Chapter 6

‘I’m kinda freaking out right now,’ Blaine said, rubbing his face impatiently with his hand.

‘But you said she said yes, so the worst’s over, right?’ Kurt’s worried voice rang on the other end of the line. They’d been talking on the phone since the moment Blaine was back at his house, which was almost fifteen minutes ago.

‘Yeah, but I don’t think my parents are going to be happy with me moving out. They loooove appearances. And what would it look like if their son moved out to a relative? Someone might think they suck at being parents.’ Blaine snorted.

Silence fell for a moment; they both knew words weren’t necessary. The semblance of presence of their best friend and willingness to listen were just enough.

A distant sound of gravel under car wheels made Blaine’s heart almost leap out of his chest.

‘God, they’re back. I’ll call you later, okay?’

‘Sure,’ Kurt said. ‘Good luck.’

Blaine ended the call and got up from his bed, taking one deep breath after another. Before he made it to the first floor, he was getting dizzy from hyperventilating and grabbed the banister to steady himself, just as the front door opened.

‘Oh, Blaine, you’re home,’ his father said impassively. His greetings were always perfectly emotionless, even the day before, after he hadn’t seen his son for two weeks. Blaine searched his mind for any situation when that wasn’t the case, but he came up empty-handed; it seemed that whoever he had found on the pictures in the photo albums, was entirely gone now.

‘Hi, sweetie,’ Mrs Anderson said, her voice detached as she flicked through the mail she’d taken out of the box on the way in.

Their attention soon drifted away from their son, as they headed to the kitchen to set the coffee machine. They kept exchanging remarks about their time at work – as if they hadn’t spent at least some of the time together – while Blaine dragged his feet through the hallway, trying to delay the conversation and not to delay it at the same time.

Languidly, he reached the kitchen doorway and leant on the frame, unnoticed by his parents. His heart still pumped much faster than normally. He cleared his throat to attract attention.

‘Yes, Blaine?,’ his father asked, a delicate tinge of irritation in his voice.

‘Do you have something to tell us, sweetie?,’ Mrs Anderson added.

Blaine took one more calming breath before speaking.

‘Um, yeah. I want to transfer to McKinley.’

Both Mr and Mrs Anderson’s eyebrows shot up. Blaine could sometimes swear their brains didn’t work separately; they were like some fucked up form of Siamese twins.

‘Is that some other private school? I’ve never heard of it,’ his mother said, surprise slowly washing off her face, her attention drifting to the coffee machine.

‘No, Mom, it’s a public school.’ Seeing their confusion, he added, ‘In Lima. It’s Kurt’s school.’

Those last words seemed to act as the trigger. Mr Anderson’s face immediately became red and boiling with rage, his wife’s mixed anger with discontent.

‘You want to switch schools for that fairy?! No way, we’re letting you do that!’

Blaine’s emotions suddenly reached the same level of heat as his father’s.

‘Don’t call Kurt that,’ he said through clenched teeth. ‘And yes, I want to switch schools to be with my best friend.’ Before they could say anything else, he drew in a sharp breath and went on. ‘But to go to McKinley I have to live in Lima.’

Mrs Anderson contained her annoyance, and when she spoke her voice was coated with an additional layer of sweetness.

‘But, honey, you cannot possibly ask us to leave our jobs and move to another town.’

‘You don’t have to move. I do.’

Mr Anderson chuckled nastily.

‘And where would you move to? Don’t tell me your little friend would keep you secret like you did with him.’

Blaine was quite sure that if only the Hummel house was big enough, they would gladly let him stay with them, but he didn’t say that.

‘Actually, I would move in with Aunt Aileen.’

Mrs Anderson’s eyebrows found their way up to the middle of her forehead one more time.

‘Aunt Aileen?’

‘Yes, Mom, your sister, remember?’ Blaine didn’t manage to bite his tongue before the words were out.

‘I do remember, thank you,’ she replied icily. ‘But you haven’t seen her in years, who says she’s going to agree to having you at her house? Especially, when you’re being so rude…’

‘She’s already agreed. She just wanted you to give me thumbs up, but apparently, you don’t really care that I’m miserable here.’

The Andersons exchanged a shocked look. As if it was the first time Blaine had ever expressed his wretchedness.

A moment passed without another word being spoken, Blaine seething, his parents thrown off guard and confused. And all Blaine needed now was an answer; there was no way of convincing him to stay at Dalton and home. Not now, when he actually began to believe there was someone beside the Hummels, who cared if he was happy or not.

‘Can I transfer, then?,’ he asked, controlling his voice not to raise it again.

‘And what if you get bashed again, what then?’ Mr Anderson’s voice was venomous; Blaine could feel the poison of his father’s tone seep under his skin, but he wouldn’t let it soak through him. He’d made up his mind.

‘Then I’ll try and defend myself.’ The lump in Blaine’s throat barely let him speak.

Mr Anderson laughed bitterly. ‘You really believe you could? Fine, go to Lima, go to your aunt, but don’t come back crying like the girl that you are, if anything happens to you.’

Blaine knew what his answer was going to be without a second’s thought.

‘Fine.’

And as his mother cast him a frantic, desperate gaze, he walked out of the kitchen and up the stairs. She didn’t get to plead him to change his mind, not anymore. Not after she let his father say all that without her protesting once.

Blaine only wanted to get out of this house, get away from the people who were supposed to love him unconditionally and support him, and help him chase his happiness down. Now he was about to live close to people who really did all those things. That was what mattered. Whatever the cost would turn out to be, he was now going to try and just be happy.

Blaine slammed his door shut, already dialing Kurt’s phone number. His friend picked up after the first beep.

‘And?’

‘And I’m moving to Lima.’