Je ne t'attendais pas (9/?)
In the morning, Kurt’s phone buzzed.
From Sebastian: 10pm Place de la Contrescarpe.
From Kurt: Hello to you, too, Sebastian! I’m doing well, how nice of you to ask!
From Sebastian: Ladies have trouble understanding. I didn’t want to confuse you by adding too many words.
From Kurt: Someone is in a good mood today!
Why couldn’t Kurt be more sensitive like he used to be and just get angry and decide not to go tonight? That would make things a lot easier. The three exclamation marks annoyed Sebastian more than anything. But even he had to agree that fighting over punctuation through text would be a little juvenile. So he decided to drop it.
He couldn’t actually explain why he absolutely wanted Kurt not to come tonight. There wasn’t really a valid reason. He was sure Kurt and his friends would get along well and they would probably be absolutely delighted to be introduced to a boy who had blackmail material on Sebastian (if they knew he had photoshopped a picture of a boy wearing red heels and sung a song called “Glad You Came” in front of hundreds of people the same week he would never hear the end of it). But introducing Kurt to his friends seemed so formal! It would mean they were actually friends; he wouldn’t be able to deny it anymore. And Sebastian was stubborn. Once he had decided he didn’t like someone it was almost impossible to make him change his mind. But it looked like his mind had changed without asking him first, this time; and Sebastian didn’t like it.
At the same time, he had no real reason to still dislike Kurt. They had spent some very nice moments together and if he wanted to be really honest with himself, Kurt was kind of witty, clever and gorgeous, all at the same time. Surprisingly enough, he had discovered they had the same sense of humor and their love for Paris couldn’t really hurt either. At this point, Sebastian decided he was thinking way too much. It was just a friend meeting other friends, nothing to be so stressed about.
He was going to spend a nice afternoon, maybe watch a movie, eat with Guillaume and Kurt and his other friends would meet with them later.
In his hotel, Kurt was getting ready excitedly. He didn’t know how he should dress. He supposed they were going to a bar, but for how long? Would it be cold or not? And he had to look good. He had to show French people that they weren’t the only ones who could have nice outfits and that Americans could dress well, too (well, at least that he, Kurt Hummel, was nothing less than them. He was not going to take the risk of speaking for the entire American population).He set his mind on skinny jeans, a grey tee shirt and a navy blazer with a silver badge. He was of course wearing boots and a light blue scarf to perfect his outfit. He narrowed his eyes as he looked at himself in the mirror and had to admit he looked good. He checked his watch: only 9pm. He had an hour to go there and needed less than a half hour from what he had found out on the Internet. So he decided to start going by foot and would look in his guide if he needed to get on the subway to avoid being late. He was beginning to know the streets around the hotel and it was a very pleasant feeling, being able to walk in Paris like it was just something normal, something he was used to.
At 10pm sharp, he was at place de la Contrescarpe. It was a lovely place at the top of what could be called a hill, in the middle of the Quartier Latin (which was actually the student area). There were bushes in the middle of the square and nice bars all around it. He finally found Sebastian and his friends. He was introduced quickly and after a few minutes waiting for the last few friends to arrive, they sat in a nice but crowded bar. They had to wait a couple of minutes to actually find a table where they could all sit.
A song both in French and in English was playing in the bar, which Kurt thought was quite funny.
Do I have your attention?
Je t’en supplie regarde moi (Look at me, I beg you)
Did I fail to mention I want you to see me?
Kurt was seated between Sebastian and a girl whose name he had already forgotten. Across from him was a handsome guy with very dark eyes and a bright smile named Pierre-Louis but that everyone called Pilou (Kurt found that nickname absolutely ridiculous but since it seemed normal for them he wasn’t going to say anything. He was going to stick with Pierre-Louis, though). They all ordered cocktails and the conversation flew easily. Some girl was explaining very loudly her latest sexual encounter with a guy she had met at a party.
“And then he looked at me really creepily and he talked with a bad German accent and he was like “what position would give you more pleasure?” and I was like NOOOOOOO you can’t just say things like that and…”
Sebastian leaned over Kurt to whisper, “Marguerite likes to talk about her life a lot. She’s very melodramatic but that what makes her so funny. Also, I don’t know how she manages it but she always has something extraordinary to tell us.”
She was funny, that was true. But even if Kurt was now very open about sex (no pun intended), he could not quite imagine himself talking about things so intimate with six other people including a stranger in a crowded bar.
“Is that normal? I mean, do you guys always share your private stories like that?” What if they all knew he and Sebastian had slept together? That would be really awkward.
“No, we do share a lot of personal stories but she’s the only one who takes it so far. We’re all friends since our first year so we know each other really well by now.”Sebastian explained. “I don’t tell them everything, though. They wouldn’t be able to keep up with all my conquests,” he added with a wink.
“Don’t flatter yourself Sebastian. I’m sure you make them believe that you sleep with a lot more people than you really do.”
“Oh, you would be surprised. I exceed my reputation,” Sebastian stated playfully.
“That’s nothing to be proud of,” Kurt answered before taking along sip of margarita. He was surprised to realize that he didn’t mean that sentence in a bad way, like he would have in high school. Back then he was shocked by Sebastian’s behavior. Now, he just didn’t care. He could sleep with whomever he wanted, that was none of Kurt’s business. Even if he had to admit he would like to know if he was the last one Sebastian had slept with, since it was only a few days ago. He was just being curious, though. He just wanted to know how much of a “machistador” Sebastian really was.
He then began to talk to the girl on his left side, whose name was actually Louise. She seemed to be the sweetest and the quietest of them all and kept asking him questions about himself, about what he liked in Paris and what he would like to do, about what Americans thought of France, and so on. Soon enough, Pierre-Louis was joining their conversation and they were talking about the best exhibitions to see at the moment in Paris. Louise even offered to go with him to see the impressionism exhibition at the Grand Palais.
“It’s a classic, they do it every three or four years but it’s always beautiful.”
“Yes, it is. And you must see exhibitionism works when you’re in Paris. It’s, like, a must,” Pierre-Louis added. “I’d gladly come with you, Kurt,” he said, looking at him right in the eyes.
“Uh, yes, that would be nice,” Kurt answered.
“What would be nice?” Sebastian interrupted. He didn’t really like the intense way Pilou was looking at Kurt.
“Going together see an exhibition. Don’t feel obliged, though, Seb. I know you’re not that fond of impressionism,” Pierre-Louis said.
“I have nothing against it either. I can come with you. Or we can go see something else, too,” Sebastian said sharply.
Louise rolled her eyes and began talking with Guillaume, who was in front of her.
“We can go see impressionism and something else, so that everyone is happy, can’t we?” Kurt asked, not understanding why they were suddenly so tense. It was only art, really.
“We’ll see,” Sebastian answered before finishing his Cuba Libre. “Who’s in for another round of cocktails?”
Unsurprisingly, that idea seemed to please everyone.
After a while, of course, Sebastian’s friends were eager to know how Kurt and him had met.
Sebastian answered quite honestly, “Kurt’s boyfriend was the perfect, popular, handsome and talented guy that everyone kept talking about at school. Everyone had a huge boner for him but he was so madly in love with Kurt he had transferred schools to be with him. In a public school. So of course I decided I had to have him. I must admit, it’s one of the few times I failed at seducing someone. But fighting with Kurt over him made me renovate my set of insults, which was pretty pleasant.”
“He’s kind of forgetting the part where he injured my boyfriend and blackmailed my best friend into not competing at a show choir competition.”
“That seems kind of jerk-ish, even for Sebastian,” Louise stated.
“And how exactly did you two become friends?” Guillaume asked. He realized Sebastian hadn’t really answered to his questions the other night.
“Long story,” Sebastian answered with his don’t-ask-any-more-questions tone.
Everyone seemed to take the hint and Guillaume asked Kurt, “Anyway, since you know him from high school, you know how he looked like in a uniform! How bad was it?”
“Oh, I pulled it off way better, trust me.”
“But I thought you didn’t go to the same school?”
And Kurt began to tell his high school story without too many details (they didn’t need to know everything about him already). It took a while, especially since people kept asking him about Blaine and their story and Sebastian could not stop himself from making comments about how those two were so in love it was ridiculous and sickening. They talked a lot about show choirs, competitions and songs. That did not exist in high schools in France so they were curious about it. Both Kurt and Sebastian admitted that while the Warblers were really good, they lacked the emotion the New Directions could carry and they promised to show some videos of their competitions.
After talking for so long (and in French, s’il vous plait) Kurt had to finish his drink.
“It’s so hot in here,” he said. He had already taken off his jacket and scarf.
“Yeah I happen to have that effect on people,” Sebastian said matter-of-factly. That earned him a laugh from Kurt, who had not been expecting the joke. Sebastian answered with a bright smile.
“We’re going to go soon,” Guillaume said. “The air will be cooler outside.”
Kurt looked at his watch. It was only 1pm. He raised an eyebrow. Sebastian caught his gesture and explained “We’re not going home, don’t worry. We’re just going to buy some alcohol and finish our evening drinking alongside the Seine. It what we usually do during the summer.”
“That sounds great!” Kurt answered. With already two admittedly strong cocktails, the French speaking and the excitement surrounding him, everything sounded great at the moment. Especially more drinking.