Zach and Kurt's coffee cups were raised in front of them tapping together in a celebratory action. "I can't believe we won third place," Zach mused, taking a sip of his coffee.

"I can. We rocked," Kurt smiled. He caught a change in Zach's facial expression. "What?" he asked.

"Nothing. You're just smiling and laughing a lot. I'm really glad for you that you let yourself enjoy yourself this weekend."

Kurt took a sip of his non-fat mocha. "Me too. I do owe a lot of it to you though."

Zach rolled his eyes and grinned before changing his expression again. He was thinking. "Was it weird going from being treated like rock stars on stage in New York to suddenly being just the glee club member in Lima, Ohio today?"

"Hmm. No. I'm sort of used to it by now. Competitions are really when we shine. The crowds always go nuts. It was harder making the transition from being a Warbler to going back to New Directions."

"Why?"

"Warblers are teen royalty at Dalton. Practically the entire school auditions to get in, and as you can see, they're very selective. I auditioned and pretty much walked right in without so much as trying. Not to mention I became fast friends with the council members and their lead singer."

"So, you were popular?"

"In a sense. There really isn't such a thing there because of the zero tolerance policy. No one is a pee-on like the New Directions are. Everyone is equal so it's hard to say, but everyone certainly liked Wes, David, and Blaine. It seemed some people went out of their way to sit at their table during a meal." He huffed with a smile, seemingly looking at nothing. "But here I was, just me, the new kid; the one who sticks out like a sore thumb here, and I walked right into their inner circle like it was nothing. Suddenly, everyone wanted to be my friend."

"Or boyfriend," Zach smiled.

"Not that I could see. I had friends that were gay, which was a switch because I'd never been around anyone that was gay before. But I only saw Blaine."

"How long were you there before you started dating?"

"Oh my goodness, that took forever. I knew I loved him the second I met him, but I kept it hidden for months and then it took another month or so after that for him to realize that he had feelings for me too."

"How did you know?"

"That I loved him?"

"Yeah."

"I don't know. I just knew. I saw him walking down a staircase and I asked for his help. He turned around and my first thought was 'uh-oh' and drowned in him instantly."

"What took him so long?"

"Um. I think he didn't know what he wanted. Also, he can be a bit oblivious at times, so chances are he really had no idea that he had feelings for me at all. We were close and that was comfortable."

"You talk about him so easily now. What a difference a few days and a trophy makes."

"Oh, honey, trophies can change anything," Kurt joked. Both boys laughed.

"Hi, Kurt." Neither boy had noticed someone had walked up to their table.

"Trent!" Kurt said, happily surprised. "What are you doing here?"

"Coffee… and my parents live the next town over. I'm just stopping here on my way to their house for dinner."

"I didn't know that." Zach coughed. "Oh! Trent this is Zach. I don't think you two have met at rehearsals yet."

They exchanged hellos and Kurt noticed that something was different about Trent. He was usually upbeat with a bit of a sassy air to him, but now, standing in front of Kurt and Zach, he looked nervous and apprehensive. "Uh, Kurt, can I actually talk to you, alone?"

Kurt was about to say that whatever he had to say he could say it in front of Zach, but then thought that maybe this was about Trent and he was shy, which was out of character for Trent; but then again, so was this version of Trent standing in front of him. He quickly shot a glance at Zach. "Sure." Zach gave him an encouraging look and Kurt got up from their table, following Trent over to the corner of the caf�. "Is everything okay?"

Trent sat down across from Kurt. "I don't know." He wasn't making eye contact. He looked bothered.

"Alright, well, what's up then?"

Trent puckered his lips as he thought. A minute went by and he finally locked his eyes with Kurt. There was more than a flicker of seriousness in the Warbler's eyes. "Have you talked to Blaine much since you two broke up?"

"Not really. Is this going to be a conversation about how I need to let Blaine explain himself?" Kurt seemed oddly annoyed. He'd heard that from too many people.

"Sort of."

"Well, you're a great friend to come talk to me for Blaine," Kurt said sarcastically.

"I think you've gotten the wrong idea. Blaine didn't send me to talk to you. In fact, he has no idea that I'm even talking to you."

"Then why are you talking to me?" He paused. "Sorry. That was mean. I'm not trying to act like I don't care. I've just had a lot of people not letting me handle all this the way I see fit."

Trent gulped, trying to sum up the confidence to finish what he started. "It's fine. I'd probably be ticked too if people were meddling in my personal life." He gulped again. "So you don't know anything about that party the other week?"

"Other than Blaine having sex with James, no. I don't know or care to know anything else." That was a lie. He had already decided Saturday night that he did want to know everything.

"I think you should know. It might put things into perspective for you."

"Are you sure Blaine didn't send you?"

"I'm sure. You know I'm Thad's room mate, right?" The name made Kurt want to throw up. "Living with him, you hear a thing or two about secrets. I think, because I'm in ear shot, I have dirt on just about everyone in the school. Teachers included."

"I did know you were his room mate. I always felt bad for you. What does he have to do with anything?"

Trent dipped a hand into his shoulder bag at his feet. He pulled out a clear case that contained a disc. He put it down on the table and slid it over to Kurt. "You should watch that."

"What is it?"

"What Blaine's been trying to tell you all along."

"That's not the rest of the clip that Thad sent me, is it?"

"Thad sent you a clip?" Trent looked disgusted.

"Yeah. That's how the fight started last week."

"That prick," he mumbled. He shook his head. "Kurt, Blaine was drugged."

Kurt froze, staring at the Warbler across the table from him with wide eyes. "When?"

"At the party."

"Like Roofeed?"

"No. Some freshman kid made brownies laced with Ecstasy and passed them around without telling people what was in them. A handful of Warblers were all drugged. Blaine and James were two of them."

"Did Thad have anything to do with it?"

"No. He just took advantage of the situation."

"Are you sure?"

"Believe me, after all this, I wouldn't lie for him."

"So what is this movie supposed to show me? Besides what my lunch looks like after it's been digested?"

"Like I said earlier. Prospective."

"Have you seen it?" Kurt asked slightly embarrassed.

"Yes. Once. The night you found out, I was in the bathroom and I overheard James and Thad arguing over a movie and how Thad was suppose to make it disappear. Then Thad said something about not being able to prove that he filmed it. I knew then that he had done something really bad."

The next day when he went to classes I skipped and search through his computer. I found this." Trent gestured to the disc. "I don't know if you know this about me, but my brother used to use X all the time, so I know what an Ecstasy high looks like… and Blaine… Blaine was in agony."

Kurt saw the pain in Trent's eyes. Kurt knew nothing of Trent's inner struggle for his brother, but assumed Trent was transferring his feelings on the subject onto Blaine. "What do you mean? Agony?"

"You'll have to watch it to understand."

"Well, I don't know anything about Ecstasy so you'll have to explain it."

"X does something to your nervous system that makes the sensation of touch be heightened. It comes to the point that the user craves being touched. It's the most incredible feeling you could ever imagine and then some."

"So you're saying that Blaine couldn't help himself and threw himself at the first person who showed interest?" Kurt was again sounding annoyed. He was beginning to hate himself again for not being able to control his emotions. In truth, he was mortified. He felt awful for Blaine that he was drugged, and terrible for himself that he hadn't given Blaine the chance to explain. It was obvious now that this is what he'd been trying to say.

"No. I'm not saying that at all. I don't know how he ended up with James in his room, but if you watch it, you'll see that Blaine is having a different reaction to the drug than James is. James is having the normal reaction: heightened senses, sexual arousal, all of that stuff. Blaine, seems to be having a bad reaction. He mentions his skin being on fire, he pretty much starts shaking, what looks like in pain, if he wasn't being touched."

There was silence between the boys. Kurt thought back to the movie clip on his phone that he never erased after the first time he saw it. Blaine didn't look like he was in pain. He looked like he was enjoying himself. Kurt didn't know what to think.

"Let me be perfectly clear," Trent continued. "He definitely cheated and I'm not going to make excuses because X doesn't MAKE you do things. Blaine had options. Oddly enough, you can see him thinking about them in the movie. He could have called or asked for medical attention from anyone. He could have walked away from James and sat with other people that he wouldn't have had sex with. He could have stuck it out and suffered in pain until the trip was over. But he chose the option that hurt the most amount of people. He chose to have sex with James. He chose the wrong choice. I can't speculate what went on in his head and neither can he because he doesn't remember a thing from that night."

"When Blaine first came to Dalton, he hated himself for being who he is. He had to get comfortable in his own skin. He came alive when he met you. Now, well, Blaine hates himself more now than he ever did before you came into his life."

"It seems to be difficult to follow because you're berating him for making the wrong choice, but pitying him because he hates himself for it, while at the same time, doing this for a friend who wasn't able to tell me himself."

"I'm not doing this for Blaine. He's my friend and all, and I feel bad for him, but I'm not doing it for him. I'm doing it for you." Kurt looked at Trent confusedly. Trent gulped again as he had in the beginning and looked around the room, never fixing his eyes on one thing in particular. He finally settled his eyes on Kurt again and Kurt saw the desperation in them. "You never noticed how many other guys wanted to be with you. You only saw Blaine. Just Blaine. Always Blaine. So many other people care about you too."

Kurt understood. If not now, then at one point in the past, Trent had feelings for Kurt and they went unrequited. This was his way of taking care of the boy he could never have. It broke Kurt's heart.

"You belong with Blaine. Give him a chance to explain. You can take my word for it about what happened, or you can watch the movie."

Kurt looked down at the disc. Before he was afraid to touch it, like it was hot. Now he felt obligated to take it. He put his hand over the case and slid it towards him more. He was right the first time. It was too hot. Kurt could feel it burning under his hand, but took it up off the table and held it anyway. "Thank you."

Kurt walked back to the table where he left Zach at, when Trent left, and picked up his things. He disregarded his now cold coffee. "I need to leave," he told Zach.

"What's the matter?" Zach asked concerned. "Is everything okay?"

"No. It's not okay. I need to go home." Kurt hands were shaking so bad he was having trouble with his bag. He was trying to unbuckle the belt clasp on his designer messenger bag so he could put the disc in it, but couldn't get his bag open.

Zach stood up and took the bag from Kurt, gently extracting it from his trembling fingers. He opened it for Kurt and Kurt put the disc in. Zach buckled the bag up again and handed it back to Kurt. In the same action he'd been doing all weekend, it now becoming a habit, he held his hand out and Kurt took it, squeezing it, feeling the calming sensation that went with it, clearly trying to hold back tears.

Kurt had been doing this for most of the conversation with Trent, but he was sure he came off as cold and uncaring. "Come on," Zach encouraged. "I'll drive you home."

Kurt stopped the blonde boy. "I messed up. I made a big mistake."

"What'd you do?"

"I should have listened to all of you from the beginning. Blaine was trying to tell me something important. Blaine was drugged the night he cheated on me."

Zach looked down, not knowing what to say, but taking in the information. "Let's go. I'm going to take you home." Zach held tight of Kurt's hand as they walked to his car, not caring that all the strangers in the caf� were seeing two teen boys holding hands. He felt so bad for both Kurt and Blaine. He couldn't help, but think a silent 'I told you so' but wanted to be supportive more than accusatory because Kurt was more important than that.

"Is this Karma's way of telling me that I'm not allowed to be happy without Blaine?" Kurt asked when they started to drive off. He immediately hated what he said once the words left his lips. "That's awful. I shouldn't be thinking of myself. I'm so selfish."

"Kurt stop," Zach commanded, still holding tight of Kurt's hand. "You've been through a lot the past couple weeks and this is still new. It's a hard thing to process. You're allowed to think of yourself. You're allowed to feel for Blaine. You're allowed to feel anything you please because it's you and your situation. And don't blame Karma. This happened before we left this weekend. I'll admit, you were stubborn and ignored everyone when they told you to listen to him, but it was your choice. You dealt with the pain the only way you saw fit."

"That sounds like what Trent said about Blaine," Kurt said aloud, thinking that it was only a thought. The words: but it was your choice. You dealt with the pain the only way you saw fit rang in his ears the second they entered his brain.

"What was it that Trent said?"

"Can we just be quiet right now? I'll tell you some other time. There are too many words in my head right now."

Zach said nothing in return, letting Kurt know that he was trying to be supportive. Kurt felt Zach's thumb brushing against the top of his hand, rubbing lines in his skin. He felt a wave a guilt flow through him and he took his hand away from Zach's.

Zach let it go easily, but watched Kurt carefully. Kurt rubbed his hand on his pant leg, as if drying sweat off his hands when there was none, and clasped his hands together in his lap.

Kurt felt worse than awful. Here he was, feeling bad about not giving Blaine a chance to explain, letting him torture himself inside, and all the while, holding hands with another guy. Not only holding hands, but wanting to hold his hand as if it were a natural need.

"Zach, w-we can't be friends," he blurted out, stuttering nervously.

Zach furrowed his brow in curiosity and pulled his car over. He unbuckled his seat belt and turned toward Kurt. "Okay. What's up?"

"I need you too much."

"Is that such a bad thing? To need someone?"

"But I want you too."

Zach raised his eyebrows in surprise. "Wasn't expecting that one."

"No, not like that. I mean, I want you around. It's only been five days and I've already become accustomed to having you right there. If something is wrong your hand is in mine instantly. If you even sense that something is wrong, you're squeezing my hand or hugging me before I have a chance to process it and that scares the hell out of me. You've seen me at my most vulnerable and made it okay. Because of that I latched onto you."

"Kurt, I invited all that in. You needed someone to keep you from falling emotionally comatose. We're friends. People need friends. It's okay to need people or want them around even."

"But I expect it. I expect you."

"So what? I like it. I like feeling needed and wanted. Helping you makes me feel good about myself and it makes me feel less lonely in a place where people only see me as the new kid from Europe."

"You don't understand."

"No. I do understand. You feel guilty because you didn't give him the chance to explain." Zach paused and became irritated. He voice raised in volume. "You want to punish yourself for isolating him and you think that to love Blaine and make what you did equal to how he felt, is to reject everyone around you, when all you have to do to reverse it all is talk to him. Listen to him. You had every right to ignore him because you were mad. You didn't know what happened because when he SHOULD have told you, he busted your heart instead. He's just as guilty as you on that front. Jesus, Kurt. You're- you're so stupid sometimes. Get out of your own way! You can be happy. You've proved it this past weekend. Just solve this. It's not hard. Sit with him and fucking talk. You don't have to forgive him or take him back right away, but you do have to let it go. Holding it in only makes it worse."

Kurt stayed silent and tilted his head down, looking at his shoes. Zach huffed and turned back to the steering wheel. He buckled his seat belt and held onto the steering wheel tightly, his knuckles turning white. "Dumping me as your friend won't cancel out the pain of him dumping you." Out of the corned of his eye, he saw a tear run down Kurt's cheek. He sighed and turned his head, his anger seeping out of him with the air he breathed out. "God damn it, Kurt," Zach said calmly. He reached over to Kurt's lap and took his hand back, entwining his fingers with Kurt's and lifted their knotted hands for Kurt to see. "You don't get it." Kurt turned his head, still not saying anything, and looked Zach in the eyes. "I need you too." He paused twisting his jaw and shaking is head quickly. "So don't tell me that we can't be friends because you're the only real one I have in this country."

Kurt cleared his throat and wiped his face with his free hand. "I'm sorry I tried to dump you."

The corners of Zach's lips twitched and he swallowed the lump that was beginning to form in his throat. "I'm sorry I yelled at you… again… after I told you I wouldn't speak to you like that."

"Forgiven," said Kurt with the sadness still in his voice.

"You too."

The drive to Kurt's house was silent and when they arrived at the house, Zach got out of the car and walked Kurt to the door, holding his hand up the walkway, all the way to the door. He still looks so sad, Zach thought. He let go of his hand and wrapped his arms around Kurt's shoulders. Pulling him in for a hug. "Are you still mad at me?"

Kurt rested himself against Zach like a comforted child. "No. I was never mad at you."

"Do you still want to dump me?"

"No. You were right."

"It will get better, easier. You know that deep down." He released Kurt from his gentle hold. "Call him. Give yourself a push in the right direction." Kurt nodded his head in agreement. "I'll keep my phone on me, in case you need someone, but if not, I'll see you tomorrow." He gave Kurt's shoulder a reassuring squeeze.

"Thank you."

"You're welcome. Just don't dump me again." Zach smiled hoping Kurt got the joke. He got it, but didn't feel like laughing or smiling.

"See you tomorrow."

"Bye Kurt." Zach turned his body and walked back to his car.

When Kurt heard the car start he looked over to it, and watched Zach drive away. He noticed a familiar looking car across the street. A white mustang convertible with a curly headed boy sitting on the front bumper. Kurt fought against his instinct to go in the house and lock the door.

Instead, he put his bag down on the porch and walked over to the boy who sat with his face buried in his hands. Kurt could hear his ragged breathing.

He slowly reached and touched Blaine's shoulder then jumped and took his hand back when Blaine jerked his head up, startled. Kurt saw Blaine's tear stained face and just as slowly as before, reached out an cupped the side of Blaine's cheek.

Blaine closed his eyes and nuzzled into Kurt's hand like he was a child cuddling up to his favorite blanket. He opened his honey eyes, stained red, and took in the pained face of his beloved. At the same time, just as if they read one another's mind, they collapsed into each other and held tight.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry," Blaine cried over and over.

Kurt's sobs were silent, but his tears ran in abundance and stained Blaine's t-shirt.