***
Blaine kept his distance as much as he could but he still found himself standing outside of the diner Katherine liked to frequent or a few seats down from her on the subway as she rode home from work. He still couldn’t shake the feeling that something had happened to her to spook her and until he was sure she was okay, he felt justified in keeping an eye on her.
He was glad he did when she left work the next day a little early. For once he hadn’t actually been waiting on her, he was meeting a colleague, when he saw her exit the building looking upset. His eyes narrowed as he watched her from across the street, instinctively knowing that something was wrong. Before he could figure it out, a man approached her from behind and pushed her up against the wall. It only took a second for Blaine to realize it was the boyfriend. He waited a moment, debating on if he should interfere or not, but then he heard her squeal and the decision was made. He strode across the street, barely missing being hit by a car or two.
As he got closer to the couple, he heard some of the words the man was saying.
“You like that?” the man’s voice was filled with anger, something Blaine didn’t like one bit.
“Excuse me?” Blaine asked from behind the man, hoping he would turn around and let the girl in his arms go. Blaine didn’t really want to use magic out on the open street but he was fully prepared to do so if he had to.
“Get lost asshole,” the man sneered before Katherine gasped.
Blaine nearly lost it at the sound of her helpless breath, but he decided to give the bastard one more chance. “I just need directions,” Blaine said trying to sound pleasant.
The man finally whirled around, a snarl on his face, and Katherine took the opportunity to slip away and run down the street. It took a second for the boyfriend to notice so by the time he turned around and started calling after her, she was too far away for him to catch. Blaine let out a sigh of relief. The man before him wasn’t so happy. He whirled back around, trying to give Blaine a death glare that he completely ignored. Instead, he squinted his eyes and glanced down the road as if he were still lost. “So, about those directions?”
“Fuck you!” the guy yelled then turned around and stalked off.
Blaine should have felt better about stopping the jerk from hurting Katherine but it only made him angry. He didn’t like the idea of someone hurting his beautiful, happy girl.
Whoa, wait a minute! His girl? Blaine was attracted to her, there was no denying that, but thinking of her as his girl boarded that stalker-ish behavior he was trying to avoid. He needed to focus on the reason he was keeping tabs on her. It was for business purposes only. His granddad thought she might be a magic user and if she was, she would need the MysticSeekers. He just had to figure out a way to tell her about them without her thinking he was insane.
Given the circumstanced of the day, that night Blaine came up with what he hoped to be a solid plan. He’d wait outside of her office just before lunch time and then approach her. It probably wasn’t the best idea, but since she hadn’t reached out to him or any of the other MysticSeekers through the site, he was losing hope she would. And every day he had to keep his distance from her, witnessing the struggles she seemed to be going through, proved to be harder and harder. Little did he know, his patience and restraint would be truly tested the next day.
As he stood by a fountain across the street from Wellington and Wellington, he tried to calm his nerves as he rehearsed quietly what he would say to her.
“Hi, I’m Blaine, you don’t know me but I know you…No that’s stupid and sounds way to much like a stalker,” he scolded himself as he glanced at the watch on his wrist. She’d be out any minute now so he needed to get his story straight, quick.
“Hi, do you have a moment? I’m Blaine and there’s something I’d like to discuss with you, in private… No, that sounds creepy,” he chastised himself again. How in the hell could he tell her he knew who she was, that there was such a thing as real magic, and that he thought she possessed the power to do it, without sounding like a complete psycho?
He stopped pacing, glanced at his watch for the tenth time, and then looked up at the glass building across the street as he ran his hand through his hair. Just as he was going to start up with the pacing and rehearsing again, the doors to the building opened, causing the light to reflect off of them, momentarily blinding him. Once he cleared his vision, he saw Katherine exiting the building, her father close to her side. Blaine’s head tilted and his eyes narrowed as he studied the pair. They were several feet away, but his instincts were screaming at him. There was something wrong here. As he watched them climb into the back of a black town car, he hailed a cab and demanded it follow the pair as they drove away. A few moments later they were stopping outside of a police station. Blaine’s heart rate increased and his stomach rolled. Why would they be here and why did his girl look so upset about it? He knew there was no way for him to find out, but his procrastination over approaching Katherine had just come to a screeching halt. Knowing there was nothing to be done now, he headed home.
Once there, he decided to go to her apartment later in the evening where he would be able to talk to her more privately. He just had to wait until he knew she would be home. He busied himself with going over some books his granddad had given him until then.
By nine that evening he was chomping at the bit. He needed to see Katherine and make sure she was okay. Grabbing his black hoodie and baseball cap, he left his apartment, hailed a cab, and made the quick ride across town to her apartment building. Once he paid the driver, he slipped into the shadows to regain his bearings before he attempted to get into her building. He didn’t want to startle her by looking frazzled or crazy. As he was taking deep breaths, a car stopped in front of the building. A tall, handsome man stepped from the car, followed by a stunning woman. It was Katherine.
Blaine froze. The man held her hand as he walked her to the door of the building, the doorman discreetly slipping inside to give them some privacy. Blaine was too far to hear what they were saying but there was no mistaking the man’s interest in Katherine. Blaine became jealous, even though he knew he had no right, even holding his breath as the man leaned toward Katherine for a kiss. Only minutes of watching felt like torturous hours, but finally the man left. Katherine stood there for a moment, watching the car disappear, but then her eyes began to scan the surrounding area, stopping when they were trained in his direction. He knew she couldn’t see him but he felt as if she were looking directly into his eyes. He watched as she wrapped her arms around herself and shivered before quickly walking into the building.
For some reason Katherine’s old boyfriend never felt like a threat to Blaine, but this guy did. Blaine decided right then and there that not only would he tell Katherine about magic tomorrow, but he would also make his intentions to claim her as his own, clear as well.
He was putting some books away, trying to stay busy as the minutes on the clock slowly ticked by, when his phone rang. Dashing for it and any excuse to take his mind off the task he planned to perform later, Blaine glanced at the screen to see his granddad’s name.
“Hey, Granddad, is everything okay?”
“Of course it is, why wouldn’t it be?” his granddad answered, offended at the thought of being checked on.
Blaine chuckled. “I just wanted to make sure old man. You don’t call often so I wasn’t certain.”
His granddad made a noise somewhere between a grunt and snort which caused Blaine’s smile to widen. His granddad was a spunky old man that hated being taken care of or worried about. He was in his seventies but didn’t look a day over fifty and acted even younger. Blaine could only hope to be half as healthy and happy as his granddad when he reached that age.