I read the paper again, still not able to rid the lump in my throat. Nothing on this note is even hinting me who sent it. I make my way to the auditorium, the halls of the school are slowly being abandoned by people going home.

Opening the door of the auditorium, I’m disappointed to see that no one else is already here. I mean, if that’d been the case, I would’ve been able to turn around again if I didn’t like the situation. But I’m the first person here and now I have to wait. I make my way on the stage, take in a deep breath and try to relax. The peacefulness of the auditorium sure helps, but my heart skipsa beat when the door opens again and I see Blaine enter. My features harden, my face shows hostility. I am not excited about whatever this is going to be.

He stops when he sees me. “What are you doing here?” he looks surprised.

“I could ask you the same.” I spit back.

“I just got a note saying to come here after school.” He explains, holding up the note.

“Me too.” I frown feeling confused.

“Oh...well...have you got any idea who-“

“Nope.” I shrug, “guess we’ll have to wait.”

He nods and stays at the other side of the stage. The tension is so thick, I could cut it with a knife and eat it for dinner. Silence fillsthe room, no words are being shared between the two of us. I glance at Blaine as he’s nervously picking his shirt. I softly smile. Nice to know I’m not the only one who’s nervous. Gina walks in beaming at us both and the puzzle pieces are finally connecting.

“Hi guys! Nice to see you both received my note! I bet you’re wondering why I called you here? Well, I’ve almost decided on who gets which role but I’m still indecisive about who gets the lead. And since you two are the best male vocals who auditioned, I have called you both here to have a sing off.” She smiles, “The winner will get the role of Tony. The loser will, however, in addition to his own part, also be the lead’s understudy.”

I look at Blaine to find that he’s already looking at me. He raises his eyebrows as to say ‘Bring it on, Hummel.’ To which I respond with a smug smirk. Sing-offs are so exciting!

Gina keeps talking “But…instead of taking a cliché sing-off song, I decided to take one of my favourites. Which, by the way, I am totally entitled to do,” she smiles, “so I am shamelessly putting my love for Pink out there and letting you guys sing ‘Perfect’.” She whoops.

I suddenly lose a big part of my excitement. It’s not that I don’t like the song...it’s just that it’s a very emotional song to me. How am I supposed to sing that with him?

“Are you guys ready? Do any of you need the lyrics of this one? I printed them out, just in case.”

“Nah, I’m fine.” Blaine smiles.

I shake my head, letting her know I’m fine too.

“Well...since you both seem to know it, I’m not letting you prepare it, it’s survival of the strongest. Show me how badly you want it. Let the battle begin.” She says.I feel kind of nervous, ‘survival of the strongest’? Blaine will walk right over me.

However, the moment we look at each other, we both seem to know who’ll sing what. I won’t say it isn’t weird, but it just seems so obvious now.

We share another look, Gina starts the music and I start singing. I can feel his gaze on me as he’s waiting to join in. For the first time though, I don’t feel uncomfortable knowing he’s staring at me. I actually feel really at ease, knowing he’s on stage with me. I smile at him as he joins in and I am happy to see him do the same. He comes to stand next to me, now we are singing the chorus together. Our eyes lock and I can feel his breath on my face as he sings.

My stomach flips as he bolts out the last few notes and I know at that moment that I’ve lost. Gina claps and he looks at me. He gives me the biggest smile I have ever seen. I smile back, giving him a little nod as to let him know that I think he deserves to win. His smile grows, if possible, even bigger, but in his eyes I see something else. I recognize it easily, I’m so used to seeing it reflected in the mirror all the time: hurt.

Gina interrupts the moment, before I can say anything to him. “You guys sure didn’t make it easier,” she beams, “I’ll let you know by the end of the week.” And then she just leaves.

The both of us are still standing on stage with a post-performance endorphin rush. Well...at least that’s why I’m still standing here with a goofy smile on my face.

“You did good, Hummel.” He smiles at me.

I look at him. “Don’t sound so surprised.” I say smug.

“I’m serious. I’ve been told that you were good. I didn’t expect you to be this good.” He nods.

“You weren’t so bad yourself...Anderson.” I raise an eyebrow, mocking the way he always addresses me.

“Oh! So we’re on last name bases now, eh?” he laughs. The sound tingles in my ears.

“Well it’s what you do to me all the time.” I shrug.

“Fair enough.” He nods, his eyes divert, looking at the floor. I have no clue what is actually going on right now, this is so weird. Being around him and not being verbally abused, it’s weird. Still, it’s a nice change. “I do prefer Blaine though.” He adds,looking at me again and there’s something in the way he looks at me, the way his lips are curled into a beautiful smile, the way his eyes glisten, that makes my tummy flip.

“So...,” I briefly bite my lip -I didn’t even do it intentionally! It’s just an automatic response to this man only a few feet away from me- and look at him, “what do we do now?”

“Now,” silent pause, “now we wait.” He smiles and walks off, leaving me standing there perplex.