Over the next couple of weeks, Kurt would stop in to have lunch at Blaine's work whenever he wasn't busy with Rachel or Hayden. Sometimes, Blaine was too busy to join him, but Kurt didn't mind. He knew it probably wasn't a good thing, but he liked his time to himself when he stopped in for coffee or food. Though he also liked the few times when Blaine was able to sit with him for thirty minutes or so and talk to him and distract him from his homework, too. Within the first week, he learned that Blaine indeed was gay, as Rachel had assumed. And as much as a little part of Kurt was thrilled by the news, he also knew that it also had the potential make things a little more complicated (but for some reason he couldn't bring himself to care).

He couldn't deny the fact that he definitely found Blaine attractive, and that he loved his company. Had Kurt been single, he would be pursuing him, but since he had a boyfriend, he decided that he'd have to settle with keeping Blaine as a friend. A friend that he flirted with every once in a while.

It took a little bit, but Kurt finally convinced himself that as long as neither he nor Blaine pursued anything, there was nothing wrong with them being friends and hanging out whenever he came in to get coffee. Kurt also made a point to never ask for Blaine's number, and it seemed like Blaine didn't want to take the risk and ask quite yet, which was probably good. He knew that eventually it would come up, and when it did, he could just politely inform him of his boyfriend. After all, there was nothing wrong with them being friends.

He hadn't told Rachel about his lunches with Blaine, though. It wasn't necessarily that he wanted to keep it a secret, but he wasn't sure how he could tell her without her giving him a hard time about it. He also hadn't mentioned it to Hayden, which he decided was okay, because he had never mentioned the coffee shop that he and Rachel frequented to him before. It wasn't like much had changed. Or at least that was what he had decided.

In the back of his mind though, he sometimes found himself wondering what it would have been like had he met Blaine first. Kurt knew that he was his type, and as they got to know eachother more, Kurt found himself wanting to know even more of his story. He also caught himself wondering what it would be like to kiss Blaine when he would stare at the other boy's lips as he talked. When he caught himself thinking such things though, he immediately shook it from his head.

Blaine was getting ready for work one Wednesday afternoon and he couldn't help but be a bit excited because he was pretty sure that Kurt had Wednesday afternoons off. He knew it probably wasn't smart to get his hopes up, but he and Kurt got along really well, and Kurt was coming in a lot more often for lunch. Whenever he came in, he would always invite Blaine to take a break and sit with him for a bit, and when he could, he would. So, needless to say, Blaine was trying to look nice for work, hoping that Kurt would come in.

Trent was sitting in the living room doing homework and watching Blaine run from his bedroom to the bathroom and back when he finally decided to speak up, "Blaine, I don't know if you've heard of this thing called jogging, but it's a lot easier than running up and down our hallway, if you needed exercise or something…"

Blaine stopped halfway in between the bathroom and his room wearing a different shirt than he had been wearing the last time he had emerged from his room, and was holding another one in his hand. He seemed to ignore Trent's comment, "Which one do you like better?"

Trent sighed, "Aren't you going to have to wear an apron over it anyway?"

"I think I like the black one," Blaine said, ignoring him again.

This time Trent stood, "Blaine, what is going on?"

He sighed, "I'm trying to get ready for work. I have to leave in five minutes."

Trent eyed him warily, "You look ready to me."

Blaine turned and tossed the other shirt into his room then walked past Trent and into the living room to put his shoes on, "I know… I just kinda wanted to look nice today."

"Hot date?" Trent joked.

"Very funny," Blaine sighed out, grabbing his shoes and sitting down. Trent had heard all about Blaine's lunch dates with Kurt and enjoyed giving him a hard time about it.

"How do you even know he's coming in today, anyway? I thought you hadn't worked up the courage to ask for his number yet," Trent asked, sitting next to him.

Blaine ignored the second comment, but answered his question, "I think he has Wednesday afternoons off. And I was thinking of asking him out to lunch or something today."

"Wow, as if you guys haven't done that before," Trent joked again and Blaine shot him a look. "Sorry, I just like giving you a hard time," He said, grinning.

Blaine smiled back, "Yeah I know. And you're really good at it." He stood and looked himself over one last time in the bathroom before walking back into the living room, "Wish me luck."

"Have a good day at work," Trent called after him down the hallway, to which Blaine just shook his head. As comical as it seemed that he had a crush on a regular at his work, he couldn't deny that he really did like Kurt, and wanted to go on a proper date with him instead of just talking to him for thirty minutes during work.

Blaine got to work, where Melissa was waiting for him expectantly, a smile plastered on her face. "Are you going to ask him out today?" She asked as Blaine clocked in.

"If I don't chicken out, yes," Blaine replied, smiling

"Good! It's about damn time you got some," She exclaimed, then giggled when she realized that a couple of customers had heard her.

"Thanks, Melissa, that makes me feel much better," He said quietly, shaking his head.

She laughed again, "I'm just kidding." A small group of people walked in and the two of them made their drinks before Melissa turned to him again, "So my friend who works at a local venue told me to ask you if you wanted to play a show in a couple of weeks. One of the bands bailed and they needed to fill a spot."

Blaine smiled in her direction, "You know I'm always looking for new shows. Just let me know when and where."

She smiled back, "Will do."

The two of them went back to work cleaning the store since it was slow, and as they did, Blaine watched the clock. Soon it was noon, then one, then one-thirty, and he was starting to suspect that Kurt might not be coming in. By two, he was sitting on the counter, bored because they had run out of things to do and disappointed because Kurt still hadn't showed up.

"Maybe he had a lot of homework," Melissa offered, jumping up and sitting on the counter next to him.

He sighed, "Yeah, probably. I just feel stupid for getting my hopes up for nothing."

She put her arm around him and smiled reassuringly, "It's not like he's never going to come in here again, Blaine. You'll have another shot."

"Yeah I guess," He replied, somewhat defeated.

Blaine pulled himself out of bed at six the next morning and showered quickly. Unlike the morning before, he ran a comb quickly through his hair without worrying about it too much and grabbed a clean shirt from his room and threw it on. As much as he wanted to look nice for work (or for Kurt, if he came in) Blaine didn't want to get let down again.

He headed out the door with still semi damp hair and ran his hand through it a few times, trying to dry it a little before he got to work. Melissa was there before him again, like usual, and she grinned when he walked in the door, "I like it when your hair is like that."

"Like what?" Blaine asked, running his hand through it again, wondering what he had done to it.

"Normal," She replied, "I mean, it looks nice gelled too, but I like seeing your curly hair."

He smiled in return, "Thanks."

Work went by quickly, which Blaine was thankful for, and they were busy up until about eight-thirty. Blaine was looking down, cleaning up a spilled coffee on the counter, when Melissa nudged him and tried to grab his rag, "I've got this."

"No, it's fine," Blaine tried to argue, but she nudged him again.

"Someone is here for you," She whispered, motioning for Blaine to look up.

And of course, there was Kurt, standing at the front of the counter, bag thrown over his shoulder, and looking sleepy. He smiled when his eyes met Blaine's though, "Hey."

Blaine smiled back and let Melissa take over cleaning, "Hey, aren't you late for class?"

Kurt nodded, "Yeah, I forgot to set my alarm and Rachel didn't have an early class this morning."

"Nonfat mocha?" Blaine asked, punching it into the computer.

"Yup," Kurt replied, and went to hand him money, but Blaine shook his head.

"This one's on the house," He said, looking up and smiling.

Kurt raised his eyebrows, "Are you sure?"

Blaine nodded, "You need it."

"Thanks," Kurt replied. He watched as Blaine made his coffee and smiled when he grabbed a large cup instead of a medium one.

Blaine took a little extra time making Kurt's coffee partly because he had missed seeing him, and wanted to take advantage of the little time he had to talk to him, but mostly because he was trying to figure out the right way to ask him out on a date. Had it been the day before, he would have been prepared. He had looked nice, and he had a script all planned out in his head for when he asked Kurt, but now he was sure he didn't look his best, and he was still somewhat sleepy. When Blaine handed Kurt his coffee wordlessly and Kurt thanked him again and turned to walk away, he finally decided to speak up, "Hey Kurt?"

He turned on his heel so he was facing Blaine again, "Yes?"

Blaine cleared his throat, "Would you uhm… would you want to go get lunch sometime?" When Kurt didn't say anything he continued, nervous, "I mean, somewhere that isn't here, of course…"

Kurt smiled, "Yeah, sure. That sounds fun." He wasn't quite sure why in the world he had said yes. He knew that if he went out to lunch with Blaine, it would take him out of his little comfort zone he had built, but he couldn't say no. Not to mention, he had promised himself that if Blaine asked him out or asked for his number, he would tell him about his boyfriend. "How does Monday sound?"

Blaine smiled back, relieved that Kurt had said yes, "That sounds great."

"Great," Kurt replied, still grinning, "Meet me here at noon?"

Blaine nodded, "Yeah, noon sounds good."

Kurt turned back around and waved as he walked out, "See you Monday Blaine."

The second the door shut and Kurt was out of sight, Blaine and Melissa were practically jumping up and down together. "I can't believe he said yes," Blaine breathed out, excited.

"And I'm going to be working then, so you have to come early so I can make sure you look good," She replied.

Blaine laughed, "Naturally."

Though Blaine was excited for Monday, Kurt was mentally freaking out on his walk to class that morning after Blaine had asked him out. And during class. And after class. He wanted so badly to tell Rachel about what had happened but he knew that all he was going to get was a big "I told you so" followed by her teasing him and then finally a serious talk about why it would be wrong to go to lunch with Blaine if he had any feelings for him at all, and especially if Blaine thought it was a date while Kurt thought it was a "just friends" sort of thing.

Kurt managed to get it off of his mind for most of the day Saturday by hanging out with Rachel and Hayden, but Sunday, he was left alone with his thoughts. Rachel was out with some boy, and Hayden had homework, and normally he would have taken the opportunity to go say hi to Blaine, but he couldn't. He knew if he went and saw him now, it would mess with his mind even more. Kurt tried to keep himself occupied with homework, and when that didn't work, he tried catching up on TV shows he had missed. When neither proved successful, he picked up his phone to call someone who would hopefully know what to tell him.

It rang twice before Mercedes answered, "Kurt! What's up?"

He smiled to himself at her familiar voice, "Hey Mercedes. Are you busy?"

"Nope," She replied, and he was suddenly very glad that he and Mercedes had stayed close even though they were in different states.

"I need some advice," He said slowly and he could hear a door click shut on the other end of the phone.

"Alright, shoot."

He sighed, "Okay, it's kind of a long story, so I'll try to shorten it."

"I have time," Mercedes said, still sounding cheerful.

"Alright," Kurt took a deep breath, "So. About a month ago, this new guy started working at this coffee shop that Rachel and I go to all of the time… And I'm not going to lie. He's pretty cute."

Mercedes laughed, "Okay…"

"Well, since I go in there all the time, I've gotten to know him better. Sometimes I'll go in for lunch and he'll take his break and hang out with me, but it's always been a 'just friends' type of thing. And then yesterday he asked me if I'd like to go get lunch with him sometime…" He trailed off.

"And you said yes," Mercedes finished, guessing where it was heading.

"Yeah," Kurt sighed.

"And he's gay?"

"Yeah," Kurt repeated.

"Well what do you think of him?" She asked, trying to figure out what he needed help with.

Kurt ran his hand through his hair nervously, "I don't know. I mean, he's really nice. And he's definitely good looking. He's from Ohio, too. I guess we have a lot in common."

"So do you like him?" She asked simply.

"I don't know…" He replied, "I mean I guess a little, but I don't know him that well."

Mercedes was quiet for a second, "Does he know that you have a boyfriend?"

"No."

"Why not?" She asked, and Kurt wanted to kick himself. He had been asking himself that ever since Blaine had complimented him on Hayden's sweater. He had multiple chances to tell Blaine that he had a boyfriend, yet never did, and he didn't know why.

"I don't know…"

"I do," She replied simply, "It's because you do like him. If you weren't interested, you would have had no problem telling him that you were taken."

Of course. It made perfect sense when someone else said it. Kurt sighed, "So what do I do?"

"When are you supposed to get lunch with him?" She asked, instead of answering his question.

"Tomorrow."

"Well, take it from someone who has cheated before, Kurt. If you feel like you'd have to hide the fact that you're going to lunch with…"

"Blaine," Kurt supplied, realizing that he hadn't told her his name yet.

"Right," She continued, "If you feel like you'd have to hide the fact that you're going to lunch with Blaine from Hayden, then you might as well already be cheating on him. If you're already lying to him, Kurt, it's just going to lead to bad things. Now, I'm not telling you what to do, but if you think that you can't just be friends with Blaine without it leading to something more, you need to figure out what and who it is that you want, because it's not fair to either of them."

"Shit…" Kurt sighed, realizing that Mercedes was probably right.

"I didn't mean to be harsh," She continued, "But you asked for my advice and that's it."

"No, you're right, Mercedes," He said softly, "Thank you. That's what I needed to hear."