On Saturday evening, Blaine drove to Maia’s house to pick her up. They went to Breadstix, the local pseudo-Italian restaurant. It wasn’t too classy, but it was where they’d had their first date, so Blaine hoped it would help fix things between them.

They got there and were shown to a table. They sat across from eachother even though Blaine would have preferred to sit side-by-side. They read the menus in silence for a moment.

Blaine folded his menu and set it down. “What’re you getting?” he asked.

“I don’t know yet,” she said, peeking at him over her own menu. “I haven’t decided.”

“I’m getting the ravioli,” Blaine told her.

Maia rolled her eyes. “You always get that,” she teased.

“Because it’s always good,” Blaine countered.

Maia laughed softly, her eyes returning to her menu. Now, at least, she was smiling.

A waiter came and took their orders, setting glasses of water on the table. He left, taking their menus, and Maia reached across the table to hold Blaine’s hand. “How are you?”

Blaine smiled at her, leaning forward and resting his chin on his free hand. “I’m good.”

Maia smiled back. “Good. How are your classes?”

Blaine leaned back again. “They’re fine. Yours?”

Maia kept on smiling softly, her hand tight around Blaine’s. “They’re alright. What did you say that paper you were writing was for?”

Blaine fidgeted uncomfortably. He couldn’t put his finger on it, but something seemed off for some reason. “Oh, it’s for history,” he said, his mind scrambling. “About World War I, how a simple incident- you know, Franz Ferdinand being shot- caused the whole planet to go to war. The far-reaching effects of a simple event, basically.”

Maia nodded slowly. “Interesting.”

Blaine met her eyes, then looked away. “It is.”

They moved on to other topics, chatting idly as they waited for their food. Blaine still felt strange, but he couldn’t figure out why.

Blaine was pushing his ravioli around his plate, still holding Maia’s hand, when she asked, “So, do you know what you’re doing next semester yet?”

Blaine looked up at her. “What do you mean?”

She took a bite of her salad before responding. “You know, declaring your major. Do you know what you’re going to do?”

“Um…” Blaine said, setting down his fork and resisting the urge to sigh.

And that was when he realized what was off. What felt so strange.

The weight. He could feel the weight on him. Maia was causing him to feel pressured, to carefully think out his actions to conform to what she wanted. Maia, who had always been one of the very few people Blaine could trust to let him do and say what he wanted.

His hand went limp in hers and he sat up straight, pulling away from her. He couldn’t help it. The awful realization warranted a physical response.

“Blaine?” Maia asked with concern. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” Blaine said- he lied, and he’d never felt the need to lie about how he felt to her before. “I’m just, uh, feeling a little light-headed. I’ll be right back, okay?”

Maia let go of his hand, allowing him to slide out of the booth and walk to the back of the restaurant where the restrooms were. He pushed open the door and found the men’s room blessedly empty. He leaned over a sink, looking at his reflection.

He stared at himself and began to wonder when he had changed. When had the person behind that face begun lying to his girlfriend-his perfectly nice, caring girlfriend who loved him? Then again, when had he begun to feel pressured to act a certain way with his girlfriend?

This wasn’t right. Maia was supposed to be the one person in his life that Blaine could be with without feeling the weight.

Not the only person, a voice in his head reminded him. Of course, there was also Kurt.

But Blaine needed to focus on the task at hand. Maybe it wasn’t Maia- maybe it was just the atmosphere. They should go back to Blaine’s dorm and watch movies and make out, or something. That was something Blaine was perfectly comfortable with. He’d never felt pressured when he was alone with Maia. Things were always simple when it was just the two of them. Blaine nodded at his reflection, resolved. They’d leave the restaurant and the weight would go away. Problem solved.

Except that it wasn’t solved.

Maia didn’t want to go to Blaine’s dorm- she told him she was enjoying the restaurant and didn’t want to leave early. Even afterwards, she suggested that they go to a party one of her classmates was having. Blaine refused. They got in the car and didn’t talk. The weight pressed down hard on Blaine’s chest, suffocating him.

He ended up dropping Maia off at her house after a silent ride there. He leaned over to kiss her cheek before she left the car. “I’ll see you tomorrow,” he told her.

She nodded. “Get here early, okay? I want to beat the crowds at the mall.”

“Of course,” Blaine answered, watching wistfully as she slammed the door shut and walked up the driveway to her front door. It occurred to Blaine too late that he should have walked with her.