Dove Sport

Chapter Nineteen: Legacy

"So they just arrested him? With no evidence?" Dara asked incredulously that Thursday at lunch. Blair nodded enthusiastically. Her fork was frozen in her hand halfway on its way to her mouth and Blair admired her gleaming red nail polish. It was just the two of them today at the table. Kenny was working on some project with a teacher and although Arsen was present at school, he was avoiding the lunch room.

"That's insane." Dara remarked. She washed down her food with a sip of coke. "What would they have done if your mom hadn't come and his dad never showed up?"

"I don't know," Blair said, "but it probably wouldn't have been good."

They lapsed into silence for a few minutes before Dara asked suddenly, "Why have you got that look on your face?" Blair was unsure what look she had on her face, and it must have shown, because Dara widened her eyes and said, "This look." Her eyes looked unfocused like she was zoning out. Blair ducked her head, a blush forming on her cheeks. In truth, she had been thinking of Arsen and of how badly she'd wanted to kiss him before he walked off with his father. She still hadn't told Dara about their previous kiss in the rain outside of her house.

"I was thinking about Arsen." Blair confessed to her friend. A part of her was hesitant to tell Dara everything, though she wasn't sure what she was afraid of.

Dara's brows rose, "Our Arsen? The Holden Caulfield wannabe?"

"Don't look at me like that," Blair said defensively. Dara held her hands up in defense.

"Sorry it's just- you looked almost dreamy."

"Well," Blair said, "that's because I was thinking about how I wanted to kiss him."

Silence at the table. Dara was frozen over her food, eyes wide. "You what?" she asked.

Blair shrugged self consciously. "I kissed him a couple days ago when we were looking for Grace and I've been wanting to do it again." Across the table, Dara was staring at her as if she'd grown two heads. "What?" Blair asked.

"It's just- I thought-" Dara stumbled over her words for a second before recovering, "Since when do you like Arsen like that?"

"We've always been close friends," Blair explained, "So it seemed natural that I'd pick him to have a crush on next."

"What do you mean by saying that you 'picked him?'"

"Like," Blair struggled for a moment to find a way to properly explain, "You know when you want to have a crush so you pick a guy and decide to like them? That's what I did." Dara was still staring like she was trying to figure out a puzzle, so Blair made the executive decision to change the subject before this conversation became too uncomfortable. "Anyways, I haven't told you about our newest problem: Grace needs a place to live." Blair explained the conversation she'd had with her parents after finding Grace and how their version of what would happen once the baby was born was drastically different from Grace's. "My parents still don't know that Arsen and I found her and they're refusing to let the police get involved because they don't want word to spread about her teenage pregnancy."

Dara finally reacted, scoffing. "Oh please, this isn't the 19th century."

"Well, they're also worried that since she knew where Seth had hidden the car she could be a suspect for whoever burned it, especially now that the sheriff's office has ruled out Arsen as the culprit."

"Maybe you could find some way to bring Grace in to speak to the sheriff and answer her questions," Dara suggested but Blair shook her head vehemently.

"No, if there's anyone in this town who absolutely cannot know, it's the Larks." Blair explained, "The sheriff will probably inform them of the development in their son's case and it would be a whole mess- I don't want them going after my sister out of spite."