Chuck leans back on the couch and exhales, watching the smoke as it rose to the ceiling. Dinner and hanging out had been more stressful than he'd thought they would be, but a good smoke had seemed to mellow everything out. Mostly.

"I don't know what I did, man," Nate murmurs before taking another drag.

"Is it really that bad though?" Chuck asks softly, looking over at his friend. He hadn't talked to Blair much except through a few texts. She'd told him she'd broken up with Nate, he'd asked her how she felt about it, and she'd said it was one of her best decisions and that she better see him tomorrow for breakfast before school. He was glad she knew Nate would want to have his time after her breaking up with him, that she understood just how the boys worked. And from talking with Nate he also knew that Nate had no clue about his own involvement with everything and he was leaving it that way until he could talk to Blair about it.

Nate looks over at Chuck with a frown. "I love her, Chuck. Of course it's that bad." He leans forward and passes Chuck the joint. "Why would you think it wasn't?"

Chuck shrugs and takes a hit. "The way you look at Serena says otherwise."

A slightly frustrated hand pushes through Nate's hair as he shakes his head. "Why does everyone keep saying that?"

"Because it's true, Nathaniel." Chuck passes the joint back. "The way you look at Serena is always brighter than the way you look at Blair. Hell, even the way you laugh at jokes and the way you smile is different between the two. You look so much happier with Serena." He shrugs again as he watches his friend. "It's no wonder Blair got tired of being second."

Nate was halfway through his hit before he gives a grumble and passes the joint back. "I've never...she's never..."

Chuck reaches out to pat Nate's shoulder with his free hand as he finished the joint. "You have, you just haven't let yourself see it. Take this as a step to do what you want instead of what your family wants you to do, go after the girl you've wanted since you were little instead of the one the Captain pushed you towards."

"It's really that obvious?" Nate's question is almost hesitant, like he can't believe he's accepting this.

Chuck just smirks as he leans back, enjoying the lazy feeling the weed leaves in his bones. "Yes, it is. Even Serena knows it. She mentions it occasionally when drunk and out and you're not around, not around Blair but it's still...there."

Nate gives a soft, frustrated sound as he slumps in his chair. "It still hurts that she broke up with me."

Chuck watches his friend with slightly glassy eyes for a moment before he pushes himself up and pours a glass of scotch each. He returns a moment later and hands one to Nate before slumping back down on the couch. "I've heard it always hurts when it comes out of the blue like that."

"I feel like there's something else, like it's more than just this though. Something to give her that push to want to break up instead of work on things," Nate murmurs as he takes a healthy drink from his glass.

Chuck stills for half a second before he relaxes a little again. "Well, I'm sure we'll find out in due time," he replies neutrally. "It's not like anything in this town stays quiet for long, after all." And he wasn't exactly looking to stay quiet about this, not if all of this was going where he hoped it was going.

Nate nods as he finally relaxes into both the weed and the alcohol. "I'm not keeping you from anyone, am I? I know you usually head out about now..."

Chuck waved Nate's question away with a shake of his head. "No, you're not. I figured I would take the night off for my friend. After all, what kind of friend would I be if I left you to sulk on your own while I was in bed with someone delicious?"

Nate chuckles, completely unaware that Chuck really was referring to Blair in that question. "Not a very good one, I guess. Thanks for being there for me, man. This really did kind of strike me from out of left field, so it's good to have someone to at least talk to about it all."

Chuck smiles, keeping everything about how conflicted he feels about this out of any and everything he does. He really isn't going to like this when Nate finds out, he's almost positive. "What can I say, I'm a good friend like that." And while he can't say he's there for his friends like Blair is, he is there as much as she is in his own ways.

The rest of the night was spent passing another joint around and hopping on the Xbox to tag team the online world in Call of Duty before Nate passed out on the couch and Chuck in his own bed.