The Switch

There are 2 important things that Kurt Hummel took notice of as he stood out in the cold streets of New York:

1) He was completely lost. 

2) This wasnt his cellphone. 

The first thing would have been okay if he had had his phone, but the phone currently sitting in his hands was certainly not his. When he turned it on, his usual wallpaper of him and his best friend, Rachel Berry, had been replaced by a group shot of 20 or so boys in navy blue and red blazers. He tried to think back to earlier that night, retracing the steps that could have possibly landed himself in this situation, but the alcohol buzzing in his brain was certainly not helping. Thankfully remembering that he had Mercedess number memorized, he tried to unlock the phone, only to be stopped short when it asked for a password. Cursing under his breath, he looked up to see where he was. Mercedes & Rachel were long gone from the bar he was currently at. I knew he shouldnt have stayed longer, he thought to himself. 

Knowing it wouldnt do him good to stay any longer, he tried waving down a taxi to take him home. After a couple of failed attempts, a yellow car finally stopped on the curb to let him in. He sighed gratefully and opened the door, sliding into the backseat. The door shut with a loud bang, the sound making his head pound.  
"Where to?" the driver asked him from the front seat.

Kurt rattled off the address, already closing his eyes and leaning his head back against the seat. He again mentally cursed to himself for drinking too much like a blithering idiot. His hangover was certainly not going to go easy on him tomorrow. The car pulled away from the curb and back onto the busy streets of New York. For a while he stared out the window as he passed by the unfamiliar surroundings, still trying to place where he was exactly. Sometime during the trip, he felt his consciousness starting to fade. Resting his head back against the seat, he began closing his eyes. Before he had the chance to fully drift away though, the cab stopped abruptly and he opened his eyes to see that he was in front of his apartment complex on the Upper East Side. He fumbled with his wallet and proceeded to thrust some money out to the driver, silently thanking himself that he went to the ATM earlier that day. He stumbled out of the car, shutting the door of the cab, and once again shuddering when the loud noise made his head throb. The cab pulled away as he walked into the lobby of their complex. The doorman let him in, greeting him as he entered. He made his way over to the elevator, jabbing the button to open the doors. They opened seconds later, revealing Albert, the elevator operator.

"Evening Mr. Hummel," he greeted him as he entered the elevator. He nodded silently as the doors shut behind them with a ding. After a moment, Albert pulled out a special key from his pocket as he realized that Kurt wasnt pulling out his. He pushed the key into a slot, turned it, and the elevator slowly began its descent to the top floor. Finally, the doors opened to his penthouse and he sighed gratefully once more, mumbling a thank you to Albert before walking inside. The house was quiet and most of the lights were off, except for a small light in the entryway. It was just enough to light the way. He assumed that Mercedes and Rachel had already crashed for the night, not bothering to wait up for him. He made his way down the hall to his bedroom, opening the door and making his way over to the bed. He didnt bother to wash his face as he tried with much effort to strip down to just his black boxers. He slipped into his cool bed and snuggled into the covers as he set the phone he had accidentally acquired on his nightstand. He never heard the phone ring. 

6 HOURS EARLIER 

"For the last time, Mercedes. Im not going out tonight." He was laying on a bed, surrounded by various papers thrown in messy piles in their New York penthouse as he searched for a specific one. He had been going through their sheet music for the past few days, trying to distract himself from everything that was going on around him. He didnt want to give himself a chance to wonder about the call he was hoping to get soon. 

"You told me that last night." Mercedes Jones said from the doorway of his bedroom. She was leaning against the doorway, rolling her eyes at his comment. "Cmon, this partys gonna be packed with celebrities and music producers. Why would you pass up this amazing opportunity?" 
He didnt answer her as he stared down at his covered bed. It wasnt like he didnt want to go out and have a great time, but the thought of leaving the house and not being available made him wary. His silence gave Mercedes a better understanding what was going on. She walked over to the bed, pried the phone from his hands, and stood in front of him with her arms crossed. "The producers can wait for their star to pick up his phone, Hummel, they arent going anywhere. Besides, they have got to understand that their lead has more important things to do than to wait for a phone call we all know is going to come sooner or later anyway."

He rolled his eyes, trying to show that he was annoyed, even when he knew could already feel himself giving in. She stared him down, giving her best bitch please look, and he let out a puff of air in annoyance. "Fine."

"Yes!" She squealed excitedly, pulled him up off the bed, smacked him playfully on the ass, and pushed him in the general direction of his closet. "Go get dressed, were leaving in 30 minutes."

~

About an hour later (because he did insist it was going to take him a hell of a lot longer than half an hour), they were pulling up to a new exclusive bar on the Upper East Side. Kurt wasnt much for parties like this, but Mercedes had become a pretty well known name in the music business. He knew that she meant well bringing him along, she was trying to get him out there to meet some record labels so he could get noticed. But honestly he wasnt looking to get noticed. He only had his eyes set on one thing, and that one thing could possibly be coming true soon. The car doors opened before Kurt could object going to the party again, and Charles, the driver, was revealed. 

He shot him a promising smile, stepping out of the car and muttering a thank you. He glanced over to see Mercedes, looking stunning in a shimmery cobalt blue dress. "You ready to go in?" she asked him, holding out an arm for him. He graciously accepted the arm, linking his left arm through hers and walking up to the security guard. He didnt even have to look at the list to know she was on it, and he opened the velvet rope to let the both of them in.

Mercedes led him over to Santana and Rachel who were already sitting at the bar. When they saw them approaching, Rachel squealed engulfed both of them into a group hug as Santana snickered a comment about her sounding like an over-energetic parakeet. "Nice to see you too, Tana." 

She rolled her eyes and flicked her eyes back over to the cute bartender behind the counter. The four of them sat down, ordering a couple of drinks and settled down to listen to the DJ. 

"So how was the tour, Mercedes? Was Jake as dreamy as you gushed about?" Rachel asked, sipping a glass of tequila that was handed to her.  

"He was amazing!" She replied with a giggle. "It was definitely a lot of fun, but Im glad Im back in the city with all of you."  

"Aw." Rachel said, wrapping an arm around Mercedes and squeezing. "Were glad youre back too." 
A new song started up at the DJ booth and all three of the girls looked at each other with excitement. "I love this song! Come dance with me Hummel!" Santana exclaimed, grabbing him by the arm. He downed his entire glass and graciously let himself get dragged onto the dance floor. She began to moving with the beat, swaying her hips to the rhythm while he stood there shaking his head and laughing at her insanity.  

"Cmon Hummel, work those hips! I know you have it in you, Ive seen the video." He felt himself go a deep shade of red, remembering the video from his sophomore year at McKinley. Damn, he thought to himself, I thought I deleted all the copies. He gave into her complaints, swinging his hips to the beat nervously at first, gaining confidence as the songs passed by. By the end of the hour long dance session, he was beginning to feel a little light headed. He decided that he was definitely not drunk enough to continue, pulling out his phone as he walked over to the bar. Moments after unlocking his phone, he bumped into someone and dropped his phone in the process. As he went to retrieve his phone, he noticed that the other person had also dropped down to pick up a cellphone that had been knocked out of his hands. 

"I am so sorry!" Kurt said when he stood back up. "I wasnt paying attention." 

He finally looked at who he had run into. He was only a few inches shorter then him, his hair in dark, unruly curls. A pair of framed glasses were perched on his nose, magnifying his green eyes. He smiled back at him. "Its okay. I wasnt either." 

Neither of them said anything for a moment, just staring at each other. Finally, just as Kurt was about to say something, Santana came up behind him and linked an arm through his. She raked her eyes up and down the boy in front of her and Kurt, sizing him up. "Sorry to interrupt, but I need to steal my best gay away for another drink and another round of dancing." 

Kurt turned back around to glare at her but all she did was smile and try to yank his arm back towards the bar. He shot the man an apologetic glance, who to his surprise was... Laughing? 

"Thats okay, go have fun." He said waving him off towards Santana and the girls. 

"Okay. Again, really sorry about everything." He managed to get out as Santana dragged him back towards the bar. He watched as the man in the dark suit walked into the crowd of people and disappear. Rachel and Mercedes were already huddled over a few empty shot glasses, giggling and looking in the mans general direction.

"Whosssss the hottie?" Rachel asked, a noticeable slur in her voice.  

"No idea, Tana wouldnt let me finish talking to him." He said, throwing a glare in Santanas direction. She smirked, downing a shot.  

"LETS GO DANCEEEEEE!" Rachel screeched as a song started up again at full blast. She grabbed his arm in an attempt to get him out on the dance floor, and he quickly grabbed 2 shot glasses and downed them. This night was gonna be insane. 

~ 

The next morning, Kurt woke up to another pounding headache and an annoyingly bright room. He rolled over to see that he had left his window open last night and the sunlight was now streaming in, blinding him and fueling said headache. He went over to the window, shutting it with a little more force than necessary, and flopped back onto the bed, groaning about wanting to back to sleep. He laid like that for a couple of minutes and was close to falling back asleep, before a unfamiliar ringtone started blasting from his nightstand.  

He rolled over, picking the phone up from his nightstand and looking at the bright screen. He squinted for a second, letting his eyes readjust as he stared at the phone. He saw his own number being brightly displayed as an unknown number, and then suddenly everything came rushing back. The guy from last night had his phone.  

"Hello?"