Chapter 3
Blair walked upstairs in search of Chuck. She ran her hands over the deep brown walls of the old building Chuck had bought specifically for the party. She admired the big paintings on the walls until her Prada-supported feet led her into a dark room, where Chuck was sitting, apparently waiting for her.
"Chuck, what the hell are you doing in here? We have guests." Blair whispered, almost afraid to talk too loudly in the dark room.
"Blair. Hi. Blair. Um, yes. Lets go downstairs. Come, come. You-no one-they can't see it. We have to get out!" Chuck rambled, throwing the empty scotch bottle at the wall where it broke with a shatter.
"Whatever you say sweetie. But first you might want to shower. We don't want our guests to run screaming from the building." Blair advised, pushing him into the nearest bathroom. Chuck proceeded in and ran into the shower, in his tux and all. Before Blair could stop him the water was on and soaked him and his Armani tux. Blair groaned and ran around searching for another tux. Finally she was able to persuade a drunken businessman to trade his tux for a vase of flowers, which he promptly dropped. Blair barked at the staff to clean it up, and rushed upstairs.
When she got back into the bathroom, she threw the clothes at Chuck.
"Put these on, and don't get them all wet, Charles." she ordered. He proceeded to do so, and when the tux was on she ran him downstairs before he could get into any more trouble.
The whole rest of the party, Blair played a perfect hostess, while Chuck downed shots and talked about stocks with the rest of the businessmen. After a while, Blair got tired and sat down. Several men asked her to dance, but she turned them down. That is, until Nate came along.
"Hello, Blair. Dance with me?" he asked, just barely smiling.
"Won't Vanessa be upset?" Blair questioned.
"No. She went home. She has a conference with Stephen Spielberg in the morning to talk about some new movie." Nate answered.
"Then yes." Blair said with a smile.
He whisked her onto the dance floor and they danced to one song, then two, then three. With each song, Blair became looser and they talked more and more. They talked about their lives since college, their lives in college, and what they planned to do with the rest of their lives.
"I want to…I want to…I'm not really sure." Blair admitted. "I mean I know I want to be something, change the world. But I'm not really sure how. And I don't just mean writing another $50,000 check to Unicef. I want it to be more personal. You know?" Blair asked. Nate nodded.
"Have you talked to Chuck about it?" he asked.
"No, not really. Every single time I say that he just makes another donation to Unicef, which is great, but I still want to do more." Blair said with a slight frown.
Then her cell phone rang. The Voyager flashed Serena's name. Blair looked up at Nate and pulled away to answer her phone.
"Hey, S. What's up?" Blair answered.
"What are you doing?" Serena demanded. She sounded drunk and frazzled.
"Um, talking to you."
"No, before that."
"Dancing," said Blair apprehensively. "With Nate."
"Have you seen Dan? I need to give him a little present! He needs to come home! I need him!" Serena moaned.
"Uh, no. Maybe he's at Toys R Us. They just got a new shipment of Cabbage Patch accessories." Blair answered sarcastically.
"Thanks! I'll go try there. TAXI!" Serena shouted.
"S! Wait! I was kidd-" Blair broke off, seeing she had already hung up.
Blair hit the end button and walked back to Nate, hoping Serena wasn't actually going to Toys R Us in search of Humphrey. She shook her head and was pulled back into the dance by Nate.
"What was that all about?" Nate asked.
"I think Serena's going to Toys R Us." Blair responded in a don't –ask tone. Nate nodded and continued staring at her.
"What?" she said. "Is there something on my face?"
"No," Nate responded. Instead of asking what the hell his problem was, Blair just tightened her hold on Nate's neck and let the music carry them away.
