YEARS {Glee/Klaine} ✓

Chapter Thirty Two

Kurt

"I quite possibly might explode. And I mean that literally."

I merely glanced up before crossing the street, juggling a halfway empty coffee cup and portfolio as I held the phone to my ear among the few other pedestrians surrounding me.

"Oh Kurt, you're freaking out again," Rachel replied, clearly amused on the other end. "You and the show are going to be great."

"I mean, yeah, normally I would just let it go and move on and get on with it," I rambled, "but this isn't any show, Rachel. I feel like it's my child, and right now my child is about to start kindergarten and I'm one of the parents that can't control themselves. Once my show gets on the bus, there's no going back."

I could hear her shushing a laugh in the background. "Tell Santana to stop laughing at me. I mean it," I said as I turned on to the familiar block.

"What are you really worried about?" asked Rachel.

"It's opening tomorrow. I used to think that everything was perfectly placed in every way. But what if the audience files in and someone realizes the staging is all wrong? Or the pacing in the script really was a bore? What if there isn't an audience at all?!"

"Kurt, I've told you a hundred times, it's all going to work out," she tried assuring me. "You've worked so hard on it, and you're going to be a star."

"Tell my understudy they'll be going on for me if I die within the next twenty-four hours," I groaned, approaching the apartment's main door. "I'm coming upstairs now."

"We're not there to see an understudy," Rachel replied, "we're there to see you, our best friend. You can bet that there will be three faces in the audience cheering you on through it all."

As I began climbing the steps, I was glad to remember that I wouldn't need to pull out a set of keys when the loft was almost always unlocked. "Or I'll just be sick. Wait, three of you? I thought it would be a miracle if Santana shows up, so I don't know how you come up with three..."

"I think you'll change your mind soon..." she said mysteriously.

I came to a stop at our door, sliding it open to reveal the girls, my eyes first going to Rachel holding her cellphone by her grinning face. But I nearly dropped everything the moment I saw the second face sitting at the kitchen table.

"There he is! My superstar boy!"

"Mercedes?!" I rushed in. "You-you...! What are you doing here?! You're in New York! You look amazing!"

Mercedes laughed as she stood up from the table. I immediately set down my things to accept her large hug.

"Rachel told me that you had a big show coming up," she said. "And that you were going through some tough things right now. So here I am! Best friend to the rescue."

"I can't believe it," I smiled. "You didn't have to come all this way."

"Well, I've been doing some recording here and there, and the studio manager loved the whole idea of an 'urban sound' when I told him about a possible trip to New York. I'm supposed to be finding musical inspiration, but I'd much rather catch up with my best friend," she grinned, mushing her cheek against mine in a tight embrace.

"Well I suppose we have a lot to talk about, since I haven't seen you since the reunion!" I replied.

"Rachel did catch me up on a few things, however..." Mercedes said. "And let me just say, Kurt Hummel is not one to sit around on his white ass and give up. You gotta get back into the game, okay?"