The alarm went off. It was a cloudy day in New York City and fog filled the air. Kurt slowly crawled out of bed and dragged himself into the bathroom where he got into the shower. He could feel the sleep leaving his limbs as the water washed over him and he closed his eyes and felt the pressure of the water against his skin.

  Rachel was already in the kitchen pouring cereal into two bowls when he emerged from the bathroom with wet hair and no socks on. They moved around the kitchen in a certain pattern that had been defined and perfected over the two years they'd lived together and no words were needed for them to know who was supposed to do what at which time. Because of the early morning rush that they started off with every day they never ate breakfast at the dining table but moved around with their food whilst getting ready to leave for school.

  “So” Rachel said with her mouth full while she quickly went through her music sheets. “What have you bought for Carole's birthday?”

  “Shit” Kurt murmured. He'd completely forgotten to buy a present for Carole's birthday. He wouldn't be able to make it back to Lima because of school so he was going to send her a present but he'd been too busy lately so he'd forgotten to buy it. “I haven't bought her anything yet”.

  Rachel looked up from the music. “You do know it's her birthday in two days, right? It also has to arrive”.

  Kurt put the bowl in the dishwasher and grabbed his back. “I'll buy her something today” he said as he put on his jacket and wrapped his scarf around his neck.

  “Do you even know what to get her?” Rachel closed the door behind them and they hurried down the stairs into the busy street where they were met with an ocean of people on their way to work. A pair of tourists snapped a picture of them and then they were absorbed by the masses.

  “No idea”. They went into a coffee shop and got two coffees to-go and continued down the street.

  “Well, that makes it a bit hard to buy her something, don't you think?”

  “Don't mock me, Rachel”. He took a sip of his coffee and jumped to avoid getting hit by the door of a cab. “I would buy her a piece of clothing since the woman has a terrible taste in clothes but she always returns it and buys something hideous instead and I refuse to finance her lack of style”.

  They reached the doors of NYADA and they quickly hurried down the corridors where they parted, waved their quick goodbyes to each other and Kurt found his seat just as the teacher walked into the room.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

  There were only a few minutes of class left when Kurt's phone silently announced that he'd received a message.

Thursday 22nd October (15:53 pm)

Remember to buy Carole a birthday present! See you later xx

  Rachel had an annoying habit of constantly reminding him of all the things that he didn't have time to do. He grunted and quickly left when the teacher called it a wrap.

  It was pouring down outside so he held his bag over his head as he ran down the busy street trying to find something he could send Carole. The bad thing about New York was the fact that most of the shops on the big streets were overly expensive and it was mainly things that they could trick tourists into buying so there was nothing for Kurt to buy Carole except souvenirs and he would never even consider getting her something like that.

  As the rain got worse Kurt started to get cold and after 45 minutes he still hadn't found anything. He stepped into one of the small side streets and he hid from the rain under a half roof. He was hungry, tired and cold and he had lots of homework to finish for next day and then there was the assignment for Monday that he hadn't even begun yet. Maybe he should just give up and go home.

  And that was when he spotted it.

  On the other side of the street was a little old book shop. The bricks were painted a faded blue colour and the door was made of light worn-out wood that used to be white but over the years the colour had come off so now the bits of paint that was left were more a light grey than an actual white. It was in the basement of the building so a few steps down a little staircase led down to the door. Le Petit Lecteur was engraved above the shop but Kurt could barely read it because the letters had almost faded away.

  To escape the weather he moved across the street, down the steps and opened the door. The room was lit up by a few old lamps that hung from the ceiling and countless bookshelves were lined up, all completely full of thick books. There were no signs that indicated which genres could be found where but there was an atmosphere in the room that made Kurt relax the moment the door closed behind him.

  He felt as if he'd just been lifted out of the stressful city that he lived in called New York City and had stepped into a fairytale world far away from all his daily life problems and responsibilities. There was something so old and antique yet fascinating about the store that made Kurt smile without knowing why. There weren't that many people in the store and there was a comfortable murmur of voices that could be heard from beyond the shelves.

  Kurt took off his scarf and unbuttoned his jacket as he stepped further into the store. At the back of the room he found a desk with a cash register and a little bell.

  He had no idea where to look first. Oh to hell with it, he thought as he rang the bell.

  A soft, discrete cough came from behind him and he turned around to stare into the face of a young guy with soft dark curls and big brown eyes. He wore a white t-shirt with a blue cardigan over it and a pink bow tie. On his cardigan was a nameplate. Blaine, it read.

  “How may I help you?”

  Kurt quickly shook his head and cleared his throat. The man, Blaine, had a soft and smooth voice that made Kurt’s palms sweaty and formed a lump in his throat. Stop being silly, Kurt thought to himself as tried to form a reply that didn’t exclusively consist of ‘urgh’, ‘mmm’ and ‘aasgh’.

  “I... Uhm, I’m looking for a-a book....” Wow you don’t say? “A-about uhm...” Kurt blushed and tried to focus on the scarf in his hands so he didn’t have to look at Blaine and make an even bigger fool of himself. A smile spread across Blaine’s face and Kurt’s stomach did a little dance because gosh was he cute. Stop yourself, Hummel.

  “About?” the silk smooth voice that came from the handsome wonderful creature in front of him asked.

  “Uhm... well actually I don’t know about what”. Kurt fumbled over the words and felt more and more ridiculous for every second he talked.

  Blaine giggled and Kurt’s heart jumped at the sound. “Well, that makes it a bit harder. Is it for you?”

  “Uhm no, it’s for my stepmother Carole and I have no idea what kind of books she likes”. Blaine gave it a minute’s thought and then he turned around and started down the aisle, making a gesture with his arm to indicate that Kurt should follow. When Kurt caught up with him he was running the palm of his hand along the row of books, looking for something. Even his fingers looks good, Kurt thought to himself. He had to dig his nails into his hands so hard that they left small half-circle shaped marks to keep him from reaching out and touching Blaine’s outstretched hand. Blaine had to stand on his toes to reach the top shelf and as did so his shirt crawled up a bit and revealed some of his bare olive skin just above his belt. Damn.

  The book was pink with purple lettering and pretty much screamed ‘romantic, completely irrelevant nonsense’. That was just the book for Carole.

  “Yeah I’ll take that one” Kurt quickly said.

  Blaine frowned a bit at his words. “But you don’t know what it’s about?”

  “Is it an overly romantic book that’s made for a large female audience but that’s still funny and light-hearted?”

  “Well, yes....”

  “Is it pretty much a chick-flick hiding in the form of a book?”

  “Yes b-“

  “Then I’ll take it. I think that’ll be just her thing.”

  Blaine seemed amused and shook his head as a grin spread across his face and Kurt could instantly feel the corner of his mouth searching upwards. Just the simple look of amusement on Blaine’s face made Kurt’s heart beat faster and his throat twist and he was glad Blaine didn’t say anything as he led him to the counter because he was sure he wouldn’t be able to form a single word even if he had had to. On the counter was a stack of books with a little discount sign next to it and while Blaine scanned the book Kurt had gotten for Carole, Kurt decided to look a bit at the stack to make sure Blaine didn’t notice that he still had that foolish grin plastered to his face.

  “That book is really good actually” Blaine said and made a small nod towards the stack of books Kurt was starring at. “It’s one of my favourites”.

  Filled with sudden interest Kurt looked more closely at it. The front page was covered in red writing and with big black letters it read The Perks of Being a Wallflower and then underneath in the same writing was the name of the author, Stephen Chbosky.

  Kurt picked it up and turned it over in his hands. “Didn’t they turn it into a movie a few years back?”

  Blaine’s smile broadened at the fact that Kurt obviously knew a bit about it. “Yes they did. Have you ever seen it?”

  “No, I never got around to it but I always wanted to”. Kurt put the book down on the desk. “I’m going to trust your taste in books and buy it”.

  Blaine quietly laughed a bit as he scanned the book and put it in a small plastic bag alongside the book for Carole which he had wrapped in some gift wrap with a big bow on it without Kurt noticing. “You’re not going to regret it”. He neatly handed over the bag and Kurt blushed a bit as his fingers briefly touched Blaine’s.

  “I better not!” Kurt turned around and started towards the door. Laughter reached him as he opened the door and even as he went out into the street where the rain was still pouring down and it had grown colder, he felt a lot warmer than he had before he entered the bookshop.