Chapter 4
Miraculously, they made it into the stadium without Jeff and Blaine exploding, and purchased the obligatory foam fingers and hot dogs before they took they're seats. Rachel, who had grown up around her brother and fathers' obsession with the sport, was half joining in their exuberance. But Kurt, whose interest in sports was limited to cheering Finn on at football games, was starting to get a glazed-over look in his eyes as he sat in between Rachel and Blaine.
When the teams came out to warm up however, his eyes took on an entirely different look. Rachel looked over at her friend and giggled.
"They do fill out those uniforms nicely don't they?" she asked with a smirk.
"Definitely." He replied and was surprised to find he wasn't the only one who agreed.
Blaine, who had apparently been listening to the entire conversation, chose that moment to jump in.
"The love of the game isn't the only reason I watch baseball." He said with a leering grin. "It's kind of the only reason I play though." With that, he winked at Kurt and turned his attention back to the players.
Kurt blinked. He had forgotten that in addition to being lead on the Warblers, Blaine was also on Dalton's baseball team. He had never seen him play because, while Rachel had begged him to tag along and entertain her, he hadn't fancied sitting for hours watching her little brother play sports. Of course that had been before this…attraction or crush or whatever this madness was had overtaken him.
With an absent sort of air he stared at Blaine, fashioning an image in his head of the younger boy in the red, navy blue, and white uniform that he had seen in the bathroom floor at the Anderson-Berry's and unconsciously licked his lips.
"Kurt!" Rachel shouted, waving her hand in front of his face and effectively snapping him out of his fantasy. "Space out much?" she said.
"Sorry." He replied, trying really hard not to blush, "Just lost in thought." Kurt punctuated the explanation with an awkward giggle and turned his attention to the field.
About an hour later, Kurt began to squirm in his seat. "This is endless." He declared. "Isn't there like, a half time or something?" he heard Blaine and Jeff snigger at this. "What?" he asked. "I don't do sports. I only go to Finn's football games to provide a cheering section."
"Kurt you played football." Rachel said incredulously.
"Wait, you played football?" Jeff fairly shouted. "I need photographic evidence of this and hopefully some video." With that he fell to the floor in front of his seat laughing.
Blaine stared at Kurt for several seconds and shook himself.
"I played football for about a month. I was a Cheerio longer." Kurt grumbled, none too happy about Jeff's mirth and, for once, unable to come up with a sarcastic comment.
"You were a cheerleader?" Jeff asked, pausing for a moment to think about this. "Okay, that makes sense."
Blaine seemed to grow uncomfortable with the topic and scrambled to change it. "Baseball doesn't have halftime. All 9 innings are played straight through." He said with a smile.
"What's an inning?" Kurt asked, suddenly more interested in baseball than he'd ever been before.
Blaine flashed him that smile again and launched into an explanation of the finer points of baseball, pausing several times to stand up and cheer loudly when the Yankees did something worth cheering.
Kurt couldn't help but admire the way Blaine looked when he was clapping and yelling even when he was patiently walking Kurt through the rules of the game.
Suddenly he felt a death grip on his upper arm. "Kurt I need to use the ladies' room. Escort me, please." She said, shooting him a significant look as she did so.
Worried about what was in store for him he followed her down the stairs toward the restrooms. When they reached the doors she spun on him.
"Why have you been staring at Blaine like he's lunch?" she demanded.
Kurt froze. She had seen? "I don't know what you're talking about." He said quickly.
Rachel stared at him intensely for several seconds before Kurt finally cracked.
"I think he's hot, Okay." he said, looking down at his shoes.
"I knew it!" she shrieked, bouncing onto her toes, "I totally knew it."
"Wait, you're happy about this?" Kurt said. He always thought that the admission would earn him a look of horror.
"Of course I'm happy about it!" she said, giggling and throwing her arms around his neck, which was something of a feet as Rachel was a good deal shorter than Kurt. "We can just marry each other's siblings and be brother and sister for real." She said.
Kurt stared at her for a minute before answering. "Slow down. I said I thought he was hot, I am not picking out china patterns."
"We'll see." She replied cryptically. "Let's get back to the game." She said and half ran back to their seats, Kurt trailing behind her with a confused expression.
When the game ended—none too soon in Kurt's opinion—in a victory for the Yankees, they left with Blaine, Jeff, and Marcus still shouting themselves hoarse until they made it to the parking lot.
They spent the rest of the day shopping; meaning Kurt and Rachel shopped while Theo and Marcus looked on fondly and Jeff and Blaine made asses of themselves: trying on various women's hats, having sword fights with London Fog umbrellas, and dancing with mannequins.
That night after an intense but silent argument, Rachel ended up on the cot and Kurt on the couch, while Blaine and Jeff piled into the bed. The next morning they began packing and by noon they were on their way to the airport—in lower spirits than when they had come—talking about their favorite parts of the trip. Soon enough they would be back in Lima.