AN: I own nothing except the story line and the characters not seen in the show!
Thanks for all of the reviews, they really meant a lot to me!!
Chapter 9
Blair woke up the next morning with her head pressed on a cold surface. She tried to life her head off the surface but it slammed into something hard. She groaned in pain, eyes still closed.
"Is Aunt Blair alive?" Ryan asked, standing at the open bathroom door.
"Yes, she's alive." A cool male voice answered and bent over her body to hoist her up.
Blair just lay motionless, allowing whoever it was to carry her into a bedroom and drop her on a bed.
"Why is she wearing Daddy's clothes?" Ryan asked.
"What are you talking about?" She muttered, still refusing to open her eyes. "And why are you yelling?"
"It's time to get up, Blair." The voice commanded. Somehow, she couldn't figure out who it was.
"I feel like I was hit by a truck." She said in a scratchy voice.
"Well maybe next time we go out you shouldn't have ten shots." The voice said in annoyance.
"It seemed like a good idea at the time." She murmured and rolled onto her side.
"Ryan, why don't you get a bucket of cold water?" The man's voice commanded.
"Okay, okay, I'm getting up. But just know that I hate you." Blair moaned and slowly opened her eyes, adjusting to the light.
"Chuck?! What are you doing here? And why am I at Serena's place?" Blair asked, confusion written on her face.
"It's a long story." He said curtly and walked out the door.
Blair groaned loudly and stumbled out of bed, following Chuck into the kitchen.
"Just tell me what's going on." She demanded as she poured herself coffee.
"Serena and Joanna are wedding dress shopping, Nate and Dan are playing golf, and I was forced to come over here to baby-sit you and make sure that you didn't choke to death on your own vomit." He answered bitterly, barely glancing at her.
"What's wrong with you?" She asked.
"Nothing's wrong with me." He said shortly.
"Don't do that. I know you. I can tell when you're mad and I want to know what I did to get you in such a bad mood." She sighed.
"I don't know Blair; maybe it was that little show you put on last night." He said coldly.
"Oh my God, that's what this is about. What are you, twelve?" She asked in exasperation.
"Ryan, buddy, do me a favor go into your room and watch some TV." Chuck ordered in a fatherly tone and Ryan did as he was told.
Once Ryan's door was shut and Chuck heard that the TV was on, he started in on Blair.
"How am I supposed to feel Blair? Tell me, because I seriously have no fucking clue. One day you're sleeping with me and the next day you tell me that nothing can ever happen and your back with Nate. This is high school all over again." He yelled angrily, causing Blair to flinch.
"Okay, first of all, I'm not back with Nate. He asked me on a date, what was I supposed to say? 'Uh, can you come back later because I'm about to go do it with your engaged best friend.'" She said, grabbing his face and forcing him to look her in the eyes.
"And second of all, you are engaged Chuck. You have no right to be mad at me for going out with someone else. And for the record, just so we're clear about all of this, I don't have those types of feelings for Nate." She finished and sighed loudly, releasing Chuck's face from her grasp.
Chuck was silent. She was right. Everything she said was right. He was engaged. In fact, at that very moment, his fiancée was picking out her wedding dress. Blair had every right to go out with whomever she wanted, including his best friend.
He heard all of that, but the only thing he cared about was her last line. She didn't have those types of feelings for Nate. There was hope.
And then, he reprimanded himself. There wasn't hope; he was getting married to another woman. A woman who he had made a promise to. And Chuck Bass always kept his promises. Besides, Joanna had always been good to him. She had never broken his heart. In short, she was safe.
Blair was dangerous. He had no control over himself when he was with her. She could take his heart and smash it into a million tiny pieces without even trying. No, Blair was a friend. She could only ever be a friend. And he would have to just be happy with that.
"You're right. I guess I overreacted…sorry." He mumbled. Blair spit out her coffee.
"Did I just hear Chuck Bass admit that I was right and apologize in the same sentence?" Blair asked in amusement.
"Just don't get used to it." He muttered.
"Ah, victory is sweet!" She said, and thrust her fist in the air.
"Shut up!" He shouted at her, but his eyes were also filled with amusement.
"So why am I at Serena's, again?" Blair asked, and then looked down at her clothes. "And what the hell am I wearing?"
"You were pretty wasted." Chuck said simply.
He paused and thought hard for a second.
"It seems you're getting pretty wasted quite frequently these days. Any reason why that might be?" Chuck asked his interest peaked.
Blair shrugged as she wandered about the kitchen in search of some suitable food.
"I lived in France for over a year. We put champagne in our cereal for crying out loud." She said and nearly dropped the carton of orange juice she was holding when she caught sight of something on the Humphrey's calendar.
"What's wrong?" Chuck asked, noticing her sudden movement.
"I am going to kill Serena!" Blair shouted angrily.
Chuck smirked. He had grown to accept Serena as his stepsister, if not grudgingly, but it still amused him when she and Blair fought.
"What, pray tell, did my lovely Sis do now?" Chuck asked in a voice riddled with slime.
"I cannot believe her. How dare she? We do this every year. This is our most holy day. She knows what this means to me. That little bitch!" Blair ranted, blocking Chuck out.
"Tell me." Chuck said in a childish voice.
"Oh I'll tell you alright. Every third Sunday in April is the Private Sample Sale at Barney's. It happens once a year and you need to be invited to get in. We've gone together every year, since we were kids. How could she forget this?" Blair demanded, not that Chuck would have the answer.
He shrugged. Suddenly, he has the idea that his fiancée had chosen today of all days to go dress shopping on purpose. Serena must have let slip the sale and how much it meant to Blair. Joanna had a knack for seeking revenge on those she disliked and she definitely did not like Miss Waldorf.
"Okay, here's what's going to happen. I have three tickets. Serena and I usually take Ryan with us but you'll just have to take her place this year." Blair muttered, trying to calm down.
"Yeah, that'll work." She continued talking to herself.
She shuffled over to Ryan's room and opened the door. Once inside she roamed about his closet, until she found his black suit. You didn't go to the sale dressed in any old thing, after all.
Chuck stood motionless in the kitchen pondering his situation.
On the one hand, he would love to spend the entire day with Blair and Ryan for that matter. But on the other hand, he knew that spending more time with Blair could only lead to trouble. However, he didn't see how he could get out of this. Once Blair made up her mind, there was no changing it.
He let out a deep breath.
"What's the dress code?" He finally asked.
"Semi-formal." She answered while helping Ryan into his suit.
"Okay. Why don't you go to your room and get ready and I'll meet you in the lobby with Ryan in, say a half an hour." He said.
"Sounds good." She said.
"And Waldorf." He began as she walked to the door.
"Yeah?" She asked.
"Don't take you sweet time like you did the other day?" He said condescendingly.
"Shut it, Bass." She said with a smirk and slammed the door behind her.
"So how did everybody like their shoes?" Brent, the head salesperson of the shoe department and Blair's long time friend asked Blair as he carried several shoe boxes into the private showing room.
"Well I know for a fact that the Benedict loved hers. Chuck, did Joanna like her shoes?" Blair asked an incredibly bored looking Chuck.
"How would I know?" Chuck asked in a tone that demonstrated just how little he cared.
"Did she say anything?" Blair pushed, and then turned her head to the left. "Ryan, sweetie, please stop running or you'll scuff up those shoes."
"Sorry Aunt Blair." Ryan said and pulled off his brand new brown Ferragamo loafers and tossed them to Chuck.
"The Benedict?" Brent asked in curiosity.
"Uh huh. Benedict Serena." Blair clarified.
She sat down on the chair across from the one Chuck was sitting in. Brent pulled off the shoes Blair was wearing and slid on the new pair of grey Marc Jacobs Oxford Pumps.
After lacing the shoes up for her, Brent stepped away and allowed Blair to look into the 360 degree mirror.
"What did she do?" Brent asked softly.
"It's what she didn't do. Have you noticed that she's not here?" Blair demanded.
"Yeah, I thought you brought your new boyfriend instead. So I could meet him and give him the seal of approval." Brent said, giving Chuck a once over.
"Boyfriend?" Blair asked. "Oh, no. Chuck's just a friend."
"Really." Brent said, eyeing Chuck hungrily.
"He's straight." Blair said when she noticed the attention Brent was giving Chuck.
"The good ones always are." Brent said sadly. "So you guys aren't a couple?"
"No, Joanna, the other girl I bought the Michal Kors shoes for, is his fiancée." Blair explained.
"These are so comfortable." Blair added as she pranced around the room.
"They make your legs look about seven feet long, too." Brent said.
"Chuck?" Blair asked.
Chuck tried to glance casually at Blair's feet, without her seeing his face. He didn't want her to know that he was totally turned on right now, and the look in his eyes would give that all away. Seeing her strut around the room in heels, wearing a short slip dress was not something he could easily ignore.
"They're nice." Was all that he could get out, before returning his gaze back to his hands.
Brent gazed at Chuck for a minute and realized that every so often, when he thought no one was looking, he would steal glances at Blair. He smiled to himself.
"So why isn't Serena here?" Brent finally turned back to Blair who was now asking Ryan's opinion on her shoes.
"She's wedding dress shopping. Can you believe her? This is a once a year thing and she blows me off. Ugh!" Blair complained.
"With his fiancée?" Brent asked.
"Yes, yes." Blair said distractedly as she looked at the three other boxes of shoes.
"What is he doing here, then?" Brent pressed.
"I had an extra ticket and he was available." Blair explained in as smooth a tone as she could muster.
She didn't want to share the fact that she actually wanted to spend time with Chuck just because she enjoyed his company. No, nobody needed to know that little detail.
"What makes you think I was free? You didn't even ask me if I was busy." Chuck said.
"Please. Your only friends were golfing and your fiancée was shopping. You had absolutely nothing to do." Blair said as Brent helped her into the next pair of shoes, pink Chanel sling-backs.
Chuck said something under his breath but dropped the issue. Blair was right. And even if he did have plans, he probably would have broken them just to spend the day with her.
"You know, you never finished telling me your mother's reaction to you breaking up with what's his name?" Brent said.
"Wait, you thought that I was her new boyfriend even though you knew that she just broke up with her fiancée?" Chuck asked skeptically.
"I've seen her move faster than this." Brent said with a smirk.
"Brent!" Blair scolded.
"Kidding." Brent said. "Now tell me what Eleanor did."
"Ugh, that woman." Blair sighed. "Naturally she made it all about her. 'How could I do this to her again? What was she supposed to do with the wedding dress that she custom made for me? Is she ever going to have grandchildren?'"
Blair shook her head in frustration. "It's like, she can't for one second ask how I'm doing? How I'm dealing with everything? I swear, she should never have been allowed to reproduce."
"How are you doing?" Brent asked kindly.
"I'm alright. It gets easier each time." Blair said with a chuckle.
"I would imagine." Chuck said sarcastically and Blair threw a shoe at him. It hit him on the side of his head.
"That was unnecessary." Chuck said rubbing the spot the pointy heel hit.
"You've had that coming for years." Blair said coyly.
"Okay, Brent, I can see Ryan's getting a little restless so I will take all of these as well as the Ferragamos for him." Blair said, handing Brent her black American Express.
"Where to now, Boss?" Chuck asked, as he lifted Ryan off the ground.
"How does lunch at Fred's sound?" Blair answered.
"Good!" Ryan shouted. "I'm starving."
"Let's go." Blair said as Chuck grabbed the three large shopping bags out of Brent's hands.
Blair led the way to the infamous restaurant, housed inside the store.
Some quotes in the story above were borrowed from other works, so I've cited them here for anyone who's interested.
"What are you, twelve?" – Closer (Movie)
"That was unnecessary." – Thank You for Smoking (Movie)
