AN: Thanks so much for the reviews, you all are really fabulous!
"You know you never really explained what happened in Brazil." Blair reminded Lita as they rode to school together. They always went to school together on the first day- normally Serena would have been with them but neither of the girls thought to include her this time. "And before you try and tell me nothing happened, I read all about the kiss at dinner so you might as well just confess it all."
Lita smoothed the pleats of her uniform skirt. "It's a long story. I'll explain it eventually... But Chuck did come over after dinner and I guess we got back together."
"You guess?" Blair arched an eyebrow. "What does that mean?"
"It means we're on a trial period." Lita explained. "I think we both want to take it slow so that we don't have all the same problems as last time."
"You mean with Chuck being a cold and unfeeling bastard? I hate to break it to you, L but I really think it might be genetic."Blair laughed at the face Lita made. "What? Come on, you have to admit, the boy has issues dealing with his emotions."
"Things change, B." Lita didn't really want to talk about her relationship with Chuck, not so soon. "Anyway, what do you think we should do about Serena? I feel like something serious is going on with her."
"I'm not doing anything." Blair took out her compact and checked her make-up as the taxi neared the school. "Can you believe the nerve of her? She didn't even stay for dinner. Not that I wanted her there…"
"B, you know you've missed her." Lita said diplomatically. "I think we should get together with her and hear what she has to say. I have volunteer work after school but maybe we could get a drink before dinner at the Palace bar?"
"I have plans with Nate." Blair shrugged. "Maybe next time."
"B, you're being difficult." Lita decided to give up on the argument. "But I hope you know that Serena's not going to let you walk all over her. She's going to fight back and I refuse to be in the middle of it."
"God, you have a flair for the dramatic." Blair slid her Gucci sunglasses onto her perfectly painted face. "But you point is taken. This is between me and Serena."
Lita sat in the back of her AP Literature class pretending to pay attention to the teacher discussing the summer reading. The first day of classes was always a drag and Lita would have given anything to be back on summer break. The only thing keeping her awake was the promise of lunch in ten minutes. She hadn't had any of her good friends in her morning classes and she was looking forward to spending some time with them.
Lita felt her phone vibrate in her pocket of her Luella cardigan and reached for it carefully, not wanting to get in trouble on the first day of classes. She had a text message from Chuck.
C- dying in AP bio… what do u have?
Lita suppressed a grin and responded. L- lit – So lost, didn't finish the readings.
Chuck wrote back a moment later. C- hmm and why is that?
L- I had some distractions…
-summer-
The Nadalia house was empty and Lita was glad to finally have some time alone. Coming home alone after a long afternoon spent with her family, Lita changed into her favorite yellow bikini and decided to take a swim. Her plan was to cool down in the water and then lay out and work on her summer reading… and her tan.
It was a perfect plan except that she wasn't expecting to find Chuck lounging by the pool. From the look of things, he had the same idea. Chuck appeared to be working on the reading from his French class- he held a copy of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's Le Petit Prince.
"I was under the impression that you paid people to do your reading." Lita tossed her towel and copy of Henry James', The Europeans, down onto the pool chair next to the one Chuck was on.
He cocked his head to the side, eyes obstructed by disturbingly dark sunglasses, and stared up at her. Lita was pretty sure he was glaring. "Funny."
Lita pulled her long tight curls into a messy bun at the top of her head and secured it with an elastic band. "And true too."
With a disgusted snort, Chuck went back to his reading and so Lita walked to the edge of the pool and jumped in, well aware that she was going to splash him. She felt a bit of satisfaction when she heard him release a surprised expletive.
"Ooops." She smiled sweetly at him. "I'm sorry."
"You're so immature." Chuck shook his book. "Seriously, are you twelve?"
"God, chill out Chuck, you know, you are on vacation and it's just a little water."
Lita swam to the far end of the pool and let her body float in the water. She enjoyed the feeling of being weightless and could feel her body relaxing rapidly. That's why it scared her when she felt something grab her leg and pull her under the water.
Che came up sputtering and wiping loose curls off of her face."Chuck, you ass!"
"Oh come on L, it's just a little water, right?" Chuck shook his head, letting the water from his hair hit her in the face. "Lighten up, you're on vacation."
He swam away from her, making sure to splash as much as possible. Lita wasn't going to let him get away with it that easy though- she took off after him and pretty soon the two of them were engaged in a full on water war.
"Okay, okay, you win." Chuck relented when Lita started to tickle him. He grabbed her arms, tugging her a bit closer, the two of them still treading water.
Lita giggled. "Fine then, we have a truce?"
"Yeah, that would be nice." Chuck paused for a moment. "We should have a truce."
From the tone of his voice, Lita could tell that he was talking about a lot more than a silly pool game. "Chuck…"
"I'm sorry, if it means anything to you." Chuck let go of her arms but didn't move away. "I shouldn't have been so –"
"So what?" Lita pressed. She'd been waiting a long time for this conversation and she wasn't going to let him get off too easily.
"Scared."Chuck sighed and ran a hand through his wet hair. "I was scared and rather than actually try to make things better between us, I just pushed you away and I'm sorry that I did that because it ruined everything between us."
"Why are you saying this now?" Lita asked. "You've had plenty of time to say something."
Chuck shrugged his shoulders helplessly. "I don't know Lita… I guess I just miss being friends with you and I don't want to go into another school year with you hating my guts. God, I sound like a twelve year old girl."
Lita laughed a little. "No, Chuck, you sound like a real person for a change. A person with feelings."
"Feelings?" Chuck raised his eyebrows. "Well, let's just keep this between the two of us. I don't need the whole Upper East Side thinking I've gone soft or something. It would tarnish my whole persona"
Lita splashed him with water again and made her way to the stairs of the pool. "You know Chuck, a lot of girls like guys that know how to express their emotions."
"Is that the kind of guy, you like Lita? Sensitive ones." Chuck asked with amusement in his voice.
Lita sat down on her chair wrapped herself in her towel. She took her Chanel sunglasses and put them on carefully, Lita lay back and making herself comfortable; she made Chuck wait for her answer.
"I think you know my type, Chuck."
Lita was snapped back into reality as all the girls around her started to collect their things and leave the classroom for lunch. She grabbed her bag and stood up quickly; making sure to keep her head down as she passed the teacher who Lita was positive was looking at her suspiciously.
She had another text, she figured it was from Chuck but she waited until she was safely in the hallway and around the corner to check it.
S- meet me in the library in 5, don't bring B
So much for not getting in the middle of things.
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