Dove Sport

Chapter Ten: Tangled

Watching the scorebook burn in a dumpster behind the school, seeing her sister's name crumble to ash, had been cathartic, in a way for Blair.

To a point.

Blair was still rattled from seeing her name there at all. She was still thinking of how her parents wouldn't talk about whatever had happened to Grace. There were other things on her mind too, though. Like, for example, the fact that she and Arsen had discovered there was an Edgewood boat heading off of Bear's Nose Island the night Seth Lark was killed. Or rather, she had discovered it. Blair had a sneaking suspicion Arsen hadn't been alone that night. It wasn't she thought he was lying to her, it was just that it was awfully convenient for him to have run into no one else if the small island had a lot of people on it that night. There was only one person Blair could think of Arsen having been with, and he just so happened to go to Edgewood and would have access to the boats. She'd been steadily drawing this conclusion since she'd first heard of the boat and had noticed how Arsen seemed unwilling to investigate it. At first she'd thought he didn't care since the gunshot that night hadn't been the one to kill Seth but laying in bed later that night, Blair had turned the evidence over and over in her head and had come to this conclusion: Someone was lying to her. She didn't think it was Vera. She didn't really think it was Arsen either, at least, not maliciously. After all, he'd corroborated Meredith's story of hearing a shot that night. No, the only reason she saw for Arsen to continue lying was if he was protecting someone, say, his best friend, Nicholas, who maybe was with him that night.

Blair needed confirmation, though, before she went forward with anything. She didn't particularly think Arsen and Nick had killed Seth, to be clear. But with the direction Doveport seemed to be spiraling in it was best to be sure. It felt like everywhere Blair looked, walls were being built and shudders drawn tightly shut; neighbor treating neighbor with suspicion; it was enough for Blair to question how much she really knew about her friends.

Presently, she was working a shift in the Hook for her dad. Wiping down tables was mind numbing enough to allow her thoughts to wander. Finished wiping down one side of the cafe, Blair let herself drift to booth number three where her friends sat sipping their milkshakes. Dara, Arsen, and Kenny were wedged into the smallest booth beside one of the front windows. Dara smiled when Blair drifted over and Kenny waved but Arsen didn't do more than glance up from whatever he was saying to the other two.

"Thank God," Dara said, interrupting Arsen, "You've come to save us."

"I'm not so sure of that," Kenny muttered into his milkshake.

"What?" Blair asked, scanning her friends' faces.

"They're tearing down Olde Towne!" Arsen told her impatiently. The other two exchanged a look. "This is- It's the death of old Doveport. No," Arsen waved his hands before him, "Scratch that- this is the death of the American dream." 

"You don't think you're being just a little bit dramatic?" Dara asked, brows raised. "Don't forget, I was just there on my train wreck of a date," she grimaced, "And that place is really nothing special."

Kenny snorted and said, "I wouldn't be surprised if that place is infested with rats." Arsen's shoulders hunched but when he opened his mouth to reply Kenny held up a hand. "Please," Kenny said, "Just stop."

Arsen leaned back in his seat and crossed his arms over his chest. Blair felt for him- not only did Arsen work at the old cinema but he'd been going there since he was a kid.

"I literally cannot understand who would actually want to go hang out there of their own free will." Dara was saying.

"People who want to buy actual, literal crack."