chapter TWELVE.

Blair had caused a scene in a public place yet again, leaving Serena all alone at the table for everyone to gawk at and gossip about. "What do you think happened between them?" asked one onlooker curiously, leaning over the table to whisper into her husband's ear. "Wasn't that Blair Waldorf who just left?" one classmate asked another, from clear across the restaurant. "I heard Blair had sex with, like, every member of Avenged Sevenfold. And now she's pregnant and no one knows who the father is." "No, silly, that's old news. Serena and Blair are both pregnant and they're moving to California to raise their children. Together. They're lesbians." "Well I think they just went through one nasty break up!"

Serena was used to this sort of thing by now - having rumors fly all around, centered mostly on her - so it came quite naturally, dodging gossip and remaining composed.

Instead of grabbing a bagette off the table and throwing it across the room at someone - someone who'd no doubt just told her sister that Serena and Blair were frenemies and had only become close so that they could steal eachother's boyfriends - which she really felt like doing, she picked up her Hermes Birkin bag, slid it onto her shoulder, and followed Blair to the back of the restaurant, where the bathrooms were located.

Stepping inside the women's restroom and locking the door as she went, Serena's ears were filled almost immediately with the sound of a loud, flushing toilet. One of the stalls banged open and out stepped Blair, wiping her mouth primly and making her way over to the sink. She gazed at her reflection in the mirror and then switched over to gazing at Serena's reflection. "I'm fine," she assured the girl in a hoarse tone, without even having to be asked.

Then she unzipped her handbag and pulled out a thin tube of travel toothpaste, an item she'd decided to keep with her 24/7 since she'd picked up this nasty little habit. Squeezing some onto her index finger, Blair began scrubbing away, erasing all evidence that she'd thrown up at all.

"I don't believe you."

Blair spit into the sink and turned to face Serena. "What?"

"I said I don't believe you. You're not 'fine', Blair. You haven't been fine since. . . Well, ever."

Blair washed her mouth out with the sink's water, placed the cap on the tube of mini-toothpaste, and slid it back into her bag. "I really don't think you're in the position to judge anyone, Serena, so if you could kindly shut the hell up? That'd be great."

Serena's eyes narrowed and Blair's lips twisted into a tiny, satisfied grin. She'd struck a nerve.

"What is your problem, anyway?" demanded Serena, crossing her arms. She'd let Blair get the best of her once, but she wasn't going to make that mistake again. She knew that the only way to talk any sense into her friend was to remain unfazed.

"'What's my problem'?! I liked him, Serena! And you knew that!"

"Well it's not my fault - and besides, you're the one liking a different guy every thirty seconds. 'I like Nate, no wait I like Chuck, but then again I like Nate'! It gets pretty hard to keep up with you, B!"

Blair wasn't smiling at all, anymore. Rather, she was sneering. Her back remained turned against Serena, but the two girls could see eachother's reflection in the oversize mirror.

"Well I'm sorry my life isn't perfect like yours is, Serena! I can't just bump into someone on the street and have them magically fall in love with me!" The blonde opened her mouth to respond but Blair continued, cutting her off: "And did it ever cross your mind that I wanted to see how things turned out with that waitor guy so that maybe I'd get some distraction away from the dissapointment that is my life and start to move on for once?!"

"Well I'm sorry that he felt something for me instead, B, really. It's not like I planned it."

"Oh, no. Because you never plan anything, Serena. Things just happen for you; your life just falls into place no matter where you live or who you're with!" Once again, Serena opened her mouth to say something but Blair kept on going. Someone outside was trying to gain access to the bathroom but since the lock was turned they would have no such luck - they'd simply have to wait. "And you you know what? It's not even about that guy anymore!"

Serena squared her shoulders. "Really? Then what's it about?"

"It's about you having to take everything from me! You see, Serena, some people actually work hard in their lives! There's this little thing called a goal. It's what people set when they want to achieve something. And no matter how hard I work or how many goals I set or how much crap I have to go through, I never get what I want - and you? You just get everything handed to you on a freaking platter!"

Both girls had tears in their eyes now, but Serena said nothing to defend herself.

Blair kept going, her words much softer now, partly because she was crying and partly because her throat hurt. "You see, S? It's exactly like I said: things are just different for the Serena van der Woodsens of the world. And at the end of the day, no matter what I do to try and change the status quo, when I stand next to you I'll always be the shorter one, the fatter one, the uglier one. . ."

She zipped up her purse and threw it over her shoulder, unlocking the door and pulling it open. The person who had been trying to get in was already gone, probably in the men's room by now. Blair stepped out into the hall and just as she was about to shut the door behind her, she said: "So you know what? You can have your perfect world and your perfect life. As long as you promise to stay out of mine."