Chapter 12

Kurt and Blaine stood wrapped in each other’s arms for a long time. Kurt memorized the way Blaine’s lips felt against his. The soft, slightly dry skin rubbing against his own. He tangled his fingers into the loose curls at the base of Blaine’s neck. Blaine’s hands were gripped tightly into Kurt’s shirt at his back.

It took a while for Kurt to snap back to reality and realize they were still standing in Blaine’s hallway, and someone could walk out at any second. He cupped the back of Blaine’s head and leaned their foreheads together, panting softly. “I...I need to go to work.”

Blaine nodded and allowed Kurt to pull away from him completely.The thought of work grated on his mind. He looked at Kurt’s ruffled hair and pink, now swollen lips and smiled. He managed to form a sentence. “I guess we’re not doing the lessons anymore?” he said with a teasing tone.

Kurt laughed. “No, no I guess not.” 

He leaned in for one last, chaste kiss and watched Kurt walk to the elevator. The small bounce in his step didn’t go unnoticed.

Once Kurt was gone, Blaine decided to look on the internet for job opportunities, still in a slight daze from recent events. After searching for an hour, he found a small clothes store nearby that was hiring. The name of it was Casting for Style. It looked like the place paid well. He wasn’t sure he’d be able to convince them to give the job to him, though, for his lack of experience in fashion. Nevertheless, he printed out an application and filled it out. He showered and dressed in one of the suits he’d bought with Kurt and headed to the store.

Rachel was sitting behind the counter at work. It was a comparatively slow day, not that anyone normally bought things anyway. The store she worked at was owned by an older woman who had plenty of money. Rachel had worked there since she was in college, and had eventually been promoted to manager. The woman, Priscilla Lancaster, rarely had anything to do with the store, leaving all of the work to Rachel. The job paid well, and since everything there was majorly overpriced, hardly anyone bought anything.  On many occasions, Rachel would ask Priscilla why she kept the store open when it did so poorly, but the other woman simply told her it had always been her dream to own a clothes store.

She was flipping through a magazine when the door opened. She didn’t look up when the person came up to her. “Can I help you?” she asked while looking at the rumor about Angelina Jolie’s pregnancy.

“Um, yeah. I see you’re hiring.”

She picked up her head and a smile came to her face. “Well, if it isn’t Blaine Anderson.”

Blaine’s eyes widened before recognition flashed through them, “Oh. You’re Kurt’s friend. Aren’t you? I thought you worked at the coffee shop.”

Rachel laughed and closed the magazine in her hands, “No. I just impersonate the staff there.”

He raised an eyebrow at her and opened his mouth to speak, but Rachel beat him to it, “Do you have an application? Resume?”

He brought a file into view and produced the papers, handing them to her.

She scanned over the documents for a few seconds before stuffing them in a drawer. “You got the job!”

He opened his mouth in surprise and said, “What? No interview...or anything?”

She waved a hand at him, dismissively. “Nah. You seem like a nice guy, and I get lonely. Can you start today?”

He nodded quickly, and she pointed to a rack in the corner. “Go straighten out those scarves. Oh, and take off that jacket. You look too professional.”

He shed the jacket, and set it neatly on the counter. He headed to the small rack of scarves. Someone had obviously gone through them, and not had the courtesy to put them back. He took a look around the store, his new workplace. There was a wide variety of color among the clothes. It wasn’t one of those boring, strictly gray and white stores. There was a men’s side and a women’s side although many of the items looked like they could swing either way. It smelled strongly of perfume, an almost sickeningly sweet floral smell. But he didn’t mind, he had a job.

After straightening the scarves he headed back to Rachel, who seemed to be filling out a few papers concerning a new employee. She patted a stool next to her own and he took the seat.

She scribbled her signature on the bottom of the page and slid it over to him. She mumbled something about formalities, pointing to the line where he should sign. “I’m Rachel by the way. Rachel Berry. I don’t think we ever established that.”

He looked up after signing the paper with a grin on his face. “Nice to meet you, Rachel.”

She went back to her magazine as soon as the paperwork was finished. Blaine started looking around the store again. There were a couple of people wandering around, picking up a lacy shirt or a neon tie, before looking at the price tag and sitting it back down. Not a single person came to the counter. He decided to ask her, “Do you do a lot of business here?”

She lifted her head and scanned the store. “Nope. Everything’s too expensive. It’s okay. Priscilla has enough money to keep the place running even if she never sold a thing. So I don’t complain. It’s pretty much the easiest job in the world. We don’t even have bathrooms to clean.” A small grin spread across her face.

His eyebrows screwed up, confused, but he remained silent. He sat on the stool, for a few minutes, watching the people come and go.  Eventually Rachel broke the comfortable silence, “Kurt comes in here all the time to dress the mannequins for me.” She closed her magazine and looked up at him, eyebrows raised expectantly.

He felt the heat rise to his face at the mention of Kurt. The images of Kurt’s swollen lips, and disheveled hair filled his mind. He didn’t know if he had enough air in his lungs to speak but he managed to get out a few words, “Oh, really? That’s not surprising.”

She smirked before continuing, “Yeah...so what’s going on with you and Kurt? You guys still doing your little lessons or whatever?”

Blaine lifted a hand to scratch the back of his neck, looking away from her prying eyes. “No, actually, we called it off.”

“Called it off? Why?” The blush on Blaine’s face grew even brighter, and she gasped. Luckily, Blaine had some of the most honest eyes Rachel had ever seen. She saw right through them to the truth. “Oh, my god. You two are like...together aren’t you?”

Blaine stuttered, “I...no...What? Um...No. No, we’re not. We just...”

“You what? You kissed?” She began squealing and clapping her hands excitedly, earning a few glances from customers in the store. “Oh, my god. Why didn’t Kurt tell me? This is an outrage. I’m his best friend, and I had to hear this from you? Here he is, crying to me, just about every night, and he doesn’t even tell me when he does something about it.” She rolled her eyes.

“W-why was he crying?” he asked, a bit startled.

“Well, I mean, this whole thing wasn’t easy for him, you know, Blaine. Just like I’m sure it wasn’t easy for you. Kurt went through a lot during high school.” she shuddered, remembering how broken Kurt had been during those years. “He struggles...with his sexuality.”

Blaine shook his head. He didn’t see what was so difficult about it. He really liked Kurt, and although it had been difficult for him to let go of Santana, he didn’t see the fact that Kurt was a boy to be a problem. What did that even matter in the long run? “No...I didn’t find that to be difficult, actually.”

Rachel gave him a weird look and said, “Blaine, people don’t just wake up in their twenties and decide they’re gay. At least not without some kind of emotional turmoil.” She glanced up to see a young boy taking the shirt off a mannequin. She sighed and stood up, already getting angry. “Get your hands off that. Didn’t your parents ever teach you not to touch things that aren’t yours?” She strode over to the boy, leaving Blaine to think about what she’d said.

Maybe he was taking this too lightly. Maybe it should be a big deal.

Kurt handed the man his coffee with a large smile on his face. “Have a good afternoon, sir.” The smile didn’t leave when the man walked away. It hadn’t left all morning. It had even been a busy day, which always put Kurt in a bad mood, but not this time. He felt light and warm inside, like maybe everything was working itself out. He looked at the clock and saw it was time for his break. He grabbed his phone and headed out the back door. He dialed Rachel’s number and waited for her to pick up.

“Fancy hearing from you.”

“Rachel...I have so much to tell you.”

He heard her laugh, “Oh. You don’t need to tell me. I now have a spy on the inside.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Well, I got a new employee this morning, and you’ll never guess who it is.” When he didn’t say anything she continued, “One Mr. Blaine Anderson.”

He gasped and almost dropped the phone. “Oh my...What? He works with you? What did he say?”

“Well, he didn’t say much of anything, he’s kinda quiet. But it was the lack of saying things that told me what’s going on. So tell me. I need details.”

“Is he- is he there with you?”

“No, silly, I told him to go clean the windows. It should take him a little while.”

Kurt sighed in relief and told her everything that happened.

“He slept with his ex? Then kissed you? That sounds a little sketch, Kurt.”

He thought for a second. “Yeah...but I think he regretted it. Sleeping with her. Not kissing me. Where do you think that leaves us?”

“I’m not sure. I suppose you should just see where it goes. Maybe wait until tomorrow and ask him on a date or something.”

Kurt took a deep breath. This was really happening, he was going to try to date a guy. A beautiful, intelligent, sweet guy. Some of his apprehension had been washed away, but a lot of it was still there, haunting the back of his mind like he assumed it always would. “Yeah...okay.”

Rachel’s voice turned reassuring, “Kurt, it’s okay. I promise, things will work out. You just need to follow your heart.” He could hear the smile in her voice as she recited the cheesy line.

He laughed. “Okay, thanks, Rach. You’re a really good friend. I don’t tell you that enough.”

“I know I am, Kurt.”

“Bye, Rach.”

“Bye.”

He hung up and leaned against the wall behind him. It wasn’t more than a minute later that his phone started ringing. He hit the talk button.

“Hello?”

“Hi, am I speaking with Kurt Hummel?”

“Yes, you are. How can I help you?”

“Mr. Hummel, my name is Gregory Shipman. I’m calling about your audition for Phantom of the Opera.”

Kurt straightened up, his nerves flaring instantaneously.

“I am happy to inform you that is has been decided you will perform a one night, sample of sorts. Are you available two weeks from now on Wednesday?”

Not even considering his schedule, Kurt spit out, “Yes. Yes, of course.” He felt his heart beating faster, joy creeping into him like a drug. This day was going too well.

“Good. You will need to come by the theater later today, and pick up your script. Next week you will work with the cast and crew to get ready. We’re sorry this is very short notice, Mr. Hummel.”

Kurt almost laughed from pure happiness, “No! No, it’s fine. I can handle it.”

“That’s good to hear. The director was very pleased with your performance. I believe I heard him say it was a daring choice, and one of the best auditions he’d seen in a long time. Of course, you are also very lucky. The current de Chagny does not work well with the director. They fight constantly. You might be just what he needs to restore the show to its former glory.”

Kurt was almost jumping up and down at the man’s words. This was it. This was his chance. All of his dreams finally coming true. “Thank you so much, Mr. Shipman. I won’t disappoint.”

They ended the call and Kurt saw his break was over. If this worked out, he would never have to work in the coffee shop again.

He pulled up Blaine’s number and sent a quick text before walking back inside.

Are you free tonight? I’ll bring take-out. I need to celebrate with someone.