New York, You're Perfect

New York, You're Perfect - Chapter Six

                   “Kurt Hummel, what in heavens name is that on your neck?” Tessa demanded, pointing at the obvious hickey his costume and make up didn’t cover. When he’d seen it in the mirror he’d cursed his boyfriend (Eek!) to hell, and had received a chuckle and a kiss in the nose in return. It was totally worth it; a result of the heavy make-out session he and Blaine had indulged in the previous night. They’d not actually gone all the way, but they’d definitely established that they still had a huge amount of sexual chemistry between the two of them. Kurt just coughed, a light blush rising to dust his cheeks as he looked towards the floor.

“Blaine and I may or may not be back together.” He half-whispered, worried about her reaction considering the last time they’d spoken he’d still been unwilling to tell Blaine about Karofsky. She fixed him with a pointed glare, arched eyebrows and everything, which had him flushing with shame, despite the fact that he’d done nothing wrong this time.

“Oh please God, don’t tell me you’ve gone and screwed him without explaining?” She groaned, frowning disapprovingly at him. “For God’s sake Kurt, he’s worth more than that. You can’t mess him about, however happy he makes you.”

“Hey, firstly; I didn’t screw him.” When he caught the slightly mischievous smirk in her eyes he felt the need to add, “And neither did he screw me. Secondly, you can wipe that judgmental look off your face right now; I told him everything so screw you. Thirdly, he also broke up with his boyfriend, so we’re doing this completely and utterly right. I’m not going to mess this up again, Tessa; you don’t need to worry about me.”

“He had a boyfriend?” She looked stunned, and Kurt suddenly remembered that there was no way she could know that little titbit of information. “Wow, so you were both being equally douchey to eachother? Impressive.” Now Kurt knew his friend had a bitchy side, to be honest it was one of the reasons they got on so well, but standing on the edge of the stage right now, waiting for the curtain to rise, he really didn’t appreciate her bluntness. Things with Blaine were still raw; he was still slightly insecure about the whole boyfriend thing, and anyone who insulted Blaine in front of him would be in his bad books, best friend or not.

“You know what Tess, go to hell.” He flashed her the finger before pasting an entirely false smile on his face as they strode onto stage, strains of music already building. He didn’t miss the flash of hurt that crossed her eyes, but in his anger, he couldn’t bring himself to care.

             “Kurt?!” Derek’s voice boomed down the corridor after him, forcing him to come to a halt, however reluctantly. “What the bloody hell was that?” He demanded, and suddenly Kurt realised he was fuming. Between the stress with Blaine and his argument with Tessa in the interval, he couldn’t be bothered to deal with a producer telling him he’d performed badly; as if he didn’t know that already.

“I’m sorry Derek, it’s been a really long few days and I’m so not in the mood right now.” Kurt groaned, trying to keep some semblance of politeness in his tone.

“You’re a professional now Kurt, you can’t just let your emotions affect your performance like that.”

“You what?” He spun round, frowning fiercely at the blonde man, “I can’t let my emotions affect my performance? What the hell do you think makes me such a good performer? Telling an actor they shouldn’t use emotion in their role is like telling a bird it shouldn’t use its wings to fly.” He snapped.

“Whoa, what’s the matter Kurt?” Derek’s voice was softer now, and a tender look warmed his eyes which brought tears to Kurt’s own. This man may be his producer, but he was a closer friend than Kurt had imagined.

“Just everything. I know I screwed up tonight, and I’m sorry but I’m just so tired. This whole thing with Blaine has been exhausting, and now Tessa’s being her usual bitchy self and I just want to sleep. I promise I won’t let this affect my performance again.” Kurt sighed, running a hand through his usually immaculate hair and it suddenly hit Derek. Kurt’s shoulders were slumped forward, his tread was heavy and slow and his eyes were pulled down with dark circles. Kurt had always had light skin, but the pallor currently colouring his face was chalky, sickly even. If Derek was being honest, his leading man looked absolutely wiped.