For Real This Time

Chapter Six

Blaine's feelings for Kurt definitely didn't disappear all at once, but suddenly they didn't seem quite so heavy and overbearing anymore. Being in love with Kurt felt like this huge weight on his chest, constantly reminding him how in love he was. His love for Kurt was so strong that it hurt. But one day, while at glee rehearsal, he realized that it didn't feel that way anymore. As sad as he remained about the breakup, it was different now. He wasn't spending hours every day staring at his phone and wishing for Kurt to text him back or call him.

Moving on from the breakup took place in phases. At first, Blaine wouldn't leave his room. Eventually, he started coming out for meals and school when that long weekend finally ended. Soon after that was when Grease began and he started spending more time with Sebastian and slowly, everything started to feel like it would be okay again. A week after Grease closed, Blaine had only sent Kurt one text, and it wasn't even for the purpose of begging him to listen.

Thank you for coming to opening night. I know I've been texting and calling a lot, but I know I should just give you some space. Let me know if you want to talk. I promise I'll be here :) -Blaine

He sent the text hoping for some semblance of temporary closure. He didn't want to feel like there were words left unsaid, and he figured if he at least stopped texting so often, maybe he would be able to stop thinking about Kurt all the time. Blaine eventually realized he was being irrational expecting that Kurt would only text him back if he was reaching out every single day.

Sebastian was helping him realize a lot of those little things, but the nice part was that sometimes Sebastian didn't have to say anything at all. Just being around him helped Blaine to notice the ways he messed up his relationship with Kurt and the series of events that ultimately caused their breakup. He was also helping Blaine to see that he couldn't do anything more than he was already doing, that if Kurt wanted to get back together, he would eventually let Blaine know.

Soon enough, Blaine wasn't thinking of Kurt all day every day and instead, he was spending his time with his friends. Sam and Blaine hung out at least once every weekend. Every other day, Blaine met up with Tina to study since they were in most of the same classes. As for Sebastian, they met almost daily at the Lima Bean. It became one of the best parts of his daily routine.

The only problem with the new arrangement was that Blaine couldn't stop thinking about the Warblers' problems with Hunter. He continued to try to help Sebastian with it, but sectionals was getting closer and they still didn't have a good solution. It wasn't until the Sunday before sectionals that Sebastian really started to panic. "I'm not like this. I don't freak out over stuff like this. You're a bad influence on me," Sebastian insisted, taking a long sip of his coffee.

Blaine scoffed. "I'm the bad influence? If I wasn't helping you out with this, there's a pretty good chance you'd be preparing to take steroids to win a show choir competition right now."

"You don't know that," Sebastian rolled his eyes.

Blaine almost reacted but his attention was forced away from Sebastian and onto something more important. "Wait, I found something...there's no way this is real."

"What is it?" Sebastian looked up instantly at Blaine's revelation.

Blaine took a while to answer, but it wasn't as easy as he thought to understand the image he was seeing. "I think...I think this is Hunter's graduation picture. That's him, right?" He turned his laptop around so that Sebastian could see the image. It was blurry, but it was definitely Hunter Clarington.

"No way," Sebastian mumbled in disbelief. "How the hell..."

"I don't know how he would have gotten the paperwork necessary to prove he's still in high school, but this says class of 2011 which means he graduated two years ago. He should not be at Dalton right now," Blaine explained skimming the article attached to the image he discovered. "I wonder if the Dalton faculty know about this."