It took another ten minutes for the rest of the group to turn up.

While Finn sat there, consuming as many free breadsticks as he could, and Quinn looked as if she would rather be anywhere but there – a feeling Kurt could more than sympathise with – Puck decided to fill the awkward silence by telling them what he’d managed to achieve since high school, which didn’t seem to be much at all.

‘I didn’t go to college,’ he told them breezily, taking a mouthful of his beer. ‘It didn’t really seem my thing – no point wasting time with it when I could be living.’

‘So what did you do?’ asked Blaine, simply to keep the conversation rolling.

‘I eventually got work coaching McKinley’s football team,’ Puck went on. ‘I’ve managed to get them to the championships five times in the past eight years. But it’s all them, really. I’m damn proud of my boys.’

‘Hasn’t any other teams tried to scout you, with a winning ratio like that?’

He shrugged. ‘Doesn’t matter; I’ll never leave my boys. That’s my team – my home team. I was once playing in that strip. And, soon, so will my son.’

Kurt choked on his wine. ‘Wait. You have a son?’

Puck nodded proudly. ‘Joe. He’s eight – typical little boy. I only get to see him every now and again, though; Liz doesn’t particularly approve of me.’

‘Is that surprising?’ Quinn asked rhetorically, her tone icy. ‘You have a reputation for screwing someone over and then running. I should know.’

Puck didn’t reply, and Kurt was about to jump in to break the icy silence, filled with bitter memories, as Sam and Mercedes arrived. The group only had a few moments to greet the two of them, Kurt giving Mercedes a tight squeeze once Quinn had greeted her, as the rest of the Glee club also filtered in. Once they had, Santana and Brittany bringing up the rear, and had everyone had settled, they ordered dinner, although Kurt didn’t feel like eating at all.

It was also clear to him that Rachel had her mind on other things. She looked the same, although the frumpy clothes had disappeared and been replaced by designer labels – which Kurt couldn’t blame her for; she had the money now. Her smile was whiter too as she watched the table begin their small talk, looking as if she was waiting from them to remember who had called them there and, most importantly, why; so she could boast about her successful career.

Kurt sighed, rolling his eyes as he declared loudly, ‘Oh, go on, Rachel. Tell us about what you’ve been up to before you pop.’

‘Well…’ she started, drawing it out as she flicked her hair over her shoulder – an annoying trait of hers that Kurt had forgotten – and waited for the table to quieten down to listen to her. ‘After McKinley, I went to Julliard, studying acting; I graduated with honours, after four years – my teacher said I was the best in my class. And then, I went on to do a few community theatre performances in New York – y’know, just working my way up until my big break. Which, I’m sure you all know, I did - I just finished a three month stint on Broadway, playing the lead role.’

‘Of course,’ Santana muttered, rolling her eyes, making Brittany smirk. 

‘I think we all know you’re a Broadway star now,’ Kurt agreed, not at all surprised; this was exactly what he expected from her.

‘Well, I wasn’t sure,’ she told him, sounding a little hurt. ‘You’ve all moved away and have been busy. Do you know how hard it was to track you all down?’

‘Perhaps that’s why we moved away,’ suggested Lauren.

Rachel ignored her, continuing, ‘I spent weeks finding your addresses. Finn was the easiest, because I knew he stayed in Lima. And he told me where Kurt was, although I already knew he was in New York too.’

‘Thanks, Finn,’ Kurt muttered, and Finn threw him an apologetic smile.

‘So how did you find the rest of us?’ Sam asked.

Rachel bit her lip and looked over, her eyes landing on Puck. ‘Noah helped me.’

‘That was… nice of you,’ Quinn decided, cautious.

Puck shrugged. ‘Well, I am a nice person. If a friend came to me with a problem, I’d help them. Which is what I did with Rachel; she wanted to find you, so I helped.’

‘But why did you want to find us, Rachel?’ Santana asked, saying what they were all thinking. ‘To boast about Broadway?’

‘No, no,’ she objected, tucking her hair behind her ears. ‘I wanted to see if the kids no one thought would go far – the misfits – managed to achieve their dreams and find where they belonged.’

It may have sounded cheesy, but as Kurt looked around the table, he suddenly realised that that was exactly what he had been thinking. He knew little things about his old Glee club – like Rachel’s success and Finn’s career – but he knew nothing about what the majority of them had been doing. So, as well as speculating if they’d changed, he had, most of all, been wondering if they’d managed to break the mould.

Even though, for one of them, Kurt knew they hadn’t…