Intoxicated.

Blair entered the kitchen to get herself a cup of tea when she spotted Harry by the coffee maker, handling two cups with marshmallows filled to the brim. She thought of greeting him with a smile but since their last encounter, everything was awkward so she frowned instead and sat on the stool in front of the kitchen island.

“I think I need to explain myself” Blair whispered as she toyed with the belt of her bathrobe.
Harry eyed her intensely, his green orbs becoming more darker as he urged her on.

“What I said earlier…”

“It never happened,” Harry cut Blair,”What happened between you and Collin is none of my concern”

Blair looked at him with questioning eyes, as if to say, why did you. She wanted to say it but her lips remained shut. Harry took a deep breath and exhaled, an imaginary puff of cigarette smoke.

“I think I’m getting lost in it,” Harry said.

Blair narrowed her eyes and her face quickly turned into a scowl, like a shield, “What do you mean?”

“I think I want out, for good.”

“That’s not how this works Harry,” Blair spat.

“I know, but I’m lying to Louis, to Claire! I don’t know if…”Harry took another inhale when his voice risen, “If I can keep up”

Blair bit her lip out of frustration and curled her hand into a fist.

“What are you saying?” she looked down, “Are you falling for her?”

“She makes me happy, the happiest I never even thought I could be”Harry admitted and looked away from Blair.

“Don’t you get tired of being lonely Blair? Don’t you get tired of living these pretentious lives?”

Blair laughed mockingly at him and kept a grin on her face, “Bullshit. Don’t try turning this around Harry, you and I have been playing this game from the very beginning”

“Blair”

“That girl shows up and suddenly you’re a different person?” Blair scoffed, “Either you end it that way it was planned, or I will”

“Is that a threat?” Harry scoffed.

“Take it however you want, but if you quit now there’s no point in stopping myself from telling her”Blair smiled, standing up from the chair and left Harry alone in the middle of the ship’s kitchen.

“Goodnight,” She muttered and got in the elevator, forgetting the cup of tea she was supposed to make.

//

The ship reached the Bahamas which meant it was the last day of their trip, no one left the boat to roam around or dive into the cerulean blue waters. Everyone was doing their own thing. Kate, Chloe, and Selena went to the spa to get massages, Louis, Peyton, and Blair sunbathed on the first deck with Tara and Max, the rest of the boys went to play pool at the game room. While Harry and Claire stayed indoors.

Harry was seated on the sofa playing with his 35mm camera and pointed it towards Claire, who was holding a sketchbook, drawing the view from her open balcony. Harry studied her soft skin, the way it blushes when the light captures it, her kind eyes matching her kind smile. She never looked her genuine self unless she holding a paintbrush or a pencil.

Harry smiled and clicked the button on his camera, capturing Claire’s serene look as she stared out the wide open space in front of her.

“You’re wasting film,” She sang, Harry laughed and sat on the armrest of the chair she was sitting on.

“What? I like the view”Harry grinned, “a lot”.

“Now you’re just flirting” Claire swatted his thigh away so she could draw better but Harry didn’t budge.

“Have you ever thought of running away?” Harry asked out of the blue.

Claire cocked her eyebrow and immediately looked at Harry with a confused look on her face, then she shook her head no.

“Why?”

“Sometimes I wonder what it would be like to leave all of this, just get away, go somewhere no one will ever find you,” Harry said, choosing his words carefully.

“Why would you want to leave this?” Claire scoffed, thinking Harry was just being ridiculous and that he sounded like a snobby rich kid who’s whining.

“It’s all luxury, yeah, but sometimes the bigger it gets the more substance it loses” Harry stood up and played with his fingernails, pacing back forth on the Persian rug.

“Is it really that bad?”

“No, I’m not going to be a hypocrite and say that I don’t like it, because I do. I grew up with all of this” Harry let out a nervous laugh, “But sometimes I wonder, until when will I enjoy it? Material things, they all crash and burn”

Claire placed her sketchbook down and walked slowly towards Harry. When she met his gaze, she reached out to his cheek and placed her palm on it, caressing back and forth with her thumb.

“You have me now, do you think you’ll lose me too?” Claire asked she hesitated because she might not like his answer, but she wanted to know even if it might hurt her. Because deep down she knows it will.

“Knowing me?”Harry laughed, a small Ha!, “At some point, I will, but I’d like to think you’ll stick around even just for a little while”

“I’m bad a keeping promises, but I want you to know that I won’t,” Claire said truthfully.
Harry looked at her with pity and kissed her forehead, “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves, let’s just enjoy what we have now until you break your promise”

“Wow, I think you’re bleeding your heart out now mister” Claire playfully poked Harry’s side as he engulfed her in a big hug.

“I told you I liked you from day one” Harry argued and hugged her tightly.

“I like how you said it this time, it’s not direct but I know it’s sincere” Claire laughed on his chest, Harry felt a tug on his heart.

“I like you, Claire Lyon, I like you a lot”

Claire looked up to find Harry already staring, she felt him lean in and she closed her eyes. His soft lips hugging hers in a short second. They stood there hoping that this would be their promise, and not a temporary material thing that will crash and burn.

Claire hugged Harry tightly after she pulled away, Harry caressed her hair as he thought of the million sorry’s he should be saying, but only one apology remained in his head. I’m sorry for liking you a lot, I’m sorry I had to hurt you for me to be able to keep you. His lips remained sealed as he engulfed her in a tighter embrace, kissing the top of her head.

Later that afternoon Claire went for a swim with Peyton, Blair soon joined them with Louis following behind.

“Hey” Peyton greeted them with a smile, the returned the gesture and stripped down to their bathing suits.

Blair sat on the edge of the pool while Louis dived right in, her toes playing with the cool water. She sighed and looked around the sunny area.

“Won’t you guys miss this?” Blair smiled at Peyton and Claire who was already looking at her.
“It’s so beautiful, so peaceful..”

“Yeah, I wish I could live here” Peyton gushed, Louis poked out of the water and startled her. She swatted him with the back of her hand and laughed.

“You want to?” Louis wriggled his eyebrows suggestively, earning another whack from Peyton.

“Not what I meant!” Blair and Claire laughed at the two

Claire looked around her surroundings just like Blair did, then her eyes landed on Blair playing with water. Claire studied her for a while and thought, how can someone be so beautiful yet so sad? Every time she sees Blair there’s always a dark cloud following her, Claire noticed how she wears a mask like a pro. Concealing every overpowering emotion she could.

Claire’s thoughts retracted back to what Harry said earlier in her suite. He longed to get away from everything, Claire wondered if he ever had the same conversation with Blair. The two of them fit together like mold, Claire couldn’t help but feel insecure whenever she would witness small things that make up their relationship. She would have thoughts that she’d never have when associated with other guys, but what Chloe said to her was finally coming to light. She will forever be in competition with Blair, no matter what Harry says, her mind will always betray her.

“Have you ever thought about running away Blair?” Claire asked, her eyes widening with curiosity.

Blair looked up from the water, propping her right knee up to rest her chin on as she hugged her calves. Blair thought for a while and smiled.

“I have, and I did. Two years ago…” Blair admitted

“What happened? If it’s okay to ask” Claire carefully spoke, and Blair nodded slowly.

“We don’t want to intrude your, er, bonding moment? but we’re going to get lemonade” Louis spoke, already out of the pool and had his arm around Peyton’s shoulder who was smiling at the two girls left at the pool.

“Bring back some for us?” Blair smiled

"Okay!” Peyton and Louis chorused.

Blaire turned back to Claire and sighed, “It was only months after my dad got arrested, I was so lost….”

Claire propped herself up and sat beside Blair, her eyes never leaving Blair.

“And then I met Collin while boarding a train to go to Italy, he showed me a lot of things that made me realize there was so much more I could do. And I believed it for while but reality washed over me, I could never run away from myself”

“What do you mean?”

“I did something stupid-“

“Lemonade!!!!” Peyton stepped out of the room and into the sunlight holding two glasses of lemonade. She placed the glasses in the middle of Blair and Claire.

Louis called her to get back in to play air hockey and the game room, Peyton smiled as she looked at Blair and then Claire. She smiled, assuming that the two girls were bonding, they both thanked her and Peyton went back to inside.

“Are you asking me this because Harry asked you?” Blair wrapped her hands around the slip glass,” about running away?”

“Yeah” Claire breathed out, wondering how Blair concluded such a thing.

“Do you know the story of Romeo and Juliet?” Blair asked out of nowhere

Claire knitted her eyebrows together out of confusion and nodded yes.

“It started off with Romeo going to that Capulet party to find Rosaline and be with her, but he stumbled upon Juliet and forgot about her completely” Blair smiled but it came off as a sad one to Claire.

“Where are you going with this?” Claire asked.

“Everybody seems to forget about Rosaline, it’s quite sad, actually. When I look at Harry and me, I always picture myself as Rosaline and him as Romeo” Blair’s voice became short and cold, her eyes fluttered as sadness creep up to her.

“Why are you telling me this?” Claire frowned.

“Because I’m sad” Blair finally looked her in the eye, “Our story…. Closed so abruptly, without us barely opening it. We have to try hard to act like siblings because we can’t go against our parents getting married, its just matters in our life that we can’t be involved in. We were thought that way since we were little”

“Is that why you acted the way you did when we were in Barbados?”

“I was just being mean, I knew Harry liked to draw. I just couldn’t stand how much he’s showing you when it was supposed to be just me and Louis knowing about it” Blair confessed.

Claire took her glass of lemonade and noticed her fingers were shaking, she took a deep breath and then a sip.

“Don’t take what I said to heart, I just wanted to let you know. Besides, we agreed never to talk about our feelings ever again” Blair toyed with the water again, using her toes.

"I'm just glad he found someone first" Blair faked a smile

"You mean to say, he's only seeing me, to get over you?" Claire furrowed her eyebrows, her grip on the lemonade glass getting tighter, “How much do you exactly like each other?"

"So much that our parents should never find out," Blair said with a tear falling down her cheek.

Claire stood up biting her lip to prevent herself from crying, she grabbed a towel to wrap around herself and went inside the boat’s premises. She wanted to scream, she wanted to bang on Harry’s door and demand what his true feelings are. Claire felt exhausted, she wanted to bang her head on the wall for being so stupid. As she entered the elevator she sighed, thinking atlas she’s not yet six feet under, she only had some walls to repair.

All that was going through her head was how will she run away from Harry, how will she turn a 360 when she’s already falling for him. The elevator doors opened and she rushed to her suite, she opened the door and plopped down he bed crying. Claire thought of herself as an intruder, an outsider in someone else’s story. Blair was right, their story would’ve started if she hadn’t got in the picture, despite their parent’s marriage, Harry had feelings for Blair. It all made sense to Claire now, why he reacted that way towards Collin, why Harry would drop anything to rush over Blair whenever she needed him, how he would notice the little things Blair needed. It’s all because of his feelings for her.

Claire sobbed until she fell asleep, not even noticing the bouquet of flowers Harry left on her sitting area with a note saying, I’m happy I finally found you.

Back at the outdoor pool, Blair wiped the tear from her face, the corner of her lip turning upward as she took another sip of her lemonade. The sun kissing her but she didn’t mind, she had so many thoughts swirling in her head.

“I always get what I want…” She whispered to herself.

Next on Intoxicated

"What did you tell her?" Harry screamed as he pushed Blair onto the wall.

Blair laughed wickedly and held her hand up to trace Harry's jaw, "Why so angry, Romeo? It's not my fault she didn't understand what I meant"

"If I lose her because of what you did-"

"She's not yours, to begin with, Harold. She's a toy," Blair smiled, "Quit acting like her knight in shining armor, you're the devil that will give her the poison apple in this story"

Notes

HOLA MY BEAUTIFUL READERS!!!!!! DID YOU MISS READING THIS STORY?! I had a bit of a writer's block but IM BAAAAAAAACK.

I MISSED YOU GUYS SO MUCH! and 8k READS OMG!!!!! <3

SO It's a short chapter but I really want to shine a light on our TRIANGLE! A LITTLE SHAKESPEARE FORESHADOWING WOULDN'T HURT hehe. anywayyy it's really meant to be conversations between the three <3 I hope you liked it even if it's short.


Was listening to Waves by Dean Lewis while reading this, so listen to it too to get that MOOD going! :) I MISS YOU ALL, I said that already but I DID WTH. LOVE YOU GUYS AND AS ALWAYS TELL ME YOUR THOUGHTS!!!!!