Rachel quietly moved through her room, looking for something to wear, feeling a little more energised than she had been when she’d left school earlier that day. “Really? You Warblers always seem to have perfectly cool composures whenever I’ve seen you all,” she told him with a grin, picking out her favourite carousel horse sweater and laying flat on her bed, rolling her eyes at her next comment. “Very funny, Blaine Warbler,” she added with a roll of her eyes, happy to take it all in jest, after all, it was a lot better than the humiliation that she’d faced at school that day. Walking around the hallways covered in another person’s vomit tended to give a girl the wrong sort of attention.
Placing her phone on the bed, she flicked it onto loudspeaker as she quickly got herself changed into something a little more suitable for a coffee date at the Lima Bean. “Oh god yes, I mean, I didn’t even want to throw a party in the first place, talk about peer pressure,” she laughed as she tugged her shirt over her head, swapping it for her sweater, “What rep you though? You were hitting things pretty hard that night too,”
“We do? Why thank you, Rachel. But, trust me. We have our moments of the exact opposite. I guess that’s what happens when you have a group of people who are passionate about something important to them.” Coffee in hand, Blaine ducked around a group of chattering students he didn’t recognize and made his way over to the condiment bar. He grinned as a few of the Warblers rather particularly over-the-top outbursts came to mind but kept the details to himself. You know? For the sake of keeping their perfectly cool composure reputation.
Crinkling his brows together at the question, Blaine laughed and finished topping off his coffee to blissful medium drip perfection and spotted an empty table near the windows to claim before they lost it to the increasing crowd filling up the popular coffee shop. “Peer pressure, huh? I don’t know. I think you were enjoying yourself. It might’ve even stayed that way if you stopped closer to the ‘It tastes like pink!!!!!’ level of drunk.” Guess he wasn’t out of his playful banter just yet! Oops! “I was woken up by Kurt’s dad standing in the doorway to his bedroom and I don’t remember how I got there..and my head felt like it was splitting in half. No kidding. That bad. But. I did have a good time. A really good time.”
Rachel quietly moved through her room, looking for something to wear, feeling a little more energised than she had been when she’d left school earlier that day. “Really? You Warblers always seem to have perfectly cool composures whenever I’ve seen you all,” she told him with a grin, picking out her favourite carousel horse sweater and laying flat on her bed, rolling her eyes at her next comment. “Very funny, Blaine Warbler,” she added with a roll of her eyes, happy to take it all in jest, after all, it was a lot better than the humiliation that she’d faced at school that day. Walking around the hallways covered in another person’s vomit tended to give a girl the wrong sort of attention.
Placing her phone on the bed, she flicked it onto loudspeaker as she quickly got herself changed into something a little more suitable for a coffee date at the Lima Bean. “Oh god yes, I mean, I didn’t even want to throw a party in the first place, talk about peer pressure,” she laughed as she tugged her shirt over her head, swapping it for her sweater, “What about you though? You were hitting things pretty hard that night too,”
Coffee in hand, Blaine stepped over to the bar to doctor up his medium drip keeping himself out of people’s way so he could continue to talk and not be a bother. Embarrassedly laughing in spite of himself, his nose crinkled at the memory of Rachel’s Party The Day After. “I’m surprised you didn’t hear about it. I woke up in Kurt’s bed not knowing where the heck I was.” Oh God that was a painfully weird way to start the day. Only having met Burt a few other times before–in passing, he was pretty sure that was the most awkward way he ever greeted any of his friends parents. Completely unaware that he was even talking to someone at first before he threw himself back under a pillow and tried to sink away from the throbbing in his head. The morning just went downhill from there.
“I don’t think the headache stopped until the next day. And I made Kurt’s Dad super awkward when I, finally, came downstairs. I’m sure it looked awful since he barely knows me. He didn’t even know I was there. I don’t think I ever apologized so hard in my life once I realized he was the one who woke me up.” God, he hoped Burt Hummel didn’t think horribly of him after that. Kurt reassured him he didn’t. Blaine hoped that was the case.. Now that he had his coffee perfectly made, the Warbler stole a table by the window so they would have one once Rachel got there. “That mess aside? It was a great night, though. I really had a good time. Hope you did, too?”
Rachel smiled softly into the phone, she wasn’t sure if that the case, although she had made a mental note to herself that she was never going to drink again. The humiliation had certainly done the trick, and it wasn’t something that she wanted a repeat of. “Well, never say that the New Directions don’t know how to leave a lasting impression,” she chuckled, resting her head against the phone, somewhat glad for Blaine’s unexpected phone call. If anything she’d thought Kurt may have called and expressed his concern, but Blaine? Certainly not, but the gesture was sweet, and definitely not one that she took for granted.
“I’d like that,” she nodded, heading over to the closet and trying to decide on what she should wear, anything that didn’t remind her of her nightmare of her party, or their sham of a performance. She quickly flicked through a couple of choices, scrunching up her face in concentration as she listened to Blaine, “And I thought that was just how life at McKinley worked,” she joked, shaking her head with a little laugh as she reached forward and pulled out her selection from her closet, “Don’t tell me you have similar dramas at Dalton, too?”
Edging up a spot as he laughed into the phone, he shrugged and hummed happily into his phone. “I think that’s how life in a lot of high schools work. Even Dalton has it’s bouts of drama and moments of shameful mistakes. Trust me. I don’t think anyone is immune when you add an entire group of performers prone to dramatic outburst,” and here came the taunt he couldn’t hold in anymore, “Or binge drinking nights that carry over into the following Monday’s performance.” His grin could be heard inside the lighthearted jab. Not even the polished boys from Dalton could resist a chance to give a playful tease.
Especially when the teasee set themselves up so easily for it. And, wow, the New Directions certainly did that. But, it was in jest and the most malicious intent he could muster was only aimed at making her laugh at the situation rather than continue cringing about it nonstop. Another step in line and put a palm over the mouthpiece of the phone while quickly ordering his usual and paying as fast as possible not to hold anyone up since he didn’t want to be that guy too busy on his phone to pay attention to the rest of the world. “So, is everyone on the wagon now? By the cringy sound in your voice..I’m guessing Club Rachel shut it’s doors for good?”
Today had been something that Rachel had wanted to forget entirely, never had she been so unprofessional, and yet at the time it had sounded so logical that she believed it was the only way. Never again, there was probably a reason why minors weren’t supposed to drink, and after the disaster at the school assembly she knew it would be a while before she trusted herself with alcohol again. Her body slumped a little when she heard Blaine’s cheerful voice through the phone, reminding her of what had happened, and she cringed at just the thought of it. “You heard about that…?” She let out a tired sigh, if Dalton had heard about it, then no doubt the entire world of show-choir would know soon enough. The New Directions were officially a laughing stock.
“I’m okay, thank you. I think the worst is over, thankfully,” She didn’t think she’d ever look at Brittany in quite the same way again, but she was okay in herself, aside from feeling more embarrassed than she’d ever been in her life. The corners of her mouth twitched up into a little smile at the sweet gesture and she found herself nodding into the phone, “That’s very sweet of you to ask, thank you, Blaine. I was planning on heading home for the night, and laying low until all of this died down, but seeing a friendly face might help lift my mood a little more.”
“Uh. Yes. I did. Don’t worry, it hasn’t hit the show choir blogs.. Yet. I think McKinley’s resident creep was too busy in shock with the rest of the school to get any video of it. And you taught everyone a valuable lesson. Who knows? You might’ve scared everyone onto the straight and narrow. So? There’s that?” Blaine’s attempt to comfort her might’ve gone to the desperate end of searching for the smallest pot of gold you could find at the end of the rainbow but he was trying. Okay? Sticking to the offering of tea was probably a better idea.
The Warbler gave a curious glance around the shop to see if any of the New Directions kids showed up during their talk? Still no one. Looks like they would have the place to their relative selves. Meaning no familiar faces to be seen anywhere. Which meant she might be able to relax and recover without the pressure of her friends being there “You’re welcome, Rachel. Want to meet me here? Whenever you have the time. Maybe after we could go see a movie or something else to keep your mind assembly free.” Shouldering himself off the column, he decided to mosey over and get in line. A pre-emptive coffee would hold him over until she got here. “I’m glad you’re feeling better, by the way. Don’t worry. A new drama will make everyone forget about this in a week or so. Isn’t that how high school works?”
Barely past the time McKinley let out, Rachel’s phone began to ring. Blaine waited to hear her voice before perking up and greeting the brunette diva. “Hello, Rachel? It’s Blaine. I know this is probably pretty embarrassing to bring up but I wanted to check in on you.” Blaine cringed inwardly as he leaned his shoulder against a beam with a giant Lima Bean logo plastered directly in the center. “Word travels pretty fast.” No mention of how the messy events reached the attention of the Warblers so quickly. They had their ways.
“Rumor has it you suffered a rather traumatic experience at your assembly? Something about a chain reaction lesson-the-hard-way to never drink before performing. For the sake of not wanting to go into too much detail, I’ll leave it there. But! I wanted to check and see if you were alright. I know food might be the last thing on your mind but I thought I’d invite you to meet me at the Lima Bean for tea? My treat. I think you deserve it after today..”
pianokeysandbowties 