Becoming Blaine

Girlfriend

•••Seven Years Later•••

It was 2008. Blaine was thirteen now. Seventh grade. That's when puberty kicked in and "real dating" began to happen. Blaine noticed how the girls began talking about the boys more and hanging out with them. The word "cooties" didn't belong in their vocabulary anymore. Now it was "boyfriend", "girlfriend", "love", and "dating". The boys didn't talk about the girls nearly as much as the girls talked about the boys. However, the topic of girls did come up a few times.

The problem was Blaine wasn't into girls. I mean he liked them, sure. Some of them were really fun to hang out with and Blaine thought they were beautiful and smart, but he just wasn't attracted to them like his friends were. But why?

One day Blaine was on his way home with his friends, Tatem, Dylan, and his lifelong best friend, Mark. They all lived within two blocks of each other and often walked home as a group after school.

As they set out, Tatem's phone beeped and he took it out. Blushing he sent a reply to whoever had texted him. "What?" Dylan asked.

Tatem shoved his phone back in his book bag. "Guys, I think I have a girlfriend."

Mark clapped him on the back. "Well who is it then?"

Tatem smiled. "Rachelle Meyers."

Blaine nodded. "Rachelle. Never would have pictured it."

Tatem looked over at Blaine. "Really? I mean I know you have feelings for her, but..."

Blaine frowned. "Oh, no, no, no, no. I don't have feelings for her. We're just friends, honestly. I just never see you together so it was a bit of a surprise, but I'm happy for you."

"So who do you like?" Mark asked Blaine, curious.

Blaine but his lip and tried to avoid Mark's stunning green eyes and narrow jawline. It suddenly cleared like a car through a car wash. All these years Blaine felt something between him and Mark. He thought they were just friends, but that's not really what he wanted. He'd known it all along deep in the back of his mind, but now it was pushed to the front and he couldn't do anything about it. No, he could. He told himself, Conceal. Don't feel. Don't let them know. Instead he shrugged. "I don't know."

Dylan punched him playfully on the shoulder. "I noticed that Alice keeps eyeing you and blushing when you're next to her."

Blaine ran a hand through his thick hair. "No. Not Alice." He meant it. Alice was pretty, but was probably one of the most annoying people Blaine had ever known.

Tatem took out his flip phone again and started typing something. "What are you doing?" Blaine asked.

Tatem smiled. "Asking Alice out for you."

They turned onto Tatem's street. "No. Please no." Blaine begged. "I don't like her. I don't want to date her. I don't want to date anyone!"

Tatem closed his phone and turned into his driveway. "Too late. I'll let you know tomorrow what she says!"

Blaine stopped on the street in front of Tatem's and rubbed his eyes. This was bad. Very bad.

Dylan and Mark were already two houses down. "Coming Blainers?!" Mark called.

Blaine ran to catch up with his two other buddies. "Yeah. Sorry." He apologized.

"What was that about?" Dylan asked. "Tatem may have just gotten you a girlfriend! I'm still single and Mark is too. Be glad Tatem did what he did."

Blaine nodded. "Okay. I'll date her if she wants." he said half-heartedly.

He was supposed to hear what Alice said the next morning, but Tatem called at 9 p.m. that night. Blaine was busy plugging variables into equations in his room when his dad came in with the phone in his hand. "It's for you, son." he said. "It's Tatem."

Blaine took the phone with shaking hands. When his dad was out of the room he breathed, "Hey, Tate."

"She said yes!" Tatem said on the other end.

"Okay, cool." Blaine told him, but on the inside he was screaming, What the heck, Blaine! Bad. Idea. You don't like her. You should've said no. You. Don't. Like. Girls.

"See ya tomorrow then." Tatem said. "The four of us should sit together at lunch tomorrow."

"Deal."

•••

"Blaine?" Alice asked him at lunch the next day. "You haven't said anything at all and you've only taken three and a half bites of your lunch in fifteen minutes. Are you feeling okay?"

Blaine shook himself out of his bored daze and looked at the three worried stares he received from Tatem, Rachelle, and Alice. He felt like barfing and then holing up in a bear's den for all eternity. "I'm not hungry and I'm tired." he fibbed.

"Okay....." Alice said in a disbelieving tone. "I'll take you to the nurse if you want."

Blaine shook his head. "No. I'm fine. So what were we talking about?" he asked, trying to change the subject.

Alice's eyes lit up. "Yeah, so I was saying about how Rachelle and I have two spare tickets to the Taylor Swift concert this weekend. Would you two want to come?"

Tatem didn't look too thrilled, but he smiled anyways and put a hand tentatively on Rachelle's. "Anything you want." he told her loyally. Rachelle blushed and nibbled on her stale chocolate chip cookie.

Alice turned to me. "Blainey D?" she asked, using the nickname she had given him (he hated it, but didn't want to be rude and tell her otherwise).

He absolutely wanted to go. Katy Perry and Taylor Swift were like his two guilty pleasures, but he wasn't ready to take his girlfriend on a real date yet. He wasn't sure if he'd ever be ready at all. "Naw." he told her. "Thanks anyways."

Alice put out a pouty lip. "C'mon Blainey D! It will be so much fun! It's only Tuesday so you have until Friday to decide. Take your time."

Then the bell rang and it was time to rush off to study hall.

•••

Everyday Alice pressed him for the answer, clinging to his arm and pouting. He assumed she was trying to look attractive and lonely, but it didn't fly with him. He made up his mind. He wasn't going.