Chapter 9

Blaine woke up with a terrible headache. He whined quietly into his pillow and rubbed his puffy and aching eyes a few times. It was still early but it was impossible to get back to sleep now. When he got up to get himself a bottle of water because of the sickening taste of stale alcohol in his mouth, he spotted Cooper on the couch.

“Hey Coop. How long have you been here?” Blaine asked with a husky voice and sat next to his brother.

“Long enough to worry about you, squirt.” Cooper said and took Blaine's appearance in. “What the fuck happened?”

“It's a long story. Not sure that I'm able to get it all out without starting to sob uncontrollably.” Blaine stated numb and watched his brother's reaction.

“OK then give me the basics. Who do I have to strangle?” Cooper asked and made himself more comfortable on the couch.

“Well, I think I just misinterpreted the whole thing with Kurt. I saw his ex-boyfriend and him kiss on Kurt's porch last night. And then Kurt pulled him into his hut and shut the door. Santana saw it too. She was the one who actually told me, that this Adam was here to get Kurt back. At first I thought maybe they were just talking and he would get rid of him to come over, but after I wrote him a message he admitted that they were back together and that I was just kind of his plaything for the summer. He told me that we better not see each other again for the time being, because it would be awkward and upsetting for Adam. What was I supposed to say to that? I broke down, got angry and got drunk. I danced with a guy from the staff, he brought me back home and I vomited the exact amount of alcohol I drank back into the toilet. The guy who brought me home made sure I was OK and I went to bed. That would be the short form I guess.” Blaine said defeated and laid his head back against the backrest of the couch.

“Did anything happen with that guy?” Cooper asked curiously and patted Blaine's thigh.

“No. Maybe he groped my ass when we danced, but I told him I was not interested and he quit hitting on me.” Blaine sighed.

“So there is no way for any misunderstanding between Kurt and you, right? No way you saw something more than there was or he was being harassed or threatened by that guy, right?” Cooper made sure and got up from the couch.

“If it wasn't for the text messages I wouldn't be so sure, but they said it all. No chance for a misunderstanding here.” Blaine sobbed again and showed Cooper his phone with the messages.

“OK, I'll rip off his balls and feed them to some animals. I thought he was a great guy and might be it for you. Maybe we were both wrong here. I'm so sorry, Blaine. Anything I can do for you?” Cooper sat down again and took Blaine in his strong arms, stroking his back softly while Blaine started crying in earnest again.

A couple of minutes later, Blaine wiped his eyes and said with a trembling voice “Thank you, Coop. I appreciate your concern and your intention to protect me, but I can't stay here the rest of the time when I can't avoid him. That would tear me apart. I can't be here and see him with his ex-boyfriend or again-boyfriend. Please don't tell mom and dad but I want to go back home to New York. I need my friends now.”

“Yeah, I thought so. Don't worry, Blaine. I won't say a thing to our parents. How will you get back, though?” Cooper asked.

“I'll ask Sam. He's always up early and he's my best friend. If he's busy, I'll try Trent or Thad. One of them will come get me. Actually I'll better try immediately. Don't want to stay longer than necessary. Sorry, Coop.” Blaine hung his head and looked his brother in the eyes.

“Don't worry, little brother. I get it. Do what you need to do and go pack. I'll deal with the rest. Anyone you want to say goodbye to?”

“I thought of Nick, Jeff and Santana, but I would need to go over to the staff quarters and I don't want to accidentally bump into Kurt or this Adam guy. So no, better not risk it.” Blaine said and went back to his room to pack.

Cooper felt incredibly bad for his brother. He still couldn't believe that Kurt was the kind of guy to play with Blaine's feelings. He was quite good in reading people but he didn't see or sense anything like this from Kurt. Well, maybe he was fooled by his charming and witty attitude. It wouldn't change anything right now to keep thinking about the gnawing feeling he had about this whole thing. He would drop it for Blaine's sake. But he would stay here and have a word or two with Kurt and this Adam person.

After a while, Blaine was already packed and waited for Sam to arrive. A last lingering look over to his bed and the memories that filled his head made him cry again. He sniffed silently and tried to compose himself again before Cooper would see it.

When Sam knocked on the door, Blaine threw himself into his best friends arms and sobbed uncontrollably. Sam was shocked to see his friend in this condition and shot Cooper a quizzical look. Cooper just shook his head and had a sad expression in his eyes.

“OK Blainey, let's get you home, then. When you are ready to talk, we have some time before we arrive in New York.” Sam said softly and rubbed Blaine's back.

“OK,” was all Blaine could say in this moment.

Sam took Blaine's luggage and Blaine said his goodbyes to Cooper, hugging him tightly.

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Kurt woke up in the middle of the night, silently weeping. Replaying the earlier events, he felt the need to let Blaine explain himself. He needed a face to face encounter to hear this from Blaine. If they were over, or what the hell happened yesterday. He was still hurt and needed a few hours more to get himself together, so he planned to visit Blaine late in the morning. Kurt grabbed his phone to write Blaine a message that he wanted to meet him later when he discovered that Blaine's number was gone from his contacts. And his messages were gone too. That was odd. He was sure that he didn't delete anything regarding Blaine. He was going to check that later, though. Gripping his sheets tightly, he tried to get at least a bit of sleep that night.

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Santana should be pleased that her plan went exactly like she wanted it to. Even better, with all the coincidences like the messages from Kurt, for example. They must have been sent by Adam because Kurt had no idea about the whole plot that was going on. But oddly, she wasn't... She had seen a broken Blaine who had been picked up by some blonde man this morning with all his luggage. So Blaine was going back to New York? Guilt crept inside her when she thought about what all this meant for Kurt and Blaine.

She saw Kurt leaving his hut. Gosh, he looked awful. Even worse than how she felt right now. Maybe she made a mistake...

“Fuck! What the hell did I do...” she mumbled to herself and started to cry. “I need to fix this. Immediately. I need to find the brother, too.” Santana ended her soliloquy and tried to prepare herself for the upcoming apologies.

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Finally getting up after tossing and turning in his bed the whole night, Kurt got ready to speak to Blaine. He left his place and went over to the guest huts, knocking carefully on the door. There was no noise inside and no movement at all. Kurt waited a couple of seconds more and knocked again. This time a bit more forceful but still no response. It was too late for breakfast and too early for lunch. Kurt was wondering where the brothers could be so he decided to walk along the beach to look out for them. After half an hour he gave up and tried the pool area. Still no sign of neither Blaine nor Cooper. With the hope for more luck in the evening, he walked back to his room to get ready for his shift. Kurt wasn't sure how he would get through his workday but he was never someone to skip work...

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Nick and Jeff were already waiting for Kurt to show up. As he entered the rehearsal room, Jeff gripped Kurt by the collar. “What the fuck were you thinking?” Jeff yelled angrily.

Kurt was totally taken aback and shrunk in defense.

“How could you do this to Blaine? I thought you were in love with him?” Jeff started to shake Kurt in his rage.

“Baby no! Stop this. You need to calm down before you can have a civil conversation with Kurt. Come on. Let's go until you have yourself under control again. This doesn't work out like this.” Nick tried to pull Jeff away from a shocked Kurt.

“I'm sorry, Kurt. He's right, but he needs to calm down first. We'll talk later.” Nick grabbed Jeff by the arm and pulled him out of the room.

Kurt watched them go and mumbled “What the fuck is going on here?” and slumped down on the floor.

When Jordan entered the room, Kurt glanced over to him, stood up and crossed his arms in front of his chest.

“Tell me just one thing, Jordan. How far did you and Blaine go yesterday? No details, just tell me...” Kurt whispered with misty eyes.

“What is it to you? I thought you two were done?” Jordan smirked and winked at Kurt.

“Who said that? And why is everyone mad at me when Blaine made out with you?” Kurt replied with a heated glare on his face.

“Whoa calm down, Kurt! I have no idea why everyone is mad. Didn't ask. All I know is that Jeff told me to dance with Blaine because he was heartbroken and newly single. So what? He's cute, he was drunk and he wanted to dance.” Jordan stated and threw his arms in front of him in defense to calm Kurt down.

Kurt thought he was stuck in a nightmare. He didn't understand a thing of this conversation. Nothing made sense to him right now.

“You still didn't tell me what happened yesterday.” Kurt said with a pleading tone, loosing his snark.

Jordan told Kurt his point of view of the night and recalled the events that happened and the ones that didn't happen. He ended his speech and looked Kurt in the eyes to search for any kind of emotions.

“So basically NOTHING happened?” Kurt asked, ashamed of his lack of trust in Blaine.

“Nothing happened!” Jordan confirmed honestly. “Maybe you should look for him and get your shit together. He seemed devastated and heartbroken.”

“I have no idea what happened that he might think we were over.” Kurt said sadly.

“I was looking for him this morning, but he wasn't in his hut, he wasn't at the beach and not at the pool. I couldn't find his brother either. I'll check again later tonight. If you see him will you please tell him to call or text me? His contact information is gone from my phone too. Is someone playing a prank on me?”

“No idea, buddy. But hey, everything will work out if this whole situation is a misunderstanding. Have faith, Kurt. You just have to get him to talk and you will be fine.” Jordan reached for Kurt's hand and squeezed it for a moment.

“Thanks, Jordan. I appreciate your honesty and I desperately hope you're right and everything will work out because I really don't want to lose him.” Kurt said with a new wave of hope.

They started their rehearsal shortly after their conversation to get the new routine done for the next show. When they were done for the day, Kurt showed no signs of leaving so Jordan decided to give Kurt a little push.

“Go get your man back, Kurt. Shoo.” Jordan laughed and shoved Kurt towards the door.

“Alright, I'm going. Wish me luck!” Kurt smiled bashfully and left the rehearsal room to go back to his place for a quick shower.

When he was ready to go he checked his phone for messages first and saw that Santana had sent him a message earlier.

Santana: 'We need to talk. As soon as possible.'

Of course he was curious, what this text was about, but he wanted to talk to Blaine first so he sent her a quick reply.

Kurt: 'Yes we do, but I have to talk to Blaine first. I'll come over as soon as I can. Stay put, I'll come to your place later.'

He turned off his phone and went over to the guest huts to look for Blaine again. When he arrived, he saw Cooper sitting on the porch, looking towards the beach and the sea, deep in thoughts.

“Hey Cooper.” Kurt started with a low voice and came nearer.

Cooper was startled by the sudden voice and turned his face towards Kurt. “Oh no. You won't say a thing to me right now, Kurt. I don't want to hear any shit out of your mouth.” He yelled and pointed his finger at Kurt.

“What the fuck is wrong with you? I didn't do anything. Can I speak to Blaine, please?” Kurt was starting to get angry now with all the accusations towards him.

“Oh that is funny. Blaine left this morning to go back to New York. Heartbroken and he was fucking crying for the last 24 hours. And that's all your fucking fault. And now leave immediately this place or I'll slap you in the face. Don't test me and don't tell me any more lies.” With that, Cooper shot Kurt an angry glare, went back into the hut and slammed the door shut.

Kurt was gaping like a fish and shot a look at the closed door. “This is getting ridiculous now.” He mumbled and shut his still open mouth. Blaine was back in New York? He couldn't believe it. “Maybe Santana has a clue what the fuck is going on here.”

Blaine was gone. Without a single word. Why didn't he say something? Anything. Kurt's world crumbled. He couldn't believe that Blaine would leave him like that.

Shaking his head in disbelief and tears glistening in his still aching eyes, he was on his way to Santana's place.

She was already waiting for him. A pained look of guilt in her eyes made Kurt stop short. “Do you have anything to do with the fact that Blaine is gone?” Kurt wiped the tears from his face and stared her straight in the eyes.

“Yes I have. Please come in. We need to talk.” She said with a husky voice and went into her hut with slumped shoulders.

Kurt followed her, dumbstruck. Her confirmation was like a slap in the face. Without another word, he sat down on her couch and waited anxiously for what was about to happen.

Santana sat down across from Kurt and wiggled her feet nervously. Searching for the right words she took a moment to center herself.

“First of all, I want and need to apologize. All this mess is my fault. I'm deeply sorry and I regret my immature and vicious behavior utterly. Please let me get this all out before you interrupt me. When I finish, you can ask me anything, yell at me, hate me, slap me in the face. Doesn't matter. I deserve it.” She paused and waited for Kurt's response.

“Go ahead. I'm not sure what I can say right now.” Kurt whispered, got rid of his shoes and cowered on the couch.

Santana nodded and intertwined her hands. “OK, all this started when Brittany left me. I was broken, angry, pathetic, drowning in self-pity and jealousy. I planned to take you both apart because I couldn't handle your happiness. When I saw Blaine leave your place the other night I saw Adam hiding behind the big tree at the end of the staff quarters. This fact played rather nice into my plans. I found him later and asked him why he was here and what the hell he wanted. He told me he was looking for you to get you back. I knew you wouldn't sink that low and permit this fucker back in your life. But Blaine didn't know that. So I went over to Blaine and told him that Adam was here to get you back. We both knew you would be back from work at that point and I suggested that he should go over to your place to talk. He did and spotted you and Adam on your porch. Kissing.” Santana paused and looked at Kurt.

Kurt went pale at this. Finally, something made sense here.

“He saw you pull Adam into your room too. Well I guess you didn't really reciprocate the kiss and Adam took you by surprise here.” She said and crossed her legs.

Kurt nodded.

“Thought so. Well as you can imagine, Blaine was shocked. I stoked his insecurities and what he saw happening and persuaded him to go drinking with me. I made myself presentable and we met at the staff bar on the beach. In the meantime he must have sent you a text message. I guess you didn't answer, right?” Santana shot him a look and raised her eyebrow.

Kurt shook his head no.

“I figured. These messages weren't your style. Well basically 'you' were telling Blaine that you were back together with Adam and that you and Blaine weren't serious. 'You' told him to better back off and not see each other again for the time being for not upsetting Adam. All the faith and trust Blaine still had in your relationship crumbled with these messages and he got drunk, danced a bit with Jordan, that's where I took the picture of them, and he left the next day for New York. I guess Adam sent all these texts and deleted them afterwards.” Santana ended her speech and watched Kurt's reaction.

Kurt wanted to yell at Santana. Slap her, threaten her, bang his fists against the wall in vain but instead he started sobbing and crying and broke down again.

“I am so incredibly sorry. I know this means shit to you right now and you have every right to do whatever you want to do with me. I'm a bitch and everyone knows this but I've never been this mean to anyone before. I never felt so disgusted with myself than I do now. I never thought I would sink so low and do such horrible things to my friends. Especially you, who was always here for me, trusted me, comforted me whenever I needed it, overlooked my bitchiness and loved me the way I was. I'm so so sorry, Kurt. I will fix this. If this is the last thing I'd do. I will fix it. I promise with all I have left...”

She threw herself over Kurt's slumped body and started crying too...