julian lets out a sigh of relief, knowing that at least one person in glee club always gets him. as expected, stella appears to share his concerns, drawing the same conclusions as he did. the pairings were not random, and their teacher must have purposely set him up with one of the jocks to teach him some kind of lesson or to humble him. "history will eventually vindicate me, as i am on the right side of it. kelmeckis can only sabotage me so long. i know he also wants to win, and he obviously can't do that without me." it was such an utter waste of his time, though. they should be planning for their next competition, going over song selection, coming up with fresh ideas for performances. instead, they were stuck babysitting the cheerios and titans, guiding them through mashup week.
as stella continues listing examples of the club's recent decline, julian's expression grows increasingly more pained. "god, the thong song. the fact that such words were spoken out loud in our choir room... it really cuts to the heart of the problem, does it not? there used to be artistic significance to what we were doing, and now we're expected to lower the bar even more so the jocks can keep up. " no comments on the stacy's mom performance, as he secretly appreciated the campiness of it all, and found it to be annoyingly catchy, but her concerns were still valid, though. "
"i have been thinking about that. most of them auditioned because of carter cortez. it's practically his own personal fan club, following him around wherever he goes." if anyone deserved a fanclub at saint rivera, it would obviously be julian, but for whatever reason, the general public finds men chasing after a ball peak entertainment. "so, following that logic, they should all leave when he leaves." he taps his finger against his chin. "but how do we get him to leave, when we don't even know what is keeping him here?" it couldn't be as simple as having a passion for music, because the captain of the titas has been making it very clear that he couldn't care less about anything they do in glee. his actions have been illogical, counter-intuitive, and yet he hasn't missed a single glee club meeting.
"what if... what if it's a person? perhaps he's trying to get close to someone. a man in love can do crazy things, stella." julian would know. he entertains the idea further, mentally sorting through possibilities. "it could really be anyone then. a cheerio, a band member, a wallflower we barely pay any mind to, or... or you." his right eye twitches and he can feel his chest tighten at the thought of that untalented hack trying to make a move on stella. "no, that's ridiculous. that... that would require him to actually have taste, which he quite obviously lacks," he says quickly, perhaps more so to talk himself out of it. unfortunately, it doesn't work, as the thought refuses to leave his mind. his eyes narrow, expression darkening. "...but if carter cortez has been hanging around the new directions trying to impress you this entire time, then..." then that's an even bigger problem than he originally thought. "i mean, you would never entertain that, would you?"