The following days were the most exciting of Blaine’s high school career. Every time Kurt saw Blaine he would smile and wave—they even had a short conversation in the bathroom one day about bowties. Blaine was on cloud nine. He was still watching Kurt from a distance, but suddenly that distance seemed smaller. More importantly, Kurt was watching Blaine, too. Well, watching might be a little strong—acknowledging is probably more accurate. Blaine was probably overreacting. A smile doesn’t mean anything except that he’s polite, but Blaine swooned every time he and Kurt met eyes.

            The weekend couldn’t have gone slower. Lord of the Rings couldn’t hold his interest and he only spent two hours on World of Warcraft the entire weekend. He spent the rest of the weekend wandering around the house trying to put something in his head other than Kurt. He memorized the names of all the painters of the paintings in his house. He baked four different kinds of cookies and a red velvet cake his mom ended up bringing to her book club meeting. He researched diseases online for a while but stopped once he’d convinced himself he had malaria. By Sunday night he was lying on his living room floor, his legs resting above him on the couch. He was staring at the ceiling fan trying to follow one blade as it went around, thinking about Kurt. He’d given up trying not to think about him. He compromised with himself, though, and decided that it was acceptable to think about Kurt, but only in the form of tutoring him. He struggled to stay concentrated on chemistry, though, and in the end sang the period table of the elements song until he could no longer keep his eyes open.

            Blaine sprang out of bed the moment his alarm went off Monday morning. He had set it an extra half hour early in order to make sure he looked perfect. He had a lot of work to do if he was going to make up for last week. He had picked out his outfit the night before, but still ended up changing it four times. He styled his hair to perfection and stood in front of his mirror. He didn’t want to look like he was trying too hard, but he also didn’t want to look like he didn’t care. He wondered if this is what girls did every morning. He wondered if boys usually did this too. He wondered if he was just a freak.

            When Blaine got to school he walked quickly to his locker, hoping to make the day go as quickly as possible. As he rounded the corner, he saw Kurt standing by the door. His heart started pounding as he approached.

            “Hey, Kurt. How are you?”

            “Blaine, good. I was just making sure you’re still helping me this afternoon. I swear chemistry is a second language,” Kurt asked, smiling.

            “Yeah, I was planning on it.” Blaine laughed. “A second language, really?”

            “Hey, we can’t all be geniuses. I’ll see you this afternoon,” Kurt said. Blaine watched him go before he entered his classroom.

            The day went quickly for Blaine, probably because he didn’t pay attention in any of his classes. Instead, he let his mind wander to the upcoming study session.

            Finally, Blaine found himself walking into the library, spotting Kurt in the corner just like last week. When he approached, Kurt smiled and gestured toward the seat next to him.

            “How was your day?” he asked as Blaine sat.

            “It was alright. School’s pretty easy I guess. It gets a little boring. How about you?”

            Kurt sighed. “Well, it was alright. Most of my subjects are pretty easy too. Mostly I was looking forward to coming here.” Blaine froze—had Kurt just said that? That he was looking forward to the study session? He couldn’t have been looking forward to studying—was he flirting with Blaine?

Blaine flashed Kurt what he hoped was a flirty smile and said: “Yeah, me too.” They both blushed as they refocused their attention on the homework. It took a little bit, but Kurt seemed to have a pretty good handle on the subject, much better than last week anyway. It didn’t take long before the subject strayed away from chemistry.

“So, Blaine, what grade are you? I don’t remember ever seeing you around before. I would guess you’re a freshman except you’re in senior math.”

“Oh, no, I’m a sophomore. What about you?”

“Junior. Are you in any clubs?”

“No. I usually go home as soon as school is over. I do my homework and play… videogames. You’re in glee club, right?”

“Yeah, the New Directions. I’m the most talented person in that club, but Mr. Shue doesn’t realize it. He only has eyes for Rachel Berry.” Blaine groaned. “What, don’t you like Rachel?”

Blaine sputtered—was Kurt friends with her? If he said no would Kurt get mad? What if Kurt didn’t like her either, though, because she got all the solos? Blaine decided he’d take his chances with the truth.

“Well, I mean, I don’t really know her, but we’ve shared some classes. I think she’s a little…obnoxious.” Blaine whispered the last word, scared of Kurt’s reaction.

“Oh my god! She totally is! Every time she opens her mouth I want to punch her in the face!” Kurt bounced in his seat, and Blaine sighed with relief. And so the conversation built. First they complained about Rachel, and then they talked about Glee club. Blaine didn’t know how long they had been talking before the subject of music came up.

“You’ve never seen a musical? Blaine! How can… what about… BLAINE!” Kurt seemed truly horrified by Blaine’s confession, and Blaine worried that this would end what he thought was a very flirty afternoon. Instead, though, Kurt started talking about all his favorite musicals and why he liked them.

“…because a brush of the fingertips is as sexy as it gets.” Blaine looked at the dreamy expression on Kurt’s face, and his heart started beating faster once again. Kurt liked romance. Blaine liked romance. Suddenly his head was filled with images of the two of them out on a date, a romantic dinner, maybe a movie, holding hands as they walked down the street. Blaine couldn’t stop the blush that formed on his cheeks.

“Blaine, would you like to come to my house on Friday and watch a musical? I can’t even begin to comprehend the fact that you’ve never seen one. We can order pizza, it’ll be fun.” Blaine wanted to cry with joy. Kurt was inviting him over. On a Friday night.

“Yeah, Kurt. That sounds nice,” he responded, hoping he didn’t sound as excited as he felt. He could feel the adrenaline pumping through his veins. Kurt smiled.

“Great. Well I really should go. I have lots of other homework tonight and I have to practice for Glee tomorrow. I’ll see you tomorrow?” Kurt asked as he packed up his stuff.

“Yeah. See you tomorrow, Kurt.”