The Lima Bean

...

Blaine walked into the Coffee shop, his fingers interlaced with Kurt's as they walked up to the bartista to order their coffees while they waited for Mercedes and Rachel to show up. He loosened his scarf around his neck as they made their way through the door, seeing as it was a lot warmer inside the coffee place than it was outside. "A medium drip for me...and a grande nonfat mocha for this guy," he added hesitantly before glancing over at Kurt. "Right?"

Kurt's eyes lit up. "You know my coffee order?" He wasn't sure why he was surprised, but it was incredibly sweet to know that Blaine had paid such attention even to such small details.

He nodded at the barista to confirm his order before leaning in to plant a quick peck on Blaine's cheek.

Blaine smiled at the kiss, glad to see that he could make his boyfriend happy with the simplest of things. It wasn't like he spent hours sitting in his dorm with Kurt Hummel Fun Fact flashcards, but he did tend to pay special attention to everything Kurt did, even if he didn't realize he was doing it at the time. "Of course I do," he replied with a grin as he took out his wallet and paid for the drinks before Kurt had time to object. He grabbed both their coffees and handed Kurt's drink to him before leading them both over to a small table where they could wait for Mercedes and Rachel.

With her gal pal and her linking arms, Mercedes strutted into the coffee shop. She immediately spotted both Blaine and Kurt sipping their coffee and acting all madly in-love and completely adorable. She approached the two who seemed to be engaged into some flirtatious conversation. “Hey you two!” she greeted, with an infectious smile on her face. She took the time to wrap her arms around the both of them in a warm embrace and place a quick peck on their cheeks. “How’s the most adorable couple in Lima doing today-?” Mercedes then remembered that Rachel was standing beside her. “Besides you and Finn, of course”, she reassured her, playfully nudging her in the arm. “Well Rach and I are going to go order now. See you in a few!” She blew them a quick kiss good-bye and then strolled over to the counter and waited in line. “I’m so happy for them!” she gushed to Rachel. “I’ve never seen such a beautiful smile on my boy’s face!”

Laughing about some or another, Rachel entered with the shop with Mercedes and when they spotted the two Dalton boys in a corner, they walked over. She gave them both hugs and giggled at Mercedes' antics. "Well, technically they don't live in Lima, so change it to whatever down your school is in and you can keep your title," she offered. She waved at the boys before turning and heading to the counter. "I know!" she whispered excitedly. "It's great he has someone who obviously likes him the same way he likes them. He deserves it too."

“Agreed”, Mercedes said, beaming. It was finally their turn to order. “Can I have a a vente Mocha with one shot, iced, caramel sauce on the top and bottom, no whip, light on the ice, and 7 pumps of peppermint syrup.?” She ordered, robotically as if her regular order was programmed into her brain. “And throw in a low-fat cinnamon roll”, she added, eyeing the delicious baked good. She turned to Rachel and waited patiently for her to order. As they waited she made some easy conversation. Ever since the beginning of this year, her and Rachel had become inseparable and were really the classy duo. She wasn’t exactly sure why but they just seemed to click now and days, it totally blew her mind on why she ever had any form of hatred towards her in the past. They were really alike, the ultimate diva’s. “So…are we going to discuss our Valentine get together plans?” she asked as she snatched a few straws and napkins. “I’m really excited! For most girls they’d be sitting on their couch in their pyjamas watching Ghost Whisper and making out with their cat if they were single on Valentines day. But for me, I’m all for flying solo!”

"I'll just have a chai latte," Rachel ordered and turned to Mercedes. She was so excited to have a friend, especially a female friend, and Mercedes was such a fun person to hang out with. She was full of sass and wit and was super funny, and was possibly the only person who could keep up with Rachel's diva ways, maybe excluding Kurt. The girl also had a great voice, which was always a great bonus. Rachel was sorry she had ever thought bad about Mercedes before she had ever really given her a chance. "I was thinking of just spending the day with Finn, but then I got to thinking, 'Why does Valentine's Day have to be only about romantic love? Why can't it be about family love?'" She paused for a second, then continued, "I know things have been really patchy in glee lately, so I was thinking that we should have a New Directions Valentine's Day!" she shared excited. "Hopefully we could all bond a bit better, and then we could invite the Warblers too and make it a party!"

Mercedes instantly chippered up after Rachel’s suggestion on a New Directions Valentines Day party. She also took time to admire how she would prefer to treat the special day with family-love instead of romance, which Mercedes humbly agreed to. She was rather impressed with her thoughts and realized that Rachel had truly changed over the course of the year. Last year, if she had Finn on Valentines Day she’d lock him in a closet with scented candles and Funny Girl playing in the background…but now she was the one coming up with ideas that screamed friendship.
“I like the way you think, sista” she complimented, beaming. “You know, gurl, I’m down with that. No party is completed without me!” She joked, giggling. They finally took their seats at the table with Kurt and Blaine.
“Did we miss anything?” she asked, winking at them while taking a moment to sip her coffee drink. “Anyways, our very own, Ms. Rachel Berry came up with the most genius idea. Tell ‘em, Rache!”

"You didn't miss a thing," Kurt replied, giving an innocent smile. He reached over with a napkin and blotted some of his peach lip gloss from Blaine's lips, telling a slightly different story. "An idea more genius than my infamous duet with myself? Oooh! Do tell!" Kurt urged, smiling brightly.

Blaine smiled, a slightly guiltier smile than Kurt's, but took a sip of his coffee to hide it. "Duet with yourself?" he questioned, raising an eyebrow at Kurt. "I hope you know you'll have to tell me about that one of these days," he said, only half-joking. He turned his attention back to Rachel, looking interested in whatever her idea was as he set his coffee back down. "So, let's hear about this genius idea."

Rachel slid into her chair while sipping her latte. She giggled as Kurt reminded them of his Le Jazz Hot duet...with himself. "It sounds awkward," she informed Blaine. "Almost like vocal masturbation, as Santana put it, but Kurt pulled it off. He should preform it for you sometime." She stirred her latte for a second, then leaned forward excitedly with gleaming eyes. "I think we should have a New Directions/Warblers Valentine's Day party!" she said.

"Well, I wouldn't say no to that," he said, casting a quick sly look at Kurt before turning back to Rachel. "A party? I like it. A lot. But by Warblers do you mean the two 'adorable' ones that come down to Lima to visit you or are you suggesting Kurt and I try to convince the others to come and party...where there will be girls," he added with a playful grin, realizing that it might not be such a difficult task. As much as the Warblers may have seemed to be the anti-partying type, they did go to an all boys school where the lack of women was quite obvious to most of them, especially the straight, single students.

Kurt's eyes lit up at Blaine's suggestion and he mentally began matching up Warblers to the single girls he knew from McKinley. Oh, yes. This had to be done. "Maybe I could invite a few of the nicer Cheerios, too, to even out the male-female ratio a little bit," he suggested, seeking permission from the girls since they might not be too keen on the idea. "Like Becky and Andie," he narrowed down the field to ones that he was positive hadn't done anything to Rachel or Mercedes (unless they hadn't told him about it, of course.) Andie was sweet, but she sometimes had fairly bad taste in close friends--namely Azimio. He hoped he hadn't managed to be a bad influence on her in the months since he'd last talked to her.

"Well, yeah, I was thinking all the Warblers," Rachel said with a shrug. "I think it would be nice to meet all of your friends at Dalton. You know, for real. Outside of competition. And I think it would ease some peoples' minds to know you're okay at Dalton." Rachel smiled at Kurt's suggestion. "Sure, Kurt! Bring some of your Cheerio friends. I want this Valentine's Day to be all about friendship. And I was hoping you three would help me."

"You know I'm in. I live for planning parties. I've got a closet full of decorations for any occasion," Kurt chattered excitedly. "What's the venue?"

"I'm in too. Whatever you need, just let me know and I'll be more than willing to help," he said with a grin, excited about helping plan a party with Kurt and the people he was quickly starting to consider as close friends.

"Awesome!" Rachel said brightly. She sipped her latte thoughtfully as she considered a venue. "I'm not too sure yet," she confessed. "But we need somewhere with a lot of space, if there are going to be a lot of people. It'll probably be at someone's house, though."

Mercedes sipped her latte, continuing to listen to the conversation intently and mentally taking note. “I volunteer my place,” she pitched in as she ripped off a tiny piece of her cinnamon bun and popping it into her mouth. “My parents are like the ultimate hosts so they’d be totally down with us having it at my house.” She whipped out her BlackBerry about to text and ask her dad who instantly replied with an ah-okay. “Settled it’s at the Jones’, my parents are cool with it.” Mercedes beamed as she set his BlackBerry on the table but only to narrow her eyes slightly at Rachel. “As long as there’s no drinking, hot mama ain’t so hot when she’s wasted…” Rachel’s facial expression had her chuckling.

"Awesome, thanks Mercedes!" Rachel exclaimed, beaming at her friend. "I wasn't planning on alcohol, but the one you'll need to have a chat with is Noah, not me," she reminded with a grimace. Noah would do anything to have alcohol at a party, and a drunk Glee club was not something anyone needed to deal with. Rachel's eyes widened as Mercedes brought up her past drinking experience and her eyes flickered to Blaine. She did not need the dapper boy knowing of her past embarrassing forays with alcohol. "Mercedes! Let's not bring that up, please?" she pleaded.

Wes walked into the coffee shop, getting into the line that was forming in front of the counter, he sighed as he pulled out his phone, playing tetris. THe line inched forward and as he reached the counter he ordered a large black coffee.

Artie moved forward in the line behind a boy in the uniform he recognized as Kurt's school. He stayed quiet, though, as he wasn't one to randomly talk to strangers in a coffee shop. The boy reached the front and Artie looked down at the ground as he moved forward, inching closer but making sure he wasn't too close that his wheelchair would clip the boy's legs. Even though Artie had years of practice, in a crowded space, he still needed to be careful.

Wes turned around after grabbing his coffee and tripped over the edge of the wheelchair. "Oh shit!" He said after he spilled his coffee over the wheelchaired boy. "I'm so sorry!" He said as he picked up his cup. He bit his lip.

As Artie felt the impact of the boy's foot against his wheelchair, he immediately looked up. He knew that the boy had spilled his coffee over him but he could only feel a little of it, over his arms a little. But, because he couldn't feel his legs, Artie didn't deem the accident as unforgivable. He chuckled softly. "No harm, no foul." He wiped the coffee from his bare arms and smiled at the boy, even though it was probably Artie's fault.

Wes frowned. "Let me help you get cleaned up." He said, gripping the handle's of Arties wheelchair, moving over toward the napkins. "I'm so so sorry."