Kurt spent the rest of his week pricking his fingers and placing beads upon beads on the dress. It was nowhere near finished, but it was his masterpiece. Emma couldn’t believe his work, and gushed on and on to anyone who would listen, tourists who were shopping or who were lost, that Kurt belonged somewhere else and not in a tourist city.

Kurt couldn’t have agreed more.

He was hoping Emma would let him photograph it and put it into his portfolio if the colleges let him reapply. He hadn’t heard from any of them yet, not that he expected to – it just would have been nice.

He hadn’t really seen any of the boys from around town since Blaine offered to walk him home. Kurt usually stayed late at work to finish the dress that had captured his attention. He didn’t really want to see the boys; he was no more lonely in Cape May than he was in Lima, though he somehow felt safer in this town than at home. It warmed his heart to see families together shopping, swimming, and just having a great time. He always thought it would be depressing to live in a tourist town, but it was exactly the opposite.

Still, he was lonely. In Lima he at least had Mercedes, and Rachel didn’t feel like a valid replacement for her. Kurt still went every morning to get coffee and perhaps spy on a certain couple, but the conversations were usually stilted and left Kurt feeling even worse about his position in the world.

The long weekend lingered in front of Kurt. He didn’t have to work on weekends and he had planned on asking Rachel what she was doing, but he found out that she was going up the coast on Saturday with a few friends to visit a younger town. She had offered to bring him along, but he had declined knowing he probably wouldn’t fit in with her friends.

Emma closed the shop at noon on Fridays, leaving Kurt to walk home in the most blistering of the heat. Though only early June, Global Warming was leaving Cape May a full fifteen degrees warmer than it usually was.

Kurt walked quickly and through the shaded streets to get to Meg’s house. The two had formed a routine, but this was his first Friday home and he had no idea what his aunt did over the weekend.

Drink?

Sleep?

Swim?

Chores?

Even though he knew it made him seem boring, he hoped she would give him something to do so he wouldn’t be so bored. He knew he wanted to check out the shopping promenade and maybe pick up some books, but that wouldn’t be enough to last him all weekend.

Kurt walked up to the house and spotted the boys building a new fence around the yard. They had completed painting on Wednesday, and the house now stood out on the block, making the other houses seem faded and older.

“Hey Kurt!” Puck (Kurt had now been conditioned to call him that) called from his crouched position. Mike was applying something to the fence post slowly, but he lifted one hand to wave.

The boys all seemed to be nice enough, except Blaine. Kurt still didn’t know how he felt about Blaine at all. Rachel continually went on about how horrible of a person he was and how she never wanted to see him again, though she was quick to look out of the window with him in the mornings.

“Hey Kurt!” Blaine was suddenly in front of him, breathless and sweaty, “I finally just finished putting the new glass on your Widow’s Walk...”

“Fifth time you tried,” Puck said with a smirk. “I should take from your pay!”

Blaine visibly blushed even though his cheeks were once again tinted with sunburn. Kurt wanted to yell at him and give him sunscreen, but he let it go. “Hey, I told you I never did that before!” Blaine said it in a joking tone, but it didn’t meet his eyes.

Kurt sidestepped the sweaty boy, “Well, thank you, Blaine,” he said curtly.

Blaine’s shoulders slumped but he turned his grinning face to Kurt, “No problem. Let’s hope I didn’t eat up all my paycheck.” He stalked off to the backyard quickly, his head low as he pace quickened to almost a run.

“Is he okay?” Kurt looked over to Quinn. Quinn still hadn’t become his friend, but Rachel said she was a sweet girl who just fell in with the wrong type of boy.

Quinn shrugged, “He’s had a rough couple of days I guess. I don’t really know.”

Kurt tried not to feel too badly for Blaine – he knew Quinn was probably just covering for him. He kept asking Rachel what made Blaine and Quinn a terrible match, but Rachel never quite told him the real reason.

Kurt felt the back of his shirt dampen as the sun continued to get higher. If he didn’t get into the house soon, he knew he would burn. “Well...I’m going in,” he said to no one in particular.

“Bye Kurt!” Quinn lay back onto her towel and continued basking in the sun. Kurt wanted to warn her as well, but figured she and Blaine would make a great matching set of leather handbags in the future.
Kurt walked through the door to find Meg vacuuming the front hallway. “Need any help?” he asked over the roar of the vacuum, trying to push his voice to its limits.

She shook her head, “Shouldn’t you be getting ready for the big bonfire tonight?”

Kurt looked at her blankly – he hadn’t heard of any bonfire nor did he know why she thought he would actually go to it.

“It’s a tradition for the kids living here all summer. It means good luck if you go and throw a beer can into the fire,” she shut the vacuum off and started gathering the cord, “I assume you want good luck this summer.”

“What kind of tradition is that?” Kurt raised an eyebrow as he maneuvered around the woman to get into the kitchen, “People getting drunk? Count me out, sounds like the perfect place for someone to throw me into the fire.” Kurt finally found himself comfortable enough with Meg to talk around her again. Neither commented on the change, but both felt more at ease knowing it had happened. He trailed the end of his comment as he walked out of her line of sight.

The only problem with now being able to communicate with Meg without a computer screen was that she now wanted to make him have an actual summer instead of just working like he wanted to.

She followed him into the kitchen, “You know it would be good for you to go out and do something, make yourself some friends. You can’t go through life alone Kurt. Your dad is worried about you and so am I.”

Kurt hated when they talked about him without his knowledge. He knew he was shy and had no friends, but maybe he liked it that way. Maybe it meant that they couldn’t walk away and live their own lives without thinking about him like Mercedes did. “I don’t need friends,” he reasoned as he poured himself some lemonade, “I’m doing fine on my own.”

“You’ve been here a week,” Meg deadpanned, “don’t you think you’re going to get bored?”

“No.”

“Go to the bonfire, Kurt. I’m sure Puck and his gang are all going, tag along with them.” Meg grabbed the lemonade and poured it into several glasses.

“Let me guess,” Kurt stood and brushed the imaginary lint off of his shorts, “you want me to take that out to them in hopes that they’ll invite me to the bonfire, and I’ll go because it’s easier to say no to you than it is to them.”

Meg set the tray down a little forcefully, causing the lemonade to splash over the edges of the cups, “Kurt…you can’t live like that.”

Kurt grabbed the trays, “I’ll go if they invite me, but I’m not going by myself. That’s pathetic.”
Meg nodded and moved her arm with a flourish, “Just please do this, Kurt.”

Kurt carried the lemonade outside. The group was smaller than usual, just Puck, Mike, Quinn, and, of course, Blaine.

“Here’s some lemonade,” Kurt said quietly to Blaine, who just happened to be the first person he walked into.

“Thank you, Mademoiselle,” Blaine said as he grabbed a cup with his pinky sticking out at a strange angle.

Kurt’s grip on the tray tightened. Did this boy have to make fun of him constantly? “You’re welcome,” he said through clenched teeth.

“Mademoiselle is for a girl, Blaine,” Quinn laughed as she grabbed a cup. She turned to Kurt and rolled her eyes, “ignore him, please.”

Blaine colored again but just bit his lip instead of saying anything. Kurt tried to not let it hurt his pride, “It’s fine,” Kurt said quietly, not raising his eyes.

Puck took the final cup off of the tray, “Hey Kurt, what are you doing tonight? You should come down to the beach for the bonfire.”

Kurt had almost forgotten his promise to Meg, “I don’t know…”

“Come on, we’ll be there and it will be great,” Puck downed the lemonade in one drink, “you can bring that Berry chick you’re always with.”

Kurt thought about it for a minute. He hadn’t really thought about brining Rachel, and she could tell him more about the people in the town. In truth, Kurt really did want to have more friends. He’d thought about it, and these people didn’t know him. Sure, he wasn’t going to tiptoe back into the closet and hide there – but this was a different town. Sure, the demographics were practically the same as Lima, but still this was new. Part of him hoped that these people would look past his sexuality and look at him for who he was. Maybe this could be the start of his new leaf.

“Okay,” he said simply with a nod. He’d have to call Rachel and ask her, but he knew she would say yes. He didn’t know her that long, but he knew she didn’t have many friends either. She seemed generally liked, but she didn’t have close friends around her. She swore that was because she was destined to be a star, but Kurt could see how her personality could get grating after awhile.

Kurt walked into the house and dropped the tray onto the table, making a huge show of pulling his phone out and dialing Rachel.

“Hey Kurt!” Rachel’s voice was chipper and excited even over the phone, “Did you change your mind about going up the shore?”

Kurt walked through the house looking for Meg so she could hear him, “No, I was actually wondering if you were going to the bonfire tonight. My Aunt is trying to talk me into it, as are Puck, Blaine and those boys so I kind of wanted to know if you wanted to go. I don’t want to go alone and I want to know someone…” he rambled for awhile before realizing how long he’d been going on. “I’m sorry. I was just...will you go?”

Rachel was silent for a few seconds before sighing, “Kurt...that isn’t the best place for people like us. They all get drunk and throw cans in the fire…people fight a lot and it just isn’t a place I’ve ever gone. It’s tradition and my dads always want me to go, but…”

Kurt sighed heavily, “I know...I just thought it would be nice to do something normal for once.”

Rachel seemed to hesitate for a second, “If we go, we can only stay long enough to throw a can into the fire and then we go.”

Kurt nodded before he realized that Rachel couldn’t see him, “Sure, that’s great…I just want to you know, go see the beach...” suddenly he was awkward again and couldn’t form a complete sentence.

“Okay, we can go but I don’t want to hear it if you have a bad time, Kurt.” Rachel sounded happy to be going; thought Kurt would never tell her he thought that.

------------

Kurt tried to dress as inconspicuously as he could. He slipped on loose jeans that he could easily roll up if he needed to, and a hoodie. Meg had warned (in a really high pitched, happy voice) that it usually got pretty cold on the beach and a hoodie was mandatory.

Kurt hadn’t even been on the beach yet, so he wasn’t sure if the flip flops he had would work, but he figured they would be better than sneakers.

“Do you want a blanket to wrap around you and someone special?” Meg asked with a roguish wink.

“I barely have friends let alone a boyfriend. I don’t think there is another gay boy near this town,” Kurt debated grabbing fingerless gloves but figured they were a bit too much for this occasion.

Meg handed him a blanket, “You never know when it’ll come in handy,” she said quietly, “You have to have faith Kurt.”

“Thanks, but I don’t know if I want to have faith in that,” Kurt shot back as he grabbed the blanket.

Rachel appeared at his door in a dress, tights, and a cardigan over it. “Your house is looking beautiful, Meg.”

“Thank you darling,” Meg smiled at Rachel, “take care of him. It’s his first time on the beach.”

Rachel’s mouth fell open, “Kurt, you haven’t been on the beach yet? You’ve lived here a week!”

“I’m not the ocean type,” Kurt fought back, embarrassed.

Rachel grabbed his hand and pulled him out of the house, “Well we’re going to change that right now.”

The walk to the beach showed Kurt just how cold the nights could really get. The wind was blowing but the sky was clear, so he knew it wasn’t going to rain. Still, as they walked down the wooden walkway toward the huge fire, Kurt could feel droplets of rain on his face.

There were more teenagers around the fire than Kurt thought lived in Cape May. Music was coming from somewhere, and he thought he saw Puck holding a guitar as he passed what looked to be beer out to some other kids.

“Maybe this was a bad idea,” Kurt whispered as they approached. Puck apparently had invited all of his huge friends and that couldn’t be good.

“We’re here now, they’ve seen us!” Rachel said in a hushed tone, “just act normal.”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Kurt linked arms with Rachel as they walked to the fire.

“Rachel Berry, your dads finally let you out of your tower,” Puck said, his voice slurring, “and Kurt! It’s so nice to see you! HEY EVERYONE,” he threw his arms up and motioned to Kurt, “this is Meg Hummel’s nephew, Kurt. He’s living here this summer!”

A few people waved and others coursed “Hellos,” but most people just smiled and turned back to their conversation.

“Is he drunk?” Kurt hissed as he watched Puck stumble around the fire.

“Probably,” Rachel picked up a can and opened it, “you might as well drink your can so we can get out of here.”

Kurt wrinkled his nose, “I have to drink it?”

“Yes,” Rachel laughed as she sipped at the can. She made a bitter face, “Maybe we could just dump them out...”

Kurt cracked his own can of Bud Light and looked around to make sure no one was watching before pouring it into the sand. He only poured half and walked around, leading Rachel through the crowd.

Puck sat on a folding chair playing guitar, “Who wants to hear a song?”

A few people cheered so Puck began strumming the guitar, “This is for the most beautiful girl on all of the beach, Quinn!”

Kurt almost choked when Quinn staggered up beside him and wrapper her arms around his neck. Kurt turned to look at Rachel who just glared at the pair before shaking her head.

Kurt didn’t know why, but he felt a huge rush to tell Blaine that his girlfriend was cheating on him. He told himself it was because he wanted to hurt Blaine, but in reality, he wanted to warn him. Kurt couldn’t believe Quinn would cheat on someone as good looking as Blaine with someone like Puck.

“Is Blaine here?” Kurt yelled over the fire and guitar.

Rachel shrugged, “How would I know?” She chanced another sip at her beer, not making a face this time.

Kurt turned around and almost bumped into a figure, “Oh! Hi!” he said quietly.

“Hey!” Mike yelled over the fire, “I didn’t think you’d actually come!”

“I said I would,” Kurt mumbled, “Is anyone else here?”

“Well, you know Puck and Quinn. Sam is somewhere over there. Blaine isn’t here, but I don’t think you like him too much so that doesn’t matter,” Mike sipped his own beer before throwing it into the fire.

“You can tell that?” Kurt asked, stricken.

“You don’t hide it. But it’s okay, man. He’s a little…strange.”

“How?” Kurt couldn’t help but ask.

“I don’t really know,” Mike shrugged, “he just is. Hard to explain.”

Kurt accepted the explanation and threw his own can into the fire and wished as he watched it smoke in the fire:

“I wish this summer would lead me somewhere,” he wished to himself.

Rachel leaned against Kurt and smiled at Mike, “Hello Michael. Did you know that Kurt here has never been in the ocean,” she smiled widely at Kurt.

“Really?” Mike’s eyes were wide as he looked at Kurt, “we should change that!”

Kurt shook his head, “No. No we shouldn’t.”

“Shouldn’t what?” Puck asked, he hadn’t noticed that the guitar had stopped.

“Kurt here has never been in the ocean.”

“NEVER BEEN IN THE OCEAN?” Puck gasped, “we have to change it!”

“No!” Kurt shook his head, backing away, “We don’t have to.”

“Come on,” Puck walked slowly toward him, “Just one little dip in the ocean.”

Kurt felt himself starting to panic, “No.”

Puck lunged for him, and Kurt moved out of the way at the last second. “Come on, Kurt!” Puck and Mike lifted him in their arms and started moving the roughly twenty feet toward the ocean.

Kurt struggled, “NO!”

Everyone watched and laughed as Kurt struggled to loosen their grip, even Rachel.

“Guys, please,” Kurt was nearly in tears now, but he knew crying would only instigate them. “Please, no.” He gave a great kick and managed to knock Puck off balance before scrambling to his feet and running up the beach, his flip flops left lying in the sand.

Kurt felt the tears spilling as he hit the cement. He walked quickly, not wanting anyone to follow him. He heard Rachel call his name a few times, but he walked in the complete opposite direction of his house to throw her off. He ended up at the promenade, his feet hurting from the little cuts.

Kurt sat on a bench and put his head in his hands. Of course this was no different from Lima. The sound of hooves alerted Kurt that he suddenly wasn’t alone.

“I hope you have a great stay in Cape May!” a sweet voice said to a departing family. Kurt couldn’t see who it was until he walked around the side of the great horse, “Hey Kurt…you okay?” Blaine looked down at him timidly. He was dressed in a red smoking jacket with tails, and a top hat covered his curls. Kurt could see he was sweaty and tired.

“I’m fine,” Kurt snapped. He just knew if Blaine had been on the beach, he probably would be soaking wet with salt water.

Blaine allowed himself to sit on the bench, “You don’t look fine.”

Kurt moved over to the edge, knowing he was acting like a five year old.

“Kurt, come on, let me take you home,” Blaine stood and straightened his jacket, “You obviously don’t want to tell me why you’re upset, but you are. At least let me take you back to your Aunt so I know you’re okay.”

Kurt shook his head; Blaine was probably going to take him back to the beach, “I’m okay.”

“Just…” Blaine stomped his foot and breathed out heavily, “get in the damn carriage so I can take you home. Families pay a hundred dollars for this.”

Kurt realized he would get rid of Blaine faster if he listened, “Fine.”

Blaine held out his hand to help Kurt into the carriage but Kurt simply looked at it and hauled himself into the high vehicle.

Blaine sighed and climbed onto the front and gently got the horse to move along the cobblestones. “So how was the bonfire?” Blaine asked as he carefully maneuvered the horse through the streets.

“Awful,” Kurt said through clenched teeth. He was still fighting the urge to tell Blaine about Quinn and Puck.

Blaine didn’t ask any more questions, but he did offer Kurt his hand again when they arrived at the house.

Kurt thought about taking it, but jumped down on his own.