CHAPTER FIFTEEN

SATURDAY AFTERNOON

BLAINE

It was two in the afternoon by the time I woke up from my nap. I wasn't a huge napper, but I really needed it. My mind and body had been in overdrive for weeks and it was finally taking its toll. I felt slightly more rested but even more on edge as the gravity of my presence in Atlanta started to become real. I was meeting the one man I admired more than my father tomorrow morning for what could change the rest of my life. I needed to have an appropriate freak out session now rather than later while I was in front of him and would likely start blabbering - as I always do when I'm nervous - and say something dumb.

Thankfully knowing that I'm a bit of a spaz, I had pre-prepared questions for myself to ask Jeremy when the time had come. I also had asked Clark to send me some information that he knew about the producer along with any questions that he thought I should ask as well. I figured now would be as good a time as any to review these things and try to mentally prepare myself for tomorrow. Besides, I needed to not think about the fact that Kurt didn't reply to me. God, what if I read the whole thing wrong and he doesn't want to see me? I could tell my thoughts were creeping toward a negative place, so I forced the thoughts of Kurt and his lack of response from my mind before resigning myself to focusing on work once again.

Still laying in bed, I grabbed for my messenger bag that had found its way next to the bedside table. Groaning, I pulled my laptop from its compartment and threw it onto the bed next to me. Forcing myself to sit upright, I placed the laptop in my lap and leaned against the headboard.

Once the screen illuminated, I opened my browser and logged into my email. I clicked on the checkboxes next to the numerous junk emails littering my inbox before one peaked my interest.

From: NYCDate
Subject: You have a new message!

I had gotten some emails from guys from the site already, but part of me bubbled up with anticipation every time I saw an email come through from NYCDate - was this the email response from Kurt?

I opened the email and screamed.

Dear Blaine,

You have received a message from Kurt. To read the message, please login.

Sincerely,
NYCDate

It WAS from Kurt! I immediately started flailing my arms around and started shaking my laptop with disbelief. I flung the laptop onto the mattress and grabbed two pillows from the bed and squeezed them tightly before folding myself into the feathers of the pillow and giving a loud squeal.

If anyone had walked into my hotel room in that moment, they'd be surprised to hear that the noise coming from my room was not, in fact, from a teenage girl but a 26-year-old man who was fangirling his own life at the moment. I took a few more moments to try and calm myself before clicking the link in the email and switching over to the NYCDate website.

I anxiously entered my login information and clicked on the message center. There, amongst messages from lesser mortals, was the one from Kurt.

Subject: RE: Hi Kurt!

My heart skipped a beat as I clicked the message.

Hi Blaine!
Of course I remember you, how could I forget! I'm so glad you contacted me. I'd love to get to know you more as well. I guess we can email back and forth until you come back from your trip. Please don't spam me with emails from your mom's cat or something.
Can't wait to hear from you!
Kurt

khummel (a)freemail .com

Oh. My. God. Not only did I get a message from Kurt, he gave me his personal email address. I wouldn't be so bold to do that on the internet after just one exchange, but it's not like we were total strangers. If I had been in my right mind the night of the show and not distracted by Kurt's presence, I would have given him my card and he would have gotten in contact by email or something at some point. And besides, if Lauren was friends with him, he can't be some serial killer. I could always tell she had good taste when it came to people she considered friends since she honestly liked so few people in the first place.

I switched back to the tab with my email account, created a new message, and carefully entered in the email address Kurt had given. I wonder what khummel was. I guessed that it was his name like most people's email addresses, but was his name Kurt H. Ummel? Kurt Hummel? Kurt Humerdon Carmel? I mean, people have weird ways of including their names into email addresses. Who knows - there could be thousands of people with the same name vying for the same email address these days.

Rather than focus on Kurt's potential last name - and vowing not to Google khummel as soon as I sent the email - I needed to think about how to break the ice in the real email world and make sure my email to him didn't get mixed in with the usual clutter of the modern man's email inbox. I debated internally for a few minutes on what to write in the subject line before relying on ol' reliable.

Subject: Hi Kurt!

I added the extra exclamation point because I wanted to convey my excitement to be speaking with him gradually. If I had entered the amount of exclamation points I thought in my head about Kurt, there would have been too many to fit in the subject line.

I took a deep breath and started typing away. It had served me well so far to not overthink things too much, so I figured I could just write out what I was thinking then proofread and make sure I don't sound like a total idiot before I send.

Hi Kurt!
I'm so happy you messaged me back! I was surprised to find you on NYCDate, but is it wrong that I was really happy to see you on there? ;)
Anyway, I looked at your profile before messaging you first - had to be sure that you were the right Kurt after all - and I was really blown away. I think it's fantastic that you work on Broadway doing costume design. I love Broadway more than I could ever say, so I'm also slightly jealous that you get to spend time working each day in the theater. Don't get me wrong, I love what I do, but Broadway? Amazing!
So, aside from Broadway, what other things do you enjoy? I know you mentioned clothing and fashion being a big priority for you. What else do you like to do? I hope you didn't think my outfit the night we met was too boring; my best friend says I used to dress like Orville Reddenbacher, so I hope to not have offended you or your fantastic fashion sense with my outfit.
I'm bummed that I'm missing out on a wonderful New York City October. Please give it my love for me!
I hope to hear from you again soon. I'll be anxiously awaiting your response.
-Blaine
warblerblaine (a) freemail. com

I groaned as I realized that I still hadn't changed my email address to something more grown-up since high school. I didn't want to use my work email address since it seemed too formal and I only had the one personal email account. Oh well.

Also, is that wink at the end too flirty? Well, honestly, I was flirting with him. Or at least trying to despite the fact that I'm not with him in person. But it feels weird to flirt with someone over the internet. But I needed to get over that for the time being since there wasn't a chance of me seeing Kurt in person for at least a few days. The internet would have to do... for now.

KURT

I was folding laundry in the laundry room in the basement when I heard a familiar ping resound from my phone that I had left on the folding table. I had spent the morning cleaning my bathroom (yuck), washing dishes (double yuck), and doing laundry (triple yuck considering I was far too obsessed with the care of my clothes to actually enjoy such a chore) - and distracting myself from the events of last night.

I was still somewhat in shock that Blaine had found me on NYCDate and had contacted me. It certainly validated my feelings - or whatever you want to call them - toward him, but before long guilt rattled my feelings of glee with concern over what would happen once I told Lauren.

I was irritated at the whole situation, but I was fairly certain it had been a misunderstanding. I mean, it had been, right? She was so excited to have someone liking her - but why had he tried to get her phone number from the bartender? He was gay and he was just trying to be friendly with Lauren... right?

I shook my head out of that thought, and unlocked my phone before addressing the email that had popped up a moment before.

From: Blaine Anderson
Subject: Hi Kurt!

I squealed before clasping my hand over my mouth and tapping on the new message. I only knew one Blaine and it had to behim. Thank god Wes didn't need to do laundry today either - I could not deal with him and this whole situation with Blaine right now. He would have too many questions about Blaine and what he was like and how we met and blah, blah blah; I didn't want to put that pressure on... this... before we at least had something to proclaim. Sure, I was being guarded again, but I felt like it was my right in this instance. We saw how my sharing about James had gotten complicated quickly - I wanted to be sure that the same wouldn't happen with Blaine before letting his existence come out of the woodworks.

I tapped on the message and read it carefully.

Hi Kurt!
I'm so happy you messaged me back! I was surprised to find you on NYCDate, but is it wrong that I was really happy to see you on there? ;)
Anyway, I looked at your profile before messaging you first - had to be sure that you were the right Kurt after all - and I was really blown away. I think it's fantastic that you work on Broadway doing costume design. I love Broadway more than I could ever say, so I'm also slightly jealous that you get to spend time working each day in the theater. Don't get me wrong, I love what I do, but Broadway? Amazing!
So, aside from Broadway, what other things do you enjoy? I know you mentioned clothing and fashion being a big priority for you. What else do you like to do? I hope you didn't think my outfit the night we met was too boring; my best friend says I used to dress like Orville Reddenbacher, so I hope to not have offended you or your fantastic fashion sense with my outfit.
I'm bummed that I'm missing out on a wonderful New York City October. Please give it my love for me!
I hope to hear from you again soon. I'll be anxiously awaiting your response.
-Blaine
warblerblaine (a) freemail. com

I was giggling the whole time I read his message. Was he being flirty? Over email? Bold, if I do say so myself. But I certainly am not complaining.

What was even more refreshing is that he took time to actually read about me and still wants to learn more. I know that's the whole point of us emailing back and forth, but having him ask me more about myself told me that he was truly interested in me. Me - Kurt Hummel - lowly man from Ohio who was apparently worthy of the attention of one Blaine...Anderson (had to read his last name again). Sigh.

I was never more thankful for my iPhone than I was in the past few minutes; it meant that I didn't have to wait until I got back up to my apartment to read his email and already start on a reply. Lord knows I don't want to keep the man waiting!

I tapped the reply button and began tapping away.

Hi Blaine!

I'm not sure it's a good thing that I'm on NYCDate, but now I think my opinion has changed. ;)
Working in costume design is a dream and having worked on touring productions in the past, Broadway is such a nice change and certainly a dream come true. That's fantastic that you like Broadway shows as well. Which is your favorite? You'll have to come and see Bring It On! (the show I work on) if you haven't already. I know a guy and I'm sure if you butter him up, he'll hook you up.
And yes, I love fashion and try to keep tabs on trends as much as possible. I used to be much more... devoted (my roommate would say crazy) with my wardrobe before, but I realized you can still be stylish and not have to traipse down to the store season after season. My wallet is thanking me for that realization. But in regards to your outfit, I thought you looked great the other night - you'll certainly have no complaints from me. Please tell your friend that they're a liar.
What about you? What kinds of things do you enjoy? I know you're in the music industry though I still have no idea what you actually do since your job description from the site left much to be desired. You'll just have to explain it to me now.
And I'll be sure to wish New York a hello on your behalf. If you don't mind me asking, where are you spending the evening? Are you on vacation?
Either way, I hope you're enjoying... wherever you are!
Can't wait to hear from you again. :)
-Kurt

I paused for a minute before making sure my phone hadn't done come embarrassing autocorrect and hit the send button. As I heard the notification that the email had sent, I immediately clenched my teeth in slight embarrassment.

Damn, I had come on strong. But there was something about this that didn't make me want to feel reserved in the slightest. Perhaps it was because it felt like it was easier to talk to someone through the internet these days or that I still felt like I had my guard up a little since we were still talking about things as menial as our likes and dislikes, but in a small way I felt... at east sharing these things with Blaine. Like I could just keep rambling on and just talk to him.

I was thankful for the fact that the last load of clothes were just finished drying because I have a feeling he and I might be exchanging emails for awhile. Hopefully - if I'm lucky - we'll exchange them all night.