January 16, 2013

Lying in his bed and trying to wake up enough to start getting ready for school, Blaine couldn’t help but think about the events of the last few weeks.

He hadn’t talked to Kurt since the day school started again after Winter Break. He was really missing his best friend; but instead of just talking to him, Blaine was trying to immerse himself in all of the work he needed to do to forget about missing Kurt.

At glee practice, he threw himself one hundred percent into learning choreography and vocals. He knew the other members of the New Directions were getting worried about him. Tina, in particular, had voiced her concerns several times.

“Blaine,” Tina said her voice full of concern, “I’m worried about you. You’re going to run yourself ragged if you keep up this crazy schedule.” She placed a hand on his arm. “I understand; you’re missing Kurt. You think that if you keep going constantly you won’t have time to think about everything. But maybe you should let yourself think about it. It could help.”

“I know, Tina.” Blaine let out a long sigh. “I just don’t want to think about it yet. I need to be able to perform at Regionals without breaking down. If I let myself think about it right now, I won’t be able to do that.”

Tina nodded solemnly. “Sure, Blaine.  Just think about what I said, okay? I don’t want you to make yourself sick.”

“Okay, I’ll think about it.”

In class, he tried hard not to think about Kurt by focusing on the classwork. It was hard to keep his thoughts from straying, though; he had helped Kurt study for almost all of the same classes last year. Each new topic brought a memory of staying up late helping Kurt study for a big exam.

At home, he continued to practice for Regionals quite a bit. He figured that if the performance was so ingrained in him that he could do it with very little effort, it would lessen the chances of him losing it on stage. When he wasn’t practicing for glee, he was doing homework or starting college applications.

Finally, Blaine felt awake enough to get out of bed. He went through his morning routine groggily and soon he was getting in his car to drive to school. When he started the ignition, the radio instantly came on. The song currently playing was Perfect, a song he and Kurt had always loved to sing to each other. He rested his forehead on the steering wheel for a moment, reminiscing about the times he and Kurt had sat in traffic and sang to each other. After a few seconds, he lifted his head and pulled out of his driveway.

When he arrived at school, he inadvertently walked past Kurt’s old locker. The new owner had it open; Blaine looked inside and saw that it was decorated in a way that Kurt would say was tacky. His mind flashed to the first time he had seen the inside of Kurt’s locker. He remembered seeing his picture tacked up with the word courage pasted underneath. His heart swelled with the memory of tacking a picture of Kurt up in his own locker; a picture that was now stuck between a few unused books because it was too painful to see Kurt’s face smiling down at him.

He made it until lunch without being reminded of Kurt again. But when he received his food and discovered that it was spaghetti, he thought of the first day of school last year, when Kurt had called him complaining about how Mr. Schue’s incredibly stupid idea had caused a food fight that ruined his favorite outfit when spaghetti had landed on it.

“Blaine! It’s ruined! Completely ruined!” Kurt complained over the phone that night.

“What’s ruined?”

“My outfit!” Kurt whined. “I can’t believe Mr. Schue thought the whole purple piano idea would work. It just made everyone hate us more.”

“Okay, Kurt. I’m going to need you to fill in the blanks for me. How do Mr. Schue, purple pianos, and your outfit being ruined go together?”

Kurt sighed. “Mr. Schue decided that in order to get a few more members, he would put these stupid pianos all over campus and whenever we saw one we would have to break out into song. So he put one in the cafeteria during lunch today. We started to perform We Got the Beat and after we were done, a massive food fight broke out. Spaghetti landed on my brand new outfit and now it’s completely ruined, Blaine!”

Blaine laughed quietly. “I’m sorry, Kurt. That doesn’t sound like fun.” He  paused. “Did you get any new members?”

Kurt sighed in defeat. “No.”

Blaine laughed knowingly. “I’m sure you will.”

The next reminder of Kurt was when Blaine joined Tina and Artie at The Lima Bean for coffee after school. The second he walked through the door, pictures of the endless amount of time he and Kurt had spent there rushed into his mind. He remembered with a smile the day after he and Kurt had begun their relationship.

“Good morning.” Kurt said as Blaine approached.

“Good morning to you as well.” Blaine let his bag hit the floor as he took the seat across from Kurt.

Kurt slid a cup of coffee across the table to Blaine. “I got you your usual.”

Blaine smiled. “Thank you, Kurt!”

Kurt blushed and looked at the table. “You’re welcome,” he said quietly.

Blaine placed his hand over Kurt’s. “Kurt? What’s wrong?”

Kurt looked up at Blaine shyly. “Nothing.”

“Kurt, don’t lie to me. I know you. Something’s bothering you. Tell me so I can help.”

Kurt sighed. “I’m sorry. It’s just—this is all so new. I’m just not sure how to act around you.”

Blaine laughed. When Kurt pulled back his hand, he quickly pulled it back on the table. “Kurt, I wasn’t laughing at you.” Kurt relaxed slightly. “It’s just a little funny that you don’t know how to act around me. Nothing’s changed, Kurt. We’re still friends. Just now we’re allowed to kiss and hold hands without, you know, getting slapped by the other. You don’t have to feel weird around me. Just be yourself. I like you just the way you are.”

Kurt smiled and nodded. “I’m sorry. I’ve just never done this before and I don’t want to screw it up.”

“You won’t screw it up. Now come on, we should get to school.”

Blaine stood and held out a hand to Kurt. Kurt accepted and the two walked out of the coffee shop hand in hand. Blaine walked Kurt to his car and opened the door for him. Once Kurt was inside the car, Blaine leant down a little and pressed a chaste kiss to Kurt’s lips. “I’ll see you at school.” He said as he turned and walked to his car with a huge grin splitting his face in two.

At the end of the day, after his homework was done and a little bit of practice for Regionals, he lay in his bed looking at his phone. On a sudden rush of courage, he tapped out a quick text to Kurt.

To Kurt (10:40): Everything reminds me of you.

After he sent the text, he turned off his phone and quickly fell asleep.