The following day went by all too quickly and all too slowly at the same time. Both  New Directions and the Warblers spent the better part of the day rehearsing. All of the show choirs had to rotate between rooms that were available to practice in at the hotel and at the theater. It was late afternoon before either group was finished rehearsing. They had gotten breaks of course, but, not enough to do anything other than sit in their hotel rooms trying to recuperate for the next session. There was still an air of excitement when New Directions made it back to the hotel after rehearsing at the theater, though, it was noticeable how tired everyone was after the long day. There was chattering in the lobby as Kurt made his way to his room but the giddy excitement from the evening before was a lot lower. Kurt scanned the lobby for any Warbler, just so he would know they were there. 

“Not seeing something?” Mercedes’s voice was soft next to him. His face had fallen a little when he didn’t see any of the Warblers in the lobby. Kurt looked at her and she understood his disappointment without him having to explain. She hooked her arm through his and they walked up to their room. When they got to the room Kurt lingered just outside the door trying to hear if anyone was in the room across from him without actually pressing his ear to the door. 

“Come on, I’m sure we’ll see them later.” Rachel had replaced Mercedes’s place at his side. She grabbed his hand and tugged him into the room. Kurt hadn’t realized how tired he actually was until he saw the bed. Exhaustion took over his body and all he wanted to do was lie down. Mercedes had beaten him to it. As much as he wanted to, there was no way he could let himself sleep in his current state of grossness. He took the shower first this time while the girls napped.

He had just laid down when the phone rang. Rachel was cleaning up and Mercedes was asleep. Kurt answered the phone reluctantly, letting it ring, knowing who it was going to be. 

“Hello.” Kurt was sure to put his frustration into his voice. Mr. Shue was going to make them do something other than sleep and he was not okay with that.

“Um-Hi...Kurt? This is, uh, Blaine.” Kurt gasped into the phone and he began shaking Mercedes awake. 

“Yes! Hi. I’m sorry, I thought you were may director calling to make us rehearse some more. It-it’s been a long day.”

“Oh, don’t worry about it. Um...I was just wondering if you were here and if you maybe wanted to-to uh, hang out?” Kurt could hear the slight nervousness in Blaine’s voice. It was cute. “Kurt?” He hadn’t realized that he had been quiet for too long. Mercedes was stirring beside him.

“I would love that. When do you want to meet up?”

“How about 20 minutes? Is that okay? We just got back...”

“Yea that’s fine, take your time.” Kurt was looking directly at his best friend as he hung up the phone. She didn’t look pissed because he woke her up so Kurt figured it must all be showing on his face. It was one of the qualities that he didn’t particularly like about himself. His emotions were an open book.

“So? Are you going to leave me hanging or tell me what just happened?” It was Rachel who asked from the other side of the room. She was leaning against the door frame of the bathroom, wrapped in a towel, and had missed the silent communication between Kurt and Mercedes. The two best friends were still staring at each other when Mercedes just about exploded. 

“You need to get out of there now!” Mercedes exclaimed excitedly, running to Rachel and pulling her away from the bathroom.

“But-” she still didn’t get was going on.

“My boy,” Mercedes said turning to Kurt, “has a date!” Her words seemed to set something off in Kurt. He jumped off the bed and began rapidly going through his bag. He had no idea what to wear! 

“Kurt that’s great!!” All of the rummaging around and the excitement drew the other four girls into the room. They all knew what was going on when they saw Kurt running back and forth between the bathroom and his suitcase, and, quite frankly, Kurt didn’t care at all about how much Santana would make fun of him afterwards. Twenty minutes later Kurt was getting approval on his outfit from all the girls and everyone was wishing him luck. Kurt stood nervously at the door to his hotel room. He looked back at Mercedes. She was beaming.

“Go get him!” Santana shouted. God, he hoped they hadn’t heard that across the hall.

Blaine hung up the phone with a huge grin on his face. Thad was already calling Wes, David, and Trent. Blaine sat for a minute on his bed. He, Blaine Anderson, had a date. Not only that, but he had done the asking. All at once he got nervous. He needed to shower and redo his hair and, what was he going to wear! By the time he got out of the shower, Trent had shown up. He was informed that Wes and David were on their way. Five minutes later they arrived with Nick and Jeff in tow. Blaine was half dressed and working on gelling his hair back. He hadn’t decided what kind of top to go with or if he should wear a bow tie so he left that decision for when all of his friends were there to help. There was a celebratory holler from Nick when as soon as he arrived. Blaine blushed and cringed, hoping that they hadn’t been able to hear that across the hall. 

Blaine emerged from the bathroom, his hair in place and fully dressed. It had been agreed by all his friends that he should wear a bow tie. Blaine agreed. He didn’t want to push too far on looking formal but he was comfortable wearing bow ties and he was happy that his friends agreed with him. He was about to leave when they decided to school him on dating advice. It was another five minutes before they let him go.

Blaine was mentally scolding himself for being late to the date that he had planned. He was happy that the elevator was empty so he could pull himself together. The elevator stopped at the lobby and, taking a breath, Blaine stepped out. It was a lot less crowded than the day before and even half an hour before, when the Warblers had gotten back from rehearsal. He looked around nervously for Kurt. It didn’t take long to find him. He was gorgeous, sitting on one of the couches in a more secluded part of the lobby. Blaine was very happy that he had decided to dress up a little though he was certain that this was simply how Kurt dressed all of the time. Kurt looked up as if he was looking for Blaine and caught his eye. They waived at each other from across the room and Blaine walked over to Kurt. Kurt stood up when Blaine got close. Blaine thought that Kurt was gorgeous while sitting but now he was standing and he looked like a Grecian statue. 

“Hi.” Kurt said.

“Hi.” Blaine wasn’t really sure how this was going to go. He hadn’t planned passed meeting up.

“So,” Kurt rocked on his feet nervously, “what did you want to do?” Blaine ran his hand over his hair. He was just as nervous as Kurt was.

“To be honest I hadn’t really thought that far ahead.” Kurt smiled at him. “I think I saw a small café just down the street. Do you want to get coffee?” 

“I love coffee.” Kurt was still smiling in sweet, endearing, and comforting way. They started to leave when Kurt stopped. Blaine looked at him,confused.

“Sorry, I was just thinking I should probably let my director know.” Kurt took his phone out of his pocket.

“Right, of course.” Blaine waited while Kurt stepped away and made his phone call. He was freaking out on the inside. This had to be one of those plans where you call someone to get out of a bad date. Kurt didn’t like him. What had he been thinking? Kurt returned after a few minutes.

“That man can be such a pain some times. I’m good to go. Blaine?” During Kurt’s absence, Blaine had completely convinced himself that Kurt was going to bail on him. 

“Sorry, I was, um...lost in thought. Shall we?” Blaine extended his arm to show Kurt the way. The café was at the end of the block that the hotel was on. They walked there in silence. Both of them were hyper aware of their arms brushing because of their close proximity due to the other people on the sidewalk. There was small line when the walked into the café. 

“How do you like your coffee?” Blaine asked when they got close to the counter.

“Grande non-fat mocha.” Blaine ordered for both of them and had to insist on paying when Kurt tried to slip money to the cashier. They talked about their days as they waited for their coffees and sat down.

“So you guys don’t have a director?” Kurt asked. The Warblers were very different from New Directions. 

“We have a student director who is elected at the beginning of the year and, like, an executive group. We do have a faculty advisor, though because we can’t travel to competitions on our own.”

“That must be nice. Mr. Shue is always turning things into some kind of lesson. Some of them are really bizarre. For instance, one time we had to sing songs that expressed how bad drinking is.” Both boys laughed, Kurt because he was remembering the atrocity of a week that was and Blaine because it sounded ridiculous. They talked about life and the future. Blaine was not surprised to find out that Kurt wanted to move to New York. He had this way about him that just made him appear to belong there. Blaine was also planning on moving to New York for college. They talked for two hours, their drinks long gone. It was nearly eight when they decided they should be getting back to the hotel. On their way back, they held hands.