Blaine liked it here. For now that is. The majority of Ohio is still hopelessly homophobic. No matter though, he’ll be out of here soon, if his brother had anything to say about it. The move from Westerville was liberating, in more ways than one. But he really didn’t want to think about that now. What he wanted to do was run. Feel the wind through his hair (thankfully gel free at the moment), and the muscles in his arms and legs working to propel him faster. This was always a means of physical release for him. There were no problems and no worries. Just nothing, nothing but the air around him and the ground beneath his feet. The only other thing that does that is music. So what happens when he combines the two? Bliss.

He grabbed his iPod, put it on shuffle, stretched a bit and bellowed.

“Mom I’ve gone running!”

“Be safe!” Janet Anderson replied.

And he was off. Is he working on speed or endurance today? He’s pretty good on speed. He was the fucking boss at speed to be honest. So endurance then. Blaine scoped the street. This was his first time running here since the move, but this stretch seemed promising. He started on it. Blaine could feel his muscles respond to the familiarity of running. The overall sensation of well-being he gets. The joy. The joy could only be greater or equal to that of the stage. He hasn’t been getting that lately. And that sucked. This McKinely place better have a damn glee club or else! His Dalton buddies were great, he’ll miss those guys. As if on cue the shuffle on his iPod comes up with “Teenage Dream”. Sometimes he felt as if his iPod read his mind somehow. His thoughts were now flooded with boys in blue blazers with red piping, doing their steps, using their mouths as instruments. His friends. He was sad to leave them.

A loud crash interrupted his thoughts. What the hell?! He stopped, dragged his earphones out and looked for the source of the sound. There was a girl on the flat of her back with a bicycle on top of her lower body. Did she just crash into that tree? Before he told his body to move, it was doing so off instinct. He rushed across the street and pulled the bicycle off the girl.

“Are you okay?” He asked while looking for any injuries that might require more than a band aid. She sat up and held her ankle.


“Crap!” She exclaimed. “I think my ankle is sprained.” She wiggled her ankle and winced terribly as she did. “Yep. Definitely. Had enough of them to know what it feels like. Shit. Pipin’s gonna kill me.”

Pipin? Interesting.

“Who are you?” She deadpanned.
Wow, this girl was something else.

“I’m Blaine. Blaine Anderson.” He replied while helping her up. “What’s your name?”

“Skylar Hummel.” She replied. Sky looked at him intensely. His eyes were kind and concerned. She felt calm staring into them.

“May I help you get somewhere? Where do you live?” He asked.
She pointed down the street opposite side of them, the same side he was running on.
“Okay, up you get.”

Blaine put one hand around her waist to secure her and she put a hand over his shoulder. He then picked up the bicycle and used his other hand to lead it.

“So what happened? You just decided to head straight for a tree?” Blaine questioned.

“I was… distracted.” She hedged. She really didn’t want to admit that she was trying to decipher his exact eye color. She decided to question the hell out of him instead.

“You just moved here didn’t you? Because I don’t know you and I’ve lived here all my life.”

“Yes.” Blaine chuckled. “I just moved here.” Wow, this girl goes straight to the point doesn’t she.

“Do you mind if I ask you a few questions.” She asked.

“No, not at all.” He said. He was a little apprehensive. But he decided to be good-natured. She couldn’t know anything to ask any questions that he would really have a problem answering…

“Okay.” She took a deep breath. “Where are you going to school? How old are you? What are your hobbies? Which house is yours? How long has it been since you moved here? How come I haven’t seen you before?”

The girl was panting from the exhaustion of asking a shit load of questions. He liked Skylar. She was refreshing.

“Okay let’s see, I’m going to go to William McKinely High.” He counted each question off his fingers. “I’m 16 years old. I love track, singing, performing in general. My house is a little further down the street from here, the one with the green door.”

“The old Jamisen house?” She interrupted.

“I think.” Blaine replied. “It’s ours now. Umm, we moved in a week ago and I guess I just haven’t been out much to see anything or anyone really.”

Skylar was quiet for a moment.

“What, no more questions?” Blaine asked playfully. She looked at him and gave him a huge smile. She was a sweetheart.

“Oh, I do have many questions.” She replied. “I just don’t want to overwhelm you the first time you see me. My brother says I’m best if taken in small doses by people who don’t already know me.” She gave another big smile.

So, a smartass sweetheart then. He didn’t think there could be such a combination.

“Right in this driveway.” She said. He led her right up to the door and knocked.

“Is anyone home?” Blaine questioned.

“My brother should be off, but I bet he hasn’t left yet.” Then she took a deep breath and bellowed. “PIPIN!!!!”

Christ, she had some pipes on her!

“I’m coming, I’m coming!” He heard a voice reply. It was muffled by the door and riddled with worry and a strain of exasperation, but… wow… And that’s as far as his thoughts went, because the door opened on the most beautiful boy he’d ever seen. Ever.