It had taken Blaine a long time to settle down that night. He couldn’t find a way to sit that was comfortable, which wasn’t surprising as he was sitting between two trash cans and on top of a few smelly trash bags. His clothes were starting to smell but at least the garbage cans provided protection from the harsh winds.

He never thought he would go back to the streets. He would have stayed with Joel for a bit then gone and gotten a job and eventually bought his own place, but of course good things never last and Blaine had been a fool to think they could.

Its strange how quickly Blaine had got used to a comfy bed, but now all he had was the cold, hard floor outside of an apartment block and a few rats to keep him company.

When he finally did manage to fall asleep, his dreams were filled with strong men pinning him roughly against a wall and knights in shining armour. It was a reflection of his day, the same man, the same place the only thing different was it wasn’t Joel who had come and rescued him it was Kurt. He didn’t know why Kurt was the one who saved him or why he was even in his dreams as they hadn’t seen each other for several months.

Blaine’s dreams were sweet and he could have stayed in them forever, unfortunately someone else had decided he couldn’t and was now shouting at him and pushing his shoulder.

He turned his head and tried to block out the noise, but the person continued to wake him.

“Blaine” He heard a girl’s voice shout.

How did this person know his name? Had he really just dreamt all the stuff about the huge man? Was he still in Joel’s apartment? Blaine felt around under him just to make sure he wasn’t imagining voices, before he opened his eyes. His hand brushed along a lumpy garbage bag. He was still on the street, just where he had fallen asleep. So who was this person and how did they know his name?

Blaine slowly opened his eyes, not wanting to see who had woken him. His eyelashes had been stuck together with sleep. When he finally opened his eyes he was greeted with the sight of a brunet, skinny girl, who Blaine didn’t recognise.

“Blaine” the girl shouted again.

“What? Wh-who are you?” Blaine mumbled.

“Blaine what are you doing here’? Why are you sleeping in my rubbish?”

Blaine sat up and tried to grab his bag out of the girl’s hand.

“Blaine stop it, why are you here?”

“Who even are you and how the hell do you know my name?”

“Blaine, it’s me, Rachel, are you still asleep or something?” Rachel smiled.

“Rachel? Who… shit, it’s you.”

“Well nice to see you again, too.” Rachel grumbled. “So, are you going to tell me why you’re sleeping in my trash?”

“Shut-up Rachel and just leave me alone” Blaine spat.

“Blaine what happened to you? Why aren’t you at home and why didn’t you call Kurt?”

Shit, she had spoken to Kurt Blaine thought.

“You have to promise me you won’t tell Kurt you saw me” Blaine said, standing up and brushing his jacket down.

“What? Why shouldn’t I tell Kurt, What’s it to you? You didn’t even call him.”

“Please Rachel, for once in your life can you try not being selfish.”

“You think I’m being selfish? Kurt has been worried sick about you, if I tell him I saw you then maybe he could forget about you.”

“Wait. Kurt wants to forget about me?”

“Only because you ran away and never called him. He’s annoyed, Blaine.” Rachel stared at Blaine with sad eyes. She watched Blaine take in the information, watched him turn from angry to lost and confused. “You never told me why you were sleeping in my trash.”

Blaine rubbed his face trying to get Kurt out of his mind. “It-it’s because I have nowhere else, ok? I didn’t know you lived here, honest.”

“What do you mean you don’t have anywhere else? What happened to your job and apartment?”

“I never had one”

“What do you mean you didn’t have one? Any way don’t you have any friends you could stay with instead of outside my apartment?”

“I was staying with a friend, but I had to get out of there.”

“What? Surely staying with your friend would have been better than here.”

“Not when you nearly get killed, it isn’t” He mumbled.

“You nearly got killed? What happened is your friend a lunatic or something?” Rachel shrieked.

“No it wasn’t my friend who tried to kill me, Joel would never have done that. No my friend got mixed up in drugs and stuff and it all just turned nasty. I’m ok now through, so you can just forget you ever saw me.”

“No Blaine, I should tell Kur-“

“No” Blaine cut in. “you can’t tell him, please. It would kill him to know I was living on the streets.”

“You can’t expect me to keep my mouth shut, you knew me for three years Blaine, if there’s one thing you should have learnt about me, it’s that I can never keep a secret.” Rachel teased.

If there was one thing Blaine learnt about Rachel it was that she was the known school gossip and she would do anything to find out other peoples gossip and spread it around.

‘I’ll make you a deal. If you let me get you something to eat, then I won’t tell Kurt I saw you.”

Blaine stared at her in horror. Rachel was actually being nice, she was actually doing something that wasn’t for herself.

“So what do you think? Sound like a fair deal?”

“Yeah, if it’s the only way to get you not to tell Kurt.”

Rachel beamed at Blaine and stood back and began to walk to her apartment. Blaine grabbed his guitar, slung his bag over his shoulder and followed her inside.

………………

Rachel and Kurt had agreed to keep seeing each other before work everyday, even though neither of them enjoyed it that much. It was a chance for Kurt to get all the worry of his chest and for Rachel to learn what being a good friend really meant.

Normally Kurt would tell Rachel all about his day, his life and his work and Rachel would listen and give him some of her, not so helpful, knowledge. But today was different, Rachel actually had something useful to say. The only trouble was, Kurt had decided to go on one of his long rambles, and nothing would distract him from one of them.

“-And then she said she didn’t like the dress. I mean I know she’s a fashion icon and everything but our stylists have way better taste than her. I mean who does she think she is?”

“I don’t know. Kurt can I ask you so-.”

“And then she said our stylist should be sacked. Our stylist is one of the best in the country and she said he should be sacked. She only got this fashion shoot because she had another child and now she’s demanding everything.

“Kurt I don’t want to hear the ins and outs of your Victoria Beckham photo shoot.”

“And now I think my boss is going to make me assistant director of the shoot, which would be a great opportunity for me, but you know what that will mean? I’ll have to look after her and she’s the biggest pain on this planet.” Kurt rambled, ignoring Rachel’s interruption.

“Kurt there’s something I have to tell yo-.”

“Rachel I’m trying to tell you something will you stop interrupting.”

“But Kurt I have to tell you som-.”

“Anyway I really don’t what to have to be her personal assistant for a day, can you imagine it? Looking after her and doing everything she says. It would be torture. God I hate the Beckham’s. Do you know tha-”

“KURT shut up for one minute, please.”

“What? Rachel I was trying to tell yo-.”

“No Kurt. You only ever talk about yourself and you won’t even listen to me.”

“Rachel, I’m sorry I’ll shut up and you can tell me what you had to say.”

“No Kurt, you can’t just decide when you want me to speak. I’m going.”

“No, Rachel I’m sorry. Please don’t go.”

“It’s too late Kurt. Bye.”

With that Rachel stood up and stormed out of the coffee shop, slamming the door on the way out.

Kurt sat there, too mad at himself to even move. What had Rachel wanted to tell him, what was so important to her?

Kurt was annoyed at himself for not letting her speak but decided to not worry about it too much. After all, it was probably just Rachel being dramatic.