Blair and Serena arrived at Mara's penthouse around 7:30pm, they stepped out of the elevator and walked into the massive foyer.
"Did we have to come early? I mean really… ugh there's hardly anyone here." Blair said as she made her way to the living room.
"Oh come on B, the invite said 7:00pm so it's not like we're early. Besides there are a lot of people here." Serena said as she smiled at a group of girls standing nearby, "It actually looks like we're one of the last to arrive."
"Yes, well someone had to be somewhat fashionably late… do you even know any of these people?"
"There are few people who went to high school with us. Oh no, there's Chuck!" Serena said with a grimace.
"Why S, I always thought you were such a big fan of his." Blair exclaimed as Chuck approached.
"Very funny B! What is he even doing here?" Serena whispered back.
"Ladies, pleasure as always." Chuck exclaimed with a big smile.
"Wish we could say the same." Blair replied.
"Chuck how did you get an invite?" Serena asked as she let her eyes wander.
"Well, it appears that Nate's girl went through his phone to make the guest list. Guess who's on his phone." Chuck replied, clearly amused.
"So where is this girlfriend?" Blair asked casually.
"I have yet to meet her, I got here a few minutes before you." Chuck replied.
Oh if you only knew C, if you only knew.
Mara walked into her kitchen, she always hated caterers who didn't know what they were doing.
Especially the one's that you pay top dollar for. Oh wait, it's on daddy's account right?
"That doesn't go out yet." Mara said as she stopped a girl carrying a cheese platter.
"Hey, are you ok?" a voice from behind her asked.
"Ellis! Thank God, I was wondering when you'd get here!" Mara exclaimed as she gave him a hug.
"I'm at your service, as always. What do you need me to do?" Ellis asked with a smile.
"Can you please take care of this, there's like fifty people outside and I don't think I've said hi to half of them yet." Mara replied, clearly frustrated.
"Yeah, go ahead, I got this." Ellis said as he took the cheese tray and placed it on a nearby counter.
Looks like someone's found herself a knight in shining armor, but we always thought that that role belonged to our beloved N.
"Wait a minute…. It can't be. Ladies, if you'll excuse me." Chuck said politely.
"Uh… what was that about?" Serena asked as she turned to Blair.
Blair simply shrugged as she grabbed a glass of champagne from a moving tray.
"Well, well, well, if it isn't the girl of my dreams." Chuck exclaimed as he made his way over to Mara.
"Um, do I know you?" Mara asked cautiously.
"Saks, we ran into each other, it could have been so much more but you were… occupied." Chuck stated.
"Occupied? Hold on, you must be Chuck. You're the one that told Nate I was cheating on him." Mara replied briskly.
"Nathaniel, now what does he have to do with anything?" Chuck asked, oddly confused.
"I'm Mara, Nate's girlfriend. And the guy you saw me with was Ellis, one of my brother's friends." Mara said evenly.
"I didn't know, my apologies. You should really tell your brother's friend to keep his hands off of you though. You might give others the wrong impression."
"If I'm not mistaken, I think that was the point." Mara smirked.
"Oh right, I may have been a bit forward, but it won't happen again." Chuck replied, "So this is quite the party. When does your boy toy arrive?"
"At 8:00pm, which doesn't give me a whole lot of time…"
"To introduce yourself to all the other guests, I understand. It was a pleasure meeting you." Chuck said as he extended his hand.
"Likewise, you're an interesting character Chuck." Mara said before she shook his hand and made her way over to the other guests.
"Hi, I'm Mara. Thank you so much for coming." Mara said as she approached Blair and Serena.
Now this should be interesting.
"Hi I'm Serena, and this is Blair. You're Nate's girlfriend right?"
"Yes, that would be me. I don't want this to be awkward or anything, I know that the three of you have some history, but I figured that it would mean a lot to Nate to have you two here." Mara said slowly.
"No, we're glad we could be here. It's not awkward at all." Serena replied.
Blair suppressed a giggle. Of course it was awkward, here she was with Serena and Nate's new girlfriend acting like there was nothing that they shared besides this one evening. She couldn't help but stare at Mara. There she was in her black Burberry Prorsum Seamed Dress, with her matching Gucci Papillon Evening Bag and black Christian Louboutin Very Prive Platform Satin Peep-Toe Pumps, looking like she'd just stepped out of a magazine. Blair already hated her.
"So this is nice, must have taken you a while to plan it." Blair said suddenly.
"Oh, I had some help. Well, I should probably go and make sure everything's set. Nate should be here any minute." Mara replied with a smile.
"We can't wait to see him." Blair said sweetly.
Neither can we.