AN: I am so thankful for you all continuing to read! And to the amazing ASadAir for keeping up the great beta work :)
"You survived," Dan says as he slides into his usual seat beside Blair the next morning in class. There's not a trace of last night's festivities on her face, her skin aglow and eyes bright with amusement. As he assesses her, something flickers in him that he might dare call attraction, if he were bolder.
"Of course I did." She replies in a self-assured tone as he pulls out his books and a pen. "Did you take Adderall to counteract the hangover or something?"
"No, why?" He catches the scrutinizing expression on her face.
She glances down at where his hand spins the pen between his fingertips. "You're fidgeting. Again."
"Oh. I guess I'm just glad it's Friday." He says, even though it's not true. He's been feeling this strange melancholy on Fridays. He's certain it has nothing to do with never seeing her on weekends; positive, in fact.
"Weekend plans or something?" Blair asks, clearly intrigued by his strange expression.
Dan shakes his head. "Research mostly, for the journalism project. You?"
"Same." Blair sighs. "I'm behind thanks to rebelling against my strict schedule in favor of chaperoning Nelly Yuki last night."
"You mean corrupting Nelly Yuki?"
"Same thing." Blair smiles, mischievously. "Should we join forces and tackle the research together this weekend?"
"Isn't Nelly your study buddy?"
"She's on the next train home for the weekend to cleanse the sins." Blair says as though it's obvious.
"Then, sure." Dan feels his fidgety hand still, quieted now by this new prospect of weekend plans with Blair. He had never thought to ask her to study together.
The professor steps up to the podium and he hears Blair tear out a new sheet of notebook paper. Their conversation seamlessly transitions into written form and the lecture is barely heard.
As the first test of the fall semester begins, Blair idly wonders if maybe she should have been paying more attention to the lectures in Intro to Film rather than her seatmate. She frowns down at the paper and taps her pencil against it.
Glancing over at Dan, she sees he's struggling just as much as he is. The past few weeks have been spent taking the wrong kind of notes and now it seems they will both pay for it.
If she were audacious and less ethical, she would pass him a note asking him the answer to the first test question but she decides to make her best-educated guess instead of cheating. She never thought Intro to Film would be a class she'd have to study for. This was supposed to come naturally to her. Clearly, that will have to change before midterms.
Turning in her test with a sigh, Blair heads out of class wordlessly an hour later, accompanied by an equally dejected Dan. Epperly skips over to them with a smile just outside of class, Raina following behind her. "Easiest test ever, right?"
Blair stares at her, trying to discern whether she is kidding. "No. Who knows the average length of a film scene in the 1960s?"
"Seriously? Professor Donavan spent two classes lecturing on the chronology of scene lengths shortening." Raina chimes in. "I told you, you should pay more attention in class."
"I think I did alright," Dan says. "And that question was easy."
Blair huffs in annoyance. "Well, if I fail and don't pass this class at the end of the semester, I'm blaming you for always distracting me."
Out of the corner of her eye, she sees Raina and Epperly exchange a look and she pretends to ignore it. "I should go, you guys are making me late for Latin, a class I would actually like to pass."
"Bonam fortunam!" Epperly calls a little too cheerily after her.
The whole way to Latin, Blair walks in a hurricane of stress. Her scholarship depends on her getting good grades. So far, she's managed a 3.9 GPA, but she's been desperate to bump it up to a 4.0 before the end of the semester. If she can achieve that, she'll secure funding for the next year as well as be closer to graduating with honors.
With a sigh of resignation, she realizes she and Dan may need to trade their predilection for note-passing for actual note-taking. Her brain reminds her that they are friends now and that she doesn't need class to be able to talk to him. She can ask him to go to the cafeteria with her, or the coffee shop down the street, or even to the movies. This idea that she must maximize all the minutes she shares with him during Intro to Film is ridiculous.
Yet, something holds her back and keeps her hesitant, as though she fears she's at risk of showing her cards.
Maybe it's the burn of past fizzled out friendships or the sting of abandonment that still plagues her whenever she thinks of all the times Juliet and the girls made plans without her and their casual dismissal of it afterward – it was as if Blair were silly to even think she might be invited.
But with Dan, she must admit it's different. Sometimes it feels as though the whole auditorium is empty save for the two of them when they are in the middle of a rapid-fire note exchange. Afterward, her hand cramps but as she twists and stretches her wrist to ease the ache, simply the memory of their exchanges prompts her to smile and forget about the discomfort.
And on paper, she can take chances. She likes Blair Waldorf on paper a lot better than the real-life version of herself. On paper, she can be the girl she always wanted to be.
The girl that she wants Dan Humphrey to see.
While the social notes begin to dwindle in favor of proper note-taking, Dan and Blair's friendship seamlessly cements as the fall semester blurs by.
Suddenly Dan no longer just thinking of her as that girl he sits next to in film class, he's thinking of her as Blair, the friend he relies on most throughout his collegiate life. She's the first person he asks to proofread his essays or to accompany him to an on-campus screening and the person he doesn't want to miss seeing over the break.
The attraction he possibly felt for her initially gets buried in the easy solidification of their friendship. So by November, he forgets it's all about the obvious crush he has on her and lets it feel like some normal extension of their friendship.
Watching her now, as her neat handwriting scrawls across the notebook pages, he thinks yet again about how it'll be weird not seeing her for a whole week starting tomorrow.
She's in the middle of responding to his question of when she plans on leaving for Thanksgiving. It is their last class together before the recess begins and this prospect of separation has strangely been occupying his mind.
I'll probably take the train up on Saturday. You?
Dan frowns at her reply.
The train? Won't that take over 5 hours?
Yes, thanks for the reminder.
Her sarcasm oozes off the page.
You can carpool up with me. I leave Saturday too. For Hudson. I'm spending it with my mom this year.
You realize Albany is north of Hudson? It'll be at least 45 minutes out of the way. I don't mind the train. I have an essay I can write.
I don't mind. I hear Albany is nice this time of year. I can check out the foliage.
He watches Blair stifles a laugh.
You sound 80.
Maybe I'm just an old soul.
She shakes her head. He writes another note to her, snatching the paper away.
Be ready by noon. I have an excellent road trip playlist ready to go.
Blair audibly groans.
Oh god, of course, you failed to mention that right away. I'll be sure to pack earplugs.
Dan gives her a sideways look before glancing toward the front of the lecture hall in concentration. Offering to drive her up to Albany was a spur of the moment decision, admittedly, but now, he's looking forward to it. The idea of a full three hours without having to use scraps of notebook paper to communicate sound almost exhilarating.
So he smiles to himself and starts mentally planning the playlist that will certainly spark a three-hour-long stream of banter.
TBC...
We will pick-up with a road trip! Thanks for reading! PS Hoping to post the new chapter in December, thank you all for being so patient with my lagging updates!