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Chapter 3
She was going to kill him! Blair Waldorf thought angrily. She was going to grab one of his stupid paintbrushes and shove it through his heart. If he even had a heart. "What are you doing?" She asked through gritted teeth.
Aaron simply held up the camera that he had in his hands and gestured towards the half-naked redhead that was lounging on HER bed. "It's for my new collage." "Well do you mind taking the Maxim shoot elsewhere?" Blair asked in a sickly-sweet tone complete with a fake happy smile.
The redhead on the bed dropped her mouth open in an insulted manner. "Who is she?" She asked in a nasal voice. Aaron just rolled his eyes and went back to taking photos of the girl. "My sister. Just ignore her, everyone does."
"Step-sister," Blair stressed. "STEP!" Aaron just made a grimace of annoyance that made Blair even more pissed off than before. They had only been sharing a room for the past two days and already Blair had dubbed Aaron "The Roommate From Hell" "I can not wait until Serena dumps your ass," Blair tossed the insult behind her as she left the room.
"You have to ask me to move in with you," Blair declared as Serena opened the door. "What?" The blonde asked a tinge of laughter in her voice. Blair entered the foyer and Serena shut the door behind her. "You have to ask me to move in with you," Blair repeated.
"I can't take anymore S. Okay you're boyfriend is a complete imbecile. He's obnoxious and tedious not to mention he lets half-naked models lounge around my bed like it's nothing. Do you know how many diseases my bedspread probably has by now."
Serena placed a hand over her mouth to stifle her laughter as Blair continued ranting. The fired-up brunette was pacing back and forth frantically as she continued with her tirade. "I mean it S. I'm going to smother that boyfriend of yours in his sleep if you don't get me away from him. We barely function as step-siblings, as roommates it's a capital offense waiting to happen!"
"Wait! You and Aaron are roommates…. How the hell did that happen?" A confused Serena demanded to know. "How indeed…." A velvety voice murmured from the doorway.
Blair groaned softly to herself, she would know that voice anywhere. "Well come on B, we're waiting," Chuck declared as he stepped into the room with the other two girls. "How did Aaron go from being annoying step-brother to co-ed roommate?"
Blair simply smiled and raised an eyebrow, "Jealous much? Don't worry Chuck I only wear my best lingerie to bed." Chuck's nostrils flared in anger and jealously over her words.
If Aaron had seen her in anything other than footy pjs than he was a dead artist walking. Chuck thought venomously as he carefully studied Blair's actions. A few moments later Chuck relaxed; she was lying about the lingerie, he was sure of it. Thank God he could read that woman like an open book when she was lying, otherwise life would be hell on earth for him.
Blair let out a frustrated sigh as she saw Chuck visibly relax. "Don't you have a shot of penicillin to go take from whatever disease you caught today." She asked irritably. Chuck merely chuckled on his way out. "Don't be so tense B. We're going to be seeing a lot of each other from now on," he whispered into her ear. "Doubtful," Blair spat at she pulled away from him.
Chuck walked out of the room with a smile on his face. What neither girl knew was that Chuck had spent the last two hours moving all of his stuff back into his old room at the Van der Bass suite. He had held doubts at his decision to take Lily up on her offer to move back in and to try to become a family again but all those doubts vanished when he saw her standing in the foyer with dear old sis, rambling on about how she has to move in with Serena pronto. Chuck let a smirk pass his face, Oh yes….him and Blair were going to see a lot more of each other soon enough. He would make sure of that.
Serena rolled her eyes and hid a smile as she took in Blair watching Chuck walk away. "Seriously?" Blair turned her attention back towards the bubbly blonde. "You and my boyfriend sharing a room….kind of something I should know about don't you think?"
Blair graced her best friend with a sheepish smile, "I'm sorry. I figured he would of told you." "Well we haven't really seen each other these past few days," Serena admitted. "But we are going to a French film tonight."
Blair widened her eyes and feigned excitement, "Crazy times lay ahead!" Serena laughed and gave Blair a little playful push. "Anyway you know you can always stay here B. I'll tell mom that you're staying with us for a few weeks. You know she won't care, she loves you. Besides being roomies is something we haven't done in a while."
"Since Albert," Blair chimed in naming one of Lily's numerous boyfriends that had sent Serena running towards the Waldorf house on a nightly basis just to get a good nights sleep. "Oh that's right!" Serena sighed, "God I hated that guy!"
"So…." Serena hooked one of her arms through Blair's and pulled the brunette down the hallway. "Tell me more about Aaron and this skank on your bed." Blair's laughter echoed down the hallway.
When Chuck returned a few hours later he found Eric struggling with a rather large Louis Vuitton luggage case. Chuck stood against the wall and watched in amusement as the scrawny teenager tried to pull the suitcase up the stairs. After a few moments he gave up and the luggage was sent crashing to the bottom of the stairwell.
"Blair won't like that very much," Chuck remarked as he headed up the steps to meet his brother. "Why do I get the distinct feeling that Blair doesn't know that you're back to living right down the hall?"
The smirk on Chuck's face told Eric everything that he needed to know. "She's going to kill you," Eric declared. "Possibly…." Chuck murmured as he headed further upstairs towards the sound of girlish voices and laughter.
They were both in the guest bedroom that connected to Serena's room, putting Blair's stuff up and her clothes in the closet. Chuck stood against the door and eavesdropped as he thought that it would have been better if she was put in the guest room that connected to his bedroom but alas….
"So how did Eleanor and Cyrus take the news?" Serena asked curiously. "Oh I didn't tell them." "Blair!" "What? I gave Doreta orders to do it. She's to call me when it's done." Blair gave a nonchalant shrug and Serena couldn't help but to laugh.
"Did you ever have that conversation with Brooklyn?" "Did you ever have that conversation with Chuck?" "What conversation?" Blair asked feigning innocence. "Oh you know the conversation where you two discuss your I Love You" "Aw… I love you too S."
"Blair!" No! Okay…. I just- It doesn't matter now anyway because I have realized that I have absolutely no future with Chuck Bass." "B that's not true." "Yes it is! Look I'll be the first to admit that I thought I had a future something in the works with Chuck. But I was wrong. I get that now. Chuck and I we're…. nothing."
Serena nodded her head and then announced, "He's moved back in." "Back in to his room downstairs?" Blair asked, praying for Serena to say yes. But the blonde shook her head no, "More like back into the penthouse suite with all of us." "WHAT?"
"Well you know Lily didn't like him living alone and she begged for him to come back and I guess he took her up on the offer," Serena explained. "Where?" Blair asked, her voice shaking. "Down the hall. But no worries his room is like 12 whole steps away from yours and that hallway is pretty big." Blair glared at her best friend and the blonde shot her a bright smile, "This shouldn't be a problem B. I mean it's like you said you and Chuck are nothing to be worried about."
Blair released a sigh and changed the subject, "You and Brooklyn?" "We're just friends." Serena revealed quietly. Blair rolled her eyes, "You and Brooklyn will never be just friends." Serena gave a sad smile and shrugged, "And you and Chuck will never be nothing."
He was in a bar. That much he knew. He couldn't tell you which drink he was on or even what he was drinking but if you asked Chuck Bass he could tell you that he was definitely in a bar of some kind.
"Another," he rasped and the bartender didn't even look up as he poured him another shot of…. something. "Chuck and I we're nothing." Her words kept ringing in his ears over and over again. "We're nothing." Chuck drowned the shot and gestured for another.
God dammit they were something! They might fight and bicker and know exactly which way to hurt each other the most but they were something. He loved her. Yeah he had never said it aloud and definitely never to her but that feeling was there all the same; like a million Godzilla sized butterflies flying around in his stomach every fucking time that he saw her or even heard her name.
"Nothing" She couldn't say that they were nothing because to him they were everything.
"Hello," Serena yawned sleepily into her cell phone. "Yeah I know him." She let out a sigh and squinted in the darkness to see the 3:14A.M. of her alarm clock flashing in the darkness. "Yeah I'll be there just as soon as I can." I am going to kill him for this. Is the blonde's only thought as she struggles to pull on clothes in the middle of the night.
She finds him at the bar of a hotel down the street. He's so drunk he can't find the effort to rest his head in his hands and instead lays it on the counter of the bar. Serena sends a grateful smile towards the bartender that called her and then rushes over towards his side.
"What are you doing here?" He slurs and Serena attempts to get him to stand. "I'm trying to get you home. The limo is waiting outside; I don't know why you didn't bring it with you in the first place. This would go quicker if you helped." Chuck just chuckled into his empty glass and made no effort to move.
Serena let out a sigh and collapsed into the barstool next to him. "Look I know you think that he didn't love you or that he wasn't proud of you, but he did Chuck." "You can stop with the heart-to-heart or we can keep going if you want. How's your dad S? Oh wait, that's right. You haven't seen him in thirteen years."
She turns away at his harsh words and fights to keep the tears from falling. Her dad is something nobody talks about, mostly because they are the only three outside of the family that know about it. Her, Blair, Nate and Chuck. The Non-Judgmental Breakfast Club. She repeats Blair's words in her head and tells herself that Chuck doesn't mean it. He's drunk, his dad died. The three of us, we're all he has left. She reminds herself.
"This isn't about him anyway." "Then what's it about," Serena asks softly. He pauses for so long she begins to think that he isn't going to give an answer. "She thinks we're nothing. How did it get to that point?" "You were listening?" Serena asked, irritated by this piece of info. She sighs and shakes her head, "Of course you were listening. You're Chuck freaking Bass, you don't have to do mundane things like respect boundaries!"
When she looks at him again his eyes are dark and she doesn't think he has ever looked more alone than he does right now. "You love her," Serena whispered. Chuck ducks his head and the blonde has the answer she is looking for.
"Why not tell her? She told you and you got up and left the next day. Do you know how that made her feel? Do you know how many days she spent crying in bed over you? God Chuck! You broke her heart again and yet somehow you find it completely justifiable to go and get wasted at a bar when she shows any indication of moving on from you. You're worse than Nate, I swear!"
"DON'T SAY THAT!" He roared, startling Serena with his intensity. "Don't you dare say that!" He seethed. "Nathaniel broke her. She loved him and he just tossed her heart aside every chance he got." Serena shook her head and looked him in the eyes, "What do you think you're doing." "You're breaking her all over again. She told you she loved you and you left Chuck."
The pair sat in silence for several long minutes until Serena finally sighed, "Let's just go home okay." Chuck nodded his head silently and with her help the pair walked out the door and into the night.