I'm terribly sorry for the delay in posting this chapter, but hopefully I can be forgiven.
Disclaimer: I do not own Gossip Girl, no copyright infringement intended.
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Blair toyed with the idea of skipping out of the rest of the day to go feed the ducks with Dorota and think about her plan of action for the afternoon, but nothing and no one was worth ruining her perfect attendance. Besides her meeting with Chuck would happen whether she attended school or not, the real question was why.
And what should she wear?
She spent half of the next class mentally searching her wardrobe for the perfect outfit, but settled on staying in her Constance uniform. Chuck shouldn't get the impression that she was trying hard to impress him, even if she really was fretting. She didn't know what kind of game this would turn become.
The afternoon could not come quick enough to kill her curiosity.
Time drudged on in the last class of the day while Blair kept shifting anxiously in her seat, crossing and uncrossing her legs while staring at the clock. Serena giggled at her from the desk at her side and poked her in the ribs with the tip of her pen.
"Ants in your skirt, B? What's up?"
Blair realized that she had been fidgeting, a trait unbecoming and beneath her and looked over at Serena bashfully, lifting a shoulder towards her ear in answer.
Serena looked mildly concerned with her response before twisting a long blonde strand of her hair around her fingers.
"Is it about you know who and Cotillion?" Serena asked quietly, trying not to say too much as Is and Hazel were sitting in front of them and she didn't want them to be aware of the plan just yet.
"You're going to Cotillion with Voldemort?" Is asked, her shoulders twisted in her chair to stare at Blair and laugh in her face.
Blair rolled her eyes and scoffed at her friend. "You would. You're such a nerd, Is. Put your nose back in your book and mind your own business."
Is face turned red with anger and she turned further to look at Serena, who only pursed her lips and tilted her head in question. "How many times did you see those movies, anyway?"
Is huffed angrily before turning back to her desk before the girls poked more fun at her little summer obsession they had discovered. It was lighthearted, but always embarrassed her terribly.
"Anyways B, want to talk about you know what at mine after school? I don't really want to go to Nate's game. We can work on our psych project then, too."
Blair's mind stumbled looking for an adequate excuse, rarely ever saying no to Serena, before responding, "I actually can't this afternoon, maybe this evening?"
"You can't?" Serena asked in astonishment.
"I have an appointment." Blair thought maybe leaving it open-ended would make it believable. She wondered why she hadn't told Serena the whole truth before now, they rarely kept secrets from one another, but Blair knew that there was no way she could divulge everything in such a short amount of time. She also knew that when Serena does find out she would either blow it way out of proportion and plan their wedding for the next weekend or think she was crazy. Well, crazier.
Serena rested her chin in her hand while gazing at her friend disappointed. "Well, text me after?"
"Of course." Blair smiled brilliantly at her very best friend and swore to herself that when she did text or call she would fess up on everything, depending on how the meeting went. Friends were there to lean on each other through it all.
Her anxiousness returned tenfold with the ding of the bell signaling the end of classes. Standing up Blair grabbed her things and walked out the door quickly, waving goodbye to the girls who gave her curious glances and half-hearted goodbyes in return.
Grabbing the rest of her books and trinkets out of her locker she made her way to the exit and quickly began her journey home. She had decided first and foremost to tell Dorota everything, just in case Chuck Bass was a secret murderer with a twisted intuition.
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As soon as Blair arrived home she immediately called for Dorota to prepare tea and have it brought up to her room.
Entering her room she dropped her bags and books on her bed before making her way to look out the window at the park below. Looking at the trees below always calmed her and that was exactly what she needed. To be calm.
She couldn't help but ponder how much to divulge to Dorota. Her maid often times read her like a book, so she didn't want to seem too affected when she asked for advice or else she might not be able to get out of the house. Turning around she made her way to her vanity, deciding to freshen up before it was time to leave. She wanted to look perfect on the outside because her emotions were a mess enough on the inside.
Dorota bustled in the door, glancing at Blair primping before tutting at her, "Miss Blair, come have tea and snack."
Blair gazed at her reflection for a moment in the mirror before listening to Dorota and heading for the small table where the tray had been placed. She sat down and gestured Dorota to do the same. Dorota only raised her eyebrows before sitting down and pouring them both a cup of green tea. Noticing Blair's sense of anticipation Dorota set her cup down and stared at her young charge.
"Miss Blair, tell me."
"I think I've met him." Blair blurted out hurriedly, not wanting to lose her courage to tell Dorota. She paused and took a delicate sip of her green tea before holding the cup tightly between her hands, feeling the warmth seep into her fingers. "We're meeting again this afternoon."
Dorota's eyes were huge as she stared at her Blair, looking at the face that she had watched lose the baby fat of adolescence. She was a young lady and as such was allowed to make her own choices, but it was in times like these that she wished she could have more influence over her.
"How do you know, Miss Blair, and why you meeting strange man so soon after meeting, it's not proper."
Blair smiled to herself. Not proper was right. She knew that it wasn't normal to be meeting a boy alone after only meeting at school, not in their society. However, it was also the 21st century and she wasn't going to let something like that stop her from an interesting encounter. She was too intrigued to turn back.
"What do I say to him, Dorota?" Blair asked quietly. "Do I tell him about the dreams? Do I hide it all? Do I wait until he brings anything up?"
Her voice was shaking near the end and she wished she had Serena to talk to, who always knew how to calm her down from the edge, but only Dorota knew this side of her life.
"Miss Blair you should wait until he brings it up. You don't know who may be behind any of this. You sometimes have enemies hiding in strange places. You don't want him spreading rumors of you and your dreams." She paused before raising an eyebrow. "You know how your mother reacts and she wouldn't hesitate to send you to Ostroff center if she thought it necessary. You don't want that."
Blair listened aptly, nodding her head to Dorota's wisdom, but doubting her in the same breath. Chuck Bass was brand new at school; he had enough money to be a game changer if he wished to be. No one would have influenced him into doing their dirty work. Not this quickly. It wouldn't make sense.
"How did you meet this man?" Dorota asked suspiciously, fishing for more details.
"He goes to school with me. Chuck Bass. That's his name. He is Bart Bass's son. Today was his first day Dorota, and something was there between us."
"Blair! Attraction, lust, want, need; boys at this age want many different things and will go to great length to attain it." Her voice had taken a lecturing mother like quality and Blair rolled her eyes and took another sip of her tea, staring into the bottom of the cup, wishing it held the answer.
"It isn't like that Dorota, something is strange about him."
A trill like sound came from the phone downstairs and Blair nodded at Dorota to go see who it might be. After a few moments Dorota came back upstairs, a frown on her face.
"Doorman said that a limo is waiting for you, Miss Blair." She had a very serious look on her face before stepping closer to her. "Be honest with him, but also be careful with yourself. I'm here when you return, we go feed ducks."
Blair smiled at her maid and nodded. She grabbed her bag from her bed before heading out her bedroom door before turning back to Dorota, "If anyone calls or stops by, tell them I am at an appointment."
Dorota nodded solemnly in response.
And with that she listened to her own heels click down the stairs as she walked to the elevator and the unknown that awaited her downstairs.
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The driver opened the door for her and as she stepped into the limo and sat down on the smooth black leather seats her eyes were blinded for a moment from the contrast of the sunshine outside to the inner darkness.
She felt him, though, in the limo with her. Deciding not to waste time with greetings she asked, "I thought you were going to wait for me at the Palace?"
"Maybe you'll remember, or you'll soon be finding out, that I like to surprise."
Her eyes were slowly adjusting to the near blackness inside the limo and she felt herself settle into the seat, searching for his eyes. A period of silence took over the two as the limo merged back into traffic and the buildings began to blur around them.
"This is the earliest that we've ever met." His voice seemed to creep over to her; the gravelly sound in it sent shivers down her spine.
She wasn't exactly sure what he was talking about, but her body hummed with knowing.
"We've never met before." She trailed off quietly, in a matter of fact tone.
"Are you sure, sweetheart?" Chuck's voice was light, but now that her eyes were well adjusted she could see his gaze was burning as he stared at her face. She wasn't used to people displaying such intensity, especially around herself. People on the Upper East Side were usually docile enough to live within their own delusions of happiness and grace.
She only nodded in response to his question, slowly, and felt a blush creep up her neck when she watched Chuck sigh and turn his face away from her to stare out the window and rub the back of his neck absentmindedly.
"So, this is how you want to play it?" His voice was laced with something, like a match that was poised to strike and set fire with anger and she felt her chest tighten; she didn't want him angry. "You just want to play pretend and act like we are complete strangers."
"But we are strangers, Chuck." She felt her quiet voice shaking for some reason, unable to explain her emotions. She was used to being one hundred percent in control, with the desirable outcome already determined.
Suddenly, he was right next to her on the seat, leaving no space between them. She felt his warmth seep into her side and she turned her body to see him better. He raised one of his hands and tucked a wayward curl behind her ear before running his hand down her cheek and continuing down her neck with his thumb lingering against her throat sensuously trailing down before curling around her collar bone and back up again.
His eyes were following his hands journey, but she couldn't take her eyes off of his face, his striking features so close to her own that she could study them in detail. She didn't relax, but she couldn't help but allow herself to be still and feel all that he was inducing. She felt like she was in some sort of a trance as he touched her, while a spark of desire curled in her stomach.
"We've gone this route before, you know." He whispered into her side. "Playing getting to know you and minding the rules of the game, set by society." He licked his lips as he trailed his fingers along her cheek again grazing her cupids bow before bringing his thumb and forefinger into hold with her chin, making sure their eyes were meeting. "It's a waste of time and I prefer not to, but I'll play it all again if it pleases you."
Blair could only blink in response and think about what he meant, 'if it pleases her.' Her brain and body didn't seem to be fully connected or catching up with reality. No one had ever been this fresh with her before, talked or touched her in this manner. It felt more intimate than both of the kisses she had experienced, and more possessive than anything she had ever read or seen in a film.
"I know you feel this," Chuck's voice was gruff with conviction, "I know that you feel something for me and I bet," he paused, his thumb now stroking her jawline as his other hand tenderly took hold of one of her hands in his own, "that you may even have unexplained circumstances you've already connected to me. Something you tell nobody. Something I already know about you, but would like you to tell me about. Will you tell me, Blair?"
Blair opened her mouth confused. Chuck squeezed her hand in comfort and she felt overcome with emotion. Dorota had always mentioned that telling anyone of her dreams could get her sent to the Ostroff center, which could go on her record and maybe even hurt her chances of Yale, which was her end goal. However, Chuck already seemed to know about them.
And then it clicked.
"You have them?" Her voice was sure, but soft and she leaned into his touch, her hand reaching to touch him in return. It was the first time she touched him back and his eyes flashed brightly at her, exuding a lightness she hadn't seen from him before.
A real smile broke out onto his face before he seemed to try to rein it in, his face turning serious.
"You were mine, Blair, in every single one of my dreams. You were mine and that is how it is supposed to be."
Blair didn't know what to say, what to feel. She felt hope spread through her heart and into her veins as she thought maybe it was the truth.
'Why would he lie?' Was the one question swirling around in her brain, but even as the thought crossed her mind when she looked into his eyes she could see that he was telling her the truth. It felt like all their dream encounters had built her up for this moment. This meeting.
"If I was yours, Chuck Bass, does that mean you…that you were…" Blair stumbled over her own words and let the sentence trail off looking down at the floor, not wanting to see his eyes as he answered in case they were laughing at her. She wanted absolute certainty.
She felt his warm fingers under her chin once again, this time gently lifting her face to look towards him once again. He moved his hands out to caress the sides of her face, their closeness overpowering all of her senses with their bodies nearly touching.
"I was yours, Blair. I was always yours." His exotic eyes were nearly glaring into hers with intensity, needing her to understand. "Blair, there has only ever been you and me trying to find each other. But we always met too late or we had to fight too hard. Something always went wrong. The amount of nights I've had to watch you slip through my fingers over and over."
He looked down and moved his hands back into his own lap, where they clenched in fists, his brow pulled together while shaking his head and taking a deep breath. "I've been yours since I realized the dreams wouldn't stop."
"When did you realize they wouldn't stop?" Blair asked timidly, her own hands aching to reach outwards to his.
"When I was eleven." He responded immediately.
"How often do you have them?"
"Every night."
Blair felt like the air was pushed out of her lungs with force. The world blurred around her as she grasped the conclusion of his statement. She was gazing at the floor before looking up, feeling like her world was tipping on its axis. This was what she had been waiting for, this was what came next.
When their eyes finally met, there was a strange fierceness that seemed to seep straight into her soul. She had never met a gaze with such intensity.
"Blair," he asked softly, "I need you, right now, to give me an answer. An honest answer." His eyes darkened slightly before he quietly threatened, "I'll know if you're lying."
She nodded her head slowly in response blinking her eyes a few times while anticipating the question.
"Have you dreamt of me?" He leaned in closer, his breath whispering over her cheek and through her hair.
"I'm here, am I not?" She whispered in response.
"No. I want to hear you say it. There have been times in the past where you toyed with me. Where I didn't quite fit in to the story you had written for your life. Times when you tried to write me, the dreams and everything surrounding us, out of your life for good." His voice carried a darker edge that made goose bumps break out down her arms.
"Blair we went through so much unnecessary turmoil because of you." His nostrils flared with anger and his eyes made her feel as if she had been turned into stone.
She felt shocked by this side of her dreams. Her innermost humiliation splayed out in the open like a stab wound. So, she did what she normally did when wounded and pressed in a corner; tried to twist the knife the other way.
"If I hurt you so bad, why come back?" She answered hotly. "Why search for me again if you think I'll turn on you, why bother? Why follow me down the halls?"
His eyes widened and the anger seemed to dissipate instantly from his body.
"Because a life without you doesn't seem like a life worth living. I can't even fathom the idea of dreaming of you every night for the rest of my life and not trying to find you. Not wanting to have what we so obviously can have." His eyes softened when he realized his anger had frightened her and made her move into defense mode. "Honestly Blair, dreaming about you every night has kept me going. Dreaming of us, thinking about what we can be…"
He trailed off looking down, his cheeks turning a shade of pink and Blair felt her heart soften for him. She had never seen this side of the man from her dream. He seemed so exposed in front of her, so raw. They were usually so much older and set in their ways by the time they met that this early introduction was leaving them both confused.
"I always thought I would have to search for you for years after I finished school." Chuck said quietly, changing the subject, as he moved his hands from his lap over towards her where they began softly skimming down, down, down; over her hair, her neck, her arms and back before traveling up again. "I knew you wouldn't ever even look twice at an uneducated man. You've always been a snob that way."
Blair let out an unlady like laugh at the change of subject before leaning closer to him and setting her hand on his thigh, because it was true. A man with no education could hardly keep up with her in a debate or in society. She had always known that whoever she ended up with would have to be a good match in education.
"And you've found me now." She replied slowly, pulling back from him to look into his eyes.
"And I've found you now." He repeated. A serious expression took hold of his features and she yearned for the softness to come back to her.
"Did you wait for me Blair?" His voice was gentle as he asked with his hands on her waist. She felt as if her reality and dream world were in a head on collision because his request from her dream rang through her mind countless times throughout the day and felt even stronger in her memory in this moment. She knew that she had waited for a good reason.
"Yes." She replied. "You asked me too."
The softness returned around his eyes and forehead first before he smiled, "I knew you would, this time." He shook his head in near disbelief. "I just knew it. This time will be different. We will be different."
The skyscrapers continued to pass around them in the limo and life went on as they both sat in each other's presence. It all seemed too good to be true, for wasn't it only this morning that she woke up to what Dorota had always called her delusions. She didn't know where to go from here or what to say. All she knew that she had never felt this safe or content in her life than in this moment with his arms around her.
"Serena wants you and me to go to Cotillion together." Blair felt this statement spill from her mouth almost without control and felt a powerful blush form along her cheeks in response to her own statement.
Chuck only let out a rich deep laugh, his thumbs rubbing circles along her waist, while grazing his lips against her cheek. "Are you asking or telling me to attend Cotillion with you, Blair Waldorf?"
She pushed against his chest to try to get out of his hold, feeling very embarrassed, but Chuck pulled her right back into his presence. He slowly trailed one of his hands up and down her back as if trying to calm her down, before curling it up into her dark brown hair and caressing the nape of her neck. "Am I a pawn in this little game of Serena and yours? Or may I be a participant?"
"A participant?" Blair quirked an eyebrow at him in suspicion.
"Oh Blair, Blair, Blair." He shook his head slowly, continuing to lightly massage pressure points around her neck, which in turn fueled the desire that was forming within her. "This wouldn't be the first time we planned, schemed or plotted together."
"No." Blair answered innocently, wondering to which happenstance he was referencing.
"I recall a woman I was betrothed to almost losing the privilege of being my wife because her chambermaid leaked a list of all the men who had shared her bed to everyone in the area."
Blair narrowed her eyes, "I had to make her disappear, so we could be together. Even if it didn't work out how we had planned that time around, what with you being sent to war before the next season began and passing on."
They both grimaced at that specific gruesome memory before Chuck tilted his head and smirked at her again.
"But I did play the brokenhearted fiancé well in response, if I do recall."
"A little too brokenhearted if you ask me, you had only met the lady twice before she was out of the picture. Someone liked the attention."
They both laughed at the odd distant memory they shared and felt a peace settle over them.
"This is so strange." Blair uttered with her eyes wide and overwhelmed. "To be able to talk about these events so freely, and you knowing, understanding it all because you dreamt them, too. I mean, I had always hoped it would be like this, but even your touch it..." She shook her head trailing off and looking down once again.
"What about my touch?" Chuck asked while raising one of his hands to caress her cheek and lift her face up.
"Your touch doesn't feel foreign to me. And you seem to know just where to put your hands on me to make me feel so many different things."
"And you like my hands on you?" He uttered into her ear, causing a tingling sensation in her core that heated her body in a strange exhilarating way.
She licked her lips before nodding and gazing at his handsome face.
He smirked a little smugly and his eyes darkened with lust as he continued to touch her innocently, his eyes dipping down to glance at her plush ruby red lips.
"I've spent many nights reliving our past touches. I know your body better than you do, Blair. I know where to touch you to get the most incredible responses. The things I am going to do with you, the things we are going to do together…" His voice was deep and husky as he let the sentence trail off and Blair took a moment to breathe deeply, inhaling his musky intoxicating scent.
She licked her lips before looking back into his eyes. He seemed to be restraining himself from what he wanted and Blair didn't know if she should be grateful or not. The tingles and tightening she had in her core made her desperate for a different reaction, but she guessed that with such a revelation they might decide to take things slow instead of being led by their hormones.
They both took a few breaths before Chuck leaned back smiling, taking her hands in his own.
"Blair," Chuck gently chided, "you were already going to be going with me to Cotillion."
"Was I?" She smirked back at his arrogance.
"Oh yes, sweetheart. I was going to plan something extravagant to ask you, but you certainly saved me some work."
Blair narrowed her lips and eyes at him as he smirked at her in response. He leaned in close again and began touching the skin of her neck with his fingertips.
"But now you can include me in on the fun little ploy you've set up. Why don't you explain the plan to me over drinks at the Palace? Plotting with you has always been so very enjoyable."
She looked out the window and noticed that they weren't anywhere near the Palace.
"Where is your driver taking us anyway? What kind of imbecile have you hired, Bass? This is nowhere near the Palace."
He sighed before brushing her hair behind her ear and pulling on one of her chocolate curls, and staring into her eyes. "I wasn't sure how you would react to this interlude and knew that we may need a bit of time to talk things over. I also knew that we wouldn't have that time to talk if you were busy running away from me like you had in the past. There are not a lot of places to run to while inside a moving vehicle. Even though I will always catch you if you do decide to run away from me."
He moved away from her and lowered the divider, instructed his driver to continue to the destination before giving them privacy once more.
"Clever." She stated while looking at him quite blankly, impressed with his planning. She was beginning to realize that they had more in common than she ever could have imagined.
"I always believe that it is best to cover all your bases, in games such as these. I'm a valuable player. This is why you'll like having me on your side. "
Blair blinked her big doe eyes at him and smiled sinfully. "I suppose I will."
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