Filed to story: Once Upon a One Night Mistake Book PDF Free by Simone Shirazi
“What’re you watching?” Taliana asked, an attempt to break the awkward silence filling the room.
Blair tilted her head to the side as she stared up at Daniel Craig on the TV screen. “Casino Royale . I can’t really bring myself to pay much attention to it, though.”
Taliana made a sound of assent. “It’s been a long day.”
“That’s the understatement of the century,” Blair mumbled, reaching up to run a hand through her hair. “I shouldn’t be here. I’m getting my head examined when I get home, because agreeing to come was probably the dumbest decision I could’ve made.”
“It’s not dumb,” Taliana scolded, but could certainly see why she felt that way. If it had been the other way around, Taliana wasn’t sure she would’ve agreed to go anywhere willingly with Blair. “Of course you should be here, these guys used to be your friends.”
Blair slid her a look. “Exactly. Used to be. We’re not friends anymore. Not to mention you and I definitely aren’t friends.”
Taliana shrugged. “Like I said, I’m turning over a new leaf.”
“If you expect me to believe that, you’re dumber than I thought, Avilla.”
This time, it was hard to ignore the insult, but just as she moved to say something, Blair continued.
“But I know why I’m here.” The girl sighed, pushing the blanket from her shoulders. “Even if you don’t. And it’s not about friendship.”
“Oh?” Taliana lifted a brow expectantly, trying to gauge where this conversation was headed.
“You want an explanation. You want to know why I did what I did.”
Taliana opened her mouth to retort but soon realized, well, that was exactly what she wanted. Hell, it was the main reason she’d called out to Blair and invited her to come with them, even if she hadn’t known it at the time. She may have been leaving this stage of her life, but it didn’t mean she wanted to walk away without answers.
“I don’t expect you to-” she began, cheeks suddenly warm, but Blair was quick to interrupt again.
“No,” Blair said firmly as she rose from the couch. “I want to. I need to. But the only way it’s going to happen is if we have a drink.” She was standing in front of the corner bar a moment later, motioning to their options. “Pick your poison.”
A smile quirked up the corner of Taliana’s mouth. “Whiskey sounds suitable for a heart to heart.”
Soon the two girls were settled back on the couch, each with a tumbler of whiskey and the rest of the bottle sitting in wait on the coffee table in front of them.
There was a moment of brief, overwhelming awkwardness-after all, Taliana had never expected to find herself sitting alone in a room with the girl whom she’d once considered an enemy-but when Blair tipped her glass against Taliana’s and offered a smirk, it was quick to dissipate.
“So, what do you want to know?” Blair asked, seeming almost bored.
But Taliana could see straight through it; Blair was nervous. “Should we just start from the beginning?”
The gray-eyed girl lifted and lowered a delicate shoulder. “If that’s what you want.”
Then here we go…
“Why did you cheat on Sebastian?”
While Taliana had expected the question to possibly catch her off-guard, Blair seemed to have been more than expecting it.
“I didn’t,” she said on an exhale. “At least, not exactly.”
“What the hell does? not exactly mean?” Taliana found herself spluttering and had to take a large sip of whiskey to ward off the impending embarrassment that came with the outburst.
Blair simply stared at her for a few long moments, as if trying to decide whether or not to continue. “You’ve met William, right?” she finally asked.
Although her brow furrowed, Taliana nodded. “Yeah, of course. Why?”
“Then you probably know he rarely takes ‘no’ for an answer,” Blair murmured, refusing to meet Taliana’s gaze. “He completely disregarded mine.”
Taliana froze, Blair’s words beginning to dawn on her.
“Blair, did William…” She trailed off, unsure of how to phrase it without sounding completely insensitive. “Did he-“
“Almost,” she interrupted. “If Sebastian hadn’t picked that moment to walk into William’s room… Well, that’s not a thought I like to dwell on.”
“Jesus,” Taliana breathed out, slightly relieved by the answer but still pained by this new revelation. She may have disliked Blair, but she didn’t wish that sort of fear or abuse on anyone. “But honestly, I don’t think anyone would consider what William did to you to be cheating. That wasn’t your fault.”
“Of course not.” Blair shook her head, pausing for a moment as she took a sip of her drink. “But when I say I didn’t exactly cheat on Sebastian, I mean that I was a little friendly with William. But it was innocent, you know? We just talked sometimes, usually about Seb, and I couldn’t believe this cool, college guy was paying attention to me. So when he kissed me that day, I was so surprised by it that I just sort of…let him do it. But I immediately knew that wasn’t what I wanted, that I didn’t want to ruin things between me and Sebastian. I tried to push William away, but he wouldn’t stop. What Seb walked in on, what he saw-” She twisted her lips to the side, knee bouncing up and down twice. “It was enough to make him automatically think the worst of me, and I was too ashamed to correct him.”
Taliana ran a finger along the edge of her glass, still shocked by the revelation. Never in a million years would she have thought Blair’s answer would be this heavy. “I’m not blaming you or anything, but why were you hanging around William in the first place?”
“I wasn’t, really. He was always near us-near? me
-and that day he was even more persistent than usual. He caught me alone when I was at their house waiting for Seb to get back from lacrosse practice. I thought he just wanted to talk, like we usually did.” She squirmed, clearly uncomfortable with reliving the memory. “But he wanted more than that.”
Taliana had to try hard to keep from shuddering. William was clearly a monster, and no one else seemed to realize that. “And you never told Seb what really happened?”
“Why would I have?” she asked boldly, as if daring Taliana to judge her for it. “He didn’t want to hear me out when I tried to explain. It was just easier to let him believe what he thought he saw. Besides, I wasn’t even happy in our relationship anymore.”
“You weren’t?”
“It wasn’t that I was unhappy with Seb himself,” Blair explained. “I was just fed up with every other person who acted like they could control our relationship.”
Taliana grimaced. “Like your father?”
“My father, Seb’s father… It was like all they cared about was business, not the fact that they were dealing with two real people with very real feelings. And my feelings for Sebastian just weren’t strong enough to deal with all of that.”
Although she nodded as if she understood Blair’s reasoning, Taliana couldn’t say she did just yet. Maybe one day she would-or hell, maybe that day would never come-but for now she didn’t mind settling for the answers she’d been given. They were more than she’d ever expected to get.