Blaire's Body

QUATRE

dedicated to honestcritiques for her very sweet review of this book! thanks love <3

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A/N: i planned on posting this next week, but BB hit #15 on Mystery/Thriller and I wanted to thank all of you for your support! Also, i have no intention of casting any of the characters BUT i came across this actress while watching a show and I was like SHIT, this girl looks exactly like how i imagine Blaire to look like. So, yeah. Her name's Natalia Dyer :) Check her out if you wanna, though idk about her personality, she just reminds me of Blaire face-wise.
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YEAR: 2016

"KADE! KADENCE," BRAXTON pants in an effort to catch up with her. He's never been athletic or even sporty, unlike Maverick and the other boys in their little circle. Until now, he's never really understood why he's allowed to sit at That Middle Table. But hey, he's not complaining.

She turns around, short hair flicking. When she sees that it's him, her eyes narrow the slightest. For a moment, he thinks she's going to turn around, like she always does.

Instead, she stops and folds her arms, eyes averted.

"Hey," he says with a small smile.

"What do you want?" she asks pointedly.

He falters a little, but continues anyway. "I, uh, was wondering whether you're going tonight."

"I am," she replies curtly. "Are you?"

Braxton scratches his arm. "Yeah, about that, I was hoping we could talk...?"

Kadence's eyes soften just the slightest, but harden again, almost immediately. "Talk?" she looks at her watch and frowns. "Right, my last class ended late and I'm kind of in a hurry. I still need to walk to my house to get my car. Maybe later, okay?"

She turns to leave, but Braxton grasps her forearm. "Wait. Look, can I drive you? I'm not busy and I really need to talk to you."

She stares at him blankly, mutely. He lets go, positive that he just ruined any chance with Kadence Gaardner. He opens his mouth to apologize, to promise to leave her be. He knows that their time has passed, even if it was just two days. But before he can say a word, she says, "Yeah. Sure."

Heart thumping against his chest, he grins and walks her to his car. Wordlessly, she slides into the seat beside him.

Braxton presses his lips together, trying to stop himself from smiling. It's the first time in a long time that the two of them have been alone, and this close. Ever since Blaire died and the rift in their group grew, he barely exchanged a word with Kadence. Of course, he tried to. He would text her and Snapchat her once in awhile, especially since she completely avoided him in school. Even then, he got no reply, or sometimes a one-word reply if he was really lucky.

"What did you want to talk about?" Kadence asks, breaking his train of thought.

"Huh?" he asks, looking at her through the mirror. "Oh, right. I don't - I don't think it's right for us to meet with Greyson."

Through his peripheral vision, he sees her quirk an eyebrow. "Once upon a time, she was our friend too, y'know," she replies smoothly.

"Was she? Like, sure, she sat with us. Hung out with us. Talked to us. But to anyone other than Blaire, was she really a friend?"

Kadence doesn't say anything. He sees her wringing her hands uncomfortably, and staring out the window. He knows his question struck a blow, because before Greyson tried to become someone else and went all crazy, Kadence and Greyson were close.