"What do you want for dinner tonight?" Meg asked as she looked through the cabinets, "I have to go shopping so your options are really the old Hungry Man I have in the freezer or noodles without butter or pasta sauce."

Kurt looked up from his sketch, "Do I look like I would eat something called a Hungry Man?"

"If Blaine Anderson were a hungry man…" Meg muttered lowly as she continued to comb through the cabinets.

"Excuse me?" Kurt dropped his pencil, "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Crabbing?" Meg asked lightly, "down by the dock? Not the best foreplay if you ask me, but who am I to judge?"

Kurt could feel the blood rushing to his face, "We weren't…I don't know what you mean. He needed help with the kids and I was there."

"If Noah needed help crabbing, would you have stuck your arm into a bucket full of chicken for him?" Meg closed the cabinet and leaned against it, her gaze calmly on Kurt.

Kurt knew he'd been caught, "No, probably not."

"See, was that so difficult? It isn't really a bad thing, he's extremely good looking."

Kurt shrugged, "I'm not going to trust your opinion. He is relatively good looking but I know nothing about him."

"So get to know him! He's a good kid, Kurt."

Kurt started packing his things up, he knew he wasn't going to be able to concentrate now that Meg was talking about Blaine. "I actually…um, he asked me to go eat some of those crabs with him later tonight. But it isn't a date. I swear it isn't a date."

"Like a dinner date? And he's cooking? Maybe I'll have to steal him from you!" Meg hopped onto the counter and winked, "What time are you going?"

"He's meeting me here in about an hour and a half," as Kurt said the words his heart started racing, "Oh my god, I only have an hour and a half to get dressed."

He flew out of the kitchen and took the stairs in twos as he ran toward his room. An hour and a half would not be enough to get dressed, protect his hair from any sort of wind it could face, and calm himself down enough so he didn't make a complete ass out of himself."

"I can help!" Meg offered, watching as Kurt stared blankly into his closet. "You'll want pants because the beach gets cold at night."

"How did you know we were going to the beach?" Kurt asked breathlessly as he furiously moved the hangers down the closet further.

"Because that's what young people do around here," Meg said, "and you should wear a lighter top so you can get cold and you have to snuggle for body heat," her eyes were gleaming.

"Shouldn't you be talking me out of this?" Kurt pulled three or four shirts out of his closet, "my father would have a conniption if he knew you were letting me do this."

"I trust Blaine, I trust you, and I know you are both old enough to make your own decisions. Besides, this isn't a date," she mimicked him in the last part, her voice going high, "right?"

Kurt nodded, "He's straight, so yes, right."

Meg coughed, "He's straight? Excuse me?"

Kurt nodded, "Straight as an arrow."

"Straight as a U-Turn," Meg chorused.

Kurt just laughed and shook his head in disbelief, "He would have told me he was gay."

Meg bit her lip but said nothing else, "Okay, well it isn't a date. Then bring a sweater, because you'll be damn cold on that beach. It still seems like a rather romantic place to just have a regular old dinner."

Kurt moved to the bathroom where he pulled on a loose pair of jeans and the only white sneakers he owned. He grabbed a long sleeve white v-neck. "Maybe I won't put anything over it," he said mostly to himself.

Meg was still outside of the bathroom, "Whoa, showing some skin, Hummel?"

Kurt adjusted his hair higher in the mirror, "Do you think I'll scare him off?"

"No."

Kurt added a red and white striped belt to his outfit and looked in the mirror, "This is about as good as it's going to get."

"Good, because I see a certain curly headed boy coming down the street. Oh!" she squealed, "he even has a picnic basket!"

Kurt's heart jumped into his throat but he just smoothed down his shirt, "Okay. Well, I'm going to go meet him."

"Shouldn't I get to meet him or something?"

"You know him," Kurt deadpanned, "I'll be back by midnight."

Kurt took the stairs just as quickly down and he met Blaine at the front fence, "Hey, ready?" Blaine asked with a smile.

"Of course," Kurt motioned to the picnic basket, "Was that just lying around the house?"

Blaine looked down at the basket and bit his lip, "It was actually my family's back when I was little. My mom…um, she used to have picnics with my older brother and me all the time. We ran around and did stupid things while she would sit and write. When I left Ohio, I just kind of…took it with me."

Kurt examined Blaine for a second as they walked slowly toward the beach, "That seems a strange thing to pack."

"Well she wasn't using it so…" Blaine motioned with his hand.

Kurt was the first to step onto the sand. He immediately realized that sneakers and sand did not work well together, "Crap."

Blaine was toeing his own Converse off, "Just take them off and roll your pants. I keep forgetting that you really haven't been on the beach."

Kurt glared, "I was on the beach once."

"Oh," Blaine nodded and continued rolling his pants, "I forgot. I um, I couldn't go that night because I was working. The boys told me that they um, tried to make you go into the water. I'm sorry for that. They shouldn't have tried to force you to do that. If I would have been there I would have made sure you were safe!"

Kurt couldn't help but roll his eyes at Blaine – the boy babbled more than anyone he'd ever met. "It's fine, Blaine. I can defend my own honor."

"I know you can, but I just…I would have, you know?" Blaine rubbed a hand down his face, "Well come on. We have a picnic to be had."

They walked together down the beach. Kurt slowed them quite a bit because he still was not used to walking in the sand.

"This is impossible," he huffed, "how can you move so quickly?"

"Flat feet," Blaine responded easily, "my feet are used to abuse from dancing."

"You dance?" Kurt glanced at Blaine as he staggered to the side, "you don't seem the type."

Blaine's eyebrows shot up to meet his hairline, "Really? I thought I pretty much did. But sometimes I dance. I'm more of a singer."

"Me too!" Kurt felt a strange rush of happiness over the fact that he and Blaine had something huge, at least to Kurt, in common. "I was in my school's show choir." Thinking about high school brought Kurt down, but this time for an extremely important reason.

It was the first Thursday in June.

It was McKinley High's graduation night.

It was his graduation night.

He connected it all now. That is why Meg was leering over him all day and why his dad had called to "just check up" on him. He couldn't believe he'd forgotten it. It had been a day that had driven him nearly crazy throughout high school. He'd had a countdown on his wall since sophomore year, all leading up to the day he'd get his diploma.

And now he wasn't even there. He didn't understand why he felt as sad as he did. He should be jumping for joy, ecstatic that he was gone long before anyone else was.

But he couldn't help himself, did anyone know he was gone?

Was Mercedes the only person who missed him?

Did she even miss him?

"Hey," Blaine moved closer to Kurt in the sand, "are you okay? You went all spacey there for a minute."

"I'm fine," Kurt cleared his throat and kept walking, "I just…I realized something." He glanced at the water for a few seconds. It was only a few feet away. "Can we stop here?"

"Huh?" Blaine looked up, "oh! Sure. I mean, unless you wanted to eat in the water. I could um, I could build a boat. I could use the life guard station for wood and tie it together with um..with seaweed?"

"Let's hope if I ever get caught on a deserted island with someone, it isn't you," Kurt helped Blaine spread the blanket out on the sand. Kurt tried to ignore the fact that this was the sheet from Blaine's bed and that Blaine had been using it to sleep on the entire summer.

"So we have crab cakes," Blaine pulled a Tupperware container out of the huge basket, "a salad, some fruit, and sparkling cider."

Kurt curled his knees beneath his chin and shrugged. Truth be told, his appetite was completely gone. "It looks great," he said half heartedly.

Blaine stopped moving his hands over the food, "Do you want to tell me what's going on? I can tell something is bothering you Kurt. Only if you want to I mean. I would never force you to do something you didn't want to do."

Kurt needed something to do with his hands so he started grabbing handfuls of sand and letting them go, "I'm sorry. I just…I didn't have a lot of friends back in school…or ever really and I don't usually open up to people. Sorry."

Blaine leaned back on his arms, appraising Kurt. Kurt felt like he was under a microscope. The sun was setting, but it allowed just enough light for him to see Blaine's eyes piercing into him as he watched. "I could be your friend, Kurt. You need someone here. I understand you've been alone for a lot of your life. Hell, I was too. I am," Blaine finished emphatically, "but you need someone. You can't just walk around jaded and assume the worst in everyone. You won't get anywhere doing that Kurt."

Kurt really wanted to be friends with Blaine. He wanted to know there was someone there for him. Blaine could become his new Mercedes, he could fill that voice the girl had left in his heart.

"Tonight is my high school graduation," he said softly, eyes looking anywhere but the boy in front of him, "and I am here."

Blaine nodded, "I take it you didn't really…want to be there?"

"No."

"And no one forced you to go?" Blaine's eyes were wide, "no one told you you'd regret it later?"

"No," there was some malice in Kurt's voice, "no one told me I would regret it. The thought barely crossed my mind until you said something about it."

Blaine blushed, "I'm sorry. I didn't think about it before it came out of my mouth. Sometimes words have their own way of creeping out of my mouth and I don't know how to stop them."

Kurt chewed on his lip, slightly embarrassed for his breakdown, "When did you graduate? You must have been here before me?"

"I didn't," Blaine said simply.

"You're a drop out?" Kurt couldn't believe what he'd heard. "I can't picture you..."

Blaine laughed, but it sounded hollow and insincere, "I just….I'm only a junior."

Kurt nodded, "Wow. You seemed so much older to me. I thought you were in college when I first met you."

"I grew up quickly," Blaine played with the edges of the Tupperware, clearly hungrier than Kurt was.

"Let's eat," Kurt said, "we don't have to talk about sad things like my missed Rites of Passage or your youth."

"My youth," Blaine scoffed as he handed Kurt a crab cake.

Kurt ate the crab cake happily. It tasted great and was the perfect consistency. "You didn't make these," Kurt said quietly.

Blaine raised his head, "Excuse me?"

"You heard me," Kurt challenged, "You bought these at the seafood restaurant down the block from your house."

"I assure you I have no idea what you're talking about," Blaine said, "I bought nothing."

"Sure, so what goes into crab cake filling?"

Blaine looked bashful for a few seconds before sighing, "I didn't buy them. I just...my friend works at the restaurant and I...commandeered a tray of them."

"Commandeered?" Kurt couldn't help but let out a loud laugh that sent a nearby pack of seagulls flying, "You stole crab cakes?"

"No! Commandeered."

"I'm not getting into semantics with you, Blaine. You stole them." Kurt looked at the half eaten crab cake, "I can't eat that now. It's contraband."

Blaine pushed the salad toward Kurt, "then eat that. I made that."

"You washed salad," Kurt joked, "Thanks."

Blaine put a hand to his heart, "You wound me, Kurt. I went to all of this hard work and you insult it."

Kurt shoved the rest of the crab cake into his mouth, "Happy? I ate it."

Blaine sat back, "Good. You destroyed the evidence."

Kurt swallowed quickly and stood up, leering over Blaine, "You are at thief! I should turn you in!"

"Please, you know what they do with boys like me in prison!" Blaine's eyes went dramatically wide and Kurt struggled to keep a straight face.

Blaine scrambled to his feet, "I'll hide all of the evidence!"

Kurt bent to grab the napkin from the restaurant that he saw sticking out of the bag, but Blaine anticipated his movement and ran into him, picking him up swiftly.

Blaine had him in a bear hug from the back, and Kurt's feet were barely dangling over the ground. Still, he acted as if Blaine were lifting him high off of his feet. Kurt tried not to focus on the warm feeling of Blaine underneath and around him.

"That hurt," Blaine said lowly as he started stepping backwards, "That hurt a lot, Kurt. I worked so hard on that, so hard."

Kurt started squirming in his arms, "Blaineeee!" he shrieked and didn't have time before he realized exactly what Blaine was about to do, "Blaine! No!"

The telltale splashes made Kurt even more aware of the fact that Blaine was backing up toward the ocean, "I could throw you in the ocean you know," Blaine whispered, "but I won't."

Kurt relaxed in Blaine's arms, but still tried to fight a little, "I'm sorry! I won't say you stole the crab cakes anymore! You commandeered them!"

Blaine lowered Kurt, and Kurt could feel the cool water splashing against his toes. Before he even realized it, Blaine had set him down and the water was lapping against his ankles.

Kurt turned, holding onto Blaine's shoulders, "I'm sorry…you probably don't like me touching you like this but I can't…I'm…"

"Scared," Blaine says quietly, "You're scared."

Kurt nodded, "I am."

Blaine secured his hands around Kurt's upper arms, "I won't let go. You can't be afraid of everything forever."

Kurt took a deep breath and allowed himself to stand in the water, "Blaine…even though you're a jerk, you're also already one of the best friends I've ever had."

Kurt didn't see the look that crossed Blaine's face, but Blaine just let himself hold Kurt in the water, "You're one of the best friends I've ever had too."