Chuck strolled languidly into the Waldorf house, but he froze as he took in the scene in front of him. His astonishment at seeing Blair and Serena in the same room was quickly masked by an insolent smile as he saw his best friend at the window. He drawled,
"Did I miss something?"
All three of them looked at him, but Blair looked away quickly again whilst Serena looked at him coolly and Nate just looked disinterested. Blair said quietly,
"Yeah, you did."
Chuck waited for her to elaborate, but when no explanation was forthcoming, he asked,
"What, did Serena hit on Nathaniel whilst her boyfriend was in the room and he broke up with her? Or maybe she had a threesome with the two of them."
He kept one eye on Nate's stiffening body and Serena's furious face and one eye on Blair's expression. Though he had expected Serena to be mad at him, he had not thought to see the protective expression on Blair's face. She said icily,
"What happened was none of your business, Bass. You should mind your own business."
He raised his eyebrow insolently, his curiosity piqued. Serena hissed,
"If you must know, my boyfriend turned out to be engaged and his fiancée showed up just as he told me that he loves me. There, are you happy now?"
Chuck was stunned and strangely contrite. Blair shot an irate glare at him as Serena began to crumple up again. Nate strode over and grabbed Chuck's arm.
"That's it. You're going, Chuck and don't come back if you're going to upset Serena like that."
Chuck put up no fight, knowing that for once he was in the wrong. But he did look back once at Blair and felt his heart break watching with that expression of love on her face. He knew that she would never look at him that way and the knowledge hurt. He allowed himself to be propelled to the elevator, but said in a low voice to Nate,
"Tell her that I'm sorry."
Nate was so surprised at his words that he said nothing and by the time he had gotten over his shock Chuck had gone. He walked slowly back to where Blair was soothing Serena, but was so quiet that Blair asked him sharply,
"What's up, Nate? What happened?"
The blond shook his head.
"It's just that Chuck told me to apologize for him to Serena…"
Blair stared at him, shocked as well. Then she began to laugh.
"What is that boy up to? I wonder."
Nate grinned at that, knowing that she was probably correct, though it didn't quite feel right because he had seen the look on Chuck's face as he had said those words. He had looked sincere, but since when had Chuck Bass ever admitted he was wrong?
x-x-x
Alison entered the flat as quietly as she could, but Rufus was already waiting for her. She gave a gasp of shock when his voice cut sharply through the air.
"Where have you been?"
It was late at night and he had been waiting for her, calling her again and again. She turned angrily once she recovered.
"Why do you care? After all it's not like you love me enough not to speak to that woman. No, instead you sneak around in cafés with her and profess your secret love to each other."
He inhaled sharply.
"You were there? You heard?"
"Of course! You don't think that I would let you go anywhere without telling me where without following you after last night's debacle?"
He said furiously,
"How dare you spy on me? How can we work on our marriage if you're not going to let me go anywhere? This is getting too far. I can understand that you would be jealous of Lily, but I swore to you that I love you."
"You say that you love me to me and then you say to her that you love her! What am I supposed to believe?"
He passed a weary hand over his eyes and said tiredly,
"Alison, I'm married to you for a reason even if I can't remember it right now. So can you please drop it?"
"No. Not until you stop seeing her and stop talking to her," Alison demanded.
"Honey, you know that I can't do that. She and I go way back and if I just suddenly stop talking to her then…"
"You'll save our marriage."
"I don't know if our marriage is worth that right now."
Alison felt like she had been slapped. Silence reigned as the minutes ticked by, with the two of them looking at each other. Alison suddenly remembered the way she had spent her afternoon and suddenly felt guilty at yelling at Rufus. She turned away and said quietly,
"I think it's better if you sleep on the couch tonight, Rufus. We can continue this…discussion tomorrow. It's late and we're both tired."
He opened his mouth, but she turned away from him and walked away.
x-x-x
"Hey, you haven't visited in so long," Eric said to Jenny. She looked at him coldly and said,
"I didn't know if I wanted to see you again."
Eric looked down in shame, but seeing the guy she came with come in, felt that odd feeling in his chest again. He forced it down and looked at Jenny. Intuitively knowing what he was asking she said,
"Eric, this is my brother, Dan. Dan, this is Serena van der Woodsen's brother, Eric."
Eric shook Dan's hand and said quizzically.
"You know my sister? That's strange. I've never met you before."
Dan shook his head, embarrassed.
"No, I know who she is only."
Eric nodded, a mocking expression in his eyes, as if he could guess why Dan knew who she was. Many guys only knew who Serena van der Woodsen was because she was so beautiful. They would think that they knew her, but they would only know what they wanted to know. Eric hated these types of guys because it was so superficial and it made his sister look so cheap. He opened his mouth to say something more, but at that moment his mother walked in.
"Eric, we're going out with your sister so that we can have some special family time…though I haven't seen her recently. Do you know where she is?"
Eric shook his head.
"She was supposed to have lunch with Jake today. Maybe he would know."
Lily looked worried.
"It's just that she's not answering her phone and you know she always does."
Eric began to look anxious, but then shook his head, as if clearing it.
"She's fine, I'm sure. She probably just forgot. We should call Nate, she's probably hanging out with him or he'll probably know where she is."
Lily smiled and gathered his things for him. He hugged Jenny goodbye, silently apologizing for his behaviour at their last meeting. He smiled as she silently forgave him before walking out with his mother.
