"I can't believe you dragged us all the way to Lima to buy socks, Blaine," David commented, sounding appalled. Blaine shot his friend an apologetic look before turning back towards the socks. Yes, maybe he was being a little overdramatic, but he happened to like the Lima mall. Plus, there was no way he was going to buy socks at the Gap in Westerville. He still wasn't over that debacle yet.

"You didn't have to come with," he therefore said.

"You said you were going to the mall," Nick said as he carelessly looked through various shirts he didn't need and would never buy anyway. "We didn't have anything to do, so we figured we might as well come. But you never mentioned it was the mall in Lima, which is an hour and a half away from Dalton! Where did you get that idea?"

Blaine shrugged, having found some socks that should fit. Maybe he'd better buy some more, though, just in case. Besides, one could never have enough socks. "My parents don't live too far from here. I come here a lot during the summer." He ruffled through the socks in search for more pairs. "Okay, maybe not a lot. But often enough."

When he didn't get an answer, he looked around and stared. He wasn't the only one, though.

"Trent, what on earth are you wearing?" Wes asked, sounding a little irked.

Said boy didn't reply, just did a twirl so they could all see his new outfit better.

"I'm pretty sure my twelve year old sister owns the same hat," Nick commented, and Trent looked affronted.

"You're not thinking about buying that, right?" Wes asked. "Because there's no way you can still claim you're straight if you do."

"Are you saying I regularly walk around in clothes like that?" Blaine asked him, looking from Trent to Wes and back. "If you do, I may have to take offense." He might not be the most fashionable gay guy around, but even he could see that first of all, the colours clashed, and second of all, the outfit was horribly outdated. "I'm just going to buy these socks." One could never go wrong with socks – unless they had lace on them or something – especially since Blaine usually wore the Dalton uniform. It wasn't hard to find matching socks for that.

After he'd paid for the socks, Blaine walked back to where his friends had been before. Now, however, they were gone. They were probably just waiting outside, though, Blaine realised, but before he could go after them, he heard, "Blaine! Wait up."

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Trent jogging towards him as quickly as the clothing racks spread around the store let him. "So you didn't buy those clothes, then?" he asked, immediately noticing the lack of bags in his friend's hands.

"Of course not," Trent replied. "It was just for fun. Not my fault you guys took it so seriously."

They found their friends a few shops down, looking at some technical stuff Blaine didn't know an awful lot about. As he waited for his friends to finish looking, Blaine glanced around at all the other people in the mall. It looked like a group was gathering downstairs, and right when he looked back around, he saw a very familiar girl.

"Hey, Wes," he muttered quietly, lest the girl or her friend heard him, "isn't that that girl from New Directions?"

"Could be," Wes replied without looking around. "We're in Lima, after all, which is where their school is."

Blaine inched a little further away from his friends to see what was going on, and by now, the girl and boy had reached another boy (from whom Trent, and probably everyone Blaine knew, including himself, could take some fashion advice) who quickly dismissed the first boy. He couldn't hear the conversation very well, but he knew Barbra Streisand was somehow involved. But this was a mall in Ohio, right? Why would she be here? That made absolutely no sense.

Blaine glanced down again, and wasn't really surprised to see that the group gathering downstairs had only grown. The mohawked boy who'd just brought the girl here was standing next to what had to be some sort of jukebox, and suddenly – Blaine suspected that maybe the other boy had given him a sign – there was a lot of music. Loud music.

"What's going on?" Nick was now standing next to Blaine and both boys gaped down, where, naturally, even more people were gathering.

Blaine glanced sideways for a second and stared. "I think it's a flash mob?" he said uncertainly. People at their floor were also getting involved, and the boy who'd just been talking to that girl was now moving his hips and – okay. Blaine lost all rational thought for a moment.

It was a good thing, though, that they were already standing near the railings, as it suddenly became a very popular place to stand for the people who weren't involved in this mob.

"What are they doing?" Blaine looked around to find Wes and David standing behind him.

"A flash mob," he repeated. "I'm not sure why, but I think it may have something to do with New Directions."

"Too bad we're already out of the competition this season," David said, and Blaine silently agreed. This was, after all, the perfect way to spy on the competition. Then again, the Warblers weren't really spies. They preferred to play fair.

By now, the group on the escalator had arrived downstairs, including the girl and the boy, and they started dancing there. A few unsuspecting shoppers seemed caught off guard for a moment, but they didn't seem irritated. In fact, some of them even joined in.

Then, suddenly, more people Blaine suddenly recognised as being in New Directions also walked forward, and –

"Is that Trent?" Nick asked, sounding slightly exasperated.

"It wouldn't surprise me," Wes replied. "Where?"

Nick pointed, and indeed, Trent had managed to find his way down and was now dancing along, even though he obviously didn't know the steps.

"We should take him out more," David suggested. "This is an entirely different side of him that I've never seen before…"

So for Trent's sake, Nick had already whipped out his phone to film the remainder of the flash mob. Blaine had to admit, it looked like a lot of fun. Maybe he should've joined in too when he had the chance.

When the song was over, everyone cheered for the dancers, Blaine and his friends included. "That looked pretty cool," Nick commented. "We should do more flash mobs."

"Do you remember what happened the last time we performed in public without it being a competition?" Wes asked, and Blaine quickly glanced the other way. Yes, that had been quite the disaster.

"We could do flash mobs at Dalton," Nick suggested. "Instead of telling people we're going to perform, we just perform in between classes. Maybe in the cafeteria, during lunch! And everyone can dance along!"

"I'm afraid that wouldn't really do our reputation much good." Clearly, Wes didn't like the idea very much.

By now, they'd arrived downstairs, but Trent was nowhere to be seen. Looking back up to where they'd just stood, they didn't see their friend either.

"Awesome," David muttered, looking around furiously. "Where'd he go? He can't be that far away."

"We'll just split up and look for him," Wes decided. "Blaine, you're staying here, in case he comes back. David and I will go back upstairs while Nick searches the stores on this floor."

Blaine wondered why he was the one who had to stay where he was, but he obeyed anyway. If Wes was to come back and he wasn't here… well, Blaine wasn't exactly keen on finding out what would happen. Hopefully, though, it wouldn't take them too long.

Wait. Why didn't they just text Trent to find out where he was? Blaine took out his phone to send a message, only to find out that he had no signal here. Great.

"Why are you mad at your phone?" someone suddenly asked, and Blaine looked up instantly, not realising that someone was approaching him. It was a blond girl that he thought was a New Directions member, though he couldn't be sure. "Did it get infected with little ants, too?" She actually looked worried, but Blaine had no idea what she was talking about. "When mine did, I tried to take it apart to get them out, but then I couldn't figure out how to put it back together anymore, so now I don't have a phone."

"Uh – " Blaine started, alarmed, but luckily, he didn't have to think of an answer that would fit that question. A boy in a wheelchair came up to them and smiled apologetically.

"Come on, Brittany," he said. "Didn't you say you wanted to go to the pet shop to see if they have something to make Lord Tubbington stop smoking?"

The girl nodded enthusiastically, and waved at Blaine before pushing the boy's wheelchair away.

"That was weird," Blaine muttered to himself, and he heard a chuckle coming from his right.

"That was Brittany." It was the boy who'd led the flash mob, and Blaine smiled.

"As in, that's normal behaviour for her?"

"Yeah, it is," the boy replied, looking Blaine up and down. "You're the lead Warbler, aren't you?" When Blaine nodded, surprised, the boy continued, "I thought I recognised you. I didn't expect to see you in Lima, though."

"My parents live in Lima," Blaine explained. "So I kind of know this place. Plus, there was an incident earlier this year that makes it almost impossible for me to shop in the Westerville Mall." Now, the boy looked concerned, so Blaine quickly added, "I… kind of made a fool out of myself. That's all."

"Good thing Rachel didn't see you here," the boy told him. "She would've thought you were spying, even though you're not competition anymore. It's kind of a reflex for her, you see…"

"Right." From what he was hearing, New Directions was rather insane. "Was it your idea, by the way? The flash mob? It was pretty awesome."

The boy smiled at the compliment. "Thank you. And yes, it was actually my idea. I was just lucky the others wanted to help."

"What was it for, though?" Blaine questioned. "Practice for Nationals?"

"Not really, no," the boy responded. He seemed to hesitate for a moment before saying, "I'm not sure if I should tell you. Personal issues from one of the members. We needed to hold an intervention."

"Sounds serious," Blaine couldn't help but comment. "But I get it. Where'd all your friends go, though?"

The other boy made a vague hand gesture. "They all had stuff to do the rest of the day," he replied. "And Rachel discovered there was actually as Macy's sale going on."

Blaine frowned slightly, deep in thought. "Maybe that's where Trent ran of to," he muttered, and again, the boy heard him anyway.

"What?" Now it was his turn to be confused.

"One of the guys who came here with me," Blaine clarified. "Somehow, he got involved in your flash mob, but when the rest of the group got downstairs, he was gone."

The two talked for another five minutes or so – Blaine found out the boy was actually called Kurt and introduced himself to him as well – and still, there was no sign of any of Blaine's friends. He looked around again, but didn't see them. He did, however, see a Starbucks. He hadn't had coffee in hours, and he realised only now that he was craving it.

"Blaine? Are you still here?" Kurt gave him an apprehensive look.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine." Blaine shook his head. "Hey, look, I'm sorry for asking, but do you think you could stay here for a minute while I go and get myself a coffee? I'm kind of in need of a caffeine fix now."

Kurt turned around for a moment. "I could go get some, if that works too," he offered. "I'd like some coffee as well, personally."

Blaine was already taking out his wallet and no matter how much Kurt protested that he didn't need to pay for both coffees, Blaine insisted. "If it wasn't for me, you wouldn't still be here," he said, and Kurt shot him an exasperated look.

"Seriously?" he asked. "If I didn't want to be here, I wouldn't be here anymore either. I mean," he swiftly added, "if I really didn't want to be talking to you, I wouldn't have bothered."

"Just take it," Blaine said, and apparently, Kurt realised that there was no way Blaine was going to let this go.

Within two minutes, he was back, with coffee. They stood in silence as they drank; that was, until Kurt commented, "It's pretty good coffee. Not as good as the Lima Bean's, but it'll do."

"You know the Lima Bean?" Blaine asked excitedly. "I love that place! They've got the best coffee in all of Ohio!" Before he could restrain himself, he asked, "Maybe we could meet up there some time! You're the only person I know who goes for coffee there!" Realising his mistake, he tried to save himself by saying, "Sorry, I really shouldn't have – just ignore what I just said, okay?"

Kurt, whose eyes had grown almost comically wide at first, now just smiled at him. "It's alright. And just for the record, I wouldn't have minded going for coffee with you."

"Oh." Blaine blinked stupidly. "Well, in that case, that's great! Could I – give you my number, or something?"

Kurt hid a smile behind his coffee cup, but not well enough for Blaine not to catch it anyway. "Sure," he replied. "It makes the whole meeting up thing a bit easier if we can discuss when to meet up there, doesn't it?"

In the middle of putting his contact information in Kurt's phone, Blaine suddenly noticed something approaching. Or rather, someone.

"Trent?" he exclaimed, as he handed Kurt his phone back. "What are you – where have you – the guys are looking all over the place for you!"

Trent gave Kurt a once-over before turning to Blaine and replying, "I had to use the restroom. As did, apparently, all the guys who took part in that flash-mob, and to top it all off, only one toilet actually worked. There was a line in front of the men's room. There's never a line in front of the men's room."

"Okay, so, what now?" Blaine asked, looking around frantically.

"Should I go find the guys?" Trent asked, seeming unperturbed by the fact that his friends had set up a searching squad for him.

"Just – stay here," Blaine replied after a few seconds. "They'll come back eventually."

Kurt cleared his throat uncomfortably. "I guess I'll just – go, then."

"Oh." Blaine hadn't really counted on that. In fact, he found he quite liked the other boy's company. "We'll talk soon, right?"

Kurt smiled. "Yeah. Yeah, I suppose we will. Bye, guys."

As soon as he was out of earshot, Trent asked Blaine, "So you let the guys do all the work, while you get friendly with a New Directions member?"

"It was Wes' idea," Blaine answered. "To look for you, I mean. And for me to stay behind. So if he has anything to say about it, it's kind of his own fault." He contemplated this for a moment. "Or maybe yours, since you could've waited for half a minute or so and just told us where you were going."

"I know, I know," Trent said. "I tried to call you, but there was no service, weirdly enough." A few seconds later, he added, "So we can't call the others either. Well, at least the flash mob was fun. We should propose something like that during the next Warblers meeting…"