Except for this one coffee shop.

Blaine didn’t know the street name, or the names of the streets leading up to it, but he knew which way to walk from his apartment and Central Park. He knew because it always caught his eye. Always stuck in his mind enough to remember how to find it.

Coffee Time, small and passed by. There were always flowers, visible from the cottage like windows. The tables were round and big enough for two maybe three. Sometimes there were groups of humble friends, surrounding those tables and laughing into their coffees. Other times there were lone dreamers, staring out into the city while their coffee steamed their glasses. Always there was a young girl, day dreaming to herself behind the counter and a young boy humming while he waited tables. But never was there a Blaine Anderson. He’d never gone inside before.

Today, today was different. Today something felt missing, more so than usual and every time he saw a fountain Blaine just wanted to dive into it for a change of pace. Well he felt that all the time, but it was particularly strong now. The sun wasn’t bright enough and his hair was too gelled again and his bowtie might not have matched as well as he thought. He was tired and his post-rejection Next-Times-The-Charm smile wasn’t really there.

So when he found himself getting up from the bench in Central Park after a disappointing phone call, his feet took him there. Right in front of the coffee shop he could always find.

And he opened the door this time.

There was tiny bell on the door that chimed distantly as soon as the door swung inwards. There was an instant smell of cinnamon and coffee that warmed his senses, and a bright array of baked goods tempting him from the glass case underneath the wooden counter. The girl was there, more a young women than he thought. The boy was there, more a young man than he thought. The atmosphere was soft and quiet, welcoming somehow. As he took all this in, Blaine carried his dapper self to the counter determined to stay now he was here.

There was a knowing sort of look on the employees face, as she greeted him with gold flecked hazel eyes and a shy smile.

“Hello! What would you like today?”
Blaine smiled in return, and ordered himself a medium drip and just because he was feeling down that day a large chocolate cookie. There was nothing wrong with just a little chocolate comfort. As long as he didn’t wind up spiralling into a several boxes of caramel chocolates again. Blaine still blamed Trent for that though, he knew how much Blaine loved Pavarotti after looking after him that year…

The girl nodded with a small hum and a smile, tapping in Blaines order and telling him to pick a table before his order was done. He grinned and bounced off to the corner, relaxed somewhat already.

There was something about this coffee shop, with its worn clock on the wall and the plush owl sitting on a windowsill that made failure sting less. Maybe next time really would be the charm.

He thought about the day that became his mantra, walking around Westerville with Trent and Wes after a rather embarrassing incident at the Gap.

“Well look on the bright side, you got some really cute socks out of that Blaine.”

Trents optimism stole a small smile from him. Wes however, rolled his eyes at it.

“Trent that’s ridiculous, Blaine doesn’t even like socks.”

Scoffing Trent replied “At least his feet won’t have to go cold if they don’t want to. And besides Blaine, next time will always be better.”

Sliding his hands in his pockets Blaine had turned to him and nodded.

“Yeah. Maybe next times the charm.”

Even years later, at 25 living in the city, Blaine kept that in his head. He wasn’t even sure why.

The incident at the Gap however, he was determined to forget entirely one day.

He was stirred from his memory by the young man of twenty or so placing his coffee and cookie onto the small wooden table. Martin, according to his name tag.

At the first sip of his medium drip Blaine knew he was in love. It was the most divine coffee of his life and after the Lima Bean the Warblers performed at once he never thought he would say that again.

He soon became immersed in coffee and Dalton, reliving Teenage Dream and the day he graduated with Trent, third in his class. It was good enough for him. Some humble friends came in and overwhelmed two tables, followed by three lone dreamers and one joyful pair of girls holding hands. All the while Blaine soothed his fatigue and his worrisome bowtie troubles with coffee and a cookie, perfectly content to keep to his own mind.

Until…

The tiny bell chimed and moments later a voice was ringing into Blaines ears.

“Excuse me, hi, do you have any napkins? Someone spilt their coffee on me on their way out.”

Blaines eyes shot upwards at the sound, and his mind promptly exploded. Standing by the counter, blue shirt ruined with a coffee stain and jeans hugging his lean frame, was a beautiful stranger. Absolutely beautiful. His hair was perfectly coiffed, his clothes just the right kind of fashionably casual, his smile adorable and infectious. And then he turned to glance around the coffee shop and Blaine caught a flash of burning blue.

It took him a minute to compose his facial features, remembering Trent teasing him for showing everything on his face. And in that minute the counter girl was handing over napkins and the man was laughing in embarrassed thanks and Blaines heart was melting.

The man squinted at the girls name tag, and smiled up at her.

“Thank you Violet. You know… maybe I should come back here tomorrow.”

With that he was gone with a flourish and Blaines eyes flitted to the clock.

2:03 pm.

Not only was his coffee divine, but that cookie was pretty damn good.

Maybe Blaine would come back tomorrow too.