To Love A Warbler

To Love A Warbler-Chapter 4

Jeff's POV

"...so I FORGOT that rule and walked into the house, and she started screaming at me! Like, total ARGANGARANGAHHHHHHHH!!" Kirsten said, gesturing largely with her hands. I laughed.

"Oh, wow!"

"Yeah, and I'm all, 'ohmigoodness, I'm soo sorry,' and she started like panicking and went all SWAT team on me trying to clean it. So I stayed at my friend's house for a week or so and THEN Aunt Emma finally calmed down." She took a deep breath. "She's crazy, but I love her."

Kirsten had the craziest stories about her aunt. We were walking to the Lima Bean after telling Kurt and Blaine to meet us at the mall around noon. It was about ten o'clock right now, so I had about two hours to get to know her alone. I tugged her arm.

"See the lit up sign ahead? The one that looks like a cup of coffee?"

She nodded. "Coffee shop?"

"The best!" I said, laughing. "Just kidding, there's no such thing as 'best' in Lima. We get 'alright' or 'good'."

"And that's good enough for me." She smiled. I smiled back. I couldn't help it-her smile was contagious.

"Do they have hot chocolate?" That question stopped me in my tracks.

"Why?"

"I don't like coffee."

I gasped. "Whaaaaaaat?"

"Yeah. Is the hot chocolate here any good?" I nodded in surprise, trailing behind her as she walked inside. "Yum! Marshmellows too?" I nodded again. "YES!"

"I hope you don't even consider buying it for yourself. I'm buying," I said.

She shook her head in protest. "Jeff-"

"No. It's your first day, I'm buying." I smiled and got in the freakishly short line. My phone buzzed.

Blaine Anderson: I hope you aren't busy, because I need you to convince Kurt that my hair looked better without gel in it. Seriously, please call him and say that, then hang up before he can protest.

Jeff Sterling: Sorry dude, I'm hanging out with Kirsten and buying her hot chocolate!

"Who's that?" Kirsten asked.

"Blaine. He and Kurt are having...troubles." I grimaced. She looked surprised. My phone buzzed again.

Blaine Anderson: Dude, it's the middle of summer. Why the hell would she want hot chocolate?

Jeff Sterling: She doesn't like coffee. Is that a problem?

"Hi, may I help you?" the girl behind the counter said flirtily, looking me up and down.

"Yeah, I want a medium decaf, and for my lady here," I said, putting my arm on Kirsten's shoulders, "I want a hot chocolate."

The girl looked at me skeptically. "Hot chocolate? Are you sure?"

Kirsten nodded. "Positive. Oh, don't forget the marshmellows." She leaned into me, rubbing it in the girl's face.

The girl sneered. "Coming right up." She scribbled something on the reciept before handing it to me. "Call me," she said, leaning over. I looked at it and saw her name and number. Kirsten took the drinks and we walked over to the sugar counter. I grabbed three packets of sugar while Kirsten blew softly on her hot chocolate. She took a sip, following me as I took her to my favorite table in the back of the shop.

She started laughing for no reason as we sat down. "What?" I asked.

"Oh, I'm looking at your phone and Blaine has been texting you like crazy." She laughed again.

"Wha...how did you..." I reached down to where my phone usually was. It was gone. "How did you get that?" I reached for it and she handed it to me.

"You set it down on the counter when that chick was drooling over you." I laughed.

"Thank goodness I'm throwing the reciept away." That made her giggle.

"Gosh, Jeff, you'll break her little heart."

I rolled my eyes. "Whatever. It's just a girl."

"Are you like that with everyone?"

"What? No," I assured her, taking a sip. Ahh, perfect. We finished our coffee and hot chocolate, then decided to hit the mall early. It took us fifteen minutes to get there, so we had an hour and fifteen minutes to kill until we had to meet Kurt and Blaine. But as we started walking by the food court, I heard a familiar voice and groaned internally.

"Jeff!" Kirsten turned around before I did. "Er, Kristen?"

"Kirsten," she corrected. "Kurt, right?"

"That's me!" Kurt laughed. Blaine walked up behind him, visibly ticked.

"Hey Kirsten."

"Hey Blaine!" She waved enthusiastically. I unthinkingly grabbed her other hand to keep her from waving with it, too. She flushed and looked at me for a second before looking back at Kurt, who was glaring at Blaine.

I scratched my head and let her hand go. Blaine looked at me.

"Hey, Jeff." He waved slightly.

"Yo Blaine, Kurt. Glad to see you're getting along today," I hinted.

"Not exactly," Kurt murmered. "I still say Arkansas is weird."

Kirsten snorted. "Arkansas is awesome. Blaine, you're from Arkansas, right? Let's call the hogs," she said.

Blaine laughed. "We should, just to tick them off."

Kurt gave an exasperated sigh. "Don't be an Arkansan today. If you could just be a random guy from Ohio for today-"

I stuck my hand in the middle of their little triangle. "Guys. Let's show Kirsten around, maybe get some lunch, just save it. Not today." I whispered the last part.

Kirsten looked at Blaine. "Where in Arkansas did you live?"

"Magnolia, why?"

"OHEMGEE! That's where I lived! When did you move?"

"Hm. The summer between fifth and sixth grade. When did you move to California?"

"Uhh...same time you moved here." She shrugged.

"Do you like Forever 21?" Kurt asked, trying to change the subject. It worked. We spent almost four hours walking around the mall buying accessories and new clothes. We walked out about 3:30, all laughing and smiling. Kurt and Blaine were finally acting like a couple, and Kirsten had been on full flirt mode without even realizing it.

"...and THEN my friend Joey jumps out of nowhere and scares the living crap out of me. I mean, seriously?" She rolled her eyes.

"Wait, Joey Ryder?" Blaine said.

"You knew him?"

"Yep!" Blaine laughed.

"Who the hell is Joey Ryder?" Kurt laughed.

"A friend of ours," Kirsten and Blaine said together. They started laughing.

"Remember that time that Joey came to school dressed as a zombie? I helped him with his makeup!" Kirsten laughed.

"And that time that he put the skunk in the vent? I had to catch it for him," Blaine said with an eyeroll. "Ew."

We all laughed. We were getting along great-until David Karofsky showed up.

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OHHH! Cliffhangers! I love them!!!! :-D Sorry I haven't been uploading everyday, I've had so much homework and am NOT getting any sleep. :-) I'll see ya when I see ya!! lol and Thank you sammy1671 for mentioning my stories in her upload!! :-D You rock!

~italianbikini