Chapter Thirteen

Blaine woke with a start, the dream of the small Greek boy still firmly in his memory. His mind quickly wondered over to Kurt Hummel. The man of his dreams that he had met yesterday. He thought of his soft chestnut brown hair that waved just so as it was styled to perfection and the small dimple on his chin. He thought of when Kurt smiled those rose pink lips of his into the cutest bow. He sighed as he dreamed of touching the soft porcelain skin of Kurt's cheeks, with only the barest hint of blush.

"Come on Blaine you have things you need to do. Get out of bed and stop daydreaming." Sitting himself up and swinging his legs over the side of the bed Blaine managed to trudge into the bathroom, his mind constantly wondering back to Kurt's face and their meeting yesterday. If he wasn't mistaken Kurt had liked him. He had blushed when they had been alone together. It wasn't just him that felt this connection. It was like a tingling sensation, an itch, but a good one, that wouldn't go away. Oh how he wished he had been brave enough to have asked Kurt to stay. But he hadn't, his crippling shyness when it came to men he liked had been his own worst enemy.

As he got out of the shower and back to his room to change Blaine spied the business card on his bedside table sitting there as though it was willing him to call Kurt. Yearning for him to do so. He wrestled with his innermost thoughts as he changed. Should he call Kurt? Was it too soon? Could he work up the nerve? With a sigh he remembered that he should really be sorting out the rest of the shop downstairs in order to finally open it and get his website online too.

Mumbling to himself he tore his eyes away from the card that seemed to be boring a hole through his bedside table and downstairs. He needed to get some work done. He hadn't done any yesterday at all.

Blaine, who had piles of books around him on the floor as he cleaned and wiped the surfaces of the shelves, jumped when he heard a firm knock on the front door of the shop itself. He had put notices up to say it was closed for renovations. Who would be knocking anyway? A postman? It was quite late for the postman to make a delivery. Maybe his uncle had ordered something through the mail before he died and it was only just being delivered.

Curiosity getting the better of Blaine, he carefully extricated himself from the surrounding piles of books strewn everywhere till he got to the front door to peer through the glass window. What he saw on the other side shocked him, but made his heart race a mile a minute. There, standing outside and smiling softly whilst waving at him, was Kurt. Gulping down his nerves, Blaine fumbled with the lock on the door.

"Damn it!" He cursed under his breath as he jangled with the lock until it came loose and he was able to open the door. "Hey." He tried to greet Kurt with nonchalance but it didn't work. Kurt giggled lowly behind his hand, the smile spreading to the whole of his face. His eyes twinkling with mirth.

"Hi. Your uncle always had problems with that too. Maybe you should think of changing the locks?" Kurt told him, slipping into the shop and looking around, noticing the messy state that it was in at that present moment in time. "Did you need some help? I'm good with a cloth and bucket."

Blaine stood agape. He didn't quite know what to say. Here was Kurt, looking stunning, as always, inquiring whether he could help out. Blaine wasn't sure he wanted Kurt to get dirty, but when Kurt held his hand out, his eyebrow raised with a clear look of amusement on it Blaine silently handed him the cloth that was in his hands still. "You're so cute when you get flustered." Kurt added, making his way to where Blaine had previously been with such grace that Blaine felt his cheeks redden at the ungainly way he had travelled through the store to get to the front door. It was almost as if Kurt was gliding. Plus Kurt had just called him cute. Cute! That surely meant that Kurt liked him at least a little bit, right?

"Um, so, um, how are you?" Blaine bumbled lamely, giving himself a mental slap for the rubbish reply to Kurt, who seemed to find the whole thing immensely entertaining.

"I'm good thank you. I just came by to see how you were and to ask if you maybe wanted a tour of the city or something. I remember your uncle told me that you lived in... Alabama? Am I right? And that you'd never left." Feeling like a goldfish out of water, his mouth opening and closing with no sound coming out of it Blaine shook his head and tried to calm himself down. Was Kurt asking him out on a date? No, he was just being friendly, right? That must be it. Dates included dinner or coffee or something along those lines. Not that Blaine had had much experience in that department in the slightest. In fact he had no idea what he was doing. At all.

"Er yeah, Nances Creek, Alabama born and bred. That's me. I've never been anywhere else than there my whole life. Until here now, obviously." Blaine confirmed, his southern drawl suddenly becoming thicker as he thought of home. He didn't miss it but New York was very different. Very different indeed. It was so vast and there were so many people it was mesmerising. He loved it. The excitement, the feel. It felt like he had come home for the first time ever. He owed his uncle everything. "I'd love to be shown around." He responded shyly, a blush dusting his cheeks at the thought of going out and about New York with Kurt. The most amazing man in the universe. Or, at least, Blaine's universe.

"Well great, I'll come round tomorrow around ten then. We can get a coffee in a shop around the corner that I know. It serves the best coffee I've ever tasted. Then I'll show you all the sights." Kurt smiled as he carried on cleaning the bookshelves and, dare Blaine say it, making a better job of it than Blaine had done.

"Great. I can't wait." Blaine grinned broadly, his heart leaping around like a jumping bunny inside his chest. Tomorrow was going to be the best day of his life so far.