A/N- Thank yous to the wonderful Lynne and Maggie, Edwardslover09, YouSure, Heavenlydoll, :D, GGfanSkittles, MissDK, princetongirl, Blood Red Kiss of Death, mystriped skirt, chasitybsp, Noirreigne (Robin :)), uncorazonquebrao, flipped, kaesaku, bookworm455 and cityhorizon for being such wonderful reviewers last chapter :) I love you guys.
WARNING: More Cater. Please don't hate me...
Five Doors Down
Chapter 13: White Knights
"So how was New Years?" Cassie asked Blair as the brunette unwrapped the chunky scarf from around her neck before swiftly unbuttoning her coat. The weather in New Haven was still freezing, and though no snow had fallen yet, the forecasts had predicted it for the near future.
Blair shrugged. "Weird."
"Weird how?"
"Just, you know-"
"Did Nate hook up with that Vanessa girl you were telling me about? Did Chuck hook up with…well, anyone?"
Blair frowned into the coffee Cassie had bought for her arrival and sighed. "Actually no, I drank a little too much vodka and-"
"Oh my God you had sex with Chuck!?" Cassie exclaimed, half-questioning, half-stating.
"No."
"Nate!? Holy crap that must have been one good New-"
"Cassie I didn't sleep with anyone!" Blair answered quickly. "I may have shared a midnight kiss with a certain white knight, but-"
"White knight?" The blonde gabbled. "What's a white knight? What's his name? Is he hot? Hotter than Nate? Hotter than Chuck?"
"Well I can't tell you because you won't stop asking questions!"
"Sorry." She offered a small smile, drawing her fingers across her lips. "Sealed."
"His name's Carter, we used to hang out with him sometimes at home and then he moved away for a bit. He was Serena's date for the cotillion, well, kind of, and anyway he and Nate don't like each other because Nate punched him, and Chuck just doesn't like anyone-"
"Wait, I need to unzip for a moment." Cassie told her wide-eyed. "Nate actually punched someone? Why?"
"Uh, because he was dancing with me but-"
"That is so freakin hot!" Cassie breathed. "And see? I told you that you and Nate are more than-"
"Calm down, it was Chuck's fault because he was plotting something that obviously didn't go to plan. Anyway that's beside the point. Point is, I kissed Carter at midnight and then he asked me out and I said yes, but only because I was drunk, and not because I'm desperate or needy but-"
"When's he taking you out?"
Blair screwed up her face and ran her fingers around the rim of her coffee cup absent-mindedly. "Tonight?"
"Tonight?" Cassie squealed. "Oh. My. Gosh that is so romantic! He's flying here for you…tonight! What did Nate say when you told him?"
"Um…"
"You haven't told him have you?"
"We're not speaking."
"What? Why?"
"We kinda had an argument on New Years."
"About what? B, Nate wouldn't argue with you he loves you!"
"He doesn't love me."
"Okay whatever. So you guys fell out because?"
"Because he caught me switching the place settings around."
"I don't understand."
"I instructed Serena to sort out the seating, and she did it all wrong so I took matters into my own hands." Blair told Cassie matter-of-factly. "Only, I accidentally moved Nate's place setting instead of Chuck's so that we were sat with Carter and not with everyone else."
"But why would you want to sit with Chuck over Nate?"
"Because I wanted to use Cater to make him jealous." The brunette mumbled. "After that whole dance floor ho-down, I wanted to make sure he wasn't going to win."
"Win what?"
"The game."
"What game?"
"Just, you know." Blair raised an eyebrow. "The game."
"Blair just…I don't know, doesn't it seem a little…high school?"
"Okay, now you sound like Nate and I thought you'd understand." Blair cut coldly, putting her cup down so that she could put on her scarf. "I have to go, I have a date to get ready for."
"Blair, come on, you know I didn't mean it like that, it's just that you seemed to always have so much fun before Chuck got here, and now it's changed."
The game, to Blair, was the best kind of fun she could have. But in order to play, she needed Chuck.
"I still have fun." She replied. "Just not in the same way as before."
Cassie raised an eyebrow. "Okay, this is bordering on kinky now."
Blair rolled her eyes and shook her head with a small smile. "Goodbye Cassie."
-
Cassie had peered round the door as Carter had presented Blair with a bouquet of flowers, reminding herself that she was going to have to start dating rich boys if (or more likely when) she broke up with Asher. She'd noted the brunette's slightly false smile as she put the peonies into a vase with some water before slinging her Chanel purse over her shoulder before shooting a 'stop peaking' glare at the blonde. He was hot enough, she figured, though it wasn't like he was in Nate's pretty prep boy league or Chuck's bad boy smouldering class, but still, Cassie guessed she wouldn't say no if the offer was there.
With Asher at soccer practise she put on his sweater that he'd lent her weeks ago and headed to Nate's place in search of beer and more Chuck/Blair/Nate information. If she didn't have anyone around to sweep her off her own feet with peonies and over-priced cocktails, she'd settle for hearing about the lives of others who did.
"Tell me you've got beer." She huffed as she brushed past Nate and his open door.
"I've got beer."
"Good. Now turn off the tv, we're having a heart to heart."
"Um, what?" Nate asked, turning to watch Cassie as she flipped the tops off of two bottles of Budweiser.
"A heart to heart, you know, those things that people do when they need to get something off their mind."
"Why, what do you need to get off your mind?" Nate asked, taking a bottle from her outstretched hand.
"Me? Nothing. It's you who needs to tell me stuff."
Nate laughed. "About what?"
"New Years."
"Why? What happened on New Years?"
"I don't know!" Cassie replied. "I was stuck here, not living it up at some fabulous party on the Upper East Side like you guys."
"It was in Brooklyn."
"Whatever, that's a minor detail. I want to know why Blair is going on a date with Carter Baizen, whoever he is-"
"She's going out with Carter?" Nate asked. "When?"
"Tonight. Now."
"So what, he just flew over here to take her out?"
"Romantic huh?"
"Mmm." Nate mumbled taking a large swig from his bottle.
"So she didn't tell you?"
"I don't think we're exactly….you know…friends at the moment."
"Let me guess, something to do with Chuck?"
"When isn't it?"
"I don't get it." Cassie frowned, taking a sip form her beer. "What happened between the two of them?"
"On New Years?" Nate asked. "Or what happened between the two of them period?"
The blonde shrugged. "There's something between them-"
"It's called sexual tension."
"No I don't mean that." Cassie laughed. "Although, yeah, you're right, but I mean, there's something else. Like if he didn't act the way he did, I would have sworn he loves her."
"He does." Nate replied simply, taking another large swig.
"And Blair loves him too?"
This time Nate shrugged. "I don't know any more."
"But she used to?"
"In high school. But now, it's almost like she's outgrown it all, or at least, I thought she had until New Years. He seems to bring out the worst in her and I hate that."
"So that's what all the 'game' stuff is about?"
"The thing with Blair is that she's the most competitive woman I've ever met. She has to be the best at everything, and Chuck's the same, so they get off on competing against each other. I can't remember how many bets they had in high school but one of them was always the winner. I just think she's better than that."
"Do you love her, Nate?" Cassie asked quietly. She'd watched the two of them interacting plenty of times, with eyes for only each other but neither had ever admitted anything.
He shrugged. "I suppose, but not in an 'I'm in love with her' way. Just, she's a really good friend now, and I miss what we had before Chuck got here."
"Do you think you should tell her?" Cassie asked. "How you feel, I mean."
"I was the worst boyfriend to her when we went out." Nate laughed almost sadly. "I slept with her best friend for God's sake. She deserves to just…do what she wants you know. If she wants to go on dates with asses like Carter then that's what she should do because she never got that chance in high school you know?" He laughed again out of sheer embarrassment. "I think that's the most talking I've ever done. Can we move on now? Football's on tv."
-
"I need a warming glass of your finest scotch Nathaniel, I'm freezing my balls off." Chuck declared as he entered Nate's dorm room, unravelling the scarf from around his neck before he looked up and noticed Cassie.
"Cassandra, how very nice to see you." He nodded with a Chuck-style smile in her direction.
"Charles Bass." She returned. "To what do we owe this pleasure?"
"I thought me and my main man here could share a little alcohol, a little smoke, a little chat." He raised an eyebrow as he opened a tin filled with marijuana. "Care to join?"
"I'll pass on the pot, thanks." She returned sarcastically as Chuck put the tin back in his pocket.
"Fine, I'll save it for later. More for me."
He sat down beside Nate on the small couch, pausing as he brought the glass of liquid to his lips. "Where's Waldorf?"
"She's-"
"Carter Baizen is an ass!" Blair huffed, barging through the door and interrupting a startled Cassie as she flung her coat onto the stand by the door, narrowing her eyes as she took in the sight of the blonde and her two ex-boyfriends (if you could really call them that) watching football and drinking. "And what the hell is this?" She gestured to the three of them. "You have a get-together and don't invite me?"
"I-" Nate began, but was interrupted by Chuck.
"You've been on a date with Carter Baizen?"
"Yes Chuck, I have." She rolled her eyes, reaching for a glass from Nate's cupboard. "He kissed me on New Years and then took me out for dinner a week later. That's how normal people conduct a relationship."
"I seem to remember my lips together with yours on New Years too." He smirked. "How come I haven't so much as spoken to you until now."
"Oh I don't know, maybe it's something to do with the fact that you called me a slut. In public. In front of my mother."
"My apologies for that." Chuck replied, not seeming like he meant any of it. "I got caught up in the moment."
She eyed him narrowly as she screwed the top back onto the grey goose vodka she knew Nate kept for moments like this before making her way over to the couch. "Move." She told Chuck, who stayed rooted in his place.
Rolling her eyes, Blair placed her drink down on the messy coffee table and then proceeded to seat herself in Nate's lap, much to the surprise of him, and Cassie and Chuck.
"If you'd just waited, I would have moved over." Chuck snarled through gritted teeth.
"Well, I'm comfy now." Blair replied, shooting a very fake smile his way as she rested her head against Nate's chest tiredly.
"Bad date?" he asked her as she sighed and he sipped from his bottle of beer.
She nodded. "Remember when you punched him at Cotillion?"
"Yeah."
"Well if we ever get to go back in time, can you punch him again from me?"
Nate chuckled and moved his arm so that it was around her body rather than under it. "No problem."
They sat quietly for a while, just watching the football as Chuck fumed silently on the couch next to a clearly comfortable Blair and Nate.
"Hey look!" Cassie squealed with excitement, pointing to the window. "It's snowing!"
"Great." Chuck grunted. "Now our feet will get wet walking to class."
"Not like you go much." Blair mumbled.
"What's your point?"
"Some people like the snow." She replied. "I for one love white nights."
Chuck rolled his eyes at her out-of-nowhere enthusiasm and took a long gulp of scotch as he realised that perhaps Yale wasn't going to be quite as he anticipated.