The gallery was crowded. A lot of people had come to look at his ex-wife's work. His eyes lingered on a particularly interesting piece.
He turned away after a moment, looking for the woman herself. After about a half a minute, some people moved and he saw her in a corner talking to… Blair Waldorf? He frowned, watching as the two women talked. Blair was using her phone and then they shook hands, smiling at one another formally. It was an odd looking exchange to Rufus's eye. Blair then left the gallery.
Rufus moved to intercept his ex-wife before she started another conversation. She smiled warmly when she saw him. When he got close enough, she kissed him on the cheek swiftly.
"You made it." She said happily. He frowned slightly.
"I said I'd be here." He told her, slightly perplexed. She nodded.
"I didn't mean anything by that." She said swiftly. "I've just gotten used to people…" She spread her hands slightly and shrugged; looking for words and failing to find them. "…never mind. What do you think?" She asked nodding her head at the walls.
"They're beautiful Alison." She smiled. "What did Blair want?" He asked, changing the subject. She looked at him quizzically. He nodded his head in the direction Blair had gone. "You were just talking with her?"
"Oh, the art buyer? She wanted to know how long I'd be in New York. She's interested in that piece." Alison pointed at the work Rufus had been looking at earlier. "She mentioned that she works for a van der Bilt, but I didn't catch a first name. Hopefully it doesn't come up the next time I see her." She smiled ruefully.
"Since she was lying, it probably won't." Rufus told her.
"What do you mean?" Alison frowned.
"That was Blair Waldorf."
"Like… Waldorf Designs Waldorf?" She asked.
"Yeah," He nodded twice slowly. "…also our son's ex-girlfriend."
"Dan and that girl?...Interesting." She looked thoughtful.
"I thought he would have mentioned something." He said.
"I knew there was someone." She shrugged. "There were some… meaningful gaps when we spoke or emailed… and since he wasn't saying anything, I assumed he was seeing Serena van der Woodsen again."
"No." He answered, frowning at the glass door from which Blair had left.
"Instead he was dating the daughter of a very wealthy clothing designer," She raised her eyebrows at him. "…who just lied to me about being an art buyer for some reason?"
"Yeah."
"I think I like this one." She said with a smile.
Blair paced across her room while Dorota watched.
"She's with him." She turned and continued to pace. "She wants him back, anyway. I'm sure about that, at the very least. You should have seen her face when she saw him there: Ten kinds of pathetic... and she's staying in New York 'for a few weeks at least, but who knows? Maybe longer...' according to her." She turned again and saw Dorota's face. Her maid looked worried. "What?" She asked, exasperated; she waved a hand and rolled her eyes.
"They not see you looking? What about Mr Humphrey; he not see you there?"
"It was night time." Blair said slowly and pedantically. "Bright lights inside. Dark outside. That means that all they saw was their own reflections." There was a long pause and Blair collapsed inward slightly. "I'm sorry… I'm really tired." She said. All of the energy seemed to have drained out of her and she walked slowly over to her bed and dropped herself into it heavily.
"I know, Miss Blair." Dorota said softly as she left the room.
Morning light filtered into Blair's room from the window. Blair was using her laptop while her maid looked on anxiously.
Ultimately, Blair decided that what was called for was a swift and shattering blow applied to the cracking surface. She pushed her laptop away from herself, lying back in her bed thinking.
"I need Bart's itinerary. Which might be a problem."
"Why?"
"Dorota…" Blair said, shaking her head at having to point out the obvious. "He spent two years in hiding because some people wanted him dead." She shrugged and added. "That kind of fear doesn't just go away; when someone fears assassination, they tend to be less forthcoming when it comes to their future plans."
"No Miss Blair." Dorota shook her head then elaborated; "Why you need itinerary?"
"I've decided that the original plan stands. Even though Rufus is probably back together with the first former Mrs. Humphrey, conflict between the second former Mrs. Humphrey and either of the other two will still rip Dan and Serena apart. It might even be more spectacular." Dorota looked at Blair blankly. "They'll take sides;" Blair clarified. "Serena will stand up for her mother, despite how often they don't see eye to eye. Dan will side with whichever of his parents Lily decides is most responsible for her misery and then…" She shrugged and snapped her fingers. " my work is done."
Blair found a likely candidate in a directory on Chuck's phone. She called the woman, and arranged to give her one of Bart's pills(a real one) and instructed her to drop it into his drink on their 'date'… unobtrusively of course.
"It's what he wants." Blair said into the phone. "Mr. Bass likes the illusion of a real encounter, so make a flirtatious approach, find an opportunity… and he'll play along." She explained.
She consulted Bart's calendar, (which she had obtained by borrowing Chuck's phone for a half a minute) and arranged a date, time and place Bart was scheduled to be.
"Afterwards," Blair said to Dorota. "Bart will hopefully conclude that his and Lily's problems are the result of him not being interested in her anymore. Which will in turn lead to a brutally swift end to the Bart and Lily story."
"You set up boyfriend's papa with prostitute," Dorota said. " so that boyfriend's papa breaks up with ex-boyfriend's ex-stepmother." Dorota used a finger to punctuate each separate element. "so that ex-boyfriend's ex-stepmother gets together with ex-boyfriend's papa. So that ex-boyfriend breaks up with girlfriend."
"If you don't have a better idea, then close your mouth Dorota." Blair said tightly.
"Hire prostitute to sleep with ex-boyfriend. Then girlfriend break up with ex-boyfriend." Dorota offered after a moment. Blair thought about it, then shook her head.
"Dan's never been one for meaningless sex. He might cheat, but there would have to be emotions involved." Blair shook her head again. "The only way that would work is if I somehow brought Vanessa Abrams or…" She shuddered slightly. "…Georgina Sparks back to New York. Any satisfaction I'd get from breaking Dan and Serena up would be obliterated completely if one of those two ended up in his orbit. That cure is worse than the disease." Dorota sighed then hesitated, looking at Blair.
"Miss Blair sleep with Lonely Boy…" Dorota said finally: Blair turned a vicious glare on her maid. "…Lonely Boy and Miss Serena break up." Dorota continued in a softer tone, not meeting Blair's irate eye.
Dan made an occasional thoughtful noise as he read. Serena smiled; she remembered noticing that years earlier and a particular time when she'd gotten bored and made him stop reading… She derailed that thought before it could get any further. She shook her head and looked around at Dan's hotel room. A well appointed suite.. even by Serena's standards.
"This is nice." She said, interrupting his reading. He looked up with a frown.
"The room?" he asked looking around. "Yeah, Alessandra set it up for me, the loft's been… crowded."
"And… noisy." Serena said, grinning at his discomfort.
"Serena…"
"What? I think they're sweet." Dan winced. "Makes you believe in real…" Her eyes lingered on him. "life-long connections." Dan forcefully returned his attention to the papers he'd been poring over a moment before.
"Why did you choose Yale?" She asked after a minute.
"You too?" Dan asked with a shake of the head. Serena gave him a quizzical head tilt and raised eyebrows. "Blair asked me the same thing." He explained. Serena frowned.
"I'm not surprised." Serena said slowly. "Blair was obsessed with Yale."
"Well, I actually got into Yale as well… twice, technically. It doesn't belong to her." He frowned. "Does she even still…?" He shook his head with incomprehension.
"… Still what?" Serena asked.
"She's taking over as CEO of a multi-million dollar company. But she came to Brooklyn" He used Blair's intonation on the word and met Serena's eyes for emphasis. "To quiz me about my transfer application." Serena watched his eyes go slightly out of focus, then he wrote a few lines down on a blank page. She moved closer to see what he'd written.
BB likes her jewelry.
BB likes her shoes.
BB likes to tell herself
that she will never lose.
"I wonder who that's about." She said ironically.
"Subtlety is overrated." Dan replied. Serena looked at her watch.
"I have to go... See you later?" She asked
"Yeah." Dan said distractedly, he was looking at what he'd written. Serena hesitated then walked to the door. She glanced at Dan who was still focused on his work, opened and then closed the door behind her softly.
Dan sighed and tapped his pen on the desk. Then he added a few more lines.
BB can be so soft,
BB can be so fair.
BB will never believe,
that anyone will care.
He growled and crumpled up the page. "I could give seminars in melancholy." He threw the paper ball across the suite. "Boring and clichéd seminars." He got up swiftly and left the hotel room.
"Serena!" He called. "Hold the elevator." Serena held the door open and smiled at him as he joined her.
This might be called an involuntary submission. Still, I think it's fair game given how relevant it is to the people in question. It doesn't even expose anyone per se. So here you are my devoted followers, a bit of poetry from a bygone era:
Who am I?
So silly soft and sick
a taste of fear and
my all important spear,
Can you feel it prick?
Says He:
I'll fuck you blind,
'Cause I fuck ugly,
You won't see,
so you won't mind.
You know who,
Pale princess full of ice,
played the innocent not once, but twice.
However, to be blunt.
This one is no virgin cunt.
Says She:
I'll fuck you, if you'll let me see
someone else, not you but me.
Someone blonde, someone fair,
someone who pretends to care.
This, my friends, is what you see
when you strip fake royalty
Come and bow. Have no fear,
panderers are oh so welcome here.
Hmmm... shall I give it a try?:
Embittered toward B.
An almost palpable hatred for C.
I wonder, could it be…?
But I suppose it might have been V.
You know you love me. XOXO. Gossip Girl.