Loving Alice

2.20: Alice's POV

FOLLOW ME ON INSTAGRAM @MorganGiglioBooks OR JOIN OUR DISCORD SERVER (LINK IN BIO) FOR EXCLUSIVE CONTENT AND UPDATES!

***

When Blair came out of Mr. Whites office she looked like she had just seen a ghost. I didn't have time to ask her what had happened due to Taylor instantly instructing us to head to the car. She hadn't stopped running through the plan for the next event since and we were now halfway there. Ben was focused on the road in front of him while Blair listened to the annoyingly thorough Taylor.

Suddenly Blair cut her off "Taylor I need to tell you something."

"What is it?" Taylor questioned seeming irritated by the interruption

Blair met my gaze and I could tell she was internally struggling with something as she fell silent.

"Out with it Blair we don't have much time." Taylor grumbled crossing her arms over her chest

"They took a picture at the club." Blair mumbled out nervously

"Of what?" Taylor asked seeming confused

"Me and that girl." Blair whispered looking down at the floor

My heart dropped at those words.

"Why haven't we seen it before then?" Taylor questioned

Blair shrugged "I don't know exactly, someone took pictures of the whole thing and sold them to Writers digest. That's why they wanted to do the story on me."

"Fuck," Taylor yelled hitting the dash with her balled up fist "did you see the pictures?"

"Y-yes." Blair stuttered out

"Are they printing them?" Taylor asked

Blair nodded and I swear I could feel my heart beating in my chest as I thought about what this would mean.

"I'll talk to Mr. White and see what I can do." Taylor grumbled pulling out her phone

Blair turned to me seemingly searching my eyes for some sort of reaction.

"I'm sorry." She whispered reaching for my hand

I retracted it back and shook my head "What are we gonna do if they publish that article Blair?"

"What do you mean?" She asked, tears threatening to spill over

I shook my head and turned to look out the window "We'll talk about it later."

"I think we should talk about it now baby." Blair responded quiet enough for only me to hear

I remained silent and she didn't push the topic any further as we continued driving. My head was spinning as I thought about how this situation would look to everyone in the world.

~Later That Night~

The reading was much less eventful than the rest of the day thank god. Once Blair had finished signing copies of her book we had been led to the car and everyone had remained quiet for most of the ride. Ben parked outside a beautiful hotel and as soon as we got out of the car there were four guards ready to escort us to our room. Taylor stayed in the car with Ben which I was honestly happy about.

As soon as we got into our room and I closed the door behind us Blair turned to me "I'm so sorry this is all happening right now."

"I mean it's not your fault someone was there taking pictures." I shrugged

She gave me a look and shook her head "Yes I know that but the content of those pictures is."

"Yes I know." I replied rolling my eyes

"What are you going to do if they get published?" Blair asked looking over at me

I met her gaze and shrugged "What do you even mean?"

"Are you going to leave me if they get published?" Blair clarified

I stayed quiet for a moment before shrugging "I don't know what I'd do to be honest Blair. Do you even realize how that will make us look?"

"Who cares how we look in the eyes of people we don't even know?" Blair countered

I laughed slightly rolling my eyes "It's not just people we don't know Blair. It's our parents, our friends and also my new co-workers I haven't even met yet."

"I know but-" Blair started to say

"But what?" I cut in "I look like an idiot if I stay with you Blair. I look like a total love sick idiot who slept with her student, gave up their job to save them, and then forgave them when they cheated after everything I gave up. I risked everything for you Blair and I can't keep being the one who gets fucked over."

She stared back at me blankly for a few seconds before looking down "I know and I'm so sorry that I've put you through everything I have."

"Blair it can't keep being like this, something has to change and if not I can't be with you." I stated feeling my heart constrict at the thought

"I can't lose you." Blair stated looking up at me, her eyes a vibrant shade of blue

"I can't lose myself in the process of being with you." I whispered shaking my head

"I'm going to talk to him." Blair stated turning and heading for the door

"Who?" I questioned

"Mr. White." She stated reaching for the door handle

"Wait," I mumbled out walking over to her "why don't you handle it tomorrow. I doubt he's even still in his office at this time of night."

"I can't just sit here and do nothing." Blair grumbled turning around to face me "I will not lose you now after everything we have been through Alice. I will not let this ruin everything we have built together."

"Blair I hate to say this but you already did, this is just part of the repercussions of that." I stated shrugging as I met her gaze "You can't put all of the blame on Mr. White, the photographer, or even that dumb bitch from the club, this is on you."

"I know that and that's why I'm trying my best to fix it." Blair countered throwing her hands into the air in frustration "Alice I would literally do anything to take back that night but there is nothing I can do to change what happened."

"I know," I nodded "but sometimes there's nothing you can do to fix things."

"So you'd really leave not because of what happened but because of what people would think?" Blair mumbled out looking at the ground "You'd leave me because of an article in some magazine?"

"We both know it's about a lot more than that Blair." I countered glaring her down "Do not try to turn this back around on me."

"Okay you're right I'm sorry," She nodded "but I need to go at least try to find him and convince him to change his mind."

"I still think it's better to wait until tomorrow." I shrugged

She shook her head "No it's not, they could publish tomorrow and I'm not losing you because I waited too long."

Without another word she opened the door and slipped out of the room leaving me alone.