BLAIRE
The day after her visit at La Push was hellish. Blaire was tired and irritated, and she was even more irritated when it was still raining. The thunderstorms had kept her up all night, and it didn't help that she had this irrational fear of thunderstorms. Every clap of thunder or flash of lightning caused her to jump. Thus, she had gotten maybe two hours of sleep and it was still raining. The rain was going to make her hair frizzy, she just knew it and it irritated her immensely because she still had to go to school. And Bella, was of course, running late. Not that it mattered really, because her stupid boyfriend would probably be by to pick her up soon so at least Bella would get to school on time and Blaire would probably have to walk or catch the bus. Why wait, some might ask. Well it wasn't a guarantee that Edward would show up, and if he didn't then Bella would be able to drive her to school.
"Blaire, someone's here to give you a ride to school," Uncle Charlie shouted.
Blaire grabbed her bag from where it was sitting beside her on the stairs and stood, her brows furrowed in confusion as she headed to the front door. Her eyes widening when she saw Leah Clearwater, looking distinctly unhappy and like she'd rather be anywhere else.
"Come on Swan, I'm taking you to school," Leah growled turning on her heel and striding outside.
"I'm not a Swan," Blaire pointed out. "And, why?"
Leah huffed, narrowing her eyes at Blaire. "You really want to walk to school in this rain? Cullen will be coming to pick your cousin up, I can guarantee it. So are you getting in the car, or not?"
"I'm going, I'm going," Blaire grumbled. "So why are you taking me to school," she asked again, as soon as Leah had backed out of the driveway.
"Think of this as Seth offering an olive branch, and apologizing for what happened yesterday," Leah sighed. "He felt really bad about how standoffish and rude, Emily and Sam had been."
"It wasn't his fault," Blaire murmured, her attitude toward Seth softening a little. It wasn't his fault, and he shouldn't have felt like it was.
"Yeah, but he felt bad. And you felt like you weren't welcome in La Push, so Seth just wanted to make sure that you know you're always welcome," Leah said. "Just ignore Emily and Sam, I do." Leah smirked a little at the disbelieving look on Blaire's face. "Okay, so it's hard to ignore them, but it's better than just letting them walk all over you, isn't it? Sam and Emily don't own La Push. You can show up in La Push if you want to because they have no control over that." Her smile turned more mischievous as she added, "And Seth really wants you to come around."
Blaire shifted uncomfortably, a flush decorating her features. "I wish people would stop bringing up Seth."
"Don't you like him?"
"I never said that," Blaire cried with a frown on her face. "It's just everyone is wanting us to be a couple or something, and I don't even really know him."
"So, you want to get to know him," Leah smirked, her voice holding a teasing lilt to it.
"I never said that either," Blaire huffed. At Leah's probing look she sighed, "I don't know. I mean, maybe? He's not a bad person, but he's a little too happy for me. Like I'm such a Debbie Downer sometimes and I'm super introverted, and then there is Seth who is super happy and extroverted. Just doesn't seem like we'd be a good fit."
"Trust me, you two would be a very good fit," Leah murmured. "Trust me," she said again when Blaire looked at her doubtfully.
Leah pulled into one of the parking spaces and stared at Blaire pointedly. The younger girl smirked, grabbed her bag and exited the car, muttering a brief "thanks" to Leah as she did so. It wasn't long afterward that the silver Volvo, that belonged to Bella's boyfriend, came flying into the parking lot. She was silent as she watched Bella fly out of the car and shoot toward her, her expression creased with worry.
"Where were you," Bella demanded.
"Didn't Uncle Charlie tell you," Blaire asked, raising her brows. Bella shook her head and Blaire sighed. "Leah Clearwater came to drive me to school. I thought Uncle Charlie would have told you."
"He wasn't home," Edward Cullen's voice smoothly interjected, as he pulled Bella into his side.
"Okay," Blaire sighed. She supposed that made sense. "But, it's Forks. There's no need to freak out Bella. Nothing ever happens in Forks," she pointed out, exasperated. "It's not like I'm going to be kidnapped and murdered." Bella and Edward didn't answer and Blaire raised her brows, irritated. "Right," she huffed.
"Right," Bella quickly agreed with a smile that rang false.
What did Bella know that I don't, Blaire wondered, her eyes narrowing as Bella and Edward quickly made some excuse and headed inside the school. Something has her so freaked that she'd worry about me travelling the couple miles it takes to get to the school. But what is it? And why can't she tell me, Blaire thought. Quickly she decided that it didn't matter, and Bella was probably just being paranoid anyways. Bella had always been one to worry about everything, and there was nothing more to it. Bella wasn't hiding anything. If she was, Blaire was certain that she would know, because Bella sucked at keeping secrets.
Shaking her head, Blaire headed into the building and dreaded what school would bring.
But, school ended up being not as awful as Blaire thought it would be. It wasn't enjoyable by any means, but it wasn't as horrible as she had expected it would be. It helped that she had very few friends, and so wasn't embroiled in pointless teenage drama. Honestly, how did Bella stand that Jessica Stanley girl? She was such a gossip and a drama queen. So was Lauren Mallory. Although, she never had much interaction with either girl to begin with. Still, from what she had seen and heard of them, she had to wonder how they were even friends with her soft-spoken and easily embarrassed cousin. It didn't matter much, though since they would soon be graduating. The likelihood that Bella would still keep in contact with these girls was practically nonexistent, Blaire figured.
"Do you want us to take you home, Blaire," Bella asked, as she and Edward stood by the Volvo.
"I can just walk home," Blaire said with a shrug. "Don't you two have a gross couple thing that you are going to do?"
"It can wait," Bella insisted. "Do you need us to take you home?"
"She's fine," a different voice answered, and a small grin appeared on her face when she saw Leah, leaning against the rusty car that belonged to the Clearwaters. "You coming, Blaire?"
"Yeah," Blaire agreed. "Thanks anyways, Bella. But I don't want to intrude on your couple time."
Bella pursed her lips, a frown on her face but didn't say anything else. Blaire had difficulty hiding her smile as she climbed into the car. She was glad that Leah had come to pick her up. Blaire didn't really want to spend time with Edward (because he creeped her out), and she also didn't want to intrude on the couple. As much as Bella would say "it's fine", she knew that it wasn't and that Bella would be annoyed because her private time with Edward was being interrupted. Quickly Leah was tearing out of the school parking lot, the tires squealing on the pavement.
"So, where are you taking me, because this definitely isn't the way to Uncle Charlie's," Blaire said, once they had been driving for a few minutes.
"We are going to my mom's diner," Leah answered. "It's technically in La Push, but Emily and Sam won't go near the diner with a ten-foot pole."
"Really?"
"Yeah," Leah replied with a satisfied smile. "I sometimes work at the diner, so they try to stay away from it as much as they possibly can."
"And why do they want to avoid you?"
"None of your business," Leah snapped.
"Okay," Blaire sighed, holding up her hands in a gesture of surrender.
She really didn't need to get in an argument with the older girl just because Blaire was curious about why Emily and Sam tried to avoid Leah. It wasn't worth it. Maybe Leah (or Seth) would eventually tell her, but it wasn't like she needed to know. Her and Leah weren't even friends - not really. They were acquaintances, if anything. Blaire was silent as Leah pulled into a parking space outside of the diner.
Sue's diner was cute, Blaire thought as she beheld the diner. It had a 70's retro kind of vibe, that appealed to Blaire. It looked like something out of the movie "Grease", almost. She liked it. A delighted smile crossed Blaire's face when she saw the uniforms that the waiters and waitresses were wearing. Even the uniforms looked like something from the 70's! She loved it.
"If your mom ever needs to hire a waitress, I'm in," Blaire said as Leah led her to one of the booths. "Just for the uniforms alone. These are so cute."
"Are you not an introvert though?" Leah questioned, picking up one of the menus that had been dropped on the table.
"Yes," Blaire immediately agreed, "so then maybe not. But these uniforms are so cute. I feel like we should just start bursting into song, like 'Beauty School Dropout' from Grease. Actually, that's something I really want to do now. Or sing 'You're the One that I Want', because I feel like that would also fit."
"Are you aware that you're rambling," Leah murmured, as a waitress bounded up to take their orders.
"What would you like," the waitress asked with a perky smile.
"A chocolate milkshake," Leah replied.
"Water," Blaire said. The waitress departed and Blaire fiddled with one of the napkins lying on the table. "I tend to ramble when I'm nervous. Sorry."
"Don't apologize. I was just wondering if you noticed it," Leah said with a careless shrug. "Are you a fan of musicals? I'm guessing you are since you just went on a rant about Grease, but I thought I'd ask."
"I am," Blaire confirmed with a nod and a sheepish smile. "My Fair Lady, The Music Man, Grease, The Phantom of the Opera, The Wiz, Annie, Les Misérables, and The Sound of Music are some of my favorite musicals." Her cheeks darkened as a dark flush overtook them and she ducked her head, "It sounds kind of lame when I say it outloud, I guess."
"Yeah, it kind of is," Leah said swiftly, not sugar-coating anything. "But Seth would probably tell you that it's cute."
"Why does everyone keep bringing up Seth," Blaire whined as the waitress came by and dropped off their drinks.
The waitress left when Leah said they needed a minute more to look over the menu and then Leah's full attention was on Blaire. The older girl raised her brows, saying pointedly, "Because Seth has a crush on you. Do you think he's cute? A nice kid? Blah, blah, blah. Well then maybe you have a bit of a crush on him, too. And I don't need him moping around just because you don't like him back. When you in fact do like him back. Don't be a pansy, Blaire. We do not need a Bella two-point-oh on our hands."
"I can't argue with that," Blaire murmured. "Bella is definitely a pansy. Did you know that she used to faint around the sight of blood?"
Irony tinged the curl of Leah's smirk as she propped her chin in the palm of her hand and said, "Really?"
Thus, causing Blaire to launch into a detailed explanation of all of Bella's mishaps including the time that Blaire had to get her blood drawn at the hospital, and Bella had come along with Aunt Renée since Blaire was visiting them at the time, and next thing they know Bella was fainting. Even though, they hadn't even started to draw her blood yet; they had just wrapped the band around Blaire's arm and were trying to find one of her veins. There was a pause where they ordered their food, and then Blaire continued telling Leah about the various mishaps that happened to Bella. The stories had Leah roaring with laughter, and Blaire felt only a little bad that the laughter was at Bella's expense. But wasn't she allowed to laugh at Bella's clumsiness?
"Okay, so maybe not a Bella two-point-oh," Leah said, once Blaire had finished regaling her with tales of Bella's misfortunes. "So do you like Seth?"
"Seriously," Blaire demanded as she dipped a fry into ketchup. "Can't you let this go?"
"Nope," Leah popped the 'p'. "Do you like Seth? As more than a friend?"
"How am I supposed to know? I don't even really know him," Blaire shot back. "How can I like someone without knowing who they are?"
"Then at least answer this. Do you think he's cute."
A pause accompanied by a furious blush and then, "Yes."
