Thursday:

Kurt

Zach and Kurt had now grown to sitting next to each other at lunch time instead of being across the table from each other. "Hey, where were you yesterday? I called you and sent you a text message." Zach changed the subject from Tyra Banks' different magazine covers.

Kurt sighed and groaned. "Sorry. My phone is broken." He was still pissed off at Karofsky for dropping it in the lake.

"Oh. What happened?"

"It fell in water."

"Ooo! That sucks."

"Yeah. I'm getting a new one today, but it feels weird being without it."

"I know what you mean. My phone is an extension of my hand sometimes."

Kurt took a couple bites of his salad before looking up and seeing Zach biting his bottom lip. "Everything okay?" he asked.

"Do you want to go see a movie tonight? The Revival is playing Guys and Dolls tonight. I actually know those songs so I'll be able to keep up with you and everyone else in the audience." Zach chuckled.

"Sure, but you didn't answer my question. Everything okay?" Kurt asked again.

"Yeah." Zach took Kurt's hand. "Everything's fine." He was lying. He was nervous for Friday when the other schools came to McKinley to sing. More specifically, he was nervous for when Blaine came with the Warblers. He felt that Kurt and him were making good strides in the past two weeks and worried that if Blaine came back in the picture, Kurt would start to pull away. He meant what he said when he told Kurt he didn't want to erase Blaine from his life, but that didn't mean that he wasn't any less threatened by the very thought of Blaine's presence… because he was.

"So, I'll pick you up at six and we'll have tea again?" Zach offered.

"That sounds great."

"Good." Zach leaned over and kissed Kurt on the cheek. "You look handsome today, by the way."

Kurt smiled. "Why thank you." He made a face that Zach thought was uber-adorable.

Blaine

Blaine was day dreaming during lunch time. This was a generally new thing that he couldn't help doing. "Blaine?" a voice was calling him. "Dude, Earth to Blaine. Come in, Blaine." He saw someone snapping their fingers in front of his eyes and snapped out of his trance.

"Sorry," he said. "I haven't been getting enough sleep. What were you saying?"

"Movies, tonight," Wes repeated.

"Oh. I don't know. I have a lot of homework."

"Yeah. We all do, but Nick, here works at the Revival theater and scored tickets for all the Warblers," David chimed in.

"The Revival theater?" Blaine asked, remembering his date with Rachel all those months ago.

"They play old movies and musicals and stuff," added Nick. "You in?" Nick had recently taken the place of Kurt's old chair at lunch and now the only empty chair was Derek's, who wasn't talking to Blaine at the moment, but Blaine understood why.

"What are they playing?" Blaine asked.

"Does it matter? I'm giving you a free ticket."

"Come on, Blaine," David urged. "It's a chance to get off campus. You could use the fresh air."

Blaine knew what David was referring to. You need to do something that will take your mind off of reality. "Okay. Uh- Count me in."

Thursday Night

Kurt

Zach picked Kurt up at six, as he promised. Kurt was just getting done dinner with his family and Finn answered the door. He escorted Zach into the living room and sat with him while Kurt changed his clothes. Burt was also sitting in the living room.

"How old are you?" Burt asked.

"Seventeen, but I'm in the same grade as Kurt and Finn."

"And you're in glee club too, right?"

"Yes, Sir."

"You in any other clubs?"

"Not at the moment. I was going to do lacrosse, but the schedule was too rigorous. I really like Glee club and I have a part time job. Between that and homework, my afternoons are pretty well spent."

"You seem to find enough time for Kurt."

"Kurt's an exception." Zach smiled and hoped a blush wasn't showing. "He actually helps me a bit with my studying. I'm dyslexic, so some subjects take me a bit longer to get through."

"I see."

"He's very caring."

"He gets that from his mother."

"I saw that chevy out front on the blocks. Are you rebuilding it?"

"You into cars?" Burt asked, his eyebrows raising in interest.

"Yeah. Some. I was a race car kid as a child. I go to the track with my dad every summer."

"That chevy is a project Finn and I are slowly working on. At this rate, he'll be out the house by the time it's done, but if someone made more time to work on it, it could be done by his birthday next year."

"Hey, I want to work on it," Finn interjected. "I've just been really busy."

Kurt came running down the stairs in a pair of light gray skinny jeans and a black, chunky knit sweater. Zach smiled and thought how on anyone else, that sweater would look like someone's grandmother made it and forced them to wear it. But on Kurt it looked chic and he was beautiful. "Are you done with my date, Dad?"

"Yeah. Yeah. Be back by ten."

"The movie won't be done until ten."

"Then I expect you home immediately after. Not a second later than ten-thirty, got it?"

"Yep." Kurt motioned for Zach to go with him and Zach did.

"It was nice seeing you again, Mr. Hummel," Zach said.

"Be good to my boy, Zach."

"I will. I saw your shot gun last week, remember?"

Burt smiled like he had accomplished something. "You boys have fun."

Zach and Kurt ended up, as planned, at the tea shop and sat in front of the window. They chatted and laughed and smiled at each other when their fingertips touched by accident.

"So is this becoming, like, our thing? Tea and a musical?" Kurt asked with a grin before sipping his peppermint tea.

"Tea and a musical? That's not gay at all." They both laughed. "If you want it to be, it can be our thing. I'm all for anything that involves you and me."

Kurt took another sip and glanced out the window at a hoard of twenty or so boys rushing past. He caught a couple of the faces for an instant and could have sworn he saw a few Warblers. None of them were in Dalton attire, so he wasn't sure, but he wasn't about to go running after them.

"You ready?"

"Huh?" Kurt asked, snapping his attention back to Zach.

"The movie starts in ten minutes. You ready to go?"

"Oh. Yeah." Kurt took his final sip of tea and the boys stood up and left.

By the time they purchased their tickets and went into the theater, the lights were dim, but they were able to see the boys that ran passed Kurt in the tea shop. They sat in the dead center of the theater as one group. There were some older couples peppered here and there in the seats and a few younger ones as well. Kurt and Zach saw a handful of the same people they had met last week during The Wizard of Oz. Zach and Kurt grabbed two seats in the very back of the theater in the far corner.

Kurt didn't find these seat ideal, but it didn't matter to him because he'd be up and dancing soon anyway. Then he realized why Zach wanted the seclusion the second they sat down. Zach put his arm around Kurt.

Kurt smiled. They'd held hands and they'd kissed, but Zach had never held Kurt, so the warmth of Zach's body next to his was a pleasurable first. He curled in close and started humming the tune during the opening credits.

What Zach didn't tell Kurt was that he spotted a familiar brunette in the dim lit crowd of boys, Derek. He knew by now that where you saw one Warbler, you saw more of them and about seven rows ahead of him and Kurt, were twenty of them. His eyes scanned the crowd looking for a certain person. Then, in the corner on the opposite side of the theater, crouched low and sitting between two other boys, Zach found what he was looking for: an olive skinned boy with curly hair.

"Are you okay?" Kurt asked.

Zach hadn't noticed that Kurt was looking up at him. "Yeah. Fine. Aren't those the Warblers?" he asked, jutting his chin in the group's direction.

"Um. Not sure. I think so, but I can't see any of them. I thought I saw a couple underclassmen run past us in the tea shop."

"Isn't that Derek?" Zach gestured to the group closest to them.

"Oh. Wow. Yeah it is."

Zach immediately noticed Kurt sat up a little higher and his eyes were darting around. "He's over there." Zach knew who Kurt was looking for. He pointed to the other end of the theater.

Kurt's heart thumped. He whipped his head back to Zach the second he saw the curly mop on top of Blaine's head. "Wanna go?" he asked.

"Only if you do. This is our thing, remember?"

Kurt chewed on his bottom lip, looking back to the group of his old friends. "Right. Our thing." He took a breath. "No. I want to stay. I was just making sure that you weren't uncomfortable being here with them."

"You mean him," he gestured his chin in Blaine's direction.

"Yeah. That's what I meant."

"Shh," shushed an old couple a few rows over.

Kurt leaned over and kissed Zach sweetly on the lips. He smiled. "I'm sure you and I can find ways to stay quiet until the song parts." Zach grinned and tugged Kurt closer.

To Kurt, the thought of Blaine being in the theater after nearly two weeks of not hearing from him, made him a little mad and it also made him uncomfortable because he was on a date. He wanted to leave, but couldn't bring himself to do that for reasons that conflicted each other. In his head he thought, what if Blaine sees me and wants to talk? But then also thought, I don't want him to see me. If I ask to leave, it might make Zach over think why and it could ruin the night. I should stay and be affectionate to show him that I'm happy to be here with him. He didn't want to admit it to himself, but Kurt also thought that if he had his face plastered to Zach's then Blaine wouldn't be able to see Kurt, regardless of if he looked around or not. And that was the winning thought. Make out with Zach. It was a win-win situation. He liked kissing Zach, Zach liked kissing Kurt, Blaine wouldn't be able to recognize the faces of two people kissing in the dim light. Perfect.

Blaine

"Oh shit," Blaine cursed as he walked down the sidewalk with the group of Warblers.

"What?" David asked.

Blaine started moving to the outside group of boys, closest to the road. "Kurt's here."

"Seriously? How do you know?"

"That car. The Dodge. That's Zach's car. He's the guy dating Kurt. The license plate says OANDP. It stands for Out And Proud."

"How do you know he's here with Kurt? Maybe he's just out and about."

Then Blaine saw him. Kurt. He was sitting in a caf� with Zach and smiling. He saw Kurt's head start to turn and he rushed past before Kurt's head was fully turned.

In the theater, Blaine sat as far away from Derek as possible and sat between Wes and David. He crouched down low in his chair and put his feet up on the seat in front of him, making his body shape look like a ball. He didn't know why, but had a sneaking suspicion that Kurt would be coming here with Zach.

The movie had started and he remained crouched low. He looked down the other end of the row and saw Derek sitting next to Trent. They were leaning towards each other, while watching the movie. Blaine wondered if Derek was now spending time with Trent for romantic reasons or for friendship. It was now that Blaine realized how co-dependent Derek had grown. He used to be so strong and confident. I ruined him, Blaine thought.

"Shh!" Blaine heard an old couple shush.

Blaine turned around instinctually to see what was being shushed because he hadn't heard anyone being a disturbance. He immediately regretted turning around because on the opposite end of the room, two teenage boys were making out heavily. One of them a blonde, the other a brunette with delicate features. He didn't have to see his face to know who the brunette was… Kurt.

He turned back around and felt his face grow hot. He wanted to leave, but knew that he'd have to walk past Kurt and Zach to get to the exit. With them plastered to each other's faces the way they are, I'd be able to drive a bus through here and they wouldn't notice, he thought.

Halfway through the movie, the old couples had grown annoyed with the constant singing from everyone else in the audience and they had left. By the time Luck Be A Lady began playing, most everyone in the audience were dancing along.

Kurt and Zach had calmed down their make out sessions because with people dancing around, now there were people facing them and the privacy was thrown out the window. So, to compensate for being visible, Both boys moved over to sing and dance along with the people they met from last week, while the Warblers were dancing in the front of the theater, under the screen.

"Go talk to him," David nudged.

"I can't," Blaine confessed.

"Why? What's stopping you?"

"Fear."

"What are you afraid of? He loves you."

"Two weeks ago he may have loved me. Now he might hate me. I'll say something later. He looks pretty happy the way he is right now."

"Dude. Go." David got behind Blaine and shoved him forward.

Blaine stumbled forward, almost tripping over his feet. He paused to collect himself. He breathed deeply and wiped his hands on his button up shirt, straightening it out. He rubbed his hands together, making them warm, and then shaking them out as if his fear would be released from his fingertips. "Just go talk to him," he said quietly to himself.

He took in Kurt's expression across the room. He was laughing still, but Kurt didn't appear to be flirting. He seemed more conversational.

Blaine forced himself to approach Kurt and Zach. "H-Hi?" Blaine said timidly. He cleared his throat. "Hi, Kurt," he said a little louder.

Kurt spun on the balls of his feet and stared at Blaine. He didn't say anything. He was frozen. He just stood there, blinking.

"Hi, Zach," Blaine offered.

"Blaine," Zach said with a nod of his head.

"K-kurt. Um. D-do you think we could go somewhere to talk?" Blaine was sure it was obvious how nervous he was.

Kurt wasn't able to say anything. He was barely able to move, but managed to see past Blaine, over his shoulder, to see David. On the other side of the room, David was standing at full attention and gesturing to Kurt with his hands. He could just barely make out the words David was mouthing. Go. Talk. Kurt looked back to Blaine and nodded slowly. Then he looked back to Zach.

"Go ahead," Zach encouraged. His smile was small, but his eyes still shined.

Kurt started moving forward and Blaine followed. They made it to the hallway, but there were people in the hallway, so Kurt kept walking. Blaine and Kurt ended up walking into the bathroom because it was close by and empty. Kurt leaned up against one of the sinks and crossed his arms across his chest. His eyes pointed at the floor.

Blaine coughed to clear his throat. He was able to hear himself breathing. It was ragged and trembling. He was sure that he was sweating beneath his shirt. "I-um." He coughed again, suddenly able to feel how dry his throat was. "Kurt, I-" Blaine paused, not really sure of what he was supposed to say. "I wish this was easier," he finally got out. "I've never been afraid to tell you anything before. Now I'm just afraid of saying the wrong thing to make you stop talking to me again."

"You didn't call me either," Kurt murmured.

"I know and I'm not trying to make this about who did what." He paused, still not knowing what to say. "Kurt, I… Um."

"Why didn't you call me?" Kurt asked.

"Can you please look at me?" Blaine asked Kurt, who will had his eyes at the floor.

Kurt lifted his eyes and stared glossy eyed at Blaine. "Why didn't you call me?" he asked again.

"Me? You said we couldn't be friends anymore and left."

"No. I said that we couldn't be friends if you said what you were going to say. I didn't mean that we weren't friends in that instant."

"But why? Why couldn't I tell you that I luh-" Kurt held up a hand to stop him at the same part of the sentence as he did two weeks ago. "Is it Zach? Do you not want to hear it because you're with him now?" Kurt shook his head back and forth. "Is it me?" Kurt shook his head again; he was feeling very overwhelmed. "Then what is it? Why can't I tell you how I feel?"

Kurt felt his face grow hot and he blurted out what was in his mind. "Because I don't believe you."

Blaine was stunned into silence for a minute. "W-why?" he stammered.

"Why would you? And why now?"

"Why does there have to be a reason? Can't I just feel the way I do without analyzing it? Can't I l-" Kurt ran over to Blaine and covered Blaine's mouth with his hand.

"You'll only regret saying it when you realize that you'd made a mistake. You can't take those words back."

Blaine carefully wrapped his fingers over Kurt's hand and brought them down to his chest. His face was inches from Kurt's. He looked deep into Kurt's eyes. "I'm in love with you." Blaine said it as surely as he could muster, hoping his assuredness would convince Kurt of his feelings.

Kurt's face twisted in anguish and he broke away from Blaine and headed for the bathroom exit. Blaine decided that he wasn't going to watch him run away this time. In a surge of adrenaline, he rushed after Kurt and caught him in the hallway by the wrist. "Kurt, stop. Don't run away from me. I love you."

There it is again, Kurt thought, that lie. He doesn't really feel like that. How could he? "Stop saying that."

"Why? Because you don't feel the same way? Because you don't believe me? Why can't you believe it? I love you."

Kurt ripped his wrist away from Blaine's grasp and tried to walk away again. People in the hallway were beginning to stare at the spectacle Blaine was making.

Blaine wasn't deterred by the onlookers. He quickly stood in Kurt's way and blocked him from moving. "You're not a rebound, Kurt. I love you. I wish you would believe me. You want to know why now? I may have only just come to terms with it, but I think I've always known." He was speaking quickly and franticly.

"Why are you doing this?"

"Why won't you believe me? I love you! I don't know how else to say it. What do I have to do to make you believe me?"

Kurt's face was contorting, trying to hold back emotion. He couldn't listen to this. He loved Blaine so much and wanted to scream at him that he loved him too, but he truly didn't believe the boy in front of him. He's perfect. Why would he love me? "Please let me go," he said, barely audible.

"I can't." Blaine's heart was breaking. Then he came up with an idea. People kept telling him that Kurt loved him too. "Tell me you don't love me and I'll leave you alone."

Kurt's jaw tightened. "I don't."

"You're lying."

"I'm not."

"Yes you are. I can see it in your eyes and hear it in your voice. You don't want to tell me you love me, but you hate that you're telling me you don't. Just say it, Kurt. Stop hurting yourself."

Kurt couldn't hold it in anymore. "Me? I'm hurting myself? I've been in love with you since the second I saw you and you overlooked me this whole time. Jeremiah, Rachel, Derek. I was there for you for all of it and it never made a difference. I was never good enough for you. Now your first love breaks up with you and I come running- again."

"He wasn't my first love, you were!"

"Stop!"

"I never chose you because I was scared of losing you!"

"What do you want from me? You want me to tell you that I love you and fall into your arms and thank you for finally choosing me?"

"No. I-"

"You want me to believe you after everything that happened and somehow think the fact that other people want me now, has you suddenly realizing that you loved me all along?"

"No, that's not-"

"Well fine. You want to hear it? I love you. I've always loved you. Hearing you say it back is killing me because I know it isn't true and once your heartache from Derek dies off and you realize that you were mistaken, I'll be the one who's hurt. But that doesn't matter to you because you want to hear that someone loves you to make your pain less. So here you go. I love you. I love more than I've ever loved anyone or anything. I love you. Does that make you feel better?"

Blaine just stared, Kurt had it so wrong. "You're wrong," Blaine said calmly. "I wish I knew how to make you believe me."

"I want to believe you, but I can't."

It was then that people started filing out of the theater. The movie was over. Kurt spotted Zach and in the split second that Blaine lost his concentration, Kurt was able to get around him and into the crowd of people. Kurt laced his hand with Zach's and pulled him as fast as he could out of the theater.