A/N: So I'm back with the new chapter of The Click. Sorry it took quite a while for me to write this, since my part time job is in its busy period at the moment and I have a SAT test coming in November. Anyways, I will try to update weekly at least. Enjoy this new chapter :)
So after Blaine invited Kurt for coffee on Lima Bean on Thursday (purposely to avoid the Glee gang as they had to prepare for a party at Sugar's place - Kurt had his outfits planned already as usual), they texted back and forth casually through the week. Kurt knew he was eloquent (wordy is more like it) and Blaine was too, however it was a bit ridiculous how long their messages had grown to become. The things could not even fit the relatively large IPhone screen for him to see and reply at the same time, for crying out loud. And the funny thing is that their messages are kind of like point by point, with about freaking six points to reply to in an average text. So now Kurt had to manually cut his reply, scroll up to see the message, memorise the point, type the reply for that point, and back again. Unexpectedly, he found himself loving it. Kurt liked to think that it was because they had too many things to say to each other that both had to let it all out before they forgot. Well that was his case at least. Four years were too long, and he felt like he missed out a lot on Blaine as a friend. No wonder they said pining was unhealthy, his only slightly, a bit stalkerish way had never allowed him to know and - dare he say it - understand Blaine's thoughts and emotions apart from what bands (Roxy Music, No Doubt), what movies (The Notebook, Back to the Future), what books (Harry Potter for the win) he liked and how he talked to people on his Facebook (very polite and humourous).
All in all, Kurt hoped that Blaine felt the same, and actually he was quite optimistic in that prospect, since Blaine seemed to fully return his enthusiasm. Like clockwork, Kurt's texts always got replied approximately seven minutes after he sent it, and that was short, considering how long the message needed to be. Not that Kurt was timing or anything, the classes in McKinley were just boring and curiosity got the better part of him. He told himself he gave up on the crush already, moreover, Blaine was becoming a closer friend to him and he did not want to mess that up. While mentor Blaine had been given him advices on his problems at school, he refrained as much as possible from mentioning his own traumatic experience in public school and his own family unless it was absolutely necessary to help Kurt. Text buddy and friend Blaine was much more open. Kurt was quite shocked when Blaine casually mentioned the last weekend he spent at home, when he built a car with his father, quote, to quote "get my hands dirty to hopefully make me straight". It was nice, really, to get just a glimpse in how Blaine's lives were going on and how he responded to his own problems. For once, they could share, and the whole relationship was much less one-sided.
Kurt looked forward to meeting Blaine in person so much after four years, that when Thursday came, he could not contain his excitement. He mentally slapped himself, when the way he was fidgeting in his seat throughout Glee made Rachel thought he was so moved by her performance that he could not contain his emotions. Mercedes was glancing at him curiously, contemplating, an interrogation plan practically written on her face. She had been a bit suspicious when he cancelled on their shopping session, insisting he had a wardrobe crisis and need time alone to sort it out, because Kurt Hummel did not just say he had a wardrobe crisis. Really, he also thought he was a bit daft choosing that reason, because as everybody may know, Kurt Hummel fashion extraordinaire always got his outfits planned a week in advance at least. But come on, it is freaking hard when his concentration had to be split among hiding the texts, refraining from grinning too much from Blaine's ever witty and funny replies, trying not to slip up whenever the topic of asshole Blaine was mention - the topic was relatively new, so believe Kurt, Glee Club talked about it a lot, and trying not to slip up about the platonic date he was so excited about.
So that brought Kurt nearly running to the door after Glee ended. He waved apologetically when Mercedes tried to call him over to talk, and made a beeline to his car. He would delay the interrogation for as long as he could manage. Kurt needed to be fast anyways if he wanted to carry out his plan to be as inconspicuous as possible.
So the first part of the plan was to stop at a conventional store near the gas station. They had a toilet there for him to change his outfit. Kurt had decided to wear a black jacket which looked kind of like a blazer with its relatively large lapels, white shirt and red tie. He figured that if he looked somewhat similar to a Dalton student, he would not attract much attention even if someone he knew walked into the Lima Bean. However, the grey dress pants were absolutely unacceptable in Kurt's opinions, so he opted for black knee-length shorts and high black socks instead. That was as far as he could get if he want to stay fashionable at the same time.
Then Kurt proceeded to the next step, which is to drive to a car park close to the Lima Bean. His Navigator was very familiar to his friends by now so he did not want to risk them noticing the car and coming in. After that, he walked for ten minutes to the coffee shop. Blaine set the time to be 3pm, and now it was 2:50 so Kurt was early. He would order his drink first then.
While standing in the queue, Kurt's mind wandered to the next part of the plan, which had nothing to do much with being inconspicuous. Last night, he had spent time researching on what people would do if they were attracted to their date. So basically, they would try to touch the other person in some ways, either by hand brushing, hand holding, playing footies under the table, things akin to that. The pupil dilation and the blushing thing were a little harder to notice, but Kurt could try. Although the texts were casual, Kurt was sensing some signals from Blaine which made him confused. Starting with him using lovey faces emoticons to say goodnight to Kurt and texting him good morning every day, Kurt got some fluttering feelings because he felt really cared for. But that could be passed up as what attentive friends did, since Blaine seemed to be that kind of warm and excited person to do such things to his friends. Then Blaine proceeded to ask Kurt random things about the glee gang and his schoolmates, and ultimately asking if he had any boyfriends, which yes, was a bit forward. He was basically asking if Kurt was single. But again, maybe Blaine just wanted to get to know Kurt more. Nevertheless, Kurt was definitely curious and this was the perfect chance for him to try and decipher if those were actual signals.
Kurt was jolted violently out of his thoughts by a hand poking him in the right arm and he turned too swiftly to see who it was, only to be met by Blaine's all smiley face. And damn did he look like a puppy. His eyes were opened impossible wide and the hazel tone were radiating that honey aura out of it - honestly Kurt had no other ways of describing the warmth and sweetness that is Blaine's eyes. Blaine was spotting a grin which may split his face if he was not careful and he looked all kinds of adorable. And while Kurt had told himself countless times that he had given up, the crush feelings still returned for a brief moment, because, boy, this version of warm excitable but still dapper Blaine was so different and so much better than the polite mature one he got to know these past four years, and it's hard not to re-fall for him for a little while.
Oh wait, pupil dilation check. Blaine's eyes were this big and his pupils were wide, so that should be a yes right?
Seeing Kurt jerked quite hard and now stunned staring into his eyes made Blaine's falter a bit and his face fell. Really, Kurt needed to control himself the next time if he did not want another awkward opening conversation. So Blaine began to speak first:
"Hey Kurt, I'm so sorry I startled you, honestly I did not mean it, I was too excited to see you, but are you okay, I did not scare you did I?" Kurt was again stunned because did Blaine just say he was too excited so Blaine frantically continued. "Earth to Kurt, Earth to Kurt, this is Blaine."
And wow, when Blaine said that it sounded so cheesy that Kurt chuckled, and finally his speaking abilities came back to him. "Hey Blaine, I'm okay, sorry, I was thinking of something," Blaine's smile came back but he still looked frantic, so Kurt tried to change the topic and be more casual. "Do you want me to order for you and you get us a table first?"
"Oh right, yeah, can I have a Medium Drip, please? Wait a minute, let me hand you the money," Blaine was now searching his bag for his wallet.
Kurt was about to say that it was okay and he would pay for Blaine also, but then he stopped. Was it that if a person pay for a platonic date then the date was no longer platonic? He thought he might hear it from someone a while ago. So he let Blaine hand him the money and watched him as he shuffled away to find an empty table.
When Kurt returned with their coffee, Blaine rose from his seat and pulled out the chair for Kurt, making him blush and laugh out loud because he did not remember Blaine being this much of a cheeseball, ever. Blaine joined in, grinning widely with that same radiant smile.
"Hey what, I was being the gentleman," he pouted.
"But Mister, I did not see any ladies over here," Kurt imitated the 30s accent perfectly, and Blaine looked impressed.
"Mister, believe me, I do see that. But you are much better than any ladies are gonna be," Blaine attempted to follow his accent lead, but not to boast or anything, Kurt was much better. Then Blaine did the perfect gentleman greeting when he put his arm in front of his chest and bend down, only to look up at Kurt a moment later, long eyelashes fluttering. His Dalton blazer made the scene even more similar to those classic movies, and wow, Kurt's butterflies came back again. He had been having so much of those since he even first saw Blaine today, which did not help the voice in his mind telling him he had given up.
"Oh, kind sir, how you flatter me!" Kurt said in his most dramatic tone, and Blaine laughed too loudly that people were turning back to see them. Yeah, well, they did look awkward and weird, standing next to their table saying lines from classic movies, and both Kurt and Blaine blushed from embarrassment. They proceeded to their seats quickly. Anyways, that impromptu imitating session did one good thing of helping them ease into conversation easily afterwards, saving Kurt from the much loathed break-the-ice or 7-minutes-in-awkwardness-getting-each-other-to-speak session as Kurt liked to call it.
While Blaine began to talk, Kurt handed him his coffee and their hands brushed together, maybe coincidentally, Kurt had to see how things went before checking the "hand brushing" in his mental list. Kurt found that conversation with Blaine was much like how they talk through texts, with the same tones and the same topics, which were pretty much everything that came to mind. Talking were so easy and relaxed. Even when they disagree, they could still have the mini debate session, for example when Blaine defended Katy Perry to death while Kurt kept stressing his points that no, despite the spectacular scene that was fireworks shooting from her boobs, which were so two thousand and late by the way (yes, Kurt did just make a Black Eyed Peas quote, but Boom Boom Pow was catchy okay?) it was not original because Gaga did it before. In that way they rambled their way until it was time for Kurt to leave for Sugar's party.
Blaine escorted Kurt out to the car park and looked surprised when Kurt told him he did not park his car here. Kurt noticed him looking a bit sad when he mentioned that he did not want his Glee friends to find out, and he felt really bad. It was not like Kurt was ashamed of Blaine or anything, hell, if he could, he would announce to the whole world about their friendship, but the situation was a bit tight for them. Anyways, he did not know anything about the Rachel fiasco, so really he was just trying to balance things between the Glee Club and Blaine for the time being. Yet it was so hard seeing Blaine looking dejected like that.
Blaine offered to drive Kurt to the car park. The car ride was too short for them to actually have a conversation, so time was mostly spent enjoying some 80s song currently playing on Blaine's radio. When the pair reached the area, Blaine opened the passenger's door for Kurt and even went so far as to offer his hand to Kurt. So hand holding was a check then.
They said goodbye, and Kurt thought Blaine was leaning for a hug when the security guard of the car park unceremoniously dragged Kurt to his parking spot, rambling something about hurrying up so he can listen to some horse racing results on his stereo, and Blaine looked a mixture of surprise, want-to-burst-out-laughing and even a bit of disappointment. He made a cute wave, mouth "Bye Kurt" and got into his car.
On his drive back, Kurt was lost in his thoughts about the platonic date. It was nice to say the least, and he really had the most fun in a long time. However, he was confused and a bit frustrated with the crazy unclear signals Blaine was sending. While they did brush hand, hold hand and Blaine's pupil might have dilated, against Kurt's anticipation, most of the time when they were talking, Blaine made no attempt to touch his hand or play footies whatsoever. His hands were always in a distance to Kurt's ones, regardless whether Blaine was gesticulating or resting his hand on the table or holding the coffee cup. But again, he was even more excited than Kurt himself about the date. However, all their topics are casual and they did not talk about any things non-platonic or dating-wise.
His phone buzzed. He had received a text message from Blaine Anderson.
"Hey Kurt, thanks so much for the date. I had a lot of fun :X I was going to hug you, but well, the security guard happened. Feel like I missed out a lot during the four year ;)"
Talk about the devil.
Yay, date :X and argh, no Klaine hug just yet ;) Reviews are love, tell me what you think. My tumblr is butterbeerandbertiebott, if you are interested in fangirling with me through the hiatus (pretty please?)