About a Girl

chapter twenty seven

January 14, 1993

Krist, Kurt, Dave, and Lily sat in a circle on the living room floor of Kurt and Lily's apartment, everyone but Dave singing Happy Birthday at a near-deafening volume. Dave laughed at them as they sang, blowing out the candles on the cake in front of him as the song ended. Everyone clapped and cheered, picking up forks from the coffee table and attacking the chocolate-on-chocolate cake.

"Fuck this is the best cake ever," Dave moaned as he stuffed the food into his mouth.

"It is really good," agreed Krist.

Lily beamed with pride at the guys' compliments. She had always been a good cook, but it also probably didn't hurt that all of them were stoned out of their minds. As the four of them sat on the blanket they'd spread out on the floor for their indoor picnic, cracking jokes and talking about all the things they hoped and dreamed to do someday, Lily felt the sweet and unfamiliar feeling of warmth growing in her stomach. She felt at home with Kurt, Krist, and Dave. She felt loved in this apartment.

"I wanna buy my mom a house," Dave announced. "Like a really nice house, with a garden and everything."

"I wanna play Reading again, that was so much fun," added Krist.

"I want kids," said Kurt, making all of them turn and look at him, their bloodshot eyes wide with surprise. "Not like, right now," he continued. "But someday... I don't know, I wanna have a family."

Krist smiled and threw an arm around Kurt's shoulder. "I think you'd be a great dad, Kurt," he said. "In fact, I'll have a baby with you – if you can't convince Lily, that is."

Everyone laughed at Krist's joke as the two of them started fake making out and Lily and Dave ignored them, shoveling chocolate cake into their faces in hopes of eating the rest of it before the other two noticed.

"HEY THEY'RE EATING ALL THE CAKE!" Krist shouted, shoving Dave away from the food. The laughing started back up again, Lily and Dave rolling on the ground and gasping for breath as Krist glared at them.

When Lily finally caught her breath, she lit a cigarette and leaned her back against the couch. Kurt crawled across the floor to her and slipped his arm around her waist, kissing her cheek softly. Lily gazed up at him, a small smile gracing her lips. "What was that for?"

"Nothing," Kurt shrugged. "I just love you." Dave made an obnoxious gagging sound and Lily kicked him in the shin, which shut him up rather quickly. She rolled her eyes, taking another drag from the cigarette between her index and middle finger.

"I can't believe you guys are going to Brazil tomorrow and not taking me with you," she whined.

Krist looked at her quizzically. "I thought you Kurt said you couldn't come because you had to work?"

"Yeah but I still wanna go with you," Lily grumbled, flicking the ash from her cigarette into the ashtray in front of her. "I've never even been out of Washington."

Kurt tucked a strand of hair behind Lily's ear, stroking her face gently and Lily leaned into the comfort of his touch. "It's only a week, we'll be back before you know it."

"But then you're leaving again to go record your fucking aLbUm in MiNnEsOtA like two weeks after you get back!" she cried, burying her face in Kurt's sweater dejectedly.

Kurt laughed at the mocking tone in her voice. He knew that he had her full support in everything he did, that she was ridiculously proud of and excited about the fact that they were recording a new album and that she wanted him to go to Brazil because "everyone in the world should get to hear you play". But he also knew how hard it was going to be for her – for both of them – to be apart for so long. He would have preferred to have Lily come with them to Brazil and Minnesota, but she had insisted on staying because she didn't want to make a bad impression at her new job and the last thing Kurt wanted to do was get in the way of her independence. Of course he wanted to treat Lily like a fucking princess and take care of her, but he knew how important it was to her that she not have to depend on anyone. Her fierce self-reliance was one of the things he loved and admired about her most.

"Don't worry, Lily, we'll bring you back a bunch of souvenirs," said Dave, his mouth still full of cake.

"Thanks, Dave," Lily smiled, cheering up a little. "I just hate that I'm going to miss your birthday, Kurt."

Kurt pulled Lily onto his lap, smiling as she curled into a ball against his chest and ignoring the "ew they're PDA-ing" look that Dave and Krist exchanged. "It's ok, we can celebrate our birthdays together."

Lily smiled but then scrunched her nose in disgust as she remembered something. "Ugh, I keep forgetting that I'm turning 19 this year," she said. "I'm like an actual adult now. And look at my fucking role models!"

Kurt laughed as Lily gestured towards Krist and Dave who were now packing a bowl and passing the glass bong Dave had brought back and forth.

"What did I do?" asked Dave, looking up at them, utterly mystified. The look on his face was enough to make Kurt and Lily burst out laughing again.