Disclaimer: I don't own Gossip Girl.
A/N-This was written for Melanie (and Emily and Sunshine, though they'll never read this), for being awesome friends to me, even though this went in the complete opposite direction than what you wanted me to write, I honestly have no clue where this came from. I hope everyone enjoys this, feedback is always appreciated!
Often times, Blair would think back to the times after Serena left her alone, when she was stuck with her minions who couldn't compare, and when she had only Nate and Chuck, really. She would always feel so alone, so alone despite the fact that she was usually surrounded by people. Most of the time, when she thought about those times, she wouldn't miss that. Even though she would never quite see eye to eye with Serena, she loved having her best friend back with her, Nate, and Chuck.
Now, though, as she watched Serena prepare to walk on the stage of Victrola, she missed the times when Serena was gone.
"S, you can't go up there," she hissed, tugging on her friend's sleeve.
Serena tore her arm away from Blair, continuing towards the stage, people cheering her on in the background. Blair cringed as she realized that her friend intended to dance, which was never good, because despite the lessons that Lily had paid for, Serena had never really gained much grace.
The blond had successfully made it on top of the stage and Blair shook her head, taking a seat, drink in hand. It would just be easier to watch then try to interfere with Serena.
They had been out for the whole night, Serena's idea as a way to celebrate…absolutely nothing actually. Serena had mentioned celebrating something but never quite elaborated on what. Blair had absolutely no clue that this celebration included dancing and--oh, look, removing clothes on stage--though and she felt that if she had known, she probably wouldn't have tagged along.
She was repressing from her mind that she had done the exact same thing a little over a year ago. She liked to pretend that had never happened.
And really, she couldn't even quite figure out why Serena was even doing that, considering she had barely drunk anything.
"Why don't you go and join her?"
She glared at Chuck as he approached her, smirk gracing his face. She didn't say anything, just turned her attention back to the blond on the bar, who was dancing (though not very well, Blair noted, as she had expected).
Nate was now standing next to Chuck, nodding his head as he watched Serena dance. "Yea, Blair, why don't you go up there?"
She turned her glare towards him now, refraining from saying anything. She had promised Serena that she would be nice to the both of them for the night, though Blair wasn't even sure why they had been invited. Apparently, Serena was quite nostalgic as of late, which made her want the four of them to hang out, despite the history between everyone. Serena claimed that since it was their senior year, it was the time to do all of these things that they used to do.
Blair had been searching through her brain the whole night, trying to figure out when they had danced on stage together.
She hadn't found an answer yet.
"Live a little, Blair," Nate remarked.
"No. I refuse to take part in the craziness that Serena has started," Blair stated, waving her hand. "I'll just sit here and watch her make a fool of herself. See? It is just what she Serena wanted; it's just like old times."
"Well, that was then. This is now," Nate replied.
"And you and I both know that you have moves," Chuck commented. He was challenging her to go up there, waiting to see what her response to this was.
She promptly kicked his shin.
"What the hell, Waldorf?"
"Just trying to make things like old times," she smiled at him.
"And that means kicking me?"
"Yes."
"Why don't we get Serena and go grab something to eat?" Nate suggested, trying to avoid any mishaps between the two. That was the job that Serena had given him for the night and it was really a trying job. He was trying to keep the two apart to make things easier, but that was like keeping a lion away from its prey. It was more difficult than he could have imagined.
But Serena wanted this night to be fun because she claimed that they never did anything together anymore. Which was true. Watching Chuck and Blair though, he really didn't mind that too much. They were giving him a headache.
"No."
For a moment Nate thought that she was talking to Chuck when he realized it was him she was talking to. "What? You don't want to go get something to eat?"
Blair had already stomped away from them. "Where are you going?" Nate looked over at Chuck. "Where's she going?"
Chuck's smirk grew wider. "She's going to dance."
All right, so she had given in to the dancing on stage thing, but really that was only because Chuck had challenged her and she could never really pass up a good challenge. She gave him a repeat performance of what she had done on stage that night. She would not be giving him a repeat performance of what happened after, no matter how many times he insinuated that it should happen.
Blair drummed her fingers against the table, waiting impatiently for Nate to come back with their drinks. Serena was laughing at something some guy at the next table had said to her and Chuck was staring at her in his creepy but sexy way, making her squirm.
"Here you go." Nate placed a drink down on the table, some of the liquid sloshing over the glass. "Whoops."
She took the drink, sipping it as she met Chuck's gaze. She felt like kicking him in the shin just for the heck of it, because the way he was looking at her was starting to make her feel a little uncomfortable.
"Serena, this was a great idea," Chuck stated, still holding eye contact with Blair, "all of us going out together again. Just like old times."
"See, it was a good idea! I told you, B."
"I never said that I didn't want this to happen."
"You did," Serena nodded.
"Whatever."
The four sat in silence, all sipping their drinks. Serena was the first to break the silence and proved that she was obviously the one who had drunk the most of them all.
"I think that we should make an invention."
"What could we possibly invent?" Blair questioned.
"Leg coats."
The three all tried to hold in their laughter as she looked at them, confused by their reactions.
"What? It's a good idea," she stated. "Leg coats. I mean, they have coats for your bodies, so why not leg coats?"
Blair laughed. "S, sweetie, those are called pants."
"No. These would be different."
"And I suppose that we could invent butt coats too, instead of underwear?" Blair replied sarcastically.
Serena's face lit up. "Now you're getting the idea!"
"Yes, perhaps your mother is looking to design a new article of clothing, Blair," Chuck remarked.
Blair just sighed. This is exactly why this night had been a bad idea. Stupid things like the possibility of leg coats were coming into play and then there was the fact that she kept making eye contact with Chuck—unintentionally of course.
"I think leg coats are a great idea," Nate spoke up.
Blair just rolled her eyes. This was getting ridiculous. Leg coats? Really. She couldn't believe the things that her friends were inventing. The two were now holding a legitimate—and drunk—conversation about asking her mother to design leg coats.
"See, Blair, just like old times. We have to listen to their crazy drunken schemes."
"They were never this ridiculous. And you were always in on them too," Blair replied. "Need I remind you of the limo hijacking incident when we sophomores?"
"We were young then," Chuck replied, then looked over at Serena and Nate, who were talking rapidly about the styles of leg coats that could be developed. "So, what are the plans with these leg coats?"
Blair rolled her eyes. "I refused to take part in any of these before and I refuse to take part in them now."
Two hours and several drinks later, Blair was standing on the street corner, handing out fliers made out of napkins advertising Eleanor Waldorf's new design of leg coats.
She looked at one of the fliers and realized that Nate had misspelled coats. She rolled her eyes. He was officially off the marketing campaign if he couldn't even spell coats correctly.
"See, Waldorf, this is fun," Chuck said.
"Oh, yes. Handing out fliers advertising 'leg cots' with my mother's company's name on it with my drunken friends in the cold is tons of fun," she remarked.
"No one is really taking these napkins seriously. Most people are just throwing them out. And need I remind you that you've had quite a few drinks yourself?"
She took a step towards him, stumbling as she did so. Damn heels. They always screwed with her balance when she least needed to.
"I see that your balance issues are reminding you for me."
"I am not drunk!" She took another step towards him, stumbling again (stupid heels), grabbing a hold of his arm. She looked up at his face. "Okay. So maybe I'm a little drunk. How can you not be when you're handing out these things?"
"B!" Serena squealed excitedly. "Someone wants to buy leg coats!"
"Oh, you found someone as drunk as us then?" Chuck questioned.
Blair bit her lip. She really didn't think that anyone would take any of this seriously. If her mother found out what she was doing right now…
"S, I think it's time for us to head home," Blair spoke up, her head a lot clearer than it had been a few minutes before.
Serena pouted. "But we're having so much fun!"
"And it's time for us to go home now. It's late."
"See, just like old times." Chuck smirked at her. "Waldorf's ending the fun just as it was beginning."
"Shut up, Bass," she hissed, slinging Serena's arm around her.
"Yea. You should have more fun," Serena stated, nodding her head. "It's better for your…complexion."
"Right. Well, I'll get right on that after I get you back to my house and in bed."
"Can Nate and Chuck come too?"
"No."
Serena gasped. "But Blair! Think of your complexion!"
"Yes, Blair, please, think of your complexion," Chuck repeated.
"Fine, fine, my mother's out of town anyways. Go find Nate."
Chuck looked around. "Where did he go?"
"Chuck. You lost Nate? When he's drunk?"
"You know, before, when you two were dating, I never had to worry about this. You would always scold him for drinking too much and I could get as drunk as I wanted too. Now, I have to watch him like I'm his nanny or something."
"Go find your charge," Blair ordered.
Chuck walked away, muttering to himself, while Blair held Serena upright. Serena was randomly throwing napkins at passersby, which Blair had to admit was rather amusing and threw one herself. She immediately scolded herself for doing so, even though it was quite amusing to see the woman's reaction.
She really needed to drink less when she was with Serena.
"I got Nate. He's already in the limo," Chuck stated.
Blair took a step forward only to nearly fall as Serena apparently forgot how to walk. "S, you have to you know, move your legs."
"Let me help." Chuck walked to the other side of her.
"Remember when it used to be you and Nate helping Serena to the limo? And I would just stand by and watch?"
"Yes," Chuck grunted as Serena started to put all her weight on him. "He was much better at this then you are."
"Excuse me, I'm petite! I can't help that she's not!"
They finally maneuvered Serena into the back of the limo, making her fall face first into Nate's lap. That really didn't matter to them, as they were celebrating the fact that they had actually gotten her into the limo.
"This is not like old times at all," Blair remarked as she watched Serena start to nod off in Nate's lap.
"Right, if it were like old times, you would be curled up with Nate and Serena and I would be the ones drunk off our asses."
Blair nodded. Really…she didn't miss how they were before. Everything had shifted since then, and really...she didn't miss her time with Nate at all. Or the times when she would hold back Serena's hair as she threw up in her bathroom, trying to make sure her parents' wouldn't notice. She didn't miss all the times that Chuck would watch her every move, the look in his eyes always notifying Blair that he was most likely mentally undressing her.
Oh. Wait. He still did that.
She inched away from Chuck slightly, just in case he was doing it again. Because, really, she was drunk, but she wasn't to the point where she wouldn't notice the way he was staring at her.
Sneaking a glance at him, she realized that he was doing it again. And…she realized that she was enjoying the way he was looking at her. She was really enjoying it so much, she kind of wished that her was really doing it…
"I need more to drink."
Blair closed the door quietly before, just in case Serena was going to yell at her again. She had already been told she turned the light on 'too loudly'.
It was nearing four in the morning. Blair couldn't believe that she was still able to move. After making an impromptu stop for pizza, they had gone back to Blair's. Serena and Nate sat around not doing much, besides drinking more and giggling about leg coats. Again.
Blair realized that one of the reasons that she never let Nate get drunk when they were dating was because he was completely ridiculous during this time. She blamed the man bangs.
Okay, so she was pretty ridiculous herself.
But really, it wasn't her fault that she drank as much as she did (which was still not as much as Serena and Nate). It was to keep herself from dragging Chuck into her bedroom.
Now she realized why she slept with him in the back of the limo. When she was inebriated, Chuck was apparently irresistible to her.
It didn't explain why she then later had sex with him when she wasn't drunk, but she would work those details out when they mattered. Which wasn't at the moment because she had to deal with the fact that she had nowhere to put Chuck at this moment.
"Chuck," she called out. She looked at the couch where she had left him before dragging Serena to bed. He wasn't there anymore.
Frowning, she walked back up the stairs. Maybe he left. That thought bothered her a little, that he would leave without saying goodbye.
She opened up the door to her bedroom and was greeted with quite a surprise. Chuck was lounging across her bed, acting as if it was his own.
"What are you doing?"
"Well, I needed a place to sleep."
"Not here!"
"Come on, Blair. Just like old times…"
"Excuse me, we have never spent the night in the same bed as one another…except for that one time when we were plotting but that's because you moved!"
"Well, then we should have a new times, now shouldn't we?"
"No."
"Come on, Waldorf."
"Get your disgusting shoes off my bed," Blair stated, grabbing them and throwing them over the side of the bed.
Chuck slipped his shoes off the bed, then placed his feet back on, smirking at Blair the whole time. She sighed, climbing over him to get on the bed. She turned off the light and then turned away from him.
"What are you doing?"
"Going to bed."
"Really?"
"Yes, really. We're both drunk—"
"All the more reason to not go to sleep just yet," Chuck muttered in her ear.
"Yes. And I'm tired. Very, very tired."
Suddenly, as she felt his mouth trailing kisses across her skin, she wasn't tired at all.
Blair opened her eyes slowly, ignoring the dull aching. When she realized that she had no clothing on, she panicked trying to remember what happened the night before.
And then, she remembered.
A smile spread across her lips. Well, not at the memory of the leg coats (that one was going to be hard to explain to her mother as she recalled several phone calls last night, expressing the need for leg coats) or at all that she drank in an effort to not sleep with Chuck—as that one obviously didn't work. Though that was what was making her smile.
She looked next to her at…the empty spot. He left?
Of course the bastard would leave before she even woke up. This was why she would never, ever start a relationship with him.
She turned her head, looking at the clock. She immediately scrambled out of her bed after realizing what time it was. She pulled on her pajamas and robe, rushing to the room she had put Serena in to see if she needed anything.
Much to her surprise, Serena was not in the room. And, after checking the other room, Nate was not there either. All of her…friends (if that was what she could even call Chuck) just left without even saying goodbye.
Well, then, in Serena's case, it was just like old times. Though, really, she would see Serena probably later in the afternoon.
And really, it was probably better that they had left. The four of them together for anymore time could cause even more mayhem…Blair didn't even want to think of what possible article of clothing that they could invent now.
Wait…she could most definitely hear a voice. A voice that was maybe—no definitely—Nate's. What was he doing here? Did he accidentally enjoy himself so much acting how things were before, he regressed into thinking that they were still dating?
No. She scratched that thought from her mind as soon as she heard another voice. Serena. So they were there but Chuck left.
She walked down the stairs, trying to figure out what they were both still doing there. As soon as she set eyes on the two, she realized that Chuck was still there. He caught her eye first and immediately the smirk spread across his face.
"Blair, how nice of you to join us."
"B, I never thought you were going to wake up," Serena stated.
"She must have been tired. Something must have really worn her out last night," Chuck remarked.
"Did Nate and I keep you up half the night? Sorry!"
Blair tried to hide her grin but knew that she wasn't doing a good job. She focused her gaze on something else, anything or anyone but Chuck.
Of course, her gaze immediately fell on Chuck.
"Chuck was telling us about the leg coats," Serena continued. "And Nate's inability to spell. You might want to change your cell number, B. You've been getting a lot of calls asking about leg cots…which are nothing like pants. At least according to the last guy who called."
"Hey, if you drank as much as we did, you would misspell coats too," Nate said, trying helplessly to defend himself.
"And another woman called my phone asking for about 30 leg coats. Really…couldn't you two have stopped us from doing something so stupid?" Serena questioned.
"Because they were obviously as drunk as us," Nate replied. "Just change your number or something. No one will remember about the leg coats in another week or so."
"Aside from that Gossip Girl post," Serena muttered. She snapped her gaze from her phone, where she had received another text from some unknown person, and settled it on Chuck and Blair, who were currently sitting next to each other, having a hushed argument.
"Uh, what are you two arguing about?"
Blair swirled around, her cheeks flushed with embarrassment. "What? We weren't arguing about anything."
She was not about to announce to Serena and Nate that she was arguing with Chuck about what had happened last night. No one was ever going to know about it.
"Right." Serena just shook her head, knowing by now that she probably didn't want to know. "So as fun as it was last night, I think that's the last night we'll be spending together like the old times."
"It was fun," Nate shrugged. "But not us."
Serena sighed. "Oh well. It was worth a shot." She looked over at Chuck and Blair, who were still arguing. "What is up with you two?"
"Nothing," Blair responded. "Honestly, let's just put the whole night behind us." She glared at Chuck. "Every last minute of it."
As much as she wanted to believe that she would be putting all of the events of the previous night behind her, she knew that there it was very probable that the moments with Chuck would not be forgotten. In fact, he was currently down right insistent that she was not going to forget them—and that he would bring her right upstairs to remind her of them.
"Well, I think we all agree then. New times only. Old times…never a good thing. We'll just forget about everything."
Blair was about to respond when her phone started ringing. She looked down, expecting to see some unknown number, instead seeing Eleanor's number flash across the screen.
"Blair, darling, why did I just receive a call asking for an order of leg coats, whatever those are?"
The four looked at each other, all hearing what she had just said, trying to hold in their laughter. Maybe forgetting about last night wasn't going to be as easy as they thought.
"I have no idea," Blair replied.
"They mentioned your name."
"They probably meant…Claire…yea, there's some crazy girl at school, she wants to be just like me. And wishes her mother was a designer too, so she must have tried to get some leverage with you."
"Ah, of course. Are there are other people with you? I thought I heard laughter."
"Just…Serena, Chuck, and Nate."
"Oh, everyone's there! How nice. It's just like old times!"
Blair was almost certain that if someone said those words again, she was going to find blackmail on them. She wished that people would learn that nostalgia was never a good thing.
"Well, I've got to be going. Have a nice time with your friends."
"Right. I should go. I have to go meet Vanessa," Nate said. "It was…an interesting evening. See you later."
"I should go too. I told Dan we could do something."
"But you two aren't even dating!" Blair exclaimed. She could not be left alone with Chuck.
Serena just shrugged her shoulders, a twinkle in her eyes that made Blair want to throw up everything that she had just eaten. "I'll call you later, B."
Just like that, she was left alone with Chuck. He was leering at her again as if he was mentally undressing her. And though she wasn't drunk, she found herself enjoying the way he was looking at her.
And though it went against everything that she had been convincing herself of for the past few months, she grabbed Chuck's hand and started to lead him upstairs.
So, old times hadn't necessarily worked out, which was something that she was very, very thankful for. New times, she realized as Chuck pressed her against the wall, were much, much better.