Chuck and Blair had been going out for a while now. She stayed the night at his house constantly and Chuck missed her so much when she was gone. Those were only rare occasions, when she would go to lunch with her mother or go out with Serena but it still sucked. He sat on the couch, thinking about her, when he heard the front door open, and the clicking of her heels gave it away. "Blair," he grinned, as she turned around the corner.
She looked beautiful, as always. Clad in a short floral dress that was tight around the waist and puffed out a bit at the bottom, one of her famous headbands, and some brightly colored coral pumps that matched her dress, and her curls hung loosely around her face. She hardly wore any makeup but she didn't need to - she was gorgeous naturally. "Hello," she said, leaning down to kiss Chuck on the cheek. "Did you miss me?"
"Always," Chuck said, in turn kissing her hard on the lips.
"What are your plans for today?" Blair asked.
"You," Chuck said, sliding his hand down her waist.
Blair rolled her eyes and pushed his arms away. "Okay, besides that."
Chuck looked at her seriously this time. "I don't know. I was thinking maybe we could go out to dinner, take a walk in the park by the water, enjoy some time together."
"As if we don't enjoy time together now!" Blair laughed.
"I know," Chuck said, heat rising in his cheeks. "I just wanted to make you feel good, make you feel special, make you feel appreciated."
"You already do, silly," Blair smiled at him. It was cute the way he was blushing.
Nate and Serena had been on a few dates - coffee shop, walking together around town, window shopping, talking about life - but they were both really enjoying each other's company. That was why Nate was unsure of what to do when he saw Serena and Rufus together at lunch. He knew it couldn't be anything other than casual - but what was their relationship to each other? Serena was much too young for Rufus. So he whipped out his phone, deciding which of them he wanted to call. He feared if he were to call Rufus, Rufus would answer by calling him by name. He didn't want them to know he knew both of them yet. He decided on texting Serena. "Hey, what are you up to?" His fingers typed quickly across the keypad.
Her response was very quick, as if she had been waiting. "At lunch with my dad, you?"
Realization took over Nate like being hit by a sack of bricks. His mind went blank for a moment. Wait, Serena's dad was… Rufus? Rufus, his new friend, who he had been helping and who had, in turn, helped him become a much better person? He was the father of the girl that Nate was becoming really into? Now he really didn't want them to know that he knew both of them. That would be rough to explain and he couldn't risk the chance of Rufus getting mad at him and losing his friendship or Serena getting mad at him and risking a potential relationship in the future. He sighed, deciding against telling them, deciding it could wait. After all, he and Serena weren't super serious yet, it could wait until then, right.
"Just wanna see you," he texted back to her.
This time, her response took a little longer. He saw a smile break out across her beautiful face. "Breakfast tomorrow?"
"Wouldn't miss it," Nate said. And then he sent a text to Rufus, asking if he wanted to go out to the bar again tonight. Rufus replied with a little over excitement, which made Nate chuckled to himself as he put his phone back in his pocket and walked away from the scene before ever of them saw him and called out his name.
Rufus was getting ready to go to the bar that night when he got a phone call from Lily. For a moment, he just stood there, staring at the phone in shock. Then reality kicked in and he swiped it to answer the call. "Hey, Lil," he greeted smoothly, trying to sound put together, though on the inside, his mind was reeling.
"Hey," Lily greeted. It was so good to hear her voice. It had been over a month since the fight, over a month since he'd spoken to her. "How are you?"
"I'm doing well," Rufus said. "Really well. Yourself?"
There was a slight pause. "I'm okay." She let out a breath. "I miss you."
A smile reached Rufus' lips. "I miss you too."
"What are you doing tonight?" Lily asked.
"Oh, I'm going to the bar with a friend," Rufus replied casually.
There was another hesitation. "Oh, to the bar? Do you...do you do that a lot?" Lily asked. Rufus knew what she was getting at. Fortunately, he hadn't hooked up with any women yet but he had gotten pretty damn close. But he didn't want her to know that he had still been basically chasing thoughts of her around in her head.
"Yeah," he said. "You know, we're both single bachelor's."
He didn't know why he'd said it. He hadn't wanted to hurt Lily but in some ways, he had. He wanted nothing more than to see her happy, the way he used to make her. But a part of him also wanted to see her hurt as much as he had this past month.
There was a weird noise on the other end of the line and Rufus squeezed his eyes shut, knowing he had said something stupid.
"Lovely," Lily finally replied. "I have a date tonight, too. With Bart."
Rufus felt as if he had just been punched in the gut. Hard. He felt the blood boil in his veins, his palms got sweaty, his mind stop thinking for just one second. And he could have sworn, his heart had stopped momentarily. He said nothing, just pictured Lily and Bart in the office together, their naked, hot bodies, writhing around together. He swallowed hard, trying to get the image out of his mind. Truthfully, that image had been implanted there since she first told him about what happened. Then, the image was replaced with Bart and Lily at dinner, a fancy restaurant, somewhere Rufus could have never afforded, Bart walking her home, Lily laughing at his jokes, them having a deep conversation and connecting on so many different levels than Rufus and Lily ever had.
"Rufus?" Lily's voice asked softly. She was begging him to say something.
It was then that he realized he hadn't spoken yet. "Great," Rufus said. "Great for you." And then he hung up the phone, tossing it across the room. It slammed into the wall, hard. He heard a shatter and knew it was the screen but he didn't care. He was so damn angry. It had been one thing for her to say she was going out with someone, but Bart Bass of all people? The man she had slept with while her wedding ring was still on her damn finger?
Lily stared at her phone, stared blankly at the ended call on her screen. Why had she just lied to Rufus? Why had she told him she had a date with Bart? In reality, she was just staying home and having Serena and Eric over for dinner. So why had she gone and lied to him? Why was she rubbing this in his face, trying to hurt him all over again? She shook her head at her own stupidity and placed the phone down on the counter. This was exactly why she wanted a divorce in the first place. She had become the type of woman that was out to hurt Rufus Humphrey, the sweetest guy in the world, the love of her life. And that was not the person she wanted to be.
And it was sure as hell not the person Rufus needed her to be.
After dinner, Chuck and Blair took a walk by the water, just like he had promised. It was a little chilly outside but not too cold. Chuck fidgeted with the lapels on his suit. Blair stared at him, concerned. "Chuck, what's going on? You've been acting weird all night. You hardly touched your food. And you love that place."
Chuck cleared his throat. "Yes, well, I've had some things on my mind."
A feeling of dread washed over Blair and she couldn't pinpoint it. But then he smiled at her and it took every doubt or concern in her mind away. Then, she felt a little guilty for what had happened earlier today, that she had neglected to tell him. She swallowed hard, trying to find the strength. "So, Louis is in town," Blair said.
Chuck's eyes caught on hers.
"Well, he asked me on a date and-"
He tried to search her face but found no luck in figuring out what she wanted."Blair, you don't have to ask my permission if that's what you're doing. We're just goofing around. We both know this isn't anything serious."
"Well," Blair swallowed hard, praying that she could hold back the tears as they pricked at her eyes. "I was actually going to tell you that I turned him down." Her voice shook. "But if we're just goofing off, then maybe I will go." She turned on her heel and stalked off towards her house.
"Blair!" He called, staring after her, confused by how quickly things had escalated between the two of them. He cared a great deal for Blair but he had just been trying to give her what she wanted. He remembered back at his place when they talked about their past loves, and he remembered the way she had spoken about Louis, as if she would crawl back into his arms at the snap of his fingers. So, if she wanted Louis, that was what Chuck was trying to give her. He just wanted her to be happy, even if the source of her happiness wasn't him.
He sighed and called Nate, who was out at the bar with some guy. Chuck decided to join them. What better way to heal the heart than to drink away your sorrows? He made his way to the bar, where he found Nate and an older man sitting, ogling at some attractive women in the corner of the room. He shook his head, laughing as he made his way over to them. "Hello, gentleman," Chuck's voice came out smoothly.
Nate looked up, a grin breaking out on his face. "Hey, man. I was just trying to set Rufus here up with one of those fine ladies over there. Any tips for him?"
"Many," Chuck said. "Fix your tie, run your hand through your hair, take a deep breath, act cool, calm and collected, and act as if those ladies would be lucky to go home with you tonight. If they turn you down, don't act bothered by it, they're all talk. Women like to play hard to get. If you play by that, you'll have them falling at your feet."
Nate nodded his head, agreeing with Chuck.
Rufus looked at him, raising his eyebrows. "Are you another one of Nate's ladies man friends?"
Chuck stuck his hand out to shake his hand. "Chuck Bass."
A dark look washed over Rufus' face and he stood up, surprising Chuck. "Chuck Bass?" he spat out. "Bass?" He looked back and forth between Nate and Chuck. "The son of Bart Bass? The man who slept with my wife?" He grabbed Chuck by the lapels of his suit and pulled him toward him, hard. "The man she's currently out on a date with?"
"Whoa," Nate said, standing up, realizing the situation had just gotten dangerous.
"Look," Chuck said, holding his hands up. "I have no idea of anything my father has done. I don't doubt it, as he's a dirty, horrible, pathetic excuse for a man, but I haven't spoken to him in years, so I wouldn't know." He pulled himself out of Rufus' grasp. "I do apologize on his behalf though and I'm very sorry about your wife."
Rufus relaxed almost instantly, dropping his hands. "Sorry," he muttered, bringing his attention back to the women in the corner.
"Go," Nate said, encouraging him. "They'd be lucky to meet you."
"Be persistent," Chuck said. "But not desperate."
Rufus nodded his head and took a big breath, making his way over to the women. He looked back at Nate and Chuck, who gave him an encouraging nod and continued on.
"So what's up?" Nate asked Chuck. "You seem bothered by something. Is it that girl you've been seeing?"
Chuck nodded his head curtly. "Blair."
"Don't tell me you've fallen for her," Nate said, a smile playing on the corner of his lips. "Chuck Bass, a romantic?"
Chuck gave him a dark look. "Don't act so surprised, Archibald. I heard from Blair that you and her friend Serena have been seeing a lot of each other."
Nate nodded. "Yeah, well, I really like her."
"Or do you just like sleeping with her?" Chuck asked.
Nate rolled his eyes. "I like that too." His cheeks began to heat up. "But that's not all I like about her. I thoroughly enjoy her company. Even if half of that company is having her legs wrapped around me."
Chuck busted out a laugh, which made Nate laugh in turn.
"You sound ridiculous," Chuck laughed.
Nate smiled. "So what's this Blair girl done to you that's so horrible that you're here on a Sunday evening, drinking away your sorrows?"
Chuck shrugged. "I think we just broke up."
"And you're cool with that?" Nate asked. "I thought you were totally smitten for her."
"I was," Chuck said. "I mean, I am. But I think she wants to get back with her ex boyfriend and you know I'm not the type to have to be an option. I'm not going to be a choice in her little game. I just want to be her priority."
Nate gave him a confused look. "You want her, don't you?"
"Yes, I do. Very much so."
"Then go fight for what you want!" Nate exclaimed, just in time to see Rufus turn around, giving him a thumbs up. Nate smiled back at him. "Go make yourself her first choice." He said to Chuck, as Rufus left the bar with a tall brunette woman with really nice legs.
Chuck looked at him, sipping on his scotch. "You're right." He smoothed out his suit as he stood up. "I've gotta go find her."
Serena decided to talk to her mom about Rufus at dinner. When Eric got up to go clean the dishes, Serena jumped. "So, mom, have you heard from Rufus?" She asked, knowing Lily would tell Serena everything. She always had.
"We spoke briefly today," Lily replied, taking a sip of her water.
"Oh, yeah? About what?" Serena asked, trying to sound casual.
Lily looked up at her daughter. "I know what you're doing, Serena."
"What?" Serena asked innocently. "I'm just really concerned about my mother who is going through a divorce and doesn't really show any emotion about it."
"The best way to get over it is to not talk about it," Lily said.
"But you can't just ignore it," Serena interjected. "Look, mom, I had lunch with Rufus earlier today and he seems to be doing really well. I thought you were doing well until I saw him. He's so happy and bubbly. You're not. You're like dead and sad all the time. There's not light in your eyes anymore, there's no love."
Lily swallowed. "Serena, dear, as deep as that was, it's completely untrue."
"Mom, you haven't done anything the last month except lounge around the house! You've been losing so much weight."
"Most people do bounce back after a breakup, Serena."
Serena rolled her eyes and groaned frustratedly. "Mom, just be honest with me, just this once. Are you still in love with Rufus?"
"Yes," Lily answered. Her throat went dry. Her hands began to shake.
"Do you still want to be with him?"
"I don't know," Lily said.
"Because if you do, you need to tell him now before he lets go of you for good," Serena said. "You know I love you and I'm here for you in whatever you choose to do but you can't deny the fact that Rufus is a really good guy and deserves happiness."
Lily nodded. "That's exactly why I let him go in the first place."
"Oh," Serena said, finally understanding.
Just then, Eric walked back out into the living room and Lily cleared her throat. "Well, thank you guys for coming over. It was nice to have both of you here at the same time. It's been a while since that happened," Lily smiled at her children.
"Thanks for dinner. It was delicious," Eric said, kissing her on the cheek. "And it's no problem. We're always here for you, mom."
"Thank you, darlings," Lily said, tears pricking at her eyes. She pushed them back, trying to find strength. "It's getting late. I think I'll turn in. I'll see you kids soon. Love you both." She gave them both a hug and they left, Serena watching her with concern as she went.
Lily didn't go to bed, she sat down on the couch and put on her reading glasses, curling up to read a nice book.
Serena got a text from Blair after she left her mother's. Her best friend needed her and of course she would run straight to her aid. She hurried to Blair's penthouse, wondering what on earth could be bothering her. When she arrived, she found Blair wrapped up in her duvet, her body shaking with sobs. "Awh," Serena said quietly, stepping toward her best friend's bed. "Blair, what happened?"
Blair looked up at her, tears slipping down her cheeks. "I think Chuck and I broke up," she hiccupped out. "If we were really even dating...Now I'm not so sure."
"Why?" Serena asked, sitting on the bed beside her, tucking a free strand of dark hair behind Blair's ear.
"Well," Blair started. "We went out to dinner and he was acting really weird but I decided to ignore it. Then I mentioned that Louis was in town and before I could tell him that I told Louis no, he said that he thought we were just goofing off." She swallowed hard as her eyes welled up with tears again.
"I'm so sorry, B," Serena said, pulling Blair toward her, where she snuggled into her side, enjoying the comfort of her best friend. "Life sucks."
"But at least we have each other," Blair pointed out.
"We'll always have each other," Serena smiled, hugging her best friend close in response.
Chuck headed out of the bar toward his limo, fully intending on going to Blair's penthouse and apologizing to her. On his way, he would stop and pick up her favorite flowers - peonies, and make this an apology she deserved. He had been such an ass to her. Of course they weren't just goofing off. He was falling in love with her, which was very hard to admit to himself, seeing as Chuck Bass had only fallen in love with one other girl before.
As if it were some stupid cue in some cliche love movie, that one girl appeared before him, standing in front of his limo, the lights from the busy city glowing on her pale skin, her hair long and blonde and down to her waist, beauty radiating from her. "Eva," Chuck choked out. "What are you doing here?" His heart thudded in his chest.
A smile graced her face as she made her way toward him, meeting him halfway, her heels clicking on the pavement. "I'm in town on some business with my uncle's company. They're expanding his bar and creating a franchise out of it, planting one in New York City," her french accent coated her voice. "We're checking out some buildings for sale and making some decisions. I would be the one running the bar if we chose to buy it here."
"You-you would move to New York?" Chuck asked, something that he was unsure of washing over him.
"Yes," Eva smiled back at him. "New York." She stepped toward him again as he stood frozen before her. "You look great. Two years has really done you well. Not that you weren't handsome before. It's something about how distance makes the heart grow fonder - and I suppose that works with looks, too."
Chuck laughed, brushing her compliment off. "You look good, too. How have you been? It's been quite a while since we've spoken."
"It has," Eva said. "Truly too long." She touched his shoulder. The fibers in his body went haywire, lighting up his every nerve.
Shit.
Rufus was trying to sneak gracefully out of the room of the woman he had just slept with. But if there was any defining quality about Rufus Humphrey, it was that he was the least graceful person in the entire city of New York. He tripped over her shoe, ended up kicking something else and grunted loudly at the pain. The light on the nightstand by the bed flipped on as the blonde woman sat up, looking dazed and confused. "Rufus?" she called out to him.
He remained quiet for a moment. Maybe if he didn't make any noise, he would become invisible. But that wasn't the adult way to solve problems like these. He sighed. "Yes?" he replied, rubbing his foot.
"Are you leaving? Without saying goodbye?"
"Of course not," he lied through his teeth. "I was just going to the bathroom. But now that you speak of it, I do need to be heading home." He pulled his shirt over his head and zipped up his pants. "But I'll call you."
"You don't even have my number," the girl replied, annoyed.
"I'll look you up on Facebook," he said, pulling on his shoes.
"Do you even know my name?"
Rufus almost laughed aloud. He bit his tongue. Audrey? Aubrey? Abbey? Amanda? Something with an A…"No. Honestly, I don't. I'm sorry."
The girl scoffed. "Just go."
Rufus rolled his eyes and stood up. "You don't have to act so dramatic. This is what single adults do, right?"
"GET!" The girl screamed, throwing the blanket off of her legs, climbing out of the bed after him. He ran, afraid she might attack him, and slammed the front door behind him. When he was outside, he let out a loud breath. Women were crazy. He was slowly remembering why he was so unhappy with Lil sometimes. She could get pretty crazy too. She was always arguing, always turning things around on him, always making him be the bad guy.
But maybe that didn't even matter. He had put up with it for so long, had been willing to keep putting up with it if she had let him. He was even going to stay with her and ignore the fact that she slept with Bart, until she suggested the divorce. Now it was even worse - she was out with the man she had betrayed him with. His insides twisted at the thought, his blood boiled in his veins.
He shook his head as he walked down the still busy streets of Brooklyn. He ran his hand through his hair, unsure of what to do. That was when he looked across the street and saw a late-night bar open. He made his way through the traffic that still strayed on the roads and entered the bar. He immediately began ordering drink after drink, scarfing alcohol down, savoring the way it burned in his throat because if it was still burning, he was still feeling something.
But he didn't want to feel anything, not anymore, not ever. He wanted to drown himself in alcohol, to forget that Lily existed, that anything existed. He was so miserable, so hurt, so broken. He was the empty shell of a broken man that used to have high dreams for himself, that used to be happy. But was he really ever happy? Or was ignorance just bliss?
He looked up and saw a familiar face, one he had seen in the paper many times, one who had slept with his fucking wife. Bart Bass. He stood before him, a girl wrapped up all around him. He had two thoughts; the first: Lily must had lied about the date with him, the second: he was going to punch Bart Bass in the fucking face.
A/N: So there's chapter three for you guys! Thanks so much for being patient and I'm so sorry for the delay. I didn't really know where I wanted this chapter to go and I've been super busy with work and planning vacation and stuff. Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it. I know it jumps around a lot, I just wanted to make sure I got everything in there that I wanted to be in there! Thanks so much! Chapter Four will be out soon :)