“I can't believe you're leaving me,” he mutters for the millionth time from his place on the couch.

“You're being a drama queen, Kurt, and that's coming from me,” Rachel replies, rushing through the apartment to finish packing the last of her things. The last few days have been chaotic, at best, and Kurt can't help but feel like the world is crashing down around him.

“You're leaving me,” he says again, “for Jesse St. James, of all people. You're leaving me in the apartment we picked together!”

Rachel stops in the living room, the box in her arms so large that it almost blocks her face from Kurt's view. “Kurt, we've been over this. I'm only moving down the street. Jesse has a nice place and it's better than the alternative, which is him moving in here. You don't want that, do you?”

Kurt shakes his head quickly. The one time he happened to come home while Jesse and Rachel were doing... things, it hadn't been pleasant for him. He should've realized the dangers of having two leading vocalists in the same bedroom. As it was, it was a scarring experience for him.

“No, no, of course not, I just... Don't you think you're moving a little fast, Rachel? There's no reason for you to move in with Jesse right now. You've only been dating again for six months.”

“Kurt.” She puts the box down and moves to sit beside him, wrapping her arms around him and laying her head on his shoulder. “I love you. I love living with you, even if you're incredibly meticulous about absolutely everything, but I hardly get to see Jesse enough as it is, with how busy we both are with school and our respective shows. I just... I love the idea of being able to wake up next to him every morning and being what he comes home to every night.” She has told Kurt this at least a dozen times since her big announcement. It hasn't made him feel any differently about the situation.

“And what exactly am I supposed to come home to every night? An empty apartment, that's what.” Kurt crosses his arms over his chest. He knows he's being stubborn, but he has every right to be. Rachel is his best friend, and here in New York, she's really all he has.

“I'll be over here all the time, don't worry,” Rachel assures him, getting back up to finish moving her things. “You'll be grateful for the space, once you get used to it. Believe me.”

He's only twenty. He's all for personal space and independence, but he doesn't want to be alone. And to be honest, in the two years he's co-habitated with Rachel in New York, he's gotten used to their routine. He gets woken up every morning by her blaring alarm clock as she begins her morning work-out routine. He showers while she exercises and makes breakfast during her post-work-out shower. They eat. They dress. He approves of Rachel's outfit before they walk out the door, and their evening routine is just as harmonized.

He likes living with Rachel. And now it's all ruined, his happy little life in New York, because of Jesse St. James.

Jesse had moved to New York at the beginning of their sophomore year. He got a job working on some show and while Rachel has told him about it a billion times, Kurt still doesn't care which show or which role or for which theater. He doesn't care about Jesse St. James being back in their lives, because as far as he's concerned, Jesse St. James brings nothing but trouble, and considering he's stealing Kurt's roommate... well, he's sticking to that belief pretty adamantly.

To Rachel's credit, she had taken a long time to give Jesse another chance. He'd had to earn back her trust, which was something Kurt is very proud of her for, and Kurt hated to admit it, but sometimes he'd sort of liked having Jesse around... until of course, he decided that Rachel should live with him instead.

“Is this the last of them?” Jesse asks, lifting two of Rachel's boxes (labeled, “CAREFUL! Stuffed animals inside!!” as if they could possibly be hurt by being tossed around) and leaning against the open door. Rachel nods, picking up her big box again. She looks at Kurt, who is busy glaring daggers at Jesse. She sighs and leans down carefully to kiss the top of his head.

“You'll be alright, Kurt,” she assures him. “Call me if you need anything! Love you!” Within moments, she's sharing a big smile with Jesse and out the door. And suddenly their apartment is just his apartment, and she's only been gone a moment, but Kurt has never felt lonelier.

“You're actually complaining about having a place to yourself?” Brian asks incredulously. It's only been a day and Kurt is going stir crazy in that stupid empty apartment. He was close to panicking and Brian was the first person (alphabetically) in his phone who wasn't a high school friend who lived in a different state. He'd practically begged for Brian to meet up with him at the coffee shop down the street. Anything to not be alone.

Kurt grips at the roots of his hair, shaking his head and staring down at the tabletop. “I can't do it. It's too empty and it's too lonely and I can't do it. I can't keep living alone. It's too quiet and it just brings back bad memories, Bri, I can't do it.” Brian's gaze softens.

“What do you mean, bad memories?” he asks. Kurt lets out a shaky breath.

“The last time I had a house to myself for an extended period of time was when I still lived in Ohio, before my dad got re-married. He had a heart attack when I was a junior and he was in a coma in the hospital for a week or so and I had the house to myself. It was terrible. I don't like going home to make dinner for myself and to wake up and have no one to talk to and... I don't like living alone, okay? I just don't.”

“Come on, Kurt, it can't be that bad. Throw a party or something.” Kurt nearly snorts at that. He doesn't have a lot of friends in New York. He's attending NYU for Journalism and while most of the journalism students are pretty close-knit, Kurt has never really fit in with them. They look down on him because he nearly exclusively writes scathing editorial articles and almost no hard-hitting or heart-warming news stories, and once an editor even told him that, “People like you are the reason why news journalism is dying out in favor of tabloids and trashy magazines.”

Brian is the main editorial editor and he loves Kurt's work, so they get along just fine. But still, the number of friends Kurt has made at school is very small.

Brian sips his coffee and shrugs. “You could always get a cat.”