“I need a light, light and sweet, a diabetic coma, and a tea,” Blaine leaned on the counter. “And a pack of reds.”

The guy nodded and threw a pack of Marlboro Reds on the counter, and started pouring the coffee.

“You guys got what you want?” Blaine asked. We had hands full of chocolate, sour patches, and skittles, so we were ready.

“Alright Sal what I owe ya?” Blaine asked.

“Twenty-five fifty,” the man behind the counter replied.

Blaine threw down perfect change and put the candy and cigarettes in his messenger bag. “Take ya drinks kids, we got a long night ahead of us,” he grinned.

We all walked out, sipping our coffees – well me sipping my tea – and taking in the city atmosphere. The scent of dirty water hot dogs and roasted peanuts, the bright lights of cars, street lights – what am I kidding, it was daytime at ten at night – and the noise just coming from everywhere. It was heaven’s projects and it was wonderful. Me and Rachel must have looked like tourists, but we didn’t care. Neither did Wellington and Blaine. Both of them just lit up a cigarette and dragged us around.

The first stop was a music store, one of those old fashioned boxes-of-records-on-tables stores. The place was long and narrow, with a slightly off putting man at the counter.

“Hey Geoff!” Blaine waved. “Whatcha got for me today?”

The man, Geoff I presumed, pulled out a CD. “Prodigy. An old CD of theirs. I personally like Firestarter.” He had a rough German accent lacing his speech.

Blaine picked up the CD and inspected it, like a miner trying to tell if it was a diamond or not.

“Alright! I’ll take it!” Blaine’s voice rang through the store. I traveled to the back, thumbing through old records, band names I never even heard of. Wellington wasn’t too far off, looking up at guitars hung by their necks. I felt Rachel tap my shoulder.

“Barbara. They have a signed album of Barbara,” she said, nearly incoherent.

“How much?”

“About all of my bat mitzvah money if I had any left,” she groaned.

“Ouch,” I flinched. “Well, look on the bright side, you can always come here and stare at it.”

“Hey! You guys done?” Blaine skidded by us, his messenger bag banging against his leg. “We got more places to go!” Wellington plucked a few strings on the nearest guitar.

Me and Rachel nodded and Wellington walked over to us. “Like where?” Rachel asked.

“Oh you haven’t had the City experience yet!” Blaine sang as he skipped out the door. I laughed as I followed him, dragging Rachel by her hand. Wellington chuckled and shook his head, following after us. He and Blaine pulled us through the hordes of people; we bumped into so many and nobody cared. Blaine led us to a small store, the awning and signs written in some foreign language.

“What is this …?” Rachel asked.

“Filipino bakery!” Blaine grinned. Even Wellington gave him a look. “What? Filipino pastries are delicious!” We didn’t change our faces. “Trust me! Hey Makisig!” he waved to the person behind the counter and started speaking in incoherent tongues.

Soon the man went into one of the counters and pulled out pastries. He put them into a small brown paper bag. Blaine bounced in his place, grinning like a small child. It was amazing how much energy he had. I mean, it was nearly midnight.

“Salamat!” Blaine grinned as he grabbed the bag and waved, leaving the place.

“Sal-a-mat?” I asked.

“Thank you. In Filipino. I’m Filipino. Well, half, the other half is Irish,” he informed.

“So what did you get?” Rachel asked, looking at the bag skeptically.

“Buko pie and boat tarts! Go ahead, try them! They’re so good!” Blaine grinned.

“A what and a who?” I asked.

“Buko pie and boat tarts,” Blaine repeated. “C’mon just try one!”

We all looked at him like he was crazy. Blaine gave us a face as he bit into one and it melted to a grin.

“It’s so good,” he cooed. “C’mon! Try it! Trust me!” he hopped around.

I looked at them and sighed. “Oh fine give me the um boo-kah pie?” I asked.

Blaine grinned and shoved one to me. “Here! It’s so good!”

I took a bit and had to admit, it was pretty good. It was sweet and delicious.

“Alright, it’s good,” I chuckled.

Blaine grinned and bounced up and down, like a little kid. “See! I told you! Well now – oh fine! I get it!” he sighed as Rachel and Wells was still unconvinced.

“So where to next? I hope not another foreign bakery,” Rachel joked.

“Um no, I was thinking we explore the Village, perhaps Soho, Times Square – “ Blaine listed off, but was cut off by Rachel yet again.

“Okay – and hear me out – but unfortunately me and Kurt have limited funds –“ Rachel started.

“And Wellington too,” Wellington injected.

“ – Yes, so as much as it would be amazing to go shopping in New York, most of the stuff here cost more than what Ohio even has to offer,” she sighed.

“So?” Blaine asked.

“So?” Rachel repeated. “So it’s not going to be fun watching you buy everything thing. … You can buy anything right?” Rachel assumed.

“Well, I can’t buy out the City,” Blaine laughed. “But yea, so? Look I told you I was taking you on an adventure in the City, so I’m taking you on an adventure. All expenses paid,” he grinned. “As long as you don’t buy out the City,” he added with a chuckle.

“Are you serious?” I squeaked.

“Huh? Oh yea,” Blaine said.

Oh Blaine didn’t know yet how I have proved to my dad never to utter such phrases like that. Especially if clothes were involved. But then again, I didn’t want to mooch off Blaine just yet. “Still, shopping in Soho is pretty expensive.”

“Meh, I could deal,” he laughed. “You too Wells I’ll hit you up some. It comes with being well off.”

That’s all Rachel needed. “Okay then what are we waiting for!?”

Shopping was amazing. Blaine held his promise and helped paid. I was carrying bags full of new scares and tops, smiling like an idiot. It was the wee hours of the morning, the sky splattered with blue, purple, and orange. And quite frankly we did so much ‘adventuring’ as Blaine called it that neither me nor Rachel had any idea how to get back to our apartments by ourselves. We were running on coffee and RedBull and roasted nuts and pure exhausted energy. Even Blaine was starting to wind down.

“So where to next, oh fearless leader,” I joked.

“Well! There’s a really cool Korean Karaoke bar! And we can get a whole room to ourselves!” Blaine grinned.

“Sorry, but we don’t speak Korean,” Rachel raised an eyebrow.

Wellington snorted a laugh. “It’s not all Korean songs. I mean yeah they have them but there are English songs too. I know what place you’re talking about,” he nodded to Blaine.

“Which one cause there’s a few and – “

“The one in East Village?”

“Oh yes! Eighty first and avenue A? Yea? Alright! Let’s go!” Blaine grinned. “They never card me there! So wine on me guys!” he jumped up and down.

So that was it and yet again we were on the train going back to the Village. We stopped at the Karaoke bar and followed Blaine and Wellington inside. Blaine asked for a private room and a bottle of cheap champagne, and we were led to a room.

Blaine sat there trying to set up the TV screen and songs. “Here, you’re the musician!” he shoved the lone tambourine to Wellington. “Hey you NYADA kids, you sing first song, any preference?”

“Is there Wicked?” I asked.

“Psh its New York City of course there’s Wicked!” he grinned, putting on For Good. “There, grab the mics,” he sat down and lit a cigarette. Me and Rachel looked at each other with a smile. This was the song we first sang on a real Broadway stage last year before nationals.

We sang, and we were good. I enjoyed the look of awe on Blaine’s face as we sang. Hey, we didn’t get into NYADA for nothing. Wellington, too, had a smirk on as we sang. We finished the song and Blaine grinned.

“Holy shit you guys that was amazing. And damn Kurt, I don’t even know girls who can sing like that,” he said.

“Well it’s a blessing and curse,” I grumbled.

“Most definitely a blessing. Alright Julliard, you’re up,” Blaine nodded towards the TV screen.

“Oh no, don’t let the musical talent fool you, I can’t sing for my life,” Wellington laughed.

“So? Pick a song at least!”

“Dude, I don’t listen to anything from this century.”

“Fine!” Blaine said, looking through songs. Then he started laughing a bit to manically. “Oh man alright, here you go…”

“Should I be worried ….?” He asked as he picked up a mic.

“Merhaps,” Blaine giggled.

Wellington shook his head and grabbed the mic close to his face. Then we all burst out laughing when the song popped up as “I Just Had Sex” by the Lonely Island. Wellington just stared at the video playing but loosely sang along anyways. We all laughed, drinking our champagne and Blaine lighting another cigarette. At the end we were all hysterical laughing, and Wellington was beat red, laughing along.

“Oh my God what was that ….?” He laughed.

“Poor, poor decisions,” Blaine laughed, sipping more champagne.

“Alright now we choose your song!” Wellington laughed, grabbing me and Rachel. “Um… Yea what song?” he laughed. “I wasn’t lying I don’t really listen to recent music.”

“I got it…” I grinned devilishly. Flipping through the songs I found Katy Perry’s Teenage Dream. “This should be good payback,” I laughed.

“Yes! Thank you Kurt!” Wellington grinned. “Okay here ya go Blaine!”

Blaine grabbed the mic and stared at the screen. “Oh my lanta …”

“Yes,” Wellington laughed.

“I love this song!” Blaine grinned as he belted out Katy Perry. We all just stare at him. Even more so when I realized his voice was beautiful. I sipped the overly priced cheap champagne and became so easily enthralled with his voice.

The song ended with a smug look on Blaine’s face, grinning. “Ha! Like you can best me,” he laughed.

Rachel grinned, praising his voice, whilst Wellington frowned, not getting his revenge. But me, I just sat there sipping my champagne, still hypnotized by the curly haired Filipino in front of me.