A Cinderella Christmas

It All Started In A Diner

This book is dedicated to
Katie.
This joke has gone way too far...

Blair Waldorf put her hands around the black coffee she had made herself, hoping it would warm them up. She was standing behind the counter of the diner she had worked in all her adult life. Granted that was about three years but staring at the blizzard raging outside, she thought it felt like a lifetime.

She was wearing the red polo shirt worn by all Humphrey Diner employees. Although it was tattered with grease stains, it was the only shirt she was allowed to wear in this god forsaken place.

Blair jumped slightly as a sharp cough echoed from behind her. She turned to see her manager, Lily Van Derwoodsen standing, arms folded, eyebrows raised, staring at her, "Aren't you supposed to be working?" Lily asked, her glasses dangling from her hand.

Blair glanced around the empty diner, "I am Mrs Van Derwoodsen, but we don't have any customers at the moment...". The intense blizzard outside was looking like it could snow them in at any moment. No one was brave enough to be outside, leaving the usually busy Brooklyn streets empty and quiet.

Blair guessed the streets were empty and quiet, she could barely see three feet outside because of all the snow and fog.

Lily frowned, "Well the least you could do is clean up! This place is a mess!"

"Yes, Mrs Van Derwoodsen." Blair said through clenched teeth. She'd just finished cleaning, the counters were spotless, she could even see her own reflection in the plastic tables!

"I'm going up stairs to do some business work..." Lily said putting on her glasses, Blair was sure she only wore them to make herself seem more 'professional'. She turned to walk up the stairs that led to the tiny managers office, "Oh, and you better have payed for that coffee!" She said over her shoulder as she disappeared.

"Yes, Mrs Van Derwoodsen!" Blair called up the stairs. She opened the till, it made the dinging noise as the money popped out. She messed with the change, making sure the clinking sound was loud enough to carry up the stairs and then shut it again. The clang echoed off the walls.

Blair took a sip of her coffee, she burnt her tongue, it was still too hot. She settled for cradling the mug like a small child to her chest and watched the snow fall outside.

It was Christmas Eve, the day when every child waited excitedly for presents, parents stressed about preparing lunch for the next day and people did their last minute shopping. But not Blair. Blair was working, in the diner she always worked in, with the manager she hated and the smell of greasy Eric, the diner chef, to keep her company.

Years ago, Blair's Mother, Eleanor, had run a fashion brand, Waldorf Designs. She'd been the most sort after designer in New York City, every celebrity wanted one of her handbags or dresses or shoes. But then Blair's Father had died and Eleanor was never quite the same. Her designs started slipping, suddenly no one wanted her handbags or dresses or shoes. She was considered an embarrassment, cheap, tacky.

That's when Rufus Humphrey had appeared, with two children from his previous marriage tagging along behind him. Dan and Hannah. Dan was the same age as Blair but Hannah was a few years younger. Still at high school, she was trying, and failing, to be the Queen B of Constant's School for Girls. The same school Blair had gone to, and had run the social scene effortlessly.