AN: Sorry for taking so long on this one. More soon.
"Where are you off to, so early in the morning?" Dan asked his younger sister as she walked out of her bedroom and grabbed her coat. He was sitting at the kitchen table eating a bowl of cereal and trying to wake up fully.
"To brunch." Jenny smiled happily. Not only had she spent the night partying with Serena but she'd woken up that morning with a text message from Isobel asking her if she'd like to have brunch- her luck was definitely improving.
"Brunch?" Dan smirked. "With who?"
"Just some friends." Jenny tried to be nonchalant about it not wanting her brother to lecture her about the company she was keeping. "I'll be back before Dad even emerges from his bedroom."
Dan shook his head but didn't stop her from leaving. Once on the street, Jenny practically ran to the subway station. She figured she could take a train into Manhattan and then a taxi to the restaurant. She had a feeling that brunch with Isobel and Kati would be expensive and she couldn't afford to do that and take a cab to the UES from Brooklyn. This way, the other girls would never have to know she was strapped for cash. Looking down at her black skinny jeans and electric blue off the shoulder silk blouse, Jenny hoped that she at least looked the part.
Spotted: I, J, and K having brunch at Fiore- sounds suspicious to me. What could they possibly want with a freshman? If I were little J, I'd watch my back because those girls are clearly up to no good. My bet is that B has something to do with this. Down the street and around the corner at Zola's, S and L having their own brunch. A source says L looked very upset and S was trying to comfort her. Trouble in paradise? What's C done now? Don't say I didn't warn you, L. N was spotted jogging in the park- without a shirt! Not surprising but always appreciated. Tomorrow is Bart Bass' annual brunch; I can't wait to see who shows up and what goes down.
Chuck tossed his phone aside after reading the update from Gossip Girl. He knew there wasn't a single student at Constance or St. Jude's that didn't occasionally read the blog but most of them were lucky enough not to have their names on it every five minutes. Sure, there had been times when Chuck used GG to his advantage but for the most part he found it to be a nuisance.
He'd woken up early that morning and found Lita curled up against him. Chuck allowed himself a few moments of enjoying her warmth before he carefully lifted her off of his chest and laid her back down against the bed. He quietly went about taking a shower and getting dressed. Yes, he knew he was being ridiculous. Any normal person would have stayed in bed until a decent hour then talked to his girlfriend about the crazy events of the night before but Chuck didn't exactly consider himself to be normal.
Instead of sticking around, he'd spent an hour walking around the city with no particular purpose. Eventually he found himself at his father's office- it was Saturday and Bart was in Boston which meant that Chuck had the place to himself. He lay down on his father's couch and tried to take a nap. It made no sense for him to be there when he could have been back in his plush bed with a beautiful girl but at that moment, Chuck didn't feel like being comforted. Lita would want to know what he was thinking and feeling and Chuck didn't want to go there. He knew that if he started talking about his crazy family it would only push Lita away; she would realize that he really was just as screwed up as everyone else thought he was. How could he not be? His parents were not the Brady's and were far from being caring and attentive the way Lita's were.
Chuck closed his eyes and tried to sleep. He'd call Lita later…
Lita felt like she was going crazy. One minute everything seemed like it was finally working out and in the next moment, everything was tumbling down. Serena had tried to put her at ease during brunch by telling her that Chuck probably just needed some space to figure things out and deal with his mother's return but Lita couldn't help but wonder if there was something more going on. She knew Chuck had a hard time opening up about his feelings and she didn't want to push him but she did want to be there for him and remind him that he would always have her to count on. The night before she had been so close to telling him that she loved him and now the words felt heavy in her chest.
"What's wrong, Lita? You have such a frown on your face." Lita's mother sat down next to her daughter on their couch. "Are you and Blair still having problems?"
"Kind of." Lita shrugged. "But that's not what's bothering me."
Lucia wrapped her arm around her daughter and brought her closer to her body. "Do you want to talk about it, ioió?" She ran her hands through her daughter's hair soothingly. "You've been so busy this week that we haven't really had a chance to talk."
"I know." Lita sighed and leaned into her mother's embrace. "Things with Chuck are weird. We're kind of together but Idunno… his mother showed up last night and I could tell he was really upset about it but he wouldn't say anything and last night- well- " Lita had an open relationship with her mother but she thought it best to save most of the details of her night. "Well, anyway, he's not talking to me about it and I've left him a couple of messages but he hasn't been picking up his phone."
Lucia was quiet for a moment. "You really care about him, don't you?"
Lita nodded her head. "I love him."
"I know it's a little late for me to give you, hmmm, how you say- " Lucia paused, looking for the right wording. " the chat?"
Lita giggled at her mother's translation. "It's called 'the talk', Mom."
Lucia laughed as well. "Okay, well is it too late for the talk?"
Lita shook her head, feeling a little embarrassed. "Almost but no, it's not too late."
"Well," Lucia sighed. "I will only say that it is clear that you trust Charles but are you sure that he trusts you?"
"What do you mean?" Lita asked in confusion. She'd never really considered the idea that Chuck might not trust her.
"He has to trust that you'll be there for him." Lucia told her daughter. "You want to make sure the trust goes both ways before you go too far, ok? He needs to know how you feel and you need to know that he feels the same."
"I guess, I never thought about it like that."Lita agreed.
"And you have to remember, boys his age are less mature." Lucia laughed again. "Well, all men really."
"I'm so scared, Mom." Lita confessed. "Blair thinks I'm foolish for trusting Chuck again but I really do. I love him so much and I don't know what I would do if we broke up again. "
"You can't be scared of love, you just have to have faith that things will work out the way they are meant to." Lucia squeezed her daughter's shoulders. "Why don't you give Serena a call and see if she wants to go out for dinner? You can't sit around here moping, waiting for Chuck to come to his senses."
Blair sat in the back of Opal with Kati and Isobel discussing their brunch with Jenny. Each of girls were sipping on a martini and trying to look bored with the scene.
"So, did she say anything about Serena?" Blair asked. So far she'd only gotten bits and pieces about their talk but nothing useful.
"Just that she's been hanging out with Jenny's brother a lot. I think they might be dating."Isobel informed her.
Blair took note of this information. "Good, I'm glad she sees that there is no point in pining after Nate anymore."
"I think she knows better than to mess with you." Kati told her. "Jenny said her brother is totally into Serena."
"Hey, isn't that Nate and Chuck over there." Isobel pointed to the door where the two guys had just walked in-obviously pretty drunk. They were approached by girls almost immediately and neither of them seemed to mind.
Blair felt her anger rise as she watched a skinny blonde girl wearing last year's Prada, put her hand on Nate's arm affectionately. "Could those girls be any more pathetic."
Kati and Isobel shared a knowing smirk. "Oh yeah, they're totally pathetic, B."
"I wonder where little miss perfect is." Isobel took out her cell phone to check for updates from Gossip Girl. "I'd keep Chuck on a leash if I were her."
"I think they're cute together." Kati argued. "Chuck really seems like he's trying to change."
"Yeah right, once a dog always a dog." Blair rolled her eyes. "How's the camera on your phone Iz?"
Isobel shrugged. "It's good, why?"
"Because I think we might have some news for our good friend Gossip Girl." Blair pointed to where one of the girls was wrapping her arms around Chuck's neck. Blair smiled in contentment- Chuck was making revenge too easy.