Ten. Blair.
She was sitting across the dining room table from Chuck in her apartment. Cyrus and Eleanor were out for dinner. No-one expected him back at the van der Humphrey apartment after what had happened at the rehearsal dinner. She was holding an ice pack to his right hand.
"So let me get this straight." Chuck said, he was acting like he didn't care, but Blair could tell she had hurt him. "You slept with him because you felt sorry for him. Sympathy sex." Chuck looked pleased with himself, like his answer was the most natural, perfect well-rounded thing in the world, totally, undeniably right, like a well done sum.
Blair stopped herself from shouting, how many times did she have to explain it? "No exactly. We were in the same place."
"Exactly!" he said, "Yale."
She looked at him for a moment and then realised, he wasn't joking . . . oh god. "Emotionally."
Chuck looked puzzled, "You mean, it meant something to you."
His face fell a bit, though he tried o disguise it and Blair felt guilty because she couldn't deny it.
"It did."
Pause.
Then.
"Do you love him?" he asked abruptly.
Blair paused. "I don't love him."
"You only ever really loved me. You never felt anything for him." Chuck seemed to be reassuring himself, Blair wanted to leave him to believe that but in that moment, it seemed crueller not to tell him the truth.
"You want too much!" she cried out and buried her head in her hands; her voice became muffled through her fingers and tears. "I didn't love hum, but how could I have felt nothing for him? I only want you now – isn't that enough?"
She wept noisily into her hands for several moments, but when she looked up, Chuck was gone, and the elevator doors were closing.
Blair felt complete devastation; she sat silently for a moment, allowing the pain of Chucks dismissal wash over her. She got up and wandered the house, ending up in the kitchen. The house was so quiet. All she could here was the quiet hum of all the houses machinery. She opened the fridge, finding that she was hungry and saw a cherry tart that Dorota had left, taking it out she ate small bites straight of the serving platter. She was soon stuffing her face with massive spoonfuls, tears rolling down her cheeks, almost gagging on the massive clumps of sweet pastry and cherry conserve. It hurt to swallow, she could feel the wet mixture of tears and mucus and food on her face and suddenly felt disgusting. Blair ran upstairs to her bathroom, and did something she hadn't done in a long time. She fell asleep on the bathroom floor, still wearing the dress she had worn to the rehearsal diner.