Love Like Fools ➙ Glee

seventy ; out tonight.

author's note; fair warning. this is our longest chapter ever, at nearly 8,000 words. it's a long ride. 

. . . 

Alicia hadn't stopped sweating for the last hour and a half.

Her first official Cheerios practice had been exhausting. Despite all of the dancing in glee club and early morning weekend jogs, she was apparently out of shape by Sue's standards. The coach pushed her thrice as hard as the other Cheerios. Between that, and the occasional snide comment from Kitty Wilde about her thighs, she was thoroughly drained.

Brittany had been supportive, though. It was reassuring to have one friendly face on the squad, even if she had never been close with Britt before.

Alicia was halfway to her car when she remembered she'd left her songbook in the choir room. There weren't any juicy secrets in this new book, but there was several half-finished songs about heartbreak she didn't want Jake to find. So she dragged herself back into McKinley.

She was pulling her hair free from the high pony, fingers pushing through the dampened strands at the base of her neck, when she realized the choir room wasn't empty.

Blaine was curled up in the corner, attention rapt on his phone. 

Maybe Kurt finally texted him back. Not everyone was doomed to heartbreak, like Alicia. Pushing down the ridiculous disappointment she felt, she stepped further into the choir room. Blaine still didn't notice her. She cleared her throat.

His head snapped up, blood draining from his face. His hazel eyes, usually so full of life and amusement, were blank. "Alicia, what are you doing here?"

She blinked. "I forgot my songbook. Are you . . . okay?"

Blaine swallowed hard. He slid his phone into the tight pocket of his denim jeans. "Yeah. Sorry. I just didn't expect anyone else to come here. I kind of needed time alone. To think."

"Oh, sorry. I'll just be a minute." As a skilled liar, Alicia easily spotted the signs of Blaine's dishonesty. She pretended to rummage through the scattered sheet music book on the piano, feigning distress when nothing was hidden beneath them. 

Next, she checked near the guitars. After that, she checked the drums, briefly swallowing down a horrifying wave of grief as her fingers grazed the worn-down drumsticks. Finally, she reached the chairs, half-scattered and half-stacked. She was only two seats away from Blaine when his phone audibly buzzed.

He twitched slightly, something akin to shame crossing his features as he retrieved the small device. It was so unlike him that Alicia acted on fight-or-flight. She dove forward, swiftly snatching the phone out of his hands. 

"Alicia, stop!" he yelled. He struggled to yank it from her grasp. Adrenaline replaced her previous exhaustion, and she flung herself across the choir room, using the piano as a buffer as she tapped on his notifications.

Eli C.

Blaine had just reached the piano when she looked up, brows furrowed, something sharp lodged in her throat. "Blaine, who is this?"

"Alicia, please, just--"

It clicked. All of his defensiveness, his persistence, his shame, his blank eyes. Alicia stumbled, back hitting the whiteboard and knocking off several markers. Neither flinched. Defeat overcame Blaine as she skimmed the messages, heart twisting painfully as she let herself admit what was happening.

"You were gonna meet up with this total stranger?"

Blaine looked away. He said nothing.

Alicia shook her head, as if this was a mirage she could snap out of. No such luck. She skimmed over a couple more messages, stomach turning at the flirtatious content. Some more than flirtatious. She locked the phone. As her grip shifted, the screen lit up again, revealing a photo of Kurt and Blaine laughing into the camera.