Blaine Anderson enters Bloomingdale’s Department Store five days before Christmas, walking toward the women’s accessories department, his eyes cast downward on the text message on his cell phone. His mother’s latest text asks Blaine to look for a Burberry Icon Check Cashmere scarf for his younger sister, Bethany, a college student in Ohio.  He looks up and sees one last Burberry scarf displayed on mannequin near the center of the Accessories Department.  Walking toward the scarf with a smile on his face, Blaine looks down at his cell phone and hits the send button to reply to his mother’s text. Reaching out his left hand to get the scarf he suddenly feels a tug on the garment.  Blaine quickly looks up and sees a man with his right hand on the same scarf. 

The other man, cradling a cell phone to his left ear and holding the scarf with his right hand, is giving instructions to someone on the other end of the phone, “Allison, just email me the copy for the article and I’ll review it when I get home tonight. Thanks so much! Talk to you later.”  He then jerks his head up and looks directly at Blaine, sliding his cell phone in his jacket pocket.

“Excuse me, I need this scarf,” Blaine says to the man who is now holding the other end of the scarf.

And I need to continue looking at your gorgeous blue eyes.

The other man stares at Blaine and says “I need this scarf, too.”

I need to know your name, too.

Blaine releases his hold on the scarf, pockets his cell phone, extends his right hand and says “My name’s Blaine,” all the time smiling at the other man.

“Kurt,” the other man says, with a curious look on his face while he also removes his hand from the scarf.

“Nice to meet you, Kurt,” Blaine says, looking Kurt directly in the eyes. “I really want to buy this scarf for my sister in Ohio.”

“Well, I would like to get it for my friend, Rachel Berry, wait, did you say Ohio,” Kurt asks with a tilt of his head.

“Yes, she’s in college at Ohio State,” Blaine continued. He then paused, looking inquisitively at Kurt. “You mean, THE Rachel Berry, on Broadway, Rachel Berry?”

Kurt laughs and answers, “Yes, THE Rachel Berry.  She’s my friend and I would love to introduce her to some style this Christmas. By the way, I’m from Ohio too.”

“I have an idea,” Blaine says, smiling at Kurt.  “Why don’t we have the sales clerk hold this scarf and then we can grab some coffee at the B Café here in the store. I always like to talk to someone else who is from Ohio too.”

Kurt glances at his phone, checking the time. “OK, I have a few minutes. Let’s get some coffee,” Kurt says with a grin.

Blaine smiles back, picks up the scarf, walks to the counter and hands it to the store clerk. “Can you please hold this scarf for about an hour?” he says to the girl behind the counter, turning on the charm.

“Sure,” the sales girl replies, with a dreamy look on her face. “Wait, what name should I put on the Hold Slip?” she asks Blaine.

“Kurt and Blaine,” Blaine says with a wink.

The sales girls nods, takes the scarf, and places it behind the counter with a Hold Slip on the garment.

Kurt watches the exchange, chuckling to himself. “Wow, that was impressive,” he says to Blaine. “You must have a lot of girlfriends with that dapper attitude.”

“No girlfriends. Don’t play for that team,” Blaine says. “Me either,” Kurt replies back, with a smile.

Blaine nodded with a smile and pointed to the left. “The Coffee shop is in this direction,” Blaine said, “and they have a great selection.”

Blaine led the way and Kurt quickly moved to his side.

Once they arrive at the coffee shop, Blaine approaches the counter, places his order and then turns to Kurt. “Go ahead and order what you want, it’s on me.”

“Thanks, Blaine,” Kurt says, while ordering a Grande nonfat mocha.

They get their drinks and walk toward a small table in the corner of the café.

“So, Kurt, tell me how you ended up in New York,” Blaine asks, while stirring sugar in his medium drip coffee.

“After high school, I went to college here at NYADA,” Kurt says.

“I left Ohio too after high school, went to NYU, majored in music and now work for a record company” Blaine replied.

Taking another sip of his coffee, Kurt says “That sounds really interesting.  I work for a magazine.”

Blaine smiles, his hazel sparkling. They continue talking, getting to know each other better. They talk about Ohio, Glee Clubs, Blaine’s sister, Bethany, and Kurt’s Best friend, Rachel.

Blaine find out that Kurt wants to give the scarf to Rachel at a small party she is hosting for friends in two days and Kurt discovers that Blaine is flying to Ohio in three days so he can spend the holidays with his family.

Kurt excuses himself and walks toward the restrooms. He ducks down a small hallway, pulling out his cell phone and presses a contact number. “Allison,” he asks in a breathy voice, “can you call our Burberry Rep, Emily, and ask her to have a Burberry Icon Check Cashmere Scarf delivered to our office tomorrow?”

Meanwhile, Blaine pulls out his iPhone while still sitting at the table. He does a quick Google search on “Kurt Hummel, New York” and discovers that Kurt is an Associate Editor for Vogue, one of his favorite magazines.

Kurt walks back toward the table, smiling at Blaine.

“I have an idea, Blaine,” Kurt says. “If you agree to go with me to Rachel’s party on Friday night, we can go back to the store now so you can buy the scarf for your sister,” Kurt explains.

“Sure,” Blaine exclaims with a huge smile on his face. “It’s a date!”

They both walk back to Bloomingdale’s together, exchanging phone numbers, discussing their holiday plans and looking forward to their upcoming date on Friday night.