Kurt put the keys into the ignition of the new Pathfinder (well, it was new to him, considering that his dad fixed it up and gave it to him for Christmas) and backed out of the driveway, setting out to the grocery store in the hopes of getting a few last-minute New Year's decorations for cheap. His father had hinted that they were having some company (Kurt asked who it was, but Burt simply said that it was a surprise), so Kurt decided that they needed to spruce up the house a little for their guests. He was glad that he had his own car to go run these sorts of errands, and driving was an escape for him. It was a way for him to keep his mind busy, to take his mind off of things. More like one thing in particular...one Blaine Anderson.

It wasn't even like hetriedto think of Blaine. The little things would remind him of the boy who changed his life. Kurt even contemplated moving his bookshelf of his copies ofHarry Potterso he couldn't see them anymore, but he couldn't bring himself to do it. He could hardly bring himself to not think of the stupid, stupid essay he sent to him. There were plenty of times where Kurt would find himself lying on his bed, remembering every sentence he typed up and thinking of how horrible they were.

He's going to think I'm too clingy, that I'm quick to jump into a relationship, that I'm even more of a hopeless romantic than him, Kurt thought most of the time as he considered what Blaine would think when he read the entry. For the most part, this was his usual train of thought regarding the matter, however at times he'd have a small burst of hope:maybe he'll think it's really sweet, and be glad that he turned me into a hopeless romantic like what he claims to be himself.

Maybe he feels the same way.

These thoughts were usually drowned by a sea of negativity, and Kurt would find himself back to square one: trying to ignore thoughts of Blaine completely.

Kurt tightened his grip on the steering wheel and continued to drive, losing himself in the long stretch of the road in front of him and the music that flowed through the car. His mind was blank as he turned onto Main Street, and finally found a good space in front of the grocery store. As if it was on cue, his phone sounded off after he parked the car. It was a text from Mercedes, asking if he wanted to stop at the Lima Bean one last time before the year ended. He quickly answered yes, that he'd be there by 2:30, and then exited his car, locking it as he entered the store.

It wasn't too hard to find what he needed, just a few bottles of sparkling cider, a cheesy "Happy New Year!" banner, some balloons, and some hats. Kurt wished that he could get something a little more elaborate, but he was on a tight budget, and he knew Burt wouldn't care for anything more—even the banner was a bit much.

Kurt strode through one of the aisles as he made his way to the cash register, and noticed that he was surrounded by magazines and books. He felt a small pang in his chest, but still examined them nonetheless. He did need a new book to read—most of them were just books that were recently made into movies, and ones that he had no interest in reading whatsoever, such asFifty Shades of Grey. Suddenly he spied one out of the corner of his eye. It was rather small, but it definitely grabbed his attention. Once he read the title, he knew that he had to get it. It should have made him sad, but it didn't. He saw it more of a sign than anything else.

Kurt walked over to the check out with a little more spring in his step.

"Excuse me, I was here at 2:30 sharp; where were you two?" Kurt prompted Mercedes and Tina with a raised eyebrow as they took the empty seats across from him in the Lima Bean. He took a sip of his decaffeinated tea, awaiting an answer.

"I'm sorry that we were eight minutes late, Mr. Hummel, should I send a letter of apology?" Mercedes retorted sardonically. Tina looked genuinely concerned for a second, but then realized that they were kidding when they began laughing.

"No, no, it's quite all right," Kurt said, "but I'm just wondering, why did you invite me out to coffee?"

"Okay, can we stop this little 'oh, no one likes me, I have no friends' thing? It's getting old. Obviously we like you, Kurt," Tina said curtly, her eyebrows furrowed. She then softened her countenance. "I didn't mean it, Kurt, I'm sorry. I just don't see how you can think of yourself so lowly, that no one would want to hang out with you. Just accept that we're here for you and let's move on, okay?"

"Sure," Kurt said slowly, feeling himself jump over yet another hurdle. "Let's move on. What are your plans for tonight? My dad said that we're having some people over, which is a little different than usual, which is just the two of us. I guess that I won't be able to do my review of the biggest fashion hits and misses this year," he said glumly.

"I'm sure that whoever is coming will enjoy it, Kurt. I'm just chilling with the fam tonight. Some of my cousins from out of state are coming, so I'm looking forward to it." Mercedes smiled and drank some more of her Frappuccino.

"My boo Mike's coming over," Tina said, "We're probably going to talk about how fast this year went and how amazing it was."

"That's so cute! Good for you two," Kurt said brightly, folding his hands on the table. He accidentally knocked down the book that was on the edge of the table in the process. He felt his cheeks burn as he heard Mercedes say "I got this" and watched her lean down and retrieve the book.

"A Collection of Shakespeare's Greatest Sonnets? I thought we were in American Lit," Mercedes studied the book. Kurt could feel a rosy blush creeping up from his neck all the way up to his hairline. He held out his hand for the book, a silent plea for Mercedes to give it back to him.

"Ju-Just some light reading," he said quietly, hoping the moment would soon pass. Mercedes returned it to him without any more questions; he only saw Tina raise her eyebrows at both of them. He placed the book back in his lap, took a second to recompose himself, and brought his gaze back up to the two girls in front of him.

"So, now that that awkward moment is out of the way, what do you think was the greatest moment in fashion this past year?"

It was a 5:45 pm; Burt said that their company would be arriving at any time after 6. Kurt was finishing his moisturizing routine; his outfit for the night was waiting on his bed. He and Burt had already put up all of the decorations, and organized the house so it was welcoming and party-ready. While he was glad that his father was having company, a rare occurrence, Kurt was somewhat worried: Burt seemed rather nervous. This was a different side of Burt; Kurt decided that he was just worried about having more people over than just the two of them. He wondered who was coming. It didn't seem like a lot of people.

Once he finished the treatment, he didn't immediately put on his clothes for the night. He picked up the book sitting on his boudoir and began fingering through it. The table of contents instructed that he go to page twenty-one for the sonnet was looking for; he found it quickly and began to read:

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?

Thou art more lovely and more temperate

Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May...

"So this is what he memorized," Kurt uttered under his breath. He finished the sonnet and then put down the book, reflecting on what he read as he changed into his clothes. It was a beautiful sonnet; it was no surprise that Blaine loved it so.

"Kurt! Can you help me with the hors-d'oeuvres? They're going to be here soon!" Burt called from upstairs. Kurt took one last look at himself in the mirror, as well as a final glance at the book, and then rushed up the stairs.

He found Burt struggling with getting a tray of pigs-in-a-blanket out from the oven; he was already holding another one in his left hand. Sighing, Kurt walked over and put on an oven mitt, taking a tray from his father and pouring the contents into one of the bowls that was sitting on the kitchen table. Burt expressed his gratitude as Kurt began taking the filled bowls to the dining room. As he was placing the food on the table, Kurt noticed some strange substances in the bowls.

"Dad, what are these?" he brought one of them back into the kitchen, where Burt was tidying up, and showed him the odd squares within.

"Oh, one of our guests is vegan, so I had to improvise," Burt said, his back to Kurt.

"Wait a second," Kurt replied, starting to feel very suspicious, "Rachel is a vegan...did you invite the glee club? Wait, that wouldn't make any sense, because I saw Tina and Mercedes a while ago and they had different plans," before Burt could respond, the doorbell rang.

"You'll see," Burt said a bit shakily as he walked past Kurt towards the door. Kurt stood by the kitchen table, peering out to the front door of the house, where he saw Burt open the door, revealing an enthusiastic Rachel Berry, who hugged him.

"Hello, Mr. Hummel! I'm so glad that I could come tonight. Thank you so much for inviting me, Finn!"

Finn?

"Hi, Mr. Hummel. It's nice to meet you," Finn greeted him carefully, as if he was unsure of what to say. "We brought some dip, is that okay?"

"That's great, Finn, thank you so much. You two can come in and put your coats on the couch. Where's your mother?"Why are Finn and his mom here?Kurt wondered.

"I'm here, I'm here! Hello, Burt," Kurt saw Finn's mother appear at the door—Burt gave her a warm hug, and she gave him a kiss on the cheek.Wait a second...no. Dad would tell me.

"Hi, Carole. You can all go into the dining room, we have some food there. Kurt, could you turn on the television?"

"Oh—Okay, Dad," Kurt called out, and rushed towards the television, preparing himself for the massive hug he would receive from Rachel once he came into her sight.

"KURT!"Here we go, he groaned as he felt her strong arms encompass him. He feebly returned the gesture. "It's so cute that your dad is dating Finn's mom!"

"Yeah...yeah, it is," Kurt answered, casting his gaze to the floor. He couldn't bring himself to look at Finn. He wondered if Finn knew.

Of course, Kurt wouldn't be upset with the fact that Burt hid his relationship with Carole from him. Kurt himself hid the whole Blaine thing from Burt. He couldn't help but ponder for a second whether Burt did this as revenge, but then threw out the idea immediately. It was not of Burt's nature at all. He was entitled to have some privacy.

"So, Carole, I don't think you've ever met my son Kurt. Carole, Kurt, Kurt, Carole," Burt suddenly appeared beside Rachel and Finn with Finn's mother at his side. Kurt looked up and grinned. She looked a bit like Finn, and had that same warm smile.

"Hi," he said, and reached out his hand. She took it and shook it firmly.

"Your father says such nice things about you. I'm so glad that I finally got to meet you, Kurt. I'm sure you know Finn, since you two are in New Directions together," she nodded over towards Finn, who had broken away from the group and was examining an old family portrait of Kurt and both his parents.

"Yes, we've spoken a few times." Lie. He'd probably said three words to Finn throughout their entire high school career. Yes, in his sophomore year he had a small crush on him, but he soon got over it.

"Mr. Hummel, I hope you took into consideration that I am a vegan?" Rachel butted in brightly; she was standing in the doorway of the dining room.

"Yeah, he did, let me show you your choices." Kurt joined her, feeling somewhat glad that he got away from Finn's mother. While he was glad that his father finally had a girlfriend, it was kind of a foreign idea to him.

"So Kurt, how are you? Have you heard from you-know-who?" Apparently Rachel decided to talk about what Kurt least wanted to discuss.

"Rachel, the wizarding war is over, you don't have to refer to Voldemort as You-Know-Who anymore," he answered gruffly as he got a plate for her and pointed to the vegan bowls.

"I'm going to ignore your moment of nerdiness, and ask again: have you spoken with Blaine?" She began spooning some food out of the bowl, but missed her plate since she was staring at Kurt, anxiously awaiting a response.

"No, and it's not a big deal. We'll talk when we want to; I have his number, so-"

"Wait, you have his number?! We have to call him, like, now!" Rachel let the spoon clatter on the table as she reached out to Kurt, searching his person for his phone.

"Rachel, Rachel, stop! You're not airport security! I'll call him when I want to, just...stop." Rachel slowly backed her hands away, a sad look on her face. "I'm sorry, but...a lot of stuff just happened, and that's the last thing I need to think about." Rachel nodded, and quietly said that she was sorry. Kurt then reached out to her for a hug; she accepted gratefully.

"It's okay. Let's go watch Anderson Cooper banter with Kathy Griffin," he said jovially, and held out his arm. She took it, and they walked back into the living room, where Finn, Burt, and Carole were already huddled around the television, which was displaying some of the biggest plays of the football season that year. Finn and Burt's eyes were glued to the screen; Carole looked very bored.

"Hey, Kurt and I want to watch Kathy and Anderson! I personally don't understand a thing about football, and I'm sure that Kurt and I don't, and maybe Mrs. Hudson, so majority rules." Rachel snatched the remote from out of Finn's hands and began to surf through the channels, trying to find the right one. Once she succeeded, she plopped down next to Finn on the couch and curled up into his chest. Kurt took a seat on the other half of the couch, giving the two of them some room. He glanced at the two of them quickly and felt something tug at his heart: he saw Blaine in front of him for a split second. Rubbing his face vigorously, Kurt wiped away all of the whisperings of what he swore he would not think about and brought his attention back to the screen.

New year, new beginnings,he thought.

"I'll get the glasses of champagne-slash-sparkling cider, there's only two minutes left!" Kurt announced, springing to his feet after checking the clock. He was playing Apples to Apples on the floor with Finn and Rachel, and lost track of time as they were very engaged in their game. Burt and Carole were talking in the other room.

"All right, get back soon!" Rachel and Finn began to clean up the game. Kurt dashed into the kitchen and found the flutes waiting on the table. He opened the refrigerator and retrieved the champagne and cider. He then set the cider down on the table and grabbed two of the flutes with his newly free hand, bringing them and the champagne to his father and Carole.

"It's time for the countdown!" he said as he found them chatting in the dining room, where the remains of their dinner was still sitting on the table. They got up from their chairs and took the glasses: Burt looked happier than Kurt had ever seen him. Carole lightly touched Kurt's wrist as she took the champagne bottle. Kurt smiled at her warmly and returned to the kitchen to pour the cider into the flutes for him, Rachel, and Finn.

"...Twenty-three, twenty-two, twenty-one...c'mon, Kurt!" Finn said as Kurt walked in, quickly handing them their flutes. He watched as the ball in New York City got even close to the ground, mouthing the seconds along with his friends and the people on his screen. He heard Burt and Carole join in behind them.

"Ten! Nine! Eight! Seven! Six! Five! Four! Three! Two! One! Happy New Year!" Everyone shouted; Kurt turned to Rachel and Finn to toast with them; they were too busy kissing. He then looked up at Burt and Carole, who were involved in the same activity. Feeling like a fifth wheel, Kurt toasted to the kissing couples on the screen and took a sip of the cider. The fizziness of it left an undesirable aftertaste in his mouth. Suddenly, he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket, notifying him that he got a text.

He took it out and opened it, feeling his jaw drop a little as his read the text.

Happy New Year; I think this one will be a good one for you :)

He didn't even have to look at the number. Kurt smiled to himself for a second, ignoring the chatter of the room around him.

New year, new beginnings, he reminded himself, and felt his smile grow even wider.