A/N: I am so sorry for the long update. There was just so much going on and then I didn't have any ideas for this chapter. But don't worry, I worked hard and completed it. So I hope you all enjoy this chapter while I go and celebrate my nephew's first birthday. I would also like to thank the readers that were really patient. Your the best!
Serena walked back into the bedroom and sat down on the queen size bed, where she had been sitting before. Blair followed after closing the door behind her. She sat on the other end of the bed. Serena was sitting quietly while holding one of the many pillows against her chest. Blair looked over at the ground. They both knew they needed to have a talk. They had been distant ever since Carter had come into the picture. Blair couldn't help but blame herself for their time apart. She had been the one that spent time with Carter. She was the one that would ditch the others to go get something to eat with Carter. Blair could list more reasons, but it wouldn't make a difference. She had abandoned her best friend.
Serena couldn't bear to look at Blair. She felt like such a downer. This had been the summer that Blair had wanted to spend with her after she came back from France, and they had barely spent any time together. Serena felt like she had abandoned her best friend all over again.
The girls stayed silent. Neither of them wanted to speak first, fearing they would upset the other. Serena played with the embroidery around the pillow. Anything to keep her sane. Blair kept looking around the room. There wasn't much to look at, it was just like her guest room only the colour scheme was different and the room was slightly more messy, but that was how Serena liked it. Finally, Blair couldn't take the silence anymore. She needed to control it.
"S, I'm sorry." she said quietly.
Serena dropped the pillow from her clutches and looked up at Blair. Why would she be apologizing? She didn't do anything wrong, thought Serena. She sat up straight and looked Blair straight in the eyes.
"Don't apologize, B. If anyone should be apologizing, it should be me."
"No, I honestly should be the one that's apologizing. I completely deserted you. I spent so much time with Carter, that I didn't realize I was pushing my best friend away." Blair said, hearing her voice crack as a single tear slid down her face.
Serena moved closer to Blair and wrapped her arms around her petite friend. Blair hugged Serena back. Serena felt the tears well up in her eyes as well, but didn't let them escape.
"You had every right to desert me, I was no fun to be around. Especially after me and Dan split up, I just became this depressed person that not even I could stand. I'm sorry." she said, not being able to contain the tears anymore.
She felt Blair hug her tighter. Serena managed to smile. The girls stayed in silence, not letting go of one another. But this time the silence wasn't so awkward, in fact it was sort of comforting. Both girls in their own thoughts, thinking of what they had done and how much they were looking forward to the future. After a few moments, they released each other from their grips. Serena smiled.
"Is this what we're going to be doing in twenty years? Crying together and apologizing for why we both messed up?" she said with a small laugh.
Blair laughed a little too, as she wiped the tears from her eyes. Making sure she didn't rub off any of her left over make up in the process.
"Probably, but maybe by then I would actually be there for you. I should have been right at your side when you and Dan broke up, but I wasn't. I was being selfish." Blair replied.
"B, stop apologizing. Please!" Serena said.
"Fine, if you say so." Blair said with a smirk.
"Thank you."
"S?"
"Yes?"
"I'm sorry." Blair said through her laughter.
Serena felt laughter fill her. She grabbed the nearest pillow and threw it at Blair. Blair saw it coming and dodged it. Serena collapsed on the bed, her hands on her stomach trying to soothe the cramps that had formed because of her laughter. Blair was laughing hysterically as well and fell beside Serena. They laughed together, something they both missed. But eventually the laughter died and the both of them lay silently looking up at the ceiling.
"I think I would have gone crazy this summer if it hadn't been for Nate." Serena said softly.
"Well good thing he was here." Blair replied.
Serena nodded her head. The whole month she and Nate had been in the summer home by themselves, they had bonded. Nothing more than friendship had been present. He had kept her spirits up.
"Besides, I think he likes you." Blair said, interrupting Serena's thoughts.
Serena looked over at Blair. Could she be right? Serena looked back up at the ceiling, as if it had the answer to her question.
"B, if there's any one liking anyone else under this roof, it's Chuck's affection towards you." Serena said, hoping the Nate subject had been dropped.
"Me and Chuck are just friends." Blair said. "And we might be friends for a while." she added lightly.
Serena stayed silent. Judging from the tone of Blair's voice, she didn't want to talk about Chuck. She had heard Blair over the phone for a whole month, complaining how Chuck had never even shown up and never wanted to speak to him again. The quiet started to bother Blair again.
"Serena, there's always been a handful of guys who have treated you with the respect you deserve, and one of them is Nate. All I'm saying is that he never looked at me the way he looks at you." she said with a small smile.
If this had been a year ago, Blair would have never said. Well, she wouldn't have admitted it.
"Yeah. He's never going to be like Carter." Serena said softly.
Blair broke out of her peaceful state and sat up straight at the mention of Carter. Why would Serena be talking about him? They only went to the Debutante ball together. Did he hurt her?, thought Blair. She looked over at Serena with worried eyes.
"What does Carter have to do with this?" she asked.
Serena froze. She hadn't realized that she had mentioned Carter. Stupid, stupid Serena, she mentally scolded herself. She got up from the bed and went over to the window, as if the sky was the most exciting thing she had ever seen. Blair looked at her with peculiar eyes. What was going on with Serena? She got up from the bed also and made her way to her blonde fried.
"S, what does Carter have to do with this?" she asked again.
Serena bit her lip, but still had her back to Blair.
"Um, nothing." she replied, in a not so convincing voice.
Blair walked right up to Serena, so she was standing beside her. Serena turned around and looked at Blair. Blair placed her hands on Serena's shoulders so she would have her attention.
"Something's bothering you, and you can't even tell me? We're best friends, S. You can tell me anything. Remember, non-judging breakfast club." Blair said with a small reassuring smile.
Serena felt the tears flow down the sides of her face. She grabbed Blair's arms for support. Blair led her over to the bed and sat down beside her. Serena looked up at her.
"B, Carter's a horrible person." she said.
"I know that, S." Blair said softly.
"But you don't know why."
Serena started to tell Blair the story of what happened years ago with Carter. Blair held Serena's hand the whole time, to comfort her and keep herself stable as she received this new information about the guy she had slept with just last night. Blair passed her a tissue when the tears became uncontrollable. She didn't bother to wipe of her own tears this time. Once Serena finished telling her best friend what she wanted to tell for a long time, she looked up at her. Blair sat in shock. She didn't know what to do or what to say. All she could do was sit and stay still. Serena gave her hand a small squeeze.
"I wanted to tell you for so long, but I didn't need another person to be disappointed at me. My mom was already upset about that, I just couldn't take it if I failed someone else." she said.
Blair broke out of her trance and looked over at Serena.
"I would never do that to you, S."
Blair brought Serena over to her and gave her a hug only a best friend could give. Serena hugged back, it was the closest they had been in days. Nothing could separate them for long. But wait, was Georgina Sparks in town?
In the meantime, the guys were still downstairs. They had finished their waffles and put the dishes away. They had decided to leave the girls alone and have their own boys day out sort of thing. Nate was just finishing writing up their note.
Serena and Blair,
We went off to the pool hall. Don't worry about us.
-Nate
He left the note on the center of the kitchen table before turning to the other two guys in the room. The three walked out of the house and towards Chuck's limo. They all climbed in and waited to be dropped off in front of the pool hall, where they intend to spend their whole day. Chuck sighed and poured himself a glass of scotch.
"Honestly, Nathaniel. A pool hall? What are we, a biker gang?" Chuck said sarcastically.
Nate just rolled his eyes. Chuck had been less than thrilled to go to the pool hall, but couldn't find anything better to do. Eric on the other hand, had been all for it. The rest of the ride was quiet and relaxing. Everyone to occupied with their own thoughts to even notice anything else. The ride was short and they were in front of the pool hall in no time. Nate led the way inside, while Chuck looked at everything as if it carried malaria. They easily found an empty pool table. Eric and Nate played. Chuck didn't see the point. He wasn't really a pool fan.
Half way through the game, Nate was winning. Chuck had agreed to keep scores, seeing as though he had nothing else to do. Eric was to preoccupied with the game to notice the waitress passing him a bottle of beer. He gave her a confused look.
"Um, what's this?" he asked.
The waitress smiled and motioned towards a guy, in his late teens, sitting at the bar.
"He asked me to bring this over to you." the waitress said as she walked away.
Eric stood silently with the beer bottle in his hands. Chuck smirked at him.
"Don't even bother drinking it. The guy obviously doesn't know wine would be much better suited for you." he said.
Chuck left Eric at the pool table, and made his way over to the bar. Maybe he could find something mildly desirable to drink. He sat patiently at the bar. He still hadn't found anything to drink, when a five foot nine blonde came and stood beside him. He chose to ignore her, nothing about her appealed to him. She gave him a supposedly seductive smile.
"Hey." she said.
Chuck paid no attention to her. Maybe if I ignore her, she'll just go away, he thought. But she didn't. she moved closer to him.
"See anything you like?" she said while taking a piece of her hair and twirling it between her fingers.
Chuck sighed and looked up at her. She wasn't anything special. She wasn't the brunette beauty with doe eyes he was used to and wanted.
"Look, I'm a committed relationship and I'm not a big fan of polygamy." he said.
The girl walked away, trying to keep her head high after Chuck Bass rejected her. Chuck sat calmly. Did he just say he was in a committed relationship? Oh, how he wished he was. He was actually willing to risk everything he had been afraid of before. But he and Blair had agreed to be friends. Great. Friends, he thought.
Nate was beating Eric at pool, for the hundredth time. Nate waited patiently while Eric got ready for his turn. Nate glanced around the pool hall. There weren't that many people. Nate's eyes caught something, or rather someone he didn't want to see. He turned to Eric.
"Um, I'll be right back." he said as he placed his cue stick on the pool table.
Nate walked towards the unwanted figure by the juke box. His eyes became cold as he approached him.
"What the hell are you doing here?" Nate asked in a low yet threatening voice.
Carter smiled at him.
"Nate, my man. How are you?" he said.
Nate glared at him and grabbed Carter's shirt. He pushed him out of the nearest door. It led to the back alley. Nate shut the door behind them and check the alley to see if anyone was there. It was completely empty. He turned his attention back to Carter.
"What the hell are you doing here? Didn't you get what you wanted already?" Nate gritted through his teeth.
"What ever are you talking about?" Carter replied.
Nate grabbed his shirt and pushed him against the wall. He looked Carter straight in the eyes.
"Listen, if I ever find out that you sleep with any girl that I care about ever again, I will personally get rid of you." he said in a frightening tone.
Carter tried not to show fear.
"What makes you think I slept with anyone that you know?" Carter replied.
Nate pushed him back against the wall.
"Don't lie to me. Your one hell of a bastard." Nate said in an icy tone.
Nate released his grip on him and walked a few feet away from him. Carter turned to walked down the alley and toward the street. Nate watched him walk away.
"Make sure I never see you again." Nate shouted.
Carter didn't stop walking, but heard Nate loud and clear. He walked out of the alley and onto the street. He checked his watch. It was almost noon. He had agreed to meet Georgina outside of a book store. He found it in a few minutes and saw Georgina emerge from inside wearing her trademark sunglasses. She smiled at him.
"Carter Baizen, I do believe you have a little something for me." she said.
Carter sighed. He reached into his coat pocket and pulled out the memory card from the video camera. He placed in the palm of her hand. She closed her hand and placed it inside her purse.
"Thanks Baizen. Oh and don't plan to leave town anytime soon, I'm not quite done with you." she said, while walking away.
Carter wanted to object but he couldn't. He would have to do whatever she wanted to keep himself safe. He sighed and walked the opposite way.
Meanwhile, Blair and Serena stepped out of their cab and walked inside to the Hampton's spa. They had decided that if the guys got to do something fun, then they would get to also. They were seated in the waiting area. Blair flipped through Vogue while Serena read an article in Vanity Fair. She could hear a familiar voice coming from the front desk.
"Thank you, that would be wonderful if you could get me in right now."
Serena froze. Please don't let it be her!, she panicked inside. She placed the magazine on the coffee table and tapped Blair's arm. She looked up at her.
"What's wrong?" she asked.
Before Serena could reply, Georgina walked into the waiting area. Her faux enthusiasm was planted on her face.
"Blair and Serena! It's so great to see you two! How much fun are we all going to have at the spa together." she said.
Blair and Serena sat frozen in place. Nothing seemed to be reacting. Georgina kept on smiling at them. Before either of them could muster up the confidence to tell Georgina off, one of the spa employees walked in.
"We can take you girls in now. Are you all three together?" she asked.
Georgina plastered a smile across her face.
"Yes, we're all together." she replied.
