Chapter 5

Blair thanked Arthur as he held the limo door open for her, he nearly asked if she wanted some shoes bringing down but the look on her face told him it was better to keep quiet. Blair hurried into her building, ignoring the stinging on her feet from the wet ground and shouted at the doorman to collect her belongings from the car.

Blair paced the elevator as it made its way up to her apartment. She was angry with Chuck. How could he possibly think she had relapsed?! He spent most of his time either drunk or hungover and now he was judging her for one night of excess and jumping to ridiculous conclusions while he was at it. Blair berated herself for answering her phone to him, if she'd just ignored it then none of this would have happened. She suddenly remembered her phone and fished into her bag to find it. When she finally pulled it out, the screen was black, the battery still dead.

Steve, she thought. She'd forgotten about him. The elevator pinged and the doors opened into her apartment. Blair plugged her phone into the charger and sat on the sofa waiting for it to come to life again. Eventually, the screen lit up and several messages and missed calls popped up.

Missed calls (6): Steve, Steve, Steve, Serena, Steve, Chuck.

Message: Steve – Hi Princess, tried calling but your phone is off. I hope you're feeling better, call me. X

Message: Steve – Hey, are you up yet? Call me. X

Message: Steve – Blair, why are you ignoring my calls? Call me now.

Message: Serena – Hey B! I hope your hangover is as bad as mine. DYING! How was the rest of your night with Steve? Lunch tomorrow? I need details! Sx

Voicemail (1) Steve – "Blair, what the hell is going on? I thought we sorted all this out last night. Will you just call me?"

Blair groaned and rubbed her temples. She had hoped the missing memories from last night would slowly start to come back as her hangover improved but there was still nothing. Nine hours of nothing. The only person who would be able to clear up the mystery was Steve. Blair picked up the phone and dialled Steve's number.

"Finally! What the hell Blair. I left for work 4 hours ago, why have you been ignoring my calls!?" Steve sounded annoyed as he answered the phone almost immediately.

"I haven't been ignoring you. My phone battery died, and I've only just turned it back on." Blair replied. She wanted to call him out on the aggressive way he'd answered the phone, but she stopped herself. She didn't want to start another argument until he'd answered all her questions.

"Oh, why has it taken you this long? Are you still at my apartment?" Steve asked.

"I was really hungover. I went back to sleep for a few hours and then came home." Blair stated bluntly. She could hear Steve exhale in annoyance. "I needed a change of clothes, and I had some work to do." She added. She told herself it was an exaggeration of the truth rather than a lie.

"Okay. Have you had breakfast? I can come over for a late brunch if you want some company?" Steve's mood lifted in an instance.

"Erm, yea I picked something up on the way home." That wasn't a lie either, Blair told herself. "I've got a lot to do this afternoon, I'll call you later." She wanted answers but she needed time to formulate her plan of attack. Asking the questions over the phone would give Steve an opportunity to lie and she wouldn't be able to see his face to know he was doing it.

"I'll come over when I've finished here." Steve suggested.

"Fine." Blair agreed, although her voice lacked any enthusiasm. She ended the call and tossed her phone aside. She was still wearing Chuck's shirt and she could smell his cologne on the collar. It was almost comforting. She quickly frowned and shook her head, trying to remove that thought from her mind. She hurried upstairs and stepped into the shower, throwing Chuck's shirt into the laundry as she went.

...

"Miss Blair, Mister Steve is here to see you." Dorota announced. Blair had spent the afternoon catching up on work and hurried down from her office to meet Steve in the hallway. Steve was holding a bouquet of roses in one hand and a box of macaroons in the other.

"Hi, princess." Steve smiled widely as he watched Blair float down the stairs. She was wearing a simple summer dress and was barefoot, she looked radiant.

"Hi." Blair responded, accepting his gifts, and asking Dorota to inform the chef that they were ready for dinner to be served. Steve stepped forward and tried pull Blair into his arms, but she stepped round him to avoid his reach and walked over to the dining table.

"What's wrong?" Steve asked as he followed Blair to the table.

"I need you to tell me what happened last night." Blair stated. Her voice was quiet, but her tone was serious.

"I thought we spoke about this. We argued, I went to leave but you called me, and we came back to my apartment. We sorted things out and then you passed out. That's it." Steve recited the same story he'd told Blair that morning.

"But why don't I remember any of it?" Blair questioned. Steve recalled the events of the previous night with such simplicity, but Blair needed more details, she hoped it would start to fill in the missing pieces of her memory.

"You were quite drunk when you called. By the time I came back to the event you could barely stand, I guess you went in a bit heavy with the champagne and it all went to your head. It's okay though, I helped you outside and no-one saw us." Steve tried to reassure Blair that her drunken state had not been witnessed by anyone of interest. Blair mulled over his words for a few moments. She had gulped back a few more glasses of champagne than she usually would and during their argument she could remember feeling a bit tipsy. She'd returned straight to the bar after Steve left, it made sense that she'd overdone it. But it still didn't change the fact that she'd made the decision to end her relationship with Steve, even if she'd temporarily backtracked on that decision while under the influence.

"Look, Steve, thanks for looking after me last night, but I meant what I said before you left. I can't be in a relationship with someone that doesn't trust me." Steve stood up from the table and began to pace the room.

"You can't be serious?" Steve eventually said. "I know there's something going on between you and Chuck. You're the one lying to me and yet I still turned up last night to rescue you."

"I don't need you to rescue me. I need you to leave me alone." Blair had tried to keep calm, but he'd pushed her buttons and she was now shouting at him.

"I don't believe you, Blair. You said this last night and the next minute you apologised, and we were having sex in my apartment." Blair opened her mouth in shock.

Sex? They'd had sex?

Blair was ashamed that she'd managed to get herself in this position. It was bad enough that she'd given Steve the impression that she'd changed her mind regarding their relationship, but she couldn't believe she'd become so drunk that she'd had sex with him, and she couldn't even remember it.

"That was a mistake. This is over, you need to leave now or I'm going to call security." Blair shouted. The commotion had alerted Dorota, who hurried into the hallway with her eyes wide in concern.

"Security on way, Miss Blair." Dorota said, hoping the announcement would encourage Steve to leave quickly.

"I'm not leaving like this, Blair. I'm sorry for what I said about you and Chuck. Please can we sit down and talk?" Steve pleaded with Blair. He reached out to grab her hand, but she pulled away and moved round to the other side of the table to put some distance between them.

"We're finished, Steve." Blair stepped further away as Steve tried to follow her.

"Please Blair, please don't end it like this. I really care about you, and we've been so great together. Just talk to me, we can work this out." Steve continued to plead with her. Eventually the elevator pinged, two security guards stepped out and grabbed Steve under each arm. He tried to resist them, shouting out to Blair that he was sorry and that he loved her. They finally pulled him into the elevator, and he was gone. Blair sunk down into a chair and dropped her head onto the table.

"Miss Blair, everything okay?" Dorota asked nervously as she approached Blair, but she didn't respond. "What did Mister Steve do?"

"Nothing, Dorota. He just isn't the person I thought he was."

"I always got odd vibe from him, but why he mention Mister Chuck?" Dorota asked.

"Dorota, you get paid to do as I say, not to ask a hundred questions. Now go and carry on with the many jobs I pay you to do. I'm going to bed." Blair marched through her apartment and into her bedroom, slamming the door behind her.

Dorota rolled her eyes as she heard the door slammed. She returned to the laundry she had been sorting through and paused when she pulled out a man's shirt from the pile. Frowning at it, she sniffed the collar and smiled to herself.

"Mister Chuck." She muttered to herself then threw it in the machine with the rest of the clothes.

To be continued...

A/N: if you're still reading this I would love to hear what you think - hit the reply button, you know you want to ;)