𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒕 𝒊: 𝒉𝒆𝒍𝒍𝒐 𝒂𝒈𝒂𝒊𝒏
𝐒𝐄𝐀𝐒𝐎𝐍 𝐎𝐍𝐄
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❨2007❩

dorota walked into blair's room with a tray of breakfast to find both madi and blair asleep on her bed each in yesterdays clothes and makeup still on. "miss madi, miss blair. i have your breakfast."

the two girls slowly stirred awake, opening their eyes to the harsh sunlight beaming in through the window that dorota had just opened. dorota then set down the tray of fruits and breakfast pastries on the end of the bed before leaving the room but not before madi could say, "thank you."

"how are you feeling?" madi asked blair with a sympathetic smile as she grabbed a strawberry off the tray, taking a bite of the bright red berry.

"tired," blair replied as she began snacking on grapes. she looked up to the large mirror in the corner of the room catching a glimpse of her own reflection. "oh my god, i look like hell!"

"you're overreacting. it's just a little smudged mascara," madi laughed at her dramatic reaction before tucking some of her hair behind her ear that was sticking out. "see! you look fine."

"i just want to hide under the covers and disappear," blair fell backwards into the bed nearly knocking the tray of food off the bed in the process.

"well that's too bad because today we are going shopping," madi told her knowing that if there was one thing that would get blair out of bed, it was shopping. "i'm not letting you sulk all day. let's go have fun, spend lots of money and forget all about nate and serena."

"don't say their names. today the n-word and the s-word are off limits," blair quickly retaliated after hearing the mention of the two people she wanted nothing more than to hurt right now like they had done to her.

"okay fine. just go get ready so we can leave," madi encouraged blair who reluctantly stood up and headed to her closet to find an outfit after taking a bite out of her croissant.

madi sat and finished her breakfast before going to her room to get ready knowing that blair would take much longer than she would.

blair came out of her closet with two dresses, one in each hand. she held each up to her body as she inspected them in the mirror trying to decide whether the shorter red dress or the tighter black dress was more suitable for a shopping day.

"i can't decide. red or black?" blair turned around to face madi, holding out both options but before madi could make a decision, her phone began to ring.

"who is it?" blair asked curiously as madi picked up her phone and read the caller id. it was nate.

"uh, just chuck," madi lied with a small smile, declining the call and putting her phone down. "i like the red," madi told her, changing the topic quickly back to the dresses with a strawberry in one hand while the other pointed to the red dress. blair let out a contempt hum as she walked into the bathroom to shower and get ready.

once the bathroom door closed madi's phone rung again. with blair out of earshot, this time she answered. "what do you want, nate?"

"i know you're probably mad at me but can you please just come over so i can explain," he replied, not surprised at her harsh greeting.

"explain what exactly? how you cheated on blair or how you lied about it for almost a year?" madi ridiculed, defending her cousin despite how close she and nate were.

"i'm sorry, okay? just give me a chance to-" nate began but madi quickly interrupted, not wanting to here any excuses.

"did you sleep with serena while you were with blair?" madi impatiently questioned noticing the hesitant pause from nate.

"i did, but-" nate began but once again was cut off. he knew he had to fix things as not only did his dad demand he get back together with blair this morning on their daily run to ensure his business deal with eleanor won't fall through but also to avoid losing his best friend.

"then that's all i need to hear," madi told him, her anger evident in her voice which was rare as she was usually the nicest of the group, never letting her emotions dictate her actions too much especially towards her friends.

"no, madi wait-" nate protested but before he could convince her of anything else, madi ended the call and turned her phone off. she didn't want to talk to him right now. her priority was blair and blair only.

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❨2007❩

"what about tonight? what am i gonna do?" blair questioned. the kiss on the lips party was later that day which blair had been looking forward to for weeks now. they were currently each looking for a dress to wear.

"what do you mean?" madi asked as she scanned the clothing hung on the racks in front of her.

"we were supposed to go to the party with kati, is, chuck and nate," blair elaborated, worry evident on her face as she dreaded having to face nate after what he had done. though a part of her just wanted to forgive and forget and get back to her normal life.

　"hey, i thought the n-word was off limits today," madi pointed out when she mentioned nate. the group of friends where planning to go to the party together in chuck's limo which was what was worrying blair so much. "and don't worry. we'll figure something out but if we don't find dresses then we won't need to bother."

"okay, fine. how about this one?" blair grabbed a dress and held it out to show madi.

"for me or you?" madi questioned, inspecting the light pink dress that was designed to fall just below the shoulders with a tight fit around the waist.

"you of course. you know pink clashes with my skin tone," blair scoffed as if it was such a ridiculous question which madi laughed at.

"it's cute. not very 'kiss on the lips party' though," madi shrugged, liking the dress itself but not seeing it suitable for the high school party they were attending tonight as it was a lot more formal.

"you're right. try it on anyway though, there's always other parties," blair insisted, pushing the clothing article into her hands.

the pair continued to shop, searching for the right dress for the party tonight. blair continued to make madi try on a lot of dresses which madi would normally argue with but she was trying to distract blair from nate and serena so she went along with it. blair tried on a few for herself as well.

"you know we could just wear one of eleanor's dresses, right?" madi told her as blair scanned over a black dress she liked.

"and listen to another lecture about elegance and conservatism, no thanks," blair rebutted. eleanor was always very critical of both of the girls. she'd constantly pick at their flaws, perhaps a trait she learned from her own mother. she was more critical of blair though being her mother which was likely a cause of blair's eating disorder but she had gotten better over the last year.

blair's phone then started ringing. she reached into her purse to grab the device and froze up as she read the name.

"is everything okay?" madi asked as she noticed blair's sudden mood change. blair showed her the name on the screen. it was nate. "just ignore it," madi told her, resting a comforting hand on blair's forearm.

"it could be important, maybe i should-" blair began but madi quickly cut her off.

"if it's that important, he'll leave a message. besides, you'd be breaking our one rule for today," madi told her with a lighthearted smile. the phone stopped ringing and blair reluctantly put it back into her purse.

"i know you're in a weird position and i'm sorry," blair told her. it was rare that she showed any remorse to anyone but today she wasn't in a particularly good mood. she wasn't acting like herself at all.

"what do you mean?" madi questioned, not understanding what blair was getting at.

"nate's your best friend," blair explained as she picked up another dress, a look of distaste taking over her face as she clearly didn't like the piece of clothing.

"you come first, b. always," madi told her gaining a small smile from the upset girl. madi hated being mad at nate. while chuck, blair and serena always seemed to have occasional conflicts, nate and madi seemed to be the two that never fought. but she couldn't simply forgive him after what he did to blair.

blair's phone then began ringing for a second time. "it's chuck," blair told madi as she picked it up. "go ahead, i'll just be a minute," blair told her and madi nodded as blair stepped aside to answer the phone.

a few minutes later, blair came back to madi who was looking it a light blue dress. "that would look great on you!" blair exclaimed enthusiastically, catching madi's attention again.

"thanks, i'll try it on. what did chuck want?" madi questioned curiously.

"it wasn't chuck, it was nate. i wasn't answering him so he used chuck's phone," blair explained and madi looked up at her with concern which blair noticed. "i'm fine, m. he just wanted to meet for lunch so we could talk."

"you said no, right?" madi asked. blair was stubborn and wouldn't let anyone hurt her but when it came to nate, she had a tendency to forgive and forget very quickly. they had been together for years now and friends much longer. it had always seemed like the couple would be together forever but now blair's plan was falling apart and madi could tell it was freaking her out.

"it seemed urgent and he sounded really sad," blair didn't give a direct answer but it was enough for madi to know what she said.

"blair, i know you just want to pretend this didn't happen but it did and you can't just go back to him after what he's done," madi tried to convince her but it was falling on deaf ears. if blair had made up her mind, there was no changing it.

"it was a year ago, besides, i'm just going to talk to him," blair told her, grabbing the four dresses in madi's hands and taking them with her own to the counter to avoid hearing anymore of madi's protests.

blair paid for the dresses, nine in total despite only needing one each for the party tonight. whenever blair shopped, she'd come home with more than she needed but with the money they had, there was really nothing stopping her.

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❨2007❩

the elevator doors opened and madi walked inside, making her way to the familiar living room where she spent most of her time. she was greeted by the potent smell of alcohol and pizza making her cringe and scrunch up her nose a little.

she saw chuck with a glass of scotch in his hand and messy hair. "i don't even want to know," madi quickly judged the guy sprawled out on the sofa, a hand on his head to likely ease the headache from his hangover, much like the alcohol in his hand.

"hello to you too," he rolled his eyes as he glanced up briefly to meet madi's gaze laced with judgement and disgust.

"ever consider cleaning up after yourself? it's disgusting in here," madi picked up the half empty pizza box from the table, pulling out the playing cards and placing them back on the table before chucking the box with the last three pieces in the trash as it looked to be days old.

"i have people for that," chuck reminded her as she decluttered the table, pushing chuck's legs off it causing them to thump onto the ground loudly earning herself a glare from the hungover guy next to her.

"well clearly, they aren't any good at their jobs," madi ridiculed as she picked up the flannel shirt on the floor and hung it up in chuck's wardrobe. "and, lose the scotch. it's 11am."

"are you always this bossy or is it just because you and nathaniel aren't talking?" chuck asked, a small smirk on his lips as he saw the annoyed expression overcome her face. he found satisfaction in his own ability to piss people off, especially madi.

"i left some clothes here last week, do you know where they are?" madi ignored his statement, returning to the reason she came here in the first place. she and blair had stopped by after going shopping last week before serena's return and all of this blew up because blair wanted to see nate. madi had accidentally left one of the bags here and decided that she should go get it today, not knowing when she'd be back here next with nate always around.

"what exactly did he do? he was moping around last night complaining to me about how he messed up and you probably hate him now until he got drunk and passed out on the floor," chuck told her which explained the mess and strong alcohol odour. she felt bad that nate was that upset but she was still mad. "i mean, it's not a coincidence that you turned up right as he left for lunch with blair."

"are the clothes here or not?" madi avoided chuck's question. it was none of his business and frankly not her situation to tell.

"i mean, you two haven't fought since he broke your favourite pair of jimmy choos in the 8th grade," chuck continued to bring the subject up, clearly annoying madi.

"chuck, drop it!" madi snapped at him, sick of his persistence towards the topic. he let out a small laugh at the outburst. if anyone could get under her skin it was nate and he clearly had.

"you're clothes are by the kitchen," he pointed to the bag sitting beside a barstool. madi headed over to grab it before going to leave but chuck started speaking again.

"do me a favour and fix whatever happened because sad nate is no fun," chuck told her to which she rolled her eyes, ignoring him as she left. "goodbye, madison!"

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❨2007❩

"hey, you're home! how did it go?" madi asked as her door opened to reveal blair. she had just been out for lunch with nate so madi was slightly worried that she'd be upset by the time she was back but she didn't seem it.

"i'm great! come on, let's get ready," blair pulled madi into her room. madi was both confused and concerned about how happy she seemed. she had been sad all day and now she looked better than ever. "you're wearing the black dress, right?"

"yeah, i think so," madi watched as blair took out the dress from the neatly packaged box the store put it in for them before grabbing her own dark blue dress out. blair was calm and blair's never calm so she knew something wasn't right.

"so, are you going to tell me what happened?" madi asked abruptly, waiting on blair's answer. she seemed not to care for the question at all.

"we ate sushi. the toro was really g-" blair began but madi impatiently cut her off, not wanting to listen to her deflection.

"i don't care about the food, b. what happened with nate?" madi asked her as blair sighed, taking a second to think about her answer. she knew madi wouldn't be happy with what happened if she told her.

"he just wanted to apologise and he seemed really sorry so i told him all is forgiven," blair shrugged, figuring that madi would likely get the truth out of her eventually.

"you're kidding, right?" madi asked and blair shook her head as she looked in the mirror, pulling her hair up to see how she might style it for the party. "blair, you can't just pretend this didn't happen."

"watch me," blair gave her an empty smile as she disappeared into the bathroom to change.

𝒂 𝒎𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒂𝒈𝒆 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎
𝐋𝐈𝐕 <𝟑
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thanks so much for 1k reads on this! i swear i just published it and you've blown it up so fast! i love and appreciate every single person reading this right now and hoped you enjoyed reading this chapter.

threw in a little chuck and madi scene since you seemed to like that in the last chapter.

i'll shut up now so just vote and comment if you want to and if not that's fine too. thanks for reading!!

❨25.05.2022❩
© livsluvrs