Infamous | ongoing

01 | Showtime

"I don't even know how this happened," Gisele turned to face her, lifting her hands and dropping them in immense defeat. "The instructions told me to leave the cookies in there for forty minutes."

Blair held out her hand for the recipe book. "Are you sure about that?"

Gisele nodded, her arms folded as she watched Blair flick through the pages with clear annoyance in her features.

"It's the number of the page not how long it has to stay in there, Gi."

"You're wrong, I swear it said for-"

Blair waved a dismissive hand to Gisele, twisting on her heels and sauntering into the hallway with her guardian following hastily behind her. Naturally, Blair had become accustomed to Gisele and her impulsive tendencies but after a long day of work that was not supposed to be in her original plans still frustrated her. It felt as if from the moment Blair hit puberty, the roles reversed and she had adopted the mother role with her continuously forced to clean up these erratic messes that she would create. Blair just needed all of the promises Clara made to her to be true, she was ready for a change.

No matter the cost.

Blair attempted to shut her bedroom door behind her to but no avail. Gisele had managed to fit her plus-sized figure through the tiny crack and shifted into Blair's peripheral view with one hand stiffly placed on her hip. On any other evening Blair would've been very much prepared to have a major disagreement with her, the kind that would've infuriated the neighbours into banging aggressively onto the walls of their home, but not tonight.

Tonight, Blair had answered a phone call from Clara – only it wasn't Clara on the line, one of her assistants were sent to do the task – and was ordered to make a 9 AM flight tomorrow to Miami where she would meet with her to discuss the propositions that were made that very night. Of course, Blair willingly agreed and did her very best in trying to sound as humble as possible in order to contain her excitement that she could already suspect to be let down in the near future.

Even if it was about to be, an all-expense covered trip sounded like a blissful dream. Which was entirely the reason why she was not relaying the news to anyone she knew in Seattle, especially her mother dearest.

"Why are you packing," Gisele lifted a concerned brow, still trying to get a word out of a mute Blair. "Are you staying over at a friend's house?" 

"Yeah," Blair responded.

At least she didn't have to come up with her own excuse, she was just given one.

"I'm going to be staying at my friend's for a while." Blair stated, waiting for her mother to start making any kind of protests.

"I-"

"Don't worry, I've already done all of the shifts to pay Ron back." Blair interrupted her with reassurance, she knew that the only problems that Gisele would have with her plans would be related to things that affected her. "You're clear."

Gisele's body relaxed as she let out a sigh of relief before extending both arms to pull Blair into a tight bear hug. "You're so thoughtful." Gisele rejoiced in between the air kisses she gave her on both cheeks.

Blair gritted her teeth behind a soft smile, patting her back repeatedly as an indication to end the hug she was being given. "You're welcome, Gi."