The following Monday was a drag. From the moment my alarm clock decided to blare at a�way�too early hour, I realized that the day would be horrible. Since I hadn't had the good sense of going to bed at a reasonable hour (I really wanted to win that Liz Taylor jewelry auction…), I was craving the coffee as I woke up half an hour late. Of course, this was the day the coffee machine had decided to break. So, without coffee, with no time for breakfast and only a quick version of my morning skin care routine, I finally went to school.

I entered my first class just as the last bell rang, but since I was so tired, I spent the most of the class dozing off. The day continued in the same fashion, but I was too tired to care. I figured I'd just ask Rachel or Mercedes later what we were doing that day.

The bell had just rung out from the last class of the day, and I was leaning my head against my locker door with eyes closed and head pounding. I was really not used to being up all night; one night short of sleep and I felt like I was getting sick.

Someone cleared their throat next to me, making my eyes fly up in surprise. Standing next to me, watching me intently, was Blaine. He was wearing his usual leather jacket, open to expose the baby blue t-shirt hugging his chest tightly. He was twisting his hands nervously as he leaned back against the lockers, a hard look on his face. His thick eyebrows were pulled together as he threw glances at the remaining people in the hallway. What caught my attention, though, was his hair. Blaine's always perfectly styled and slightly curly hair looked ridiculous as it now was flattened out completely by a ton of hair gel.

"Did you want something?" I asked, feeling annoyed with nothing in particular.

Blaine turned his head at my tone of voice. His nervousness seemed to fade by the second, and instead growing annoyed himself.

"Look, Hummel, I'm sorry for what I said, okay?" Blaine spat. "I didn't think it would hurt your feelings or whatever. Shit." He crossed his arms over his chest and pressed his lips into a firm line as he glared at a couple of girls walking by us.

"Apology accepted," I replied dryly. I started to get my things from my locker and waited for Blaine to leave. Except... he didn't.

"I was wondering…" Blaine begun, speaking quieter. "If you'd like to get coffee, or something."

I closed my locker and quirked an amused eyebrow at him. "Are you asking me out on a date?"

Blaine shrugged. For a moment, I could look deeply into his eyes and see the uncertainty in them, the insecurity and the scared guy who was positive that he'd get hurt. But quickly Blaine covered it up by his hard exterior, clenching his jaws together. It was like the wall he'd let down for a second was being brought up higher and tighter than ever before.

"If you don't like coffee, then just forget it," Blaine bellowed and walked away.

I had to quicken my pace to catch up with him, effectively pulling him to a stop when I hooked my arm in his. "I love coffee," I smiled. Blaine didn't smile back though, just stared at me in astonishment. "I was thinking we could go to-"

"Um, no," Blaine interrupted softly. "There was actually somewhere I'd like to take you, if that's okay."

"Of course," I beamed. "Just lead the way."

. . . .

Twenty minutes and a lot of traffic later, I pulled into a parking lot after Blaine's motorcycle for the coffee place at the outskirts of town called the Lima Bean. I had been there once or twice during my period of ogling Dalton boys; it was apparently a common prep-school hangout. I was curious as to why Blaine had brought me to this particular place.

We walked into the coffee shop together under silence. The queue wasn't too bad, only a couple of people ahead of us. But there was still an awkward silence as we waited in the line. I looked at the menu to avoid the awkwardness, and made attempt to small talk.

"Do you know what you're getting?" I asked, eyes skimming through the various coffee orders.

"Uh, a Large Drip," Blaine said, sounding distracted.

I looked up to see that he wasn't looking ahead anymore, instead to the side of the coffee shop where a group of guys wearing the familiar Dalton uniform were seated. Blaine quickly averted his eyes as he realized I'd caught him staring at them. We both stepped forward in the moving line, but not before I noticed one of the guys at the Dalton table turning his head away from their conversation and met eyes with me. The guy then flicked his eyes to my side, and he raised his eyebrows with an amused smirk placed firmly on his lips as he saw Blaine.

I leaned closer to Blaine, lowering my voice so that no one would overhear. "Do you know those guys?" I asked subtly.

Blaine shook his head and began to order his coffee.

"One Large Drip for me, and… sorry, what did you want?" The last part was directed to me.

"Uh, uh, I, uh," I stammered, being so distracted by the guy from Dalton that I'd forgotten to decide what I wanted. I quickly looked at the menu again, getting the first best thing my eyes landed on. "Um, a Non-Fat Mocha? Grande?" I wasn't sure why I said it as a question.

Having my order told, I was about to scout for a vacant table. But when I heard Blaine speak again, I stopped in my tracks.

"-to go," Blaine added. When he saw my surprised look, he let out a small laugh. "You didn't think a tedious coffee shop was what I wanted to show you, did you?" he teased.

I still wasn't sure that was it, and quickly darted my eyes back to the guys from before.

"It's not about them," Blaine said quickly, harshly. He sighed and let his shoulders drop. "It's not."

"Okay," I replied, letting it go. For now. We walked together to get our coffees, and soon were walking back out towards the door and leaving the place behind. But we weren't fast enough.

"Blaine! Hey, Blaine!" A voice called from behind. I turned to see the guy who's been looking before, but when I turned back to Blaine, he had already sped up.

Blaine noticed me hesitate, but only barely. "Let's just go, please," he begged, grabbing my hand and lacing his fingers with mine to pull me along. The horror in those wide and shiny eyes were enough for me to nod and speed up. I was surprised that Blaine had initiated the contact in such a public place, but judging by the look on his face, he wasn't really thinking of what he was doing.

The crisp air outside the coffee shop hit me hard in the face as we stumbled out, and I had to pull my jacket closer around myself to keep warm. However, Blaine didn't slow down like I did. He surprised me again when he kept rushing across the parking lot in the opposite direction of my car and his bike instead of toward them.

"Blaine, where are you going?" I called after him, hurrying to catch up while trying to take a sip of my coffee at the same time. I had gone the�whole day�without coffee, you can't blame me. But I got no reply.

There was a wide ditch next to the edge of the forest that Blaine seemed to be following, so I followed him quietly for the rest of the walk, trusting him that he knew what he was doing. Soon enough, the forest on the other side of the ditch cleared and revealed a large field covered in yellow, dried grass.

Wondering when we would reach our stop, Blaine suddenly sat down halfway down the ditch, which was covered in the same yellowish grass. It looked really uncomfortable to sit on, and it was probably really cold too. But Blaine sat down anyway, and when he did so he looked relieved. I followed his lead, sliding down next to him on the tilting ground.

There was a small stream of water trickling below us, looking like a baby brook. The whole place looked so cold and barren, I had a hard time finding its immediate appeal.

"No one ever comes out here," Blaine mused, his voice breaking the silence. "I guess that's what makes it a good place to think and just be alone for a while."

I nodded and warmed my hands on my paper cup. "So this is like your 'place'?"

"I suppose." Blaine sipped his coffee, and I didn't miss the way his lips reddened from the heat.

Then something hit me, the underlying meaning boiling right under the surface. "You've never brought anyone else here before, have you?"

Blaine shook his head and finally met my eyes with such an intensity that I couldn't have looked away even if I had wanted to. He reached down to re-attach out hands, and lifted them both to place small kisses to each of my knuckles. The small loving gesture took my breath away - it was almost overwhelming of how amazing such simplicity could feel.

Blaine put his coffee aside and laid down with his back to the ground. I did the same, while keeping our hands in each other's between us, being the only part of our bodies touching. His large hand was arm around my cold one. The ground was firm beneath my back, but it's wasn't hard or uncomfortable like I'd first thought it would be. The grass created a sort of elastic mattress of comfort. It was all very nice.

"It's even nicer in the evening," Blaine told me, looking up to the gray and cloud-clad sky. "There are no city lights nearby, so nothing fades out the stars. Unless it's cloudy, of course. Obviously it's nicer in the summer when it isn't so cold and the creek's bigger and the crickets-"

His voice faded as he looked back at me and saw me staring at him, as opposed to up at the sky like he'd probably expected me to. I could see that he was trying to fight back a smile as his eyes met mine. "What?"

"You're so beautiful."

Nothing. I have to go. It's getting late. We should probably stop seeing each other. All of those phrases were at the tip of my tongue, but instead I had blurted out the one I really shouldn't have said. It was the one I had wanted to say, which was the reason why I shouldn't have said it. Because if it was just a part of the game then it would've been a great asset to my advantage. But that wasn't it. I wanted to say it because it was�true. And that was bad. Very bad.

"Thank you," Blaine whispered sincerely.

It didn't hit me then, that it was probably the first time someone had actually said that to him. The first time that it had counted.

He scooted closer on the bank until our shoulders were touching, and stretched his neck until he was close enough to kiss me. I rolled over to my side to give him easier access, and sighed into his mouth because of how good the simple gesture felt. The kiss wasn't urged, it wasn't rushed. It was small and simple; a contact that was dragged-out simply because we couldn't get enough of it.

Being with Blaine was easy, simple. It made my heart warm and my stomach flutter. Overall it was just�nice.

Too nice for my own good.