A/N: Sorry for taking so long. Real life is getting busier and busier. I'm still fully committed to this though, so don't worry! :) Again, thank you to all those who reviewed. I so appreciate each and every one of them. This chapter is short, but I needed to get over this hump in the story.

Thanks to Spiros, an author who's writing abilities I keel over with envy for. And of course, the extremely talented Sara, who totally and completely rocks.

Disclaimer: I do not own Gossip Girl or any of its characters.

I'm being ridiculous, Blair thought, as she watched Serena grind her body up against Dan's. They were both holding drinks in their hands and trying very hard not to spill, although it didn't look to be working. She and Nate had been dragged to this club after dinner, but both weren't in the mood to dance; so instead, they sat at the bar that wrapped around the dance floor.

"Hey," Nate said, nudging her shoulder and speaking close to her ear. "You okay?"

The music was too loud, her feet hurt, and she was certain her head was about to split open from her headache. "Of course," Blair said, flashing her perfected fake grin. "Why wouldn't I be?"

He shrugged. "I don't know. You just seem...quiet. Not yourself."

"Well maybe I'd be a little more loud if I could get in a word or two."

Nate gave a small smile, knowing what she meant. Dan and Serena had been in nonstop chatter all night. He and Blair had resorted to listening, although he had done a better job at participating in some of the conversation.

"Blair."

She turned away from him and took a sip of her drink.

"Blair."

She continued to ignore him, choosing instead to rub her temples to ease the ache.

"Blair."

"What?" she bit out, annoyed by his questioning.

Nate looked at Dan and Serena and lowered his voice. "Are you angry that they're hitting it off?"

She scoffed. "Please. I'm not worried about them. Serena will be obsessed with him for the weekend and forget all about him come Tuesday." She straightened her posture in the barstool.

Nate continued to watch her; she was lying.

"I know your mother Nathanial, and I'm fairly certain she taught you that staring is rude."

He breathed out a laugh and shook his head. "You're impossible."

She gave him a smirk. "I appreciate the concern, but maybe you should worry more about your blonde counterpart over there," she said, gesturing to Serena with a nod. "I think that's her fourth drink."

"Aww B. You know we don't need to step in until her sixth," Nate teased, wrapping an arm around her shoulder.

Blair tilted her head to look at him. His eyes were on Serena—and only Serena.

"Nate," she said, capturing his attention. "Do you li—"

"No," he answered quickly.

She pressed her lips together and nodded. "Okay."

Her eyes went back to their friends, who were dancing so out of rhythm, Blair felt embarrassed for them. "So who's the lucky one? Me or you?"

"You," he said automatically, knowing exactly what she was asking.

"Ugh, come on Nate," she whined. "Last time Serena did this I was the one who had to go on the dance floor. You know how much I hate that sweaty, grinding mass of people!" She poked him in the chest before turning him towards the crowd. "Tonight it's your turn." She flashed him a satisfied grin when he slipped off the stool and followed her order.

A smile of defeat was on her lips as she watched him slowly walk into the crowd of people, but it fell when he stopped before Serena and Dan. Her eyes narrowed at the reason—the girl—who had made her way over to Nate. Even from her view, she was flirting so shamelessly Blair couldn't help but roll her eyes. She could see the struggle on Nate's face—he wanted to stay and dance with the girl, but he felt Blair's gaze burning into his back. Blair smiled to herself when Nate politely waved the girl off and pulled Serena and Dan off the dance floor.

"B! Why are we leaving? We're having SO much fun!" Serena gave her a look that made her feel immediately guilty.

"It's late S! And I have a headache." Suddenly realizing how pathetic she sounded, she perked up. "Actually, you guys stay. I'll just head home."

"I'll go with you," Nate said, taking the last sip of his drink.

She gave him a grateful smile before saying goodbye to Serena and Dan.

Don't wait up for us B! was the last thing she heard before heading in the direction of the door.

::

The following morning, Blair awoke early to an empty bed. Fighting tears, she knew she wouldn't be able to fall back to sleep, so she grabbed a book and headed downstairs.

Not fifteen minutes later, she heard the sound of footsteps coming closer; she looked at the doorway in time to see Dan appear.

"Oh. I didn't think anyone would be up."

Blair shrugged and tore her eyes away from him, focusing again on the book in her hand. "I woke up and couldn't fall back to sleep."

"Me too. Serena's kind of a crazy sleeper."

If it were any other person, Blair would have laughed in agreement, because just the previous night at their sleepover, Serena had woken Blair up five times. She knew what he meant.

But this was Dan.

"Daniel do you have a memory problem?"

"Um, what?" He raised a brow. "No, I don't think so."

She set her book upside down on the counter and looked him straight in the eye. "If I recall correctly, I gave you a list of rules for staying in this house."

He stayed silent, shrugging a shoulder to urge her to continue.

"You broke one," she said as it were obvious, gesturing with her hands.

"What?" he balked. "No I didn't."

She scoffed. "Serena is upstairs in your room." She pointed to the ceiling.

The list became clearer in his mind. "If I recall correctly, that rule stated that I couldn't have drunken one night stands unless approved by you. So one: I wasn't drunk, Serena was. And two: she's your best friend who is staying here for the weekend. You already approved it. And we're going out again tonight, so it's not a one-night stand."

He looked so proud of himself Blair wanted to scream.

Before she could say anything, he spoke again. "And not that this is any of your business, but we just slept together." Her eyes widened. "That's it—slept."

Relief flooded through her, but she kept the same steely face. "Well that's...good to hear. I would hate to see you take advantage of Serena like that." She slipped out of her seat and walked to the sink.

"Take advan—what? Blair, I would never," he said, clearly offended. "I know how important she is to you; and I'm not that kind of guy."

She looked away from him. Goddamnit. He was messing with her emotions again. One second she was mad, the next she was jealous, the next she was moved—he was frustrating her to no end.

She cleared her throat. "Then...I'm sorry." She nearly mumbled the last word quietly, but at least she said it.

He smiled, knowing her well enough now to recognize how rarely Blair Waldorf apologized.

She placed her cup in the sink and looked at him. "Take that cocky look off your face Humphrey," she sneered, walking past him. "And would it kill you to put on a shirt?" She left him standing with a grin on his face.

Instead of going back to her room, Blair opened Dan's door and slumped onto his bed next to Serena; she was exhausted from both lack of sleep and Dan. "S!" she sing-songed.

"Go away!" Serena muffled into the pillow.

Blair sighed and ran a hand through Serena's hair. "But it's morning!" she said brightly.

She turned towards Blair. "Ugh, I have such a headache. Why did you let me drink so much last night?"

Smiling sweetly, Blair replied, "S, you are more than capable of exercising self-control. That was all you. And need I remind you that your eyes were only on Dan and your drink?" She cringed. "And that germ-filled dance floor."

Serena groaned.

"I heard you're going out with him again tonight," Blair said quietly, continuing to run her fingers through her friend's tresses.

"Yeah. We had fun last night." Eyes still closed, Serena gave a sleepy smile. A moment later, she opened them. "Oh B! I forgot we had plans!"

She shook her head. "Don't worry about it! Go on your date. I need to meet with my study group anyway."

Serena looked unconvinced. "No, I'll tell Dan we can go out some other time."

Blair pushed the covers back and got out of bed. "When? You leave tomorrow! Don't be ridiculous Serena! I'll be fine," she said, enunciating each word to prove her point. She walked across the hall to her room.

Serena appeared in her doorway a moment later with a hand against her forehead, grimacing at her headache once more. "I promise B. Tomorrow is just you and me, okay?"

Blair paused at making the bed. Smirking, she asked, "Bendels and Barney's?"

Mirroring her smile, Serena laughed. "Where else would we go?"

::

As the elevator ascended to the penthouse, Blair looked at the clock on her phone. She sighed when she saw the time; it was just past midnight. Her study group had gone way later than planned, that when she finally sat down to write her sociology paper, she lost track of time. She nearly cried in relief when she remembered again that the following day was a holiday and she wouldn't have any classes. She could sleep in and spend one last day with Serena before she left for Brown.

"Hey B!" Serena dropped Dan's hand. "How was your night?"

Blair gave a tired smile. "Long. My study group consists of people who are incapable of reading and understanding our textbook, so it was mostly me teaching them concepts so simple, it's unbelievable they got into Columbia."

Dan let out a laugh. "So your night was good?"

Blair eyed him before turning her attention to Serena. "How was your night, S?"

A blush bloomed across Serena's face. "It was...nice." She looked at Dan with a smile.

"Yeah we had a nice time," he added.

"Great," Blair said shortly. "Well, I'm exhausted. So...I'll see you guys in the morning."

"I'm right behind ya B."

Blair made her way upstairs, blocking out their whispering below her. As fast as she could muster, she readied for bed, waiting for Serena to come upstairs. Once the lights were off and her facemask on, Serena tiptoed in. In under five minutes, she brushed her teeth, washed her face, and threw on pajamas. Silence filled the room after she slipped into the bed, and Blair knew her friend was ready to burst.

"Go ahead," Blair sighed, turning towards Serena and pulling up her mask.

Even through the dark, she could see Serena blush. "I really like him Blair," she whispered. A smile was wide upon her face. "He's...different. In a good way."

Blair's heart fell. As Serena's best friend, she had seen countless guys come in and out of the picture. Whether she slept with them, made out with them, dated them, flirted with them—there were a lot. Every time after a each guy broke her heart, Blair would hand Serena tissues and promise her that a great guy was going to come along and sweep her off her feet.

In a cruel twist of fate—as of now—it seemed that guy was Dan.

She had never seen Serena this smitten before, and as much as she wanted to feel happy for her friend, her blood was fighting to boil in jealousy.

But no, she decided inwardly. She would not let this get to her. She had already told Dan that they could not kiss, or become involved, or date. If she was going to get envious over Serena once again, she was going to drive herself crazy.

She had made a choice and she had to stick to it. If Dan wasn't—couldn't—be hers, Serena could have him.

"I'm really happy for you S," she said genuinely. "Tell me more about it tomorrow?"

"Okay!" she whispered excitedly.

And with that, Blair turned away from Serena and closed her eyes. She let herself drift to sleep determined to wake up and be happy with her decision—and to somehow figure out a way to be happy for her friends.

A/N: Have faith in me! :) How was this chapter? Reviews would be lovely!