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Chapter 2: Kissing the Lipless

But you've got too much to wear on your sleeves
It has too much to do with me
And secretly I want to bury in the yard
The grey remains of a friendship scarred

-The Shins

Three months prior

Buoyed by the sense of accomplishment that always followed a good takedown, Blair breezed through the front doors of the Cooper-Hewitt museum. Under normal circumstances, she would have arrived for the event on Nate's arm, but Operation Ruin Georgina's Life had gone right down to the wire that afternoon. Plus, Nate tended to be fairly useless (as well as mildly judgmental) when it came to this type of mission, so it was usually best to just leave him in the dark. Fortunately, Dan had been more than willing to abandon his aggravating sense of morality and assist Blair with the dirty work for once. His devotion to Serena was equal parts inspiring and nauseating, she thought to herself.

Slipping into the powder room, Blair found her best friend putting the final touches on her hair and makeup.

"Hey B! You look so beautiful." Serena smiled, her usual bubbly happiness not quite reaching her eyes.

"As if anyone will even notice me standing next to you." Blair scoffed, admiring her friend's ruffled yellow Ralph Lauren dress. On anyone else, it would be vaguely reminiscent of a giant cartoon bird, but this was Serena- the girl could look like a goddess in a burlap sack. Instead of responding, Serena fiddled distractedly with her gloves and sighed. "What's the matter, S? If you're still worried about that crazy fire-crotch trying to sabotage your life, we've taken care of it. Suffice to say, she'll have a lot of time to spend ruing the day she ever crossed any of us."

"Oh, I never doubted your scheming abilities for a second. I only wish I could've been there to see it." Serena laughed, squeezing Blair's hand. "It's just that… I still don't know where this leaves me and Dan. And I just want… I want everything to go back to the way it was before, but I don't know if he can forgive me."

"Serena, that boy has been crazy in love with you since the second he hit puberty." Which was all of a year ago, granted… "You guys will get through this, I promise." She smiled and brushed one of Serena's blonde strands back into place. "Now let's get out there and watch your mother marry the single scariest man I've ever met, shall we?"

Serena blinked as if she'd been hit by a sudden realization. "Oh B, I've been so distracted about everything with Dan, I didn't even think about- won't this be the first time you've seen Chuck since he left?"

"Hmm, I guess so." Blair shrugged with feigned disinterest. "It's really no big deal."

Her blonde friend's eyes narrowed in skepticism. "But you still haven't told Nate. Aren't you worried that Chuck might?"

"And lose the only real friend he's ever had? Chuck may be reckless, but he's not stupid." Even to her own ears, it sounded like she was trying to convince herself as much as Serena. "Anyway, I am going to tell Nate, it's just that he's been kind of… distant, lately, and I wanted to wait until everything with his family settles down. He's been so stressed, and I don't want to pile anything else on top."

Having successfully justified herself in her own mind, Blair gave her friend one last hug and then rose. "Good luck, S! Everything's going to be perfect. I'll see you after the ceremony!"

Serena watched her leave in a whirl of pink and white flowers, marveling at Blair's uncanny ability to force her life to follow that perfect movie script in her head.

Chuck surveyed the assembled guests, noting the presence of nearly every old money family on the UES; he would expect nothing less, of course, between Lily's society connections and Bart owning half the island. Glancing over at his father, he was startled to see an almost nervous expression replacing the usual icy composure. He stood ramrod straight, hands clasped tightly in front of him, but there was no mistaking the look of anxious anticipation in his eyes. Who knew, Chuck thought to himself. All it took was a hot new wife to make Bart slightly less of an overbearing prick. He grinned as he briefly considered using that opening line for his best man toast.

Turning to face forward once again, he caught sight of Nate and his father settling into the fourth row, nodding in greeting at his old friend. They hadn't had a chance to catch up yet, as Chuck had arrived from London late the previous evening, but he was glad to see the Captain looking more like his old self again.

And then, as his gaze strayed to the pavilion entrance, it was suddenly caught by a pair of chocolate brown eyes staring directly back at him. He froze in place, watching Blair make her way down the aisle. She looked every bit the society princess in her sweet pink and white dress, with a coordinating pink clutch and matching flower decorating her immaculately-styled curls. And yet she held his gaze, almost as if captivated by the sight of him. It made his insides twist in a way he hadn't felt since their last encounter that chilly January afternoon.

"So goodbye mistake, so far in my past I can hardly remember it."

As her cruel words echoed through his head, his chest clenched tightly and he remembered exactly why he could not afford to let her get to him, not ever again. With a narrowing of his hazel eyes and a slight flare of his nostrils, he dismissed her from his sight, turning to whisper in Eric's ear. His future stepbrother chuckled quietly at the lewd comment, but Chuck barely noticed. It took every bit of willpower to keep his eyes trained away from Blair, to not watch her slide in next to Nate and greet her boyfriend with an affectionate kiss.

As she settled back into her seat, Blair tried to avoid feeling hurt by the contempt clearly evident on Chuck's face. After all, their last encounter had been extremely tense, and they hadn't spoken since, so it was understandable he would feel some hostility towards her. Surely once they had a chance to chat at the reception, everything would smooth over and things could go back to the way they'd been before, before everything was complicated by sex and lies and hurt feelings. She felt her heart catch in her throat as she contemplated his carefully-tousled locks, sharp jaw and those gold-flecked eyes that were now steadfastly refusing to meet her own. He couldn't possibly stay angry for long, Blair reasoned. They'd been friends their entire lives.

At the behest of his father, Chuck was making his way around the reception hall, greeting various board members and business associates. He was reasonably certain they didn't want to converse with him any more than he did with them, but a request from Bart Bass was really a thinly-veiled order, so he did his part as the dutiful son. That is, until one of the security personnel pulled him aside and whispered in his ear that Captain Archibald asked to have his car brought around. Rehab or not, Chuck still didn't trust the slick bastard.

Blair was toying with the Chilean sea bass on her plate, mentally counting the calories in the few bites she'd taken, when she saw Chuck striding in their direction. Her fork clattered to the table and her mouth went dry, before she could remind herself to calm down. He leaned over Nate's shoulder and whispered urgently in his ear, and she saw her boyfriend frown in response.

"Excuse me just a minute, Blair." Dropping his napkin on the table, Nate headed in the direction of the museum entrance.

"Chuck." Blair addressed him hurriedly, before he had the chance to turn away.

"Blair." He tersely acknowledged her greeting. She flinched inwardly from the cold indifference in his eyes.

"Is… everything okay?" She gestured in the direction of Nate's departure.

"I'm sure Nate can fill you in later." He responded impassively, turning to leave.

"Chuck, wait." He paused, tensing as he looked back at her. "We haven't seen each other in… months, I thought maybe we could… catch up?"

He regarded her silently, the slight flare of his nostrils the only indication that her words had any effect on him.

"I'd love to hear about your new school. I'm sure you've managed to come up with some very creative ways to punish Bart for sending you there." She tried to inject a teasing note into her voice, but his forbidding expression told her the attempt had failed.

"Unfortunately I'm rather busy at the moment. If you'll excuse me." Chuck didn't wait for a response, walking away without a backwards glance.

Left alone with her sad plate of mangled fish, Blair felt a lump forming at the back of her throat. Faced with the possibility their friendship may be damaged beyond repair, she wondered how on earth they'd gotten to this point.

Several hours later, Blair was swirling her glass of champagne, stealing another sideways look at her morose boyfriend as he sulked beside her. He'd returned to the reception with bruised knuckles and a muttered explanation about his father leaving, after which he refused to talk about it any further. Pondering the unmitigated disaster that was her evening, Blair consoled herself that at least Serena looked just as miserable. Obviously her conversation with Dan had gone poorly, since the two of them were currently slow-dancing with all the enthusiasm of a funeral procession.

Chuck, in contrast, seemed to be having himself a marvelous time. After delivering an impeccable toast- the perfect balance of sardonic humor and sentimentality- he'd posed for photos with his new blended family, and then spent the remainder of the evening fending off female advances. Apparently the prospect of a one-night stand with Chuck Bass was enough to make even the most prudish UES socialites behave like desperate tramps, Blair thought scornfully.

"Chuck and I made plans to head to Victrola after the reception. You don't mind, do you?" Nate asked distantly, although the question was clearly rhetorical. He wasn't in the mood to care whether she minded or not.

"Of course not, sweetie. You haven't seen each other in months, you should go have fun." Blair smiled brightly. "Besides, it looks like Serena's going to need some consoling tonight anyway."

Nate nodded, his eyes drifting over to Dan and Serena on the dance floor. "Yeah, you should make sure she's alright, she looks pretty upset."

Blair kept the smile pasted on her face, willing herself not to question why he recognized Serena's distress, yet barely noticed the cracks in her own facade.

From across the room, Chuck made eye contact with Nate and nodded towards the door. The newlyweds had long since retired to their suite, and the sooner he extricated Nate from the reception, the sooner he could get away from Blair and the forlorn looks she kept sending his way. After everything that had happened between them, he couldn't believe she honestly expected him to slip back into the role of platonic BFF. Then again, denial had always been a Blair Waldorf specialty. But her injured expressions were just making him increasingly furious, and he knew he had to get out of there before he snapped and said something both of them would regret.

"I'll give you a call tomorrow, okay?" Nate gave her a quick kiss on the lips, brushing his thumb against her cheek. "You look really pretty tonight, Blair." He added, almost as an afterthought, before he rose and headed towards Chuck.

She watched the two of them leave together, neither sparing her a backwards glance. Draining the champagne flute, she propped her elbow on the table and rested her cheek in her hand, watching Dan and Serena slowly swaying together across the dance floor. Trying not to outwardly roll her eyes at their sad panda faces- Christ, you're breaking up, not going down with the Titanic- Blair temporarily pushed her own trivial problems to the back of her mind and prepared herself for the inevitable Serena fallout.

You berate remember
Your ailing heart and your criminal eyes
You say you're still in love
If it's true, what can be done?
It's hard to leave all these moments behind