June 19, 2012, 9:31 p.m.
A Song for Kurt: Chapter 1
T - Words: 1,671 - Last Updated: Jun 19, 2012 Story: Closed - Chapters: 1/? - Created: Jun 19, 2012 - Updated: Jun 19, 2012 415 0 3 0 0
They're out of soy milk and Rachel is being a bitch.
"How can I even begin to be prepared without my milk? My vocal chords are extremely important, I will have you know, and I need my throat to be properly coated with the right amount of unsaturated fat to achieve my peak of skill in spite of the fact that my talent is superfluous and continues to grow by leaps and bounds every day. But milk would help me on my upward progress to being the best Broadway star anyone has ever seen." She proceeds to flounce in an immature, unladylike way onto the couch as she finishes bemoaning the lack of milk in their apartment. Underneath her shiny brown bangs, she glares at Kurt and Tina.
Tina looks incredulously at her as Kurt fights the incredible urge to roll his eyes.
"R-R-Rachel..." Tina manages to stammer as she pulls a strand of dark black hair behind her ear, "why can't you just have some of this milk?" She gestures to her half gallon of skim milk sitting on the table as she spoons some Cheerios into her mouth.
Rachel gives Tina such a terrifying look that innocent bystanders would think that Tina had suggested murdering all the world's babies and roasting them for Thanksgiving dinner.
"Tina Cohen-Chang!" Rachel screams dramatically, throwing her arms into the air. "How could you even suggest such a preposterous excuse of a solution? You know I am vegan for the rights of those poor, innocent and defenseless baby animals. You should be ashamed!"
"M-milk comes from a-adult cows," Tina replies, her stutter prominent, "and I think it's g-good for the cows to be milked. It actually hurts themnot to be milked."
Rachel gives Tina a perturbed, condescending look.
Kurt really wants to smack her. But as satisfying and appealing as this option seems to be, he knows it would be wholly counterproductive and if there's anything worse than bitchy, whiny, diva Rachel it's self-pitying, miserable, crying Rachel. (The only thing that may top this is clingy, drunk Rachel, but that's another story).
So he'll just go buy the damn milk.
Grumbling to himself, Kurt grabs his keys and throws a distracted wave to Rachel and Tina. Tina gives him a petrified look along the lines ofPlease Kurt, don't leave me here with her, but Kurt just returns it with a grim smile. He told Tina not to drink Rachel's soy milk, but girlfriend didn't listen to him, so now she'll just have to babysit the monster.
The monster that also happens to be his best friend of five years. Whatever.
The thing is, when Rachel asked Kurt to live with her, he couldn't have been more delighted. Kurt and Rachel had been best friends since their sophomore year of high school—after he figured out that her neurotic, self-obsessed nature and tunnel-visioned view of success was much like his, and he'd stopped hating her for her crazy and admiring her instead. Now Kurt hadn't been very popular, but Rachel had been even less so, and so he embarked on a mission to destroy her truly blasphemous, childish wardrobe (the first thing he got rid of was that hideous sweater with the dancing penguins amid the snowflakes), and they'd bonded over a mutual love of opera and romantic desires (which was easy, since they were both interested in males), and had been inseparable ever since.
So, when Rachel asked Kurt to live with her for their second year of college, Kurt couldn't have agreed more readily. Rachel was neat and ate healthy meals and as long as she let Kurt be in charge of the interior decorating (best friend or not, he was not okay with kitten stickers and gold stars on the walls of his apartment), he was set. He'd prefer living with a girl anyways—his past roommate wasn't mean, but Kurt had tiptoed around talking to him, which made for an incredibly awkward year.
Then they ran into one tiny problem.
Their apartment was made for three people, and they needed to fill the spot unless they were willing to pay an extravagant amount more for rent.
And so, the quest for the third roommate began.
Kurt and Rachel had interviewed numerous candidates, quizzing them on the who, what, where, and why's of Broadway and musical theater and forcing them to discuss how they felt about "alternative lifestyle" (because of Rachel's two gay dads and because of Kurt's sexual orientation, which he had now come to terms with).
They'd found Tina on Craigslist of all places. More importantly, they (well Kurt and Tina that is...) had gotten along with her immediately. When Kurt looked past the dark black hair with the purple streaks and the dark Goth makeup and the skull necklace, he saw a kind-hearted, rather timid Asian girl who didn't know how else to express herself because of her stutter. He mentally wrote to himself that he'd have to put some time into finding her a new wardrobe, but otherwise it was a match made in heaven.
At least that's what Kurt thought.
He hadn't considered that Rachel's silence meant her ultimate unhappiness as she sulked in the corner.
And so the fights began.
They weren't fights, perse... it was more like banter. Endless, angry banter between Rachel and Tina—Tina, who thought Rachel was bitchy and self-absorbed and utterly crazy and self-obsessed (which Kurt had to begrudgingly admit was true at times, and Rachel, who was convinced that Tina was an evil vampire who would convert her in her sleep to turn her into a vampire to entertain the vampire masses because they "obviously need some brightening in their lives and my talent is something they have sought for for so long, honestly I almost feel a little bad for them" (this was not as true). This left Kurt trapped in the middle of two wild girls fighting and bantering all the time (with Tina screaming (rather, stuttering) things like, "Y-you can be so s-s-selfish and i-inconsiderate, Rachel!" and Rachel saying things back like, "Well at least I don't bite people in my sleep!" to Tina stammering, "I-I don't do that; are you c-crazy?").
And then there was Kurt who occasionally snapped at Rachel for her outrageous behavior and sometimes even got a little cross with Tina (but not to the same extent because they weren't on the same best friends level). Strangely enough, it seemed now that Rachel and Tina were at least civil with one another when Kurt was in the room, even though he didn't know what shit went down when he was gone.
And so, Kurt took every chance he could get at getting away from his crazy roommates, which leads him to where he is standing and staring at the soy milk in the supermarket now.
He sighs, absentmindedly toying with his hair as he scans the brand that Rachel likes. He's not sure if it's the flavored soy milk with the hint of sugar or the plain soy milk or Silk brand or what, so in the end he just ends up grabbing four of the cartons and sticking them into his shopping cart.
Humming to himself as he walks down the aisle of meat, he places a package of turkey burgers into his shopping cart. Above him, a radio host's voice sounds out over the supermarket speakers.
"Hey everyone, here's something new for you! It's a brand new single! There's talk that it's going to be pretty big soon, so keep your eyes—I mean ears—out for it; it's been climbing up iTunes pretty fast! First time being played on the radio, here's 'A Song for Kurt!'"
Kurt pauses as he places some English muffins into his shopping cart, a smile on his face. It's not ever day that he shares the name of the subject in some Top 40 popular radio song, even though he typically doesn't like those songs and he prefers his Broadway classics (and some occasional Lady Gaga).
A voice—surprisingly a male voice—drifts out of the speakers. It's smooth like a brick of dark chocolate and it mixes in richly with the light piano notes and guitar chords. Beautiful melodies fill the air, and Kurt finds himself standing and staring upwards, wondering why the voice sounds slightly familiar.
"Hey there Kurt, we haven't talked for awhile/But I wanna to let you know that I miss your smile/I think there's something you oughta know/So I've written a song to tell you so
"I like the light in your eyes/And I'm always surprised/How the flush on your cheeks/Makes my knees so weak/My heart beats real fast/I want this to last/Every time you're with me/Don't want you to leave
"And oh boy, Kurt, this is your song/I want to say what I should've all along/Let's just lay in the grass and stare up at the sky/Feeling so lucky I can call you mine/When really your eyes meet mine everyday/All the while you never know I feel this way
"Wish that I could muster up the courage to tell you the truth/But I've just written this little medley for you/Kept it in my back pocket all along/But now I'd really like you to hear this song
"Maybe we were just never meant to be/And we've gone different places, that I see/But this song is for you, Kurt, signed sincerely me"
Kurt closes his eyes as the song comes to a finish, some delicate, soft, sweet notes drifting off to a close. He loves those romantic, little songs, and this is one that's addressed to him. Or at least a boy who shares his name. From another boy.
It's surprising really. Not every day that a love song written by a gay boy—well at least Kurt is assuming he's gay—gets played on the radio, but society's changing and Kurt has admittedly faced a lot less oppression and discrimination in college than he did in his conservative public high school in Lima, Ohio.
"Well that's it, everyone! What did you think of that? There's some callers on the line asking me to play it again," screeches the radio host, "but I'm sure you'll hear it again very soon. There's his first single, new up and coming artist, Blaine Anderson!"
Splat!
The carton of eggs Kurt is holding hits the floor.
If any eggs break, Kurt doesn't notice.
Blaine Anderson?
And more importantly, Blaine Anderson is gay?
Comments
Yes, please continue! I'm curious as to what happens next. :)
Thank you for being the first reviewer on this story! :)
Yes, yes, yes, yes, please continue. I love this idea. :)