Cinderella Snow
Title: Cinderella Snow
Characters: Nate, Blair
Rating/Word Count: PG/2108
One-Line Excerpt: I was bribing the receptionist at a luxurious B&B when I spotted her, standing by the lake in the back feeding ducks in her beret like nothing had changed.
I was never as slow or stupid as everyone thought I was. It only took me about two months to realize how much I absolutely hated law school. Everything about it - the endless reading, the pointless hypothetical conversations, the people (oh, the people!) - it all turned my stomach. It was like for the first month we were all congratulating each other on getting into Yale Law. Everywhere I turned there was a pat on the back here, a ranking article there. My roommate tried to pull me into a conversation about how easy the LSAT was, as though the two of us weren''t guaranteed a spot via familial ties.
When winter holiday came along, I was so anxious to get away from the school seal and mascots and embroidered scarves that my knee was practically shaking the table as I sat for my final exam. "Sayon-freakin-nara," I said as I exited the building for the last time for the next month.
"Hurry it up, Archibald." Ethan was a guy I met when Grandfather's graduation present broke down on my way to New Haven. He worked at the auto body shop in town and was truly the only friend I had. He was loud (unapologetically so), could drink his weight in beer, and sincerely loved his girlfriend (Miss Carla You-will-find-someone-Nate) - a real breath of fresh air.
I had to nearly beg him to take me out of here.
It was a little ski resort in Vermont, the kind of place he never thought he'd be able to afford. It took a hell of a lot of arm-twisting and pleading on Carla's part to get him there. With the snowboards stowed away in the back of his station wagon, we cranked up the radio and flew across the roads, cheering everytime we got some air on a bump. Being with Carla and Ethan was as close to being normal as I could get, but still I couldn't help feeling like a third wheel everytime they look at each other and smile in their own way. At the risk of sounding emo, I felt I was missing something, something big.
I ran into Blair on our third day there.
If we had spoken to each other or had been friendly at all in the past three years, I would have felt comfortable laughing at her. Prim and proper Blair Waldorf in, I kid you not, snowpants. Obnoxiously bright hot pink snowpants. She had on her baby blue ear muffs and her nose was red from the frigid air. I reached around her to the counter and paid for her hot chocolate. Spinning just so her hair could hit my face, she blinked her big brown eyes before she found her voice. Blair always knew how to leave an impression.
"Nate?"
"In the flesh!" In the silence, she seemed to have spaced out in a kind of panic. Her lips opened as wide as her eyes. "Aren't you... happy to see me?"
She blinked herself out of it and with the smile she always gave my parents, the polite smile, she nodded. "Of course I am." Like old acquaintances do, we gave each other an awkward hug made especially awkward with the very conscious thought that our naked bodies had touched on more than one occasion. "What are you doing here?"
I placed a hand on the familiar place at the base of her spine and directed her away from the counter and into the booth where my coffee and novel sat. "Just hanging out with a few friends, exploiting my break from school. You?"
She paused. "Oh yea, you know. The same." She took off her gloves and warmed her hands around the paper cup. "Wow, House of Leaves. Nate Archibald, I'm impressed." She picked up the volume and weighed it in her hands.
I chuckled along. Of course Blair would know about it. "Yes, well-"
"I tried to read this and my brain nearly exploded."
"If it makes you feel any better, I hate it and have been trying to get through it for a year now."
She cracked her first real smile. "Well, thank you. It's very thoughtful of you." She giggled and I couldn't stop staring. It was like watching a sunrise peek through the clouds in the thick darkness. It wasn't until that moment that I realized how much I truly hated Yale down to my bones.
We talked about nothing for the next two hours and it felt amazing. Both of us had left New York behind, for better or worse, and instead of socialites and balls, we talked about trashy reality tv and annoying roommates. "How are the parents?"
"They're fine. All of them are in Europe now. I'd ask after your grandfather, but I do read the newspaper."
"Well, if you ever get lonely, you're VIP at the Vanderbilt estate." She thanked me softly and placed her hand on mine.
"Blair, we've been looking all over for you." A woman with a brunette bob and looked to be about in her thirties seemed to have suddenly appeared beside us.
Blair looked at her watch. "Oh my goodness, I just ran into an old friend here and totally lost track of time. I'm sorry, Daisy." She turned back to me. "I've got to go, Nate. It was wonderful seeing you."
I grabbed her hand and turned her back to me. "Can I see you again?"
"I don't think that'll be a good idea." The woman wrapped an arm around her shoulder and lead her to the door. One last look back at me and she was gone.
I picked up the earmuffs she left behind and squeezed it. I had forgotten how painful it was to actually care about something.
By the time I returned to the cottage, my mood had sunk so low that even my two companions noticed out of their love-filled haze. "Why the long face, Archibald?"
"Oh leave him alone, Ethan."
"It's all right. I-uh, I ran into an old girlfriend of mine. Blair and I dated for a while and we had a really nice chat, that's all."
"Wait, Blair? The chick you were supposed to marry?" I nodded. "Was she still hot or did she let herself go."
"Ethan!" She slapped him lightly on the shoulder. "That's impolite. Plus, as depressed as he looks, she's obviously hotter than ever."
I told them the whole story, the woman, the earmuffs, the snowpants. All of it.
"Well you have to find her!" For someone raised by her four brothers, Carla got into these romantic fits sometimes that reassured the rest of us that deep down, she was still a girl.
It didn't take much convincing for me to do something I wanted to do in the first place. When the two of them left for the hills the next day, I took to the local motels and hotels armed with a pocket full of hundreds. I did learn a thing or two from my friendship with Chuck Bass.
I was bribing the receptionist at a luxurious B&B when I spotted her, standing by the lake in the back feeding ducks in her beret like nothing had changed. "That's who you're looking for? Well, no wonder I couldn't find her, she's checked in with that group of loonies."
"Wait, what?"
"Yea, this rehab center up in Maine. They take a group down here every winter to, I don't know, interact with normal people or something. Look, don't spread it, all right? It's bad for business if other people knew I was putting them up. But they do pay in full and they're just people, right? They deserve a little vacay too. And really, she's a lovely girl. Never gives me any trouble."
Rehab. I could hardly believe it. She looked so beautiful and healthy her skin nearly glowed. How did Blair Waldorf end up in a place like that?
As soon as she saw me through the glass doors, she knew that I knew. I walked to her, each step heavier than the last. "So, Brent told you, huh?" I nodded, still numb from shock. "He's a good guy, but he doesn't know how to keep his mouth shut. So, you caught me. Disappointed?"
"Blair, what-"
"It's not really a rehab, you know. I'm not pulling a Lindsay. I don't have meth or coke under my beret. It's a wellness center. We have doctors and all that, sure, but it's just a place for people like me to get better."
"Blair, what-are you sick? I mean, you don't look-"
"Sick? Crazy? Well, I have my good days and my bad. It's cyclical. It'll be better one day, though. I know it."
I swallowed hard. My throat stung from the frigid dry air. "Is there anything I can do? I mean, grandfather knows some-"
"I don't want to get drugged up by psychiatrists. I would rather die than be in a place like Ostroff. That's why I'm here. I can do it. I'm Blair Waldorf, remember? I just... I didn't want anyone to see me like this."
She threw her last chunk of bread at the ducks by our feet and we watched it torn to shreds. "Well, you look great."
She nudged me with her shoulder. "Thanks, Archibald."
I took her earmuffs from my pocket and handed it back. "Here."
"That's where it was! I was looking all over for-" I kissed her. I don't know where I got the courage, but I did. I felt her arms around my waist and that moment, in the snow, our lips warm and soft, defined the rest of my life. "You really are like Prince Charming, you know?" Her whisper fogged the air between us and she almost looked like a ghost.
"Prince Charming... that's from The Little Mermaid, right? My knowledge of Disney is limited by the ones you and Serena made me watch."
"Well, it's more of an expression, but the one from The Little Mermaid is Eric. I think Prince Charming is actually more Cinderella."
"Well, in that case..." I took off her beret and placed the earmuffs back in her frazzled hair. "Perfect fit." She smiled and looked down, her long lashes created dark moons against her cheeks. "So, I found you."
"Yes, you did."
"Does that mean I get to see you?"
Her smile faltered and I held on tighter, ready to rebut any bad news she was about to deliver. "Oh Nate..." She flattened the lapel of my wool coat like she used to. "I don't think that's the best idea. I mean, we're leaving tomorrow-"
"I can come visit!"
"I'd rather you didn't." Ouch. "The next time we meet. The next time we're together I want to be better. I want to be like a queen again. Not this."
"Blair, that queen, socialite stuff doesn't matter to me."
"But it does to me." And just like that, she kissed me goodbye.
I never saw her again. I went back that day and despite the persistent questions, I never told another soul what happened by the lake. Blair was the one thing I didn't need to talk about to figure out. That thought got me through law school, through my first job, through Grandfather's heightened expectations. I waited and waited for some sort of sign that she was ready because, apparently, romanticism was contagious.
My driver turns back towards me as the divider lowers. "Mr. Archibald, we're here."
"Thanks, Randy. Let me just sit here for a while, okay?"
"Take all the time you need, sir." I look out the tinted window at the glitzy couples pouring out of limos into the night, half drunk off champagne. Inside, there she is, a beacon among the lesser diamonds sparkling in the city. The card invitation bends from my thumb's constant pressure, but I can still read the embossed words.
You are cordially invited to the Metropolitan Museum of Art's annual charity gala, hosted by Blair Waldorf...
"You can go ahead and take the rest of the night off. I won't be leaving for a long while."
"Thank you, sir."
I step out into the ball of my own. It's time.
Characters: Nate, Blair
Rating/Word Count: PG/2108
One-Line Excerpt: I was bribing the receptionist at a luxurious B&B when I spotted her, standing by the lake in the back feeding ducks in her beret like nothing had changed.
I was never as slow or stupid as everyone thought I was. It only took me about two months to realize how much I absolutely hated law school. Everything about it - the endless reading, the pointless hypothetical conversations, the people (oh, the people!) - it all turned my stomach. It was like for the first month we were all congratulating each other on getting into Yale Law. Everywhere I turned there was a pat on the back here, a ranking article there. My roommate tried to pull me into a conversation about how easy the LSAT was, as though the two of us weren''t guaranteed a spot via familial ties.
When winter holiday came along, I was so anxious to get away from the school seal and mascots and embroidered scarves that my knee was practically shaking the table as I sat for my final exam. "Sayon-freakin-nara," I said as I exited the building for the last time for the next month.
"Hurry it up, Archibald." Ethan was a guy I met when Grandfather's graduation present broke down on my way to New Haven. He worked at the auto body shop in town and was truly the only friend I had. He was loud (unapologetically so), could drink his weight in beer, and sincerely loved his girlfriend (Miss Carla You-will-find-someone-Nate) - a real breath of fresh air.
I had to nearly beg him to take me out of here.
It was a little ski resort in Vermont, the kind of place he never thought he'd be able to afford. It took a hell of a lot of arm-twisting and pleading on Carla's part to get him there. With the snowboards stowed away in the back of his station wagon, we cranked up the radio and flew across the roads, cheering everytime we got some air on a bump. Being with Carla and Ethan was as close to being normal as I could get, but still I couldn't help feeling like a third wheel everytime they look at each other and smile in their own way. At the risk of sounding emo, I felt I was missing something, something big.
I ran into Blair on our third day there.
If we had spoken to each other or had been friendly at all in the past three years, I would have felt comfortable laughing at her. Prim and proper Blair Waldorf in, I kid you not, snowpants. Obnoxiously bright hot pink snowpants. She had on her baby blue ear muffs and her nose was red from the frigid air. I reached around her to the counter and paid for her hot chocolate. Spinning just so her hair could hit my face, she blinked her big brown eyes before she found her voice. Blair always knew how to leave an impression.
"Nate?"
"In the flesh!" In the silence, she seemed to have spaced out in a kind of panic. Her lips opened as wide as her eyes. "Aren't you... happy to see me?"
She blinked herself out of it and with the smile she always gave my parents, the polite smile, she nodded. "Of course I am." Like old acquaintances do, we gave each other an awkward hug made especially awkward with the very conscious thought that our naked bodies had touched on more than one occasion. "What are you doing here?"
I placed a hand on the familiar place at the base of her spine and directed her away from the counter and into the booth where my coffee and novel sat. "Just hanging out with a few friends, exploiting my break from school. You?"
She paused. "Oh yea, you know. The same." She took off her gloves and warmed her hands around the paper cup. "Wow, House of Leaves. Nate Archibald, I'm impressed." She picked up the volume and weighed it in her hands.
I chuckled along. Of course Blair would know about it. "Yes, well-"
"I tried to read this and my brain nearly exploded."
"If it makes you feel any better, I hate it and have been trying to get through it for a year now."
She cracked her first real smile. "Well, thank you. It's very thoughtful of you." She giggled and I couldn't stop staring. It was like watching a sunrise peek through the clouds in the thick darkness. It wasn't until that moment that I realized how much I truly hated Yale down to my bones.
We talked about nothing for the next two hours and it felt amazing. Both of us had left New York behind, for better or worse, and instead of socialites and balls, we talked about trashy reality tv and annoying roommates. "How are the parents?"
"They're fine. All of them are in Europe now. I'd ask after your grandfather, but I do read the newspaper."
"Well, if you ever get lonely, you're VIP at the Vanderbilt estate." She thanked me softly and placed her hand on mine.
"Blair, we've been looking all over for you." A woman with a brunette bob and looked to be about in her thirties seemed to have suddenly appeared beside us.
Blair looked at her watch. "Oh my goodness, I just ran into an old friend here and totally lost track of time. I'm sorry, Daisy." She turned back to me. "I've got to go, Nate. It was wonderful seeing you."
I grabbed her hand and turned her back to me. "Can I see you again?"
"I don't think that'll be a good idea." The woman wrapped an arm around her shoulder and lead her to the door. One last look back at me and she was gone.
I picked up the earmuffs she left behind and squeezed it. I had forgotten how painful it was to actually care about something.
By the time I returned to the cottage, my mood had sunk so low that even my two companions noticed out of their love-filled haze. "Why the long face, Archibald?"
"Oh leave him alone, Ethan."
"It's all right. I-uh, I ran into an old girlfriend of mine. Blair and I dated for a while and we had a really nice chat, that's all."
"Wait, Blair? The chick you were supposed to marry?" I nodded. "Was she still hot or did she let herself go."
"Ethan!" She slapped him lightly on the shoulder. "That's impolite. Plus, as depressed as he looks, she's obviously hotter than ever."
I told them the whole story, the woman, the earmuffs, the snowpants. All of it.
"Well you have to find her!" For someone raised by her four brothers, Carla got into these romantic fits sometimes that reassured the rest of us that deep down, she was still a girl.
It didn't take much convincing for me to do something I wanted to do in the first place. When the two of them left for the hills the next day, I took to the local motels and hotels armed with a pocket full of hundreds. I did learn a thing or two from my friendship with Chuck Bass.
I was bribing the receptionist at a luxurious B&B when I spotted her, standing by the lake in the back feeding ducks in her beret like nothing had changed. "That's who you're looking for? Well, no wonder I couldn't find her, she's checked in with that group of loonies."
"Wait, what?"
"Yea, this rehab center up in Maine. They take a group down here every winter to, I don't know, interact with normal people or something. Look, don't spread it, all right? It's bad for business if other people knew I was putting them up. But they do pay in full and they're just people, right? They deserve a little vacay too. And really, she's a lovely girl. Never gives me any trouble."
Rehab. I could hardly believe it. She looked so beautiful and healthy her skin nearly glowed. How did Blair Waldorf end up in a place like that?
As soon as she saw me through the glass doors, she knew that I knew. I walked to her, each step heavier than the last. "So, Brent told you, huh?" I nodded, still numb from shock. "He's a good guy, but he doesn't know how to keep his mouth shut. So, you caught me. Disappointed?"
"Blair, what-"
"It's not really a rehab, you know. I'm not pulling a Lindsay. I don't have meth or coke under my beret. It's a wellness center. We have doctors and all that, sure, but it's just a place for people like me to get better."
"Blair, what-are you sick? I mean, you don't look-"
"Sick? Crazy? Well, I have my good days and my bad. It's cyclical. It'll be better one day, though. I know it."
I swallowed hard. My throat stung from the frigid dry air. "Is there anything I can do? I mean, grandfather knows some-"
"I don't want to get drugged up by psychiatrists. I would rather die than be in a place like Ostroff. That's why I'm here. I can do it. I'm Blair Waldorf, remember? I just... I didn't want anyone to see me like this."
She threw her last chunk of bread at the ducks by our feet and we watched it torn to shreds. "Well, you look great."
She nudged me with her shoulder. "Thanks, Archibald."
I took her earmuffs from my pocket and handed it back. "Here."
"That's where it was! I was looking all over for-" I kissed her. I don't know where I got the courage, but I did. I felt her arms around my waist and that moment, in the snow, our lips warm and soft, defined the rest of my life. "You really are like Prince Charming, you know?" Her whisper fogged the air between us and she almost looked like a ghost.
"Prince Charming... that's from The Little Mermaid, right? My knowledge of Disney is limited by the ones you and Serena made me watch."
"Well, it's more of an expression, but the one from The Little Mermaid is Eric. I think Prince Charming is actually more Cinderella."
"Well, in that case..." I took off her beret and placed the earmuffs back in her frazzled hair. "Perfect fit." She smiled and looked down, her long lashes created dark moons against her cheeks. "So, I found you."
"Yes, you did."
"Does that mean I get to see you?"
Her smile faltered and I held on tighter, ready to rebut any bad news she was about to deliver. "Oh Nate..." She flattened the lapel of my wool coat like she used to. "I don't think that's the best idea. I mean, we're leaving tomorrow-"
"I can come visit!"
"I'd rather you didn't." Ouch. "The next time we meet. The next time we're together I want to be better. I want to be like a queen again. Not this."
"Blair, that queen, socialite stuff doesn't matter to me."
"But it does to me." And just like that, she kissed me goodbye.
I never saw her again. I went back that day and despite the persistent questions, I never told another soul what happened by the lake. Blair was the one thing I didn't need to talk about to figure out. That thought got me through law school, through my first job, through Grandfather's heightened expectations. I waited and waited for some sort of sign that she was ready because, apparently, romanticism was contagious.
My driver turns back towards me as the divider lowers. "Mr. Archibald, we're here."
"Thanks, Randy. Let me just sit here for a while, okay?"
"Take all the time you need, sir." I look out the tinted window at the glitzy couples pouring out of limos into the night, half drunk off champagne. Inside, there she is, a beacon among the lesser diamonds sparkling in the city. The card invitation bends from my thumb's constant pressure, but I can still read the embossed words.
You are cordially invited to the Metropolitan Museum of Art's annual charity gala, hosted by Blair Waldorf...
"You can go ahead and take the rest of the night off. I won't be leaving for a long while."
"Thank you, sir."
I step out into the ball of my own. It's time.