The Art of Real Estate
One
'Scoping Out the Land'
Summary: Chuck Bass could buy up all of New York City if he wanted to, but there was one piece of property he could never acquire with money: Blair Waldorf's heart.
He watched how Nate Archibald's lips pressed against Blair's tenderly, and he noticed how her wondrous eyelashes fluttered. He'd never known such love—never encountered someone who embodied the emotion quite like Blair Waldorf did. But she was drawn to sparkly things. She glistened in harmony with Nate's shimmer. Chuck Bass could never bear a torch fiery enough to catch her caramel gaze. He was banished to the corners where the shadows eagerly consumed him. He could never measure up to Nate Archibald's gold: he was faultless, well groomed, and graced with the shine of loyalty. Chuck was tarnished silver—who would ever choose that over gold? Certainly not Blair Waldorf. To her, Chuck Bass barely existed. He felt like a meager fly around her. She made him feel poor. No matter how many hundreds might be stuffed in his wallet, no matter how much of the city his father owned, Blair would never look at him in the way she looked at Nate. The Golden Boy was old money, bred from a legacy of proper perfection. He was destined for a girl like Blair. And Chuck; Chuck was destined to watch from the sidelines as his best friend ran his hands up and down the one thing the lonely Bass had ever loved. It didn't seem fair. But then again, in the Upper East Side, fairness was the first casualty in the social war where guns were money, and bombs were blackmail. Love and fairness had no place in a world like that; and it was the only world Chuck Bass had ever known. He shouldn't want her, shouldn't wonder what her proudly pursed lips would feel like against his skin. But Chuck couldn't help himself. Blair was a mystery he could never solve. He'd never find out the mystique that hid under her layers of designer clothes, or what her hair would look like when she let it flow wildly out of her headband.
He leaned against the brick wall behind him with an abrupt thud. Blair's eyes never left Nate's as their lips finally parted. She deserved so much more than lackluster blue eyes and a smile that could never be purely genuine. Blair Waldorf should be blessed with a symphony instead of polite laughter; two scorching stars instead of Nate Archibald's eyes that would always be secretly set on Serena; and a smile that could put into graceful dance all of the magic that made Blair who she was. But as long as she looked to the ungrateful Nathaniel with such loving eyes, she'd never get it. Nate may have put the blindfold on her, but it was her decision not to untie the knot. And that ghastly blindfold had only one enemy it targeted to keep out: Chuck Bass. Usually he could buy his way into people's good graces, or have such dirt on them they had no choice but to let him in. But Blair Waldorf wasn't most people. It sickened him to think such a cliché, but he couldn't deny that it was true. She was the one girl in all of Constance who hadn't fallen for Chuck in some way or another. Blair Waldorf was the last angel he could tangibly see. And for once, it was the one pure white being he did not wish to taint. With her, everything was different; he was different. But that was only in his dreams. Because when reality came home in the form of the jealous wife, she drove the mistress of dreams out of the house for what seemed like eternity.
And then she looked in his direction, and the worlds of fantasy and reality almost fused together. Whether she'd heard the rustling of a leaf on the schoolyard ground, or felt a gust of wind, Chuck didn't really care. The fact was, she was looking right in his direction, her eyes filled with love, loyalty, understanding, support, genuineness, and desire. But there was one emotion that swam in her eyes that Chuck Bass could not shake: vacancy. Her gaze full of every piece of kindness he had ever desired was spewed into the wall behind him. He was invisible to her. Her warm and sweet eyes were beginning to match her icy and sour skin. But the skin was lovely, Chuck thought to himself as Blair looked back to Nate. It might as well be the drapes of fine white silk Aphrodite had worn, as it laid there so gracefully around her beautifully formed bone structure. That kind of perfect could never be Chuck Bass'. It was only with matters of Blair Waldorf that he used the word 'never' so often. In any other aspect of his life, he loathed the word; it had no place being in his vocabulary. But goddamn Blair had to prove him wrong; defy everything that had defined him for the past seventeen years. And it was for that reason that he loved her. It wasn't just a chase, nor was it merely a game. It was Chuck Bass realizing that there was one person in all of Manhattan, and all of the world for that matter, that could see past his smoke screens. Whether it was consciously or not. He felt her eyes meet his—genuinely looking into them, seeming to see past all of the stony exterior he put so expertly. It was a different gaze than she'd given to Nate: it was a gaze that said 'I will not be conquered' yet held a small little wink tempting him to try just that. Chuck smirked, and he knew no one could be pure all the way to the core. Not even Blair Waldorf. But the gaze was gone just as quickly as it had come. Chuck Bass though, was far from done with Queen B.
So this is my first time ever writing Gossip Girl, so please tell me what I did right, what I did wrong, and any ideas you may have. I'm all ears! Well, eyes, in this case I suppose. I don't know if this will stay a one-shot or if I'll expand it, but I'd love your input! And I'm sorry it's short; I'm just so paranoid about attempting to write the very complicated characters of the show. Haha. But let me know your thoughts and if you want me to continue.
Reviews are love!