GLEE

Birthday (Pt. 4)

Two weeks passed, and Rachel still refused to leave the apartment. I had to take calls from Sydney, telling him Rachel had been in an incident, involving her privacy, and she wasn't able to perform.

-

It was only me and her in the apartment, she was busy ironing while I was reading about the evolution of French couture.

"Um, Rach? That's Kurt's no-iron sweater." I said.

"Yeah, it's got wrinkles." she replied. I found that odd, I usually do most of the ironing around here. She's in charge of cleaning.

All of the sudden, a loud pounding emerged from the door. It made Rachel jump, and she ran into the safety of her bedroom. Not much safety though, because her door was a curtain.

"Rachel! It's al-whatever. Just a minute! I'm coming!" I had to take the iron off the sweater so it wouldn't burn, then answered the door. There stood Kurt, with two grocery bags in his arms and on held between his teeth. "Hiya Kurt. Oh good, you remembered the eggs." I said.

"Take them!" he opened his mouth, and the bag dropped, passed my reached arms and onto the floor. I heard several cracking sounds after that. "Pick them up, scramble them, and freeze 'em." he stormed in and dropped the bags on the couch. "I'm never going back to that supermarket! I hate it! I mean, for God sakes, these feet were meant to walk the isles of Tiffany and Co, not WholeFoods." he told me. "Two weeks, I'm doing all the shopping in this house, because Rachel's too scared to go out there! If I ever get my hands on that raper, I'm gonna turn him into a unique." What the hell is a unique?

"Okay first of all, Sebastian and Blaine help out too, you're not totally helpless. And second, since the police have nobody to identify that guy, they had to let him go. But you just go get him, huh?" I asked while picking up the shopping bags.

"Death is too good for those guys, they ought to sentence them to thirty years in a supermarket." he said. I stopped and turned to him.

"Kurt, don't bang on the door like that again. When you do, it scares Rachel and she goes into her room to hide." I said.

"Oh jesus christ, she's getting loonier everyday. She's washing and ironing the same things over and over, you know she sleeps with the lights on? It's especially hard to sleep when you got a distant glow emulating from the next room." he said.

"Well Kurt, you better get used to this because it might go on for a long time." I said as I sat down.

"A long time? I don't get it, you've been through worse. You're not jumpy and afraid of the world like others are." he replied.

"How do you know?" I asked him, feeling very offended. "Ever since I was nine I still can't go to sleep without a night light plugged into the wall. And let me tell you something else, all through our senior year, I told Sebastian about going through the system and he was wonderful to me. He wasn't like you, you're so impatient." I muttered the last bit.

"Oh please." he groaned.

"Yes! He went out of his way to be sweet and kind and gentle." I told him.

"Well he'd have to go out of his way to be sweet and gentle, comes naturally to me." he said, feeling very satisfied. I glared at him. "I'll smack that look off your face!"

"Oh, it's you Kurt." Rachel came back in, trembling as usual. I smacked Kurt's arm, trying to get him to stand up and be approachable with Rachel. See, even gay men can't understand the insecurities a woman goes through when she's been sexually assaulted.

"Hey, hey Rach, how're you-oh look. You're starching that same sheet again, huh?" he asked her.

"Yeah. It's not smooth." she replied.

"Oh, it's not smooth." he said, then looked at me like she was crazy. I shook my head and motioned for him to put on a smie.

"Right, Rachel uh, can I ask you a little question?" he asked.

"Yeah sure." she replied.

"Well don't keep ironing when I'm talking to you. Rachel, all I wanna know is: what happened to the good old days? You remember? I come home from school, you ask me 'how was your day?' and I'd say 'lousy, where's the diet soda', and then Reese would come in and tell us some crazy story about a fortune telling midgit on the subway." nope, gay guys don't even get it.

"We're doomed." I mumbled.

"Why can't we get back to those days? Why'd those days have to spoiled!?" yeah, we're definetely doomed.

"I-I'm sorry guys, I'm sorry." Rachel ran back into her room.

"Oh no wait Rachel I'm sorry-I didn't mean it. Girrr! Look at that! A whole load of sweetness wasted there, and I only got so much sweetness in me." he said as he sat back down.

"Kurt, I need to have a talk with you." I said, getting up and sitting next to him.

"What about?" he asked.

"See, I know what Rachel is going through. Right now she is full of fear, and anger, and guilt. She is afraid of everything. She doesn't even feel safe in her own house." I said.

"Well what're we supposed to do? Lock up the joint and take a cruise to the Virgin Islands?" he asked. I realised he was making a sex joke and whapped him on the head.

"Don't smack me on the head!" he told me.

"I know you trying to be real nice to her Kurt, but you said, it didn't help." I said.

"Well you should've heard me last night. I was in her room with her, I tried the best way I knew to talk her out of her nerves." he said.

"What'd you say?" I asked.

"I said 'Stop that!'." he replied.

"That's no good!" I yanked a couple hairs out of his head.

"Don't pull hairs out my body!" he said.

"Listen, you got to be more patient with Rachel, and loving. See right now, all Rachel needs is a little TLC." I said.

"Are you kidding me? There was only guy out there who could ever give her TLC and he's buried six feet under!" he replied.

"Geez, Kurt. By TLC, we all need to pitch in." I said, banging on his knee while doing so.

"Don't hit the knee that got hit with the trolley." he said. What is this guy? A painiac?

"Come on Kurt." I pulled him up and started shoving him towards her room. "I want you to go in there and be kind to Rachel!"

"I can't do this!"

"Yes you can. I want you to hold her hand," I held his hand, "Put your arm around her." I then put my arm around him, "and give her a kiss." I kissed his cheek. "Now do that!" I told him.

"But if I do that after what happened here, she'll think I'm trying to attack her." he said.

"No, no. Don't you see? What happened Rachel had nothing to do with sex, it was an act of violence. And if you're not attentive, she's gonna think something's wrong with her. So go on in there Kurt, I know she's thinking that right now." I replied.

"Were you raped?" he asked me.

"No, I wasn't. But after going through ten foster homes, it felt like it. The anger, and the confusion, and the rage, I know what she's feeling. You don't have to be raped to be hurt." I replied.

"Alright, I'll do it. You sure I can do it?" he asked.

"Yes, I know you can. Go on, I'll get dinner started." I said as I made my way to the kitchen.

"Uh-um Reese?"

"Yeah?"

"I can't do it!"

"Get in there!" I chased him into her room, then came back feeling very satisfied with myself.