join you in rehearsals. Besides, the song's called 3, so I guess a fourth person wouldn't make sense anyway."
Now it was Tina's turn to look confused. "What are you talking about?"
Artie just blinked. "What are you talking about?"
Tina glanced over her shoulder at Becky and Sam before turning back to address Artie, kneeling as she did so. "I'm sorry if, by breaking things off with you the way I did, that you somehow got the message that you're not worthy of... you know, like, a real date..." (Artie opened his mouth to protest, but she held up a hand and kept going.) "I know you're having a good time with Becky, but I couldn't help but notice you looking over at the sophomores a few times tonight."
Artie froze. He didn't think his crush on Kitty was that obvious, yet Tina was picking up on it. He'd have to be more careful. But, before he could think on it another minute, Tina added: "I'm sorry to be the one to tell you this but Marley's pretty serious about Jake..."
Marley? Had Tina been living under a rock? Sure, he'd been interested in the sweet, timid brunette initially, but things had quickly changed when he'd gotten to know Kitty. And she'd given him plenty of reasons to believe that she wasn't entirely indifferent to him either. If he hadn't blown the whole thing right before Christmas...
"... Artie?"
He snapped out of it. "N-no... that's not it," he stammered. "I was wondering why Jordan Stern's still wearing that neck brace."
"Oh, my God, I know right?" Tina said. "She came with Joe. At first, I thought Joe was coming with Kitty. But Kitty's here by herself. I thought Sugar wasn't letting anyone come without a date, but I guess even she doesn't say no to Kitty."
So his suspicions were correct. Kitty was there without a date. He didn't dare let Tina know that she'd just given him the faintest glimmer of hope that he might still have a chance with Kitty. (Because then, of course, Tina would find out that it was Kitty, not Marley, who had caught his eye from across the room.)
He played it cool, though, as Becky joined him at their table for cookies and La Croix. As she took a swig of the colorful can, however, she made a face and suddenly spit it out like it had offended her. "Don't drink that, it's so bad!"
As for Artie, he laughed until his face hurt. He couldn't have asked for a better night.