Chapter 8
Blair stepped out of her car outside of the Palace hotel with a smile after Kati and Iz got out first. She carefully ran her hand through her dark curls to give it the final touch before leading the group inside to the brunch. Upon arriving she took note of the people in the room and saw the usual suspects of New York Society. She dismissed her minions with a wave of her hand as she was approached by a friend of her mother's.
After exchanging pleasantries, Blair excused herself to greet her host as was expected of her. "Don't you look particularly ravishing this afternoon, Waldorf." Blair paused and felt a smirk grow on her face as she turned towards the voice behind her, not at all surprised at who she saw.
"I'll take that as a compliment, Bass," she responded as she looked him over, "You look rather fashionable yourself."
"As it was meant to," he smirked as he leaned towards her and kissed her cheek as was customary, "And thank you, you are the critic of choice in regards to my fashion statements. I heard you've had quite the morning."
"We'll discuss it later, but I felt it was most productive," she reached up and straightened out his bowtie as she continued, "Now, have you seen my boyfriend?"
He nods his head behind her just as she felt arms wrap around her waist, and lips on the same cheek that Chuck kissed not 30 seconds ago, "Blair. You look lovely." She smiled up at Nate, for some reason not getting the same thrill of pleasure at his compliment as she did when Chuck complimented her appearance.
"You look good too, how long have you been here?" she asked as she leaned into him.
"Not too long, just been making the rounds," Nate shrugged lightly.
Chuck, who was getting bored with the couple and knowing that after the revelation of the big secret that they would be spending more time focusing on each other, made an excuse to leave them to their conversation, "How about a drink? Bellini's?"
Blair smiled over at Chuck with a nod and a please as she watched him walk away. She turned towards Nate, and loved that his whole focus was on her; he seemed to genuinely want to move past his pass indiscretions and that made her plan to get rid of Serena completely even easier.
Nate continued to be the perfect gentleman and boyfriend as he escorted her to their group's table where her Bellini awaited her and even offered to get her a small plate from the buffet. Blair felt as if she was in one of her fantasies where everything was going perfectly and she relished it.
The group laughed and joked and talked about the other people in the room as if nothing had happened to disrupt their circle over the past few days, and it seemed to have become a very successful event. That was until a certain blonde and dark haired boy, who was obviously under dressed for the occasion, walked into the room.
It was Blair who first sighted them. She honestly couldn't believe that Serena had the nerve to actually show up as if she did nothing wrong; Blair couldn't help but chuckle at the absurdity of it all, "You've got to be kidding."
The rest of the group looked at Blair and then proceeded to follow her gaze towards the newcomers. Kati and Iz immediately began to speculate on what was going on, while Nate remained quiet as he just glanced over and focused on the food in front of him.
Chuck leaned back in his chair, the first to speak after Blair, "This should be fun."
Blair just smiled and rolled her eyes as she shook her head, still unable to believe that she was already in this position so soon. She looked over at Nate, "At least I don't have to worry about him," she thought as she took a sip from her drink. She smiled politely as one of his father's colleagues came to the table and pulled him aside to talk.
She turned her attention back to Serena and her date, recognizing him from her party last night and making the connection that it was Jenny's brother, Dan, carefully. Unfortunately, she too was called away from the table to another of her mother's society friends and made her way over to make nice, figuring that Chuck would keep her posted if anything too juicy occurred.
xoxo
While Blair was off mingling, Chuck lingered at the table watching the room at large. He was probably the only one who noticed Nate leaving the dining room after making some sort of signal to Serena from across the room, and how Serena after making her excuses with the vermin quickly followed him.
He felt eyes on him and glared over at who those eyes belonged to before even realizing that it was the Brooklyn rat himself that was looking at him; with ease Chuck turned his back on him and made an attempt to get closer to where he last saw Serena and Nate disappear.
He was stopped by his father, Bart Bass, before he moved too far, "Charles." His father excused himself from his current conversation and turned to his wayward son.
"Father," Chuck greeted with respect.
Bart reached over to him and pulled him closer as he spoke, "The invitation said black tie, not black mood. Are you okay?"
Chuck shook his head as he took a sip of his scotch, "I'm fine."
Bart sighed as he glanced around the room, "Why do you think I do all this? This party is for you. So you can meet people, and become a part of something. Make some kind of change."
Chuck looked at his father after following his father's gaze of the room, "Really? I thought it was another excuse for an open bar and the rehiring of the moving statues." Chuck joked, having heard this lecture many times. He learned long ago that he would always be a disappointment to his father, so why bother to try to live up to his high expectations?
Bart, on the other hand, was not amused, "Do me a favor? Lose the scotch; it's barely noon." With that last bit of criticism he left Chuck there.
Yeah, Chuck Bass was used to disappointing his father and sometimes he can even pretend like his father's approval didn't matter to him. That was one of the main things that he had in common with Blair Waldorf; parents with impossible expectations of their young after about 16 years of neglect. But no matter what it still cuts like a knife in the chest when they have the nerve to express said disappointment, even when they do try.
Remembering his original mission, Chuck polished off his scotch and set down the glass before he made his way over to the entrance, catching the end of the conversation between Serena and Nate. He watched as Nate handed Serena a copy of his key to his suite before quickly coming up with a plan.
He got himself a refill before spotting Blair, who was talking to the Captain, Nate's dad, and waited to make his way over to her so they could talk.
xoxo
Blair smiled politely as the Captain asked about her mother, "She's in Paris; must be some drama at the atelier."
"Nothing too dramatic I hope," the Captain responded, "I hear her opening line is doing very well. I was just telling my firm what a great investment she'd make. She's really going places."
Great, he really wants to discuss my mother's business with him now? As if I have any influence on what she decides to do. Blair thought silently to herself as she kept the smile plastered onto her face as she responded half serious with, "Hopefully places far, far away!" Realizing that her half joke was lost on him she quickly added with a charming smile, "Kidding!"
Fortunately she was saved for any awkwardness by her boyfriend, "Hey! Let me get you a refill." Blair smiled at his sweetness as he took her glass from her, "I'll be right back." With a kiss on the cheek he was gone just as quickly as he appeared, thankfully taking his father with him.
Blair smiled at how attentive Nate was being today and she felt herself be more secure with their relationship since the secret came out.
As she stood there, taking in the room around her, she felt it. It took a moment to figure out what it was that she was feeling before instantly recognizing that it's the same feeling she got when Chuck was nearby. Sure enough, her intuition was right as she looked over her shoulder with a smile; it was one of their quirks that worked for them being able to sense when the other was near.
Chuck responded with a big grin that caused Blair to laugh a little as she turned fully towards him, "I can't believe Serena came to this brunch. I told her to stay away."
Chuck nodded, figuring as much before setting his own plan in motion, "Are you worried about Nate?"
Blair thought about it for a moment and looked at Chuck, not saying a word as he continued on, "Just a shot in the dark." To which she simply nodded, wondering what he was up to.
"I think you know what you need to do to get his attention," he said as he pulled out his own copy of his 1812 suite upstairs.
Blair looked at it for a second before asking, "And what's that?" Already having an idea to what it was.
Chuck looked at it before answering with a grin, "The key to my suite, Nate's heart, and your future happiness."
Blair tilted her head to the side as his words made some sense to her and plucked the key from his hand with a smile.
Chuck leaned towards her with a smirk, "I'm honored to be playing even a small role in your deflowering."
Blair rolled her eyes at his comment and replied back in annoyance, "You're disgusting!"
"Yes," he agreed with a smile, "I am, so why be shy? You should grab Nate and use this." He gives her a playful nudge, "And report back with details."
Blair rolled her eyes lightly again and leaves him to take his advice. Chuck watched her carefully already knowing that it wasn't going to happen, and he almost felt guilty for setting up his best friend to get hurt. But if Nate couldn't even go one day without sneaking around with Serena, Blair needed to know the truth. He knew Blair better than he knew himself sometimes and knew that this would not be her breaking point. But it would be the second step of the end; the first being when Nate finally told her about what happened last year.
xoxo
Blair took one more deep breath as she watched Nate say his goodbyes to a friend of the Captain; the moment that the older men took their leave of Nate she made her way over as she put on a provocative smirk on her lips as she paused behind him, still holding onto the key.
She placed her hand on his arm and pulled him towards her as she asked, "What are you doing right now?"
Nate took a quick glance around as he answered, "Uh, well-"
"How about me?" Blair asked as she held his face in her hands as she looked up into his eyes a little nervous, but refusing to let it show.
"Um…" Nate said, not knowing how to even respond it seemed.
Blair laughed lightly as she slowly maneuvered him towards the exit, "What, did you receive a better offer…?" She ran her hand down the lapel of his jacket as she continued to walk with him out of the room backwards, getting that same bad feeling that she got when Nate came up to their hotel room only a few days ago when he told her about him and Serena.
"No, of course not," Nate assured her as he looked into her eyes.
Immediately Blair began to feel better, "Yeah?" she asked as she watched him look around the room once again.
Nate looked back at her, finally giving off the vibe that he was as into this prospect as she was when he responded with, "Now?"
"Now. Now!" She confirmed with a light laugh as she lifted her head up to him as she smiled back at her. "He was right. This is going to be perfect and Nate and I can finally be back on track," she thought as she beamed and caressed his cheek and lead the way to the elevators to go upstairs.
Luckily the elevator was already on the ground floor so they didn't have to wait after calling for it. Blair easily pulled Nate into the elevator car and barely waited for the doors to close before taking his lips with hers eagerly. She was grateful that he, just as eagerly, kissed her back. Blair released a moan as he pressed his body against hers against the wall. They were so wrapped up in each other it wasn't until the bell of the elevator went off that they realized that they arrived at their floor.
Nate broke their kiss briefly to ask, "Where are we going?" before Blair pulled him back and kissed him once more before responding.
"I got us the best room in the whole place," she smiled and kissed him again before leading them out of the elevator and down the hall to Chuck's suite quickly.
She opened the door and followed Nate in, feeling for the first time that everything was going right for her she released a laugh in excitement over what was about to happen. She shut the door behind them as she pulled him back towards her, not even paying attention when Nate stated, "Wait, this is Chuck's suite."
It wasn't until she heard a woman's voice, calling for Nate, behind her that she stopped and turned around, "Serena?"
Serena just stood there, looking everywhere but at Blair before finally saying something, "Blair."
Blair tried her best to maintain her composer but it seemed almost impossible as she thought, "She did it again! She has once again ruined this very important moment for me. Just when I thought that everything was perfect again, here she is to change my mind." She slowly walked towards Serena as she kept her voice down, "What is she doing here?"
Serena paused as she glanced at Nate standing behind Blair, who was being very quiet, and not taking his eyes off of the floor and meeting her gaze, before answering, "I was meeting Nate."
Blair felt her anger grow and whipped her head around and looked at Nate as he moved to stand by her side, feeling her control of her voice volume slip as Nate finally said something, "Just to talk, I swear!"
"You said you'd never speak to her again!" she shouted, unable to believe that this was happening.
"You said that?!" Serena asked, having the audacity to sound hurt, "Why would you say that?"
Blair turned back to Serena and stated, "Because you can't be trusted," as if it were obvious.
"It's not Serena's fault," Nate tried to defend Serena.
This only made Blair even more furious at the situation and snapped at him, not moving anything but her eyes in his direction, "Do not defend her!"
"I asked her to come!" Nate exclaimed.
"Oh! Oh so you do want to talk to her," Blair stated as she looked up at her boyfriend as she crossed her arm, waiting to see how he can possibly explain himself out of this one.
"Yes! To explain why I'm not talking to her," Nate responded dumbly, unable to give a real answer.
Blair gave a short, sarcastic laugh before stating, "Maybe I'll leave you two to have that fascinating conversation," she slowly started to back out of the room.
Serena, obviously having enough, started to leave too, "Oh no, I'll go. I'll let you guys get back to your quickie."
Blair could not believe that Serena had the nerve to even go there and quickly defended herself, "It WASN'T a quickie! Sex, is actually kind of a big deal to some of us!"
"Oh, yeah I can see that," Serena replied sarcastically with a soft laugh, "Chuck's bed. Very romantic, classy too."
Blair felt her back straighten at the sight of the old Serena, the Serena that used to be Queen of Constance, and realized that if she didn't do something to put her in her place very soon, the fear she had only 48 hours ago of her crown being taken away could very much be a reality.
As she took note of Serena's words she realized that there was still a card left in her hand to play, and lucky for her the opportunity was just downstairs in the dining room. Not wanting to appear as if she was running away she spoke as she backed away with a menacing smile, "Oh, like you? I bet your new friend, Dan, would love to hear all about how classy you are!"
Blair quickly opened the door and got into the elevator, not letting herself get upset as she saw a takedown on the horizon and quickly put on her poker face as she doors closed in front of her as she heard Nate and Serena running after her.
xoxo
Chuck sat at the bar with his scotch as he waited for Blair, Serena, or Nate to come back down, noticing that vermin finally getting the hint that he wasn't welcomed here and was leaving, he smirked into his glass. Not too long afterwards, he saw Blair gracefully walk into the room a little flushed as she looked around the room, obviously searching for someone.
Chuck decided to wait until she approached him first, seeing the look of a hunter in her eyes blazing; he began to contemplate on who would be her prey as that Brooklynite returned and she made her way over to him. Interesting, he thought as he made his way over to hear what was being said.
"Dan?" she confirmed as she shook his hand, giving off the impression that she was excited to meet him, "Hi! I'm Blair Waldorf, Serena's friend." Chuck smirked as he watched the show, wondering where the blondes were.
"Oh, hey. Yeah, do you happen to know where she is?" He heard Dan ask, showing that he had some respect for his betters.
"As a matter of fact-," she began, Chuck began to see what Blair was up to and shook his head at himself with a smirk still firmly on his face "Even though I missed the show this morning, it seems that I'll get the real one now" he thought to himself as he watched Nate and Serena finally make an appearance, interrupting Blair before she could say anything yet.
"Blair!" Serena said breathlessly, obviously having taken the stairs as Nate, as he was prone to do, just saying nothing as he stood there.
"Serena, there you are. Where were you?" Dan asked her.
Blair quickly answered for Serena, taking back control of the conversation with, "She was waiting in a hotel room, for my boyfriend."
Chuck put his glass down after having finished it as he continued to stand in the background as Dan took a moment to process what Blair said.
"To talk!" Serena tried to explain as she kept her gaze on Blair, obviously trying to plead for mercy on what Blair was about to do.
Chuck actually laughed a bit at Nate's input on the explanation, "About why we weren't talking."
Blair rolled her eyes and said with irritation, "That doesn't sound any smarter the second time."
Chuck rolled his eyes, unable to believe that that was Nate's explanation. "It's not as if he was explaining to Serena, this is Blair Waldorf we're talking about," he thought to himself. He heard Dan state, "Why weren't you talking? Is this any reason why you were waiting for Serena this morning?"
Chuck was actually a bit surprised about that bit of info as he sensed that they were seriously going to veer off topic Chuck decided to make his presence known as Blair stated, "You were what?!"
"And here I thought you were waiting for me…," he smirked as he stood beside Serena, completing the circle.
"Oh, this is exactly what the situation needs. Chuck," Dan said sarcastically with a sigh as he put his hands in his pockets.
Blair looked at Chuck as he made his appearance, frowning as she silently asked him why she was just now hearing about this. Chuck gave her a quick look, which explained it all that he didn't know himself to even tell her.
Dan quickly goes back to the conversation at hand, "Now what exactly is going on here?"
Blair quickly jumped on board with a smile, "We were just getting to that-"
Serena interrupted with a final plea, "Blair, please don't do this…"
Blair simply smirked a smirk that almost rivaled Chuck's at her with a simple, "Sorry, did you," she motioned her head towards Dan, "want to tell him?"
Chuck found himself smirking at the sight before him added in, "I'll tell him."
His smirk only growing as the Nate exclaimed, "You know?!"
He responded as if it were obvious, "I know everything."
"And apparently I know nothing!" Dan exclaimed, obviously hating that he was standing amongst the adults as they talked around him.
Serena, obviously making a decision to be the one to tell him, started to speak, "Dan…it was a long time ago, and I regret it…"
Chuck started to grow bored at the sight of Serena's tears and scoffed internally as she tried to ease Dan into it while attempting to come off as she was Ms. Innocent. He just couldn't take it anymore so he just interrupted with, "Serena, stop trying to pretend you're a good girl. So you slept with your best friend's boyfriend," He shrugged, "I kind of admire you for it."
He continued to smirk as he watched her and then Dan's reaction, happy with the part he played.
"Is that true?" Dan asked after saying nothing for a moment.
Chuck looked over at Blair, lifting a brow up at her to allow her the final nail on Serena's coffin. She added in almost nonchalantly, "Well then she ran away…and lied about it," she smiled at Serena, obviously loving how everything was coming together as she continued, "I just thought you should know. Before you fall head over heels for your perfect girl, and her perfect world, and then get left all alone with no one but your cabbage patch kid."
Chuck was highly amused at that latest revelation of the vermin and had to look at the ground to stop himself from laughing as Nate spoke, "Cabbage patch?"
"Did you talk to my sister?" He heard Dan ask, deciding that he wouldn't be Chuck Bass if he didn't stir the pot a bit about little Jenny Humphrey.
"Ah yes, little Jenny…How is she? I hope she hasn't been wondering off to any roofs lately, would be a shame if something were to happen…again," he smirked as Dan finally put the pieces together in regards to that mystery.
"That was you?" Dan asked before getting into Chuck's face, "You stay away from her, you hear me?"
"Poor Daniel. So little time, so many sluts to defend," Chuck ribbed before Dan gave him a violent shove into a nearby waiter causing him fall down along with his tray full of drinks onto the floor.
Chuck looked at the mess and couldn't help but smile in enjoyment as he glanced over at Blair, who seemed to find the scene equally amusing, instead of her normal reaction of being appalled at the mention of a scene, as she covered her mouth to hide her smile and glanced around as she took a step away.
Chuck took a glance too as everyone turned and looked at the outsider Dan, who didn't even know how to act in polite society as he just proved, and did his best to keep himself from laughing.
Unable to take the stares, Dan sighed before he exclaimed, "it's fine, it's fine everyone can stop looking!" He pointed to Chuck, "He's a jerk, but it's my fault and I'm leaving."
Chuck walked past Blair as Dan left, hearing Serena offer rather pathetically, "I'll come with you…" as he gave a playful nudge to Blair, sharing a smile with her as he made his way back to the bar behind her.
He order a drink as he watched Dan leave alone, obviously not taking Serena up on her offer, and Blair giving some sort of angry remark to Nate as she left too after Serena made her dramatic exit to go after her Brooklynite. He sighed as he took a drink and smirked at one of the statue models standing off to the side, "She seems to be quite….limber" he thought, figuring Blair was good for the night after being fresh from such a public kill.
Some might call this a cluster-fuck, but on the Upper East Side…we call this a Sunday afternoon
Gossip Girl
xoxo
Blair lay down on her bed, still fully clothed, after arriving home with Nate, who was lying on his back beside her. She hadn't said a word to him after he asked if she were satisfied with herself after the scene at brunch, and she responded not even close. She knew that it was going to be a tough road back to where they used to be, but she hoped that it wouldn't have been this hard.
Her mind raced over the information she got today. How Nate went behind her back to talk to Serena on two separate occasions after promising Blair that he was done. His lame ass excuse was more telling then when he stood silently by as she argued with Serena. "Could it be that he does still have feelings for her? That he only chose me out of convenience rather than love? Now that I've ruined her current potential relationship does that mean she'll come for Nate now too?" Blair thought silently to herself as she tried to take her own advice that she gave to little Jenny Humphrey this morning….was all of this worth it?
She was snapped out of her thoughts at the sound of Nate's voice, "Look Blair, either you try to forgive me and move on…or we end it."
His ultimatum effectively putting the ball in her court once again; it made her realize that she still had hope for her happily ever after with Nate. She still had hope that he would one day look at her the way that he would look at Serena. That he would one day love and appreciate her the way that she felt she deserved to be loved and appreciated.
It was because of this hope that when he reached over and placed his hand on her shoulder, she reached up her own and held onto it tightly as he rolled towards and closed his eyes. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes too.
Her thoughts went to the myth of Pandora's Box, how hope was the last thing to be released from the dreaded box and was given to the world. She thought to herself that once hope was released it can be a double edged sword. Hope is good because you have something to cling to in trying times, but hope could also be bad because you can hold false hope which sets you up for a bigger fall in the end. "I only hope that in my case it's the former and not the latter," she thought as she mentally laughed a bit bitterly at herself as she laid there with her "perfect" boyfriend, in her "perfect" home, feeling utterly alone.
She heard her phone go off on her night stand beside her and reached for it, seeing a text from Chuck: Even though it didn't end the way you planned it, you have to admit it was fun taking out the trash ;)
She smiled at the words, not bothering with replying as she admitted only to herself that it was in fact fun. She realized that she wasn't as alone as she thought only seconds before. She had Chuck Bass, a boy who became her best friend in all the ways that mattered this past year and, even though the secret is out and she didn't have to turn to him anymore, she found that she wasn't ready to lose her best friend. Not with the realization that her journey down this road was going to be even harder than she first thought.
Well Serena's mystery man is a mystery no longer his name is- oh who cares! Now that he and S are over, so are his 15 minutes. But his sister Jenny was spotted with a new dress gifted from Blair herself. Everyone knows an Eleanor Waldorf original is the uniform of B's private army. But will J be a loyal soldier? Or will she side with S's rebel forces? And as for S herself? Well we hear she left today's brunch with no friends, no boy, and nowhere left to run…
It looks like the ultimate insider has become a total outsider. It's your move Serena and you know who'll be watching…
Gossip Girl
A/N: And that, my dear ones, was brunch! What did you think? Did you love it? I have to say I'm moved at the amount of people following this story and reviewing each and every chapter and begging for more and more. Some even pm'd me stating that I brought them back to the start when Gossip girl was new and you couldn't wait for next week for the new chapter and I'm honestly touched the most by that and I dedicate this chapter to her, my dear Elena Gilbert-Cullen ;)
For the record, just in case I didn't mention it before, in my story Dan Humphrey is not Gossip Girl. It didn't make sense to me back in December when I watched the series finale and it doesn't make sense now on account of all the plot holes that they didn't even own up to having lol
This week's recs: If You Can Afford Me by Katy5219 AU. Damon is a wealthy businessman in need of...Well sex. Sex kept out of the papers, that is. Elena is a high class call girl able to offer that. What happens when need presents itself and they meet? Damon/Elena obviously(Vampire Diaries fic and complete)
As Fate Would Have it by meperez98 As fate would have it she was dared to go up to him, to dance with him, they went home together. No introductions were needed, it was just them, a guy and a girl. When the morning light comes to shine their identities are revealed and the Queen of the UES and the Playboy are thrown into a romance that was a mistake from the beginning. Or was it? (Gossip Girl fic and in progress)
All the President's Men by Shahula He's the most powerful man in the world, with nothing beyond his reach or influence. But is it enough to bring her back? Only time will tell. Presidentward. AH, Rated M (twilight fanfic and in progress)
Don't forget to send me your recs! I'm always looking for something new to read to inspire my creative Chi. Don't forget about my beloved beta, EveylnBass, and her story Return Someday if you haven't already read it!
Love you all and I'll post in a week or less with Poison Ivy ;)
-Plei4fun