Kurt can't remember the last time he woke up on his own accord rather than to the sound of his obnoxiously cheery alarm. Glancing at the clock, he startles a little because it's almost noon. Never has he slept this late when in full health; although between the emotional stress of last night and the sheer exhaustion from staying up as late as he did, he's not sure he'll count this. The couple left right after the reception last night so starting today, Kurt has the house to himself for a week. Kurt laughs to himself, thinking about all the things a normal teenager would do with this situation, but then the smile slide off his face. If he and Blaine were still together, than maybe they would have been taking advantage… Rubbing his hands over his face, Kurt sits up and wills the thoughts to go away.

Unfortunately, today can't be the rest and relaxation day he hoped it could be. Most of his fellow seniors stopped bothering with homework now that it's the second semester but with NYADA not making decisions until later than most schools, he needs to keep up his grades. Sleeping in felt great, but he can't waste anymore time, so he gets started right away. He works most of the afternoon, only stopping to get snacks occasionally, and is near finished when his phone buzzes. Kurt picks it up and as he sees the name his heart begins to race. Reluctantly, he opens the message and reads:

Hi Kurt, my grandmother wanted me to invite you over for dinner tonight, would you liked to come?

Quickly, so as not to over think this, Kurt types back:

Sorry, can't, tons of homework. Send my thanks to Irene!

Putting the phone down (and turning it off so as not to hear if Blaine responds), Kurt walks back to his desk and takes a few calming breathes. Every time he remembers the scene in the bathroom last night, a flood of emotions wash over him. Embarrassment, sadness, anger, even a pinch of joy. After all, Blaine did say he still has feelings for him. But he also said he wasn't going to act on them, and considering they're now stepbrothers (Kurt still cringes at the word), it's probably for the best. His heart, however, isn't listening to logic given the fact that even though the list of reasons Kurt should give up greatly outnumbers the other side, he can't do it. Not won't, can't. And he doesn't think he'll ever be able to as long as he knows Blaine wants this too.

&&&&&

Kurt's hands are shaking so hard he misses three times before finally clicking on right number.

"Hello this is Rachel Berry," she answers, after what feels like an eternity.

"It's me," Kurt breathes, his breath coming shallow puffs.

"Kurt? What's wrong?"

Kurt closes his eyes and forces himself to breath normally. "I got my NYADA letter…"

"What?!" Rachel screeches. "Oh my god, mine's probably in the mailbox right now!"

Rachel's voice fades on the last few words and is replaced by a rustling noise that lasts for all of thirty seconds. "My dads said nothing came for me." Her voice is small and cautious and Kurt knows she's trying not to panic. "Well anyways, what did yours say?!"

"I haven't opened it yet."

"Why not?"

"I didn't want to do it alone," Kurt admits.

Rachel hums and says, "I can be over there in ten minutes if you'd like."

Kurt shakes his head and then realizes Rachel can't see him. "No thanks Rach, I honestly don't think I can wait that long. Being on the phone is enough."

"Well open it!" Rachel says impatiently.

"Okay, okay," Kurt responds, turning the phone on speaker and then setting down on the kitchen table. Taking the letter in his hands, he carefully opens it as to not rip the envelope as much as he can. He rereads the first line three times to make sure he's not mistaken and but then has to stop because the tears are blurring his vision. "I'm a finalist," he whispers.

"What? You're a finalist! Kurt, that's great!" Rachel shouts and he picks back up the phone, smiling brightly.

"Thanks I- I don't even know what to do!" he exclaims. He settles for doing a little dance around the room, but it doesn't seem to fairly express the happiness he's feeling. Rachel responds with something, and Kurt doesn't catch it but he does notice a tone change. "What was that?"

"I said, this probably means I'm not a finalist." Her voice is quavering, and Kurt hears her sniffling softly.

"That's crazy. If I'm a finalist then you're definitely a finalist."

"I mean... you would think so," she starts and Kurt rolls his eyes, determined not to let her ego ruin his mood. "But you never know with these things."

"I'm sure you'll get your letter any day now," he tries to assure her, although he knows it's futile. When Rachel gets like this, there's no convincing her of anything.

"Hopefully. Well I have to go, my dads are calling me, but uh... c-congratulations."

Rachel hangs up without saying goodbye but the simple congratulations at the end is more than Kurt expected. After one more happy dance and a small, celebratory squeal, Kurt dials his dad's number to tell him the news.

&&&&&

By Wednesday, Rachel still hasn't received her NYADA letter, and she's a mess. Kurt can't think of any conceivable way Rachel wouldn't get in considering her grades and multitude of extracurricular activities, but even he is beginning to worry. Neither of them know whether they send out letters to those who get rejected, so her constant topic of discussion is when she should give up.

"I mean it's been a week, I think I better just give it up and accept the fact that I'll be stuck in Lima forever," she says, finishing with a dramatic slam of her locker.

"First of all, it's been three days not a week, and second, even if you don't get in NYADA, which I don't thing will happen by the way, it's not the end of your dreams. You can still come to New York and reapply next year and go to auditions and all of that." Rachel opens her mouth to argue but Kurt cuts her off. "No. We're not arguing about this again. It's all we've talked about for the past three days and worrying is not going to make the letter come any faster."

Rachel crosses her arms and sighs loudly but keeps her mouth shut. Then she sees Finn and immediately perks up, practically running across the hall to give him a sloppy, and disgusting in Kurt's mind, kiss. "You two seem to be doing better," he comments, when Rachel finally pries her lips away from Finn's and comes back to join him.

"We are," Rachel confirms with a smile on her face.

"So he was totally fine with the whole not marrying him thing?" he asks skeptically. "Because that seems like it would probably put a damper on the whole relationship thing."

"Mr. Schue!" Rachel suddenly calls out at their teacher who is a few steps in front of them. "Sorry," she says over her shoulder, "I have to talk to him about something."

This seems weird to Kurt, considering they were on their way to Glee in the first place put he doesn't give it much thought. He still needs to work on how to get Blaine back. He's been avoiding Blaine's, or really Irene's, offers to come over for dinner all week because he doesn't want to do anything until he has a solid plan.

He thinks all through Glee, ignoring Mr. Schue's attempts at getting them to learn some big life lesson, but still has nothing. Kurt's broken out of his thoughts by a slight tap on the shoulder, and he looks up to find half the glee club out the door and the other soon behind. He must have been more out of it than he thought. Looking to his left, he sees the source of the tap is none other than Blaine himself.

"Hey, could I get a ride home? Please?" He looks so vulnerable and anxious that Kurt wonders if it's possible to be eaten alive by guilt because if so, he thinks Blaine will be. Since the wedding, he's been sending Kurt these absolutely devastated looks, and Tina tells him it's because he's guilty. She doesn't know the specifics, but apparently he told her he did something "completely awful" to Kurt and "wouldn't be surprised if he hated him and never wanted to speak to him again". Kurt's not sure how he came to that conclusion, considering he told Blaine he still wanted him even after their fight but for some reason that's what thinks.

"Where's your car?" Kurt asks and then immediately cringes because it came out sounding like he doesn't want to give him a ride.

"It's broken down. But I can call somebody else or walk or something like that, it fine," he says quickly.

"No, no it's fine. Let's go." Kurt stands and strides out of the room, Blaine quick on his heels. The silence is awkward, and Kurt takes out his phone to pretend and text somebody.

"So, I heard you're a NYADA finalist," Blaine says, smiling softly at Kurt.

Kurt sucks in a breath and slips his phone back into his pocket. "Yeah, how'd you know that?"

"My mom told me. Apparently your dad hasn't stopped talking about it since he found out. Not that I blame him. It's an amazing accomplishment." Blaine chuckles slightly, and Kurt looks away to hide his blush. Still, after all this time, Blaine still has that kind of effect on him.

"Thank you."

Once they get in the car, Kurt leaves the radio silent as a way to force the conversation to continue.

"My grandma still wants you to come over for dinner…" Blaine trails off, glancing over at Kurt but then quickly looking away. "Something about promising your dad she'll look after you and everything."

"I guess I'll force myself through it, if only to appease my father." Kurt offers Blaine a smile so he knows he's only joking, and he gets one in return. "Now what about you? Have you heard anything from NYU? Or any other schools?" he adds. With them not being together anymore, who knows what Blaine's number one school is.

Blaine shakes his head, "Not yet. But that's to be expected. And I'm still planning on going to NYU." Kurt can feel his eyes on him, but he only meets them for a second before returning his eyes to the road.

"Can't say I expected that." Kurt tries for nonchalance but it comes out a bit squeaky.

"Like I said, NYU was always my dream school, there were just some extra benefits before. Well, actually, they're still there."

Kurt turns to look at Blaine, to discern what that means, but he's staring at the window. Part of him wants to slap Blaine for toying with his emotions like this, but he reasons with himself that this is good. If Blaine still thinks of him like that, than it's only a matter of time before he comes to his senses.

They stay quiet for the rest of the ride, both of them lost in thought. When he pulls up in front of Blaine's house he has to cough a few times before Blaine starts to move.

"What time should I come over?" Kurt asks as Blaine reaches into the back to grab his pack.

Blaine freezes and whips up to look at Kurt, his eyes bright but confused, but they go back to normal a second later. "For dinner, right, um six? Maria gets hungry so we usually eat pretty early."

"That's fine," Kurt says, waving off Blaine's apologetic tone. "See you then."

&&&&&

"Alright, the gigs up," Irene announces after they've said grace and are sitting down to eat. "What's going on around here? You guys are siblings now so you better stop tiptoeing around each other."

"They're in a fight," Maria says casually, and Kurt begins to choke. He had taken a sip of water to avoid responding to Irene but now it's threatening to come back up. If the gagging noises coming from the seat next to him are any indication, it seems Blaine is having the same trouble.

"Maria, what do you mean?" Blaine asks, his voice scratchy.

She rolls her eyes and says, "It's not rocket science Blaine. You two use to hangout all the time but now you never do." She pauses a moment and then continues softly, "And you're sad. You don't smile like you use to."

Silence falls over the table as no one, not even Irene, knows how to respond. The evening had been going fine. Granted, it had only been about ten minutes, but still.

"That's uh, that's not true. We're still friends, aren't we Kurt?" Blaine widens his eyes at Kurt and gives a small nod as if Kurt didn't know how to respond.

"Of course we are," he says breezily. "Things have just been so crazy lately we haven't had time to see as much of each other. Plus, I have a boyfriend now, so a lot of my time is spent with him." Kurt shouldn't have said the last part, and he instantly regrets it, but the look on Blaine's face makes it kind of worth it. His mouth drops open and his eyebrows shoot up comically high.

"I-huh what?" he stutters, and Kurt barely suppresses a smirk. Maybe making him jealous is the way to go.

"Yeah, didn't I tell you? I met him at the Lima Bean a few weeks ago. He's a real sweet guy."

Blaine continues to stare at him for the rest of dinner which is quiet and just a tad on the awkward side. When the dinner is over, Kurt stands to leave but Blaine stops him.

"Wait! Uh, I need some help on that physics… thing," he says lamely. Kurt doesn't question though and follows him to his room.

"So," Blaine says once the door is closed, "that whole boyfriend thing. That was just a cover up right?"

Kurt could torture him, could draw it out, but he doesn't. "Yes," he confirms and Blaine's face floods with relief. "Not that you should care," he can't help but add somewhat bitterly.

"Kurt," he says in pained voice. "Everything I said at the wedding is true. I wish… I wish things were different, but you've just got to take what life gives you, you know?"

No, Kurt thinks, he doesn't know. He doesn't want to take what life gives him, he wants to go out there and get what he wants. And right now, what he wants is Blaine. He can't force him, though, and he wouldn't want to. So for now, he waits.

Kurt shakes his head slightly in response and moves towards the door. "Yes well I really must be going. I'll see you around." And with that, Kurt is out in the hallway and on his way to freedom. But before he can get there, Irene intercepts him.

"Leaving so soon?"

Kurt hums and spouts off some redundant excuse about having homework. She nods and he moves past her to get to the front door but when he's halfway out, she says one more thing.

"You'll work it out eventually."

Turning, Kurt gives her a perplexed look, urging her to elaborate.

"You and Blaine," she says simply. "And don't worry, I won't tell your dad about your boyfriend."

From the way she says it, Kurt knows she doesn't buy it. He's unsure of how to respond. Opening and closing his mouth a few times, he finally settles on, "I-okay. Thanks again!" before leaving the house.

&&&&&

At school the next morning, Kurt is greeted with a huge hug from Rachel. "I got it! I got it! I got it!" she yells as she waves a letter in her face. It takes Kurt a minute but when he figures it out he smiles.

"NYADA? I told you so."

"You were right! Wow," she continues after a pause, "that felt weird to say."

Kurt smacks her lightly but it's all in fun. "When did you get it?"

"This morning," she answers but then her eyes grow dark. "Well technically, the letter came yesterday but my dad forgot to give it to me. Can you believe that?"

"Honestly? Yes." Kurt assumes it was LeRoy because he is one of the nicest, but also one of the most forgetful people he knows. He's the guy who goes to the airport and forgets his entire suitcase.

Rachel laughs and agrees with him, but the smile fades as something catches her eye. Following her gaze, Kurt sees she's looking at Finn. "What?" he questions. "Is he not happy for you?"

"No, no," she assures him, "he's been very supportive. It's just… well you know how I've been having a hard time this week?"

Kurt nods, not liking where this is going.

"Well um, I was feeling pretty down, and Finn asked again and well...I didn't exactly say no."

Kurt needs no clarification on what Finn asks and his jaw clenches tightly. "By didn't exactly say no do you mean to tell me you said yes?"

"Yes," she squeaks quietly.

"And now you regret it." Lifting his fingers up to rub his temples, he wishes he had something for the inevitable headache that will be coming on.

"No!" she protests, "I just…" she trails off and eventually, Kurt realizes she isn't going to say anything else.

"Rachel," he groans, putting his face in his hands.

"No, this is good," she insists. "I love him and he loves him and who doesn't love weddings?"

A bunch of people come to his mind, most prominently Rachel's parents (although he guesses they'd be more against her getting married than weddings in general), but he stays silent. "Rachel," he begins seriously, "I will talk you out of this wedding if it's the last thing I do."