Jealousy Is Your Drug Of Choice

Author's Note: Yay! The story contains no more spoilers, since episodes 7 and 8 aired. Aren't you excited? Some of you may have decided by now that I am Josh Schwartz in disguise, but alas. Gossip Girl is not mine.
Summary: When Vanessa and Chuck start growing closer, Nate and Blair start growing worried.

--

Chapter Four: Everybody Gets That Way

Chuck slowly ran his hand down the length of Blair's perfect, nude figure as she sighed happily and leaned into him. He didn't know what it meant that they had finally given into their desires after so very long, but he was sure it had to be something good. She had said she wanted him, after all (not to mention all the many other things she had said in bed—he loved it when she talked dirty). Hopefully that extended to whatever followed after the consummation. Of course, the thought of what might come after filled him with a dread that was altogether too familiar. He sure as hell didn't know how to be Prince Charming, which was all that Blair wanted.

Before he could panic outright, he put it out of his mind and instead turned his attention to Blair's collarbone.

"How is it possible…" He began, lightly fingering the small bone beneath her shoulder and closing his eyes at the sound of her breathy giggles. "That every inch of you…" He leaned down and kissed the spot right above her breasts, slowly working his way up to his favorite part: the nape of her neck. "Manages to be so…" She gasped softly, grabbing onto his hair by instinct, as he started licking her. "…So fucking beautiful?"

Blair pulled him up by his hair—a pain which he admittedly enjoyed—and kissed him hungrily on the lips. Granted, she didn't have much experience in the department, but she was almost positive that no other guy on the planet could make the post-coital part of sex so…coital.

She sighed longingly once they broke apart for air. "As much as I would like to do this all day—"

"As would I, Princess," he smirked, leaning down to kiss her again. "In fact, I have no issue with this suggestion."

She laughed and pushed him off with a smile. "Ah, but you need to leave now, so that I can get ready for Lily's housewarming party."

Chuck tried to keep his expression from darkening at being kicked out as he quickly grabbed his clothes off the floor and put them back on haphazardly.

Blair eyed him cautiously, wondering if she had angered him or if he was just done with her, having obtained what he wanted in the first place. "Chuck…" She said, barely above a whisper. But she didn't know how to complete the sentence.

"It's fine," he interrupted. "I'll see you there, and then you can tell me if you'd like to continue our rekindling, or if the fire's already out." He carefully avoided her gaze, choosing instead to stare at the wall behind her. He had no idea why he was so upset. It was stupid to think she wanted anything else in the first place. And, of course, neither did he. It was better that way.

As he started to make his way out the door, Blair put a hand on his shoulder and tried her luck. "Don't you…? I mean, would you pick me up?" He turned immediately with such a lopsided, puppy dog grin on his face that she felt she could die of happiness.

However, his face soon fell as he remembered his 'prior engagement,' and her hopes fell along with it. She mentally kicked herself for being so stupid and letting him get the best of her. Now he was just going to reject the offer and know he had something on her.

"I can't," he replied apologetically, removing her hand from his shoulder and taking it in his own. "I promised Vanessa I would take her... But I can send a car for you." He could tell from her expression that she didn't like that idea at all, so he tried to amend it. "And I'll be by your side the whole night. It's just that Nate's going to be there, so—"

"Do not tell me you and Vanessa are going to go together to make Nate jealous," she cut him off sharply. "I think I'm going to be sick." She pulled her hand out of his grasp and used it to cover her mouth. Damn it. Maybe she could open the window and jump out. That would teach Chuck not to go chasing after Brooklyn when he could have her.

"What?" Chuck asked, honestly confused. "No, it's not like that. Trust me, I don't need Nathaniel to be any angrier with me than he already is. I just want him to see her."

"Oh, spare me, Chuck!" She spit out angrily. "If you want to screw Vanessa Abrams, be my guest. But don't come around here trying to get any from me. I'm not going to touch anything that's passed through her hands."

Something flashed and then went dead in his eyes, and she immediately regretted what she had just said. Of course, whether he was just hurt by her words or whether he was defending Vanessa's 'honor' was unclear.

"I see," he finally spoke up, in a dangerously low voice. "Once again, that's all I am to you. I'm so glad I'm at least as high up on your list as your vibrator."

Blair opened her mouth to speak, but no sound came out.

"Don't worry, Blair," he added, turning the knob of her bedroom door. "You're going to get to use that vibrator a whole lot more now. Because this will never happen again."

And with that, he walked out of the room and slammed the door shut, leaving Blair to crumple like a pile of dead, raked leaves on the floor.

--

"Wow," Vanessa remarked as she took in the lavishly decorated living room around her, trying her hardest not to sound impressed. "Some housewarming. I'm just glad I didn't bring a casserole."

She made a face at him and he chuckled softly, but didn't laugh. He never laughed. She wondered why that was.

"My parents like to go all out," he explained, and she decided to let slide the fact that he was technically calling Lily van der Woodsen his mother. "They think it makes us look like more of a family."

Vanessa pouted a little at the tinge of sarcasm in his voice. It was weird to know someone who felt so cynical about family. Her family was eccentric, she knew, but she loved her parents and she loved her sister, and she wouldn't trade them for the world. Nate had always been the same about his family, though. Always depressed over some crap his parents were pulling on him. Maybe it was a rich kid thing?

Suddenly, she saw Chuck break into a nearly evil grin and almost groaned, bracing herself for what was to come.

"Don't look now," he whispered conspiratorially. "But I think Nathaniel just might be drooling."

Of course, Vanessa had to look. And, sure enough, there were Nate and Jenny, on the other side of the room. The second her eyes locked with his, he turned away and focused his attention on Chuck—shooting daggers at his best friend with his eyes.

Now it was Vanessa's turn to laugh. "Oh, Chuck. If looks could kill, you'd be a dead man."

Chuck nodded abruptly to Nate, and then rolled his eyes at Vanessa. "Believe me, I've had much worse from that guy. I'll survive."

--

In another corner of the room, Serena was pretending to look everywhere but in Vanessa's direction while Blair stared openly at the couple with a horror-stricken expression all over her face. Did Chuck just crack a smile? Why? Did Vanessa say something funny, or did Chuck suddenly find premature and unfounded moralizing amusing?

"What does he even see in her?" She hissed to Serena, who heaved a sigh and turned to finally look Vanessa over.

"I don't think he sees anything in her, Blair, since he clearly likes you." After watching them for a moment longer, she added, "Besides, she keeps looking at Nate, so I don't think she sees anything in Chuck, either."

"Yeah, but Chuck is still looking at her!" Blair huffed.

"At her and at Nate," Serena corrected lovingly, trying to steer her best friend away from the train wreck she herself was creating.

But Blair did not pay attention to her best friend's soothing words and shook her head furiously, nearly biting through the inside of her cheek in an effort to keep from screaming.

--

Nate's eyes were about to bug out of his head at any moment. He didn't think he had ever stared at anyone or anything this intensely before, and it was starting to make his head hurt. He couldn't even pay attention to what Jenny was saying—something about "fashion" or "Agnes," perhaps? After all, most things in Jenny's life at the moment involved one of those two things, so it was as good a guess as any.

Eventually, Jenny paused long enough in her story to realize she had no audience. "Nate." She spoke his name in a tired voice, already knowing what to expect. How did her life get switched with Blair Waldorf's so suddenly?

Nate looked directly into her eyes and gave a small smile. "I was thinking you might like a drink," he offered gallantly.

Jenny smiled in agreement and didn't move as Nate kissed her on the cheek and moved towards the bar. A kiss on the cheek. Burn. She looked over at Vanessa and Chuck, chatting aimlessly and obliviously. She supposed she could hate her friend for it—Jenny herself had kind of asked for it, hadn't she? No one dated Nate Archibald and came out 100% satisfied. Maybe that was part of his charm.

--

"Can I get you a drink?" Chuck asked during the first full break in the conversation, eyeing Blair and hoping he could brush past her on his way to the bar. Maybe overhear part of the conversation, or somehow be included in it. He wondered if Serena would he helpful in this regard. Perhaps he should have equipped her with a little microphone before the party started?

Vanessa nodded gratefully and watched Chuck go, suddenly feeling very alone in a sea full of unknown or unfriendly faces. Unfriendly faces such as Blair Waldorf's, who was now quite obviously staring at her with an open, disbelieving mouth. Vanessa cocked her head and donned her best bitch face. Let Blair think what she wanted—if she wasn't going to fight for Chuck, then she should know he was free game. It angered Vanessa even more to think that Blair probably wasn't even upset; she was probably just jealous because she thought of Chuck as her property and didn't like Vanessa getting her dirty hands on him.

--

As Chuck approached his sister and Blair, as subtly as possible, his object of affection took off in the opposite direction without skipping a beat. Not subtle enough. Chuck contented himself with sliding up to Serena and putting his arm around her. "Feeling any more close-knit, sis?" He asked in his seductive voice. He loved pissing her off with all the incest possibilities.

Serena shrugged him off, but smiled to herself anyway. "No matter how close-knit we are, brother, dear," she returned smugly, "I'm still not telling you the contents of my previous conversation."

"You are a buzz kill," he informed her glumly.

"I do my best."

--

Blair approached Vanessa with as much confidence as she could muster. That little troll had no right to be here, anyway. No matter who had invited her.

"I hope you're enjoying the little escape from your dreary life," she greeted her newest mortal enemy with a smirk.

"Blair, do you ever get tired of exercising a power you don't have?" Vanessa asked with an eye roll.

"Excuse me?" Blair was taken off guard. In what world was this piece of Brooklyn trash trying to assert herself against a Waldorf?

"Face it. You lost." As she spoke, Blair's face was contorting more and more and Vanessa's own smile was growing wider. "You can't deal with the fact that you tried to use Chuck against me, and the only person who came out with less than they had before was you."

Blair scoffed, but couldn't keep her face from showing how truly stung she was. "Chuck still doesn't have any real feelings for you," she shot back, as meanly as she could manage. "He's just in love with that bar, that's all."

"I'm not really interested in your petty mind games," Vanessa retorted, attempting to move away from the conversation.

"Then why do you keep playing them?" Blair asked suddenly, effectively stopping Vanessa in her tracks. Once she knew she had the girl's full attention, she continued with renewed vigor. "You're clearly just using Chuck to make Nate jealous. What kind of person does that make you? If Chuck really does care about you, then you're being unnecessarily cruel."

Vanessa laughed in Blair's face. "Unbelievable." As she shook her head, she noticed the deadly serious expression her enemy was wearing. Blair actually looked like she might be worried about Chuck's well-being, to some extent. Searching Blair's eyes in an attempt to be unbiased (very very difficult, if the truth must be told), she spoke after a long silence. "Are you…Do you actually like Chuck?"

Blair made a strangled noise in her throat. Ridiculous. "I'm not even going to grace that question with a response," she replied, turning away and staring at the wall in front of her.

And that was response enough. Vanessa cleared her throat and searched for something to say. "Look," she began in a straightforward tone. "I don't condone anyone hurting my friends or using them, like you seem to be doing with Chuck."

Blair opened her mouth to protest, but Vanessa cut her off in a friendly way.

"—Then again, I'm sure that, seen from your perspective, Chuck might seem to be hurting or using you." She took in Blair's slight nod and continued. "But I can tell you right now without any hesitation: Chuck loves you. And you'd be a fool to waste something like that. If you care about him, that is. If you don't, then get out of my face. Because I know how to throw down, and I'm not afraid to do it in the middle of this fancy party."

Blair gulped, still stuck on those three little words. "Did he…Did he say that?"

"He doesn't have to say it," Vanessa explained in a sharp voice. "It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure it out." But Blair had already deflated slightly, so Vanessa decided it was best to repeatedly hit these kids on the head with blunt objects. "But if you must know… Yes, he has mentioned it on an occasion or two."

She thought she could see a tear or two springing to Blair's eyes. Tears of joy? The thought scared Vanessa a little. Why did the Upper East Cyborgs have to keep on showing how human they were? It was ruining her orderly view of the world.

Blair turned and began walking away, pausing momentarily to say "Thank you," but without looking back. She set her gaze on the bar and saw Nate and Chuck hovering dangerously close to each other over drinks on the other side of the room, adding, "Now if you'll excuse me, Nate is about to go defend your honor, and I'm about to go stop a brawl between two boys who shouldn't be punching anyone."

Vanessa followed Blair with her eyes and saw Nate starting to get up in Chuck's face while Chuck sipped calmly on a scotch. She allowed herself a little secret smile and waited to see what would happen.