Title: Love Me If You Dare
Chapter 2: Limitless
Author: Ellibells
Summary: A game of dares between two beautiful strangers. Based on the French film, Love Me If You Dare. Chuck and Blair have never met until they meet on separate blind dates in a bar. Blair wants wild, crazy leaps and Chuck is like a fish to water. Hook, Line and Sinker.
A/N: Hey kids! Thank you all so much for all of the wonderful reviews I received! Quite honestly I had a good feeling about this story and the plot I started with but I am sooo HAPPY that you all like it! I am going to make a promise that this is not going to follow Two Beautiful Strangers, but the premise of Chuck and Blair feeling safe and comfortable with each other although they are strangers is involved here.
I think i'm talking a load of bull! I know what I want to say but I can't say it properly! Ahhhhhh!
Again, I hope you get involved and feel some of the character's emotions here and the atmosphere I am trying to set. Think season 1 Chair! Games, deceit, sexiness! Get lost with me!
Ps. If this chapter feels slow or as if I am not giving enough away as yet, then that is what is supposed to be happening! I need to get you hooked before I can release the madness! ;) enjoy!
Disclaimer: *I do not own Chair or the film, Love Me If You Dare…But I do own Ed Westwick… ;)*
"Where are we going?" Blair lolled her head as she was pulled from the limo, standing below the tall building before her.
Half wishing she hadn't drank so much or drank so little and been a light weight, she was thankful he was there to offer her a tug in the right direction.
"Up." Chuck replied bluntly as Blair latched onto his arm, following the dark stranger.
"Lead the way!"
She'd agreed to go anywhere, even if she had no clue where she was. The only thing that reminded her she was on the Upper Side of Manhattan was the taste of the building she was currently venturing through, smiling appreciatively at the décor as she made her path with him.
He pulled her in an elevator in the lobby of the hotel and within moments she was slumped against the wall. Glancing over at him occasionally, she noted he was resting against the opposing wall, not ever looking at her but staring at the door.
He was dressed with perfection. She wondered only now why she hadn't noticed it before. He was wearing a two-piece grey suit, crisp white shirt, a discretely patterned pink tie, a complimenting pocket square and dropping her sights to his feet, his outfit was finished off with a pair of brown Bottegas. It really was delectable and she couldn't help herself from imagining what lay under all of those layers of expensive cloth.
When she felt him look up to see her staring at him, she snapped her eyes away from his chest and replaced her vacant stare of interest with blushed cheeks. He smiled at her knowingly.
Within moments she had coughed them out of their reverie and she spoke.
"Can I ask you something?"
"Anything." He nodded, looking towards the beautiful woman across from him.
The blush of her cheeks only made her more delicious and he couldn't help, nor would he stop himself from admiring her outfit of choice.
Although her coat covered most of the blue material, she was dressed in a tasteful, thigh length dress which was pulled in at the waist with a deep red belt. From the memory of her without her coat in the bar, the neck line was high before swooping low at the back, advertising the perfect shape of her shoulder blades and neck as her chocolate brown locks held to the side as if placed there purposely to make him melt.
He couldn't deny anything from her. To be quite honest physical attraction was something he lived, strived for, but with her, it was most certainly not just that. She had a presence that sent chills down his spine. An alluring aura that made him want to stalk her, obey her, consume her every wish.
She was buzzing from the alcohol but Chuck could tell she wasn't her usual self. As if something else had triggered the start of their game, something in the back of her mind that she had pushed away and replaced with a sense of mystery. Even though in normal circumstances, Chuck would have already bedded such a gorgeous figure, he felt compelled to stay at arms reach.
"Why would you agree to such a random event when you don't even know me?"
She hadn't asked herself this in the bar because she wanted someone by her side, she needed it. There was something about this, Bass that made her trust him. She had never had that with a stranger before.
"I have taken risks all my life. I've never had a constant in my life and meeting you in that bar, something in me changed. The way you were, the way you spoke. You made me want to take a leap with you, however long this lasts, I don't think I can bring myself to resist the mystery."
"Does that answer your question?" He asked her as the elevator doors opened and he reached for her hand.
She was frowning at him but let him take her hand as he led her through a dark hallway and towards a stairwell.
"I'm not sure." She admitted as she squeezed his hand tighter.
Before she knew it, half out of breath, her blushed cheeks were hit with a cool breeze; her hair running in dismay across her face as she gasped for air in the new coolness of the environment.
"Why are we up here?" Blair called to Chuck as the heavy breeze rushed into her lungs.
"You took the ring?..." He sounded back, a smile on his face as he continued to lead her to the edge.
"No! I know I did and I don't regret it but why here?" She asked again as she stayed close to him, using his arm as leverage to get closer to him, hoping the gesture of her chilliness would be enough to allow her to stay connected with him.
At this point the breeze became too much and she found solace in the warmth against his chest, wrapped partially in his large jacket that wrapped his body. He didn't deny her actions and allowed her in, his arms looping over shoulders.
For two strangers this should have been an awkward embrace but it felt normal, like they had never known any better, something unfamiliar to Chuck.
"When i'm stressed, angry, need to think, I come up here. I just stand and watched…I feel free, insignificant..." He mumbled to her.
If she hadn't been this close, the strong breeze would have stopped her from hearing. Part of him would have preferred it but something in him allowed everything to seep out.
"Why would you want to feel insignificant?..."
"Because my life is full of expectations, people watching me, needing me to be something I'm not."
She heard him clearly. It was exactly what she wanted to feel like sometimes. But then other times she felt insignificant and just wanted to explode, make someone notice. Scream. Maybe that's why she was stood here with him? She needed to rebel, get out of the cage she had been put in by her mother. Herself. Society.
Blair Waldorf knew full well she wasn't insignificant on the Upper East Side, not for a moment. She had been through her teens as Queen B. No one crossed her but yet all the popularity and position offered her nothing, not behind closed doors, not when her mother couldn't do anything other than put her down, expect better. Not when her father left her.
"There is more to you than meets the eye, isn't there." Blair pronounced.
"Isn't there always?" He shrugged, looking down at her as she looked upon the skyline.
There was something about having him there that made her want to take a step forward, loll on the edge and feel adrenaline rush through her body. Maybe this stranger would catch her, maybe he wouldn't. Would it matter? Probably.
"Not with everyone."
He didn't deny her opinion but absently pushed his hand into his warm pocket.
"You're Bart Bass' son?" She asked calmly, looking up at him as he looked towards the skyline this time.
"And you're Harold and Eleanor Waldorf's daughter."
"How did you-"
"It's my business to know. I deal with Upper East Side socialites everyday. Just because we run in different circles doesn't mean we're unaware of each others prestige."
"Adoring mother and father, old money...you live the perfect life. What would make you want to step out of the box is a mystery to me." He admitted as he felt her step away from him, the space next to him now filling with a coolness that was somewhat disheartening.
"Don't you dare act like you know me. You're father left you heir to a billion dollar company and you are spending your time chasing after a game with me. You had no reason to get into this with me, so I could ask you the same question. You have no right to judge me." She spat, aware that as of now, she as already too involved. It was her full intention to stay at arms length but looking at his penetrating hazel eyes, even in the dark she could tell he looked deeper than everyone else. They had only just met and she felt safely intimidated by his presence.
"That's not what this is-"
"Don't. Just- when I agreed to this, I didn't want to feel anything, know anything. Everyday with every aspect of my life I box my feelings aside and get too involved but not now- not with this."
"What are you trying to say?" He frowned stepping closer to the edge so he could look over.
"That this is one thing I can control. Whatever happens, we can't get involved. No emotions. No regrets. Just, yes or no from here on out."
"I don't have feelings; I'm not capable of feeling anything so I'd say we don't have a problem here." He confirmed as he turned to her. His once cool expression now blunt.
The expression on her face was relief but deeper down he saw something more, like she was already losing control.
"Cap." She swore for them both but when Chuck didn't agree, merely with a nod even, she didn't care. She had already slipped the ring off her index finger and was reaching for his palm.
He didn't resist her actions but instead of slipping the ring onto his finger, his hand dipped into his pocket and it stayed there. The ring sitting alone at the bottom of his empty pocket.
"Come to Paris with me." He blurted out just as she turned to walk along to expanse of the rooftop, admiring the illuminated kingdom before her.
"When?" She turned in surprise, as of their last exchange hadn't even occurred in any such temper.
"I have a business trip next Saturday. Get on a plane with me and come to Paris. Cap ou pas cap?"
"I couldn't possibly agree to such terms in advance. Ask me later. But right now, I'm tired. Take me home?" She begged in soft tones.
With that Chuck nodded as walked towards the staircase they had come from, not before pausing to watch the brunette take one last look upon the Manhattan skyline.
He hadn't quite noticed it before but as she walked towards him, there was a sorrow in her eyes, a loneliness which he only ever thought he saw when he looked in the mirror. As she came closer, she stopped for a moment to run her hand down one of the lapels of his jacket, thanking him before leading the way down the dimly lit staircase.
Their car journey home was silent and Chuck had quite honestly never felt more comfortable yet misplaced.
The way they had met and the manner in which she hadn't expected anything of him; asked any questions about his past. Everything only made him more addicted to the mere beginnings of their game. He wanted to play this game.
All his life his conquests had been about the satisfaction at the end of it and just another warm body to keep him company for a short period but meeting this rare beauty, the comfort he sought was not a short term one but a warmth of a friendship with no pretence involved, no emotions other than loyalty through an agreement of dares, a game that was limitless.
A/N: Let me start off by saying I absolutely despised this chapter! It was shit and I sincerely apologise! The next will be better but I needed to get the groundwork done here! I needed to set more of the scene and what emotions or lack of they were each going into this game with.
The movie follows a plot of two childhood best friends not getting involved emotionally on the outside until the dares get riskier and they get older. This is what I wanted to base this story on. Initially Chuck and Blair are only in this for the mystery, the curiosity, the need to satisfy a rebellion they both have and by them connecting with each other in a way that is not necessarily physical to start with, but based on personality with the only promise of loyalty and the ring as insurance, they build this love hate relationship which will be pure madness!
As you may have picked up, they both are showing underlying feelings but Chuck more so than Blair is uprooting them and I think where I am going with this is a nice change from the show in the fact that Blair was usually the one to encourage Chuck's openness but now Chuck is the one who wants to look deeper into Blair.
Are you with me? I'm gonna stop babbling! That probably didn't make sense but trust me when I say the next chapter will be more fun, crazy, risqué and really getting into the spirit of cap ou pas cap. Cap?
Please let me know what you thought of it, any favourite bits? Requests, feelings? Anything :D and thank you again for all the fab reviews! Keep them coming!
