Chapter 6

Charlie was completely overwhelmed by the time Blair finally released him to go home. He had a lot of clothes that he couldn't imagine ever wearing and felt really guilty about spending so much money on a bow tie he was convinced made him look like Pee Wee Herman.

Serena kept telling him Bart wouldn't care, he never says anything about how much she spends. Eric just rolled his eyes at her antics but reassured Charlie that Bart really wouldn't care.

He didn't quite know what to do with his new things and Lily could tell he was stressing about what to do as she walked by his open bedroom door.

"Well, I see the shopping trip was successful! Did you enjoy yourself, Charles?" Charlie turned to look at his new stepmother. It was weird to think of someone else other than his mom as a maternal figure. Of course, she didn't seem that maternal to him even if he had only known her for a few days.

He smiled politely at her. "I suppose. I didn't mean to get so much. Blair was pretty insistent about some of this stuff."

Lily nodded knowingly. She knew how Blair could be. "Don't worry about Blair. I've known her for years. She's always like that. You'll learn to say no to her. Or you won't and you'll end up marrying her." Lily laughed at her own joke but Charlie couldn't help but feel sick at that thought. Could he love someone like Blair? He wasn't sure. Two weeks ago everything had been so simple, now his new stepmother was trying to marry him off to some would be Upper East Side princess.

He smiled weakly at her, "You don't think Bart will be mad about me getting all this, do you?"

Lily reached out and touched his shoulder causing him to look her in the eyes for the first time since meeting her. "Oh, sweetheart, he won't say a word. You'll learn something about Bart Bass: he's a tough at work, but at home, he'd give his family anything. I think he'll be thrilled that you had a good time today with your new friends."

Charlie wouldn't go so far as to call them all friends but he didn't contradict her. He did have a good time, he supposed. Nate wasn't so bad even if he knew that Serena was acting weird around him from the moment they met him and Blair at Blair's penthouse. He wondered what that was about.

"Well, your father should be home soon, we're going to have a family dinner tonight. Go get cleaned up and come down. I'll have Bart's valet take care of these things for you." Lily turned to leave the bedroom.

"That's okay, I can do it, Lily."

Lily stopped at the door and turned around, "Of course you can, dear, but you don't have to. Dinner is at 6:30. Don't be late." She walked out to make sure dinner was nearly ready, Bart would be expecting dinner at 6:30 then he had a call to make. She hated that he would be working so late but that was business and really nothing new to this family. She was surprised he was making this much of an effort for the boy and wondered how long Bart would continue this new trend of actually coming home for dinner. Well, she would play along like the dutiful wife she was for as long as required.

Charlie sat for a moment after Lily left the room, thinking about what Lily had just said to him. What kind of world is this that she can just tell someone to do something and they just do it? Did he have that ability now?

As instructed, Charlie went to his en suite (his own bathroom, really?) and took a quick shower. The girls had nearly driven him crazy this afternoon but they did mean well. Luckily, Nate and Eric were able to pull him away a few times when the girls got distracted by new dresses at Bendels or sexy new jeans. Blair really did look beautiful in everything she tried on. Wait, where did that thought come from? She was a nuisance, a menace, completely unbearable.

But her laugh was infectious and adorable. Her eyes sparkle. Oh, damn, was he actually falling for this girl? She didn't even listen to him about anything, she wouldn't even call him Charlie. She deliberately called him every variation of Charles he had ever heard and then thrown in a few he hadn't. When she wasn't just hollering "Hey, Bass!" across the store. For someone so tiny, she certainly had a dominant personality. Like a chihuahua.