“You have to go with us!” Blaine looked at him with puppy dog eyes. Kurt didn`t understand why boys wanted him to go so bad. The weekend spent in some cabin in mountains didn`t sound bad, don`t get him wrong, but they were Mathew`s friends. The chance he would find out about their new friendship was big. He didn`t want to take a risk. Mathew would be definitely mad at Blaine and Nick if he found out.

“I don`t think it`s a good idea…” Kurt tried to let them know he wasn`t interested in the trip, but Blaine didn`t get him chance to finish the sentence.

“You need to get out of here. When was the last time you relaxed?” Blaine sent him meaningful look and waited for the answer.

“I know how to relax. I don`t stay at home all the time, you know that. I go out. Have fun… I spend at least one evening in a week with you guys. And Leah and I have private slumber parties and film evenings in our apartment sometimes. We`ve made few trips with Luke…” Kurt knew his attempt to defend himself wasn`t successful.

“Yeah, one day trips. You are in the same place all the time. You relax for three hours and then you are back in stereotype. You need to get out of here. You need fresh air. Weekend isn`t much, but it is at least something. Mathew`s not going to be there. Don`t worry about it.” Kurt knew Blaine was right. He did need to get out of the city. But he didn`t like this cabin idea at all. He didn`t want to be one who seemed to do anything to get attention from his ex through his ex`s friends. `Cos he did not.

 “I don`t drink beer, Nick.” Nick grinned at him. “I know. But maybe if you had one, you would be in a better mood and accept our suggestion.” Kurt had to end this conversation. The whole week it was the only topic of their discussion and he was tired of it. He saw Lucas coming to them and was sure he would help him.

“We are leaving tomorrow at five. Be ready. I`ll pick you up. We should get there at about seven.” Kurt`s eyes went wide. He couldn`t believe what he had just heard.

“What? You agreed with this horrible idea?”

“Take some warm clothes, there`ll be cold in the mountains. We all agreed you need to get out for a while. Besides, what would you do at home? Leah is on the business trip, isn`t she?”

“But…” Kurt tried to reason with him, but it was useless. Lucas was even more stubborn than Kurt was.

“No comment.”  

The cabin was situated at the end of a small village. There were only trees behind it. There was no fence and trees made the place look magical. Kurt had to admit he liked it. The cabin was big and he didn`t have a chance to explore it, because boys took him to the basement as soon as they left their suitcases in rooms. The basement was one large room with bar, big screen TV, pool table, darts and chess table. There was also the table which was use only for poker game. Kurt could see a lot of bottles of different type of alcohol on the bar. He was aware this was the place they were going to spent their night. Wes - the owner of cabin – was a nice guy. Kurt found himself thinking that maybe this wasn`t a bad idea after all, but he wouldn`t admit it to guys.

“Kurt, come on. Let`s warm up.” Blaine gave him a cue. Blaine, Lucas and Nick liked to play pool. Blain was really good at it, the same can`t be say about Kurt though. But for the record, Kurt had made a progress in past few weeks under Blaine`s supervision. They always played against Lucas and Nick. Blaine hit the balls and let Kurt hide them. While Kurt was warming up, boys were attacking the bar.  

 “What can I have for Kurt?” Wes asked them. “Red wine with cola.” Blaine answered immediately. He knew exactly how Kurt liked his drink. More cola than wine. Kurt usually made his drink himself because nobody respected his more nonalcoholic beverage than alcoholic one rule. Blaine was the only exception. But tonight he had another plan. Other drinks would be introduced to Kurt as well.

Nick was staring at the alcohol in front of him. He was calculating the best option for starter. Because of the pool game he took only beer. He had to start light and sober. Kurt had been improving in the game, so if he wanted to have a chance, the amount of alcohol in his veins should be the lowest the possible. It`s hard to play against Blaine even if he plays alone. Tonight, Nick and Lucas would finally beat them. Nick was glad Kurt agreed to come…Ok, maybe he had been forced to come… but Nick was still glad Kurt was here. He liked Kurt. Kurt was intelligent, he knew how to have fun without being completely wasted and they could discuss almost everything. The nights with Kurt were so different from nights Nick and Blaine spent with their colleagues. Guys from work seemed to have one goal – get drunk a forget everything. With Kurt, they always remembered what had happened previous night.     

“Can we start?” Blaine announced the beginning of the game. Wes was watching them from his spot near the bar. He was fascinated how deep in game they were. He had the pool table in basement for more than a year now, but he never played. He loved watching others play though. He was waiting for someone. The last member of their group was still missing. Of course, he didn`t tell guys a word about it. He had a surprise for them. He was sure they would love it. Blaine was about to hide the last ball when Wes`s phone buzzed. He went out to bring his guest.

 “Maybe we should try another pairing.” Lucas statement was reasonable.

“Or maybe we shouldn`t let Blaine play at all. We can`t beat him even if he is drunk. There`s no chance, dude. Let`s play against each other. Kurt and Blaine can celebrate their victory. Again.” Blaine laughed. “You don`t have to tell us twice. We`ll be at the bar.” He grabbed Kurt`s hand and led him to the stools. He gave Kurt a glass of wine-cola drink and took a bottle of beer for himself. One sip of beer and he choked. He saw Wes entered the room with someone and he knew there would be a problem. A big one. Kurt turned his gaze from Blaine to the door and he was staring right to the Mathew`s eyes.

„ What are you doing here?” Mathew had surprise in his tone. “I didn`t know you were friends with Wes.” Kurt took a deep breath. They screwed up. They had been meeting for two months behind his back. Kurt had been sure, Mathew wouldn`t have liked them seeing each other. He had a tendency to burn every connection with Kurt`s family or friends. He stopped hanging out with them because he thought it was inconvenient after the break up. He expected the same attitude from Kurt. Kurt tried to explain him that in this logic two of them meeting once in a while for coffee should have been forbidden too, but Mathew said it wasn`t the same thing. Kurt`s brain was running full blast. How was he going to explain this? He had to find out the way how to tell Mathew that while he had been spending his time with his new buddy, Kurt had been spending his with Mathew`s friends from work. The same friends he had hated before their break up, because he had thought Nick and Blaine had been trying to destroy his relationship with Mathew.

“He didn`t meet him till today.” Blaine knew Kurt was struggling with answer and he needed to help him. “We invited him to come with us.” The surprised look in Mathew`s face changed to confused one.

 “Why would you invite my ex-boyfriend here?” Nick and Lucas were at the bar too by this time and Nick made his own attempt to save the situation.

“Because when you are not with us, we are with him. We meet at the bar regularly and sometimes we go bowl or on a trip. It lasts a couple of weeks. Since you found that guy who satisfies one of your primary biological needs.” Nick and Blaine were aware of the fact that Mathew didn`t love new guy. It was about sex. But they had quite an appetite and Mathew often cancelled evenings with two of them. Nick and Blaine used to be mad at him for that. Since they had started planning their activities with Kurt, they weren`t mad anymore. Sometimes they were even glad Mathew couldn`t make it.

There was a silence. Nobody knew what to say. Mathew was pissed off. He felt betrayed and his anger became bigger every second. He wanted to yell at them. He wanted to tell them to go to the hell and leave him alone. He might have not got laid for a while, because he left Peter without explanation and he knew him well enough to know what was going to happen. He gave up his weekend with Peter to be with them just to find them with his ex. Why did he come here? To spend the weekend with Kurt? He liked two of them getting coffee sometimes to catch up, but be with him for two whole days was different. He had wanted to marry him. Kurt would always be in his heart. That`s the reason why he needed to keep him away from his life. Mathew needed to focus on his future. And it`s very hard with ex behind your back. What was Kurt`s point anyway? Kurt hadn`t liked his friends as far as he knew. How it was even possible for them being friends all of a sudden?

“Why didn`t you tell me?” It was a simple question. But Blaine, Nick and Kurt didn`t have a simple answer.

 “Because you don`t like it when Kurt is in touch with your friends or family. We met at the bar one day. We had a great time so we agreed to meet following day too and the friendship started. At first, we didn`t say anything because we didn`t know how long it would last and then we thought it was late to tell you either way. So we were meeting him when you couldn`t be with us.” Blaine felt stupid. Words came out from his mouth but they didn`t make sense. Whatever he was about to say would have sounded stupid. They were fools if they had thought this wouldn`t have ended up in disaster. 

 “I have no idea what is this about. Why were you hiding this from me? How long did you think you could continue it behind my back? I would have found out sooner or later. God, I thought we were friends!” Mathew`s voice filled the room. He was screaming at them and it felt good. Some of the tension left his body, but it wasn`t enough. He turned to the door. He had to get out of there. He needed cigarette. It wouldn`t be wise to go home at night. He would have to wait till tomorrow. He sat on the swing in front of the cabin and slowly breathed some nicotine to his lungs.

 “Can I?” Mathew knew that voice. He loved that voice. He would always love that voice. Kurt patiently waited for an answer. When Mathew nodded, he sat next to him.

“I am sorry. Guys didn`t have to make it a secret. It was my idea. I don`t want you to be mad at them.”

“It doesn`t matter whose idea it was. There were three of you in it. They agreed to keep it a secret. You have so many people around you. Why do you need mine?”

“It didn`t happened on purpose. We met by an accident… We tried to be polite so we talked a little and then we realized we had a lot of things in common. I don`t get why everything with you has to be so complicated. It`s white or it`s black. No colors. No shades of grey either. No compromise. Our break up was mutual. We didn`t have a bad one. Then why should we divide people to your friends and my friends? Why can`t they be ours? We are not in high school anymore. Stop acting like teenager and grow up. You can be mad at me if you want to, but I`m seeing them till they tell me they don`t want me to.” Mathew watched Kurt disappeared in the front door and lit another cigarette. His anger still remained…   

When Mathew came back to basement, everybody seemed to be okay, acting like nothing happened. Nick gave him beer and a cue.

“You and me. Revenge for last week.”Mathew wanted to talk to them about the whole situation, but he gave up and joined Nick by the pool table. He was more relaxed after a while and decided not to ruin the evening.

“I think it could have been worse…” Blaine put a glass of drink in front of Kurt who smiled at him. Kurt was feeling good. The alcohol made his mission. He needed to turn off and relax. Mathew`s presence slightly changed this plan, but Blaine didn`t forget the reason Kurt was here and he made sure Kurt had anything he needed. Blaine spent evening in Kurt`s company and made his every wish come true. Kurt liked that. It had been a long time since someone cared about him so much.

 “Thank you. I think it`s okay. And I probably only think that because I`m drunk.” Blaine laughed at Kurt`s statement.

“You are not. If you were, you wouldn`t think about it. You are finally relaxed. Don`t worry. I have no intention to get you drunk. Don`t want you to be hangover tomorrow.” He sat next to Kurt on the couch. Kurt looked at him and strand of hair fell to his forehead. Blaine`s arm instinctively went up and as he was putting it on its place his hand touched Kurt`s cheek. Kurt`s body froze under the touch. Alcohol really did make his mission. He stood up quickly and left Blaine sitting on the couch alone. Kurt put some music on in order to ignore unpleasant feelings in his stomach. He tried to convince himself it was because of drinks he had been drinking, but he wouldn`t have counted on it. He decided to avoid Blaine for the rest of the evening.

 “I think you should back off a little.” Nick said to Blaine who was zoning out for the last ten minutes.

“What?” Blaine`s thoughts were interrupted and he didn`t get what Nick was talking about. His head was full of Kurt. When he touched him, it was like millions of volts found their ways through his body. He couldn`t get rid of this feeling.

“You are around him too much. Mathew somehow took the fact we are friends with him in consideration, but you should be careful. He could start to think there is something going on between two of you.”

“What the hell are you talking about? Are you out of your mind? We came here so he could relax. I`m making him relax. That`s all.” Blaine didn`t believe himself but he hoped Nick did. He liked to be around Kurt. Kurt was intelligent and they could talk about everything. He knew exactly what had impressed Mathew to be with Kurt. It came to him even more tonight. Alcohol is a good servant but a bad master. He needed to stay sober.