Blaine wasn’t really sure about how he felt about being back in Lima, part of him felt like it was good to be back, it was his hometown after all. But part of him hated every second he spent in that town, not only because Ohio was still as homophobic as ever but also because his parents were usually fighting and there was only so much yelling Blaine could stand. He still needed to figure out how to tell them he was dropping out of NYADA and going to Columbia next semester. Theoretically, they would support them because what parent wouldn’t be happy to find out that their kid is going to be a doctor but he knew they would find a way to fight about it. Maybe he could tell them individually so they could both give him their honest reactions as opposed to reacting based on how the other one did, or maybe he was worrying for no reason, he had been terrified to tell them he was gay but they were fine with that so maybe they’ll be fine with this too. He wanted to tell Cooper first but Cooper was in Columbus visiting his own mom, so when he got to Lima for Blaine’s mom’s birthday dinner Blaine was going to pull him aside and tell him then. In the meantime Blaine was doing everything he could to stay busy, his first day in Lima he went to the Lima Bean to grab a medium drip which he added a ton of sugar to, normally he didn’t add any sugar to his coffee but the stuff at the Lima Bean needed all the help it could get. Really, it was pretty disgusting and he had no idea why he felt the need to get it every time he came to Lima but he did, he suspected they put crack in it but he had no way to prove it.

                Coffee in hand he took his mom’s car to get looked at, she had complained to him about a ‘strange pinging sound’ every time they spoke lately. His dad, of course, claimed there was nothing wrong with the car and his mom didn’t like taking the car in herself claiming that the mechanics make her feel like an idiot for not knowing anything about the car. So Blaine being the good son that he is offered to take it in for her, normally they take it the dealer to get fixed but on his way there Blaine saw Hummel Tires and Lube and he before he could register what he was doing Blaine was pulling up in front of the shop. There was something very reassuring about the placer and for some reason Blaine completely trusted the man, Burt, who owned the shop so he had no qualms about leaving his mom’s car there to be fixed. He then spent the next few hours wandering around Lima, he walked past McKinley high where his parents briefly considered sending him before they decided Dalton would be safer, he walked pat Breadstix where he went to dinner with his family so many times and where he went on a couple of disastrous first dates. He stopped when he got to the revival movie theatre that had hosted things like Sound of Music sing-a-longs, he wondered if they still did that sort of thing, he had really wanted to go back then, he had tickets for months but he ended up coming down with the flu and missing it.  He looked at his watch and saw he still had a few hours until when Mr. Hummel said his car would be ready so he decided to take in the matinee showing of When Harry Met Sally, he always loved that film.

                When the movie let out he checked his phone to find a voice mail saying that he could pick up the car any time before 6. When he got to the shop it felt different than before, still reassuring but now it was even more so. But at the same time he felt like he was late, he quickly checked his watch and saw that it was well before 6 and as far as he could remember he didn’t have any plans with his parents. So he just shook off the feeling and paid for the car. He was driving back to his parents’ house when he had to pull to the side of the road when the realization hit him of what he had been feeling at the shop, his soul mate had been there, Blaine had just missed him. He smacked the steering wheel of the car, should he turn around? Go back to the shop and ask Mr. Hummel….ask him what? If any gay guys other than him and been at the shop today? And if so could Blaine get their names and phone numbers? Yeah that would probably go over well. The old Blaine would spend the rest of his time in Lima sitting outside the shop in the hopes that his soul mate would come back but the new and improved Blaine thought that would be pointless, he had no indication that his soul mate would return to the shop any time soon.  Once he felt he could concentrate on the road again he finished the short drive home and by the time he went to bed that night he had convinced himself it was just wishful thinking, his soul mate wasn’t in Lima.

                The next day all his thoughts about his soul mater where forgotten when all his plans about informing his parents about his decision to transfer to Columbia fell apart.

                “So Blaine, I just got an interesting phone call from NYADA.” His dad told him over lunch. “They wanted me to let you know that your withdrawal paperwork is complete.”

                “Uh…yeah…about that…aftertheendofthissemesterI’mtranseferringtoColumbiapremed.” Blaine said quickly.

                “Do you want to repeat that a little slower dear?” His mom asked.

                “After the end of this semester I’m transferring to Columbia pre-med. I know I should have told you before I put in the paperwork and I know that you spent a lot of money at NYADA already but this is what I want, please just support me and don’t start fighting about it. Please just don’t make this into one of your fights.”

                “Now Blaine, why would we fight about this?” Blaine’s mom asked him.

                “You fight about everything!” He exclaimed; both of his parents looked at him shocked “Did you really think I didn’t notice? You are always yelling it would be impossible for me not to notice.”

                “We don’t fight all that much.” Mr. Anderson insisted.

                “Are you nuts? We fight all the time!” Mrs. Anderson told her husband.

As his parents began to fight over how often the fight Blaine decided it was a good time to get his daily fix of coffee from Lima Bean. He was so stressed over his parents, he realized that he still didn’t know what they thought about his transfer that he barely even remembered walking in the door of the Lima Bean or ordering his coffee but before he knew it he was stirring the sugar in his coffee when he looked up and saw the most beautiful man sitting alone at the table directly in front of where Blaine was standing.

                “Oh there you are, I’ve been looking for you forever.” Blaine said approaching the man.