HART *!

Winnie was surprisingly ecstatic to see the show and Drew. When the blonde actually befriended someone, she went in hard. Sure, she was still Winnie, but she was considerably more generous and what was more generous than flying out specifically to see her friends that were in the show? Nothing. Making her way backstage, she felt an immediate pang in her heart. She had only been on the McKinley stage once to play Maureen in RENT, but it was enough to make her almost sad that she wasn’t a part of more productions. She would have auditioned for Mamma Mia had she had the time in her schedule, but she didn’t and she was enjoying her time in LA despite it seeming more and more lonely. But spotting Drew was enough to make anyone happier. He just shined such a light on people, a light that Winnie herself didn’t deserve. When Drew finally noticed her, she let out an excited laugh and equally wrapped her arms around Drew. “Filming like wrapped up last night so I packed up all my shit and like got here as quick as I totally could,” she told him with a grin. “It was like super great! You were literally so good!” She exclaimed, pulling away but keeping her hands on his shoulders. “You and Julien are like hands down the most talented guys ever.”

AT THE BEGINNING OF THE YEAR, drew would’ve been surprised to hear that winnie was now one of his closest friends, but it was funny how things worked out like that. he soaked up to embrace for a moment. in addition to his friends going back to college, who was to say what kind of opportunities this guest appearance would open up for winnie? who was to say how often they’d be crossing paths from here on out? okay, so maybe drew was being a little overly-sentimental, but who would he be if not soft. when he parted from winnie, he kept his grasp respectfully at her shoulders and stood a near arms length away as he smiled at her. “i knew you were gonna get that part, but, i’m happy to see you here.” he made a mental note that he would definitely remember to follow up on to ask winnie about how filming was, but for now he was riding his mamma mia high. “i tried! i had a ton of fun, seriously.” he moved his hand from her own shoulders to rest on his chest to show he was touched, “i don’t know about ever, but we both work hard, that’s all it is i think.” he admitted, “so thanks.” a modest shrug came before he paused, then dared to ask, “so. . .um. . .so,” he stammered, not sure how to approach the question, “are you back in lima for a while or is l.a. . . beckoning you back soon?” 

𝙨𝙪𝙧𝙥𝙧𝙞𝙨𝙚 𝙗𝙞𝙩𝙘𝙝 // para

𝐖𝐇𝐎: Winnie-Love Karofsky & @drewharts​

𝐖𝐇𝐄𝐍: Saturday, August 8th. Evening.

𝐖𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐄: Finn Hudson Auditorium

Winnie had spent a little extra time in LA because to put it simply, she was way more talented than these Lima losers and was busy filming for a guest starring role on a sitcom show and it’s the same reason why she didn’t audition for Mamma Mia. God, she’s be a perfect Donna. Rory Slade was just simply subpar from the Snapchat videos she had seen. To be honest, she was pretty torn up about not being able to see everyone perform but when filming ended on Friday, she jumped on the earliest flight back to Lima and on Saturday, she was ready to watch the show. She had seen Grayson prior but there was still some people she wanted to surprise and grace with her presence — namely Julien and Drew. Word traveled fast in Lima, even if Winnie wasn’t in it, so she decided it was best to distance herself from Julien since he was dealing with his own personal shit, and as she made her way backstage, she decided to seek out Drew. Spotting him, she let out a giggle and ran straight over to him. “Surprise, Andrew,” she sang out, shimmying her shoulders. “You were like so awesome! I knew you’d do amazing!”

THE LAST PERSON DREW EXPECTED TO SEE CLOSING NIGHT WAS WINNIE KAROFSKY. despite all the ongoing backstage drama, they had managed to put on a damn good show. needless to say? mamma mia was a little better suited for his church friends than RENT had been. he had been talking to a slew of them before departing from their little circle and doling out high fives and ‘good jobs’ to any and all cast or crew members he passed. as he continued to the dressing rooms to change out of his costume for a final time, he tried not to get super emotional. it felt like the closing on a chapter of his life he’d never forget. it was one last hurrah with so many friends he’d come to know and love, lemon, theo, and even winnie as it was starting to seem. speaking of winnie, at her ‘surprise andrew,’ he had to do a double take to make sure that was actually the blonde he’d come to befriend. not really caring for her compliments, he instantly wrapped his arms around her before pulling away from the embrace, shocked, “w-winnie!” he stammered, though this time out of joy rather than nerves. “what are you doing here? did you see? what’d you think?” 

i feel like i need to say ten hail mary’s just for reading this with my own two eyes . . .

yeah! i’m just gonna do a general audition and hope for the best. i’d love to join new directions, but i’ll take whoever will have me. 

tough! probably the sense of community. not that there isn’t one at mckinley, it’s just a lot stronger when you have something like faith tying you all together. 

“Good, because you’re my vice-president now and you can’t betray me or something like that. We’re a team now, that’s pretty exciting to think about right?” Joey asked, smiling at Drew as he rested his head on his hand, hearing the other talk about his hangover. “I mean, probably, but still, here I am, looking cute as ever and there you are, looking like something crawled up your ass and died.” He said with a chuckle. “Just go to sleep Andrew, you can do all of the activities another time. Everyone keeps acting that it’s the last time they’ll be in LA… Unless aliens take over the world and destroy LA… Maybe we should do the activities.” He said, thinking about it.

“I THOUGHT WE WERE LIKE, ALREADY A TEAM.” drew admitted with a small shrug, “you know. . . bill and harry and all that.” he elaborated a little bit, only for the smile he managed to produce to fall. “okay, i don’t look that bad.” he defended, though there wasn’t a ton of conviction behind his words. joey was making some valid point though. there was no need to push himself to do activities he wouldn’t enjoy in the first place because of how bad he was feeling. “alright man, i cave.” he admitted, “i’m gonna go back up to my room, but um, we can talk more about the campaign and stuff later?” he suggested and upon getting confirmation from joey he was off and headed for the elevator.

Joey smiled when Drew finally wrapped his pinky around his own, nodding slowly, happy that the other had finally said yes, even if he had to almost force him to say it – Joey still saw this as a win. “Really? Well, I guess you won’t lose your finger but still, I’ll be mad at you and that’s worse than losing your pinky in my opinion.” Joey said with a small shrug, before looking at Drew as he asked him how he didn’t have any hangovers. “I don’t know, I just don’t get them. Like I said, only pretty people don’t get hangovers and even if you’re really cute, I still think you dress like an old man.” He said with a shrug. “Why don’t you just go lie down then? There’s not much to do today, right?”

“I WON’T GIVE YOU ANYTHING TO BE MAD AT.”  drew assured, meeting joey’s gaze. as reluctant he was about this vice president thing, he was also a man of his word and wouldn’t break that promise no matter how nervous he got about the whole thing. at the comment about his wardrobe, he looked down at his own shirt and pulled at it a little bit, “old man?” he repeated, looking down from his clothes and back up at joey, “there’s no way that’s true, dude. i probably drank more than you. or you have a higher tolerance or something.” he suggested, closing his eyes again as if to ward off his headache. “i mean yeah, but i still want to partake in the activities!”

Joey smiled at Drew’s answer, clapping his hands together and smiling, happy that was the answer that Drew gave him – even if he basically forced him to do it, Joey was still happy that he decided to do it. “Awesome, but you have to pinky promise!” He said as he extended his pinky to the other with a smile. “And if you don’t keep your promise, you’ll lose your pinky, Archer told me that. But I’m glad that you said yes, I’ll keep the details for another day when you don’t look like shit.” He said with a chuckle, before nodding at the other’s question about having fun. “I did, actually. I got really drunk but I don’t get hangovers because I’m pretty sure that pretty people aren’t supposed to get one. No offense though.” He said with a shrug. “Because you look terrible.”

DREW SQUINTED AT JOEY’S ELBOW ON THE TABLE, THEN HIS PINKY. it felt like he was selling his soul to a far less malicious devil, but whatever. there was no guarantee they would win and if they did, drew would let joey take the reins and smile behind him and be. . . vice president. the thought of him having that much importance at mckinley wasn’t one he was confident he’d get used to, but still, he hooked his pinky around joey’s and laughed a little at the other’s following comment. “i think archer might have lied to you, man.” he suggested, pulling his hand away. “how do you not get hangovers?” drew asked as if this were some sort of ability joey could impart on him, “i always end up hungover and. . .i can usually just lay in bed in manage it but, i feel kind of awful today, dude.” 

Did Rory really know Lemon? No. Did she like Ivy? No. But did she love partying? Hell yes. It also didn’t help that Julien and most of her friends would be in attendance so she’d be a total loser if she just sat in her and Baby’s room all night. Not to mention she needed to get out of that room before a crime scene happened between the pair. Once she got there she began downing any and all drinks she could get her hands on. Even if it wasn’t her usual vodka and orange juice, she would still drink whatever. At some point throughout the night she had lost Julien which didn’t concern her. When it came to parties, she preferred her distance so she could hang out and just let loose. Not that she couldn’t be loose around Julien but she’d rather them just mingle throughout the night with friends and then end the night together and after a few rounds of talking to multiple people, she lost his mop of hair. Bobbing her way between rooms, she had finally settled on talking to LJ for a good while as she sipped on drinks and continuously used her juul, getting a nice nicotine buzz and an alcohol buzz. After a while, LJ and Rory said their goodbyes and that’s just as LJ began walking off and Drew began approaching her. “Drew!” She exclaimed excitedly. The two didn’t talk much but throughout their time in Mamma Mia she felt like she was slowly developing some sort of a friendship with Drew. He was super sweet and genuinely a nice person to be around. “New York was so cool. I hate that we only spent a weekend there,” she pouted, grabbing his arm to also somewhat steady herself, it only clear that the both were pretty drunk. “I did! It was just like the best there. The scenery was better, the food was better, the people! It was like a dream,” she giggled out over the music. “Me? What about you? Drew, you’re super talented and you better be on stage with me for like, the rest of our damn lives!” There was a permanent smile on her face as she moved closer to him and she looked him in the eyes. “If I’m going to New York, your ass is gonna come with me,” she said, her hands now moving to grip both of his shoulders.

RORY WAS THE KIND OF A GIRL WHO HAD ALL THE QUALITIES DREW APPRECIATED IN A PERSON. she was kind, but knew when to stand up for herself ( as seen through many arguments with ivy st.james. ) she was daring, but not in a way that scared him, and she was insanely talented, but also humble. it wasn’t that drew didn’t enjoy all sorts of people with all different types of personalities, but rory, like julien, was the kind of person who was walking exactly at the same pace as himself. one thing was clear about this exchange though, they definitely hadn’t been pacing themselves when it came to alcohol as indicated by rory’s grip on his shoulders and drew’s resting hands on her elbows. “i don’t know about you, but i wished the trips were flipped. . .” he began through slightly slurred words. “it’s fun here, but i liked new york so much more. i just felt it like. . . in my bones. i loved it.” he enthused and emoted as much as he probably could for being as drunk as he was. it felt very cliche of two arts students to be gushing about new york in the way they were, but in his opinion, after a limited glance at the place, it was worth all the fuss. as rory rambled about how they would end up in new york, on stage, together, there was a pang in his chest that he couldn’t quite explain. was it the alcohol that made him feel fuzzy or was it rory and her words? he’d go with the alcohol. the last thing he wanted was to find himself doe eyed and pining for yet another girl he couldn’t have. that was if the strange tightness around could even be attributed to rory. besides, he would never do anything like that to julien. he just liked conversing with rory, was very drunk, and had some residual catholic boy innocence when it came to getting close to girls. drew shook his head, ridding his mind of any of those contemplations then pulled rory after him to sit on the end of a bed. the most astonishing thing about their conversation was that neither of them had fallen on one another or spilled a drink. “sit with me!” he spoke over the music as he guided rory with him and over to this new spot. “thank you for having. . . faith in me.” he continued to speak loudly, but smiled at this particular comment. he was new to performing arts, that was no lie, so a compliment from someone like rory slade who could so effortlessly command a stage meant a lot. “seriously i mean. . . i may be able to sing, but i’m no donna sheridan.” he said, nudging her a little. “but it sounds like a deal, when we get there, we’ll tell casting directors we’re a package deal.” drew agreed with a drunken nod. curious to know rory more and anxious to keep the conversation going, he asked, “do you have a dream role?”

In Joey’s opinion, Drew was just being dramatic, there was no way that he actually felt that sick to the point of asking Joey to talk a little quieter. “I don’t know how to whisper…” Joey said, shrugging his shoulders and looking over at Drew, watching him being dramatic about his hangover, trying hard to not roll his eyes at him. “C’mon, I want to hear a real yes coming from you, I don’t want just to hear ‘yes’ because you want me to go away because I’m forcing you to answer now.” He said, now resting his shoulders on the table as he looked at Drew. “You know I’m not going anywhere, right? I could sit here all day and I know you won’t go away because apparently you’re dying and can’t move from here. I’ll just find something to talk about while you think about the many ways to say ‘yes’. So, did you have fun at the party last night? I didn’t even see you that much, what were you up to?”

WHAT JOEY HAD TO SAY WASN’T SUPER PROMISING. truth be told drew couldn’t give an answer. he’d told joey time and time again how he didn’t feel qualified to be his running mate, but clearly, as indicated by the behavior now, joey wasn’t gonna take no for an answer. without much of a choice and hoping maybe joey would back off a little, drew sighed then nodded, “okay, yeah, i’ll run with you.” he answered, then flashed joey a brief smile before quickly responding to his next set of questions, “oh, yea man i had fun. did you?” he asked politely in turn, then continued, “i just drank, talked, rory and i hung out for a little bit, but nothing crazy. just drank probably too much.”

Once Joey sat down across from Drew, he instantly realized that he was hungover, which was something he didn’t expect. Of course he had seen Drew drink at the party, but he didn’t really expect for him to drink that much, especially since he didn’t think Drew drank that much – he had always seen him as the good guy from McKinley, but people can change. Raising an eyebrow when he heard Drew’s voice, telling him that he hadn’t thought about it, Joey rolled his eyes and shook his head slowly. “C’mon, you’re going to tell me that you haven’t had a chance to think about it? I asked you this like weeks ago, how come you didn’t think about it?” Joey asked, shaking his head yet again. “Well, can’t you just think right now? If you would just give me an answer, I wouldn’t be bothering you right now, but I need to know if you’re going to be my vice-president or not… I need someone to do all the thinking for me, my brother Trace keeps telling me that if I think too hard that my head will catch on fire and I’m not ready to lose all my perfect hair.” He said, crossing his arms and leaning back on the chair as he looked at Drew.

JOEY SPEAKING AND ASKING ALL HIS QUESTION WAS A LITTLE TOO OVERSTIMULATING FOR DREW. he pushed his plate of just toast aside and squinted at the other boy. his voice was loud and the room was loud and everything was just a bit much. the piercing pain behind his eyes intensified as did the gurgling of his stomach. he needed to get joey off his back, quickly, and politely if possible. “joey, listen, i uh. . .” he thought for a moment, taking advantage of his contemplation so he could shield his eyes from the oh so suddenly harsh lights of the hotel dining area. in a failed attempted not to sound rude, drew asked, “if i say yes will you go away?” a pause, “or like maybe just talk a little quieter, man? please?” he amended, finally removing his hand from his eyes to look at joey. did he want to be vice president of mckinley’s student body come school starting up again? he wasn’t sure. but he did want joey to just give him a second to breathe before he puked all over the place.

𝐖𝐇𝐎: Joey Hummel-Anderson & @drewharts​

𝐖𝐇𝐄𝐍: Friday, July 31st. Morning.

𝐖𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐄: Hotel Dining Area

It wasn’t shocking for anyone that Ivy St. James and Lemon Sterling-Duval’s joint birthday party had been a blast. Everyone seemed to have fun, especially since most of the people that had gone to the party were either still sleeping or probably throwing up after drinking all night. However, Joey wasn’t one of them, even if he had spend most of the night drinking, he just didn’t get hangovers that regularly. Making his way down to the hotel dining area, Joey looked around to see if he could find anyone that he actually knew and once his eyes landed on Drew, he quickly made his way towards him, thinking this would be the perfect time to ask him about running as his vice-president, especially because they haven’t really talked about it since Joey had texted him about it and he had told him that he needed some time – and he gave him more than enough time. Finally reaching the other’s table, Joey patted him on the shoulder and made his way to the chair across from Drew, sitting down and smiling at the boy in front of him. “What’s up, Andrew? So, I’m just going to skip all the small talk because I really don’t care and it’ll just waste our time. Have you thought about my offer? Are you going to be my vice-president?” Joey asked, leaning forward as he smiled at Drew.

TO PUT IT SIMPLY, DREW WAS HUNGOVER. sure, he’d been hungover before, but usually had the entire day following whatever party he’d been at to try and sleep it off. on this trip though, there were set plans he didn’t intend on missing out on. so after some puking in the bathroom, which he had to sure taemin was nothing, he hauled himself down to breakfast to try and get something down. he sat with his plate of just toast untouched, head in his hands as if that would cause his head to stop pounding and stomach to stop lurching. when joey slid into the chair across from him, as much as it pained him, drew managed to smile. he didn’t want to be rude and shoo joey away, so he’d just ask politely, “oh um, jeez joey, i don’t think right now is a great time to talk about this, man.” he answered politely, hoping the other would get the point to well . . . go away, “i haven’t really had a ton of time to think about it, sorry.” he said, a genuinely apologetic tone clear despite the raspy and slightly pained quality his voice had taken up. “and i’m just like. . .” he looked around, not really wanting to be too loud about the little party that was thrown the not prior, “i’m not doing too hot right now, man, you know.”