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Chapter 7: Sometime Around Midnight

And it starts
Sometime around midnight
Or at least that's when you lose yourself
For a minute or two

-Airborne Toxic Event

Blair yawned and stretched her arms over her head, reaching over to silence her alarm. She typically preferred to wake up on her own- her internal clock was nothing if not punctual- but she needed to make sure she got an early start this morning. Between spa appointments, a final dress fitting, and a massage to alleviate the stress of her busy schedule, she had a full day ahead of her.

The blinking light on her cell phone caught her eye, and she picked it up, skimming over the latest Gossip Girl blast. Once again, it was about Chuck- ever since his unexpected return, the site had been targeting him relentlessly. Speculation over his sudden reappearance ranged from knocking up his Headmaster's fourteen-year-old daughter, to getting deported for smuggling pot, to involvement in some high-priced European escort service. The only confirmed news, of course, was that he was enrolled at St. Jude's again for the fall semester, and that he and Nate Archibald were currently bromancing their way around Eastern Long Island. The photo in the latest blast featured the two of them enjoying a round of golf the previous afternoon, with Chuck looking every bit the disaffected playboy, and Nate grinning broadly at some undoubtedly inappropriate comment.

Seeing the two of them together again produced an uneasy knot in Blair's stomach, the origins of which she didn't quite understand. She blamed it on concern that so much one-on-one time could lead to Chuck confessing their… transgression, but given that he'd already remained silent for almost a full year, she had no reason to doubt his word. And Nate was clearly benefitting from their little man-dates, since he always returned to Blair in a cheerful mood afterwards.

Chuck, on the other hand, seemed to be going out of his way to avoid her since the previous weekend, which was no easy feat given that they were staying in adjacent bedrooms. Aside from a couple of family dinners and an afternoon at the beach, during which he'd spent an uncharacteristic amount of time in the water, she'd actually seen very little of him. She wouldn't care, of course, except that it meant she'd also seen much less of Nate, leaving her the awkward third wheel in Dan and Serena's juvenile love affair.

But tonight… tonight was going to be perfect. She'd found a stunning outfit for the occasion, a white Marc Jacobs minidress that showed off her shoulders and accentuated her tan. She'd had to get it taken in at the waist this past week, since her diet and fitness regimen was going even better than anticipated. She'd also given Nate explicit instructions on coordinating his own outfit, although with only one color to choose from, he'd needed less guidance than usual. And she had a facial, manicure, pedicure, and hair appointments all lined up for the day, to ensure she looked her absolute best- which was essential, given that every prominent member of NYC society would be present at the party, including a number of influential Yale donors. Of course, she'd also done the requisite background research and compiled a list of conversational topics to discuss with each of them.

Realizing that her musings had put her almost ten minutes behind schedule, Blair hopped out of bed and grabbed her robe, heading for the bathroom across the hall.

As she reached out to grasp the doorknob, it pulled back out of her hand and she stumbled forward, putting her hands out to brace herself and suddenly finding them pressed against Chuck's bare chest… just inches above the towel slung low around his hips, his only attire at the moment.

Frozen in surprise, she found herself mesmerized by the deep brown eyes staring back at her, the hot skin beneath her fingertips. For a brief moment, her fingers curled into his chest and memories rushed back, unbidden, of the last time they'd been in this position- their mouths fused together, his hands tangled in her hair, her hands eagerly divesting him of his towel. The way he'd lifted her onto the bathroom counter, guiding her legs around his waist and pressing his hips intimately into hers. His hands sliding up to cup her breasts, his mouth trailing fervent kisses down her neck.

His breath burning against his ear, as he whispered in exquisite detail what he was about to do to her.

Chuck cleared his throat, and she suddenly realized that she was still touching him… and had now been doing so for a completely inappropriate amount of time. And based on the self-satisfied gleam in his eyes, he knew exactly what she was thinking.

"Do you mind?" she snapped, pulling her hands away and averting her eyes.

"Not in the least," he replied sardonically. "Just trying to return to my room without getting molested."

Stepping around her, he continued back down the hall and she stared after him, feeling her eyes irresistibly drawn to his towel-covered backside. Swallowing hard, she stepped into the bathroom and slammed the door behind her in annoyance.

She leaned over the sink and splashed water on her face in an attempt to cool her burning cheeks, mentally castigating herself for acting like such a… desperate floozy. This was not how things were supposed to be, she thought to herself. Chuck was supposed to be the one lusting after her, not the other way around. It's not like she was hard up at the moment- she had plenty of perfectly satisfying sex with Nate. Although they had been going through a bit of a dry spell lately…

Blair shook her head hard, attempting to regain some control over her misbehaving libido. She couldn't afford these sorts of distractions today.

It was late that afternoon when the five teenagers finally piled into Chuck's limo, a parade of white, ivory, cream, and taupe. Dan was content to lean back in his corner, half-listening while Blair and Serena chattered excitedly, mostly about all the super impressive people he'd never heard of who would apparently be attending this party.

He took pains to avoid eye contact with Chuck, as he'd been doing most of the week. There was a fine line between standing his ground and instigating a conflict, he figured, and he much preferred staying on this side of the line. It was also becoming obvious that Nate didn't particularly care for him either- although he wasn't sure what he'd done to deserve it, aside from being born middle-class. Basically, this left Dan with only two people in the group who actually liked him, including himself, which was a pretty depressing state of affairs. He'd been looking forward to Jenny and Eric balancing out that ratio, but they were apparently stuck in traffic and heading straight to the party.

And even though Jenny was morally obligated to like him, her transformation into a JV version of Blair Waldorf was starting to become worrisome. He'd called to warn her that Chuck would be at the party, and not only had she been unconcerned, she'd seemed almost… excited? And not a happy, normal sort of excited, more a… well, the kind of excited Blair seemed when she was about to ruin someone's life. It was… troubling, to put it mildly.

"Dan?" His thoughts were interrupted by Serena, who was smiling at him. "How do you like the jacket? Does it fit okay?"

"Oh, yeah." He glanced down at the beige linen sport coat and white trousers he'd borrowed from Serena's grandmother. "It's perfect."

It was a little on the loose side, to be honest, but option B had been his girlfriend buying clothes for him, which was simply too emasculating to consider.

"You look so handsome," she said earnestly.

He smiled and took Serena's hand, admiring the way her loose updo of blonde curls framed her face. She was always beautiful, but tonight, with her halo of golden hair and Grecian-style white dress, she looked… well, like a goddess. Sometimes he would catch himself just staring at her, wondering how on earth he'd gotten so lucky. He gently squeezed her hand, resolving that he would never again be foolish enough to let her go.

The limo pulled to a stop and Arthur opened the door, ushering them towards the party. The lavish estate surpassed even the Rhodes and van der Bilt mansions- elaborate terraces were framed by white columned dividers and immaculately-tended greenery, the multiple pool decks interspersed with fountains, and every surface that wasn't covered with a pool or fountain or ornate statue was decorated with some sort of unnaturally-shaped shrub. Just so you couldn't look in any direction without remembering how rich they were, Dan thought to himself.

Catching sight of Eric and Jenny, he went over to say hello. He hadn't seen Eric since his breakup with Serena last May, so the two chatted about their respective summer vacations and plans for the fall semester.

The conversation was quickly interrupted, however, by Jenny's diatribe about her "heinous bitch" of a boss, who'd apparently made fun of her dress or told her she was just an intern or something similarly trivial. Dan eventually excused himself to get a drink, having become far too familiar with this particular rant over the past three months.

Standing along the outskirts of the gathering, he watched the crowd of white-clad partygoers make contrived small talk, laugh loudly at jokes that weren't funny, and generally just pretend to like each other a lot more than they actually did. The artifice was what really bothered him the most about these people, he thought to himself. Everything was about appearance, expectations, the pretense of being important. And that was what made Serena different from everyone else- she was, quite simply, one of the most genuine people he'd ever met. Her warmth, her exuberance, it was all so real and totally lacking in self-consciousness.

At that moment, she caught his eye and smiled, politely excusing herself from her conversation to return to his side.

Unfortunately, she wasn't the first one to get there. Feeling a tap on his shoulder, Dan turned and found himself face-to-face with a petite brunette he hadn't expected (or particularly wanted) to see again.

"Well, if it isn't Dan Humphrey," she snapped, arms crossed over her chest.

"Hey… Melinda," Dan smiled weakly.

"So I guess you're not dead or in a coma. Which would be the only two acceptable reasons for standing me up and never even bothering to call," she retorted.

Feeling Serena's presence behind him, his mind raced to find a way out of this situation.

"Look, I'm really sorry about that-" he began.

"You know, I thought you were different. I didn't think you were the kind of guy to just sleep with a girl and then never call her again." Melinda said accusingly, not even bothering with his apology.

Shit.

"But I guess you're just like all the rest of these assholes." She glared at him one more time before upending her martini down the front of his shirt. "I hope you get herpes."

And with those eloquent parting words, she turned and stalked away.

Steeling himself for the discussion to come, he turned to face Serena, seeing the distress and uncertainty in her wide blue eyes.

"Who was that?" she asked carefully, trying to conceal the hurt in her voice.

"Just… this girl I hung out with a few times this summer. Not… anybody special," he tried to downplay the situation without sounding like a total dick.

"Did you… sleep with her?" Serena looked down, avoiding his gaze.

"Just… one time." Or… maybe one and a half times.

"You told me there hadn't been anyone else," she murmured, sounding more sad than accusatory.

"There hasn't," he responded immediately. "Not anyone serious. That was just… a one-time thing."

Serena nodded.

"So that's it? No one else?" she asked, her expression hopeful.

Dan opened his mouth and then closed it again, unwilling to lie. Her face fell as she recognized the implication.

"Serena-"

"How many?" she interrupted.

He swallowed, wishing he could just fast-forward this whole conversation until everything was okay again. "How many… what?"

"How many girls have you slept since… we were together?" she clarified, her voice wavering slightly.

"Uh…" The fact that he had actually had to think about it wasn't helping his case here. "Five… or six, I guess."

"Six…" her voice trailed off, her eyes bright with unshed tears. "I thought you'd only ever been with me."

Okay, so perhaps he should've clarified that, he thought, he'd known it might upset her. But he had no reason to feel guilty.

"Serena, I am… sorry, but… you and I weren't together then," he replied, desperate to explain himself. "I didn't do anything wrong."

She looked away sadly, saying nothing.

"Come on, like you haven't slept with your share of guys this summer?" he continued defensively.

"Why would you even think that?" Serena responded, completely taken aback.

"Well, considering your track record, it seems like a safe assumption." The second the words left his mouth, he regretted them.

Serena inhaled sharply, her expression turning from hurt to indignation.

"Well, for your information, I haven't slept with anyone, because I was too busy thinking about you," she retorted. "But thanks for letting me know what a waste of time that was." Her voice broke slightly over the last words, and she turned, striding away in a whirlwind of white chiffon and golden curls.

Dan stared after her in consternation, wondering how he could possibly fix this.

As you stand
Under the bar lights
And the band plays some song about forgetting yourself for a while
And the piano's this melancholy soundtrack to her smile
And that white dress she's wearing, you haven't seen it
For a while

Observing the tense scene from across the party, Chuck leaned against one of the pillars and languidly swirled a glass of scotch in his hands. He was actually surprised Humphrey had managed to fuck things up so quickly; he'd expected it to take at least another few weeks. But as far as Chuck was concerned, anything that removed Dan's tedious presence from his life was a good thing- and if it had the added benefit of bringing back Fun Serena, so much the better.

His eyes shifted to the pool area, where Nate and Blair were chatting with an Archibald family friend- and Yale alumnus, if he remembered correctly. Even from across the party, he could see that Blair was turning on the charm full-throttle, working those big brown eyes and engaging smile for all they were worth. His eyes slid over her figure, enticed by the way the scalloped layers of her white dress outlined her curves, her tanned legs accentuated by 4-inch slingback heels. Loose chestnut brown curls skimmed her shoulders, framed by a white flowered handband. He briefly fantasized about sweeping them aside so he could bury his face into her neck, pressing his mouth against the smooth skin behind her ear and breathing in her alluring fragrance.

Watching her laugh, as she slipped her hand into Nate's and intertwined their fingers, he felt a familiar clenching in his gut. And in an instant, he realized he was right back where he'd been last winter- watching from the shadows like a pathetic stalker while Blair made it obvious just how much she preferred his best friend. Fuck. Half the reason he'd left in the first place was to avoid ending up in this exact situation, which never failed to make him feel like complete shit.

He took a sip of his scotch, feeling it burn its way down his throat, and tried to understand why the hell it bothered him so much. So Nate's girlfriend of six years preferred Nate- this was neither surprising nor particularly noteworthy. Clearly she liked Chuck enough to fuck him- repeatedly- which was really the only sort of liking that interested him anyway. And if her behavior this morning was anything to go on, those feelings were still very much present. His jaw tightened as he remembered her staring up at him, her soft hands pressed against his chest, her full lips parted slightly. It had taken every ounce of self-control he possessed to not pull her body against his and claim her mouth with a hungry, passionate kiss.

He gave his head a quick shake, reminding himself once again of the potential consequences. Anyway, the fact that this option was no longer available to him was… aggravating, of course, but it wasn't like he couldn't work out his frustrations elsewhere.

He scanned the women at the party, searching for that perfect mix of hot and desperate that virtually guaranteed him some action. His eyes landed on a statuesque blonde, the neckline of her tight white dress barely high enough to still be considered respectable, her blue eyes gazing back at him with shameless interest. Perfect.

He downed the remainder of his drink in one gulp and strode towards her, resolving to put Blair out of his mind even if it required screwing every last bimbo at this party.

But you know
That she's watching
She's laughing, she's turning
She's holding her tonic like a cross
The room suddenly spinning, she walks up and asks how you are
So you can smell her perfume
You can see her lying naked in your arms

Stifling a yawn, Blair did her best to keep the smile pasted on her face while Nate and James discussed the intricacies of yachting. This particular topic hadn't been on her list, since her only interest in boats involved sunning herself on them. So she allowed her mind to wander, inspecting the rest of the party for guests whose acquaintance might be somehow advantageous for her.

Her eyes caught suddenly on Chuck, leaning against the bar and blatantly flirting with some… horse-faced tramp. Although, based on the direction of his gaze, he didn't seem all that interested in her face anyway. Blair's eyes narrowed in disgust as the girl let out a simpering laugh, stroking her fingers down his lapel in a gesture that was about as subtle as an air-raid siren.

She couldn't blame her for being interested, as Chuck was looking… particularly fine tonight, Blair admitted to herself. His white suit was so well-tailored, it looked as though it had been sewn onto him, the fabric clinging almost indecently to his narrow hips and waist. Accented by black trim along the lapel and a patterned black ascot, it was an outfit few men could've pulled off, but Chuck was so supremely self-assured that he exuded sex appeal in pretty much anything… whether it was a school uniform, or his ridiculous scarf, or a… towel…

"Hey Blair," a voice interrupted her thoughts and she frowned in irritation, turning to see Jenny Humphrey standing in front of her.

"Hey… Jenny." She smiled tightly.

"Great party, huh? You'll never guess who Eric just introduced me to!"

"I couldn't possibly," Blair responded, not even bothering to sound interested.

"Tinsley Mortimer! And she even complimented my dress," Jenny replied happily. Well, leave it to Jenny to work herself into a tizzy over some throwaway comment.

"That's… very exciting. Anyway, if you'll excuse me," she said dismissively, starting to edge her way past the other girl.

"Actually, Blair, there's one other thing I need to talk to you about." Jenny's voice suddenly assumed a hard edge, and Blair stopped in her tracks.

"What's that?" she asked suspiciously.

"Well, I was thinking that you'll probably need some help planning the Snowflake ball, so I figured I would volunteer to co-chair the committee with you." Jenny smiled, the cheerful expression not quite reaching her eyes.

"That's very kind of you to offer, but I'm sure I can handle it on my own," Blair replied with an equally insincere smile. She was in no mood to deal with Jenny right now.

"Well, if you're sure." Jenny paused a moment. "So I see Chuck's back in town, you must be so excited."

Blair's eyes narrowed. "Absolutely," she responded.

"After all, you two have always been such… close friends," Jenny continued, the sharp undertone becoming more prominent.

Blair glanced over to Nate, who was deep in conversation several feet away, before letting her façade drop as well. "I've done more than enough for you already, Jenny," she snapped in a low voice. "You can't just threaten me every time you want something."

The blonde smiled back smugly. "Actually, as long as you want to keep this to yourself… I'm pretty sure I can."

Feeling the rage build up inside her, but impotent to do anything about it, Blair struggled to keep her composure. "Fine," she retorted. "But it's not just a title. You'd better be prepared to do some work."

"I look forward to it." With one last smirk, Jenny turned and strolled away, waving a hello to Nate as she passed by.

Blair was left fuming, her hand clenched tightly around the stem of her glass. Who the hell does she think she is? Planning the Snowflake ball was something she'd been looking forward to for years, and to have to share it with Jenny Humphrey, of all people, was completely unacceptable. A sophomore co-chair? It was… unheard of.

She threw one last glance towards Nate, oblivious as ever, before setting her glass down- with far more force than necessary- and stalking off towards the far terrace, needing some time to compose herself.

And so there's a change
In your emotions
And all of these memories come rushing like feral waves to your mind
Of the curl of your bodies, like two perfect circles entwined
And you feel hopeless, and homeless, and lost in the haze of the wine

Half an hour later found Blair considerably more poised, after a stroll through the rose garden had calmed her overwrought nerves. She carefully smoothed down her hair and adjusted the hemline of her dress before heading back towards the main house.

As she rounded the path, she heard a tipsy-sounding giggle followed by a faint moan. Blair stopped in her tracks, realizing that she'd inadvertently stumbled upon a couple in the throes of a rather public makeout session. She rolled her eyes, wondering at the hopeless vulgarity of someone who would behave in such a manner at an exclusive society party. Readying her most disdainful glare, she proceeded around the corner- only to feel her heart plummet to her feet at the sight before her.

Chuck was locked in a heated embrace with an eager blonde, his mouth moving feverishly against hers, his hands tangled in her hair. Blair stared in shock as he pressed her back against the white stone column, moaning into her mouth as she fumbled impatiently with the front of his trousers. His hands trailed down to her ass, sliding under her dress and pressing her intimately against him. Get out of here before he sees you, her brain commanded, but her legs felt rooted to the ground. She watched the girl's lips work their way down his neck, and the expression of unabashed pleasure on his face produced a sharp pain in her chest, making her gasp for breath.

As if he heard her reaction, Chuck's eyes suddenly opened and he looked directly at her. Frozen in place, she stared back, unable to hide the hurt and dismay written all over her face. For one endless moment, their eyes remained locked on each other, hers shimmering with unshed tears, his reflecting surprise and confusion.

Mercifully regaining the ability to move her legs, Blair escaped before she could embarrass herself any further. She hurried back along the garden path, berating herself for such a ridiculous overreaction. God, what would Chuck think? That she was jealous? That she wished it had been her pressed up against him, kissing his neck, making him moan like that? And after what had happened this morning...

She swiped at her eyes with the back of her hand, feeling the tears still threatening to overflow. What was the matter with her? She had a boyfriend, she loved her boyfriend, and he was the one she was supposed to be thinking about doing… dirty things to. It had to be the dry spell, she thought to herself, it was the only explanation that made any sense. Resolving to end their sex drought immediately, she took a deep, steadying breath and headed back to the party.

A/N: Thanks as usual to Terrabeth for her magical beta skills, and for laying the smack down on my incorrect use of conjunctions. I'd say I learned my lesson, but that's probably a lie.

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