It had been a week since moving day and Rachel was desperately trying to keep calm. The good thing was that with all the hustle she hadn't spend much time with Blaine, the bad thing was that the few times she did, he would try to make a little chat or make a joke and she would start stuttering or laughing like a hyena, without mentioning the furious blushing.
She was becoming a school girl all over again, all because of this guy. He couldn't let herself turn into some kind of embarrassment machine because of him. So, she decided to redecorate her room, just to have an excuse to lock herself up and not run into Blaine. She made collages, one with her high school photos, another one with her dreams and goals, another one with all the Barbra pictures she could find and finally, one with all the musical playbills she'd spent her weekend nights getting. She even did a little research about feng shui and moved around all the furniture according to it. She didn't necessarily believe in that stuff, but she loved being liked and if it means that the whole universe would like her, well that would really help.
The next day, Beth made her way towards Rachel complaining about her boredom and demanding her to play some game. Given that Shelby and Peter were out doing God knows what, she decided to oblige to her little sister's request. What she didn't expect was to see Blaine sitting in one of those tiny chairs Beth had in her room staring at the plastic cups, saucers and the teapot upon the also tiny table. Apparently he was invited to this tea party too. He was no longer wearing that elegant suit; instead he was wearing a pair of jeans and some NYU t-shirt. He still looked like he was coming from a "How to bewitch every woman in the world?" manual, but in an informal way this time. Suddenly she couldn't remember anyone of her previous boyfriends. He looked genuinely adorable in this context.
They spent some time trying to please Beth, Rachel with her own challenge of not saying anything stupid, until the little blonde decided that she was tired of tea party and she wanted to watch some Disney movie Blaine had given her last night when she didn't want to go to bed. Some might think of that as blackmailing, but to Rachel that was paternal.
Rachel was returning to her bedroom when she felt he grabbed her by her wrist. She tried her best to hide the shudder caused by the small touch. She took a deep breath and turned around with wide eyes, her chestnut hair swirling behind her.
"Rachel, I would really like to talk to you" he said with hopeful and nervous eyes simultaneously. She was making a huge effort not to slip of the current time and start daydreaming.
"Of course, Blaine, what's up?" she responded looking at everything but her eyes, that would be a one-way trip. Or her lips, that trip would be even worse.
"Um… I don't want to sound silly, but I noted that you've been avoiding me, and I was wondering if you are mad at me or something like that. Maybe you feel invaded, with my stuff, if you do, just tell me I can fix whatever you want. I would hate you to feel like am hogging the place. I know that this is your house, and I'm like the new guy, and I don't want to disturb you. I moved in with my father because that was the only way he let me study whatever I wanted but there were just us, but now there's more people involved in this situation and I wouldn't like you to think of me as an egotistical person, because I am not, beside I really, really like you, and I would love if we could be friends" She listened his rambling, he was just so cute. And he was worried about her, and he wanted to be friends, she couldn't believe her luck. She tried to ignore as best the little voice in her head that said "yeah, he's your stepbrother, what is luck if it's not this?"
"Hey Blaine, chill out" she said with a smile in her lips, while she stoked his arm, she could take advantage of the situation, right? She was an actress after all, she could hide her enormous enthusiasm, "I'm sorry if it looked like I was avoiding you, I wasn't, it's just that it takes some time to get used to this" that part was true, they were no longer the three of them, three girls by themselves. If she was being honest she was still getting used to not living with her dads, being in an entirely different state, away from her friends, away from her comfort zone, even if New York was what she'd always dreamt about, "but I would love the idea of being friends too" Blaine seemed to relax at her words, he seemed happy. And don't get her started about his happiness face.
"Well I guess I can stop worrying about that" he grinned.
"I guess you can" Rachel nodded.
"Um, Rach, would you like to go out and dinner together? I mean my dad and Shelby must be returning soon and I think it's a good chance to know each other" he offered.
Rachel froze. She wanted to get a date with someone to forget about him, not to become more obsessed. Well, she would really like a date with him too, but this wasn't a date, he wanted to know her because she was his stepsister, nothing else. And the worst part was that she couldn't say no, for two reasons; the first one, he would notice if she was lying, she couldn't tell him she had plans and then lock herself in her bedroom again, and second one, she certainly wanted to go out with him. She was trapped.
"Dinner would be lovely" she answered shyly hoping everything turn out smoothly.