Blaine looked up from the phone he'd been toying with for the past ten minutes, sighing loudly. “I'm going to, jeez. Just let me think for a second, okay?”

“Nope. You're done thinking. And moping. It's all you've been doing for a week now. Write the damn text already.”

“What if—”

“No.” Laura, his best friend since freshman year (and new roommate since they had finally turned their backs on dorm life and found a place off-campus), gave him a stern look. Shaking a strand of her long brown hair out of her face, she reached across the kitchen table, snatching the phone from his hands. “If you won't do it, I'm going to do it for you!”

“Hey, no!” Blaine jumped up, trying to get his phone back. “I'm going to, I swear. I was just about to—”

“Liar.” She slid out of her chair, hurrying away from him, typing furiously on his phone.

“What are you writing? Stop that. Laura, I mean it, this is not even funny!” He raced after her, tripping over his feet and almost colliding with the coffee table as she continued dancing around the furniture, years of dance lessons and her bat-like radar for obstacles putting her at a clear advantage.

“Don't worry, I'll let you read it,” she promised, and Blaine let out a sigh of relief, cut short when she added “After I sent it.”

“You can't—” he lunged for her, throwing himself over the back of the couch, his fingers finally getting a hold on the sleeve of her sweater. “Give me my damn phone!”

She stuck her tongue out at him and tried yanking her arm free, but by then Blaine had managed to scramble up onto his knees and reached for her with both hands, tugging and bringing her down on top of him on the couch. She let out a loud squeal, holding the phone up as high as she could, keeping it just out of his reach from where he was now pinned under her.

“Nice try, shorty,” she laughed, waving her arm in triumph.

“Oh, I'm not done yet,” he said, hands finding her ribs to start tickling.

About a minute later, he had his phone back and Laura was on the floor, gasping for breath and giggling. “Not fair,” she breathed, rolling over onto her back and pouting up at him. “I was just trying to help.”

“Sure, you were.” Blaine let himself fall back into the couch cushions to have a look at the half-finished text Laura had typed out. “This isn't half-bad, actually.”

“See?”

“Except for the part where you misspelled his name.”

“Whatever.”

“Also, I'm not free on Friday, I have rehearsal.”

“Change it to Saturday, then.” Laura let out an exasperated sigh. “Just get on with it. It's been more than two weeks since you got back. Ask him out already.”

“Don't you think Saturday is a bit... soon?” Blaine bit his bottom lip, thinking.

“It's not early enough, if you ask me. You've been so goddamn moody lately. I think you really need a good f—”

“Stop it right there.” Blaine held up a hand to silence her. “Fine. I guess Saturday works, but not because of... that.”

“Aww.” Laura leaned up, cupping his face between her hands. “You really like him, don't you? Little Blainey is in love!”

“Shut up,” he mumbled, finishing the text his roommate had started for him.

**

He had been very careful not to make any plans at all for Saturday so that he could use the entire time before his date to... prepare himself for his date. With Kurt. Smart, funny, breathtakingly beautiful Kurt who had been the very best thing about his summer so far and whom he hadn't seen in almost three weeks, not since their—thing, whatever it was—at the lake had ended. It had ended with both of them leaving their phone numbers for the other to find and there had been countless texts and a few phone calls since then, but still. He was nervous, there was no denying it. Despite the fact that they had kept in touch continuously, he just didn’t know. The messages, the few calls... it had been flirty at first, sliding into a mere “friendly” soon enough as they found less and less time to text each other, and now... he just didn't know.

It had been a summer fling. It had been great and they'd had fun and now... he didn’t have the faintest idea what they were. On that first night they had been apart, after Kurt had left to visit his family in Ohio and Blaine had left for New York, they had texted back and forth a lot, and Kurt had seemed fine with the idea of Blaine taking him on a real date. But that had been some time ago. What if Kurt had changed his mind about them? It was a possibility to be considered, after all.

So here Blaine was, bored out of his mind on a Saturday afternoon, nothing to do but worry about seeing Kurt and what it was going to be like. What they were going to be like, as two people who had seen each other naked and then left without defining what it meant to them. Should he hug Kurt hello when he saw him? Pat him on the shoulder? Would they pick up where they left off or was this going to be awkward? Oh god, this was going to be awkward, wasn't it?

Going over their latest conversations again, he realized how vague he had made everything sound without realizing he was doing it. With a frown, he scrolled back to the text Laura had made him sent four days ago.

Hey Kurt, since you said you were back in NY too, I'd love to see you again. I'm free Saturday. Want to meet up?

Did that sound like he was asking him out? It didn’t, did it? He was asking him to hang out. Maybe catch up or something stupid like that. Of course he wanted to hang out with him, talk to him and everything, but... well, not just as friends. Did Kurt know that? He hoped that Kurt knew. He had to, after everything that had happened between them this summer, didn’t he?

The only times they had talked about meeting up had been to agree on a time and place. The rest of it had been as playful and casual as ever, except for the time Rachel had commandeered Kurt's phone in order to say hi and tell him she was going to have a busy schedule next semester and the apartment she and Kurt shared would be at their disposal a lot of the time. Kurt had apologized for her profusely and Blaine had laughed a lot.

Still, he wanted to be very clear about why he wanted to see Kurt tonight. Get it out in the open right now. He’d rather have his hopes crushed via text message, with some time left to adjust his expectations, than having it happen over dinner, sitting across from Kurt and making a complete fool of himself in the process. Gathering all of his courage, he wrote a new text.

I hope you know that I don't just want to “meet up” tonight. I'm planning to take you out on a date. I hope that's okay.

He only had to wait a few minutes for Kurt's reply.

That's more than fine, because you actually promised me a date three weeks ago. Glad you remembered.

Blaine couldn't quite help the silly grin spreading across his face. Well then. That was one less thing to worry about. At least they were more or less on the same page here.

He paced the apartment for another half hour before writing back, not wanting to seem too eager and at the same time wanting to let Kurt know how much this meant to him.

Of course I remembered. I have been looking forward to it for quite some time now. Just making sure it's not going to be too awkward after all this time.

They had spent three weeks together at the lake and been... whatever they were now... for half of the time they had spent there. Meaning the time they had spent apart now was longer than they had ever been... Well. He was hoping to have a word that fit them before the night was through.

He sighed, rearranging the things on the kitchen counter for the tenth time that day. Waiting was the worst. He should just ask Kurt to meet up earlier. Or maybe he should take another shower. Or clean the bathroom. Or...

“Your phone just buzzed,” Laura yelled from the living room where she was watching TV in her sweat pants, which was her way of preparing for the new semester that was starting soon. “Is it weird that I know your text message sound better than my own?”

Blaine forced himself not to run, putting on his best expression of complete indifference while excitement bubbled through him as he walked over to the coffee table where he had left his phone. It probably wasn't even from Kurt.

It was from Kurt.

In the spirit of making this less awkward, I am hereby informing you that I have a plan to kiss you hello tonight. Since you were so adamant about this being a date, I hope you won't object to that.

“Good text?” Laura asked upon seeing the silly smile on his face.

He dropped down onto the couch, leaning his head on her shoulder as he tried to calm the fluttering of his heart.

“Great text,” he said.