Tuesday morning dawns bright and early and Kurt's never wanted to sleep in more than he does right now. He barely got any sleep last night, but he got enough that his second wind hasn't kicked in. Today is the day he has to see Blaine, go to class with Blaine, and eat lunch with Blaine. All the while pretending the boy hadn't just broken his heart. At least he wouldn't have to suffer through an awkward ten minute car ride with him; Blaine texted him last night saying he could drive himself to school. It's silly but getting that text was the moment it really sank in that he and Blaine aren't going to be okay. This isn't some minor fight that they're going to be able to laugh about in a week. No, they've actually broken up.

Kurt trudges downstairs and riffles through the fridge but doesn't find anything that looks even remotely appetizing. Sighing, he reaches for the orange juice and pours himself a glass before sitting down on one of the stools at the island counter.

"You're late today," Burt comments as he walks into the kitchen.

Kurt, startled by his voice, flinches and spills a little of the orange juice. He curses under his breath and quickly surveys his clothes but none of the juice seems to have spilled on him.

"Oh, yeah, well I'm not driving Blaine today."

Kurt preferred to get to school as late as possible, a habit he fell into when Karofsky was terrorizing him every chance he got. Blaine, however, liked to have a little leisure time in the morning so Kurt had indulged him.

Burt raises an eyebrow and turns to face Kurt. "This doesn't have anything to do with, you know, the thing, does it?"

"I don't know. Maybe. Blaine just said he didn't need a ride anymore."

Clearing his throat, Burt rubs the back of his neck looking a little guilty. "About what happened… I'm sorry if I made things awkward between you two. I know I was kind of harsh when I talked to Blaine, but I was just surprised. Maybe I should talk to him…" Burt trails off, looking uncertain.

"No," Kurt says quickly, "it will be fine, we'll be fine. I'm sure things will be back to normal soon," he finishes, forcing a smile.

Burt doesn't look convinced but, thankfully, he drops the subject.

Kurt walks into physics class just as the late bell is ringing and he quickly makes his way towards his seat so as not to be yelled at. He accidentally catches Blaine's eye and the boy offers him a smile, which he doesn't return. Instead, he hurriedly averts his eyes and takes his seat, ruffling through his bag to buy him a couple extra seconds. When he looks up at the board, he can see from his peripheral vision that Blaine is still looking at him, but he stops when Mr. Willis calls everyone to attention.

The routine of the class is soothing to Kurt and he is almost able to ignore the way Blaine's eyes keep flitting towards him. He knows he can't avoid him forever but that still doesn't make it any easier. When the lesson is almost over, Kurt starts putting away his stuff to prepare for a quick exit, but then Mr. Willis coughs loudly.

"Excuse me, class is not over," he says, his whiny voice grating Kurt's nerves. "And I have an announcement to make. Using all the knowledge about energy and motion that you've learned so far, you are all going to be building a model rocket." Despite the whole class having known this was coming, as told by previous students, everyone groans. "This will be a partner project," he continues as if no one said anything, "and I will be assigning the pairs." The class had perked up at the notion of having a partner but quickly groaned again at the fact they would be random.

Kurt had paled at the words "partner assignment" and as the teacher starts reading out the pairs his hands begin to sweat. He's always hated doing group projects and not just because he usually ends up doing all the work. Looking around the class, about half the kids hate him for being gay and the other half, while not hating him per say, generally feel uncomfortable around him.

"Samantha and Joey, Katelyn and Amanda, Jim and Arnold," Mr. Willis reads off mechanically. The last two, Jim and Arnold, high five loudly as their names are read, and Mr. Willis stops talking to glare at them. Once they settle down, he starts again, "Danielle and David, Kurt and Blaine…" Kurt's pretty sure he keeps going after that but he's no longer paying any attention. Without meaning to, he glances over at Blaine who meets his eyes and gives him a small smile which Kurt ignores, again.

The bell rings a second later and those who already have their assigned partner get up and file out. Kurt's plan to rush out of the classroom is momentarily forgotten which allows Blaine to fall into step with him.

"Hey so... we're partners I guess," Blaine says cheerily.

"Mhmm," Kurt hums, decidedly not looking at him.

Blaine falls silent, the smile leaving his face, and he says-no, pleads, "Can't we still be friend?"

Kurt has a million responses running though his mind, many of which are clever or angry, but all that comes out is a very broken "I don't know." And with that Kurt is hurrying away from Blaine and wiping at his eyes before the tears start to fall.

&&&&&

"This has been the worst. week. ever," Kurt vents to Rachel as they head to the choir room.

"I agree with you one hundred percent," Rachel says, sounding uncharacteristically down.

Kurt rolls his eyes and says, "Really? I thought you loved the idea of a musical proposal and thought it was so romantic."

Rachel huffs and crosses her arms at Kurt's sarcastic tone. "I do. There have just been… other things going on."

Kurt frowns and gives Rachel a once over. Her hair is much messier than usual, her eyes look puffy, and her whole demeanor seems hunched in on herself. It's such a contrast from normal Rachel Berry that Kurt doesn't know how he didn't see it until now. "What's the matter?" he asks softly.

She bites her lip and says, "We can't talk here, can you come over tonight? I'll invite Mercedes too. It'll be like old times."

Hooking his arm in hers, Kurt agrees and they walk into the room together. Once inside, Rachel breaks away to go sit with Finn, but she doesn't look very happy about it and Kurt wonders if he could be the reason for her stress. He wouldn't be surprised, their relationship has never been very steady and he's pretty sure this is the longest they've gone without a breakup. Kurt seeks out Mercedes and goes to sit with her, ignoring the stares of Tina and Mike. Kurt and Blaine, who have been practically attached at the hip all year, haven't sat with each other all week and it's caused quite a stir. Nobodies mentioned it to their faces yet, but he hears the murmurs. Of everyone, Tina and Mike seem most upset. Blaine's sitting with them now and by the way they keep glancing over here, he wouldn't be surprised if they were talking about him.

Mercedes nudges Kurt with her elbow and he realizes it's because he's been staring at the three of them for quite some time now. "So you and Blaine are still fighting I gather?" she asks with a frown.

Kurt shrugs his shoulders and looks anywhere but at her. "I don't know. We're not fighting so much as… just not as close as we use to be." There. That wasn't a lie.

She hums in disbelief and says, "Yeah, right. There's something you're not telling me because there's no way some 'silly argument' could cause this kind of riff between you two."

"Fine," Kurt hisses, "I'll tell you tonight. You, Rachel, and I are having a sleepover."

Looking extremely pleased with herself, Mercedes gives him a little pat on the arm before turning to stare longingly at Sam. Kurt rolls his eyes and huffs in annoyance but she doesn't notice. For some reason unbeknownst to Kurt, she refuses to date Sam even though he's obviously pursuing her. But every time he brings it up, Mercedes clams up and won't talk to him so honestly he's given up.

"Sorry I'm late everybody," Mr. Schue says as he breezes into the choir room. "I was just doing some planning with the fianc�e." His grin when he says the last word is so huge it borders on maniacal in Kurt's opinion but many of the girls awwww loudly. Kurt admits that recent events might taint his outlook on romance at the moment. Even so, he's never really thought Mr. Schue and Mrs. Pillsbury were that great of a couple. They always seemed to be fighting, and he really didn't think getting married would offer any solutions. "I wanted to thank everyone again for helping out with the proposal yesterday, you guys did amazing! Now I want to open the floor up to Blaine and Mike who have prepared a song for us."

"Hey everybody!" Blaine exclaims cheerily as he jumps down from his seat and walks to the center of the room. Kurt watches as Blaine transforms from his normal self to the performing one. His smile brightens, his shoulders get thrown back, and his eyes practically sparkle which makes it increasingly difficult to look away. Or maybe that's just him. "We prepared this song just because it's a lot of fun and we hope you can all enjoy it with us. I'll be singing and Mike here will be performing some of his awesome dance moves." Mike spins around and does a little tap dance at the comment. Blaine laughs and then signals at Brad to start playing.

Kurt can't help but be a little upset by how unaffected Blaine seems by their breakup. While Kurt's been moody and upset all week, Blaine's found the time and energy to plan out this whole performance. For a second, Kurt wonders if Blaine made up everything just so he had an excuse to break up with him, but he immediately scolds himself. As if Blaine's face that afternoon wasn't enough to convince him, Kurt knows Blaine would never lie about something like that. He's always been very good at acting like he's fine when he's not, and Kurt selfishly hopes this is another one of those times.

When the music starts, Kurt smiles in spite of himself because really, Last Friday Night? People seemed wary at first when Blaine mentioned this was a fun song but before the first verse is over, more than half the class is on their feet and dancing. Kurt is not among them and when Blaine notices, he starts beckoning to him. Pretending not to see him, Kurt turns and catches Tina's eye who also waves him over. Sighing, Kurt stands and allows Tina to hook his arm in hers and they begin to skip around in a circle. Kurt barks out a wild laugh and lets his reservations go, dancing rather crazily with Tina for the rest of the song. Loud applause follows the end of the number and everyone returns to their chairs slightly out of breath and wearing a bit more color in their cheeks.

&&&&&

Sleeping over at Rachel's is a comforting experience. Junk food, clich� romantic comedies, and being with his two girls is something he needs more of in his life. The calm doesn't last long though; not ten minutes into 27 dresses and Mercedes starts the questioning.

"So honestly, what's been up with you lately? You promised to tell."

"Well actually," Kurt deflects, turning to Rachel, "Rachel said she had something she wanted to talk about with us."

"No, you first," Rachel insists quickly.

Kurt hesitates but then relents with a sigh. These are his two best friends; if he can tell anyone, it's them. "Blaine and I, we had a thing," he says.

"A thing?" Mercedes asks with raised eyebrows.

"We were dating, but in secret," he admits quietly.

Both of them gasp and Rachel asks, her voice raised, "Why in secret?"

"The jocks at school were bothering us a lot so we thought it better to just keep the whole thing quiet." He leaves out the main reason, Blaine's reason, because it's not his place to tell. Rachel and Mercedes wear equally hurt looks at not being told and his anger flares up. "Hey, don't give me that look. You guys don't have to walk the school hallways everyday in fear being physically assaulted. We were just doing what we had to."

Mercedes looks chastened but says, "I just wish you would have told us."

"I know," Kurt says quietly, his anger dissipating as quickly as it had come.

"But you two broke up," Mercedes guesses. Kurt nods.

"Why?" Rachel asks. She shifts to face Kurt and in the process, she sits on the remote and turns off the TV but nobody notices.

"It's complicated…" Kurt trails off, picking at his pajama pants absentmindedly. "We had different ideas of where our relationship should go from here on out."

The girls look slightly confused and Kurt knows he's being vague but they don't ask him to clarify. Instead Mercedes asks, "Do you think there's any hope of you two getting back together?"

Kurt lets out a strangled laugh and shakes his head. "I honestly don't know." He looks at the two of them and is surprised to see they both look devastated. "What? He and I broke up, not you two," he jokes half heartedly. "Why are you so upset?"

Mercedes takes a deep breath and says, "Kurt, this year, since Blaine's arrived, I've never seen you happier. Even without knowing you guys were dating, I could tell he was special to you. We're your friends Kurt and whatever makes you happy makes us happy, and vice versa." Rachel nods vigorously in agreement, and Kurt feels his eyes begin to water.

"Thanks guys," he says, sniffling slightly. Rachel then pulls both of them into a tight hug, and Kurt smiles through it, only protesting a little. "Wow, it's a good thing are periods aren't until next week or we'd really be in trouble," Kurt says and the girls giggle loudly.

Kurt takes a few deep breaths and wipes his eyes one last time before directing his attention to Rachel. "Okay girl, spill."

Rachel bites her lip, a nervous habit Kurt's noticed, and says, "Well I kind of have the opposite problem from what you have." The gears in Kurt's mind turns as he tries to make sense of what Rachel said and he gets it right before she says, "Finn proposed."

Kurt whips around to his right and sees a mirrored look of horror on Mercedes' face. "Please dear god tell me you said no," Kurt begs.

Rachel shakes her head. Mercedes' hand flies up to cover he mouth. "You said yes?" she whispers.

Rachel shakes her head again and responds, "I haven't answered yet."

Kurt lets out a sigh of relief and says, "Good. You are going to go to him first thing tomorrow morning and tell him no."

"But I love him. Isn't that enough?" Rachel asks desperately.

"If you guys really love each other, which I believe you do," Mercedes adds at Rachel's glare, "then there's no need to rush things. There's all the time in the world to get married, at least wait until you're out of high school."

"Is he even coming to New York with us next year?" Kurt asks, although it sounds more like an accusation than a question.

"Yes," Rachel says defiantly although her facial expression wavers after a second. "At least that's what he says. I don't know, sometimes it seems like he's just saying that to make me happy and it's not what he actually wants."

Kurt fights back a groan because this lack of communication is a constant in Rachel's relationship with Finn. "Then I agree with Mercedes. If your relationship is meant to last it will, ring or not. An engagement is only going to make your life more stressful. The pending marriage will be hanging over your head and just think of how your dads will react."

Rachel waits in silence for a moment after Kurt finishes before nodding slowly. "Yeah, you're right. I'm going to say no. For now," she adds.

Kurt flops backwards onto the pillows and lets out the breath he was holding. "Crisis averted," he mumbles so only Mercedes can hear and she laughs.

"But I'm going to marry him someday." Kurt glances over and she looks so earnest that he can't help but tease.

"Yeah yeah, you've been saying that since freshman year," he says with a smile.

&&&&&

When Kurt walks into his house he notices right away that something is off. Burt is sitting in his favorite chair, the worn lazy boy that faces the TV, but the TV is off and he's just staring into space.

"…Dad?"

Burt blinks a few times and looks up at Kurt as if he just woke from a daze. "Oh good you're home. I've been wanting to talk to you about something." At Kurt's nod, he continues, "What do you think of Sally?"

Kurt frowns and drops his bag onto the ground. "What do you mean? You know I think she's great."

"I mean," Burt starts, and Kurt swears he sees a little bit of color on his cheeks, "what would you think of accepting her into the family?"

Kurt's lips form a small "o" of surprise and he claps his hands together in excitement. "I think that's great dad! Can I plan your wedding? Pretty, pretty please?" he begs.

Burt rises from the chair laughing and says, "I was hoping you would. But this is going to be a small wedding, mind you. We both agreed we already had a lavish occasion the first time and this would just be a small ceremony for our friends."

Realization dawns and Kurt asks, "You've already asked her? And she said yes?" At Burt's confirmation Kurt's grin gets even larger and he does a little dance. "This is so exciting. I'm really happy for you, dad."

Burt smiles at him and tugs him to his chest. "Thanks bud," he says into his hair. "I know she can't replace your mom, but I'm so happy you'll let her into our life. Along with Blaine and Maria." Kurt's body stiffens at the mention of Blaine, and Kurt hopes his dad doesn't notice. "God, it's going to be weird having a little kid around again," Burt comments as he pulls away.

Kurt hums in agreement but he's already far gone, his mind going a mile a minute with wedding plans.

"Sally and I are going to go out and celebrate tonight so you'll have to get dinner on your own okay?"

Kurt nods and then retreats upstairs while wondering if he still has those wedding magazines stored under his bed.