Blaine woke up the next morning already happy. Late-fall sunlight streamed in through his curtains, throwing lines of light on his dorm room floor. He stretched in bed, yawning. Thursdays tended to be good days for him, anyway. He only had one class, Chemistry, and it didn’t start until one. Hr pulled the covers closer around him. His feet were cold-it was early November and the dorm heating system wasn’t always up to scratch. It was only eleven-thirty, so Blaine was content to loll in bed for a while.

As he lay there, half-asleep, he realized that today was going to be an especially good Thursday, because last night he’d made plans to meet with Kurt. After his class he’d be going to the Lima Bean to see his new sort-of friend.

It was refreshing to have someone that he got along so well with so quickly. Blaine was a charismatic person, there’s no denying that. He was good at talking to people. Around campus, he knew a lot of people. But talking to people and knowing them is nothing like friendship. Blaine had had some good friends in high school, but nearly all of them had left Ohio for college. Blaine had opted for a single dorm, which his parents had no problem paying for. He had acquaintances in all of his classes and people he could go out to lunch with if he wanted. But the only person he was really close with, really friends with, was Maia. And now, if things went well, perhaps Kurt. Blaine grinned. He really was excited for this afternoon.

After a while Blaine rolled out of bed to get ready. He showered and got dressed, picking out a pair of dark, snug jeans and a gray sweater over a button-up shirt. He added gel to his damp hair, subduing its natural curliness. He found all the books he needed and headed to class.

For Blaine, college was a lot like high school. He’d so far only taken general ed classes. He went to a very small campus. He did all his homework, even though he hardly ever had to turn any in. The only difference, really, was that he didn’t live with his parents. And frankly, that was probably the best part. Blaine wasn’t living the stereotypical wild college life either. He had a fake ID that he’d used a few times to get into bars, but he’d never had more than two drinks. He’d never done any drugs or gone to wild parties. He spent most of his time doing homework, reading, and watching TV. Or spending time with Maia.

Blaine didn’t lead a particularly interesting life. He never had, actually.

Chemistry was okay-he liked the professor, and actually understood most of the lab they were working on, which was nice-and the whole time he was looking forward to coffee afterward. He stopped by his dorm to drop off his bag, checked his reflection in the mirror, and then headed out for the café.

He parked his car and walked in. He glanced around the room, which was fairly busy for a Thursday afternoon, but didn’t see Kurt. He got in line and waited, smoothing down his sweater.

He got to the cashier, who politely asked what she could get for him. “Drip coffee, please.” He said, his tone coming out strangely nervous. “Medium.”

He paid and then waited at the other end of the counter for his drink. He’d just gotten it when he turned around and saw Kurt walk in.

Kurt was wearing very tight jeans with a light grey pea coat and white lace-up boots. There was a moment where Blaine could see Kurt but Kurt had not yet located Blaine, and Blaine used it to watch the boy and wonder how he was so unique and confident. That was the kind of outfit that no one he’d ever met in Ohio could pull off. It was so New York but even more than that it was Kurt. Blaine couldn’t help but admire that incredible comfort that Kurt seemed to have in his own skin.

Kurt saw Blaine then, and smiled. Blaine waved as Kurt approached him.

“Hey,” Kurt said, tilting his head slightly. “Sorry, I’m a little late.”

“It’s no problem,” Blaine replied. “I just got here.”

“Great,” Kurt replied, his smile showing how nice his teeth were. Blaine blinked. “I’ll just get my coffee. Get us a table?”

Blaine nodded as Kurt walked back to the line. Blaine quickly turned and found a table for them to sit at, off in the back corner of the café.

Kurt found him a few minutes later, holding a large coffee cup. He sat down across from Blaine. Blaine, who had spent the previous several minutes figuring out what he was supposed to say(which was weird for Blaine-usually conversation came rather naturally to him), blurted out what he’d decided on. “How are you?”

Kurt took the lid off of his coffee, steam billowing up from the exposed surface of it. “Bored,” he replied with a sigh. Had he looked up from his coffee cup, he would have seen Blaine’s face falling slightly. “There’s not a lot to do in Lima besides hang around my parents’ house, so I’ve been spending a lot of time with nothing to do.”

Blaine smiled again when he realized that Kurt wasn’t bored by him, but by Ohio.

“Well,” Blaine said, and Kurt finally looked up. “The whole town must seem pretty boring after living in New York.”

Kurt grinned. “Sort of. I mean, there’s no denying that there’s much more…variety in the city. But living there is hard. You have to be flexible. It can get crazy and wear you down sometimes.” Kurt paused for a second, hesitating before adding, “Sometimes I even feel alone, though there are so many people.”

Blaine just stared at Kurt for a moment. Alone in a crowd, Blaine thought. I know that feeling.

But here, in this coffee shop, with Kurt looking at him and speaking so honestly, opening up after having met him by chance only days ago, Blaine didn’t feel alone. He felt like he was truly being looked at for the first time in ages. It was thrilling and unnerving, and it caused him to say something he never would have under other circumstances.

“Sometimes I wish I could move away.”

He said it softly, but he said it all the same. He’d never expressed that sentiment to anyone. He’d never even said it to himself out loud. When he’d applied for colleges, all but one of them had been within a day’s trip from his house. He had briefly looked at the Travel Abroad program flyers last year, before walking past them with a pang of regret. He’d hardly ever left the state, and he’d never been one of those people who talks about how they want to travel. But here, the truth had slipped out. Some mornings he woke up and, eyes still closed, wished that he would be somewhere other than Ohio. Sometimes he just looked at photos of beautiful places on his laptop. Places he had never been and thought he would probably never go. He’d never even admitted these thoughts to Maia-who was perfectly content with staying in Ohio, where her rich parents could furnish her every need and she could be a housewife to some conservative accountant.

Everything he knew was in a hundred-mile radius around his hometown, and it had always been easier for him to stay within that space. But at times he longed for more. For the unfamiliar.

While these thoughts ran through Blaine’s head, Kurt propped his chin on his hand and cocked one of his delicate eyebrows. “Then why don’t you?” he asked.

Blaine shook his head. “It’s-it isn’t that easy.”

“Sure it is,” Kurt replied. “I mean, transferring isn’t that big of a deal. Especially if you do well in your classes. And you could get a business degree anywhere, I mean-“

“No.” Blaine interrupted, which was rather unlike him. “It’s not the…academic part that would be difficult.”

Kurt’s face clouded slightly with confusion. “Then what’s the matter?”

Blaine rubbed the side of his face with his hand, staring down at his coffee. Finally, he said, “It’s complicated. I don’t…I don’t feel like talking about it.”

Kurt watched him for a moment, but didn’t push it. “Okay. Well, how are you?”

Blaine took a sip of his drink before answering. “Alright. Class today was fine.”

Kurt’s eyebrows furrowed. “You always base your own well-being around your schooling,” he pointed out.

Blaine opened his mouth to answer, and then paused. He realized that Kurt was one-hundred percent right. When someone asked him how his day was, he automatically thought to what he’d done in class. When he came home for dinners with his parents, he talked about school. And Maia, occasionally. But mostly school.

Why did he do that?

“You’re right,” Blaine said, sounding confused himself. “God, I’m sorry. I don’t even mean to.”

Kurt smiled slightly. “You don’t have to apologize. I just think it’s interesting, that’s all.”

Blaine shook his head slightly in disbelief how was it that this boy he’d only known for a few days was making him aware of so many things about himself that he hadn’t even known? Things no one else ever noticed?

Kurt had to be some sort of wizard, or something. Maybe a mind-reader. He knew so much about Blaine so quickly.

Blaine bit his lip. “Well, um, besides school…I’m fine. I’m…geez, I’m trying to think of things besides school to talk about.” He laughed nervously.

Kurt sighed, sitting up straight again. “Well…tell me about your girlfriend.”