Skin On Skin

Chapter 23

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Kurt pulled his car up outside of the security gate. He leaned out of the window, punched in the six digit entry code and waited as the gate slowly opened. His hand tapped to the beat of the music pulsating through his speakers, his head nodded softly, his sunglasses dark against the bright sun. He had just finished his first semester at UCLA and was well and truly back on track to finishing his under graduate degree in Interior Design, thanks to a reasonable transfer of credits from New York. Two years from now, he was planning to take the elite west coast interior design world by storm.

The gate opened far enough for Kurt to drive through. He put his foot on the accelerator and slowly began to wind his way up the driveway, his eyes falling on the sight of Blaine's home. Blaine lived in West Hollywood, in a two storey, five bedroom contemporary designed home. Kurt didn't think he would ever get used to the elegance and sophistication of it.

In a similar fashion to the front gate, Kurt tapped in the security code for the front door, pushed it open and slowly closed it behind him. He stood for a moment, assessing the mood. Blaine's home had been in a constant buzz over the past couple of days, and Kurt had witnessed Blaine in varying degrees of stress levels. He was used to this kind of tension and anxiety when a deadline was approaching though, the artist pushed to their limits both in the performing and interior design world, so Kurt had been mindful and had kept his mouth shut. And anyway, stressed, wild crazy Blaine was kind of hot.

Deeming it safe, Kurt ventured further into the house, down the hallway and past the kitchen where the small retro TV on the counter caught his eye. Kurt walked towards it, calm and controlled. On its screen flickered an image of a man named Drake Paterson, Sebastian Smythes' new client. Kurt wasn't interested. He simply turned the TV off and selected an apple from the fruit basket beside it.

His bite into its crunchy skin was loud in the silent room, echoing in his ear as he continued to chew. Kurt glanced at the dark TV screen again. He might not have watched the article or seen Sebastian's face, but just the mere thought of Sebastian and the whole talk of Blaine's new tour - the tour that was going to show the world his new concept and sound while still holding onto some of his rock star overtones - had just stirred some old memories.

Kurt sighed. It hadn't taken Sebastian more than forty eight hours to find a new client after Blaine had fired him. Unfortunately, there were many people who were trying to make it in the business who really didn't care about the rumours of what had happened on the Ellen Show. Anyone coming up in the music scene knew how Sebastian had been involved in Blaine's success, and they didn't care what he had done as long as he could do the same for them.

Kurt bit into the apple again, with determination this time. Sebastian could do whatever he wanted. He wasn't a part of their lives now. Kurt walked out of the kitchen but stopped in the hallway as his eyes fell on the picture before him. It was a shot of Blaine and Kurt at a party that they had held several months ago. Kurt chewed thoughtfully. They had fallen into a very loving relationship over the past year, one where Kurt had never looked back. Kurt chuckled to himself. Standing there looking at all those pictures, he couldn't help but recall the first evening when he had arrived at Blaine's home. How suddenly, there he was in Blaine's life, on the other side.

Kurt had stood in the very same spot to where he stood now, wide-eyed and trying to not be overwhelmed or nervous, his overnight bag held awkwardly in his hand. He had just stepped inside the ultimate male rock star's domain but it wasn't that Blaine flaunted his wealth, that wasn't it at all. It was all the personal items that Kurt had stood and gaped at.

Namely, the pictures lining the walls of all the different people that Blaine had met. There were a multitude of musicians, actors and TV personalities, but then there were the surprising ones; there were pictures with random fans and people who worked at different organisations that he had visited. And then there were the intimate ones, ones that Kurt later found out were family and as the year continued, people that Kurt had met and become close with as well.