If there was one thing the UES was famous for it was class, elegance and a sense of tradition. Three qualities that Blair Waldorf also prided herself on holding. Three qualities that didn't involve Irish teas during Afternoon Tea.

Amongst the patrons of The Palace Hotel's famous Afternoon Tea were four slightly inebriated young adults. They didn't want to be called teenagers, not now they'd left high school. But it couldn't be ignored that they were all under 20. A factor that was ignored by the entire bar staff at the hotel, particularly since one of the group was the owner of the hotel.

It had been tradition to have a sneaky one alongside the tea and the pastries since they turned fifteen. They had all been forced to attend Afternoon Tea on a Saturday since they turned six, however now they did it out of habit. For this group there was nothing more satisfying than tea, pastries and a shot of whiskey at half four on a Saturday afternoon.

"Pass the cream darling."

"Of course my dear."

"What a simply splendid way to spend the afternoon."

Nate, Blair and Serena paused their conversation and turned to stare at the silent Chuck. He stared back, with a Danish halfway to his mouth.

"What?"

"Gosh, Charles, have you no sense of occasion?"

"Yes, good sir, why do you not join our reflections of the day?"

"Because unlike you three I am as sober as a judge and have no intention of embarrassing myself with stupid talk."

"Stupid talk? Whatever could he mean?"

Blair and Serena began to protest his lack of 'faux-Britishness' as they liked to call it. Nate laughed, barely avoiding spitting out his scone over the white table cloth.

"Why do we have to carry on this silly talk every Saturday? We're New Yorkers, not 'Ye old Britains'" He complained, using quote marks to emphasize his point.

"What ho! Charles old chum, this is tradition." Serena brandished her teaspoon at Chuck as Blair put her hand to her forehead and sighed. Nate began to choke on the mouthful of tea he had just attempted to swallow. Chuck motioned the waitress away as she appeared cautiously. He leant over and patted Nate on the back several times until the other boy's colour returned to a normalish pink.

"I'm so sorry, I can't continue. I might wet myself with laughter if you girls continue to speak like that." Nate shook his head apologetically and poured himself some more tea. From the side of his cup appeared a bottle of whiskey, held by the slender hand of Serena.

He glanced at her, noticing the mischievous twinkle in her eye as she slipped the bottle back into her bag. On the other side of Serena Blair took small, ladylike sips of her tea. To the unknowing eye she was simply an innocent bystander, sober and well behaved as she should be.

To the three friends sat next to her she was a fantastic actress, hiding her intoxication from the rest of the room by shaking her head every time Serena let out a loud giggle. Truth was that she had been drinking alongside the other two since they had sat down, sneaking whiskey into her tea under the pretence of leaning across the table to lecture Serena on being too loud.

Chuck was, uncharacteristically, sober. He had just returned from a business trip from Japan and was all too aware that he had work on Monday morning, whilst the other three still had some time before they separated for college.

"As much as I enjoyed entertaining the idea of you two young ladies drunk off your faces and obviously open to anything, whilst Archibald passes out on my sofa, in our youth, times have changed. I am in charge of a billion dollar corporation, something that whilst may be my birth right is not something I am used to doing." He sighed, glancing at his friend's faces. "So it's very difficult for me to sit here whilst you sneak whiskey into your tea and giggle about silly accents."

The table went silent; Blair and Serena eyed Chuck with apparent shock whilst Nate attempted to work out what he should say. After letting them absorb everything he had just said, Chuck grinned.

"Man you should see your faces. Classic, really classic." He motioned towards Serena who took a second to realise he wanted her bag. She passed over the bag, watching as he drew out the bottle of whiskey and slipped a small bit in his drink.

Serena whooped loudly, before being shushed by a giggling Blair. Nate raised his tea cup to Chuck, who clinked his cup with the proffered one. The two boys took a big gulp of the hot liquid, Chuck taking a moment to let the burning mix of hot tea and whiskey slip down his throat.

"So I don't get it, what was with the whole sober Chuck thing? Dude it's not natural." Nate shook his head at his best friend who shrugged in return.

"I guess I was wondering how seriously people would take me if I didn't drink. Seems not very from your reactions."

"Ah, see that young mister Bass is because you have never been sober at Afternoon Tea since you turned fifteen. The shot of whiskey thing is your legacy."

Blair grinned at her best friend's words as she finished off the last of her tea. "Yeah, just think, in twenty or so years you'll be teaching little Bass junior how to spike a drink without being caught by half of New York society."

As usual, whenever Chuck or Blair mentioned something regarding the future, Nate and Serena raised their eyebrows in anticipation of an argument. After half a second they realised it wasn't going to appear.

Shockingly enough it was the first Afternoon Tea that hadn't ended in an argument between Chuck and Blair. Normally by now Blair would have stormed out of the Tea room and Chuck would have moved off to the bar area to drink openly. It was tradition, simple as.

But it seemed some traditions needed to be broken as Chuck smiled slightly at Blair's comment. "Yeah, though I could imagine little Waldorf junior would fail to put up a good fight, as you did all those years ago."

"Every girl likes a bit of adventure."

"Hear hear!" as the other three glanced at him with raised eyebrows; Nate wondered why it was always him who had to come out with that line.

Chuck smirked at Nate before turning to Serena. "Did you hear that sis, Nate agrees that every girl likes a bit of adventure."

"Indeed Brother, perhaps we should rename him Natalie."

Blair shook her head, picking up a little cucumber sandwich from the pile. "Hmm how original S."

Serena stuck her tongue out at Blair and copied her move, choosing the biggest sandwich from the pile. Chuck began to pour more tea into his cup, adding a shot and a half of whiskey with a spoonful of sugar. Nate laughed at absolutely nothing in particular as he sipped at his tea.

Blair and Serena glanced at each other before nodding and grinning at each other.

"Well gosh would you look at the time."

"Absolutely my dear chum, it's getting ever so late and my dear mama has tickets to the opera this evening."

"That sounds like a damn fine way to spend the evening my dear." Chuck chimed in to their conversation.

"Hear hear!" Nate finished, before attempting to stand up and tripping over Serena's bag.

I'm opening the forum for suggestions, movies they could watch (it's Serena's turn next), the first dance song at Rufus and Lily's wedding etc...

also any criticism on grammar etc are greatly appreciated

ta xoxo