Monday couldn't have come soon enough for Blaine, his whole weekend was just mentally and emotionally exhausting. The date Saturday night was a complete disaster because Kurt's fiancé is a royal asshole and rubbed his relationship with Kurt right in Blaine's face. Blaine couldn't decide which was worse; having to watch Glen grind on Kurt all night, or when Glen verbally slapped him across the face in an attempt to save him the "trouble". Too late for that, thanks to Glen, that heart-ache happened five years ago. It was sure to happen again at the wedding on Saturday, but Blaine prayed that the wedding would be more closure than pain. If that was the case, Blaine needed to keep his feelings in check and dancing with Kurt to their prom song was not the way to do it.

Blaine had woken up thinking about that dance from Saturday night and beat himself up for being so irresponsible with his emotions. From the moment he had woken up on his couch Sunday morning, to the time he went to bed that night he fumed about Saturday night. Nate had called left Blaine a message to go out to lunch but Blaine didn't pick up his telephone to talk to Nate. He didn't want to talk to anyone. He just wanted to sit alone in his apartment and sulk and let his anger boil over. So he did.

He paced his apartment for hours, unable to sit still, just reliving the entire evening, always ending with Glen's angry tirade how he lied to Kurt about it. He didn't deserve Kurt. Blaine decided that around noon while he was attempting to eat lunch. Glen had money and he was attractive sure, but his pompous attitude was absolutely vile. Why did Kurt put up with that? What on Earth does he see in Glen? Blaine couldn't figure it out and spent the majority of his Sunday afternoon composing a list of Glen's good and bad points. Needless to say, the bad points far outweighed the good.

Thankfully, Monday morning came and woke Blaine from a restless sleep that left him feeling exhausted. He only ended up getting a total of four hours of sleep, so today was going to be an exceptionally long and tiring Monday. He dragged his body into work and opened the shop sluggishly. Usually, he had the whole shop opened and scones baking in the oven by the time Elise arrived, but this morning he barely had all the chairs on the floor when she came in the door.

"Late this morning?" Elise asked shrugging out of her jacket as she came through the door of the shop.

"No, I just have a horrible case of the Mondays," Blaine retorted going into the back room. He gathered an assortment of ingredients from the shelves and the refrigerator and set about whipping together his famous scone batter.

"That's why you didn't bring your guitar to work? You only leave it at home when you're upset. What's wrong?" she asked donning her apron and joining him.

"Nothing," Blaine grunted splashing milk into his mixing bowl. He began stirring the contents of the bowl with his whisk, refusing to meet Elise's gaze. She stood by his side, arms crossed as she waited for him to crack and tell her what was up. Blaine sighed, "can you hand me the baking sheet?" he asked.

"Sure, can you tell me why you're so pissy this morning?" she fired back.

"Look," Blaine sighed looking up from his bowl, "I'm just tired alright? I didn't sleep well last night."

"Why?" Elise pressed on.

"I just didn't," Blaine snapped in an attempt to end the conversation.

"For Christ's sake Blaine Anderson! What is wrong with you!" Elise boomed slamming the baking sheet down on the counter. "You're not tired, you're being an ass. Just because you feel like shit doesn't give you license to act like a little bitch! Now tell me what the hell your problem is so I can help you! Don't shut me out."
Blaine glanced down at the contents of his bowl and continued stirring it, refusing to meet Elise's angry gaze. He swirled in the contents of the bowl absently and added a few handfuls of dried cranberries. What was he going to say? Was he going to tell her about the date? About having to watch Kurt with Glen most of the night? About Kurt and him dancing to a song that meant a lot to both of them? About how completely horrible Glen is? Or should he talk about how he spent his Sunday afternoon sulking and reliving the night before? He had no idea where to begin.

Elise reached out and covered his hand that was stirring the batter. He sighed and looked up at his friend, "tell me," she asked, her eyes pleading with him.

He dropped the whisk into the bowl and took out a table spoon, "okay," he began. He scooped out a large dollop of the scone mixture and plopped it down on the empty baking sheet. As he placed all the dough onto the sheet, he recounted the double date he went on Saturday night, not leaving out a single detail. He spoke of the conversations and the dances and Glen's outburst.

Elise listened in silence, nodding her head and helping Blaine with the scones. Her mouth popped open in shock when he recounted his confrontation with Glen to her word for word. Once he finished telling her about the date, he gave her a brief description of his dreary Sunday afternoon, sparing most of the details of the distress he felt.

Elise placed the unbaked scones into the hot oven and set the timer before turning back to her friend, "just a case of the Mondays, eh?"

"Okay, that was a bit of an understatement," Blaine admitted with the first smile he had worn since Saturday.

"Just a bit," Elise jeered washing out the mixing bowl and the utensils. "That Glen guy is a real jerk, isn't he?"

Blaine nodded, "in all honesty, I didn't think we would be best friends right away, but I expected him to be courteous at least. It's not like he has anything to be upset about anyway. He is the one who stole Kurt from me! Not the other way around!"

"Sounds to me like he's jealous," Elise pointed out.

Blaine shook his head, "why should he be? He and Kurt are getting married in less than a week. What do I matter?"

"You have a history with Kurt. You were his first love—"

"But Kurt left me for him. If that isn't enough proof that I mean nothing to Kurt then I don't know what is!"

"Still doesn't negate the fact that Glen is jealous of what you had with Kurt and is threatened by you. No one is that much of an ass without good reason, though I'm sure he is a jerk to more people than just you, he is a lawyer after all" Elise pointed out. "He doesn't sound like my cup of tea."

Blaine nodded in agreement, "I'm just going to have to learn to like him because as of this Saturday, he will be Kurt's husband," Blaine spat, the words tasting sour in his mouth.

"Are you okay about that?" Elise asked, her brow furrowing with concern.

Blaine shrugged, "I honestly don't know at this point. I mean I'm happy that Kurt's happy, but I still care about him more than I should and I can't say that I approve of his choice of husband. Though, I don't think I could ever approve of any husband he chose unless it was…"

"You?" Elise finished. Blaine nodded. "I know it's hard, but just focus on what you have with Nate, maybe spend less time with Kurt and more time with Nate?" Elise suggested.

"I know I should," Blaine admitted. "I just don't know anymore."

Elise pulled Blaine into a hug, "I know you'll be alright. Just keep your chin up," she said kissing him on the cheek. "And if all else fails, wine is always good." Blaine chuckled and shook his head. "Come on," Elise said, "we need biscotti."

For the rest of the morning, they busied themselves in the kitchen, making a myriad of different baked goods for the customers to purchase. The atmosphere of the shop was much less tense now that Blaine had told Elise why he was so upset and he did feel better talking about it to someone else. The morning passed by quickly, Blaine kept himself busy to keep his mind from wandering to topics he did not want to explore any more. The crowds began to dwindle around noon and Nate came into the shop with sandwiches for him and Blaine. They ate their lunch outside in the warm summer sun.

"I tried calling you yesterday to ask if you wanted to go to lunch or something," Nate said after a while in silence.

"Oh yeah I got your message late last night, I was uh…" Blaine paused for a brief moment, grasping to think of a legitimate-sounding excuse, "walking in the park most of the afternoon. It was such a nice day and I wanted to be outside."

Nate smiled, "the weather was really good yesterday. I wish I could have gone with you."

"Me too," Blaine lied.

"So what do you think of Saturday night? Did you have a good time?" Nate continued.

Blaine hesitated a second, "y-yeah of course I did. I had a lot of fun with you and Kurt and Glen, did you enjoy yourself?"

"I had such a great time. I enjoyed going out with Kurt and Glen, that was a great idea and we should definitely do it again when they come back from their European honeymoon. We are still attending the wedding, right?" Nate asked. Blaine nodded. "Oh good! Kurt and I were discussing the whole thing when you got up to use the restroom at one point, it sounds like it is going to be quite the event, and Kurt is quite the character! I can see why you had a thing for Kurt all those years ago," Nathanial chuckled lightly.

Blaine laughed along with Nate, "that was quite a few years ago," Blaine agreed.

"Glen was nice too, and really put together. He's is incredibly smart and a lawyer too, Kurt really landed himself a catch!" Nate went on. Nathanial went on about the whole date which is precisely what Blaine did not want to talk about. Eventually, the conversation died down and Nate kissed Blaine goodbye as he left the shop to return to work. Blaine went back to work behind the counter with Elise. He wasn't working long when Kurt came strolling in the shop. Blaine felt his stomach flutter at the sight of him and he immediately started making Kurt's usual coffee order.

Kurt was giggling as he made his way up to the counter, "what if one of these days I want a different coffee order?"

Blaine froze, halfway done with Kurt's order, "do you want a different one? I can make a different one."

Kurt's lips stretched into a delicate smile, "no Blaine, my usual order please."

Blaine nodded and finished putting together Kurt's coffee order. He rung up the purchase and both men headed over to their usual table. Kurt sipped on his coffee and began chattering about his day at work and the new designs he is working on. About halfway through the conversation, Kurt flipped the subject entirely.

"So, what did you think of Glen?" he asked excitedly.

Blaine smiled, "he is a very intelligent man," Blaine began.

"He is," Kurt agreed, "did you like him?"

Blaine hesitated, picking at the half-eaten pastry in his hands. What was he going to say? No Kurt, your future husband is a total asshole? He couldn't do that to him. So instead he put on as genuine a smile as he could and said, "definitely, he is a really likable guy," Blaine lied, "you sure picked a winner Kurt."

"Yes I did," he said with a small smile that didn't quite reach his eyes. "I can't believe the wedding is so close. It seems like yesterday we got engaged."

"Funny how fast time flies."

"It really does. Speaking of time, some old friends of ours are flying in tomorrow," Kurt said raising an eyebrow.

Blaine took the bait, "who?"

"Mercedes, Tina, and Santana are meeting up and are flying in from California and will stay with Rachel in her apartment in the city. Noah and Lauren are flying up from Florida. My father, Finn, and Carole are flying in on Friday afternoon," Kurt replied ticking off the long list in his head.

"You still keep in touch with that many people?" Blaine asked.

"Well I have tried to keep in contact with everyone, but the communication just died between some of us. Do you still keep in touch?"

Blaine shook his head, "I used to, but we all just kind of grew apart I guess," he admitted, neglecting to tell Kurt that he had shut everyone out after he moved back to Ohio to live with his parents.

Kurt shrugged, "it happens. I took the day off tomorrow so that I can pick everyone up from the airport on time so I'll be rushing around like a mad person for the majority of the day, but that's nothing new," Kurt laughed effortlessly. "This week is going to be so incredibly hectic, tomorrow is when most of our old friends are flying in, Wednesday is my final tuxedo fitting, Thursday is my bachelor party, Friday is when my family is flying in and I have to check the venue and the florist and just make sure everything is ready for Saturday."

"Sounds like you are in for a busy week."

"Oh, you don't know the half of it. You should tag along, you can catch up with the girls."

"I'd love to Kurt, but—"

"No 'buts', Blaine Anderson. You can come to the fitting with me and the girls on Wednesday and of course you are coming to the bachelor party," Kurt rattled.

"I don't know, I have work—"

"You can take a Wednesday off and the bachelor party isn't going to be too crazy, but Santana was involved in the planning, so I'm not so sure if that is entirely truthful or not. Please Blaine? I need you to be there Wednesday, I need another man's opinion of my suit!" Kurt pleaded.

Blaine looked up into Kurt's pleading, blue eyes and all his resolve dissolved, "alright, alright I'll go. I'd love to help and I haven't seen anyone in years so it'll be nice to catch up."

Kurt bounced out of his chair, "thank you, thank you!" he cheered lightly bouncing on the balls of his feet. He checked his watch, "I have to get going," Kurt said pulling Blaine into a tight hug, "thank you so much for doing this for me," he said against Blaine's ear.

"I'm happy to help," Blaine replied relishing the embrace.

Kurt released Blaine and planted a kiss right on his cheek, "I really appreciate it. I'll see you Wednesday!" he called as he left the shop.

"S-See you Wednesday," Blaine replied breathlessly to the empty shop. His cheeks were beet-red, he could feel the heat flooding his face. His hand came up and touched the spot Kurt kissed, his brain unable to comprehend that it had just happened. His stomach erupted in a fit of butterflies and a smile danced about the corners of his lips as his emotions went haywire. He turned back towards the counter, his hand still resting on his cheek and found Elise staring at the grin on his face and the deep blush.

She shook her head at Blaine, "'thus with a kiss I die'."

Blaine dropped his hand from his cheek and placed in on his hip, "clever. Plagiarizing Shakespeare now?"

Elise shrugged, "It's not plagiarism, it's a quote and I felt it was fitting. Romeo and Juliet didn't have a happy ending you know."

Blaine nodded, "do you have any other Shakespearean words of wisdom?"

Elise thought a moment before replying, "'Expectation is the root of all heartache'."

"Appropriate," Blaine commended.

Elise shrugged, "'Love is heavy and light, bright and dark, hot and cold, sick and healthy, asleep and awake— it's everything except what it is'."