We are led into a booth and I excuse myself just to get a grip on things. I pat my face dry, the cold water on my skin is calming. That was close. Breathe Blaine, you’re okay, Kurt is okay.

On my way out, I see Kurt, fiddling with his jacket, making sure it’s buttoned correctly, has no creases on it.

“You really like that jacket? The color’s nice.” I say, sitting across the table. A lady takes our order gives us a meaningful look and leaves. “It’s one of my many favorites.” Kurt responds.

“You love clothes don’t you?” I state the obvious. That triggers it, Kurt talks non stop about fashion, Alexander McQueen, New York. Big Dreams. I used to have big dreams too.
“I’ve talked too much haven’t I?” he says.

“No you haven’t, I can see your �passionate about clothes, do you design stuff? Like draw stuff?” I ask. Kurt automatically reaches for his bag but stops. “Oh you brought them? May I see?” He shyly hands me a sketchbook, full of his ideas, mixes and match of different pieces carefully drawn in ink, pencil or watercolor. It’s beautiful. “They’re just sketches, none of them are that great.” he adds. “Are you kidding me? I can’t draw to save my life. These are amazing Kurt!” He blushes at my compliments, surely he knows how great he is at this.

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“Is Dalton a good place? I mean...you love it there?” Kurt asks.

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“It’s okay, I mean the schoolwork is a bit heavy, but the people I hang with are really great, you know, the guys from the Warblers. It’s not a perfect place Kurt.”

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“What do you mean? Compared to McKinley?” His eyes looked disappointed.

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“Well the policy makes sure no one gets beat up, no one is verbally abused. But there are many ways to be unkind.”

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“Oh.”

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“Yeah.”

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I hand him his sketchbook back. He must be really thinking hard about Dalton, I must have ruined it for him. Our server brings our food, it’s quite good. “This place is really nice. How � propos that the bread sticks are really delicious for a place named Breadstix.”

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“Could you imagine if it wasn’t though? This place would probably be called, Spaghetti with Gigantic Meatballs? But is it really meat? ‘cause it’s the second best thing at this place.” We laugh.

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“What’s your family like?” I ask.

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“Well, it’s just me and my dad. He’s dating this wonderful woman, who is also the mom of one of the guys from glee...you’ve probably seen him in videos, he’s the male lead, on- and-off quarterback and the tallest of all of us.”

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“And you’re okay with that?”

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“Oh I set them up! Carole is amazing. My dad is happier. It took some time for Finn to get used to it though.”

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“Wait, Finn is in the football team, why doesn’t he tell Karofsky to step off?”

�����������

“Well, being in glee also means he’s a target. We get enough crap individually, he probably just wants to spare himself. I understand him though, he should not be responsible for me.”

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“You’re too kind, you know.” I make him smile.

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“How about you? How’s your family?” he asks.

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“Well, uhm..my family is actually in New York. I sort of grew up there. I have a little sister, Eva, she’s 6 and is convinced I’m in Hogwarts.” I reply.

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“That’s adorable.”

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“Yeah, she’s the best. Here’s a photo.” I take my phone out and show Kurt a photo of me and Eva, our last Halloween together before my transfer. “She wanted to be Jasmine so bad, what choice did I have?”

“Well, you make an adorable Rajah.” Kurt says.

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“I had to carry her the whole night. I miss her the most.” Why is it so easy? The only thing Wes knows about Eva is that she’s my sister. I’ve never shown anyone this photo, until now.

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We take the drive back to McKinley, lunch is over, we say our goodbyes and I start to walk away when Kurt steps in front of me, he ran all the way back, looks at me like he’s about to cry and says: “Thank you. For this, for..for..”

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Before I could even think of the repercussions of what I did next, it had been too late. I was hugging him, holding his neck to my shoulders as he cried.

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“It’s gonna be okay Kurt. You’re very strong and you can get through this okay?” I let him ����������� go. He wipes his eyes and walks toward their school building.

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“Everything okay?” David asks as he starts his car. “ Yeah, we better get back.” I say as I take out my phone and dial home. “Hey! How’s my baby girl doing?” Eva’s voice lights ����������� up at the sound of mine, �it’s the first time I’ve called in months.

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