What do you want?
A/N: So the usual applies...I do not own the Facts of Life characters. Nor am I profiting in any way by this posting.
“What do you want?” Standing in front of the blonde, the brunette was fed up. “I’m tired of this…game Blair. I really am” This 'thing'...their need to interfere in each other's lives..the connection between them..whatever the hell it was, has been going on for too long. She just couldn’t do it anymore. The heiress’s expression at her harsh tone almost broke her heart but, for the sake of her own heart, Jo needed to finally put an end to it.
She did care about the blonde. God help her, Jo Polniaczek cared for Blair Warner. More than a friend should and more than Jo could stand sometimes, especially when the blonde looked at her like this. When she’d get dressed for a date, then twirl around asking Jo how she looked. When the blonde went out with her ‘brainless weenie’ of the week and Jo would wait up for her, watching TV, to make sure Blair got home safely. Only to have her come home, snuggle up to Jo on the couch and tell her about what a ‘fabulous time’ she had. Then there were the times Jo had felt it necessary to ‘have a talk’ with the suitor that had overstepped his bounds leaving the blonde in tears. Yes…she cared deeply for the girl and that was the problem. Fighting the urge to apologize, Jo thought back on how they had gotten here. How Blair had in the past two years, despite Jo’s best intentions, managed to get past the wall around the dark-haired girl’s heart. She thought of the first day she met the debutante and how thrown she was by the brown-eyed blonde’s beauty.
Jo knew she liked girls before she came to Eastland Academy on a scholarship, but it wasn’t a subject she discussed. If it had been found out in her neighborhood, she would have gotten beaten up. Or worse. That was part of the reason for joining the Young Diablos. It offered her protection after some rumors started circulating. Problem was her natural leadership abilities got her in too deep and it scared her mom. Truth be told it scared Jo. So, even though she hid it, she was glad when the opportunity to get out of the life presented itself.
What she hadn’t counted on was meeting someone like Blair Warner. The self-centered, nose in the air, rich heiress got under Jo’s skin the first day. Exactly the kind of person Jo was supposed to hate and couldn’t. The girl was gorgeous, no doubt about it. The long soft blonde hair that begged to have fingers run through it. A body that had curves in all the right places that drove the brunette to distraction more than once. Then her eyes. The bright brown orbs, mixed with ‘green and gold flecks’ as Blair was want to tell her, that seemed to burn into Jo’s very soul. It all served to pull her in like a moth to a flame. Yet Jo knew that if she dared get too close, she could get burnt. Even though she fought it, time and again the tough girl found herself giving in to the blonde’s pouty lips, exaggerated sigh or her ‘Woe is me’ act. Jo would end up running errands, dressing up and attending events and all sorts of things she’d never do for anyone else.
What drove the Bronx native crazy was the façade of ‘rich spoiled ditzy blonde.’ Blair wasn’t nearly as helpless as she pretended to be. No, the girl was smart, witty, tough and able to hold her own against Jo in their verbal sparring. Blair could be very determined if there was something she wanted. Yes, Jo had heard stories of how Blair used to be quite bitchy, but that trait only seemed to come out when one of the snobs bad mouthed her friends - or more accurately, Jo. She thought about the blonde shoving pie in Margo’s face or going after her ‘friend’ Harrison for attacking the brunette.
There was another side to Blair as well: a kind caring side that she tried to hide from the ‘cool’ crowd. It showed when the blonde would have one of her ‘heart to hearts’ with Mrs. Garrett. Or in trying to make Natalie or Tootie feel better over some slight by the ‘snobbos’. Jo herself had been on the receiving end of Blair’s concern when the tough girl was feeling guilty over trouble she’d caused her mom. Trying to hide her tears, Jo had turned her back when she felt the blonde’s arms wrap around her from behind. No words spoken, just a warm understanding embrace.
Stop it! Stop it! Jo mentally kicks herself. This is just what she’s trying to get away from. To put distance between her and the beautiful girl she’s fallen for. The one girl she knows she could never have. Jo has to make a break. She has a chance to be happy and be with a girl who wants to be with her, just as she is. Jo has the chance to be with… Sighing Jo says “Look Blair, Annie’s waiting for me. Can you just tell me what you want?”
“What do you want?” Standing in front of the blonde, the brunette was fed up. “I’m tired of this…game Blair. I really am” This 'thing'...their need to interfere in each other's lives..the connection between them..whatever the hell it was, has been going on for too long. She just couldn’t do it anymore. The heiress’s expression at her harsh tone almost broke her heart but, for the sake of her own heart, Jo needed to finally put an end to it.
She did care about the blonde. God help her, Jo Polniaczek cared for Blair Warner. More than a friend should and more than Jo could stand sometimes, especially when the blonde looked at her like this. When she’d get dressed for a date, then twirl around asking Jo how she looked. When the blonde went out with her ‘brainless weenie’ of the week and Jo would wait up for her, watching TV, to make sure Blair got home safely. Only to have her come home, snuggle up to Jo on the couch and tell her about what a ‘fabulous time’ she had. Then there were the times Jo had felt it necessary to ‘have a talk’ with the suitor that had overstepped his bounds leaving the blonde in tears. Yes…she cared deeply for the girl and that was the problem. Fighting the urge to apologize, Jo thought back on how they had gotten here. How Blair had in the past two years, despite Jo’s best intentions, managed to get past the wall around the dark-haired girl’s heart. She thought of the first day she met the debutante and how thrown she was by the brown-eyed blonde’s beauty.
Jo knew she liked girls before she came to Eastland Academy on a scholarship, but it wasn’t a subject she discussed. If it had been found out in her neighborhood, she would have gotten beaten up. Or worse. That was part of the reason for joining the Young Diablos. It offered her protection after some rumors started circulating. Problem was her natural leadership abilities got her in too deep and it scared her mom. Truth be told it scared Jo. So, even though she hid it, she was glad when the opportunity to get out of the life presented itself.
What she hadn’t counted on was meeting someone like Blair Warner. The self-centered, nose in the air, rich heiress got under Jo’s skin the first day. Exactly the kind of person Jo was supposed to hate and couldn’t. The girl was gorgeous, no doubt about it. The long soft blonde hair that begged to have fingers run through it. A body that had curves in all the right places that drove the brunette to distraction more than once. Then her eyes. The bright brown orbs, mixed with ‘green and gold flecks’ as Blair was want to tell her, that seemed to burn into Jo’s very soul. It all served to pull her in like a moth to a flame. Yet Jo knew that if she dared get too close, she could get burnt. Even though she fought it, time and again the tough girl found herself giving in to the blonde’s pouty lips, exaggerated sigh or her ‘Woe is me’ act. Jo would end up running errands, dressing up and attending events and all sorts of things she’d never do for anyone else.
What drove the Bronx native crazy was the façade of ‘rich spoiled ditzy blonde.’ Blair wasn’t nearly as helpless as she pretended to be. No, the girl was smart, witty, tough and able to hold her own against Jo in their verbal sparring. Blair could be very determined if there was something she wanted. Yes, Jo had heard stories of how Blair used to be quite bitchy, but that trait only seemed to come out when one of the snobs bad mouthed her friends - or more accurately, Jo. She thought about the blonde shoving pie in Margo’s face or going after her ‘friend’ Harrison for attacking the brunette.
There was another side to Blair as well: a kind caring side that she tried to hide from the ‘cool’ crowd. It showed when the blonde would have one of her ‘heart to hearts’ with Mrs. Garrett. Or in trying to make Natalie or Tootie feel better over some slight by the ‘snobbos’. Jo herself had been on the receiving end of Blair’s concern when the tough girl was feeling guilty over trouble she’d caused her mom. Trying to hide her tears, Jo had turned her back when she felt the blonde’s arms wrap around her from behind. No words spoken, just a warm understanding embrace.
Stop it! Stop it! Jo mentally kicks herself. This is just what she’s trying to get away from. To put distance between her and the beautiful girl she’s fallen for. The one girl she knows she could never have. Jo has to make a break. She has a chance to be happy and be with a girl who wants to be with her, just as she is. Jo has the chance to be with… Sighing Jo says “Look Blair, Annie’s waiting for me. Can you just tell me what you want?”