The Floral Scarf

“Know the rules well, so you can break them effectively.”
-Dalai Lama XIV

In which Blair breaks a rule much, much bigger than the ones that she made for herself.

-

"He's not even that cute, so there's no harm in studying with him," I assured myself, as I took another step. Who cares if he and she had a thing, she's in love with her boyfriend now, so it's totally okay if I just study with Carter. And that's what I was going to do. I had a Cellular Biology exam the next day, and Regina had decided to sleep, while Kayresia was studying in her bed. 

PLUS, I didn't even look cute- I just had a ponytail and a casual striped top, very Parisian. And as I walked towards the orange couches, I realized that,

1. Carter was actually very, very cute.
2. This definitely meant trouble.

-

And as we laughed and talked, I knew there was something that I had to address. It's not like I could just pretend that this wasn't happening. Especially if there was a chance that I liked him- which I didn't, even though he was smart, and funny, and stupidly cute. Well...maybe I did.

"You know my friend Regina," I said, looking at him.

"Regina, the one that likes anime and heavy metal?" He said, looking at me. I stared back at him blankly. REGINA liking heavy metal? This was a whole other alternate universe to me. Was there a Blair that listened to country and liked sports in this universe too?

"She likes heavy metal?!"

"Yeah, she used to like A Day To Remember, but you guys are friends?" He asked, looking at me.

"Trust me, the only thing she and I have in common is that we both like makeup and Starbucks, and I'm a lot more low key than she is....I like drinking beer and just chilling." I laughed.

"You give off that chill vibe," he said, "Not that you're not sassy and demanding too," he added, jokingly.

"So I have to ask, what happened between the two of you?" I asked. Carter looked at me, as if he one hundred percent expected that this question was coming. In a way, I think it surprised him that we hung out for about two hours before it came up.

"Well, we hung out a bit freshman year. We went to a couple parties, hung out in her cluster, kissed once or twice but that was it. She ended up getting a boyfriend, and that was the end it of it. I met my ex afterwards and that was it," he admitted, as he flashed me with another smile. 

Why did he have to be cute?

"Oh, okay," I said, changing the subject.

"What's your friendship like?"

-

"....and she's always late, but that's just her personality. One time we were supposed to go to class together, but then I showed up late because of HER." I laughed, as my phone went off again. I looked around sneakily, to see if anyone could see us.

"I know, I actually remember that time," Carter admitted.

"Shut up, no you don't!" I looked at him. "Stalker, there's no way you remember that," I said, laughing.

"No, you walked into class, and you were wearing a lighter blue coat, and had this grey-yellow scarf on, and I just remember you looked so frazzled like you were having a long day. And your hair was all curled, and stuff." He looked at me, and smiled.

"Oh my god, yeah, that was definitely me. I can't believe you even remember my floral scarf," I said, laughing. It was a weird moment between us, not a weird bad moment, but a weird good moment. Definitely, a weird good moment. It was the moment in which I couldn't lie to myself- I was actually attracted to Carter, and definitely liked him.

"I'm really good with faces, and I definitely remember you," he said. My phone went off frantically, as I checked the responses to the text that I had sent.

Regina: 1. Why are you asking about a story I told you about 1000000x? If you don't remember, don't ask. I hate repeating myself.

What the actual fuck?

"Sorry, I have to answer this really quickly," I replied.

Blair: You told me you guys were involved and that's it! I was just curious.

I put my phone down, only to have it go off again.

Regina: I've told you the whole story before. Legit, next time actually listen. That's what friends do.

There was definitely more to this story than what I had thought.