Hey all, this is my first time writing a story, so please read and give me some feedback. This chapter is pretty tame, but it will get to pretty sexy situations soon. Unfortunately, I do not own these characters.
It was the summer after half the New Directions had graduated. Everyone was adjusting to the changes. Rachel was of course the first to leave. Everyone gathered to see her off. The next several weeks were filled with send-offs that gradually got smaller and smaller as more people left. Finn's boot camp started 2 weeks after Rachel left. The group had a patriotic themed cookout and performed amazing renditions of The Star Spangled Banner, America The Beautiful and God Bless America. Puck took off for California abruptly the following weekend, without giving anyone a real chance to have a formal send-off like the ones they had for Rachel and Finn. Santana was next, with a drunken bash filled with karaoke and dancing in her basement. This made the following day even more difficult for Santana to say good-bye to Brittany, since she now had a killer hangover. By mid-July, Quinn, Mercedes and Mike were all going to leaving within days of each other, so Tina orchestrated a nice dinner at Breadstix as their goodbye.
This left Kurt as the only graduate still in town. He had been being hounded by Burt and Carole to make a decision about what he was going to do. Kurt was no kicking himself for not applying to more than one musical theatre program. He really should have taken Ms. Pillsbury's advice and not assumed that he was special and unique enough to automatically get into NYADA. Luckily, Blaine had been very supportive and was helping Kurt look for alternative schools that would take late applicants. Blaine had found two schools near Lima and one just outside of New York City. Blaine was really pushing for Kurt to stay near Lima so they wouldn't have to have a long distance relationship, but Blaine told Kurt that he would support any decision he made. Kurt of course chose New York City. He was ecstatic about being able to live with Rachel and re-apply to NYADA next year.
Kurt received his acceptance letter to the New York based school on Thursday, and was on a plane on Saturday. This of course did not leave much time for good-byes. Blaine kept a strong face, but was really devastated on the inside. Kurt, however, did not seem phased by leaving Blaine behind. Maybe it just didn't have a chance to hit him yet, or maybe he was running on pure adrenaline and excitement about moving to the big city. Either way it made Blaine hurt even more.
...
It is now the end of July. Sam Evans was enjoying his summer. He was working for a small landscaping company in order to help his family out financially. The family was doing better. Mrs. Evans had taken a full-time job just outside of Lima and the family had moved back to town. He was very thankful to be living with his family again. He was also excited about his upcoming senior year at McKinley. He had a blast over the past two years with the New Directions and was looking forward to leading them to another National Championship. Sam had been thinking a lot about how he wanted to make this year amazing. He wanted to be a leader of the glee club. When he transferred to McKinley his sophomore year, he was the quarterback of the football team, and was starting to become a leader amongst the New Directions. However, Finn got his stuff together and took his leadership role back. Sam accepted this since Finn was a year older, but now it is Sam's senior year and he's ready to back in the Captain's seat.
Sam thought it would be a great idea to cement his role as the leader of New Directions before the start of the school year. He thought to himself that getting everyone together for some fun team-building activities would really help win the hearts of the club. He remembered the 8th grade retreat his class took at his old junior high that he went to before transferring to McKinley. The class took a 2 day camping trip filled with team-building activities. He had a blast and really connected with a lot of his classmates. He never forgot these friends and that is exactly the type of thing he wants to do for the New Directions.
Sam talked to his parents about the idea. They thought it was a great idea. They suggested Sam call his uncle who owned some land a couple hours from Lima. His uncle used this land for hunting during the fall/winter, but other than the occasional fishing trip, he didn't use it much during the summer. The land was amazing. Sam had been there several times on family camping trips. It was mostly wooded, but had several great clearings for setting up camp. Sam's favorite campsite was deep in the woods, about a half-hour hike from where you could park your car. But it was close to a large pond that was great for swimming and fishing. Sam called his uncle, who said he didn't mind Sam taking some friends there as long as they were responsible and didn't start a forest fire or anything. Sam's uncle had been camping with Sam enough to know Sam knew what he was doing and was confident in him taking good care of the land.
So it was set. Sam would invite the entire glee club to go on a weekend camping trip in two weeks. Sam sent a group message on Facebook to all the returning New Directions members and crossed his fingers that everyone would be able to attend. Sam then got to work planning different activities for them to do and making a list of supplies he would need to take. Within minutes, the first response popped up on Sam's computer screen. It was from Tina, "Hey Sam, that sounds like an amazing idea! I will definitely plan on coming. Let me know if there's anything I can do to help with planning/preparing for it." Sam knew that Tina was also looking forward to being a leader of the New Directions this year. She was definitely going to be the female lead now that Rachel was gone. Sam was comfortable with having a co-captain, it had worked well for Finchel, so it could work for them too. But Sam knew they wouldn't have the epic romance of their predecessors. Tina was dating Mike, one of Sam's best friends, and although the 'bro's before hoes' rule had never really stopped the New Directions' guys from dating a friend's ex before, Sam felt that the guys' bromance had grown past this now. And Sam had no desire to hurt Mike like that, and he was happy being friends with Tina.
Brittany then responded, "This sounds like a fun idea. I sleep outside in my back yard with the garden gnomes all the time. Count me in." Sam was stoked, he was slightly worried that no one would want to go, but within a half hour, two people had replied and were in on it. Sam checked Facebook a couple hours later. Blaine had replied, "Can't wait! I haven't been camping in a few years! I will be there for sure!" Sam was excited that one of the guys had replied, as much as a camping trip with just a few hot girls would have been awesome, he was glad to have another dude to help with the heavy lifting and what not.
Sugar had also replied, "Hey Sam, as much as sleeping in the woods sounds interesting, and I am always trying to experience new cultures, but I will have to turn down the offer. My daddy is taking me to Italy for a few weeks of back to school shopping before school starts up again. Sorry, Italian culture seems more exciting than a hillbilly experience. Sorry if that's offensive, tourettes you know. See you when school starts :)" Sam was disappointed for a minute, but then realized that it was probably for the best, Sugar did not exactly seem like the camping type and probably would have been very high-maintenance.
Another comment popped up, it was from Artie. "Hey Sam, thanks for the invite, but unfortunately camping in a wheelchair is pretty difficult. Don't worry about it though, I will have plenty of time to hang out with you guys once school starts again." Sam was kicking himself, how was he supposed to be a leader of the group when he overlooked something as obvious as Artie not being able to go camping/hiking. At least he didn't seem upset about it. But Sam knew he was going to have to do a better job if he wanted to lead the group. Sam posted a comment, "I am excited that those of you who are able to go are into it! I'm really looking forward to it. And sorry for those of you who can't make it. We'll definitely have more fun times once the school year starts." Sam then went to bed thinking of all the fun the trip would be.
Sam woke up to find that Joe and Rory had both replied stating they were looking forward to it and planned to be there. Sam was very pleased with himself. Although he had hoped for everyone to be able to come, 6 of 8 of the returning New Directions would be there. Not too bad, Sam thought to himself.
...
Sam continued planning and prepping for the trip over the next week and a half. He had kept in contact with the group that was going, telling them what they should bring and when they would be leaving. Sam's family had a lot of camping supplies that he could use. He packed two tents; a two person tent, that would work great for Tina and Brittany, and a family tent that slept up to 6 for the guys. He figured it would be best to have a guys tent and a girls tent, just to prevent any awkwardness. Sam had also spent some of his landscaping money to go buy a bunch of food and supplies. He figured that most of the day can be spent hiking or swimming, but wanted to make sure that they didn't get bored. Sam had planned a few activities to do around the camp fire at night. He thought truth or dare would be a fun game, so he wrote down a bunch of questions and dares on strips of paper to use for the game. He also packed deck of cards to play some card games. Lastly, Sam also made sure to bring his small CD/MP3 player with extra batteries, they are the glee club after all, music is a must.
...
In the meantime, Blaine was also looking forward to spending a weekend with his friends. He had really been missing Kurt over the past 2 weeks. He knew that this trip would really help him accept Kurt's move. Spending time with the friends he is going to spend his senior year with will help him feel confident that he is a full member of the New Directions and not just Kurt's boyfriend that has been hanging out with the group. Blaine had really wanted to make this weekend exciting, so he called his brother, Cooper, and asked him to pick up some alcohol for him. Cooper was in town and had no problem buying some booze for his kid brother. Cooper picked up a bottle each of Captain Morgan, Crown Royal and Absolut Vodka.
When Cooper came to drop off the alcohol, he asked his little brother, "So, this is a lot of booze little brother, everything ok?"
"It's for a camping trip with my friends, Coop." Blaine explained.
"That's not what I asked. Is everything ok?" Coop asked again. "I know Kurt moved to NYC, how are you handling that?"
"Well, I mean, it all happened so fast. He got the acceptance letter and was gone before we even got a chance to say good bye. And now I can barely get a few word response from him when I text him. He's always so busy with stuff, which I know that he has a lot going on with getting ready for school, but I know he also has to have time to at least have a five minute conversation with me." Blaine poured his feelings out.
Cooper could tell how upset Blaine was. He put his hand on Blaine's shoulder, "Geez man, that's terrible."
Blaine continued, "Its exactly what I was afraid of, that he would move to New York and I would be left in Lima and he would forget about me." Blaine started to get choked up. Cooper pulled him into a hug. "I'm afraid he has already forgotten about me."
"Hey, if he can move away and treat you like this, he doesn't deserve to be with an Anderson. You deserve better than to feel forgotten and abandoned. Don't let him cause this kind of pain for you." Cooper comforted his baby brother. "But, I know how much you care about him. And this might just be a rough patch, which will blow over once he gets settled in the city. I know how chaotic life can be moving to a big city. Just tell Kurt how you feel and see what he says."
"You're right Coop, thank you." Blaine's smile returned. "And thank you for the booze, it will definitely make this weekend trip a lot more fun." Blaine then pulled out his phone and texted Kurt, "Hey baby, can you please call me asap tonight so we can talk, I miss you." A few minutes later, he got a text back from Kurt, "Hey, sorry I can't talk right now, heading to an orientation meeting followed by a freshman social. Probably won't be home til late. Can we talk tomorrow or Saturday?" Blaine read this text and was instantly sad again, he replied, "I guess that works, but I really need to talk to you, don't hesitate to call me tonight regardless of how late it is."
Not even a full minute later, his phone beeped again. He went to check the message from Kurt, but was surprised to see a text from Sebastian, who he hadn't heard from in months. The text read, "Hey man, haven't talked to you in a while, but with current circumstances, I figured you might be free want to hangout again or hit up Scandals? Blaine was confused by what Sebastian was referring to, sure Kurt moved to New York, but they didn't break up. And there was no way the Sebastian would know that Kurt is too busy to talk. So Blaine replied, "Hey, thanks for the show of support, but what are you referring to?"
A few minutes later, Sebastian replied "Well, judging by Facebook, Kurt is off with Chandler in New York, so I assumed that meant you two were done for and that you were available." Blaine was in shock. What did Sebastian mean that Kurt was off with Chandler? Kurt had promised to not talk to Chandler anymore! Blaine went straight to his computer, pulled up Facebook, and looked at Kurt's page. Blaine's heart skipped a beat, his jaw dropped and he felt as though the world had come crashing down on him. Chandler had tagged Kurt in a post: "Chandler : Enjoying a night out on the town, grabbing dinner, catching a Broadway show, and then hopefully dancing! – with Kurt Hummel in New York City"
Blaine felt like he had been punched in the stomach. He was filled with a mix of emotions, he was devastated that Kurt would do that but also angry as can be with Kurt for lying to him about some school orientation. He couldn't believe he took Kurt back after catching him sending all those sexy texts to Chandler. Blaine's anger got the best of him, he pulled out his phone and texted Kurt, "You should teach your new boyfriend some discretion about what he posts on facebook! Have fun at your orientation or is it a night out with Chandler. I can't believe you would do this to me. I don't ever want to see or talk to you again! I can't believe I trusted you after I caught you texting him before. Don't bother calling or texting me, I will be blocking your number." Blaine hit send and threw down his phone. Blaine grabbed the bottle of vodka Cooper had got him for the camping trip, and started drinking it straight from the bottle. He couldn't remember ever feeling this angry. Thank God he was leaving for the camping trip tomorrow at noon. He needed to be away from all this and to enjoy time with his friends. Blaine fell asleep quickly after drinking over half the bottle of vodka.
…...
On the other side of town, Sam was also dealing with some upsetting messages as well. Tina texted him saying that she wasn't going to be able to go on the camping trip after all. Her grandmother had fallen and broke her hip, forcing Tina and her mother to fly to Florida to help care for her. Joe called to tell Sam that he was not going to be able to make it because after praying about it, he did not feel that it would be a wise decision to go out in the woods with members of the opposite sex without parental supervision. And to make it worse, Brittany posted on the group message feed on Facebook that while sleeping outside in her backyard last night to prepare for the camping trip, her friendly garden gnomes came and told her that she really needs to be careful out in the country because the country gnomes were not as friendly as them, the city gnomes. She also said that her parents were not going to let Rory go if Brittany wasn't going. She closed the message by giving a warning to watch out for the mean country gnomes.
"Wow, well if that didn't just blow up in my face," Sam said to himself. "Well at least Blaine hasn't canceled." Sam then realized that he was planning a weekend camping trip for just him and a gay guy. He was a little nervous about that at first, but then he realized that Blaine was his friend. Blaine was one of the guys in the glee club's epic bromance last year. It would still be a lot of fun spending time with his friend, and its not like Blaine was single, he would never try to hit on Sam or do anything that would hurt his relationship with Kurt, right?
More to come. Please let me know what you think. I am always open to thoughts and suggestions. This is my first story and need a little feedback on it.