Something - Quinn Fabray

Chapter 68

It was late afternoon, and Ryan sat down in the Lima Bean by himself with a mug of coffee, absently stirring a packet of sugar in as he looked over a book. Quinn had been gone for over a week now, Mike and Tina were off at Asian camp, and Santana and Brittany were off doing... well, probably each other. Mr. Hummel had gone to Michigan with his family, so the garage was closed. The theater workshop Shelby had gotten him into occupied some of his time, but other than that he'd been at loose ends for a few days.

"Mind if I join you?"

Ryan looked up in surprise. "Blaine, hi," Ryan smiled as the Warbler sat down opposite him. "This is a nice surprise."

"Yeah," Blaine nodded with his own smile. "Hey, I heard about Nationals."

"From Kurt?"

"Yeah. And from that YouTube link. Pretty catch title, too."

"Ah yes," Ryan nodded. "The Kiss That Missed. Catchy, actually."

"Kurt seems to think that you were being a total diva and that you overreacted," Blaine commented.

Ryan scoffed. "And you? What do you think?"

"I think... Finn seems like an asshole."

"Oh, he is."

"Are you serious about leaving the New Directions though?" Blaine asked, stirring some cream into his coffee. "I didn't think you'd be able to live without performing."

Ryan chuckled at the teasing tone. "My Tinkerbell-like tendencies notwithstanding, yes, I am serious about leaving. The environment isn't conducive to my talent, and while I will miss performing, I think I'll be able to find another outlet." He took a sip of his coffee. "So, any plans for the summer?"

"Not as of yet," Blaine answered. "We spent last summer visiting my mom's family, so this year my grandmother's in the country for a visit, meaning we'll be taking her on touristy things, but schedule's not set yet. I've got an audition for a show at Six Flags though, so wish me luck on that."

"You'll kill it," Ryan assured him, smiling. "I got a spot at a musical theater clinic, so I do have something to channel my creative energies into."

"Wait, is this the one at Cresswell Theater?" Blaine asked interestedly. "I heard about that, isn't it really hard to join those classes?"

"Yeah, but my mom knows a couple of the teachers, so got me a slot."

"Lucky," Blaine commented.

"I know, the teachers are amazing. And there are surprisingly a good number of talented students in the area. There's this one girl who has an absolutely killer voice. Shame she lives in Columbus, otherwise I'd be trying to get her to come to McKinley and join the new glee club that I'll be forming."

"Ah. So what are you up to today? Meeting Quinn?"

Ryan shook his head. "She and her mom went to California for a couple of weeks to visit her sister. And I've been temporarily kicked out of the house," he said ruefully. "My mom has a couple of voice students today, and after I gave a few less-than-tactful comments last time she banned me from the house during lessons."

"Hey, want to come over to my place?" Blaine offered. "I don't have anything to do either. We could just chill out, play some games or something."

Ryan smiled, happy with the invitation. "Sure."

Soon the two boys were at Blaine's house, which was on the outskirts of Lima. "I don't suppose you'd consider transferring to McKinley?" Ryan said hopefully as they went inside. "After the split I've been trying to get my mom to start up another glee club so that we can actually win. I've managed to extract a loose promise from her that if I could find a backer and a few more members, she'd consider it."