Pilot
Boarding School
Do you know how it felt, calling your house when you didn't show at school, having your mom say: "Serena didn't tell you… that she moved to Connecticut?"
Blair flopped down on her gargantuan bed. She sighed as she flipped open her phone and pressed the first number that came to mind. Serena wasn't answering her cell, but she must be home.
Someone picked up after eight infuriatingly long rings. But it wasn't Serena. It wouldn't be Serena anymore.
"Hello?" The voice sounded stressed.
"Hello, Mrs. Van der Woodsen," Blair greeted her best friend's mother.
"Oh, Blair, hi," was the response. Blair thought she detected something wrong with her tone, but didn't press it.
"Is Serena home? She hasn't been at school for a while."
"Oh, Serena didn't tell you?" came Lily's surprised voice. "Serena left Constance. She's going to a boarding school in Connecticut now."
Blair blanched. Serena was gone. She was gone and she didn't even tell her.
"Oh," was all Blair could muster.
"Listen," Lily's slightly strained voice came again. "Things are a little hectic over here at the moment, but you could call back later."
"No, that's fine." Blair pressed end on her phone. She really couldn't see a reason why she would call again. Her best friend had abandoned her. On top of that, Nate was more dull than usual. She was completely alone. The "friends" she had at school were just placeholders. She didn't have the real thing.
Blair passed her parent's room on the way down the marble staircase. She didn't notice her father's suitcase packed haphazardly on the bed. She just needed to get away. At least she had one friend she could turn to, now. Her best friend named Martini.
Blair didn't hear him approach. He was like a cat. A sleazy, narcissistic, womanizing, boozing, scheming, manipulative cat. But she should have felt his smirk across the room. That's what she saw when she turned. She must have been off her game that day.
"Well this is my lucky day," Chuck Bass drawled. Blair didn't know why Nate was friends with him. He came in handy when she wanted to dispatch certain Upper East Siders, but he and Nate were complete opposites.
She was certain that he lived vicariously though Chuck. If there was one thing she had to admit, Chuck knew how to party. But that really wasn't a difficult inference to make.
Blair wasn't in the mood to play the game they had developed today. She just cast him a look of disdain and returned to her drink. He ordered a scotch. Always the predictable one.
"What?" he asked with a sly grin. "No retort? And here I thought you wanted to play. Why else would you be in my hotel?"
"I'm not in the mood, Chuck," Blair snapped, a little more harshly than was intended. "And it's not your hotel until Bart gives it over, which, by the way, he would rather die than do."
"There it is," he said. "I've missed how you sweet talk me."
"Why?" she asked acidly. "You're endless stream of call girls not good enough anymore?"
"Why would I need call girls when I have you?" he husked. Blair didn't answer. She just finished off her martini.
"What's with you?" he asked, his interest peaked. "Did Nate forget your birthday, or something?"
"Not that it's any of your business," she spat, "but I am actually having a really bad day. So why don't you go hit on some unsuspecting freshman who doesn't know any better?"
"Because," he leaned in, "I love your reactions the best."
"As I'm sure you would love a kick to the shins," Blair muttered into her empty glass. She hadn't known Chuck motioned for another one until it arrived. She hated how he miraculously had the ability to read her. It was beyond strange.
"Not as sharp a wit as usual, Waldorf," Chuck mused.
"I guess getting abandoned it wreaking havoc on our badinage, Bass," she seethed. Chuck raised his distinguished eyebrows in surprise. Damnit. He always seemed to get out of her what she didn't want him to know so easily.
"What's this?" he asked. "Someone's been holding back."
"Like I said before," Blair was starting to slur. "It's none of your business."
"One more drink and it will be everyone's business." She hated him. He seemed to have Vulnerable Intoxicated Women Radar. He was such a skeeze.
"For someone who knows everything, you seem to be lacking in the headlines, today," Blair replied. She watched him stiffen in satisfaction. Even when she was buzzed, she still knew how to play him. he hated not knowing everything. He was the one who knew everything about everybody.
"What will it take to change that?" Chuck negotiated.
"Nothing," Blair exhaled in bitter laughter. "This is for free."
"Why?" he asked.
"Because with a few more drinks in me, I'll probably end up telling you anyway."
"What happened?" Chuck asked with a new found sense of sincerity. Blair studied him. She didn't like it when he got all caring all of a sudden. It made her apprehensive that she couldn't read him like she usually could. He was the most unpredictable when he was sweet.
"Serena moved to Connecticut without telling me," Blair confided. She didn't really care if Chuck used it against her. She would always get him back and he knew it. That's why he never played against her. The risks were too high. Instead, they were better when they worked together,
Blair looked back at him when she didn't hear a response. He was staring at his half empty glass. He almost looked… she didn't know. It was a first for him.
She didn't know why she kept staring. It must have been the drink. But for the first time, she noticed how good looking he was. Usually she just brushed him off because of how many women he bedded and how he blatantly hit on her. But know that she thought about it, he was really very gorgeous.
His angular face was such a contrast to Nate's soft one. He had high cheek bones and smoldering, slanting eyes. His sharp angles made him all the more dangerous. And all the more appealing.
His exotic eyes finally looked up into hers. She was still trying to figure out his expression.
"I'm sorry," he finally said. Chuck paused for a second and she realized what he was about to do too late. He put his hand on her thigh.
"Chuck," she reproached, but made no move to slap away his hand. Right now, his warm hand was the only thing that was grounding her. she also knew it was the only way Chuck knew how to be comforting. He wasn't making a pass at her. he was trying to make her feel better.
"Thanks," she finished. She thought she saw a flicker of kindness flash across his darkly appealing features, but it was gone as soon as it came.
"Don't push it," she warned. He smirked and ordered another drink for himself.
He said that Nate wouldn't be pleased if he found out that she had gotten drunk at The Palace bar with Chuck watching the whole time. Blair knew better. She knew that Chuck was just trying to be… sweet again.
Really, she knew Nate and her were drifting farther and farther apart. Nate wouldn't care what she was doing at the moment. He wouldn't care if she suddenly decided to give it up to Chuck in the back of his limo when he offered to give her a ride home.
The only reason Blair accepted the ride was because she just couldn't bear to be alone at the moment. Without Chuck, she wouldn't have been able to take it when her father broke the news that he was leaving New York to go to Paris to live with another man. She would never have been able to admit it, but when Chuck showed up at the bar to comfort her for the second time, she welcomed it. From then on, Chuck was the only one who really knew her.
Night Swimming
Walking to school together, dancing on tables at Bungalow. And night swimming at your mom' s country house.
"No," Blair refused. Serena looked at her with her half drunken blue eyes pleasingly. Blair groaned inwardly to herself. She wished Serena couldn't get her to do anything she wanted. It was downright humiliating.
"It will be fun," Serena assured her as she pulled her towards the table. Blair scrunched her eyes shut, trying to clear her head. But before she realized it, she was on the table at Bungalow 8, dancing with her best friend Serena Van der Woodsen.
Blair was so caught up with what was happening she didn't see a certain dark haired devil pause his current ministrations and stare in awe at the performance. Dancing on tables wasn't that uncommon on the Upper East Side, but he had yet to see one Queen B partake in such activities.
He rose from the blonde twig that was hanging onto his every word and wove his way expertly through the crowd. He just leaned against the bar and rose his glass of scotch to the pair. They didn't see it, but he knew tonight would be very interesting, indeed.
"Serena, we have to go," Blair pulled her from the club.
"Why?" Serena asked as Blair tried to extricate the flavor of the hour from her.
"Because we told my mom that we were going to the house and if we don't… I don't know…. Actually go to the house, she might get suspicious." Serena groaned as the brisk night air rushed around them.
"Then can we go swimming?" Serena asked hopefully. Good God, she was actually trying to negotiate with Blair Waldorf.
"Serena, it's two in the morning," Blair chastised. Serena blinked her wide eyes again.
"Fine, fine," Blair laughed as they passed the idling limo on the street. Eleanor had already sent their stuff to the country house. All they had to do was show up. Much to their dismay, someone else had the exact same plans.
Serena did a perfect dive as Blair watched from the edge. She was always competing with the perfect Serena, always being second best. The problem was, Serena didn't even know it.
"Come on," Serena urged from the depths. Blair hesitated. She didn't know why, but she had this feeling that she should be wary of what she do next. She was never one for paranoia, but she had a familiar feeling wash over her. She didn't know what it was yet.
Nevertheless she complied with Serena and joined her in the water. She hadn't realized what that feeling was until a certain dark voice alerted them to his presence.
"Evening, ladies." Blair realized that it was the feeling of Chuck Bass. He sat down at the edge, stretching out his legs in a casual lounge.
Blair had completely forgotten that Nate was supposed to be coming. The Archibalds, Van der Woodsens, and Waldorfs were having a get together. Oh yeah, and the Basses. Sure, there were only two of them, but that was enough to feel that trademark smirk.
"Ew, what is he doing here?" Serena asked Blair in undertones.
"I don't know," Blair shrugged. "He's Nate's friend."
"You mean, you knew he was going to be here?" Serena asked.
"I forgot. What's the big deal?" Blair knew she should probably have a problem with the teenage playboy, but she just didn't. Maybe it was the fact that he was something that Serena didn't have a hold over.
She may be gorgeous, but Chuck got over that after many rebuffs on her part. He preferred Blair's sense of manipulation than Serena's talk of boys. That settled it. Chuck was staying.
"He's just such a sleaze. I don't know why you hang out with him," Serena said. Blair rolled her eyes. Her best friend, beautiful as she may be, could never understand what it was like to have the perfect partner in crime. He made life exciting. His perversion was a slight price to pay.
"Don't all rush to greet me," he drawled.
"Oh Bass, it's you," Blair said sweetly. "The aroma of cigarettes and scotch alerted me the floor of a Brooklyn bar. I thought even you had more class than that."
"Come, B," Serena said diplomatically. "Brooklyn isn't that bad." Blair cocked an eyebrow at her.
"You mean the constant poverty and all around low hygiene isn't that bad? You really have taught me something today." She heard Chuck laugh shortly from his distance. She couldn't really see him in the dark which made her apprehensive. She didn't like feeling out of control and that's exactly what she felt every time she was around him.
That's why she started swimming closer to the edge. Serena followed suit. Blair could tell she wasn't that enthusiastic about it.
"I knew you couldn't stay away for long." Blair could practically feel his smirk. "Especially after the night you've had."
"And what is that supposed to mean?" Blair asked carefully. There was no way that when Chuck was with a girl he would pay attention to anything else. And she was certain that he was. What else would he be doing on a Friday night?
"I'm sure I wasn't the only one enjoying your little performance at Bungalow tonight." Yes. He was definitely smirking.
"Really?" Blair asked. "I was certain you couldn't see anything with that stick monopolizing your view."
"Don't worry, Waldorf," he said confidently. "She could never take away the appeal that you have for me." Blair made a noise of disgust as she made her way out of the water.
She could see Chuck now. He had risen from his sitting position and was very close. All together, too close.
"Hands, Bass," Blair slapped away the electrifying touch that found her waist.
"I was just trying to find my way," he covered. "It's very dark out here, you know." Blair knew it was a line. This close she could see Chuck's arrogant facial features, even if they were a little dim.
"Come on, Serena," Blair snapped. She felt his warm breath (that still slightly smelled of alcohol) brush against the side of her face.
"You know, Waldorf," Chuck caught her arm with his temporarily. "There might come a day when you won't mind me touching you so much." Bair scoffed and shrugged him away.
"I'm sure," Blair said, waiting apprehensively as she heard Serena get out of the water as well. "How about the same day Bart actually allows you some freedom and trusts you with something important."
She heard him laugh again as she and Serena (dripping wet, she might add) made there way to the luminous house.
"I'm counting on it," Chuck shouted back, thinking back to that club that he had his eye on for a while. Maybe Bart would let him buy it.
But then again, maybe Blair was right. The minute Bart actually paid attention to him and poured millions of dollars of investment into something Chuck wanted was the minute Blair gave her virginity to him.