Note: Set about a month after that awesome 'I love you' scene. Ignoring the whole Serena-searching-for-her-dad-with-Carter-Baizen thing and the whole Nate-going-backpacking-with-Vanessa thing. So basically, they're both still in town. Oneshot. Reviews would be awesome!! :)
Her phone beeps, and she jumps a little, because her phone has been glued to her hand all evening and this is the first time it's made any sort of noise. Serena giggles and Blair smirks back at her, flipping the phone open as casually as she can even though her heart is hammering in her chest and her breaths are becoming shallower because she knows it's him and it better be him and it better be good and –
Miss me yet?
The bastard. Their first fight – their first real fight, as a couple anyway – and he can't even apologize properly. Her mouth forms a thin line, and she snaps her phone shut before her treacherous fingers can type something ridiculous like, 'more than you possibly know' and completely ruin everything.
Serena eyes her friend with interest, and when Blair finally stops glaring at the cell phone still in her hand and meets Serena's gaze, she sidles over and wraps her arms around the petite brunette. "Not quite the apology you had in mind, B?"
Blair scoffs and rolls her eyes and is the epitome of 'annoyed Blair' and Serena smiles just a little bit, because this was bound to happen after four weeks of 'Chuck and Blair in bliss'.
"It wasn't even an apology, S!" Blair cries finally, after stewing for a few more moments, and she thrusts the phone into the blonde's hands.
Serena opens to the inbox, and tries her best not to smile – she really does – but Blair sees it threatening to form and this only sets her off.
"Serena!" Blair hisses as she extricates herself from her best friend's grasp, eyes flashing with a rage not entirely directed at Serena, though Serena knows she is a blazing target for an 'angry Blair'. The amusement in her face immediately vanishes, alerting Blair to the change in attitude, but she's too far gone and she's been ignoring this all night and she won't do it any more.
"Can you believe him?!" Blair all but screeches, and Serena winces as she continues. "I mean, is he not taking this seriously? How can he not take this seriously?! After everything that's happened in the past two – count them Serena, almost two years I've been putting up with his bullshit – after everything, how can he not care? How can he make everything so trivial?"
Serena is quiet which worries Blair because she doesn't know what she'll do if Serena takes her pseudo-brother's side (and yes, Blair acknowledges the adoption papers went through but Serena doesn't and Blair will remind her of that fact if necessary).
Finally Serena speaks, because she realizes Blair's question isn't rhetorical, and she knows she has to play this well or else everything just might burn, but she's only Serena van der Woodsen and manipulation has never been her forte.
"Blair," she begins, and she thinks it's a good start until Blair turns to face her with anger still in her eyes, and then Serena realizes that she should placate first and give advice to 'calmer and therefore more receptive Blair' after. "You're right, that's definitely not an apology."
Blair blinks, because she can't argue when Serena agrees with her (even if she is agreeing to a statement made long ago, and not actually answering her question) and now Blair isn't quite sure how to respond to her friend, so her face softens a little. Serena sees this as her opening and rests a comforting hand on Blair's shoulder.
"I just…god, does he even care?" And it's not 'angry Blair' anymore, and Serena is glad because this Blair she can deal with.
"Of course he cares! You know he cares," She pauses, eyes twinkling. "He loves you."
And in spite of herself, Blair smiles a little bit, because she's pretty sure that day when he finally told her was the happiest day of her life, and it's not a memory she can shove away, it's a memory too pure to be tainted even by his current betrayal.
Serena smiles too, because she knows this, and because she is congratulating herself for facilitating such a quick mood change. Just as quickly though, the faint smile is gone and Blair's eyes are cold and Serena does everything she can to stop herself from rolling her own eyes in response.
"Would it kill him to text me that, instead?"
She doesn't mean for it to happen, but the dead-pan delivery sends Serena into a fit of giggles, and sometimes that sunny response is contagious because now Blair is actually smiling despite her best efforts not to.
"Probably," Serena grins, and Blair nods in understanding, because it just might – giving her written proof of the words he was almost too afraid to say and is still afraid to feel.
"You know what he's doing right now?" Serena asks, and Blair raises an eyebrow quizzically. "I can just picture him," and now Blair grins too, because she likes the sound of this game, "Sitting alone, in his room, in the dark—"
"Nursing a scotch!" Blair pipes in and both girls laugh as Serena continues.
"—Crying silent tears of loneliness because he can't stand your absence after you've been such a constant fixture for these past few weeks—"
"Staring at his phone, thinking to himself," and at this point, Blair adopts a low and menacing half-whisper and pantomimes waving a scotch around as Serena laughs openly, "Why, oh why hasn't she returned my text? Does she not miss me? Was that not a sufficient apology? I am Chuck Bass!! I just do not understand—"
"Okay, Waldorf, I do not sound like that." Serena gasps and Blair freezes, surprise and panic etched in their faces, respectively, and Chuck only smirks. "And sis, 'silent tears of loneliness'? Really? You are spending way too much time with Humphrey." He ignores her indignant "Hmph," as he has much more important things to deal with: namely the fiery brunette with narrowed eyes and crossed arms in a successful attempt to look intimidating.
"So I take it you didn't like my text."
"Aw, Serena, he's observant." She sounds almost bored when she says it, and though she addresses Serena her eyes never leave Chuck.
"Look, Blair—" But he can't even finish his thought because Blair is turning away with a sigh, and he now looks to Serena for help but she merely shrugs because she has no control, and so Chuck tries to approach her.
"Serena, tell that pig I don't want him touching me," Blair bites out without turning around, which has both Serena and Chuck stunned for a moment, until Blair clears her throat agitatedly and Serena's eyes widen in understanding.
"Uh, don't touch her?" Serena half-tells, half-asks, and Chuck rolls his eyes even as he steps back complacently, and Blair allows herself a smirk she knows he can't see.
"Now tell him to get the hell out of my room."
Serena's quicker this time, and steps in between the couple (they are still a couple, though she isn't sure how much longer this will be true) and looks at Chuck. "She wants you to—"
"Are you fucking kidding me, Waldorf? You won't even talk to me? What, is Serena your translator now?"
"Well I don't know, Chuck!" Blair yells, whipping around, not caring that she's already lost her own game because this one's more important anyway. "But I don't know how to talk to you anymore, since I don't speak Cheating-Slutty-Whore."
Chuck pauses, waiting for the full affect of these words to sink in. He locks eyes with Blair, and her eyes widen when she hears her own implications, and she bites her lip nervously. They both stand there, breathing, waiting, and Chuck's almost ready to spell it all out when he finally hears a sharp intake of breath beside him.
"Wait, so I speak Cheating-Slutty-Whore?!" Chuck smirks and Blair groans and Serena glares at them both.
"Serena that's not what I meant at all! He's the Cheating Slutty Whore! You just…well, you live closer to that line that I ever would." And really, she doesn't even mean to add that last part, some things just slip out.
Serena is on the verge of getting furious, and Blair knows this, but before she can apologize again Serena grabs her purse and storms out of the room without even a glance backwards.
"Now look what you did!" Blair scolds, exasperated, and Chuck grins at her, amused.
"I did not call her a Cheating-Slutty-Whore."
"No, but if you hadn't been a Cheating-Slutty-Whore, we wouldn't be in this predicament, now would we?" She raises her eyebrows, and he concedes that point.
"Touché."
She grins victoriously, but this slowly fades and Chuck knows playtime is basically over.
"You know I'd never cheat on you, Blair," He tells her seriously, and she bites her lip as she looks up to meet his eyes.
"Do I?" And suddenly every mistake he's made plays out in his mind, every betrayal, and he realizes what a dick he was, and is, and needs to stop being.
"I'm sorry," He whispers, staring at his feet, and so he misses the way her eyes soften at his words.
"Good," She nods decisively. "Now, why are you sorry?" She sounds like such a mother, but he needs to understand why she's upset, and so she doesn't hide her patronizing gaze.
Chuck sighs, because he hates giving in, but he loves Blair Waldorf so he feels like it's at least a draw. "I shouldn't have bought that girl a drink."
"And why shouldn't you have bought that girl a drink?"
"Because that girl wasn't my girlfriend?"
"And?"
"And it sends the wrong impression. Because important people should only see me buying drinks for my girlfriend. And Gossip Girl is everywhere, and that bitch is looking for any chance to ruin you. And you refuse to allow me to humiliate you again like this – Blair I've practically memorized your whole damn message."
"So is that all this is? Spouting my words back to me?" She asks angrily, upset that he's back to not taking this seriously.
Chuck grabs her arm as she attempts to move away. "Wait," She complies because he's holding her, and not because she wants to, "Do you want to know why I'm really sorry?" Blair nods ever-so-slightly, and so he continues. "I'm sorry because I don't even know why I bought that girl a drink, because you were maybe twenty feet away and looking entirely delectable, and really I was just proving to Nathaniel that I still had charm, even now as a 'kept man' – Nathaniel's words. Nothing would have ever happened, and I'm sorry that I ever thought proving a point my idiot best friend was worth making you upset – making you doubt me for even one second. I'm yours, Blair. More than I want to admit…I'm entirely yours."
Blair stares at him now with shining eyes, and he looks somewhat embarrassed but very pleased when she lunges at him and they both fall backwards onto the bed, locked in a heated embrace.
"So you memorized my message, huh?" Blair questions teasingly, between kisses, and Chuck grins as he flips her over, so he's on top.
"Well, you weren't speaking to me," Chuck begins, but pauses as the kiss deepens. When Blair pulls back for air, he continues, "And I missed the sound of your voice. Even your angry voice."
Blair giggles as she grabs his bowtie and pulls him down, closer, and neither say much of anything for endless minutes.
Just as Chuck reaches for the zipper of Blair's dress, she sits up abruptly with a steely glint in her eyes.
He panics internally, wondering what she's remembered, hoping she isn't angry but recognizing the look that says she is.
She glares up at Chuck with determination. "So this is Nate's fault?"
Chuck sighs with relief, and shrugs. "The bastard totally messed with my head. Definitely his fault." He considers defending his best friend for a moment, but one look at Blair dispels the thought. And Chuck decides it's high time Archibald suffers the wrath of Blair Waldorf.
Blair smirks icily. "Well, then, we'll just have to teach that boy a lesson, won't we?"
Chuck matches her grin, because plotting has always been a sick kind of foreplay for them, and really, it totally was Nathaniel's fault that Chuck was in trouble at all… "What did you have in mind?"
--
Serena rolls her eyes two hours later, when she receives a text from Blair. She can't help but smile a little when three very familiar words appear in front of her face.
Miss me yet?
She's shaking her head, about to put her phone away, when it starts vibrating in her hand. Flipping it open, she answers with a grudging 'hello?', fully intending to lecture Blair on her lame apology text - this is why she's so surprised to hear Nate's panicked 'Serena. I...shit, I need help' on the other end.
"Nate? What's wrong?" Serena asks, her heart racing with sudden fear.
"Remember how we talked about how Chuck and Blair - united - could be kind of detrimental to those who cross them?"
"Uh-huh..."
"I may have crossed them, a little bit..."
"Shit. I'm on my way."