Kurt had just finished tidying Cooper's trailer and arranging the script he had picked up on the desk with some post it notes and a pen, when the man himself burst through the door and unceremoniously shoved his coat and scarf into Kurt's hands.

"God!" he cried, sinking down into his desk chair and kicking his feet up onto the table. "Getting my own breakfast is tiring. You should get a raise." Kurt made a noncommittal noise as he carefully hung up Cooper's coat. "So, tell me. What did Mr. Bay say about me when you got the script?"

Kurt gaped at the back of his boss's head and held back a laugh. He schooled his face into a more careful expression and walked over to the desk, "Er...I don't think he spends much time in his New York office. I just talked to a secretary, but, um... she seemed excited that I worked for you!" Kurt finished, thinking fast.

That seemed to be enough to sooth his ego, because he was already ignoring Kurt and thumbing through the the script. After only about forty five seconds he tossed the binder aside. "Eh...I'll look at this later. When's my call time again?"

"You don't have to be in hair and makeup for another half an hour." Kurt said, glancing down at his planner even though he had memorized the time already. "Would you like me to get your anything to pass the time? You haven't ready this month's GQ yet. I could get it for-"

Cooper cut him off with a wave. "Nah, it's only a half an hour and I'll have to start doing my warmups in ten minutes anyway."

"Of course." Kurt said, feeling a little awkward. Although Cooper was not an overly demanding boss, Kurt's number one job it seemed was to keep his ego sufficiently in tact, and there wasn't generally any down time. It felt weird to just be standing there awaiting orders. "I could go do some paper work or something..."

"I talked to Blaine about you today." Cooper said suddenly, with a flippancy that can only come from an individual who is truly unconcerned with the rest of the world.

"Oh, um, you remembered about that huh?" Kurt got instantly nervous. Sure, Cooper's words are probably what set him off on the road to such an unmitigated crush, but he had never actually considered that he might follow through on his offer. "What did he, um, say?" Kurt asked, trying to sound as nonchalant as possible.

"Sorry, kid." Cooper said, actually looking a bit genuine for once. "He said he had his eye on someone else. I told him you were a catch, but he wouldn't listen."

Kurt felt his heart drop into his stomach. Someone else—Blaine was interested in someone else. Of course there is someone else. What did Kurt think that he could just waltz into Blaine's life for no longer than a month and expect him to be free and available to him. Kurt felt embarrassed tears threatening to seep past his eyelids, but he took and deep breath and forced them down. 'When you get home, you can cry all you want when you get home.' he chanted to himself over and over again, like a mantra. Out loud, however, he did an admirable job of remaining collected, "Oh...well, plenty more fish I suppose." He even threw in a forced chuckle for good measure.

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Outgoing text to Blaine:

Not feeling well—skipping coffee for today to sleep. See you tomorrow.

1 new text from Blaine

:( hope you feel better soon.

Kurt slammed his phone back on the couch and plopped down heavily, causing Marion to stir from her nap and let out a disgruntled meow, "You know, it would be a lot easier if you would just be mean to me. Then at least I could have a valid reason to hate you." Kurt said, staring daggers at his phone and ignoring Marion's continued protests at being jostled.

He then proceeded to spend the next half hour going through the familiar 'post let down' phase. Once he had ordered a stupid amount of food from the Chinese place down the street and his irrational anger towards Blaine subsided slightly, he moved on immediately to replaying their time together in his head, wondering how on earth he had misread the signals so thoroughly. He transitioned then into allowing the crocodile tears to flow as he chastised himself for allowing himself to think, even for a second, that this time would be different. This time round, though he had to forcefully shove down the little voice that was screaming, 'But no, this time really was different!'

He was about to move on to the 'Maybe I should get another cat' phase, when he heard the buzzer. 'Must be the food.' He mumbled to himself, grabbing his wallet and telling the delivery guy to just come right up. He scrubbed his eyes a bit before opening the door, but he wasn't too concerned. After all, Chinese food delivery guys should be used to walking in on pity parties at this point. When he opened the door, however, it wasn't the delivery guy, it was Tina, clutching a brown paper bag and bustling her way into his apartment and setting the bag down in his kitchen.

"Blaine called me and said you were sick. He can't get away from work right now, but he told me to bring you some soup, hope you don't mind wonton...it's all I really know how to make." She said, pulling out a tupperware container. "Although, now that I'm here," she said looking him up and down, "you don't look so good, but you don't look sick."

Kurt cowed a bit at the suggestion, but busied himself with taking out bowls and dolling out two portions of soup, "Thanks for the soup. That was really nice of you. I ordered enough Chinese for an army. You're welcome to stay for dinner." Kurt said, blatantly ignoring Tina's irritatingly astute observation.

He set the two bowls down on the table and gestured that she should join him. She sat down obediently, but wasn't going to be deterred by Kurt's resistance. "You can tell me, you know. I won't say anything to anyone if that's what you're worried about." When Kurt didn't respond and just continued to stare resolutely into his soup, she continued. "I know I'm quiet, but I can tell when someone is upset and you look really upset."

"It's nothing," Kurt finally said after a long silence. "I just found out some stuff today that got me a bit down, but it's nothing new. It doesn't matter."

"It obviously matters to you." Tina pointed out quietly, trying not to make Kurt angry, "It matters to me."

Kurt looked up and that and studied Tina's face for any sign of ingenuousness. When he didn't find any he sighed and began to open up a little. He had missed his harem of straight woman that seemed to constantly surround him in high school and college. It meant that there was always someone to talk to. Maybe Tina could be that someone for him. "I just...I have this tendency to develop feelings for someone and then convince myself that they feel the same and then when I find out I was wrong it can be a huge let down. This go round was especially bad because I still can't shake the feeling that he likes me back."

"Okay, I'm just going to take a stab in the dark here," Tina said, leveling Kurt with a steady gaze, "This is about Blaine, right?"

Kurt's cheeks pinked a little, "Am I that obvious?" Kurt asked, ducking his head to hide his embarrassment. "You're not going to tell him are you?"

"Of course you are and of course I won't, but I wouldn't worry about it, Blaine is the most oblivious man on planet earth," Tina said, going back to her soup. "I mean I don't know for sure—he's really Mike's friend and I wouldn't intrude on their 'bro talk' or whatever, but I was under the impression that he liked you, too. I don't really see the problem. You should tell him how you feel. It's not like there's anyone else. In three years the only time I've seen Blaine go on any dates was when he was humoring his older brother's severely misguided attempts to set him up.

"Yeah well, apparently there's someone you aren't aware of because he said today that he has his eye on someone else," Kurt said, abandoning his spoon and slumping down into his chair. "I made the whole thing up in my head and now I have to continue on like nothing ever happened, like I didn't make a complete and utter fool of myself and oh god I'm supposed to go to his place for dinner tomorrow. This is a mess."

Tina made a sympathetic noise and was about to console him when the buzzer rang for a second time that night. This time is was the food and there was a pause in their conversation as Kurt payed the man and the he and Tina moved to the couch and ate directly out of the containers.

"Kurt, I know this probably isn't what you want to hear right now, but you're amazing. You're smart, funny, and interesting, and if what Mike has been telling me about the shoot is anything to go by, incredibly talented. Not to mention, you're unquestionably gorgeous." Kurt pinked a little at that. "If Blaine doesn't see those things in you, then it is genuinely his loss."

Kurt's heart warmed. He knew that she was just saying all of the stereotypical friend things, but the fact the someone cared enough to say them to him meant a lot. "Thanks Tina," Kurt said, placing his Szechuan eggplant on the coffee table and letting Marion crawl into his lap. "I know I was a little bitchy at first, but I really appreciate you being here. I know Blaine was technically sending you in his stead, but I'm really glad it's you."

0000000000

Tina and Kurt spent the next few hours sprawled on the couch alternating between talking and getting to know each other better, and gorging themselves on Chinese food while watching Bravo, but it was getting late and they both had work in the morning so Tina bid him good night and Kurt started on his moisturizing routine.

He snuggled into bed with a book and told himself that tomorrow would be a new day. Carole, his step mom, used to tell him that everything would seem better in the morning. He had asked her once why she would always say that and her only response was 'Because it's usually true."

Before he could stop himself, he reached over to his bedside table and got out his phone.

Outgoing text to Blaine

Thanks for sending Tina over. I'm feeling much better now. See you tomorrow.

1 new text from Blaine

I'm so glad. Sweet dreams, Kurt. I'll see you in the morning. X

Yes, tomorrow would be a new day.