Story Previews

Chapter 1

Blair sighed and bit her lip as she took a step away from the easel. She was about halfway done with her latest painting. She had finished the buildings, the road, the atmosphere, but she had yet to complete the main subject. A small smile grew on her face as she started putting her brushes and paints away.

“Maybe tomorrow, Spidey, work calls.” She said to herself before looking down when a quiet meow came from below her. Her black cat, Schmooples III, looked up at her with her bright green eyes.

“I already fed you, Schmoo, you can’t fool me.” Blair said with a roll of her eyes as she walked down the hallway of her apartment to her room. “You haven’t even finished the food I gave you.” She said with a scoff when she peeked inside the spare bedroom that was filled with Schmoo’s things.

Schmooples meowed again as she hurried after Blair, the bell on her collar clinging softly. Blair sighed as she glanced into her messy closet and quickly pulled out the least wrinkled skirt and blouse she could find.

“I thought I told you to remind me to iron.” She said with a teasing tone as she looked at Schmoo laying on her bed. She was in full belief if Schmoo could be raising her eyebrow like a person she would be.

Blair hurried into the kitchen after she quickly got dressed and fixed her dark brown hair and her makeup. She placed a coffee mug in the Keurig before looking for something to eat on the way to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. She rolled her eyes when all she could find was a bagel that she proceeded to pop into the toaster.

She leaned against the counter as she watched Schmoo rub against her legs. The good thing about having a black cat was that people couldn’t tell when they had rubbed all over your stockings. She chuckled as she leaned down to scratch the feline behind her ear and nearly jumped when the toaster dinged.

“Alright, Schmoo, you be good! Don’t you dare get into my paints again.” Blair said as she gave the black cat a pointed look and Schmoo meowed in return. She quickly grabbed her light coat and put on her closed toe wedges.

…

Blair held onto her coffee mug tightly, her wedges clacking against the floor, as she entered the museum. She smiled at some of the regular customers and waved at Lizzy, one of the few coworkers she actually enjoyed talking to.

“Hey, Phil.” She said with a polite smile as she walked towards the elderly man. He had his usual glare on his face as his eyes narrowed on a pair of kids. Blair refrained from rolling her eyes at the sight.

“Miss Hain.” He said as he turned towards her and her smile became weak as his glare turned to her. “Who closed this museum last night?” His tone was short and snippy.

“It was me, sir.” She said with sigh. She knew she should have put those chairs away last night, but they were all the way on the fifth floor in the modern art section and her feet hurt.

“How many times have I told you lazy brats that everything gets put away for the night!” He snapped and Blair had to stop herself from biting her lip lest she get her dark lipstick on her teeth and further embarrass herself.

“I’m very sorry, Phil, it will not happen again.” She said politely as she prayed to avoid one of his lectures this early in the morning, but she should have known better.

“Do you know why we put away the chairs?” He asked as he crossed his arms and gave her quite the grumpy look.

“Er, the guards…sir?” She asked, her tone more questioning than it probably should have been.

“Yes, the guards, Hain!” He snapped as he rolled his eyes. “When the museum closes down, what happens?”

“What?” She asked in surprise, her eyebrows raised that her lecture had now become almost childish. Man, he must have really woken up on the wrong side of the bed this morning. She thought to herself as she hesitated.

“Well?” He asked and she glanced around the giant entrance of the museum. She caught eyes with Lizzy, who was smiling at entering customers, and sent her a desperate look of help. “C’mon, Hain, do not tell me one of my best curators is this stupid.”

“It gets…dark, sir?” She took a shot in the dark, pun intended, and smiled hopefully at the grouchy old man.

“And what happens when it gets dark?” He asked and his tone sounded as if he was talking to a five year old.

“It’s hard to see.” She said with a bit more confidence now that she understood exactly what was going on.

“Exactly!” He snapped loudly and she flinched at the sudden volume. “And you know what happens when it’s hard to see? Idiot guards trip and fall! If one of those bumbling idiots ruins a piece do you know how much that would cost us?! Thousands, no millions, of dollars! Are you paying for that? The museum certainly won’t be!”

“I’m so sorry, Phil, I swear…” His huff cut off her words as his glare deepened.

“Mr. Warrant!” Blair held back her sigh of relief as she heard Lizzy’s voice as the taller woman quickly approached the pair.

“What?” He asked and Lizzy smiled pleasantly at him. Lizzy had been working at the Metro Museum for far longer than Blair and had better experience dealing with Phil then Blair suspected she herself could ever have.

“Sir, I’m very sorry to interrupt.” Lizzy started as her pleasant façade remained. “But a customer is asking specifically for Blair.”

“Oh, really? And does this ‘customer’ have a pass?” He asked skeptically and Blair nearly blushed when she looked to see who Phil was narrowing his eyes at. Peter was standing there with his usual cute smile and he awkwardly waved at us when he saw us staring.

“Well of course he does!” Lizzy said cheerfully, but Phil’s suspicion didn’t waver. “Surely we don’t want to upset a customer, Mr. Warrant?” Her tone was innocent enough and Blair could see that the old man was about ready to blow a gasket. Just then his walkie talkie went off and he sighed.

“Fine.” He said with a tight jaw and Blair smiled. “Don’t think I forgot about you, Miss Hain. We will have words later.”

“Of course, Phil!” Blair said cheerfully and he huffed.

“And it’s Mr. Warrant!” He snapped before marching off and Blair had to cover her mouth to hide her giggle.

“I don’t know how you haven’t caused that man to blow up yet.” Lizzy said with a giggle of her own as they turned away from him. “Soooo.”

“What?” Blair asked and blushed slightly when she saw her friend’s eyes swivel over to Peter. “Oh, c’mon, you and I both know he’s just a friend.”

“Then what is he doing here? At an art museum?” Lizzy asked with her brow raised and Blair shrugged. Peter had come here a few times before and would say hello when they ran into each other. Lizzy caught them talking one time and demanded answers.

“Beats me.” She shrugged. “Maybe science boy has an art question for once.”

“Or maybe a different kind of question.” Lizzy said in a sing song voice as she began to walk away and Blair blushed again.

“Don’t be stupid!” She called out and Lizzy merely winked before she walked back to her spot. Blair let out a sigh before turning towards Peter again. She gave him a smile and wave as she started walking towards him.

“Hey there, Blair.” He said with a smile and she hugged him tightly when she reached him.

“Peter! What brings you over here?” She asked cheerfully as she pulled away from him. He shrugged with a sheepish look and she raised her brow.

“I may or may not have been walking by and heard your boss.” He said and she looked at him with surprise.

“You heard that? From outside?” She asked, her eyes narrowing in suspicion and he shrugged again before pointing towards the doors.

“They’ve been opened today.” He said and Blair turned as she felt the breeze from outside blow past her.

“He was seriously that loud?” She asked with a sigh as she rubbed her forehead and he frowned.

“Uh, yeah. He sounded pretty nasty, are you alright?” She felt a light blush grow on her cheeks as she saw the concerned look in his eyes and she shrugged.

“Oh, that’s nothing new with Mr. Warrant, he’s always like that.” She said with a smile as she hoped that Peter didn’t notice the red in her cheeks.

“What was he yelling about anyways?” He asked and she shrugged.

“I was too lazy last night to pick up some chairs on the fifth floor, my feet had been hurting honestly.” She said and started to chuckle when he gave her a shocked look.

“He was that upset about a few left out chairs?!” He asked and she nodded.

“Oh, he finds something new to be angry about every day.” She said with a small smile when Peter shook his head.

“I suppose that means I gotta bail you out everyday now, huh?” He asked teasingly and she lightly smacked his shoulder.

“It’s not always me, thank you very much!” She huffed as she crossed her arms and he smiled.

“Whatever you say.” He said mischievously as he started waking and she quickly caught up to him.

“So, how have you been Peter?” Blair asked with a small smile and he shrugged as he casually glanced around at the art.

“I’ve uh, been pretty good I guess.” He said nonchalantly and Blair raised her brow.

“Just pretty good? Peter…” She began, but he flashed her a smile.

“You know I saw MJ the other day.” He blurted out and she paused for a moment.

“Oh, you did?” She paused for a moment before she continued to follow him. She felt a small pang in her chest at the thought of his ex.

She remembered the night that he came to her apartment, sopping wet and probably the most upset she had ever seen him. That was the night MJ had broken up with him. Blair had never really gotten the full explanation of what happened, but she didn’t really care to as long as he was happy again.

“Yeah.” He said with a sigh and she stared at him for a moment when he didn’t say anything else.

“Well, how did it go?” She prompted and he shrugged.

“Well, I guess, I don’t know. I ran into her while she was getting into her usual trouble.” He said and she narrowed her eyes at him. She knew he was leaving something out, she just wasn’t quite sure what it was.

“You are terrible at changing the subject, by the way. I’ve know you since college and you still are terrible at that.” She said with a small smirk and he placed his hand on his chest, a hurt expression on his face.

“You’ve known this since college and you never told me?!” She laughed at his sarcastic tone as she grinned at him. She thought it was best to just let the whole thing go, if he wanted to tell her about it he would.

That’s how it always was, she was his friend and she was always there for him when he needed it. Sure, she may have had the tiniest of crushes on him, but he was with MJ when she met him and he never showed interest after. So she accepted the fate of being just the friend and she was fine with it…most days.

“What about you? Well, besides…” He vaguely gestured towards the entrance and she shrugged.

“You know me, same old, same old.” She said and he raised his brow.

“Really? Nothing new?” He asked with slight disbelief and she shrugged again.

“Sorry, sweetie, I know I’m your one normal, boring friend.” She said and he let out a small laugh.

“No, that’s not it! I uh…it’s nice that’s all.” He said and Blair was surprised to see the shy smile on his face. “I don’t know, somedays it feels like I never get a moment to just sit down and…”

“Relax?” Blair offered and he nodded. She wasn’t surprised, even in college he could have replaced the energizer bunny and no one would have noticed. “Well, my door is always open, you know that.”

“And get paint paw prints all over my shirt again?” He teased and started chuckling when Blair’s face became bright red.

“You know I’m really sorry about that! Schmoo was just being a brat that day!” She defended and Peter’s grin only grew.

“I know, I know, you wouldn’t give it back to me until every spot was gone.” He said with his hands raised.

“Well, what else could I do? She ruined your shirt!” Blair pouted and Peter let out another laugh before he pulled her into a one-armed hug.

“I’ve missed you, Blair.” He said and she grinned up at him.

“I missed yah too, buddy, I’m glad you stopped by.” She said and he couldn’t help teasing her one more time.

“Well I can’t help myself, yah know, gotta always save the damsel in distress.” She sighed and rolled her eyes, but her grin never left her face.