“Hi Kurt, I’m really sorry to bother you, but are you still in Ohio?”

Kurt cradled the phone in his hand. He hadn’t talked to Blaine in nearly three weeks, not since dropping him off before Christmas. “Yeah, I’m still in Lima. I was planning to drive back to Princeton tomorrow. What’s up?”

“I was scheduled to fly back today,” Blaine said. “But it turns out they canceled my return ticket because I never boarded the flight to Columbus. I didn’t even think to call them and check, it was really stupid. So, um, I’m kind of stuck here and I was wondering if we could drive back together?”

Kurt barely kept himself from sighing into the phone. So much for trying not to be alone with Blaine any more. But of course he couldn’t abandon him in Ohio, especially not when it was Kurt’s fault he was stuck there to begin with. And at least the long drive would give them a chance to talk about things. “Yeah, sure, of course,” he said. “I’m sorry, I should have thought about that with your ticket.”

“No, it’s not your fault at all,” Blaine said.

“I want to get an early start, do the whole drive in one day,” Kurt said. “Is that okay with you? I can pick you up at, hmm, I guess around 9 AM by the time I drive to Columbus.”

“That sounds great,” Blaine said. “I’ll see you tomorrow. Thanks so much, it’s really nice of you to help me out here.”

“No problem,” Kurt said, hanging up the phone.

* * *

Blaine was full of chatter about his Christmas break. He’d expected to be lonely, but instead he’d had a great time hanging out with all of his Dalton friends who were back from their far-flung colleges for the holiday. He regaled Kurt with secondhand tales of their crazy college experiences, and of the hijinks they’d been up to over the break together. Blaine’s enthusiasm was contagious, and Kurt told a few stories from his own college years as well, much to Blaine’s amusement.

They stopped for lunch in one of the interchangeable small towns along the freeway in the middle of Pennsylvania. Kurt pulled out his phone to check his e-mail, then looked at the map to see how much progress they’d made. “Still more than five hours to go,” he said.

Blaine groaned. “It’s a long drive to do in one day. I’m so cramped from sitting in the same position all morning.”

“Maybe we could find a place to stretch our legs,” Kurt suggested, scrolling around on the map. “A state park or … hey! We’re only a few minutes away from Fallingwater!”

“From what?” Blaine asked.

“Fallingwater … it’s one of the houses Frank Lloyd Wright designed. Don’t tell me you’ve never been there.” He noticed Blaine’s blank stare. “Don’t tell me you’ve never even heard of it.”

“Sorry,” Blaine said.

“Good grief,” Kurt said. “Well, consider this part of your cultural education.”

* * *

Kurt had toured Fallingwater several times before, but he saw it with new eyes because of Blaine’s amazement. There really was something stunning about a house built literally on top of a waterfall, no matter how many times you’d seen it. The setting, the interior spaces, even the tour guide’s discussion of Wright’s sometimes mistaken architectural choices were fascinating. Watching Blaine’s eyes light up – watching his whole face light up, really – made Kurt feel as if he were seeing it for the first time, too.

After the tour, they took their time wandering around the grounds. Neither of them was in any hurry to return to the car, not when the trees and the river were so beautiful and the weather was just perfect for a winter stroll. They walked up a trail near the water, taking it all in, quietly enjoying each other’s company.

Kurt paused at a lookout point, admiring the waterfall. “It’s so beautiful,” he breathed.

“It really is,” Blaine said, stepping in close beside Kurt. “Thank you for bringing me here. It’s incredible.”

Kurt turned and looked at Blaine with a wide smile on his face. He never could get over how easy things were with Blaine, how they naturally fell into such a comfortable rhythm with each other, how he felt at peace with the world when they were together. He marveled at the way Blaine was looking at him now, so intensely, so … Kurt gasped with surprise as Blaine slid his hand into Kurt’s and interlaced their fingers.

“Kurt, I …” Blaine turned to face him directly, still holding his hand.

Kurt was frozen to the spot, caught almost like a deer in headlights, torn between what he’d wanted for so long and what he knew he should do. “Blaine,” he whispered. He’d intended to add “don’t,” but the word died in his throat. Kurt looked at him, eyes pleading, but he didn’t quite know whether he was pleading for Blaine to stop or to go on.

Blaine leaned in and kissed him, softly, sweetly, his mouth slightly open against Kurt’s lips. It felt like flying, Kurt thought. He heard the rush of wind in his ears and felt fluttery tingles all over his skin. He kissed back, unable to stop himself, bringing his other hand to Blaine’s face.

The sudden contact against his hand snapped him back to his senses. He pulled away abruptly, tearing his other hand from Blaine’s grasp. He took two steps quickly backward and then turned to face the river, not looking at Blaine. “I can’t. I can’t,” he managed to say, almost choking on the words.

He heard Blaine’s footsteps running back down the path the way they had come. Kurt stood by the river, his body shaking, hot tears burning against his cheeks in the chill winter air, crying silently where nobody would see. How had it come to this? Kurt wondered. All his good intentions, all his careful planning, everything had vanished in an instant. And that kiss – Kurt had never felt anything quite like that.

It took Kurt several minutes to pull himself back together. He walked back down the path slowly, staring at the ground, not seeing anything around him, wondering how he was going to get through five hours in the car with Blaine after this.

He found Blaine in the parking lot, leaning against the car with his arms crossed over his chest, a scowl on his face. Kurt unlocked the doors with the remote and Blaine let himself in.

Kurt walked around to the driver’s side and got in the car, too. “Blaine, we should talk about—”

Blaine cut him off with a quick shake of his head. He got his iPod out of his backpack, but instead of plugging it into the car stereo as he’d always done before, he pulled out a pair of headphones and jammed them into his ears. He flipped his fingers across the device’s screen, not speaking, completely ignoring Kurt’s presence. Kurt heard the faint thump of a bass line that told him Blaine must have the volume all the way up. The whole thing was so stereotypically “angry teenager” that Kurt could have laughed if he hadn’t been so hurt. Instead, he just pulled out of the parking spot and headed back toward the freeway.

They didn’t speak a word to each other until they drove up to the edge of campus more than five hours later. Even when they’d pulled off the freeway to stop for gas and convenience-store snacks, they hadn’t said anything.

“I don’t know which dorm you live in,” Kurt said. “Where should I drop you off?”

“Here is fine,” Blaine said, shoving his iPod into a pocket of his backpack.

Kurt pulled to the side of the road and turned off the car. He got out and opened the trunk. “Blaine, I…”

But Blaine just grabbed his suitcase, turned his back, and disappeared through an archway under a building into the dark night.

* * *

“It was the most embarrassing moment of my life,” Blaine told Rachel. “I kissed him, and he put his hand on my face and pushed me away. I can’t believe I misread his signals so badly. I can’t believe I made the whole thing up in my head. And, oh god, he’s my teacher! How am I going to face him in class for another whole semester? It’s going to be torture.”

“I’m sorry, hon,” Rachel said. “But there’s a silver lining. At least now you know for sure. You can move on, look for someone else instead of dwelling on Professor Hummel.”

Blaine sighed dramatically.

“Here, hang on a second.” Rachel shuffled through some papers in her desk drawer, then pulled one out and presented it to Blaine.

“What’s this?” Blaine asked.

“The names and phone numbers of all the guys who have asked me how to get into your pants.”

“Rachel!” Blaine was appalled.

“Oh don’t worry, none of them put it so crudely,” she said. “You’re very attractive, and you shouldn’t be surprised that so many guys are interested in you. Girls, too, but I didn’t write their names down.”

“Why are they talking to you about it, and how come you haven’t said anything to me?”

“You were otherwise occupied!”

“Rachel? Go away.”

“This is my room. You go away.”

“Mike and Tina…”

“Yeah.”

“Yeah.”

There was a short pause.

“Austin Forbes? Really?”

“You should call him.”

* * *

Their first date was at a little Italian restaurant just a few blocks off campus. Austin was tall and broad-shouldered and blond, with a smile that could light up a whole room. He was witty and smart. His little hint of a southern accent was undeniably sexy. Blaine found that he was actually enjoying himself as they talked about the theater class they’d taken together, recent movies, and Austin’s decision not to rejoin the baseball team this year.

They held hands on the way back to campus and Blaine felt slightly giddy just from the excitement of touching another guy in public. They stopped at the door to Austin’s dorm building, which was closer, and shyly said goodnight. Austin leaned in gently, tentative but eager, and kissed Blaine on the lips. A group of four girls walked past, laughing at some joke and paying them no attention.

The touch of Austin’s lips against his certainly felt nice, but nothing stirred inside Blaine. He wondered in passing what it would be like if Kurt kissed him like that, and his heart suddenly fluttered.

 “You could, um, come inside for a while if you want,” Austin said. “I mean, it’s okay if you don’t, I just … that was nice.”

Blaine found no reason to say no, so he said yes.

Austin was a Junior and had managed to get a single room. They sat side by side on the edge of the bed and kissed again, more deeply than the first one, hands finding resting places on shoulders and thighs and hair. Blaine closed his eyes and thought of Kurt’s lips and Kurt’s hair and Kurt’s hands against his body, and he pressed himself closer and closer against the man beside him. Blaine heard a moan that was far too low to ever come from Kurt’s throat, but he didn’t care, he just threw his head back and let himself be kissed on his neck and shoulders, with Austin’s strong hand pressing tight against the small of his back.

It was only a few minutes before they cooled off and stopped, neither of them wanting to push things too far on the first date. Blaine’s hair was mussed and his sweater vest was crooked over his button-down shirt, but he smoothed everything out the best he could, looking in the mirror on the back of Austin’s door.

“I had a really great time tonight,” Austin said, flashing that smile of his. “I’ll call you? Tomorrow?”

Blaine nodded. “Goodnight, then,” he said, slipping out the door.

Blaine felt a little bit guilty as he walked back to his dorm, but he couldn’t quite say why. Austin might not be as exciting as Kurt, but he was a genuinely nice guy and he was clearly into Blaine. It would be good for him, Blaine thought. Take his mind off what he couldn’t have, get involved with someone more appropriate for his age, for his life as a college student. This was what he was supposed to be doing, he thought, wasn’t it?

When Austin called the next day and invited him to a movie, he still found no reason to say no. So he said yes.

* * *

Kurt felt empty.

He’d barely seen Blaine in the past six weeks, and hadn’t talked to him at all. Blaine hadn’t come to his office even once this semester. Even worse, he’d been cutting class, and when he did show up, he sat all the way in the back and spent the entire time staring at his laptop screen, not meeting Kurt’s eyes. He’d never even brought a laptop to class last semester.

Friday afternoons were always the worst, bringing memories of last semester’s weekly coffee dates, so Kurt tried to bury himself in work then. He still went for coffee, it was a necessity and he did it every day. But he liked to have work on his mind to avoid the despair that set in on Fridays. Today he was grading papers for American History 101. He wrote a grade on the final paper in the stack and leaned back in his chair, relieved at having completed the onerous task. Well, mostly completed. There was still Blaine’s paper sitting off to the side. He’d read it earlier in the day and it was clear what grade it deserved, but Kurt couldn’t quite bring himself to write it down. He looked at the clock. 2:05 PM. He had terrible timing today. Nothing on his mind except Blaine’s paper, right when he was about to go for coffee.

The day was very cold, so the quad was deserted except for a few people scurrying from building to building. Fresh snow coated the grassy areas, but the sidewalks had been shoveled. Kurt walked the long way around rather than trudge through the snow-covered grass, bought his nonfat mocha, and opted to walk back to his office rather than sit and drink it alone in the shop, haunted by memories and regrets.

As soon as he stepped outside, he realized his mistake. The coffee would be ice cold by the time he got back to his office if he took the long way around again. His boots were waterproof, though, so he set off straight across the middle, sinking up to his ankles in the soft snow.

The quad was no longer abandoned. Two students had come outside, bundled in coats and gloves and hats. They were tromping around and throwing snowballs at each other, screeching with laughter whenever one of them landed a shot. Kurt passed very near them, and just as he did, the taller boy grabbed the shorter one’s shoulder and spun him around to face, stopping his laughter with a kiss.

Kurt froze. When the shorter boy had turned, he’d finally recognized him. It was Blaine. Blaine, not ten feet away from him, kissing this blond stranger. Kurt’s heart sank to his feet, and he couldn’t move, couldn’t walk another step.

Blaine pulled back from the kiss, smiling until he noticed Kurt over the taller boy’s shoulder. His smile faded and he stared at Kurt, something in his eyes, something…

Kurt hurried off toward his office as quickly as the ankle-deep snow allowed, staring at the ground so no passers-by would be able to see the tears stinging in his eyes. He’s not mine. I have no claim on him. I said no. Why shouldn’t he be with someone else? None of the things Kurt told himself were reassuring.

He sat down at his desk and inked a large, red B at the top of Blaine’s paper, then hid it somewhere in the middle of the stack.