Update time! Thank you so much to everyone who has been reading and enjoying and favoriting this story, it really means a lot. Actually, it means so much that I worked on this thing everyday so I could thank you for sticking out that cliffhanger. And hey, guess what? It's only been 9 days. :D
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"I'm so glad you're here."
"I am too." He smiled, taking her small hand in his and staring into her beautiful brown orbs.
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"So, to what do I owe this pleasure?" Blair laughed.
Nate smiled at her hesitantly, looking around the hotel room where he had just spend the night and mulling over the words Serena had said in his head.
"Just let her go, please."
"What's wrong?" She questioned.
It really would be best for her if he left now, Nate couldn't help but think. If he were never to show his face in her life ever again.
"Nate?" She said, worried now for his lack of responce.
"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have come." He said suddenly, looking toward the door.
"No! Really, it's fine. I don't mind you being here, just as long as you don't mind me going over my makeup the whole time."
He smiled, letting the old memories of the two of them together slip into his mind. "I always loved watching you do your makeup."
"I know," she said as she returned the smile.
Nate took a pause. 'It's really not that though, I should be going. You have to be getting downstairs soon anyways."
"I always have to for you, though." She said, taking his hand and dragging him over to sit on the bed. "And anyways, they would all be nothing without me."
"Blair, this isn't right, this can't happen."
She sighed, aggravated at his assumption. 'Nothing is happening."
"I have to be honest here, and I know I really shouldn't be, but I have to tell you this." He said.
"Okay, well go ahead." She replied, spreading the dress out around her petite body as she sat.
"I love you." He breathed. "I'm still in love with you and I have been for a while. You have no idea how hard it is for me to see you marrying him."
At one point, not too far off in her life, she would have jumped with joy to hear him saying those words to her, but as it was, she just couldn't be happy, it was too potentially damaging to the both of them. Instead she hung her head. More than anything she wanted to tell him exactly how much she loved him and wished he was the one she was pledging to spend the rest of her life with. She didn't deserve him now though, and it wasn't right of her to put him through all of this on her account.
"I'm so sorry." She whispered.
"No, stop. This isn't your fault. You have nothing to be sorry for. I just wish I would have done a lot of things differently along the way."
"I do too." She nodded. "We both could have fixed some things."
"I know." He replied solemnly. "I would have changed everything."
Blair laughed a sad, soft laugh. "Then maybe we wouldn't be in this mess right now, huh?"
He shook his head. "We don't have to be in this mess." He said picking his head up and looking into her eyes.
"What are you talking about?" She asked him quizzically.
"We could leave. You could come away with me, right now." He jumped up excitedly, taking her hand and willing her to see the dreams he had had of the two of them racing in his head.
"Nate." Blair whispered painfully. "I-I can't."
"Why not?" He pleaded.
"I gave him my word." She said simply, as if that explained it all.
Nate closed his eyes and opened them again before responding.
"Yeah, but do you really think that matters now? I'm here, I want you, I love you. I will love you; forever."
She bit her lip and stared up at the ceiling, working to suppress the pools of water that had formed under her eyes to go away before they spilled down her face.
"Blair, please." He begged, sencing her fatal weakness: him. "Please, do it for me. Do it for us. Do it for the whole future we had planned out together. you can't remake a history like ours with Chuck, or with anyone else. No one in the world will ever love you as much I do, as much as I always have. You can't throw away everything we've had to be with him."
She whipped the tears away before he got the chance to, but she still had nothing to say, instead she squeezed his big hand in her small one and rubbed her thumb over his.
"Blair." He said once more, his voice cracking.
"No, no. I told you, Nate, no matter how much I want it, I can't do it." She finally said. "I can't do that to him, or this day, or my reputation. It's unacceptable. I gave him my word, that's something I have to live with."
"Oh, but you'll do this to me? You'll put me through this? Is that right? Is that how this works?" He questioned, becoming angry with her for crushing his dreams, but more for the way her words continued to slice through his heart.
"Nate! That's not it and you know it. Where have you been, anyways? You could have changed all of this, this isn't all my fault. I'm being the responsible adult here, your here acting like a child because you didn't get your way. Well guess what? Nothing would be like this if you would have figured your life out when you still got a chance to get everything you wanted."
"This has nothing to do with the fact that I didn't know what I wanted in life, there was always one thing that remained a constant for me, and that was you."
"No." She shook her head sadly. "You haven't always wanted me. Over the years you might have clued in some more, but you can't even start to say that I'm the only one you've ever wanted."
"Okay, fine then, that's how it was. But I have been loving you and missing you for a while now."
"You could have had me a long time ago. I got tired of waiting though, I couldn't do it any longer than I already had. My heart couldn't take it anymore."
"I know, and I'm sorry for that. But you could have given me a sign. If I would have known, if I'd seen any indication that you would have left him for me then I would have done something a long time ago." He said with anguish apparent in his voice and striking features.
"I should have, but I didn't. It wasn't all bad though, Chuck and I did have some good times together; we still do, occasionally. But you know I couldn't do that to him, no matter how my feelings for you greatly overpower the ones I have for him. He still loves me, and that's been enough. He's been there for me when you weren't, and he hasn't given me any reason not to trust him."
"Maybe you just haven't been paying attention." Nate muttered bitterly under his breath.
"What was that?" She snapped.
The mood of the room changed completely in that one quick second. When before the atmosphere was open and almost regretful, now it was full of anger and devastation.
"You heard me." He said, speaking louder now. "He has cheated on you, you've just been turning a blind eye."
"I have not!" She exclaimed, jumping up from the bed to face him. "He hasn't done anything in any matter, so I don't know what your insinuating."
"Really? Do you honestly think he needs to spend that much time at Victrola? He's invited me countless times; every time he gets a new dancer in fact."
She didn't have a comment to give about the latest revelation, so she turned back to the vanity to look for any imperfections on her face. She'd need to retouch the eye makeup from the cry she had almost had, but that was it.
"Blair," Nate said gently, sensing her anger and resentment towards him. "You can't do this again, you can't pretend everything is perfect with Chuck the way you tried to do with me when I cheated with Serena. It doesn't work like that, and if you keep ignoring the obvious, he's going to start ignoring you all together. I should know, it was the biggest mistake of my life."
When she finally did turn to face him again, it was with a look of pure iciness that she had perfected over the years. One that Nate had seen countless times, but never directed at him.
"Get out." She said calmly.
"Wait, what? Why?"
"I want you to get the fuck out of this room before I call security. You've said what you wanted to say, now leave me and my perfect impressions alone. The way I choose to live my life isn't up to you anymore, and it hasn't been for a while. We've been made painfully clear of that fact."
"Blair, I'm sorry. I was being too harsh, please, I just need you to see that you can't do this. I can't lose you this time."
Her hardened expression faltered, but only for a second. She had gone this long without him, and this was the perfect time to start resisting his empty promises that were always used at the ready when he decided she was good enough again. She was done with it, hopefully for good this time.
"It's too late for apologies. I'm done. You can see yourself to the door, and be sure not to show up at my wedding, you won't be welcome."
"Blair." He whispered.
"No, Nate. I'm serious this time. Hopefully I won't be seeing you soon. It was fun while it lasted. Goodbye."
He stood in the doorway for a few more seconds, just watching her as she ignored him. Finally he saw that she wasn't budging this time, and while he admired the strong will she had always had, he couldn't help but despise what it had caused for him. So he turned his back on the only girl he had ever loved and walked straight out the door, trying not to look at what he was leaving behind.
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Okay, so according to the outline I have, the next chapter is gonna be filled with a lot of stuff. So unless I decide to break it down or condense it some, it might take a while to get out, and I'm sorry if that's the case. But I do have a new one-shot/companion piece that should be out by early next week, so keep on the look out for that. Thanks!
