Blaine blinked a few times. He still couldn’t believe his eyes. Time seemed to have stopped. He could faintly hear clapping and a little bit of cheering, but all he could hear was ever increasing rate of his heart pounding in his chest. His head was swimming, and he sort of felt like he could throw up. But it wasn’t from nerves, no this was something else entirely. It was if he’d be struck by cupid’s arrow or something, and all he could do was stare back at this beautiful boy, no MAN, that was looking right back at him.

“Blaine Anderson everybody!” Brody stated as he walked on stage, sensing that Blaine was basically frozen on the piano bench. His eyes were no doubt completely glazed over.

“Um, thanks.” Blaine said as he finally broke his gaze from the ice blue eyes that stared straight into his soul. He’d sort of forgotten other people were in the room.

“Looks like the competition for good parts around here is about to get stiff! Damn, Blaine, way to make everyone look like shit in comparison!” Brody kept saying, and pretty much everyone in the room let out a little laugh.

“Oh my god, Blaine! I am SO GLAD we didn’t have to compete against Dalton back in high school! There is NO WAY we could have competed with you, holy crap!”

“Thanks, Rachel.” Blaine’s breathing hadn’t quite returned to normal. He really did feel like he was gonna be sick. He’d just sang in front of a room full of strangers, in the middle of New York, on essentially no sleep. Although he really hadn’t eaten anything, he was pretty he had to have eaten 1,000 butterflies the way they were swarming in his stomach. Maybe that’s why that quarter pounder at McDonald’s at O’Hare had tasted a little funny.

Oh yeah, and there was this guy that he couldn’t shake from his brain. As sweet as Rachel’s enthusiasm was, all he really wanted to do was just pass out.

“Seriously man, where did that come from? How did you come up with the idea to arrange that song that way?” Marc was asking, but Blaine simply couldn’t concentrate on what was going on around him.

“Just fooling around on the piano, I guess. Sorry guys, I think I need a minute.”

Blaine excused himself from the crowd, moving as quickly as possible for the door. He didn’t make eye contact with anyone. That’s what had caused this problem in the first place, after all.

The cool air hit him like a pile of bricks. Oh yeah, the coat…he should have grabbed that before he walked out here. But his skin was on fire in that room, so the cool breeze actually didn’t feel that bad. The air was slowly returning to his lungs, albeit mixed with a little cigarette smoke wafting toward him from people outside the club next door. Blaine didn’t care, he was just happy to be able to think again.

“Who was that guy? How had I been there all night and not seen him?” Blaine thought, his mind still so focused on the pale beauty from the back of the room. He’d had the most piercing blue eyes he’d ever seen. His hair was brown, but not that muddy gross color, just full of shiny highlights and was styled perfectly on his head. His shirt collar was high on his neck, but it was so slender and led right up to a perfectly defined jaw. Oh, and his lips, the perfect shade of pink. “Ok, Blaine, thinking about his lips probably isn’t going to help the situation right now,” he thought.

Blaine reached in his pocket, and pulled out his phone. He pressed the little button and “11:45” came across the phone. He’d been awake for almost 21 jam-packed hours. His mind and body were exhausted, and tomorrow was supposed to be the stressful day. If he was actually going to get into NYADA, he had to get some sleep and try to clear his mind.

Blaine didn’t want to seem like he was ungrateful, or wasn’t having a good time, but he really didn’t think he could go back in after the intensity he had felt. But he couldn’t just leave, he didn’t even know how to get back into the dorm. He flipped through his contacts until he found Brody’s number and sent him a text.

Blaine Anderson: Hey Brody, I think I’m gonna try to make my way back to the dorm. I don’t feel so well. Is there a way for me to get back into the room without you?

Blaine Anderson: If not, I can wait. I don’t want to rush you.

Brody felt his phone buzz, read the message, and shot off a quick reply.

Brody Weston: You can use the code 3407 at the door to get in, and then just tell the night guard that you are staying with me. You should be on the list.

Blaine Anderson: Thanks.

Brody Weston: No prob. Be back soon, and I’ll try to be quiet.

Blaine had heard that Callbacks essentially asked all the NYADA kids to leave right at midnight, so he figured that Brody would be back pretty soon. He felt bad that he was gonna miss the last few singers, and probably Brody, but he figured that he’d get to hear everyone enough once he got into NYADA. That’s right, NYADA was the reason he was here. It wasn’t to ogle some gorgeous specimen at a West Village piano bar.

Blaine started walking for the subway stop, away from Callbacks, just as Kurt Hummel was taking the stage.