With or Without You
By: Cliff Zingler
Chapter One

Last night was a night to forget, according to Chuck Bass. He woke up from a particularly restless night, his head pounding from having one too many drinks at the bar downstairs. He stumbled out of bed, walking over to the bathroom, but stopped as he caught a reflection of himself in a nearby mirror.

I look like hell.

His eyes were bloodshot, probably a mixture from the drinks and lack of sleep. His dark, chestnut brown hair struck out in every direction imaginable. He sighed, thanking God that it was the weekend. School was not an option right now.

All of a sudden, there was a faint knock on the door.

"If it's room service, come back later. If it's Nathaniel, I don't want to talk to you now. If it's Lexie, Alex, or Jamie, well… frankly, I'm not in the mood," he groaned. But the knocking persisted, steadily growing louder. Chuck grabbed his striped robe that hung from his door and covered his scantily clothed self. When he finally opened the door, it took a few moments for his eyes to return to their normal size.

"What are you doing here?" he smirked, indeed wondering why Blair Waldorf had been knocking on his door so early in the morning, or rather, the afternoon. He gulped, trying very hard not to notice how delicately beautiful she looked, her dark curls framing her face, her trademark headband with it.

"You know, it is rather early, but if you'd like a quickie or something – "

Before he could finish his sentence, she slapped him hard across the cheek.

"That was for last night, for treating me the way you did. Because I am not worthless. I am better than you or Nate will ever be. If it weren't for Serena, I would be in France with Daddy and Roman right now. But I'm not going to run away from something like this. I'm a Waldorf, not a Bass, who flies away to Monaco because he got rejected."

That hit a soft spot for Chuck, who was growing more and more surprised by the minute at this new, vivacious Blair.

Oh, she was like this all along. I was the only one who could get her riled up like this.

"Look, Blair, about last night…"

"I don't want to hear it. Knowing you, it's going to be a lie, anyway."

She turned to leave, but he grabbed her hand. She instantly recoiled, disgust written all over her face.

"Don't touch me!"

"Blair, wait. Have a drink with me. We need to talk…"

"No. I'm through Chuck. This isn't some joke. You ruined my life. You'll regret it, and be sorry." She stalked out of the room, slamming the door shut behind her.

"That went well. Jesus," Chuck muttered, scratching his head and walking over to his bar to make himself his specialty drink.

"She doesn't know what she does to me," he murmured, quickly chugging down the thick green liquid that burned on the way down his throat.

Blair hardly knew what she was getting into when she found herself banging on Chuck Bass's door, but she knew one thing: she was done running away from her problems. She was tired of running, tired of lying, tired of hiding. But something inside made her hesitate before she knocked on his door.

I'm not going to do this anymore. He hurt me, both him and Nate.

She was determined to stand her ground when she got to Chuck's suite. After everything he said to her, after everything he had put her through, how could she do anything but hate him?

"I don't see why anyone would want you…"

She was right to do what she did, to confront Chuck. She knew she was right.

Then why do I feel so down?

Chuck held his hand up at his driver's question.

"No, James. I'm going… I'm going for a walk."

"A walk, sir?"

"Yes, you know, where you use your own two feet to move about? I'll be back in a little while. I just need to get out of here."

Without another word, Chuck wrapped his scarf tighter around his throat, the bitter winds cold against his face. He wandered wherever his feet took him, unsure of his destination. But he had to get out of the suite. He was… confined… trapped… He whipped out his cell phone and searched through his numbers to fins someone to call. But there was no one. His ex best friend, Nate, had turned against him and wanted nothing to do with him. Serena was no doubt with Brooklyn, and wouldn't appreciate getting a call from Chuck Bass, famed womanizer. He really wasn't in the mood for the usual girls – they just didn't hold any appeal to him anymore. He stopped when he saw Blair's number.

It was obvious, now that he thought about it. They were bound to wind up together. During Blair's on and off relationship with Nate since kindergarten, Chuck recalled Blair spending more time with him than her own boyfriend…

"Chuck, why isn't he calling? This isn't like him – he always calls me to say good night!" Blair whined into the phone. Chuck sighed loudly, pausing a very mature video at he listened to his friend complain yet again.

"Is that why you called me, Walforf? Because your Prince Charming didn't cal you?"

"Oh, I'm sorry. Did I interrupt your porn extravaganza, Chuck? Well, you can pause it for a little while, you pig."

"Oh, you know you like it Blair," he chuckled, not at all surprised that she knew exactly what he was doing.

"But Chuck, why didn't he call? He always calls. You're his best friend. Where is he?"

"How am I supposed to know that, Blair? He's probably asleep – you know how busy he's been lately, studying and trying to get his grades back up," Chuck replied, knowing full well that his best friend was probably off somewhere mooning over Serena's disappearance. Honestly, the boy was ridiculous.

"But it's not like him.."

"Look. I'll be over there in a few, ok? We can watch your favorite movie – Breakfast at Tiffany's."

"Chuck, don't worry about it…"

"I'm on my way."

It all made sense now. He had been falling for her for years now. And there was nothing he could do about it.

"Erghhh. Why?" he groaned, shutting his eyes tightly for a moment.

"What the hell am I doing?"

"Dan! Stop! I'm trying to focus!" Serena giggled, swatting his face away.

"Focus on what? Shakespeare? You?" he joked, stealing a kiss before she slapped his lips away.

"In case you've forgotten, Mr. Know-It-All, we've got a huge test on Shakespeare Monday. And I for one am going to try and study! Now, go get me a caramel latte, please?" She smiled as he unwillingly got up. As we was walking over to the bar, he noticed a familiar figure outside the café's window.

"Uh, Serena? Since when does Chuck Bass walk?"

"What?!" she nearly jumped out of her seat, walking over to the window next to Dan.

"What is he doing?" she scrunched her eyes, bewildered at the sight of Chuck walking down the street. She reached for the door, but Dan placed his hand over hers.

"What? I wanna see what he's up to."

"Serena, don't. As much as we all love your good intentions, he doesn't seem so eager for company – especially us." Serena sighed, shrugging her shoulders and slowly turning away from the window and back to the mountain of Shakespearean volumes that were lying on the table.

"Fine, let's get back to studying. But I still wonder what he's doing, walking around in the cold like that."

A/N: And there is chapter one. Please review, and let me know what you think. I've written a few chapters after this, but I'm not exactly sure where it's going. We shall see. I'll keep posting if you all stay interested!

cheers