Chapter 2

"Your face was priceless." Kurt's eyes darted up, surprised by the interruption. I could feel a faint smile on my lips and knew he could see it – perhaps not having the same effect it had the first time. I rubbed the back of my neck and leant back in my chair casually. "I thought you'd seen a ghost."

"Well you were attractive. What else was I supposed to do." I could see the edges of his cheeks beginning to redden, obviously sensing it Kurt looked down at the floor and my smile widened.

"Your hair looked adorable too. All messed up by the rain."

"At least one of us changed the style of it since then." The sharpness of his reply caught me off guard. Brian's eyebrows raised, decreasing the gap between them and his receding hairline but creasing up his forehead in the process. Steve just looked at his laptop nervously. For a second silence fell across the room until suddenly the man spoke again.

"So that was the first time you met?"

"Officially, yes. But there were other times, before we started, courting." I smiled again, unable to help myself, and the man looked at me.

"Tell me."

"That guy's there again." I glanced up from the percolator – the one I had been trying to get working for about 15 minutes but had been having no success with.

"Who?"

"Your guy." Instantly I stopped hitting the machine.

"Really?" I went to crane my neck round the corner but Cindy slapped me on the shoulder.

"Blaine! Don't stare!"

"But how am I supposed to see if it's him?"

"Believe me, he's been here enough times for me to know who he is." The smile that crept across my face was impossible to hide. Cindy smiled too before squeezing my hand and going back to staring out at the queue. The same guy had been coming to the East Street Bean every day for the past week and a half. It was probably coincidence – lots of people came here every day, we were part of many morning routines. But this guy was different. Whenever I served him he seemed to lose the ability to talk, although he had been getting better at it recently. I found it absolutely adorable. I found him adorable.

"He's five people away. When it gets to three you can trade with Anita."

"What? No!" I knew it was useless trying to fight, but this was ridiculous. I had been set up by Cindy before and it hadn't turned out well.

"Come on! How are you going to talk to him if you're stuck behind the percolator?"

"Well, we don't exactly talk." Hi, can I take your order, anything else?

"Then strike up a conversation! Honestly, Blaine, you'd think you'd never been out in the real world!" I flicked some coffee beans at my friend making her squeal, before she made the number 4 with her fingers and I felt the lump in my throat grow. I had to admit, when I'd caught that flight to New York I hadn't exactly expected to be working in a coffee shop most of my life. But college had been too expensive and my dreams of becoming Broadway's next superstar hadn't been that realistic either. So I'd grabbed the first job I could and found I actually kinda liked it. I was good at making coffee and good at socializing with the people that did it. Gradually I'd paid for my own apartment and still managed to stay optimistic – even though I wasn't living my dream. I was living, and that was enough.

I checked my reflection in the percolator and gave it one last smack to try and look like I'd been working, before Anita appeared round the corner with a huge grin on her face.

"Enjoy, Broadway boy." She ducked away from my lunge, and I patted down my hair one final time before stepping out and smacking on my game face. The slight glance to my left told me that he was here; 'My guy' was definitely here. And wow, he looked nice today. Ever since the rain incident, he'd made much more of an effort with his appearance – I hadn't seen a hair out of place or a shirt collar ruffled. He really did have impeccable fashion sense – he must be studying it at college or something. I realized my thoughts were drifting, so focused on the three customers before him until suddenly he was there before me.

"Hello."

"Hi." He was much better now. Granted there was still a slight squeak to his voice, but that only made him more adorable. I kind of wanted to hear what his voice was like when it was gruff. I reckoned it was very sexy.

"Grande nonfat mocha?" As I recited his order to him my guy blushed crimson, I smiled and the redness deepened. I hoped I wasn't making him uncomfortable. For a couple of seconds he was unable to respond, but then managed to stammer out a reply.

"Y-yes. Thanks."

"Coming right up." As I scribbled the order on his cup I realised I should probably be taking more time with this. I mean, if this was the only chance I got to speak to the guy all day I'd be stupid to rush it right? Guessing his order had been a mistake.

"So, um…" As I started the conversation I realised I had no idea where it was going. Normally I found it easy to talk to people – I talked too much. God, was I turning into him? "Nice weather today isn't it?" My guy glanced round to the window outside. There were a few clouds in the sky but overall it was a nice day.

"Um, yeah, I guess." Damn. Had that not been interesting enough? I needed to step up.

"You probably won't be needing that jacket." I signaled to the jacket he was wearing – a blue plaid one with brown piping that really brought out his hair and eyes. Man he had striking eyes… My guy glanced down, his eyes having to go all over the place thanks to me, and then blushed again. Great, what had I done now?

"I, I dunno. It can be quite cold outside." He smiled, a tiny little smile and suddenly I felt like I'd just won a marathon. We were actually conversing. Momentarily of course, but still. Conversing. This was a huge deal.

"Ah, one of the cons of working inside – never know what it's like outside." I suddenly saw my manager looking at me in confusion, pointing to the cup I still hadn't given to Cindy. Oh crap – I was working wasn't I? Sighing inwardly I turned to my colleague – she gave me a subtle thumbs up and I nodded in thanks.

"Um, that'll be 3 dollars 50 please." I spoke before I had even typed the amount in the cash machine, knowing it off by heart. To my surprise my guy had already placed the money on the counter – the quarters all balanced on top of each other in a little pile. Smiling I picked them up and dispensed them, before tearing off the receipt and handing it to him.

"Have a nice day." For a second our eyes met and for that moment the world stood still – I got the greatest urge to reach out those last few inches and grab hold of his hand but managed to resist, simply smiling and then transferring my attention to the next customer.

When I'd served two more people, I suddenly felt someone tugging on my apron and turned round to see Anita standing behind me.

"Cindy wants you. Quick." Puzzled I handed the till over to her, rounding the small corner to see my friend crouched behind our favorite percolator waiting for me.

"Blaine!" She was whispering, and I felt like I should crouch down too.

"Cindy? What's going on?"

"Blaine, you have to ask him out!"

"What? What no!" I couldn't do that! "It's unprofessional!"

"For God's sake, he's a customer not your student!" I dug my hands in my apron, not knowing what to say.

"I can't. He's probably not even gay-"

"Blaine, that guy practically creams himself every time you speak. He's gay. And into you." Well that was something. If what she was saying was actually true, then I really did kind of want to go out with him. I actually really, really wanted to. "Go ask him!"

"Ok fine." Ask I took my hands out of my apron Cindy squealed and had to smack her hand over her mouth to stop the sound getting out.

"I made sure we ran out of stirrers so he's only just left – go get him!" Suddenly feeling a rush of adrenaline, I temporarily forgot where to go – my friend pushed me in the direction of the exit and I rushed through the coffee shop and out of the door.

Once I was outside, the cold rush of air hit me like a wave – jeez, my guy really had been right about the chill. I suddenly remembered who I was looking for and frantically began scanning the crowds for him. Oh man – why did there have to be so many people in New York? I pushed past a few individuals, feeling my heart beating out of my chest, before suddenly I spotted a figure about to cross the road.

"Hey!" As I made my way over I suddenly realised I had no idea what this guy's name was – a few people were turning round as I shouted, but they all thought I was some stupid barista who was probably chasing a thief. Stuck with what to do, I shouted the first thing that came out of my mouth.

"Guy with the blazer! The plaid blazer!"

The guy turned round. He turned round just as the lights turned green, and he was about to cross the road. He turned round and looked especially surprised to see me.

"Hi!" I shouted as I ran the remaining distance, still unable to believe I'd found him. "Hi." When I finally reached him and stood half a metre away it dawned on me that he had no idea why I was here. "I'm sorry, um, sorry to, er, startle you."

"Is something wrong?" My guy looked worried, looking down at his drink and then back at me. Oh Lord, did he think he'd stolen something? Was I out to bring him back?

"No! No not at all. I just…um…well I…" My words were failing me. I rubbed the back of my neck nervously – something I noticed my guy picked up on and stared at. Ok, so he definitely liked me a little bit. I had to do this.

"Will you go out with me?" For a second my guy didn't register what had been said. He continued to stare at my neck, his mouth open just the tiniest bit – but then it registered. His eyes widened.

"What?" Oh no. Was this bad?

"I'm sorry, I mean I know this is out of the blue and I'm supposed to be working but I just wanted to know if you wanted to go out with me sometime. I mean actually do something not just go out because that would be a little stupid and I don't know why people say it like that but-"

"-Yes." Now it was my turn to stop.

"Um, pardon?"

"Yes. Yes I'd love to go out with you." Well wow. He'd actually said yes. That was…that was brilliant.

"Wow, um, ok…" I suddenly found myself having to catch my breath, my heart beating uncontrollably and my hands shaking slightly. My guy smiled and I got that same feeling in my stomach – like I'd just completed something very important.

"Do you want my number?" Fumbling around my apron I realised I didn't have a pen or paper – I was getting frustrated when my man suddenly shoved something in front of my face. I read the print of the East Street Bean on the napkin and laughed.

"Ok, thanks." Scribbling down my number I was about to hand it back, before an afterthought made me add one more thing.

"Blaine." I placed the napkin in his outstretched hand, pointing at my name as I did so. "I'm Blaine."

"Kurt." I smiled as my guy identity was finally revealed and Kurt smiled back. Kurt.

"So um, call me?"

"I will." Kurt folded up the napkin and placed it in his pocket. I watched it, praying there were no holes in that plaid blazer.

"See you later."