"He probably has daddy issues. All the pretty ones do."

Kurt looked over at his best friend Tess. She was stuffing her face with greasy, ketchup-covered fries from Hotdog on a Stick and noisily sucking the soda out of the straw of an accompanying fountain cup. Strands of her frizzy, strawberry-blonde hair kept falling in her face, locks barely contained by a scrunchie that looked quite close to retirement. Kurt contemplated not telling her about the smudge of ketchup she'd smeared on her cheek from her last attempt at taming the errant curls, but they were in the middle of the mall's food court in full view of the general public and he decided he wasn't that mean. He reached over with a napkin and wiped the offending sauce off, earning him a quick smile of thanks.

"I bet his dad hit him or something after he found out he was gay," she continued nonchalantly around a mouthful of fries, tossing a couple more in as she chewed.

Kurt gaped at her in both surprise and revulsion. What? What did she just say? Did those words actually just come out of her mouth? Oh yuck, her mouth…

"OK, first of all, please don't do that while you're talking," Kurt insisted, gesturing at her face vaguely. "I really don't need a first hand demonstration of your mastication process."

She only grinned widely at him, giving him a better view of her french-fry pulp and amplifying his look of disgust. Kurt suppressed a shiver. She was so gross when she ate.

"Second," he carried on tightly, giving her a reprimanding look, "that's a terrible thing to say about someone, especially when you don't even know if it's true. Abuse isn't a joke, Tess. Seriously, you can be a real insensitive bitch sometimes."

Tess pouted at him. "Aw, that's why I have you, honey bear," she replied only a scant second after swallowing. Whatever, at least she swallowed. "You're sensitive enough for the both of us." Another fry down the hatch.

Kurt cleared his throat briefly. "And third, what makes you think Blaine's gay, anyway?" he asked, purposefully ignoring her comment about his sensitivity. He had learned pretty quickly to brush off any remarks that might call attention to his less manly qualities. Things like that only brought him down, and besides, at the moment he was actually kind of curious to hear what Tess had to say. "He seems like he could go either way to me."

If he was honest with himself, Kurt knew Blaine was gay. But a part of him didn't want to believe it because, if it was true, it meant that he would then be vulnerable to experiencing a new kind of hurt: genuine rejection. Not rejection because of a difference in sexual orientation, but rejection solely because of disinterest. He didn't think he'd be able to stand that. Still, another part of him was curious.

Tess let out a bark of laughter. "Uh-huh, right. If his clothes weren't a dead giveaway, you mean?" She chuckled a bit.

Kurt felt some color rise in his cheeks.

Oh right, because clothes always and unmistakably defined a person's sexuality. He huffed to himself. Maybe Blaine just took the 50s throwback trend very seriously. Maybe his clothes were handed down to him from his grandpa or something, which seemed entirely possible given that he mostly wore Brooks Brothers and Gant. Those brands have been around for, like, forever. Not that Kurt looked close enough to notice the brands Blaine wore. It was just kind of obvious with all those tight vests and v-neck sweaters and patterned bowties and pinstriped Oxford shirts and bright red, teasingly fitted chinos…

Kurt mentally shook himself. Stop it, brain. Off limits.

He hated to admit it, but he'd actually thought about Blaine quite a bit since the previous day, wondering at his behavior during and immediately after the read-through. While Kurt knew it wasn't uncommon for actors to have residual feelings bleed onto them from a character they were portraying, he also knew that such an intense reaction as Blaine had had only happened when the actor's own personal experiences were involved. What kind of thing had to have happened to Blaine for him to be so sensitive of such vaguely written violence? Did it really have to do with him getting beat up for his sexuality, like Tess said?

He managed to bring his attention back to his best friend across from him.

"I'm serious, Tess," he said once he had his thoughts in order. They hadn't talked much about Blaine before (apart from Tess remarking on his "damn fine bubble butt," as she liked to call it, but that was inconsequential) and Kurt was quite interested in seeing where this conversation would go. "Why would you assume he's gay?"

Tess thought for a moment before responding. "Well," she said and then paused, not saying anything for almost a minute.

Kurt's heart fell. He was really hoping she would offer something to help him form a working theory about Blaine the Enigma. Well, you know, something beyond commentary on his clothes and what he could do with his ass, which Tess had decided gave him the power of mind control. But Kurt was positive there was more to this Blaine than his wardrobe and his ass, although he wasn't quite sure why he wanted to know more or why it even mattered to him in the first place.

He was about to give up on the apparently dead conversation and change the subject when Tess finally spoke up. "He doesn't look at girls," she said in a way that sounded like she'd only just realized it.

Kurt snapped to attention, frowning at her questioningly. "Huh? What do you mean he doesn't look at girls?"

"He doesn't look at girls!" Tess repeated emphatically.

Kurt rolled his eyes at her terrible attempt at clarification, but Tess's voice was starting to get excited and her eyes looked like cogs were turning rapidly inside her head, so Kurt let her continue.

"He's always surrounded by them, a whole gaggle of them—like, all those show choir chicks—but he never checks them out or anything, not ever," she carried on rapidly. "And it's not like those girls aren't good looking or whatever, 'cause let's be real here, they're fucking hot. Some of them are freaking cheerleaders, for Christ sakes, but he just isn't interested! Oh! Oh! And I totally caught him giving that Mike Twinkle-Toes guy the once-over, an—don't give me that look! I'm 100-percent positive that I didn't imagine it because, well, I may or may not have been doing the same thing before I noticed him looking, too." She took a breath and gave Kurt the biggest open-mouthed grin he'd ever seen. "Oh my god, Kurt, Blaine's totally gay!"

Tess bounced in her seat a little and bit down firmly on her bottom lip in what Kurt assumed was an attempt at keeping herself from squealing.

Kurt just blinked at her. Though his heart was racing, he tried not to let it show. He knew it was his own fault for asking why she thought Blaine was gay, but he didn't want to talk about it anymore. His heart was getting too close to hoping, and his head didn't like it.

"Um, why are you so excited?" he asked, thinking desperately of a way to divert her interest and potentially change the subject. "Shouldn't you be disappointed if he's gay? 'Cause if he is, then for sureany attempts you make at trying to get into his pants would be considered rape. You don't want a repeat of the Riley incident." There, bring the conversation back to Tess and her shenanigans; throw in a little humor and voila! She wouldn't be able to resist the snarky attention. She was a sucker for self-absorbed banter.

"It's only technically rape if I make it to intercourse," Tess replied with a smirk.

"Yeah, really not my point," Kurt shot back, although he was quietly breathing a sigh of relief. He could chitchat for days about Tess's sexuality and love life, compartmentalizing like a pro so it wouldn't get to him, but when it came to his own love life he hated even going near it. Thinking about it was useless and painful and just reminded him of how lonely he was. And no one seemed to get it. Not only was his love life nonexistent, there wasn't even any potential for it to be born. Not in this town, at any rate. God, what made him bring focus to Blaine's sexuality? Why did his brain think that was a good idea? If Tess had latched onto that thought—

"Speaking of your point…" Tess said suggestively.

Kurt looked up from his Diet Coke to find his best friend grinning at him. Uh oh. Kurt's eyes went wide with panic. Red light, RED LIGHT! No. Nonononono. Absolutely not. This was not happening. They were not doing this. This thing right now that was starting to happen? Yeah no, it wasn't going to.

He was shaking his head so fast that his coif almost came undone.

"Oh come on, Kurt! We never get to talk about you! I never thought I'd say this, but I'm tired of talking about myself!" Tess pouted at him again, although this time it earned her a fierce glare. "Come on, pleeeeeaase?"

"No!" Kurt exclaimed a little too loudly, receiving a few glances from people at neighboring tables.

"Why not?" Tess asked with conviction, sounding genuinely upset. "We always talk about me, Kurt, and I'm starting to get annoyed by it."

Kurt avoided looking at her, instead trying to see if he could read Tokyo Grill's menu from where they were sitting. He could make out a few of the items without squinting.

Tess huffed at him. "You know, I'm always convinced you're the mature one in this relationship and then you go and do stuff like this."

Hibachi steak, teriyaki chicken and steak, hibachi steak and shrimp…

Tess went quiet for a couple minutes. Kurt thought he had won after a while, but Tess eventually spoke again, her tone more gentle than before. "You don't think I see how lonely you are, but I do."

That got Kurt to look at her.

Tess gave him a sad smile. "How long have I known you, Kurt? Since we were eleven? That's six years now. And when was the last time you told me about a boy you were crushing on?"

Kurt wasn't sure if the question was rhetorical or not, so he just shrugged a shoulder.

"I think it was when we started high school," Tess answered for him. "You used to be so much fun to gossip with, talking about which boys looked like good kissers and which ones you wouldn't let near you in a hazmat suit, but then you just stopped talking about boys altogether. Like, you'd just let me talk and talk and talk and then you'd nod your head or laugh when you thought it was appropriate; don't think I haven't noticed." She pointed a finger at him to make sure he'd heard what she said—that she wasn't oblivious—before putting her hand back down on the table and continuing. "I know it's hard for you, Kurt, and I couldn't possibly understand what it's like to be the only out gay kid in Lima. That's why I let you have your privacy. That's why I don't push when you shut down after I ask if you think someone's cute. That's why I didn't make fun of you after that whole Finn fiasco."

Kurt cringed. He really hated that that had happened and wholeheartedly wished he could erase that particular disaster from history. What had he been thinking? But while that was arguably the dumbest thing he'd ever done, it completely validated his tight-lipped behavior towards boy talk. What was the point in talking about boys if he couldn't have them?

He must've said that last part out loud because Tess scoffed at him and said, "But that's not how it is with Blaine, now is it?"

Kurt frowned at her again. He could feel a headache forming. "We've been over this, Tess. You can't prove that Blaine's gay. Sure, he's got some sense of fashion, but that doesn't mean anything. And as for him never checking out any girls, how would you even know? Do you, like, spy on him 24/7 or something?"

"Oh, shut up," she said offhandedly. "What about the Mike once-over?"

"Was Mike in the middle of a performance?"

"Well yeah, but—"

"—But nothing, Tess! He was probably just watching his friend perform! Jesus Christ… Can you please drop it? You can nag me about boys all you want once I get out of this Podunk town and move to New York and actually have a chance at finding someone, a man, who likes me and wants me, but for now just… just drop it, OK?"

Kurt could feel his cheeks and ears heating and knew he was turning beet red. For a moment he wished he could run away and leave Tess there. But she was the one who had driven them, so that wasn't happening. He decided sticking his face in his hands would have to suffice.

He heard Tess sigh before he felt her pull his hands away and hold them in hers atop the table. She searched his eyes for a few seconds before speaking. "OK," she agreed, her voice so soft that he almost didn't hear her.

Kurt gave her a look of gratitude and allowed himself to smile. She would shut up about it now, thank god. He didn't think he could take any more of her enthusiasm when he knew it would only lead to his heart getting hurt.

"Although I think you're mistaken, I'll drop it."