“Hey,” Maia said when she opened the door for Blaine. “How are you?”

Blaine leaned forward and pecked her on the cheek. “I’m great. How are you?”

She smiled, stepping back to let him into the house. “I’m fine. Did you get everything on the list?”

“Yes. I am capable of shopping, Maia.”

She rolled her eyes. “You say that, but-“

“Enough with the cream cheese,” Blaine protested. “It was an honest mistake.”

They walked to the kitchen and began unloading groceries. “Where are you parents tonight?” Blaine asked.

Maia tossed her long, brown hair. “I dunno. Some business thing in Cincinnati or something. It doesn’t matter.”

Blaine lined up all the ingredients and set the grocery bags aside, then looked up to wait for instructions. Instead, he found himself being pinned to the counter, one of Maia’s hands on each side of him. “Hey,” she said. “Look at me.”

He did, and he didn’t mind. Maia was, in fact, gorgeous. She was also kind and generous and intelligent. Oh, and the first girl since middle school who had shown any interest in Blaine. They’d been dating for four months.

“How was your day?” Blaine asked.

“Boring,” she said. “I had an awful English class and a tolerable Biology class. But you know that Tuesdays are no fun.”

Blaine nodded. “I’m sorry.”

Maia smiled. “Don’t worry. It’s okay, now.”

She leaned forward and they kissed, Maia bringing her hands up to Blaine’s neck, Blaine gripping her waist. They pulled away after a moment. “We should start cooking,” Maia said.

“Whatever you say,” Blaine replied.

They broke apart, and Maia began rummaging through cupboards for pots and pans. “How was your day?” she asked Blaine.

“It was good,” he said, watching her. “Oh, you know that guy I gave a ride into town on Sunday?”

Maia pulled her head out of a cupboard. “Yeah,” she said. “You mentioned him. I still think that was sketchy.”

Blaine ignored the comment. “Well, I saw him in the grocery store. We just ran into eachother-how funny is that?”

Maia shrugged. “It’s a small town.”

“That’s what I said.”

Maia turned on the stove. “At least now you know he wasn’t some weirdo.”

Blaine rolled his eyes. He walked up to Maia and turned her around, cupping her face. “You worry too much.”

“You met him on the side of the road, Blaine.”

“And what if you broke down in the middle of the night with no cell phone? You’d be grateful if someone picked you up,” he pointed out.

Maia pursed her lips. “Yeah, I get it. Come on, stop distracting me. I’m hungry.”

They spent the next forty minutes in the kitchen, finally ending up with chicken burritos. They sat on the living room floor to eat, leaning up against the couch. They ate their dinner, talking in the easy-going way they were accustomed to. When they’d finished, Blaine took their dishes to the sink while Maia picked out a movie. They sat on the couch, Maia snuggled against Blaine’s chest, his arm around her shoulders. The movie was a sort of quirky romantic comedy. Blaine didn’t pay a lot of attention to it, but he liked it well enough.

Blaine enjoyed nights in like this because he felt so thoroughly normal. He was just a guy in college, spending an evening watching a movie with his girlfriend. There was no pressure; it was easy. At home and in classes and out in public he always felt a subtle weight of expectation on him. In Maia’s empty house all he had to do was be a doting, affectionate boyfriend, which he was good at. He smiled at her and smoothed her hair and felt like for once everything was in control. It was very therapeutic. He could hardly think of any other situation in which he felt so at ease.

Well, actually…he pondered as the main characters of the movie flirted in a coffee shop, I can think of something. Blaine realized what had been flitting in the edges of his thoughts all day-that chance meeting with Kurt. He’d been standing there in front that pile of tomatoes, feeling the weight pressing in on him, unsure of what to get and how many and what if he messed up dinner with Maia and ruined his one reprieve from the stress he always had and he had to go back to the store again and Maia would be mad and-

Then Kurt showed up and led him through it effortlessly, weaving helpful advice into playful conversation. Kurt just had a way about him of making things easy. After only a few moments of speaking to Kurt, the weight had lifted considerably. Now that Blaine thought about it, actually, he hadn’t felt pressured in any of their encounters. He would never have dared to ask about something as taboo as homosexuality(at least in his community and his family) if he’d had the weight crushing down on him; but he’d had nearly a full conversation about it with Kurt. That was an accomplishment. He smiled, remembering his talks with Kurt. Blaine sat on that couch, breathing in the scent of Maia’s hair and realizing how relieving it was to have met someone else who had the capability of making him feel comfortable. Blaine was infinitely grateful that Kurt had asked to exchange numbers. Maybe we can hang out sometime soon… Blaine thought, looking forward to it. Anything to make him feel lighter was reason to be excited. It was only a shame that Kurt was only in town for so long, though. Blaine hoped he could make a fast friendship with the boy so that they wouldn’t lose touch once Kurt went back to school.

Maia shifted against Blaine, bringing him back to the present. She turned her head towards him, smiling softly. Blaine loved that about her-how subtle she could be in her expressions and gestures, showing a whole world of emotion in just a slight movement. “Do you like the movie?” she asked.

“Mm-hmm,” Blaine responded, nodding.

“Do you like it more than making out?”

Blaine smirked. “Well, we can’t know until we compare, can we?”

Maia stretched forward to reach his lips then, shifting her whole body to face him. Blaine smiled into the kiss, feeling the weight of her body replace any metaphorical burden on him.

Blaine left Maia’s house the next morning for an early Calculus class. He kissed her on the forehead and she sleepily said goodbye before turning over in bed, her dark hair splayed wonderfully over her pillow.

Blaine checked his phone once he got on campus, thinking that perhaps Kurt had texted him-that was silly, he told himself, he’d seen him the previous day and it was only 9:30AM, but he checked nonetheless-only to discover that his phone was out of battery, since he hadn’t brought a charger to Maia’s. Sighing, he made a mental note to charge it when he stopped by his dorm after class.

Calculus was frustrating, giving Blaine a rather bad start to the day. He worried himself over the upcoming midterm-it was a month away, but he couldn’t help fretting-as he walked to him dorm. He plugged in his phone and then grabbed a banana from the minifridge to make up for not eating breakfast before class. Once his phone got enough power to turn on he checked his messages, but had no new ones. Trying not to be put off, he decided that if Kurt didn’t text him that day, he’d initiate contact first thing tomorrow. He wasn’t going to let Kurt slip through his fingers-not when their friendship had so much potential.

Looking forward to their eventual contact, Blaine went to his next class with a semi-improved mood.