"Chuck," Nate called out. "Are you up yet?"

"No!" Chuck groaned before pushing his face onto his pillow.

"C'mon," Nate spoke from his bedroom doorway. "we're supposed to go to Lily's, remember? Say goodbye to the girls?"

Chuck wiped the sleep from his eyes. "Where's Serena going?"

Nate scoffed. "I dunno, but it's summer so she's probably going somewhere where she can hook up with some random guy and cause some trouble."

"Do I sense jealousy?" Chuck prosed with a toothy smile.

"What?" Nate laughed humorlessly. "No."

"C'mon," Chuck said lethargically, tilting his head to the side.

"Well what about you and Blair?" Nate said crossly before folding his arms over his chest.

Chuck tensed, his eyes glowering. "There is no 'me and Blair.'"

"You know what I mean."

Chuck sighed. "She's going to marry Louis. She's better off with him."

"You really believe that? Since when does Chuck Bass ever give up?" Nate asked in amusement.

"When love got the better of me." Chuck said with a shake of his head. "I wouldn't expect you to understand."

"Very funny."

"So what happened between you and Raina?"

Nate ran a hand through his tousled honey colored hair and exhaled deeply. "She left to Chicago. It's all for the best.

Chuck bobbed his head in agreement. He turned to look at the daylight streaming in through the peeks of his closed curtains. "What time is it?"

"Almost noon."

"So where were you?"

"Getting something to eat from the kitchens." Nate grinned. "You know, we should get a maid or better yet, a girl roommate that knows how to cook."

"I wouldn't object." Chuck said gruffly, a smirk appearing on his face. "Alright, give me twenty minutes to get ready."

As Nate left the room, Chuck grabbed his phone from his nightstand and pressed his thumb down on one of the buttons.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Bass."

"Hello, Arthur. Where are you?"

"I was just getting the car from it's weekly maintainance. Should I meet you somewhere, sir?"

"I'm still at The Empire. Can you be here in fifteen minutes?"

"Yes, of course."

Chuck ended the call and traipsed off to his bathroom in dire need of a cold shower. He took approximately seven minutes bathing, and five minutes standing outside his closet with a towel around his waist while he decided on an outfit.

He picked out a suit from his summer wardrobe, it was a dark golden color. He fished through his drawer full of ties and bowties before choosing a light pink tie.

After getting fully dressed, Chuck checked his reflection in the bathroom mirror. He seemed decent enough.

With slow footsteps, he entered the main room where Nate was waiting patiently, sprawled out on the couch looking at his phone in boredom.

"Anything interesting?" Chuck asked, trying not to laugh at his friend's dull expression.

"Sports scores, band updates, and store sales."

"Well if that's all, Arthur's downstairs."

As the duo made their way down to the lobby via elevator, Nate asked, "Do you ever give him a day off?"

"What for?" Chuck said hastily. "Besides, he's been recieving his raise so he has nothing to complain about."

"If you say so."

But even Chuck felt slightly guilty at his words. He wondered... would Arthur want a vacation?

As they went inside the limosine, Chuck asked, "Say, Nathaniel, do you have any plans for the summer?"

"Besides getting laid?" Nate smiled mischievously. "None, why?"

"No reason."

Chuck was fumbling around with the idea of having a "lost weekend" or rather, a "lost summer," but he wasn't sure if his best friend would take it into consideration.

The rest of the ride was spent in a calm silence. Chuck wondered what would be an appropiate way to bid Blair farewell or if he should try to ignore her. He didn't have time to ponder for long, they had arrived at their destination.

Chuck and Nate exited the vehicle only after Chuck told Arthur, "Wait here. We won't be long, thirty minutes at most."

Surprisingly enough, Erik Van der Woodsen was the one who greeted the two friends as they walked out of the lift.

"Hey, guys!" Erick beamed at them, thrilled to have some company apart from his family.

Nate ruffled the younger boy's hair playfully while Chuck clapped him on the shoulder.

"Charles! Nathaniel!" Lily exclaimed in delight before embracing the blonde, then the brunette. Each received kisses on their cheeks.

"Come in, take a seat boys. We actually ate before you arrived, but would either of you like anything?" Lily asked graciously, eager to perform her old pasttime of being a hostess.

"No, thanks, Mrs. Humphrey. I'm good." Nate said respectfully before planting himself on a chair.

Lily looked at Chuck expectedly. "Anything you have is fine."

"Raspberry danish it is,"

"Lily?" Chuck asked in a low voice, almost scared to approach her with his question.

"Yes, dear?" the blonde woman replied, handing him his pastry on a clean, white serving plate.

"I was wondering..." Chuck frowned, his eyebrows furrowing together. "How do you feel about Blair getting married?"

Lily sighed heavily. "I'm not really in a position to voice a strong opinion on the matter."

"Why not?"

"Because I see Blair as a daughter, and you're technically my step son."

"What does that have to do with anything?" Chuck asked, his voice scathing.

Lily placed a warm hand ontop of Chuck's, squeezing in reassurance. "Both of you deserve happiness, but all the same the two of you together was really something to behold. Now it's..."

"Gone." Chuck deadpanned.

"I was rather thinking, 'put to waste.'"

The both of them smiled.

"Don't worry, Charles." Lily told him in that mothering way of hers. "As cliché as it is, everything happens for a reason."

Chuck nodded before clearing his throat. "Er, coincidentally enough- where is Blair?"

"Oh, I believe I saw her talking to Daniel. If not, she must be helping Serena's cousin, Charlie, pack up her things."

Chuck almost felt a sneak of a jealous rage until he came to the conclusion that Humpty Dumpty wasn't worth his energy. Dan was more humble than he could ever dream of being, of course he wouldn't do anything against Blair's will or that could deem inappropriate or even sinful.

Ugh, Chuck hated the thought of being in the same category as Dan, but that's what they were now, at least in Blair's mind- her friends. An unpleasant chill went through him, he couldn't bear the idea of being classified so lowly after everything they had been through.

He scarfed down the remains of his danish before joining the rest of the group, occupying a seat on the far right side of the custard colored couch.

Rufus attended the counter that Chuck had just vacated. He read off the main article, "Russell Thorpe was arrested, taken in for questioning, and was found guilty in his trial..."

"How long is he in the big house for?" Erik questioned.

"They're saying twenty years." Rufus answered robustfully.

"Sounds fair. That's how long he kept the secret."

"Well," Lily huffed in relief. "I wouldn't want to be in his shoes, I can tell you that."

"What about your shoes?" Chuck questioned with fevority. "When's that happening?"

Rufus, who had taken back his seat beside his wife, looked down at the exposed bulky ankle bracelet.

"Yeah, what are your plans for the summer, Mrs. Humphrey?" Nate asked conversationally.

"Well, I'm going to be getting very pale. This doesn't come off until the fall. Just in time to send my baby off to college," she said in a heartfelt tone, looking sweetly to her youngest child.

Erick put a hand to his face in embarassment before replying with, "Oh, Sarah Lawrence is like, fifteen minutes away. I don't really need to be 'sent off,' a light breeze can take me there."

Lily looked as if she might sarcastically laugh at Erik's response.

"At least you don't have to worry about sun damage, and we don't to spend the month of August with Eleanor and Cyrus on that cruise like they suggested, can you imagine?" Rufus said, attempting to lighten up the mood.

The sound of footsteps were heard.

"I don't think the Principality of Monaco's yacht counts as a cruise, Mr. Humphrey." Blair retorted in a demeaning way, not bothering to send a look toward the small gathering in the living room.

Chuck's heart seemed to skip a beat at Blair's sudden appearance. His eyes narrowed at Daniel Humphrey who had shown up right after her.

"Well if they had mentioned that... Maybe there's still time to RSVP."

"Well, on that note, I think I'll head out." Chuck spoke, trying hard to hide his discontent with the current situation at hand. "Nathaniel?"

"I'll hitch a ride," the golden haired boy responded automatically, getting up from his seat.

Chuck pretended to fiddle with his button as Blair blocked his path from exiting. She was staring at him so lovingly, her eyes seemed to sparkle with tenderness. Why was she looking at him like that?

Reluctantly, as if beyond his control, he could feel the slow resurfacing of his old butterflies.

"So, Monacco for the summer?"

"Yeah," Blair sighed, her voice refreshing. "Louis is picking me up in an hour."

"Flying private?"

"Is there anything else?" she asked rhetorically, her voice nearly teasing.

He planted a quick kiss on her cheek before moving around her and heading toward the refuge that was the elevator.

"Why the sudden urge to leave?" Nate asked as they were dropped back down to the first floor.

"I was hoping to not talk to Blair, but unfortunately, she cornered me."

"Just as well. We can always meet up with Serena later on during the summer anyway."

"True." Chuck pursed his lips. "Why do you think Blair was talking to Humphrey Junior?"

"Dan? No idea. Probably school stuff, you know, insightful assignments or extra credit."

Chuck was spewing all out of his own ideas to himself, but none of them made any sense. What could she possibly have to say to him in private?