WARNING: I hate spoilers! Don't spoil me!
Nate wondered into the courtyard and almost walked straight into the very person he was seeking: Blair Waldorf.
"Hey, Blair?" he said, catching her attention even though she seemed to be intent on getting to the group of girls across the way… who didn't seem to be paying her any attention at all… strange.
Blair turned and was a little surprised that he was speaking to her at school. Considering they had spoken a total of five times since they broke up—once the day Serena almost succumbed to inebriation on her elevator floor, once when she got her pin back, once when she discovered him with that miserable excuse for royalty, once when she invited Vanessa to her back-to-school party, and once when she told him that she'd managed to get Catherine to leave him alone and leave the country—it was the last thing she expected today.
"Yes?" she asked, wondering if his attention would be bad or worse for her considering that for some reason the balances of power at school had switched that morning and all of a sudden Serena was the one the world revolved around. She hadn't had a chance to speak privately with Serena just yet, but she definitely would be doing so the first chance she got… and try to figure out what the hell Chuck had done to make this happen.
"Just wanted to thank you for helping me," Nate said with a slow smile, shrugging slightly, a little sheepish.
"It wasn't for you," Blair said simply, shifting abruptly. She didn't want to think that what she had done was out of the goodness of her heart… because, in reality, she just really wanted to get revenge against Marcus and Catherine for playing her a fool. Hadn't she been humiliated enough for one year? She just prayed no one else ever found out about it. She would be ruined for sure.
"Sure it was," Nate insisted, still smiling. "You could have just got them to leave; you didn't have to try to get her to pay the restitution." He'd been amazed when he found out what his two exes had been up to behind his back… and while he was still very much ticked at Vanessa for lying to him and making him feel lower than low when she had said they weren't friends before, he couldn't find it in him to still be angry at Blair for everything that had happened last year. It was true. She didn't have to try for the money, but she had. She'd done everything she could to get him out of his predicament—and she didn't have to.
"Believe me," Blair rolled her eyes while tamping down on the emotions shooting through her. "It would have been well worth it." She was still angry at herself for getting so worked up in front of Vanessa… and she still couldn't forget the feeling of shame, betrayal, and humiliation that had seeped into her at the horrifying news. And she felt so worthless in that moment. All she wanted was to be happy and in love and to have someone put her first, someone who would never hurt her, and someone to just not cheat on her! Was it even possible?
"I'm sorry about Marcus," Nate said, knowing that it must have hurt her to find out the truth.
Blair snapped her head up and narrowed her eyes at him, "No one is to know about that!"
"I know—" Nate tried to assure her that he wouldn't say a word.
"Not even Chuck!" Blair all but hissed. "Especially not Chuck!" She quivered inside at the fall out of Chuck discovering everything.
"Believe me," Nate hastened to reassure her. "He's the last person I want to know about all this." He was still embarrassed about the situation he'd found himself in and would really rather not tell Chuck that he'd spurned his offer to become… basically a prostitute. He got a bad taste in his mouth and shook his head to clear it.
"Well… okay," Blair said, finally accepting his words as truth and relaxing with some relief. She gave a small smile.
"So, thank you," Nate repeated, nodding his head giving her an answering smile.
"You're welcome," Blair nodded and started to back away, on her way to meet the girls, before she remembered something. "Archibald?"
Nate waited for her to go on.
"If you ever need anything, let me know," she said. She knew it was a little strange to be saying that to him, but… she couldn't help but wonder what would have happened to him if he'd kept up this charade… he obviously hadn't gone to Chuck for any help at all or else Nate wouldn't have needed her help. Nate was a lot of things, but he was often misguided and needed some direction. She wasn't going to let him fall by the wayside, no matter what their history. They had never really had any type of closure, any really civil conversation… this was her way of letting him know that she had no more hard feelings about anything and just wanted to get back to being friends.
"Will do," he said, a little surprised at her words. But he shouldn't have been surprised. She may be a bitch to a lot of people, but her true friends—the ones who were beside her through thick and thin, the ones that she cared most about—she always had their backs. Blair was fiercely loyal.
"You too…" he whispered to her back. She was too far away now to hear his words, but at least he'd said them for his own peace of mind. Granted, he had his own issues to deal with, but if she ever needed him for anything—which probably wasn't likely—he'd be there for her too.
He wondered to the other side of the courtyard and found his best friend waiting for him.
"So what?" Chuck asked, not giving too much reaction to what he'd just seen. "You two talking again?" He nodded in Blair's direction.
"What?" Nate said, confused, turning his head to follow Chuck's indication. "Ah, nah man, had to ask her something." He shrugged off the question and sat down. "So, my house is like a tomb, want to do something tonight?" He changed the subject quickly, not wanting to go into any particulars about Blair right now. He pulled a notebook out of his bag.
"Hmm…" Chuck was barely paying attention to Nate's words, he was too busy admiring his handiwork. Blair had joined her friends, but all of their attention was on Serena. Blair kept trying to include herself in the conversation more, but she was back pedaled and interrupted at every exchange. He really was quite brilliant. "Oh, yeah, sure," he finally flashed on Nate's question.
"What's up?" Nate said, realizing that Chuck wasn't listening to him. He followed his gaze again and saw that Chuck was, once again, staring at Blair. The guy really had it bad. He just shook his head.
"Reveling in victory," Chuck drawled out, smirking.
Nate caught a whiff that something wasn't right. "What do you mean?"
"Haven't you heard?" Chuck asked, his voice heavy with amusement. "The return of the queen; Tolkien had it all wrong. Girls are much more entertaining."
"Huh?" Nate said, swiveling around in his chair again to look at Blair with her group. Something was a little wrong with the picture he was seeing…
"You'll learn soon enough," Chuck shrugged. "And she'll still get to rule if she sticks with lord-whats-his-face… she just won't be ruling here anymore."
And that's when Nate realized what was so out of place. Scarves… all the girls were wearing scarves… and Blair… why was Blair on the outskirts of the group and not the center of it? He hadn't seen that particular group formation since…
… before Serena left.
"What did you do?" Nate turned back sharply to look at Chuck in shock.
"Came out on top for once," Chuck said smugly.
"What did you do?" Nate snapped, glaring at Chuck now.
"Jeez, what's gotten into you?" Chuck said, completely not expecting the level of anger Nate seemed to be shooting at him.
"Anyone ever tell you that jealousy doesn't become you?" Nate snapped. He grabbed his bag and shoved the book back into it, tossing the flap back to close it. "Not to mention its pointless now."
"Wait, what?" Chuck tilted his head to the side, absorbing Nate's words.
"They broke up yesterday. He's on his way back to the mother country, or whatever," Nate said, making a joke that Chuck wouldn't be able to follow anyway, and it was sort of morbid, but it made him feel better to make fun of Catherine and Marcus privately at least.
He paused… maybe he wasn't supposed to mention that Blair and Marcus had broken up… he knew he wasn't supposed to say anything about why they broke up… shit, had he just made things worse for Blair after she helped him out? Crap.
"Well, I guess she won't have anyone to console her now that Serena has taken her crown back," Chuck said flippantly, showing faux pity, while covering up the fact that he was shocked: shocked to find out that Blair was single once again… and shocked that Nate knew about it before he did.
"Chuck!" Nate said in disbelief. He didn't understand how he could be so callous to a girl he was obsessed with.
"What?" Chuck asked, baffled by Nate's reaction.
Nate looked at the girls again and saw the look on Blair's face. She was getting pushed further to the back. She looked so vulnerable, like a lost little girl… and she would only put that face on if she knew for certain no one was paying any attention to her—he knew that at least.
He had to do something.
"Son of a—" he grabbed his bag and stood up, tossing a parting glare at Chuck before he left.
"Where are you going?" Chuck said, leaning forward and feeling like he was talking to air. Then he froze when he saw Nate's destination. What the hell?
"Nate!" the girls tried not to squeal when they saw who had just approached them. Even after all the crap had gone down with his father, the scandal still seemed to not touch him at all.
"Hey girls," he said, flashing his most charming smile. "I'm just going to steal Blair away for a moment." He reached his hand toward her and smiled encouragingly when her half assed attempt at a smile faltered.
"Blair?" he said, raising his eyebrows a little.
"Okay," she said, taking his hand. "Just a moment girls," she said to them.
He pulled her away, but made sure they were close enough so the eavesdropping girls couldn't help but over hear every word they said.
"Blair, I was… wondering if you wanted to go to dinner with me… tonight?" he asked.
Blair was completely flustered. Why was Nate here? Doing this? Asking her out? She thought they had reached a nice little place in their friendship moments ago. Why was he all of a sudden asking her out? And why would she want to go out with him again…
Then Nate flicked his eyes pointedly at the girls and she figured it out.
He was giving her a chance to win back some dignity in front of the girls. She still hadn't told them about the demise of her relationship with Marcus, and she hadn't had a moment when all the girls were paying attention to her at the same time all morning.
But they were all definitely paying attention to her now…
"I… sure," she said softly, smiling demurely.
"Pick you up at seven?" he asked, infusing hope in his voice.
"Seven," she nodded. She was about to back away but was startled when he reached out and tucked a stray tendril behind her ear. What was he doing?
"See you then," he said softly.
Blair tried her best not to trip over her feet when she backed away and rejoined the girls. She cast odd glances in Nate's direction, but eventually reverted back to the girls when they all vied for her attention at once. They wanted details stat!
"Nate asked you out? Oh my gosh!" Isabel squealed.
"And you're going? Wow," Nelly interjected.
"What about the lord?" Penelope asked.
"When did this happen, B?" Serena asked.
"Marcus who?" Blair said, smirking from ear to ear. "He had to leave yesterday, and I ultimately decided that I wasn't interested in a long distance relationship."
"Wait, you and Marcus broke up?" Penelope said. The girls gasped at the news.
"You know how they say distance makes the heart grow fonder?" Blair laughed. "Well, I say, out of sight, out of mind."
"So you and Nate again?" Serena prodded.
"I don't know," Blair shrugged. "Dinner tonight. It's just a date. Not anything serious. Take things slow."
"Are you two going to get back together?" Nelly almost squealed. She was still infatuated with the ideas of past couples reuniting… she still moaned about Todd every chance she got.
"Guess we'll have to wait and see…" Blair said.
"What was that?" Chuck stood up as Nate walked by, clearly about to bypass his table.
"I'm having dinner with Blair," Nate spat out. "Deal with it."
"Nate—" Chuck didn't know what this meant and it was definitely not something he had expected.
Nate turned on him. "Do you have any idea what she's been—," he cut himself off. "No, sorry, I guess you wouldn't. Too busy playing stupid childish games."
"Since when did you become Blair's White Knight?" Chuck asked, feeling his dormant emotions rising worse than anything he'd ever felt upon seeing Blair with Marcus.
"Since the guy I thought loved her decided to fuck with her life," Nate snapped. He didn't know where all this protectiveness toward Blair was coming from, but he just felt like after all she'd done for him… she didn't deserve this.
"She deserved it," Chuck replied flippantly. She'd messed with his enough.
"No, she didn't," Nate griped. "She deserves better." He gave Chuck a withering glance. "Especially better than you."
Floored and more than a little pissed off, Chuck searched for words. "And what? You're it?"
"If the shoe fits," Nate lied. He was just trying to protect and help Blair; he wasn't really interested in dating her again.
"Nice analogy, Cinderella," Chuck quipped. "Thought you were done being Blair's Prince Charming." He almost gagged on the words.
"Someone has to," Nate said before turning and stalking off.
To be continued…