~All Roads lead to Love~
3. Edgemoor. Part I.
Disclaimer: I own nothing, yet again.
a/n: Hey all! Back again, I hope you still remember what happened previously! If not, read again! Xmas and New Years present ahead! Read and enjoy!
xxx
They drove and drove for what seemed like hours on end, both remaining silent meanwhile, except for the seldom directions Blair read aloud from the map or the persistent ringing of his cell phone.
After what may have been the 90th time it rang, Blair's hand grabbed it from the tray between them and when she saw the id of the caller, he heard her breath hitch in her throat and without even turning around, he could really bet that her mouth would be forming a perfect 'o', her eyebrows would have shot high on her forehead and her eyes would have narrowed dangerously.
What he didn't guess however was that she would snatch his cell phone and throw it out of the window without hesitation.
"What the hell did you just do?"
"I just did us both a favor Humphrey"
Dan suddenly pushed the break with force and the car stopped abruptly.
He fully turned to face Blair immediately and quickly saw her facial expression switching from confusion and surprise to anger.
He didn't give her the opportunity to start ranting though; he jumped in there first.
With all the indignation that he could master he snapped at her.
"Do explain"
"Oh come on! Do the math Humphrey" she mocked.
When he remained silent for too long she sighted and explained further.
"Well for starters it was annoying to have it ringing all the time. It's not like we could use it anyway, our calls might have been recorded and therefore they-as in Louis- could track us down. Now am I right or am I right?"
"Spare me that…Firstly that phone was mine Waldorf and secondly you could have just switched it off."
"Be that as it may, I saw Louis's number on the screen and lost it okay? Big deal…"
"I ... I just can't even. From now on let me decide what I want to keep and what not."
"Yeah right can we just keep on driving now?" She asked dismissively looking back on the map in her arms.
That drove him crazy and with sudden inspiration he opened the door and got out of the car.
"Humphrey!" He heard her mutter before she too stepped out of the car and came around at his side.
She poked him in the arm with her fingers.
"What on earth...?!"
He didn't reply immediately contemplating whether he should dare dare her or not.
"Earth to Humphrey! God, you are such a drama queen!"
"I dare you to drive us for the rest of the day" he said challenging her with words, tone and pose.
Here was that shocked expression again, implying how-dare-you-do-this-to-me.
Their eyes locked and not once did they waver away for a few minutes in a short, silent contest of wills.
He refused to be sidelined by her yet again.
"Fine I'll do that, but if I knew you'd be like this at a hard time for me I would have never called you" she replied briskly.
"In case you failed to notice this isn't vacations for me either. The police is after me for kidnap for God's sake!"
"What do you want me to say Humphrey? That I'm sorry I dragged you to this?"
"Of course not! I'd just rather you would be a tiny bit more appreciative since I do nothing but help and you still, are never satisfied!"
Blair's mouth formed that perfect 'o' again and when he noticed how affected she seemed by his words he regretted shouting at her although he acknowledged that he had been justified in doing so.
"Look I'm sorry okay?" He started apologizing. "I didn't mean to shout or anything..I just...let's forget it alright? Come; get in the car so we can go"
Blair stated calmly "You wouldn't actually believe that I would ever back out of a dare, would you? Now Humphrey get back in that car, I'm driving this time."
And boy she did.
At first Dan was very close to take back the words he had, not long ago, directed to her about her poor driving skills.
But then:
Crash!
Trying to avoid brushing too close to the big truck on her left, Blair turned the wheel completely to the right and that's how they ended up colliding with a tree on the roadside.
Or at least that's what Dan had perceived happening.
A slim, dense line of smoke had started erupting from the engine and Dan saw Blair standing still and staring it.
The big truck had stopped as well a bit ahead and two people were coming along to their direction.
He softly touched Blair's arm to get her out from her thoughts.
"Are you ok? Let's get out of the car."
"Dan I'm sor-
"I know. It doesn't matter."
The couple -only now did Dan see that one of them was a woman- had reached them when they both had gotten out of his father's -now destroyed- car.
The woman started quickly apologizing.
"My husband and I are very sorry-
"But I didn't do anything wrong!" interrupted the man who seemed impatient.
"Oh shut up Kurt! You where driving so close that you scared the pretty, young girl! We are very sorry indeed. Oh but wait! You are 'just married' aren't you? She shouted enthusiastically suddenly.
"I beg your pardon?" "I'm sorry what?"
Both Dan and Blair said at once. When they realized that they looked at each other with slight annoyance.
The woman laughed "How sweet!" She exclaimed pointing at the backseat of the car "Isn't that a wedding dress?"
Sure enough, Blair's Vera Wang gown was now half spread on the back of the car probably because of the crash.
Blair stared at the puffy dress as if it could give her inspiration on what to say. Still uncertain, she started talking.
"Oh no.. I mean yes this is obviously a wedding dress.. And we are of course...just married" her voice was becoming more stable and believable by the minute. Blair then pointed at him "This is.. Dylan and I am Clair" she introduced and plastered a fake smile on her face.
Dan gave her the "oh really?" look to which she replied with a subtle intimidating one.
"We are on a road trip for our honeymoon, or at least we were" she finished eyeing the crashed car with not-so-faked sadness.
Of course the older couple bought the story at once; Blair was an expert actress after all.
The woman, who was called Nancy as she informed them, became quickly sympathetic towards them, and then Dan asked the man, Kurt, where could they have the car fixed. Kurt proceeded to give him the answer, but, not without mentioning that the garage was closed on Sundays and wouldn't open until Tuesday because on Monday Edgemoor - as in their current location - had a local feast and nothing would be operating.
Their desperation must have been very obvious since Mrs. Nancy started at once inviting them to stay at hers and Kurt's house as long as needed.
In lack of other alternatives, when Dan turned to Blair for confirmation she nodded resigned so he finally mumbled at the pair "Thank you, we'll take upon that offer and stay".
xxx
That's how they ended up in a bedroom inside "Rogers' farm cottage", as in Kurt's and Nancy's home.
The room was quite big but was almost empty of furniture. It only had one double bed, two bedside tables and a drawer. All in a dark brown wood matching the parquet flooring.
Leaving aside the bag that contained Blair's spare t-shirt and her wedding gown, along with Dan's blazer, both eyed the room with distress. Here they were again, the two of them in a single room and a double bed, the scene was much too recent and way too familiar for their liking.
Dan hesitantly sat at the edge of the bed and waited.
"So.." Blair started hesitantly too.
"So.." he repeated after her.
Blair swallowed visibly and went on.
"Well, there's no point mulling over it, we are here and we can't leave before Tuesday, right?"
"Yep that's right we can't leave now. Except for.. Tell me Waldorf why would you think that we can leave on Tuesday?"
"What do you mean? Kurt said that the garage opens then and if we plead a bit he could fix it before the end of the day." she noticed his disbelieving look and dreadfully asked " Why can't we leave on Tuesday Humphrey?"
"In order to have the car fixed and ready, we need money, which -unless you want to tell me something, and that would be the perfect moment to do so – we don't currently have."
"We don't?" she said mortified raising her eyebrows.
"Nope, most gone already at the hotels and gas. Oh and your clothes. And at McDonalds' for those cheeseburgers, after we left Philadelphia. I didn't expect to need more with me, I was just going to attend the wedding after all." he said defensively.
Blair shook her head.
"This cannot be happening" she muttered to herself. "What do we do?"
"We either find some money to pay for it, or.. I dunno, we leave without it?" he suggested.
"That is just my luck, isn't it?" she complained "My karma is repaying me for every bad thing I've done so far, there's no other possible reasoning."
"Clair! Dylan! The food is being served, come dears!" they heard Nancy's voice calling out for them through the thick, wooden door.
"Just my luck.." she repeated again and made her way to the door. "Come Dylan. It's Showtime."
xxx
"So, Dylan, why don't you say your story to us?" started kindly Mr. Kurt after passing the plate with the hot, roasted potatoes to Blair.
"Yeah why don't you honey?" Blair said sweetly.
Dan turned to look straight at her annoyed, and after locking eyes with her for the second time that day he started making up things to please the Rogers.
"Well there's not much there really.. I am a..reporter..at a local magazine in..Kansas, my home town. I met Clair there; she works at the same magazine for the fashion department. We met and fell in love and then got married. End of story." he said and smiled with perplexity.
Mrs Nancy smiled sympathetically.
"I'm sure there's much more to this than that! You are too modest for your own good Dylan dear!"
Dan smiled back apologetically when Blair jumped in.
"We so much hated each other at the beginning you know" she started smiling taking over control in the area she admittedly excelled. "We both had our internships there and we were kind of afraid that the other would steal our job, at least I was" she pretended to be immersed in some sweet memories of these times. "We competed hard until I won, and I was satisfied until I learned that Dylan here had done the noble thing and had let the girl take the position. One thing led to another and soon we started dating. Dylan proposed me after just 3 months, can you believe that?"
With grace she took the salad bowl from the center of the table and after filling her plate, she made a show of filling his as well.
The Rogers were completely thrown away by her performance and dinner went by like this. Blair recounting imaginary stories, either from their experience at W, his book or even her own wild imagination and Dan throwing in a line or two just to save face.
When bedtime arrived, they were both relieved to be away from the older couple but at the same time, they dreaded the image of the double bed and the fact that they most definitely would have to share it.
"I could always sleep on the floor." he offered like the gentleman he was.
"Don't be silly Humphrey, it's not like I've never slept near you in the past" she said thinking back of that night in his loft when they both had fallen asleep on his couch. "It won't be any different really, so long as you keep your hands to yourself."
When she saw him being shocked by what she said, she immediately added: "I was kidding, you know playing around?"
"Fine. Do you want the left side or the right?"
"The left please." she mocked smiling.
"Why are you smiling? Do you find this funny?" he said standing just beside her next to the bed.
Blair then started giggling.
"OMG! Who would have thought that I, Blair Cornelia Waldorf and now Grimaldi, would ever be in the middle of nowhere, hunted by the police and in the company of Dan Humphrey out of all people?!"
"Would you lower your voice? You're spitting out far too many names for our own good!"
"Oh I'm sorry.. Dylan honey!" she pouted.
Yes she actually pouted.
He stayed silent, captivated by her, which she probably noticed, because her laugh came to an abrupt end and she fidgeted uncomfortably at her spot.
Dan quickly snapped out of his trance and turned his back at her to remove his shirt, remaining with his top. He heard her breath caught in her throat behind him, and he proceeded to get under the blankets quickly with his back turned at her.
The silence was tense and strained and for the first time in a while, neither knew what to say to the other.
In less than 5 minutes Blair had shifted positions more than three times and the scene was shaping to be rather awkward.
Moving as far as he could from her, for her own good, he muttered a "goodnight" almost under his breath.
Things like what they would do to get out of there were jostled in their subconscious or simply forgotten until the morning, as fatigue and weariness finally overtook them.
For some weird reason, she woke up in his arms. And she was smiling.
xxx
a/n: Edgemoor is a real census-designated place in New Castle County, Delaware. It is located near Wilmington town, North Carolina and is about 7 hours away from Philadelphia, or at least Google says so. Edgemoor will have a part two, coming soon! Apologies for the wait guys… Leave me a review so as to know you're still reading and enjoying… I hope you are..
Thanks for reading!
Victoria