CHAPTER 5

Blaine felt totally awkward, and had no idea how to comport himself at work. This wasn't what he was prepared for AT ALL. He had interviewed and auditioned with the bar owner, Mickey, at noon on a Tuesday for the piano position. It was advertised as a "bar help / musician" position. He was told that he'd be part of the "house band" that played behind several revolving singers who came in on different nights and he'd be in early to clean up and stock the bar for the coming night. Blaine could play, that was no secret. Mickey was stunned, really, by his unbelievable talent. He hired him on the spot and told him when to start, but what Blaine had failed to ask, in his excitement, was WHAT kind of bar it was. In Lima, Ohio, bars were bars….and gay bars were few and far between. Sure, he'd been to Scandals a time or two, but this…..this was outrageous with a capital O.

Granted he'd visited Coop before, and he'd lived here for a month now, but his obvious lack of knowledge in the bar department was making him a little uneasy. If he thought being gay in Lima was something that made a person stand out, this….THIS…was out of this world. The men and women in this bar were so flamboyant, so loud and so absolutely comfortable with themselves and their surroundings. It actually made Blaine nervous and somewhat uptight, which he found ironic. He was uncomfortable with their absolute comfort in their surroundings and themselves.

He wasn't used to this. Men were openly eyeing him as if he were a prime piece of meat and it was a totally new sensation to him. He had no idea how to act or react to the looks he was getting. Nobody here was shy, that was for sure! Thankfully he was up on the stage away from the barely controlled chaos that was the dance floor and the bar. He was glad when they started playing. Music took his mind off everything and he was able to lose himself in the band and the melodies.

The other guys in the band were cool, and seemed to take to him right off. He figured it helped that he had played the vast majority of the songs they used before, so he picked up the rhythm pretty easily. , They blended together and sounded as if they'd been a group for years. Nick played the guitar, and Finn played the drums. The other guy, who wasn't as social, but a hell of a musician, played bass. His name was Joe, and he kept mostly to himself. There was a girl named Allyse that sang back up and smacked a tambourine around. All told, they sounded pretty damn good together and Blaine was pleased that he had found something that wouldn't be torturous for him. There was nothing worse than playing with people who didn't take it seriously or couldn't play well enough to pull it off.

Unfortunately, although his coworkers were pretty cool, the clientele was another story. Apparently it was absolutely ok for the bar patrons to ply the musicians with drinks or….er….other things…. to play what they wanted to hear….and not only that, it was encouraged! Halfway through the first song, a small framed, sandy haired boy of no more than 18 approached the piano bench and slid in next to him. Without so much as a word, he leaned in and began licking his tongue up Blaine's jawline. Blaine was so thrown off his game that he gasped and nearly upended the piano bench when he tried to stand up. Had that just happened? The other guys in the band continued to play and most of them were laughing so hard they were hitting wrong notes and half slumped over. The patrons continued drinking and dancing and paid absolutely no attention to the fact that Blaine had completely stopped playing the piano and looked like he had swallowed his own tongue.

"Play 'Piano Man' for me, will you sugar?" the man whispered, overly loud, in his ear. "I've got a thing for Piano Men" he said, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively. He leaned in and kissed Blaine smack dab on the lips and then sauntered off the stage. Blaine stood stock still, reeling, wondering what the heck had just gone down. Still, the musicians played on, snickering at him and his look of utter distress. After that, the hungry looks and disturbing hand gestures seemed to catch his eye regularly, and he was almost nervous that it would affect his playing.

He made it through the evening and as soon as the place began to clear out, the band members retreated "back stage" to a small break room where they kept their personal belongings during the show. They each had a locker and Blaine dug into his now for his phone and jacket.

"What the hell, guys, why didn't you TELL me what went on out there? I was totally blindsided! I thought you guys liked me!" Blaine pouted, playfully.

"Oh my God, tell you and miss the look on your face?! That was the best thing I've seen since…I don't even know when! F-ing priceless ,man!" They all laughed, joking about Blaine launching himself away from the stranger who'd gotten right up in his face. He shivered thinking back to it.

That was his first shock of the night. The second was the stack of post it notes piled on top of each other in a haphazard heap on the outside of his small locker in the back room.

"What the heck is this?" he questioned Finn when the night was over.

"Oh holy shit, man! Take a look at this Nick! He's got you beat I think! I think he may have even beat Mac out! " Finn yelled excitedly. He and Nick began counting the Post Its full of numbers.

"12, 13, 14…."

"What the heck is it?" Blaine asked, confused.

"Dude, your name's on your locker…..they're phone numbers, man! You've been accepted, new guy!" Finn laughed.

"27, 28, 29…" Nick counted.

"Oh come ON, cut it out. You guys are full of shit. Enough…you got me." Blaine laughed.

Finn and Nick just looked at him with smirks on their faces, shaking their heads. Dude, you're on fire…this is ridiculous!"

"54, 55, 56….57!" Nick squealed. "57 BABY! You beat Mac by 2! Oh this is rich….I'm gonna have to call and tell him tomorrow!"

"Ok, and who is Mac?" Blaine questioned, "and why would he care, anyway?"

"Mac is Mickey's partner. They co-own this place, and he's…..well, he's a fine specimen if I do say so myself." Finn replied. "If I were gay, I'd totally go all crazy for him" he added, blushing slightly.

"What the heck….random numbers? It's not as if I even have a face to put 'em with! Who does that….calls random numbers? It's like calling a number on a bathroom door or something!" Blaine laughed.

"Generally I'd say you may eventually get desperate enough….but I don't see that happening to you, Blaine. They really took to you tonight. Welcome to the band, man!" Nick snickered. "I suggest you keep this pile until you can put faces with 'em. You never know….." he grinned.

"Noo…..no way am I hooking up with someone in a bar. How cliché is that?!"

"Oh come on! You've never hooked up with someone in a bar? EVER?" Finn asked

"Nope…..not gonna happen. Once…once was enough. Never again! But you should know, I've just moved here, like in the last month, and I'm from Lima, Ohio for God's sake. It's not like there are guys playing for my team all over the place in Lima, ya know?"

"No shit, Lima? Crazy, man. I grew up not far from there…I know what you mean, though. My step brother, he's gay and he had a horrible time in high school when he came out. Horrible…..it's why he's moving up here. Too much drama back there, dude! His ex-boyfriend went all psycho and broke his arm. It was intense!"

"Amen to the drama..…." Blaine mumbled.

Nick walked up behind Blaine and pushed the post its into his back pocket, smacking him on the ass with his other hand. "Keep 'em long enough for me to show Mac….he'll be so damn jealous!"

"You guys are crazy…..I'll see you tomorrow night." Blaine said as he laughed, and made his way out the back door. Grabbing a cab, he made his way home in about 7 minutes, and collapsed on his bed in Coop's apartment. Tomorrow was moving day!

That night he slept fitfully, unsure if it was because of his excitement over the move or because of his wild first night of work. Either way, when he finally dozed off, he dreamed of a beautiful , blue eyed man watching him through a window.

He still hadn't been able to get the coffee cup to his lips in the dream, and he was still mesmerized by the man's appearance. He was impeccably dressed, his hair perfect down to the last strand, and his eyes shining like stars. This time, however, the man's smile was bigger, he looked directly at Blaine, and he raised his hand to the glass, pressing his palm and fingers up against it. Blaine reached out and did the same, his own hand feeling the warmth of the stranger's through the glass. His heart was pounding and he felt slightly lightheaded from their connection at the window. The man opened his mouth to speak, and he grinned at Blaine. Suddenly he was gone. Blaine stood, looking out the window, but he was nowhere to be found. He sat down with a thud, his heart heavy.

He felt strong hands on his shoulders, massaging and rubbing away all of his stress. He leaned his head into the hand on his right shoulder and felt the softness of it, and closed his eyes. The massage continued and Blaine felt himself getting lightheaded from the pleasure of it. The hands left his shoulders and slid down his chest, one of them working its way under the buttons of his shirt, landing on his soft, warm skin. He felt the goose bumps rise on his skin from his neck to his fingertips. He moaned, exhaling, and when he opened his eyes he could see the beautiful man standing behind him in the reflection of the window in front of him. "Hi" he smiled. "Hiiiii…." Blaine breathed out with a whisper. He stood and turned around, staring at the other man before bringing his hand up to cup the stranger's jaw, and softly running his fingers down the jawline to the collarbone. He leaned in to kiss the man's soft, pink lips and saw that he was leaning back to kiss Blaine as well. Just as their lips met, someone outside laid on their horn, and…..

He woke with a gasp, sitting straight up in bed, and feeling a little breathless. The horn blared again right outside the window and Blaine thought, momentarily, of throwing a book or a shoe at the car in retaliation for ruining his perfect dream. "Jeez….are you freakin' kidding me?! What the hell…" It took a him a minute before he realized that the dream had taken its toll on everything below his waistband as well as his racing heart.