Being on the road was exhausting, performing the same roll night after night was easier said than done but at the same time Kurt wouldn’t give up this opportunity for all the Marc Jacobs in the world. He knew he was extremely lucky to have gotten the part even if it was ‘just’ a traveling production; it was still a credit to his name, a foot in the door. Plus it gave him an excuse not to have a boyfriend and as Rachel pointed out maybe just maybe he’d meet his soul mate while he was on the road.

                “Oh Kurt! It’ll be so romantic! He’ll see you on the stage and just know you are his and then he’ll wait for you by the stage door afterwards and give you a big bouquet of flowers and profess his undying love for you!” She had cooed.

                “Where will he have gotten the flowers from Rachel?” Kurt asked her in response.

                “He’ll have brought them with him.”

                “So he’ll give me flowers he bought for someone else? Bastard.”

                “Hey that’s your soul mate you’re talking about.”

                “Yes my imaginary soul mate.”

It had already been a month since he went on tour and he already missed Rachel like crazy, god he even missed Santana. He wondered what they were up to, he knew they had rented out his room to another guy, who according to Rachel was absolutely dreamy and gay, which meant in her book he was perfect for Kurt. Kurt shook his head when she told him that as he not only didn’t have time for a boyfriend but what would be the point in getting involved with a guy that was in New York when Kurt wouldn’t be in New York for almost a year, besides that Rachel thought every attractive gay guy was perfect for Kurt and after he went out with a few of them he vowed never to let her fix him up again.

                “Emergency cast meeting.” A voice called out through the hotel hall. Kurt recognized it to be Amy’s voice, Amy is the assistant to the director and as such Kurt knew that this was an actual meeting not when a cast member called a ‘meeting’ and have it be code for ‘let’s all got out and get drunk!’

Kurt grabbed his room key and then followed the other cast members down the hall to the hotel’s conference room.

                “We have a problem.” Tony, the director announced. “John got drunk after the show last night and fell off the stage; he broke his leg and won’t be able to perform for the next few weeks.”

                “What about his understudy?” Kurt asked.

                “That was Ethan, he decided he couldn’t handle life on the road and quit last week.”

                “What are we going to do? We need a Roger.” Leslie, who played Maureen, asked.

                “I know, now this is actually good timing since we aren’t scheduled to perform this week but it does mean that we are going to lose our week off breaking in the new guy.”

                “So, you’ve found someone then?” Ed, who played Mark, asked.

                “Luckily I had a friend from my school days who is an actor and who would make an excellent Roger. I called him up and he’d got on the first flight here, he should be here this evening.”

Kurt sighed he had been hoping to use this week off to go see his dad. He knew he’d see his dad when the play went to Ohio but that wasn’t for another few months and he missed his dad even more than he missed Rachel. Of course it had been longer since he’d seen his dad and he did call him often but for so long it had just been him and his dad and even though his dad had since married Carole while Kurt was in high school that intense bond between the two Hummel men remained. As soon as the cast meeting was dismissed Kurt went to his room and called his dad, who of course, told Kurt not to worry about him, to just focus on the play and maybe Kurt could swing by the next time he has a week off, or if not he’d see him when the play got to Ohio.

                After he hung up with his dad Kurt began to worry about the new guy, it sounded to him like the guy didn’t even audition he just go the part because he used to go to school with the director, what if he couldn’t cut it? What if he overestimated his acting skills because they were friends? What if he was a pompous ass? Well at least Kurt wouldn’t have to worry about him being a homophobe, he wouldn’t be doing this play if he was homophobic. Kurt didn’t know why but he was extremely nervous to meet this guy, he wasn’t like this when he met the rest of his cast mates maybe that was because he wasn’t nearly as invested in the show back then or maybe it was because they had all auditioned for their roles. Well, at least a broken leg is only temporary so if this guy did suck they could easily bring John back after his leg healed and if the new guy was an ass, well at least he was playing Roger and not Collins and Kurt could easily ignore him while they were on the bus or whatever.  Kurt realised it would be a long night of rehearsal tonight so he decided to take a quick nap, confident someone would come wake him up when the new guy arrived.

                A few hours later Kurt arrived at the theatre they had performed at the night before, Tony had gotten the owners to agree to allow them to borrow it for the week since it didn’t make sense to fly back to New York to rehearse. The new guy smiled when he saw Kurt, his eyes sparkling under the stage lights. Kurt had to admit he was gorgeous and looks wise, at least, he’d make a great Roger.

                “Hi, you must be Kurt.” The new guy said holding out his hand for Kurt to shake. “I’m not psychic, I looked up the cast while I was on the plane, did you know some planes have wifi now?”

                “Yeah I did know that. It’s nice to meet you….?”

                “Cooper Anderson.”