Chapter 6

Their departure was planned for a week after school ended, and it was a week of chaos. Piggybanks were taken out and broken, suitcases carried down from attics and filled with as many summer clothes as they could hold without bursting. Kurt had prepared a long list of things to take and meticulously crossed out every single one, as he placed it in his baggage. At the same time, he was forced to watch over Finn’s packing, because his brother proved to be an even greater slob when he was about to leave the comforts of home behind for a couple of weeks.

Blaine made a short trip to Westerville in the meantime, seeing his parents for the first time since August. His mother hugged him much closer than he remembered her ever doing, while his father shook his hand shortly. Blaine could be visiting complete strangers and he wouldn’t even know the difference. It pained him a little, but the thought of Kurt, Aileen, and everybody else in Lima eased the heartache. They were his real family, not his parents.

The Andersons claimed they were happy Blaine would visit his brother in California, and that was the only thing they cared about when it came to his holiday plans. They didn’t even bother to ask who he was going with, and their son knew they hadn’t known anything about it earlier.

But nothing could kill everybody’s excitement. They were making plans about what to see, where to go, what motels to stay at, where to stop on the way.

It was going to be an epic summer. They were all sure of that.

***

‘Are you really sure about this?,’ Carole whispered. There was no logical reason for her to be lowering her voice, since the boys were out with their friends doing their last grocery shopping before their departure, but she did it anyway.

Burt huffed, jogging heavily up the stairs, with his wife trotting close behind him.

‘Aileen says it’s better than, you know, avoiding the subject or denying that they have needs, or whatever.’

‘But don’t you think there are better ways of getting it done than this?,’ she asked, following Burt into Kurt’s room.

‘Believe me, honey, I tried having the Talk with Kurt, and I’m not reliving that experience,’ he said firmly, as he opened Kurt’s huge suitcase and slipped a pack of condoms between the stacks of clothes with a sigh.

He was really trying not to think what would happen to them from now on. All he could hope for was that Kurt was smart enough not to sleep with the first random guy that comes his way, and that should his son ever find himself in need to use them at all, it would be with someone he loved and was loved by. Preferably Blaine.

‘So Aileen’s giving those to Blaine, too?,’ Carole asked.

‘Yup. She hopes they’ll get the hint,’ Burt shrugged.

‘And you don’t?’ His wife couldn’t help a small smile.

‘I hope they will, but not that literally.’ He zipped Kurt’s suitcase and straightened. ‘Let’s go to Finn’s now.’

***

Kurt woke up the next morning a couple of hours too early. There was nothing left for him to do, everything was ready, packed into the Navigator’s spacious trunk and triple-checked the previous day after they had done the shopping.

All he could do was stare at the ceiling and think. Or obsess.

He was about to spend the following couple of weeks away from his day-to-day reality, away from Lima and all the horrible stuff that had happened in the last few months. He was going to hot and sunny California with a bunch of friends that until very recently he hadn’t been fully aware he had. And, most importantly, he was going with Blaine. It should have probably make him even more excited, but somehow it was only terrifying.

Surely, they hadn’t stopped their traditions of movie nights and sleepovers, so sharing a motel room wasn’t supposed to be scary. Yet it made Kurt anxious. He could tell their hugs had become a little more awkward and tentative than they used to be, their admissions of their love for each other a little bit strained. He knew perfectly well that on his part it was an effect of holding himself back in an attempt to cover up his feelings, but Blaine’s reasons for keeping a bigger distance were a mystery to him.

There were only two possible explanations; Blaine had either seen through Kurt and hadn’t said anything in order not to damage their friendship, or was actually becoming uncomfortable about the lack of physical distance. Kurt couldn’t decide which option was more depressing to him.

He turned those possible scenarios around in his head, trying to come up with something that would make him feel better. He’d hate to start the day and the trip feeling sorry for himself.

‘What if he acts this way, because he’s in love with me, too?,’ he whispered to himself. He could feel his facial muscles stretch into a wide grin before he managed to control his expression.

No, he wasn’t supposed to think that. Getting his hopes up was a terrible idea and he knew it full well.

Kurt sighed, all traces of happiness wiped off his face. He hadn’t changed his mind about telling Blaine the whole truth. Only this morning he felt further from being ready to do it than he ever had.

***

By nine everybody gathered in the Hudson-Hummel driveway, ready for departure. Seeing his friends' enthusiasm lifted Kurt's spirits a little, though not enough for him to entirely forget his worries.

Aileen accompanied Blaine to the Hudson-Hummels, along with Goldie, who was jumping around happily, until the moment he got into the Navigator and closed the door. Then she realized he was going away and started barking at them to let him out.

Burt and Carole reminded the kids for the thousandth time to be good and not to get into trouble. They nodded in unison after each piece of advice, hugged the present guardians goodbye, promising to call whenever they make their first stop.

'There's seven of you leaving and I want seven to come back!,' Burt called to them over Goldie's barks. 'Not a limb more, not a limb less!'

Kurt smirked. He could bet that was meant for Finn and Rachel, who he could see in the rearview mirror, sending each other awkward glances.

'We promise to try our best!,' Kurt yelled back, making Blaine giggle.

'No joking, kiddo!'

'Not joking, Dad! Bye!' Kurt waved at his parents and Aileen, the rest following suit.

They managed to go a mile in silence, Puck's car right behind them.

'Guys, maybe we could sing on the way?,' Rachel offered.

Kurt rolled his eyes, thinking that at least that wouldn’t let him fall asleep behind the wheel.

***

Travelling was tiring. Kurt had never fully known just how much. Usually it would be his father who drove him everywhere further than school, Blaine’s or the grocery store. Everyone took turns driving (except for Brittany, who admitted it was too confusing for her because of the abundance of numbers on the dashboard), but each of them begged to be off the duty after an hour. With every change in the driver seats came a reshuffling of the remaining ones. Nobody said a thing about it, but somehow nobody asked questions when Kurt stuck together with Blaine, Finn with Rachel, and Santana with Brittany. Puck was happy regardless the company, as long as he got to just sit back and eat every now and then.

After almost twelve hours of driving, with a few pit stops on the way, they were a couple of hours from crossing the Oklahoma border and decided it was high time to find a place to crash. They weren’t very picky about the locale, their budgets tight and the choices limited, so they settled for a motel just off the interstate. Puck was the only one honestly happy with the place, having a McDonald’s next door.

‘Don’t expect us all to live on junk food alone for two weeks, Puckerman,’ Kurt said, shaking his head, as he unloaded the suitcases out of his car.

They decided on getting three rooms, despite Rachel’s disgruntlement to be sharing hers, not only with her current boyfriend, but also with Puck. Kurt reasoned that this way, they at least would know that none of them conducted themselves inappropriately.

‘Puck the chaperone,’ Santana smirked. ‘Who would’ve thought?’

The others seemed fine with their roommates, and trudged to their rooms, dragging their suitcases behind them.

Kurt and Blaine’s room was the one furthest from the check-in office. Everyone else had already wished them goodnight and disappeared in their rooms, when they made it to the end of the one-storey building.

Inside it was everything you’d expect from a road-side motel somewhere in Missouri. The walls were wood-panelled and the comforters on the beds were flower-printed and tacky. There was also a small table with two wobbly chairs, a chest of drawers and a couple of nightstands. The bathroom was cramped, but clean, smelling faintly of chlorine.

‘It’s not that bad, I guess,’ Kurt said, taking a look around.

‘It’s no Ritz, but I guess we can bear with it,’ Blaine replied, a smile playing on his lips. He couldn’t wait to spend every second of the coming weeks with Kurt. He loved the rest of his friends, too, but the only person he really wanted to share the time with was the one who was his roommate for the time being.

Kurt smiled back just a little, still nervous about the closeness they were forced into. He was almost sure they were on the same page, almost positive everything would be alright. But the tiny residue of doubt he couldn’t wash away persisted, rooted deep within his brain.

He threw his suitcase onto the bed, preparing to take out his PJs and bag of toiletries.

‘Do you wanna shower first, or can I?,’ Kurt asked, tugging at the zipper on his baggage. ‘I’m all sticky and gross.’

‘Sure, you go first,’ Blaine agreed, flopping onto the bed. The mattress was so soft, he bounced up and down a few times, his feet leaving the ground whenever the movement was upward.

Kurt began to rummage through his stuff, looking for underwear, and before he could find anything, his finger hit something harder between the folds of different fabrics.

‘What the hell?,’ he muttered.

‘What the hell, what?,’ Blaine said, never leaving his bed, but watching Kurt closely, as he turned away from his suitcase.

Kurt’s face was beetroot red, and his hand was holding a small box that unmistakeably was a pack of condoms.

‘You brought condoms?,’ Blaine asked stupidly. For a second he was beginning to think that maybe Kurt loved him back and it was supposed to be a hint, but he immediately discarded the idea. He knew his best friend, and Kurt would never do anything connected to love in such an unromantic way.

‘No!’ Kurt flushed an even deeper shade of scarlet. ‘That’s the point, I have no idea where they ca-‘ He froze suddenly. ‘Oh no.’

Blaine frowned at him. ‘Oh no what?’

‘My Dad,’ Kurt groaned, dropping onto his bed and throwing the condoms back into his suitcase.

A chuckle came from the other side of the room, and he glared at Blaine.

‘What? You really think your Dad would come up with something like that?’ Blaine couldn’t help his amusement. ‘It’s more like Aileen, than it is like Burt.’

Kurt raised his eyebrows. His mortification was slipping away, replaced by a hilarity akin to Blaine’s.

‘Yeah? You better check your suitcase, too,’ he snickered.

Blaine rolled his eyes and reluctantly got off the bed, trudging to the baggage he’d discarded by the door. It took him a minute, but undeniably, hidden between his clothes was a pack of condoms, identical to the one Kurt had found in his own suitcase.

‘Do you think they’re trying to tell us something?,’ he asked Kurt cautiously; he wouldn’t want to let anything slip, in case his friend’s mind was an entirely different place about the two of them.

Kurt shrugged. ‘To make sure we slip some to Finn and Rachel, in case they ever run off on their own?’

‘No- I mean, do you think they want us to- um- get laid?’ Saying the phrase out loud in reference to them felt strange.

Kurt’s lips twitched up. I hope they want us to get some together, he thought.

‘No, dummy, they’re just being obnoxiously protective and caring parental figures,’ he said instead.