keep-looking-at-the-stars:
Hugging the clothes he picked for himself, and there was an entire arm full by the time Lauren finished explaining Jez’s story, Kurt nodded towards the dressing rooms before he leaned in their direction and let gravity take over propelling him with a half spin towards the rows of stalls with bright colored velvet curtains from paisley to a purple and green checkered mess hanging in front of each one. Problem was, most of her explanation only raised more questions. Ones that would probably be best suited to ask Jez himself but he wouldn’t really have the nerve to but to ask Lauren? A middle woman who he barely knew but had a familiar connection between them? Well, more than a love for ABBA and a greater mystery that’d been nabbing his attention for quite some time now -yes..talking bout you, Jez-. She was safer ground and fair game for his curiosity. Plus, she was talking which he was pretty sure Jez would not want to do seeing as how Jez was the topic of the conversation.
Kurt frowned lightly as he thought over Jez’s situation. Not everyone could be lucky enough to have Burt Hummel, Father Of The Year, as their parent but having to hide what you really wanted and go alone without support? It was why Kurt attempted (and failed miserably..train wreck style) to try and be the son he mistakenly thought his dad wanted versus who he really was. Fortunately for him? Kurt was completely in the wrong in thinking and doing what he did. Jez, by the sounds of it, was not and to live the life Kurt forced himself to live for a matter of months and not being able to just be accepted for everything that he was? A brief falter of his steps stopped him dead when Lauren mentioned Jez’s mother and he gave her a look that said he wanted to know but wasn’t going to ask.. But how could you not be curious? However, for his own personal reasons, someone’s mother being brought into the topic felt too fragile of a thing to toss around. He wouldn’t stop her from sating his curiosity but he wasn’t going to push the topic either. He just caught it, wanted to question it, and let her see that it was okay to jump past if she wanted.
Yanking open one of the curtains and motioning for Lauren to enter, Kurt gave her a bow as she walked by and a sheepish grin was his attempt to brush off some of the twisting feeling in his stomach when he mulled over how good a person Jez was, the unfairity of his story and the nagging question: what did happen to his mom? "I’m glad things are better for him and you’re right. He is a great friend,” he continued on as he entered the room beside hers and talked through the overhead opening of the wall between. "I mean..I don’t know him like you do. But in the time I have? I really have grown to like him a lot and I hope he sticks around. “I’m nearly greedy enough to just steal his passport so he can never leave,“ he semi-joked with a quiet laugh. “He was the first real friend I made here. Outside of my own circle.. I’m glad I almost bowled his tap dancing self over. So..his dad is still ignoring what makes him happy? Why the hell would a parent do that? One thing I’ll never understand, I guess,” she could hear him gasp in an afterthought, ”Oh! Don’t t forget, before you say no to any of those, I want final say..“
As well as being her best friend (now at least, even Lauren had caught his few quizzical looks when she started out), Jez was a mysterious dude. It hadn’t really occurred to her how little she knew about him until she found out the biggest truth about his dad, but since then, he was starting to open up. He seemed less concerned with them judging him, or taking advantage of him, which meant that he was more open to being...well, open. Tensions were still a little high between him and BB, not that she blamed either of them. With all this year’s drama, she knew that some of it would take a little longer to blow over. She followed Kurt along to the changing rooms, noticing the slight falter in his steps as she mentioned Jez’s mum. Now that wasn’t a secret. But nor was it information to be tossed around freely. She had never lost anyone closer to her, nor could she ever imagine being without her own mother, the thought worried her beyond belief.
The questioning look she received was met with a short shake of her head, “He probably won’t have a problem telling you, but, he’s got to be the one to do it himself, way too deep for me.” Most of this probably should have been coming from Jez, but she knew that he wouldn’t have said anything about the multi-millionaire status or the entire dad issue, even if it wasn't something to be ashamed of. But as far as his mother went, that she knew she didn’t have the right to share. Nor would she particularly want to. As the curtain closed and Lauren went about trying on the first outfit, albeit a little questioningly, she hummed in agreement. “He’s the best, if you ever have a problem that doesn’t have to do with clothes, go to Jez. I mean, his style is great but it’s a lot of skinny ties and plaid,” she laughed.
“Oh, his dad isn’t just ignoring what makes him happy, trust me,” she started, “ -he’s actually.. disowned him. Hasn’t spoken to him once since the whole thing went down. It was horrible.” Lauren opened the curtain to reveal the first outfit, ”We managed to drag his dad down to the theatre, and Jez sang this beautiful song he’d written for him...and the guy just - got up and left. First time he sees him perform and he walks away. I’m just glad we were there for him. Also I’m saying no to this top already. Sorry. But it’s itchy.”
