"Kurt!" Chloe gasped.

"What?" Kurt asked, curling the chord of his vintage house phone around his finger.

"How on Earth could you say no to that!?"

Kurt sighed. It wasn't as if he'd wanted to say no to Blaine, and his smile, and his liquid gold eyes that you could easily drown in and not even care. But it just didn't feel right. "I'm...I don't understand all of this."

"SO!? I don't understand half of the things I do. And look where I am!"

"Uhm, you're a middle schooler in Lima, Ohio. That's not much to be proud of."

Chloe giggled. "I guess you're right. But still. Things could be a lot worse, but they're not, because I do things I don't completely understand. You can't live your life overanalyzing everything."

Kurt stilled. She had a wonderful point, after all. Blaine had given up Quinn Fabray, a pretty blonde cheerleader, just for a chance with Kurt. That meant something, right? "But Chloe, I'm not - "

"You're not gay. Jesus, Kurt, I know. It's all you ever talk about. Ever. But if you're not gay, why are you in love with him? Why does it hurt you so much that he might not love you back?"

Kurt sagged back into his chair. "Because...because I...I'm confused. Really confused. Because Blaine's sweet and talented and has the most beautiful smile I've ever seen and when he kissed me it was like electricity and it tasted like iced coffee and Starburst and the air after it rains and I'm talking out loud, aren't I?"

"Kurt."

"I know."

"I'm just saying, maybe don't turn him down just because he's a boy. Maybe give him a chance as a person. Because whether they're boys are girls, they're people. You like people, Kurt. Couldn't you fall in love with a person?"

Kurt sighed, which was really the only thing he could do in situations like these.

"Listen, I have to go. Winter's going to be here in five so we can go shopping," Chloe said. "But think about what I said, okay?"

"Mmhmm. Love you."

"Love you too," Chloe sighed, and hung up the phone.

Blaine didn't feel like moving. Blaine hadn't moved all day, and he really had to pee. But whenever he thought about getting out of bed, he thought about Kurt, and then his mind whirled and his heart ached and he couldn't remember what his feet were for. Rejection had never hurt like this.

Because Blaine hadn't moved all day, Cooper was worried. Blaine was usually dancing around the house, singing some Katy Perry tune and wearing some sort of bow tie. (He had a collection, but he rarely wore them to school. The other kids often made fun of them.) But today Blaine was bedridden, not even snoring. Cooper decided to bust in the door, eyes squeezed shut, because pre-teen boys sometimes needed privacy.

"Coop!" Blaine whined. "I was trying to sleep!"

"It's the first day of summer, Blaine."

"I couldn't sleep last night."

Cooper almost laughed at that. After all, if there was one thing Blaine Anderson could do, it was sleep. But then he realized that his brother wasn't kidding. "Wait, you're serious? Why not?

"I had stuff on my mind." Blaine threw himself completely under the covers, head and all. "New kin you plees git ow?" he asked muffledly.

"No. Not until you tell me what's up."

Blaine sighed. His brother knew him too well to let him get away with that. He sat up and let the covers fall to his waist. "It's...romantic drama."

"Ah. Who is she?"

Blaine's eyes fell to the floor. He hated to admit it, but he was ashamed. He didn't want his brother to put two and two together about his feelings, - sexuality? He still wasn't sure. - but it seemed that was the way things were going.

"It's not a she," Blaine said finally.

"It's a...oh."

"Coop, don't hate me! I'm sorry! I didn't...I didn't want to have feelings for him, but he just...his voice, and his cute sarcasm that only I get, and his hair and his laugh and his smile and his eyes..." Blaine realized his own eyes were watering, and wiped at them with the sleeve of his baggy sweater. "I just...please."

Cooper wrapped his arms around his little brother, placing soothing kisses into his unruly curls. "Blaine," he said after a while, "I'll love you no matter who you love."

Blaine sniffled and smiled through the tears. "R-really?"

"Of course!" Cooper laughed, tousling Blaine's tresses. "What kind of brother would I be if I didn't?"

Blaine acctualy grinned then, because maybe Kurt didn't love him back, but at least his brother loved him, no matter what happened.

"So then, he told Kurt that he loved him, and that he'd do anything to make Kurt feel the same way. That he'd wait forever."

Winter's mouth hung agape as Chloe recited all she knew about Blaine's speech.

"What did Kurt say?" Winter asked, regaining control of her brain and lifting a French fry to her lightly-glossed mouth.

"He turned him down!" Chloe cried, dramatically burying her face in her palms. "We've been trying to get them together for, what, two years?"

Winter nodded furiously, mouth still full.

"And Kurt had to blow it all with the whole, 'I'm not gay,' thing. We all know you're gay, Kurt. The whole world knows you're gay. The whole world knows you love Blaine, too. And he loves you! But you knew that."

"Chloe," Winter said, taking a sip of Pepsi. "He can't hear you."

"I know. It's just so frustrating."

"Well," Winter said mischeviously, tugging at a piece of her dark hair, "Maybe they just need a little push in the right direction."

Chloe looked up from her paper cup of diet root beer. "Huh?"

"They won't get together themselves, right?"

"Right..."

"So maybe they need a few messangers! You know, people to tell them all the sweet things they say about each other, and when they're free, and what movies they want to see and places they want to go and...you know..."

"A push in the right direction," Chloe repeated.

"Exactly. I mean, what could possibly go wrong?"

"Don't say that, you'll jinx yourself," Chloe winked. Then, "You, sir, are truly malevolent."

"What can I say?" Winter giggled. "I watch a lot of soap operas."

1 NEW MESSAGE FROM: ANDERSON<3
Oh, and Kurt? When I said I'd wait forever, I meant it. I will honestly wait forever for you. That's all. Sweet dreams. <3