Chapter Three
Chuck's suite at the Tribeca was almost full, and it was only 9:30. Girls in Missoni-knit halter tops were flirting with guys in button-downs and khakis. Kati, Isabel, and Rain Hoffstetter sprawled out on the huge canopy bed, snapping pictures in this-side-of-pornographic poses for the picture collection on the dresser by the door. Chuck himself had managed to get Becky Dormand, a junior at Constance who somehow weaseled her way into the senior crowd, drunk enough to get her wrap-around shirt to come slightly unwrapped.
Blair watched Chuck practically doing it with Becky in the corner and cringed. She was glad Nate wasn't like that. Hell, Nate was doing the very opposite. He had barely touched her or even talked to her all night.
She had called Nate that morning while she was getting a pedicure and practically begged him to arrive with her. It sucked that she had to beg her boyfriend to do stuff with her. At first, he wasn't sure about even going at all. Blair, however, did not give up that easily. She decided to test him and mentioned that Serena really wanted him to go. And, as she predicted, his answer went from "I don't know" to "definitely sure".
What did Serena have that she didn't? Why did Serena have this inexplicable power to get people to fall in love with her? It was like she was an evil witch, casting spells on everyone she met to make them love her because she was too afraid to live life on her own. Blair watched a movie unfold in her mind where she was the heroine, the star of the show, breaking the spell Serena had cast on everybody and watching Serena fall off a cliff, like that witch on Snow White. Vultures then came to eat her eyeballs out of her badly cracked skull.
Blair smirked at the image, but something caught her eye. Chad was sitting on one of the ottomans across the room, drink in hand, people-watching. He was paying particularly close attention to Serena and Nate. They were sitting out on the balcony, talking and laughing. Chad seemed to have a look of jealousy in his eye. Blair now had an opening.
She ambled over to Chad as best she could. She had three glasses of champagne and four shots of Stoli, and was feeling a little bit dizzy in her four-inch Manolo heels.
"Hey." Blair said, sitting next to Chad.
Chad looked up and smiled. "Hey, Blair."
Blair never noticed it before, but Chad was extremely attractive. His hair was in a half-surfer boy, half-skater boy cut; his eyes had a steely grey coloring to them that looked like they were full of secrets. His smile was highlighted by a row of perfectly straight, laser-whitened teeth. No wonder Serena said she was in love; Chad was gorgeous.
"You look lost." Blair said. She crossed her legs in the most ladylike manner possible, which was kind of hard to do because her chocolate brown tunic dress was kind of short.
"I mean, I don't really know anybody. Well, except Chuck, but I don't like him that much." Chad replied. He took a sip of the purplish drink in his crystal glass.
Blair nodded sympathetically. "Yeah, not many people do. He's a total asshole. But fuck it. The guy knows how to throw a decent party."
Chad laughed and nodded. "So what's up with that guy and Serena? I mean, she's barely said anything to me since he showed up. That's not a good look, you know?"
"That's Nate." Blair stated. "He's supposed to be my boyfriend. But when Serena's around, he forgets I even exist. It's been like that all our lives. I should be used to it by now, but it bothers me." Blair sighed dramatically and scooted a few inches closer to Chad to where their thighs were touching. Chad didn't move away.
Her plan was to show Nate that she could leave him like that if he didn't get his act together very soon. She wanted Serena to see what it was like to watch her best friend all over her boyfriend. Seemed like a good plan.
Be careful. Murphy's Law states that whatever can go wrong will go wrong.
"Why would you even put up with that?" Chad asked. "I really do love Serena, but Jesus, I don't want to see her all over some random guy. Even if he is her best friend, that's just something you don't want to see. She never even bothered to introduce him. She saw him come in with you and excused herself. She's been out there with him ever since." He explained. The genuine look of hurt was in his eye.
"Trust me, I know how that feels. My boyfriend and best friend all over each other like that?" Blair ran a hand through her hair. "I hate watching that."
Both of them watched Serena and Nate through the sliding door. Nate was leaning on the railing and Serena was next to him, her head on his shoulder.
Blair's stomach was becoming ravenous again, and she cursed herself for eating light that afternoon and drinking. She needed to get away from there and fast before she got sick all over the freshly steam-cleaned carpet.
"It's like I don't even exist when she's around."Blair continued. "Not just with Nate, but anybody. Friends, family… even complete strangers. When she left for boarding school a few years ago, all anyone ever talked about was her. And when that got old, they crowded around me. She came back, and suddenly she was the topic of interest again. It's so fucking nauseating!" Blair felt her eyes well up with tears, but she refused to cry in front of him and look like a complete wimp. Blair was a woman in charge, and relationship problems were not going to break her… not in the middle of a party anyway.
Nothing kills the mood more than a pretty girl in tears.
It may have been the liquor and Chad's understanding and sympathetic stare, but Blair couldn't believe she was pouring her heart out to a guy she barely even knew. It felt good, though, to just let it all out. Clearly her plan wasn't working seeing that Nate and Serena hadn't even noticed her and Chad together, so being able to vent was worth it.
"I never really had that problem until now." Chad replied. "Usually all my exes paid me too much attention, so this is new. I don't even know what to say."
"Well, Serena was never really a good friend." Blair confessed. That wasn't entirely true. Serena was there for her on numerous occasions, but she was mad as hell that she was sinking her claws farther into Nate. She was pissed at Nate for allowing Serena to come between them again.
"What do you mean?" Chad asked.
Blair hesitated. She didn't want to regurgitate all the rumors floating around about Serena because Serena wasn't exactly a slut. She just jumped from guy to guy, giving her the image of one without actually doing anything with them. She never bothered to clear her name, allowing people to believe what they want. That was what Blair admired about Serena the most: the fact that she didn't necessarily care about her image. That same fact, though, made it all the scarier.
"It's just that… Serena makes a habit of hopping from guy to guy without much thought." Blair stated. "Like she's bored with one, now on to another. The thing that bothers me the most is that she lost her virginity with Nate." Blair blushed slightly at this confession. She never admitted that out loud before, but it was good she did. It was time to confront her feelings about the situation instead of repressing it and becoming more angry and manic about it.
Chad's eyes widened. "Wow, seriously?"
Blair nodded slowly. "I tried to forgive them, you know, for hurting me like that. It's hard to do that when you see this." She gestured over toward Nate and Serena, who were now both seated with each other on a chaise lounge chair.
Some random OutKast song came on, and all the girls headed towards the entertainment center and started grinding their butts on guy closest to them. Chuck was now laying across his bed, a bottle of Jager in his hand, with Kati and Isabel both laying on each side of him, like he was their pimp or something.
"Hey, Blair," He shouted drunkenly over the music. "Come join us. Make this threesome a foursome." Kati and Isabel tittered.
Blair scrunched up her nose. "No thanks" She refocused her attention back on Chad.
"I'm tired of being here already." She said.
Chad lifted up slightly and rested his elbows on his knees. "Want to go get something to eat? I'm starving." He offered.
Blair weighed the consequences of that. Going off somewhere with her best friend's boyfriend? Not a good look. But Nate and Serena were too wrapped up in each other to notice their significant others bonding with one another. Serena was guilty of far worse offenses than just going to get something to eat with him. Still, though, Blair always thought she was above that. Her stomach growled. She was hungry, too. What the hell? What could possibly go wrong?
"Sure." Blair decided. She stood up, a little woozy from sitting for so long. So her plan had fallen flat. That was fine. But she had got a lot off her mind talking to Chad. It was just food. They would go eat and come right back, no harm done.
Chad and Blair made their way to and out the door. Nate and Serena hadn't even noticed.
Maybe if they both would've gone outside with them, they would have realized Serena and Nate were talking about them the whole time.
Blair made extra sure they didn't look too suspicious walking out the hotel together. It would be just what she needed for it to get posted all over that damned gossip website.
Too late.
