– “EW, NEITHER,” BLAIR LAUGHS, pushing against his chest. “ you should know me better than that. though if you were planning to finally confess your love, could you save it until i’ve had a few more drinks ? ” she asks, teasing. the time for confessions has passed, it’s been a long time since she told him to come find her once he had his head sorted out. she’s packed her bag by now ; no more waiting around.
“ besides, my honesty isn’t a pep talk. i’m not going to get all … sentimental on you, but i think you’ve always known what i think about that stuff since we were kids writing stupid campfire songs, ” she says, arms draped loosely over his shoulders. it’s no secret to her that he’s still unsure of himself, otherwise he wouldn’t still be hanging around woodstock. “ i don’t know. maybe i just wanted to point it out one last time before i’m not here to hold you accountable. ”
she’s not really a goodbye person, and she can’t quite look him in the eye, eyes resting on the line of his jaw. she doesn’t want to see his reaction – she doesn’t know what scares her more, the idea that he wouldn’t care or the idea that he would. “ i’m leaving. tomorrow. ”
HE LETS OUT AN OFFENDED scoff at her repulsion, quickly followed by a matching fit of laughter and a playfully tightened hold as she attempts to push away. ❝ no promises ! ❞ he practically sings. ❝ i mean, unless you’re wanting a repeat of every other time i’ve told you things after a few too many. ❞ not that he’s actually planning on saying anything, for both selfish reasons and not. for one thing, he does know blair better than that, and he also knows that his best chance at maintaining some kind of a positive relationship with her is to not upset this hot and cold, love / hate balance they’ve struck. they can never really go back to what they had before, but for trip, this is close enough. dancing together, laughing together— he doesn’t feel the need to ask her for more than that. right now, at least, he’s content.
of course, the moment he thinks that is the moment it has to change.
❝ um, so much for not getting sentimental. and ominous much ? ❞ he tries to keep up an air of levity despite the sudden mood change and his mounting confusion, but as her eyes drop, his stomach follows. just as he’s about to ask blair what the hell she’s talking about, she cuts him off with the answer. it nearly knocks the wind out of him. ❝ oh. ❞
trip’s lived in a woodstock without blair shapiro before, and he’s seen a blair shapiro without woodstock. the concept isn’t anything new to him— the opposite, really. it’s an inevitability, and one he welcomes. for all the secrets he learned that night, trip never needed a cracked mask in los angeles to know that blair never belonged in any of the places she’d been ; he’s known that for as long as he’s known her. birds of a feather and all that, like recognizing like. he recognized this facet of her like he recognized a mirror, sitting across from her in a shitty garage, blue eyes on blue - grey, that same conspiratorial twinkle, the feeling of displacement, of non - belonging, of being too big, too loud, too bold, too— too.
he lifts his gaze to stare over her head, takes in the smiling faces of their perfectly boring friends in their perfectly boring town, too small for either of them, and he knows that the only thing sadder than him losing blair would be blair losing herself.
❝ tomorrow, ❞ trip echoes, feeling the weight of the word on his tongue, the bitter reality of it, the necessity of it, and he nods slow. once, twice. when he looks back down at her, he’s wearing a softer version of that characteristic smile of his. he’s happy for her. ❝ where to ? ❞
prguitarman
kianamaiart
izzy806
germansingergirl
annaxmalina
discoholicmusic
jacobvanloon