(a/n: I'm not necessarily starting a new story, this is going to be a series of one-shots. I tend to have writer's-ADD and my mind flies all over the place so this is the place where all these different ideas will live. Each chapter will be a different story/plot. I do not own Gossip Girl or any of its characters.) This short story is titled: TRUST

She felt like the world was melting underneath her feet. Every day something else seemed to self destruct. It started with her conversation with Chuck the night after the brunch that she and Jack threw for him. After that, it was like the she seemed to have no purpose in life anymore. The past month and a half had all been for Chuck. But it was his own fault. He went and threw it all away. All she did was give and all he did was take. She was always there for him, but he would never be there for her. She couldn't risk wasting her life away waiting for him to grow up and learn how to be a civil human being.

It was 7:00 on a Friday night on the Upper East Side. Serena was in Florida with her mother for the weekend and Blair's little followers were all out partying. Blair, sat face to face with her mother on opposite ends of the kitchen counter staring, not saying a word. A deadly silence filled the room, so silent that it was almost painfully loud. Blair was not going to be the first to break that silence.

"Blair, I'm not going to ask you again. What has happened to you?"

Blair remained silent. She didn't owe her mother an explanation for anything.

"Your grades have been dropping, you haven't left the house in 2 weeks, and one of your teachers called me today asking if your fever went down." Eleanor stared at her with pursed lips. "You don't look feverish to me. Where were you today?"

"I took a personal day," she said not explaining herself any further.

"Yes, well according to your attendance records, you've taken four personal days in the last ten days of school...This isn't like you, Blair. Whatever it is that has been causing you to act as irrationally as you have been in the last weeks, you better fix it," she paused to think, then added "because this kind of behavior isn't going to get you into Yale."

Blair rolled her eyes. "May I be excused now?"

"Yes. You can go upstairs and study. No party."

She blinked a couple of times. "You can't be serious."

Eleanor stood up. "I'm very serious. I'm your mother, and you'll do as I say. Now go and catch yourself up on whatever it was that you missed today."

"I'm already caught up," she responded "I did it all today while I was supposed to be in school."

Eleanor laughed. "Then why didn't you just go to school? What was the point of that?"

"I had other things to do and I figured I could get it all done faster if I used that time more efficiently."

"You know what Blair?" she said with venom "I don't care what you do anymore, as long as you get into Yale and keep your grades high and give your father and I something to be proud of."

"Right, because just being me isn't enough."

"What?"

"Thank you," Blair smiled her trademark fake smile "for this lovely pep talk. I'm going to go figure out how to make you and daddy proud, because clearly what I've been doing hasn't been working."

"Clearly." She spat back.

Blair got up and slammed her chair back into the counter. "Goodnight." She started to walk away but Eleanor stopped her.

"Blair?"

She took a deep breath and turned around. "Yes, mother."

"Cyrus and I are leaving tonight. We're going upstate to get away for a few days. I trust you'll be all right by yourself?"

She started walking again without looking back. "Fine. Whatever."

"What was that?"

Blair shouted over her shoulder. "I said have fun!"

She ran into her room and slammed the door shut. She started pacing around the room talking to herself. "I cannot believe that woman. She is such a bitch! Doesn't even bother to...OH! maybe ask me if I'M okay! No! It's automatically, 'you need to fix yourself Blair...I don't care about whatever it is you may be going through, just make sure you make daddy and I look good!'" She paused to think for a second. "AND NOW SHE HAS ME TALKING TO MYSELF! AGGGHHH!" She screamed as she collapsed onto her bed and grabbed a pillow to hurl across the room.

She needed to calm down. Eleanor was right about something, she did need to fix whatever it was that was bothering her, but she didn't know how. Eleanor was her mother! She was supposed to know how to fix these things. She didn't even ask if she was okay! What kind of a mother doesn't ask her child if she's okay?!

Downstairs, the sound of the elevator told her that Eleanor and Cyrus were gone for the weekend, and she was alone. She was secretly glad Eleanor gave her a reason not to go to that party. She didn't feel up to it. She didn't feel up to anything anymore.

She got up off the bed and straightened herself out. "Maybe if I eat something I'll calm down a little," she mumbled to herself. She went downstairs and tried to find something in the fridge to settle her nerves. There was nothing in the fridge but leftover cake from some retirement party at her mother's business. "Oh, well," she pulled out a dish and a fork and cut a piece of it. Sitting in the very spot where her mother had interrogated her only minutes before seemed to make her even more uneasy. She was right though, the food settled her nerves. It felt so good. Each bite made another problem disappear.

It was liberating. Everything seemed to float up and out of her mind. All the hustle and bustle of the last few weeks washed away like a wave on the shore and her head was clear again. She felt free, she felt alive again, she felt- "Oh my God," she dropped the fork realizing what she had just done. Her own piece was gone along with half of what was already left.

All the problems came flooding back to her. School, friends, Chuck, Mom, Cyrus, Gossip Girl, Nate, Dad, Serena, Yale, all of it. Instead of pounding in her head, they were wriggling and churning in her stomach now. And they had to get out. All of them. NOW.

She didn't know what happened from the moment she dropped her fork until the moment she found herself huddled in a ball next to the toilet bowl. She couldn't believe herself. She had done it again. Honestly, she had done it every once in a while...after a meal here and there, if something didn't sit right, she needed to rid herself of it, nothing that was too big of a deal. But now, this was the first time since last Thanksgiving that she had actually binged. It felt good. And it scared her that it felt good. She felt hot tears stinging on her cheeks. She needed to call someone. She fumbled with her phone trying to see through her tears to dial Serena.

Serena and Eric walked along the lovely warm beach of West Palm in the darkness. "I'm so glad that mom decided to let us come here with her."

"Yeah," he responded "it is nice to get away from everything for a bit, even though Monday is ominously looming in the distance."

She laughed. "Hey, not so fast E, it's still Friday night! Way to kill all my fun!"

"I know I'm sorry," he thought for a moment "but you do have to keep it in the back of your mind. Otherwise you'll never be ready for it when it comes."

They shared a laugh. Serena was so glad that she was blessed to have such a level-headed little brother to keep her sane. Just then her phone rang. Caller ID read: Blair.

She shared an awkward look with Eric. "No, go ahead it's fine," he told her.

"No, no it's okay. Whatever it is, it can wait. We're having fun, right? I'll call her when we get back to the hotel."

"Really Serena, go ahead and answer it. You never know when she's going to have one of her meltdowns."

"Hey, don't make fun. She's just as screwed up in the head as all the rest of us." He chuckled. She flipped her phone open and put on a grandiose voice trying to make Blair jealous. "Hello Blair! This is Eric and Serena strolling on the moonlit beach of West Palm in sunny Florida...well, not sunny obviously if it's moonlit, but-"

"Serena?"

Of course she didn't give a rat's ass about what she was doing. "Yah B, what's up?"

Serena wasn't exactly sure what transpired over the next few seconds, but what it sounded like was a fast rambling string of incoherent thoughts mixed with sobs and tears.

"Whoa whoa whoa, B slow down. I can't understand a single word you're saying." Eric raised an eyebrow at her and she motioned for him to just stay quiet.

"It happened," she could hear her take a sharp breath "again."

"What happened Blair? I don't know what you're talking about."

"I threw up."

She felt herself go weak in the knees. Apparantly Blair still hasn't gotten past this road block. "Okay, it's okay B." She heard her sniffling and sobbing on the other end. She was so heartbroken that she couldn't just go there and hug her like she did the last time. "Is anyone home with you?"

"No," she said "can you please come here?"

She'd forgotten. This was going to be hard to say. "Blair, don't...don't you remember? I'm in Florida with my mom and Eric until Monday." As soon as she said this, there was a silence from the other end. A silence that told her another whole round of tears was going to start up.

"Oh my God," she managed to choke out "I'm so sorry I forgot."

"It's okay, B. Is there anyone else you can call? You can't be alone right now."

"No." She started up again. "I have no one except you, Serena."

"Blair, come on that's not true. You can call Nate, you can call Penelope, you can call Is, you can even call Dan or Jenny."

"No!" she screamed. "They can't know. No one can know, Serena! They'll all just sell it to Gossip Girl."

"Dan wouldn't do that. You may not like him, but he's a swee-"

"Then why would I want him here now."

"Okay. Okay. Fine. I have one more but you're not gonna like it."

"What?" she sniffled.

"The one person that knows when something is really personal and knows when to keep his mouth shut. He helped me a whole lot throughout the whole Georgina ordeal."

"Who?"

"Chuck."

"Serena! NO!" She was hysterical now. She was clearly still in love with him.

"Blair just listen to me. Shush." She quieted a little. "You were there for him every minute when he was going through losing a parent. I promise you he will return the favor. He's that kind of guy. You'd know better than I would that when it comes to things like this he is a perfect gentleman."

"Serena," she whined.

"No. You know what? If you won't call him, I will."

"Serena, please!"

"Sorry I'm calling him. Bye."

Eric looked over at her. "What happened?"

"She's throwing up again," she said as she fumbled to pull up Chuck's number.

"Oh, no." He said sincerely. "I hope she's okay."

"She will be," she said as she hit send and waited for Chuck to pick up.

"Serena, Serena, Serena. To what do I owe the pleasure?"

"I need your help Chuck."

"And why should I help you?"

"Because Blair needs you right now."

"And why should I help Blair? She doesn't want anything to do with me."

"She's home alone right now Chuck."

"Mmm, tempting."

"Shut up Chuck and just listen. I'm in Florida and I can't do anything for her, but I need you to go to her."

"I told you already Serena, she doesn't-"

"SHUSH!" She silenced him. "She wouldn't want me telling you this and she doesn't want your help just as much as you don't want to help her, but I think it's time to intervene. She still loves you and you still love her and the two of you just need to get over that and get together already. But my point right now is she needs you because she's all alone, she's going through a lot of pain right now and you are the only person that I can trust to take care of her besides myself...but like I said, I'm in Florida."

"What kind of pain?"

Ah, she'd finally caught his interest. "Chuck, like I said she wouldn't want me telling you this, but I knew she wouldn't if I made her call you. So I'm telling you. She had an eating disorder Chuck. And for a good amount of time, she was able to overcome it and fight it, but it's back. She's been going through a lot, and I feel like you're the only person who is going to be able to help her right now. And on top of that, I think you owe her for everything she did for you when your father died." The line was silent. "Chuck?" For a moment, she actually thought he'd hung up on her. "Hello?"

"Where is she?"

"Her place. The bathroom on the second floor. I think-"

"I'm leaving now."

"Oh, okay. Chuck, thank you so much." But there was no answer, this time for real. "Hello?" She looked at Eric. "That son of a bitch hung up on me."

"I'm sure he'll go to her. He's really a good guy."

"Eric?"

"Yah."

"How did you know?"

"I don't know...I was thinking about that too. Maybe I should be a psychic."

"All right, that's enough from you. Let's go back to the hotel."

Chuck felt himself trembling as he hopped into his limo and told the driver to take him to the Waldorf's. Was Blair's problem his fault? He hated to admit that Serena was right, which was why he didn't even let her finish her sentence. He did owe Blair a lot. Even if she didn't want to see him anymore. He felt like such a douchebag for saying what he said to her that day at brunch. All she did was try to be there for him, and even then he pushed her away.

The limo pulled up in front and he practically ran out into the building. He came out of the elevator greeted by a darkened hallway and foyer. Quietly, he ran up the stairs and into the bathroom on the second floor. The light was off and it was...empty? He slowly backed out of the bathroom when he was stopped by something that wasn't a wall.

"What are you doing here?"

He nearly jumped back in fright. He flipped on the light to see Blair standing in front of him. Puffy-eyed and pale...and thinner, he noticed. "You know, it's not good for my heart when you sneak up on me like that. Thank you. It's about to fall out of my chest now."

"First of all, you're the one sneaking around, second of all, you don't have a heart. Answer my question, what are you doing here?"

"Thought I'd stop by."

"Well you thought wrong. You can leave now. Goodbye." She turned to walk away but he couldn't let her walk away from him again so he grabbed her.

He could tell that she was in a fragile state, for when he merely touched her she nearly jumped to get away from him and some sort of choked sob escaped her throat. She tried to cover it up as a cough. "Why are you touching me."

"Just listen to me." He stared at her for a second. "Serena just called me-"

"Whatever she said to you was a lie."

"Blair, please."

"It's a plot, she's trying to get us back together so that...that...Dan..." she clearly hadn't thought up this excuse very well.

"Save it, Blair. She told me everything."

Blair looked defeated. He actually felt a little twinge in his heart. He knew that there must be something wrong if she had given up this easily. She didn't respond. She only looked at the ground.

"Blair..." he took a step closer to her. He could see her shivering. He wasn't sure if she was afraid of him or if she was crying...or trying not to cry. His right hand found his way to her right shoulder. "I should have never said what I said to you that day." They both knew what day he was talking about. "You promised to always be there for me, and I did nothing in return except try to humiliate you and place blame on you." He could feel her shaking more fiercely now. His other hand found its way to her chin so he could look into her chocolate eyes that were reddening with tears. She bit her bottom lip, trying to stop tears from flowing. "But now, I'm here for you. Just like you were there for me all those times. Listen, when I talked to Serena earlier, I realized something. She said that I was the only person she trusted to take care of you." Blair stared at him seconds from bursting into tears. "Before that I had never heard anyone refer to 'me' and 'trust' in the same thought. That's just it though Blair. The reason why we keep playing this cat and mouse game is because we don't trust each other. Nobody trusts anyone in our world. Everyone is worried about who's going to say what to Gossip Girl and no one really has anyone they can talk to in a time like this. So where does this leave us? It leaves me with a dead father and no one to cry on, and it leaves you with a...problem and no outlet. We all alieniate everyone. This is why we all die young." He chuckled in an attempt to make light of the situation.

He stared at her. There was a silence. He was afraid she was going to come back with a clever or sarcastic remark, but all she did was succumb to tears and finally break down. "I'm sorry Chuck. I'm so sorry."

He caught her in his arms and held her as she cried. Repeating her words from that fateful night on the rooftop. "It's okay...it's okay." He kissed her hair and smoothed it back down seeing as he messed it up a bit. She held onto him so tight, but he held her back tighter as her body was racking with sobs. He just wanted to make everything okay the same way she had for him. All of a sudden he felt her body go a little limp in his arms, but she continued crying. Slowly, the two of them dropped to the bathroom floor in a heap. Blair sobbing and Chuck shedding a few silent tears. "It's okay," he repeated. "Hey," he said lifting her chin up and brushing away a few tears "let's just talk."

She sniffled. "Right now?" The poor thing could barely talk, she had been crying so hard.

"Can you think of something better to do?"

She shook her head. "But...we never just talk."

"Right. What do you say? Let's try it out."

She cracked a weak smile. "Okay."

And the two of them spent the night sitting on the bathroom floor talking about anything and everything. They learned things they never even knew about each other. Such simple things like...favorite color, favorite food, etc... Before that night, they had never actually spent time together. They had never talked before unless it had to do with plotting against somoene. It felt good for both of them, and it felt good to know that each of them would always be there for each other in times of hardship and pain. It was comforting to finally have a friend each of them could trust.