He steps to the front desk, coughing slightly to gain the attention of the desk clerk. She doesn’t stop typing through their entire interaction.

“Hello, and welcome to the Wingate by Windham. My name is Becky. How can I assist you this evening?” She is almost too chipper.

“Reservation for Anderson.”

“Ok, Mr. Anderson. How long will you be staying with us?”

“Two nights.” Too long, he thinks as her typing speeds up a bit.

“Are you with the Chang squared wedding? Mike and Tina?”

Blaine has no idea what she’s talking about. “No, I’m leaving Friday.”

Becky nods with a look of relief. “Are you a member of any travel clubs?”

Blaine sighs dropping his head back. “No. Look, I’m very tired. Just give me the best room you have, ok?”

Becky snorts at him. “That’ll be $325 a night. Wedding rate, you understand.” She’s patronizing him.

Blaine pulls out his wallet, noticing the Sugar Shack Advertising company credit card resting on top of his debit card. He pulls out the card and slides it across the desk. “Just put it on my company card!” He smiles knowing that they probably haven’t even thought to cancel the card. Becky smiles back at him awkwardly, typing at full speed.

Blaine moves down the hallway to his hotel room, key card in hand. The doors to several of the rooms on this floor are propped open, TVs are on and blaring, it seems that this hotel is populated only by wedding guests. There is a twenty-something Asian couple at the end of the hallway clinging to each other for dear life. The part only when dragged apart by friends. This is obviously the Mike and Tina that Becky spoke of. Mike leans against the wall, it’s clear he’s had a few drinks.

“Don’t change the schedule or Tina will freak!” He calls out to no one in particular. Mike to turns to see Blaine standing at the door of the room next to his. He’s grinning from ear to ear. “I’m the luckiest guy in the world,” Mike says as if it’s the most important piece of information Blaine will ever hear.

Mike shuts his door and Blaine feels genuinely happy for the man. But on the flipside Blaine feels that he has never been lonelier.

Blaine is in his pajamas propped up on the couch in his room. He stares at his cell phone for a moment feeling the sudden jarring urge for human contact. He starts making calls feeling jagged and exhausted.

“Coop, pick up man. I’m exhausted. I’m at the Wyndham. Call me on my cell… Oh! I saw Puck and Aunt Mallory and… I have seen Dad. He’s fine… Well, he not fine, it’s, um… We’re going to have to make a decision soon about the whole burial… Thing. Call me on my cell, I’m about to go to bed.”

He ends the call and places his phone back onto the coffee table. After a breath, he picks the phone up again, making another call.

“Hey Mom… Are you there? Are you with Coop? I’m at the Wyndham in Lima… Hello?”

He looks at his phone blankly waiting for it do something. He presses the screen and makes another call.

“Ev, buddy! Where are you?”

Still no answer. He takes a deep breath and decides to make one last call. At this point he’s pacing with the phone pressed to his ear.

“Sebastian? It’s Blaine. Are you there?”

He disconnects the call. Defeat is written all over the man’s face. Blaine falls backwards on the bed groaning.

“Where is everyone?”

He crawls further up the bed and is mindlessly channel surfing when an idea hits him. He shuts off the TV and scoops his phone back up. He has become a ball of nerves. Pulling the Hummel Tire & Lube coupon out of his backpack, Blaine begins to messily dial the numbers. By the first ring, he’s pacing again.

“Kurt Hummel… Yeah, it’s Blaine Anderson… We met on the flight to Columbus? I wanted to… Thank you… For the directions. You’re not around. You don’t have to call me back! I’m going to sleep. Long day. Thank you for the coupon… I haven’t really had a chance to use it yet.” Blaine knows he’s rambling. He almost hangs up, but he puts the phone back to his ear. “But don’t feel bad. Everything’s fine. Good night. It’s all good. What am I doing? I don’t even say “it’s all good.” Uh… Good night.” This time he really disconnects the call.

The silence last for exactly a second. The phone rings.

“Hello?”

“Hello Blaine Anderson. I didn’t expect to hear from you, though I did leave a thousand and one numbers. It’s Kurt Hummel.”

Blaine is over-joyed at the sound of his voice. The call-waiting tone interrupts his flailing.

“Kurt, I’ve got another call coming in. Can I call you back?” Blaine tenses waiting for the answer.

“I’ll hold.”

Blaine is almost shocked by the answer. “Ok, give me just a minute. I’ll be right back. I promise.” Blaine presses the screen. “Hello?”

“Blaine, it’s Sebastian. You called me.” Blaine becomes a little too excited at the sound of Sebastian’s voice.

“Sebastian! Thank you for calling me back! I’m so happy to hear from you! There’s so much going on! I was actually calling about that silly misunderstanding that happened the other day at the office… Shit! Seb, can you hold on for just a second? I’ve got a call on the other line.”

“Yeah, but I’m on my way to dinner.”

“Just one second. I really need to talk to you. Don’t go anywhere!” Blaine presses a button on his phone. “Hello?”

“Mr. Anderson I’m in Chicago doing a little shopping. Did you know—“

“Kurt, hey, hold on. No, actually I really just wanted to call and say thank you for the directions and everything… So thank you. And good luck with… Everything.”

Kurt responds before Blaine can finish. “I’ll hold.”

“Ok!” Blaine replies immediately. He presses another button on his phone while taking a breath. “Hello?”

“Blainers! Cremation is the way to go. Don’t you agree?”

Blaine let’s out an exasperated sigh. “Coop! They really love him here. I don’t think they’re going to buy cremation. No one here will even say the word. Did you know there’s a family burial plot? It goes back like a thousand years! It’s like… Whatever, listen. We need to talk about this, but I am going to have to call you back.”

“Is there anything more important than what we’re talking about? “

“I will call you right back!”

“Just tell me everything’s going to be fine. You don’t even have to mean it.”

“Everything will be just fine. I will call you right back.”

“I miss Dad.”

“Was he a fun guy?”

“Of course he was a fun guy. Especially these past couple of years when you got so busy with –“

“I’ll call you right back, Coop.” He pushes the same button for probably the hundredth time tonight. “Hello?”

“How was it a silly misunderstanding, Blaine? I think I made myself perfectly clear.” Blaine can tell from his voice that Sebastian is clearly irritated.

“Seb, look, I know you’re almost late for your dinner –“

“I am already late!”

“I’m in Ohio.”

“Look, Blainey, what we had was real and it was great, but it wasn’t really great. Good luck with everything. Goodbye.”

“Goodbye?”

“Yes, goodbye. It’s what normal people say when they want you to leave them the hell alone! Goodbye.”

Sebastian hangs up abruptly and Blaine is startled by the finality and power behind Sebastian’s words. He looks at the cell phone in his hand for a long moment. He presses the call-waiting button.

“Hello?” He is polite and resigned.

“Welcome back. Did I win the phone lottery?”

“Tell me about Chicago.”

“I’m over it. I’m headed back to Lima. Were the roads as hellish as I warned?”

“Kurt. My dad’s dead.”

“I know.”

“You knew?”

“I don’t know a lot about everything, but I know how to read a person.”

“And here I thought I was being all mysterious and sexy.”

“Trust me. Everyone is less mysterious and sexy than they think. You’re talking to a man whose sex appeal was once equated to that of a baby penguin.”

Blain laughs leaning back against the headboard of his bed. Finally, he thinks, a real conversation.

The next several hours of phone conversation pass in a blur. Blaine has had to charge and recharge his phone twice. He’s done everything on the phone with Kurt from laundry to stealing a beer from the wedding party to even peeing as quietly as possible while trying to mask the sound of the toilet flushing. It is very late at night or very early in the morning, depending on your perspective, and neither of them had planned to talk for this long.

Blaine stifles a yawn. “Doesn’t your ear hurt?”

“Yeah, and I have to get up in two hours. I meeting Nick in Hawaii. He’s shooting an orange juice commercial or something equally ridiculous.”

“Oh… Well, have fun.”

The silence between them is incredibly awkward.

Kurt is the one to finally ease the tension. “We should both be getting to bed.”

“Wait. Um… How long will you be gone for?” There is no answer for what, to Blaine, feels like an eternity. “Hello?”

“I’m still here. I’m just wondering if maybe we should stick to being phone buddies. Maybe we should never face each other again.”

Blaine shuts the TV off, sitting in total darkness. His brain is totally fried from exhaustion, he brutally honest to a fault this early in the game.

“I enjoyed this,” he sighs dreamily.

“Hey. My dad lives about ten minutes from your hotel. You want to go watch the sun rise? At this point it’s probably just easier to stay up anyway.”

Blaine can hear the smile in his voice. He jumps out of bed almost immediately. “You sure? I thought you said we should never face each other again?”

“I’ll be at the Wyndham in less ten minutes. Meet me in the lobby and then we’re going to find somewhere to watch. Bring a blanket. I’ll call you when I’m pulling up.” Before Blaine can answer Kurt ends the call.

True to his word, exactly eight minutes later Blaine’s cell phone rings as he stands in the lobby of the hotel pacing nervously, duvet from the bed draped carelessly over his shoulder. “I see you. I like that scarf.”

“There you are! My god, you are like a puppy Blaine Anderson!” Kurt has entered the lobby.

Both men look rumpled in their pajamas walking towards each other like long lost friends. They are sizing each other up, anticipation hanging heavy in the air, still talking on their cell phones even though they are six feet away from each other.

The cell phones are quickly forgotten as they collide into a hug. “Hi there,” Kurt mumbles into Blaine’s shoulder. “Hey,” Blaine says breathing the taller man in. To Blaine he smells like vanilla, lavender, rose, and everything that’s right in the world. The stay in the hug for a few moments longer before Blaine pulls away.

“Follow me,” he says grabbing Kurt’s hand and running with him down the hotel hallway towards stairs.

Kurt and Blaine are sitting together next to the roof-top pool, huddled together under the duvet, watching the sun come up. The look over the stretch of rolling Ohio flatlands. Birds are chirping a little too loudly. There’s not much to say that they haven’t already said.

“Beautiful,” Blaine says barely above a whisper.

He glances around. It’s gotten awkward between them despite this boundlessly romantic moment they are sharing. Kurt yawns and rests his head on Blaine’s shoulder.

“We peaked on the phone,” he blurts outs sleepily.

Blaine looks over at him, smiling just a little. “Yeah, I… I’m pretty tired.”

Kurt looks up at the curly haired man, a ghost of a smile playing on his lips. Blaine closes his eyes, leaning in ever so slightly. His hard is pounding so hard that he is sure that Kurt can hear it. He does his best to keep his panic in check so he doesn’t make a fool of himself. All his panic subsides when he feels Kurt’s lips pressed against his own, and then there is only fireworks and butterflies.

Blaine’s eyes fly open when Kurt pulls out of the kiss and backs away quickly.

“I… Uh… Wow, I should go… Hawaii and… Um… Nick… Shit Nick!”

The blood rushes out of Blaine’s face as he tries to do some damage control. “Kurt, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to… I mean I did, but… I care about you… A lot… And I don’t want to screw this up.” Blaine has no idea what he’s trying to say or if he’s even making sense at all. His brain is running on fumes.

Kurt nibbles on his bottom lip for a moment before he speaks again. “It’s all good,” he says with quick wink. He pulls Blaine into a hug. “I’ll call you from Hawaii.” Kurt squeezes Blaine one more time before walking away.

Blaine watches him go, falling into a deck chair berating himself for kissing Kurt. I’d do it all over again though, a tiny voice says. Blaine cracks a smile before bouncing happily back into the hotel and into his bed.