It was a little past noon when Kurt descended the stairs into the Anderson's foyer, freshly showered and dressed. After the shock of his and Blaine's unintentional YouTube debut had dulled a bit, the two had managed to fall back asleep, and Blaine was still, for all intents and purposes, dead to the world.

After putting some water on to boil and readying the French Press, Kurt wandered into the dining room to find Lila sitting at the table, drinking a tall glass of pinkish brown liquid and typing intently at her laptop.

Kurt swallowed. "Good morning," he said, trying desperately to sound breezy instead of nervous.

"Hey," she replied, smiling warmly. Her eyes actually looked clear for once, which pleased Kurt to no end. "Blaine still asleep?"

"Yeah. Out cold. I was thinking of bringing him some coffee, and maybe seeing if he'd like to leave the house for a change."

Lila laughed. "Well, good luck with that. He was pretty excited to have you all to himself this weekend. Didn't shut up about it all week. I'm actually surprised he's even let you set foot outside his room at all."

Kurt blushed. "Blaine is a perfect gentleman, Lila. You should know that."

Lila smirked. "I'm sure. That damn Aaron Kirpatrick is never coming to another party of mine again, incidentally. Can you believe the nerve of that guy?"

Kurt inhaled sharply. "Um...I...uh.." he managed to articulate.

Lila laughed heartily and winked at him kindly, reminding him uncannily of Blaine. Kurt felt a surge of renewed fondness, and decided that maybe he would bring up the thing that had been weighing on his mind more and more heavily since early that summer.

Especially since Lila had started to roll a joint while continuing to halfheartedly click and scroll on her computer.

"Hey, do you know some guy named Noah Puckerman? He sent me a friend request, says he knows you?"

"Never heard of him. Listen, Lila, I kind of wanted to talk to you about something, if that's okay."

Lila looked up, closing her laptop when she saw the serious look on Kurt's face.

"Of course, Kurt. What is it? Is it about Blaine?"

Kurt sighed. "Well, sort of. Not exactly. It's just...I think Blaine misses you."

Lila smiled. "I miss him too. It's hard being so far away. But we've still got another month of-"

"No, that's not what I meant. I mean, of course he misses you during the school year. But I'm talking about now. Right now. Even when you're both home."

"I'm not sure I follow, Kurt."

"Lila, Blaine adores you. He practically worships you. He talks about you all the time, and I was terrified to meet you, because I was positive he would break up with me if you didn't approve of me."

Kurt gave a nervous little laugh, and met Lila's eyes, emboldened by the warmth there.

"But...I think...I think he misses the closeness the two of you used to have. And I think he worries about your substance use."

Kurt lowered his eyes. "And I do too," he finished softly.

He looked back up at Lila tentatively.

She chuckled and rolled her eyes, but Kurt didn't miss the defensiveness behind them. "Oh, Kurt. You're so sweet. I know I like to have a good time, but that's why I take the time to detox between-"

"You're not detoxing, Lila."

She snorted at this. "Oh, please. Is this just because I like to smoke pot, Kurt? It isn't a big deal."

"Well, that's what Blaine said too, but I don't think he believed it either."

Lila gave Kurt a measured look. "You're a pretty uptight kid, you know that? Especially for someone who got wasted and practically had public sex at a party two nights ago."

Kurt blushed, but didn't back down. He shrugged. "That may very well be true, but it doesn't make me wrong. I'm not trying to stage some kind of intervention because you like to get stoned every now and again. This is possibly the fifth time I have seen you sober all summer."

"Jesus Christ, that's ridicu-"

"No, Lila. It isn't."

They looked at each other for a long moment. Kurt sighed.

"I'm sorry," he said. "I debated whether or not to bring this up at all, and it probably isn't my place. I just...I think maybe Blaine feels like things haven't been quite the same between the two of you since getting stoned became such a frequent...uh...pastime for you."

Lila just continued to look at him, her expression unreadable. The tea kettle began to whistle.

"Excuse me," Kurt murmured, as he went to prepare the coffee.

Kurt returned a few moments later, to find Lila looking lost in thought. He struggled to think of what to say; chances were, he had royally fucked up. But he knew that this was a conversation Blaine would probably never dare to have with his sister, and Kurt loved him too much to simply ignore the problem.

"People have different ways to survive high school, you know," Lila said suddenly.

Kurt looked at her, waiting for her to continue.

"That school Blaine and I went to? It pretty much sucked, and I wasn't afforded the opportunity to leave, unlike certain little golden boys who shall remain nameless."

Kurt felt his jaw drop, felt himself preparing to defend Blaine with as much bitchiness as necessary, Lila's opinion be damned.

Lila held up a hand and shook her head. "I know. That sounded bitter. I am bitter. But not toward Blaine. Not even a little bit. It's not his fault he's Mom and Dad's favorite. He's like some prince from a Disney movie, and he can't help being good at everything he does. And that sweet, selfless nature of his? Not an act. Not even a little bit. That's just...him."

"I know it is," Kurt affirmed softly, smiling so hard his face hurt.

Lila spared Kurt a smile in return. "Of course you know that. I just...sending Blaine to Dalton was the right thing. It was important to keep him safe. But then there I was, left with these...troglodytes, and what did I have? I didn't have my baby brother to look out for anymore, and I was just this short, chubby, nerdy literary magazine editor who had somehow managed to rack up a chunk of suspensions and detentions. The move to cool, apathetic stoner chick was kind of my only option for upward social mobility."

"I would have thought you'd be above the need for upward social mobility."

Lila cocked an eyebrow. "Really, Kurt? Have we met? Have you even been paying attention?"

Kurt smiled sadly. "Point taken. Would you like some coffee? It's probably well over-steeped by now."

Lila glanced at her sludgy glass of juice, seeming to be on the verge of deferring to her "detox." But then her eyes wandered to her half-rolled joint, and she just sighed and gave a sharp little laugh.

"Oh, why the hell not? Who am I kidding anyway? Not you, clearly."

Kurt went into the kitchen and poured them each a cup, slipping a tea cozy over the French press so that it would stay warm for Blaine.

"Okay, so I get the need to play a part to survive high school," Kurt said, returning to his seat and handing Lila her coffee. "What I don't get is why nothing has changed. You aren't stuck in some underfunded Midwestern public school system anymore. You're at a liberal East Coast college where independent thought is actually celebrated, if I'm not mistaken. Why let your high school personae define you like this?"

Lila sighed. "You know, Kurt, I don't think I really even thought about it before. I guess it's just what I'm used to, and it's probably easier than figuring out what I actually want out of life. It's always easy to find other stoners to hang out with, and they're so easily impressed, and...I don't know. It's complicated."

Kurt nodded. "It always is."

They both drank their coffee in thoughtful silence.

"Lila," Kurt finally ventured, "I'm sorry if I'm...overstepping. And I'm not saying that I think you should start wearing a hairshirt or carrying around a copy of The Watchtower or anything. I just know it would mean a lot to Blaine if the two of you could really spend some time together. Some sober time together. Because I think he really misses you."

Lila reached over and gave Kurt's hand a gentle squeeze.

"I miss him too," she said.

When Kurt returned to Blaine's room, coffee in hand, he was surprised to find Blaine up and dressed (or at least no longer naked – the same T-shirt and sweat pants he'd been wearing the previous day hardly qualified as "dressed" as far as Kurt was concerned), and pacing.

"Hey," Kurt said, handing him his coffee and offering a kiss.

He instantly knew that something wasn't right when Blaine simply allowed the kiss, tight-lipped, without actually responding to it.

Kurt pulled back and looked at him. "What's wrong?"

Blaine simply stared at him for a long moment before putting the coffee down on his desk and turning away.

"Kurt, what do you think you were doing?"

Kurt gave him a bewildered look. "What are you talking about?"

Blaine threw his hands up in exasperation, and spun around, his eyes wild. "Downstairs. With Lila. Telling my sister there was something wrong with her. What the hell was that, Kurt?"

Kurt gaped at him. "Blaine, I wasn't – how much did you hear?"

"Enough," Blaine spat.

"Clearly not," Kurt snapped back. "Because if you'd actually bothered to eavesdrop with a shred of competence, you wouldn't be yelling at me right now."

"I'm not yelling!" Blaine yelled.

"Blaine, I have spent the entire summer biting my tongue about the fact that your sister is constantly inebriated. If you want to look the other way and pretend that nothing is happening, fine. But I'm not built that way, Blaine. I saw what it was doing to you, and believe it or not, I actually like your sister, and I was worried about her."

"Worried. Please. You were judging her."

"Blaine, why are you being such a -"

"Such a what?" Blaine demanded.

"Why are you so angry about this?"

"Because you're just – it's none of your business, Kurt. This is my family, and I'd really prefer it if you would just stay out of it."

Kurt clenched his jaw, stung by Blaine's words.

"Well, fine, Blaine. I'm sorry if I worry about you. I'm sorry if I dared to approach one of your family members without your expressed blessing, because I wanted to help ease your pain. I'm sure you would never stoop so horribly low as to-"

"That was different," Blaine muttered, still angry, but sounding slightly abashed.

Kurt furrowed his brows. "What was different?"

"When I talked to your Dad." Kurt searched his face, bemused. "About...sex? Isn't that what you're referring to?"

Kurt's eyes widened, and he simply stared at Blaine in shock.

"Oh," Blaine said, his voice small. "You...weren't talking about that."

"No, but you're going to talk about that. Because you are going to tell me what the hell you're talking about right this minute, Blaine Anderson."

"Your...um...Dad didn't tell you?"

"Didn't tell me what?"

Blaine sighed. "You're changing the subject. We were talking about the fact that you told Lila-"

"Blaine, shut up about my conversation with Lila. Not only was my conversation with Lila completely appropriate, thank you very much, but I am just now learning that you have been discussing our sex life with my father, without telling me, which could not possibly be construed as appropriate anywhere in the universe, no matter how much you attempt to bend the laws of physics to your whims."

"I didn't discuss our sex life with your father, Kurt. It was before we even started dating. It was after you refused to talk to me about sex. I was worried about you, so I just...I just told your Dad that maybe he should talk to you about it. That's all."

"You were worried about me."

"Yes."

"Like I was worried about you when I talked to Lila?"

"It was different, Kurt. I was worried about your safety. I was worried that you were going to stay willfully ignorant of sex until some older guy at a party decided to...until you maybe found yourself in over your head, and ended up doing something stupid."

"Something stupid."

"Yes, okay? You wouldn't even let me-"

"Something stupid like start dating some guy who thinks I'm too stupid to figure out sex on my own? Some guy that thinks I'm such a pathetic, blundering, incompetent child that he has to tell my father what to say to me? Something stupid like that?"

Blaine looked at Kurt like he had slapped him.

"You know what, Blaine?" Kurt hissed through clenched teeth. "Maybe you're right. Maybe I am stupid. Because why else would I still be standing here right now?"

Kurt stormed over to his overnight bag, desperately fighting back rage-filled tears. He zipped it closed, to hell with whatever he may have left strewn around Blaine's room, and heaved the bag over his shoulder. He didn't look back at Blaine, who stood frozen in place. He simply threw open the door and hurled himself down the stairs, praying that he would make it to the car before he completely fell apart.