Page 57 of Falling Together

Blair didn’t realize how much she had missed Nolan these past few hours until she heard his sweet little voice. She jumped out of bed to run to the door and greet him. “Coming, buddy!”

As soon as she opened the door, Nolan jumped into her arms. “Bear! I missed you.”

Blair chuckled and held him tightly. “I missed you too.”

“Did you have a good time?” Erin asked as she walked up behind Blair and Nolan and placed a hand on Blair’s shoulder.

“I had the best time!” Nolan wiggled out of Blair’s arms and jumped into his mom’s arms. “We went onso manyrides.”

“That’s amazing.” Blair focused her attention on Marisol and Damien, who were still standing in the doorway. “I can’t thank you two enough for doing that for us.”

Marisol crinkled her eyebrows as she stared at Blair, studying her face as if she was looking for the answer to a question she hadn’t asked. “Didyou twohave fun?” She looked between Blair and Erin. Blair could hardly stand still under the heat of her stare.

“We had a really nice time,” Erin answered before Blair could. “It was very refreshing.”

“Refreshing. Huh.” Marisol nodded and looked at Blair. “Can we talk out here really quick?” She now moved her gaze to Erin. “Just a quick bestie chat. I won’t keep her for long, I promise.”

Erin waved a hand at them. “Take your time. After keeping my son entertained these past few hours, the least I can do is give you a few minutes with your best friend.”

Blair nodded and followed Marisol out into the hallway. Marisol took a few dollar bills out of her pocket and handed them to Damien. “Sweetie, could you go get me a soda from the vending machine?

“You got it.” Damien snatched the money from her and walked down the hall.

Marisol watched him retreat, and as soon as he was out of view, she turned on her heels to stare at Blair. She crossed her arms over her chest and lifted one eyebrow. “I thought you said this wasn’t a date.”

“It… it wasn’t.”

“Oh yeah?” Marisol smirked. “If it wasn’t a date, why did you have sex with her?”

“I didn’t ha—” Blair sighed. There was no sense in lying to her best friend. She clearly already knew the truth. “How do you know we had sex?”

Marisol laughed and clapped her hands together. “We’ve been best friends forever. It’s writtenall overyour face.”

Blair shrugged. “It just kind of happened, I guess.”

“You justhappenedto take her clothes off and give her an orgasm?” Marisol asked sarcastically.

“Technically, all she was wearing at the time was a towel. And also, there wasn’t justoneorgasm.” Blair smiled proudly as she thought about Erin’s face as she fell apart beneath her.God, that woman is sexy.

“So, what does this mean?” Marisol asked. “Are you two, like, together?”

Blair shook her head. “It’s not like that.”Even if I really wish it was.

Marisol wiggled her eyebrows, clearly ready for some hot gossip Blair wasn’t able to give her. “So, this was just a hot babysitter hook up?”

Blair cringed. She hated the beautiful thing that had happened between them being equated to a random hook up. “No, it was definitely more than that.”

“Okay.” Marisol moved her hand in a go on motion, prompting Blair to tell her more. “You’re really slacking on the details here.”

Blair sighed. Clearly Marisol wasn’t going to let her get away with giving the bare minimum. “I want this to be more, but Erin isn’t ready. She’s been burned by multiple people in the past, and she’s worried I’m going to do the same.”

Marisol’s eyes went wide as she softened her tone a bit. “I mean I can’t say I blame her there.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Blair didn’t mean to get defensive, but if her own best friend wasn’t on her side, who would be?

Marisol shrugged. “You know I love you more than anything in the world, Blair, but you went from never dating to suddenly wanting to date someone with achild. I can’t help but wonder if you’ve really thought this through, or if you’re just being impulsive. Youdohave a tendency of doing that.”

She wasn’t wrong. Blair often had the tendency to jump into decisions without thinking them through. But this was different.Right?Shit. Now, Blair was questioning herself too. If both Erin and Marisol thought she wasn’t ready to take this on, there must be some validity to it. Blair didn’t want to admit that though, so she crossed her arms over her chest. “I’m going to prove you wrong. Both of you.”

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