Just Don't Die

New Day

Blaine smiled as he attributed too much significance to the song on the radio: Steal My Sunshine. It was Tuesday morning, and he was driving through what was left of the snow to his early morning class. The sun was barely starting to creep through his passenger side window, but his life could not be any brighter. His dad was alive and well, and Blaine was set up to do whatever he wanted for the rest of his life. He questioned whether he should keep going to school since he didn't care whether he graduated. He decided to go because he didn't have anything better to do for now.

He was still undecided about what to do with his friends. On the one hand, he felt the closeness of the group and wondered if he should change a few more pivotal events and see if the demise of the group as a whole was inevitable. He knew that, for the most part, the group had become friends again through college and after, but without Blaine. He matured and grew without being close enough to anyone to rekindle old friendships. While the group was making amends, Blaine was thousands of miles away, focused on nothing more than getting himself and his buddies home alive. When he did get home, he attempted to reconnect, but too much had changed. The difference in how each of them perceived the world was so different that there was no way to have the same closeness as before.

He reconnected with Lex years later, and they remained good friends, regardless of how long they would go between talking to each other. He always felt that they got along so well after school because they both matured in a trial-by-fire manner. Blaine was forced into adulthood under a hail of mortars and bullet fire, and Lex was thrown to the wolves in a fast-track law school program as a single mom after a messy divorce.

As for the rest of them, Blaine was at a point in his life, or more specifically, his second life, where he wouldn't feel too horrible if he never saw them again. He didn't wish anything bad towards them, but he knew who they would become and they wouldn't be compatible as adults. Blaine knew, but didn't want to admit, that part of his feelings stemmed from his jealousy. He knew he could have tried harder to be friends with them, but he felt that his friends never made any real effort. From his perspective, they fought tooth and nail to get the group back together, but Blaine was phased out.

Still happier than he could ever remember, Blaine pulled his old truck into his parking spot, grabbed his bag, and headed to class. His smile never faded as he spotted Lex and sat beside her.

"What are you so giddy about?"

"I'll tell you at breakfast. I even remembered my wallet this morning," Blaine said, winking at Lex.

Throughout the entire class, Blaine's mind wandered between the sheer bliss of the reality he found himself in and the excitement of having almost limitless opportunities ahead of him. He didn't hear a single word that was said by the teacher and could not have cared less either.

Lex ran behind Blaine as they left class, "Alright, what is going on? You are not allowed to be this happy this early in the day. Did you get laid last night or what?"

"Even better," Blaine said laughing, "but you still have to wait till we get to breakfast."

"No, you can't do that. What's going on?" Her excitement increased like a contact high from Blaine's happiness.

Blaine and Lex slowed to a stop in front of Blaine's locker. Their smiles faded in response to Melanie standing in front of his locker with a melancholy look on her face.

"What's wrong?" Blaine tried, honestly confused. In his first time through, his dad had just died, and he wasn't even here today.

"Can we talk?" Melanie said in the all too familiar tone.

"Of course," he said, trying to meet her gaze, which was locked on the floor. "We'll meet up later, Lex."

Lex, who had already taken the hint and was walking the other way, waved a hand without looking back. More than anything, Lex was exceptionally good at cold-reading people, which was probably what made her a good lawyer.