A/N: Some borrowed material from the OC for this chapter, but not much. And I took some creative direction with Seth's character and gave him a special ability. Hope you guys like it! Please give me a review if you like where this is going! :)

"So anyway Ryan, what I'm saying is, we should all just go to the Bait Shop tonight for the Neon Trees show. Summer will have Marissa to keep her company, Marissa will have you, you will have me, and – "

"- and I will stay home and revise for my SATs," Blair interjected.

"What? You can't miss the show. And the SATs are like, a month away. You've got plenty of time to study!" Seth protested, turning his attention back to Blair.

Blair shrugged. The truth was she didn't feel like playing fifth wheel to Seth's little gang. Ever since their big reveal to the entire school that they were in fact, a thing, Seth had taken to arrange all sorts of group "hangs" that always seemed to include Ryan, Marissa, and of course – Summer. Summer and Blair had talked since the incident, and they made it perfectly clear that they were both cool about the whole thing, but it didn't mean Blair wanted be sisters now, or anything. Besides, with the "relationship" out in the open, Blair and Seth no longer needed to sneak around and make out in locker rooms, or stay in and cuddle 24/7, so Blair was really missing the quality time alone. Well, not that she was even sure they were in a relationship. In fact, another thing that was bothering Blair was that Seth had never actually made it clear to anyone what they actually were. She rolled her eyes to herself, as Seth became entranced in his own conversation with Ryan yet again, trying to convince him that he did know enough of their songs to go to the show.

"You can't listen to Journey forever, Ryan," Seth was saying.

Blair had had enough. She stood up abruptly, picking up her half-finished yogurt, and tossing it in the trash. She then walked away briskly from the table.

"Hey, Blair – where are you going? Lunch isn't even over yet," Seth said, scrambling to collect his bag and books in time to catch up with her. He gave a small wave to the group and ran after her. A group of kids nearby looked over as they saw him running up to her, grabbing her elbow to get her attention. Ever since their second big kiss, the students at Harbor seemed to have accepted the two of them as a reality. It turns out that Blair had been overthinking things the entire time – even her minions turned out to be rather impressed by her guts to date a total nobody.

Blair spun around to look at him. "I lost my appetite," was her simple reply. She walked away from him again, not in the mood to be having this conversation.

Seth blocked her path and put his hands on her arms, looking at her tenderly. "Blair, is something wrong? I mean, you've been so quiet lately." Seth paused to look around, seeing that no one was even looking at them anymore. "Is it because you're still worried about what the others think? Because I'm pretty sure no one cares anymore. Or is that what's bothering you…the fact that no one cares anymore," he suggested, knowing that it was in Blair to care about such things.

The concerned expression on his face made Blair melt a little, and wonder if she was overreacting to the whole thing. "No…it's not that," she muttered. Blair watched Seth grow even more confused as they glanced at his feet and chewed on his lip, staying silent. Seeing that her aloofness wasn't really helping anything, she decided to take matters into her own hands. She suddenly looked up cheerfully. "Listen, how about you come over and help me study a bit after school today, and I'll see if I'm in the mood for the Neon Trees afterwards, okay?" she offered.

"But I promised Ryan that I - " Seth started.

"Just say yes, Cohen," Blair half-warned. She was starting to lose her patience again, and looked at him sternly to get the message across.

Seth quickly retreated and saluted to Blair dramatically. "Yes, ma'am. I will be there and I will be the best tutor ever and get that beautiful mind of yours a 2400, no doubt," Seth replied, taking Blair's tiny face into his hands and kissing her softly on her nose. She loved how petite she always felt in his arms. His arm slid down in her waist and they walked to class together, Blair leaning on his bony shoulder – which, to be honest, didn't bother her much since the muscular jock type was never really her thing. She smiled up at him as he chattered endlessly about all the new words he would teach her, and thought that things may finally go according to plan after all.

Blair was whistling cheerfully as she checked her appearance in the mirror. It was beneath her to put so much effort into getting a guy's attention, but she was willing to make an exception just this once. The truth was, she had missed having him all to herself this week, and had a million things she wanted to talk to him about. Blair had a free period for the last lesson, and had gone home first to make sure they would spend a perfect afternoon in together – just the two of them. She actually clapped in glee when she heard Dorota open the door, and ran out of her room eagerly to greet Seth – only to find Ryan, Marissa, and Summer right behind him. She gaped at Seth in disbelief as she grabbed a robe nearby and threw it over herself, then proceeded down the stairs, trying to keep calm. She failed.

"What are they doing here?" Blair had not meant for the words to sound so unwelcoming, but she was beyond frustrated with him.

"Blair!" Seth called out chirpily, not even noticing her icy tone. "I asked them to come over so they could listen to some Neon Trees on your iPod before the show. I promise I won't let them distract us from studying," he said earnestly, which annoyed Blair even more.

"ARE YOU STUPID?" Blair roared at him. Seth blinked hard at her in shock. "Never mind – don't answer that." Behind her, Dorota tiptoed away, already know that her mistress was going to unleash hell on the poor boy.

"Blair, why are you so upset? I'm here, just like I promised!" Seth exclaimed, his voice developing into a whine. He didn't know why she was being so difficult lately. Then he remembered – she had always been difficult, even when they were friends. Of course he had to fall for an absolute diva. He walked up to her in attempt to calm her down, which made her flip out even more.

"Get your hands off me! God, I can't believe I'm losing my cool over such a complete imbecile!" Blair wanted desperately to throw something at him.

"Uh…I think we're gonna head out first, Seth," Ryan finally said, understanding full well what was going on. He had warned Seth that he didn't think it would be a good idea to come along, but Seth had assured them that Blair would love the extra company. She's such a social butterfly, Seth had told them while all three of them shared a knowing glance.

"No, you guys stay. Please. I'll go," Blair retorted sharply, grabbing her keys and heading out the door, leaving the four of them standing in her foyer. Seth darted out after her to try to calm her down.

"Blair, where are you going? And…in your nightgown?" he asked, seeing for the first time what she was wearing. "Why are you in your nightgown anyway? I thought you were gonna come out with us for the show."

Boy, he was really clueless. "Who cares about the goddamn show, Cohen? Why do you think I was in a nightgown?" she asked, whirling around to talk to him. "I thought we'd be spending some quality time together – alone. That's why!"

"But we always spend time alone!" Seth objected. He knew it wasn't a good idea to talk back at a time like this, but he was upset at the way she was reacting.

"No we don't! We're always with other people. It's always, oh, Ryan and I wanted to do this, and Summer and Marissa is coming with us to do that. Can't you be with me without needing a chaperone?" Blair cried out incredulously.

"It's not about that," Seth said, trying to explain. He dropped his voice lower so that the others wouldn't hear. "I just didn't want Summer to feel left out, you know. There's you and me, and Ryan and Marissa…and you know what happened, between us…" Seth trailed off.

"And what about me? Who's gonna care when I feel left out?"

"But you've got me, Blair! Summer's got nobody!" Seth was getting agitated himself now.

"I've got you? How do I even know that? How do I know we're not just all friends, hanging out together? We don't kiss, we don't hold hands, we sure as hell don't go on dates alone…so what are we, Cohen?" Blair was more annoyed at herself for uttering such pathetic questions, and in such a similar fashion as she had done before, to the exact same dense idiot. She waited for his reply, hoping that he'd finally say what she wanted to hear.

Seth took a step back, surprised at the question. He hesitated, then opened his mouth to answer. "Come on, Blair, you don't have to ask," he said finally.

Blair threw her arms in the air in exasperation. "Just go, okay Seth? And take your friends with you," she added, crossing her arms indignantly.

She looked away as Seth went back into the house to round up his friends, then proceeded to climb into his SUV, looking at her one last time to see if she had changed her mind. But Blair wouldn't look at him. He sighed heavily, then drove away with Ryan and the girls. Blair stomped back into her house and ran into her room, slamming the bedroom door shut behind her.

"I don't get what her problem is," Seth complained after five minutes of complete silence. No one had the nerve to say anything after Blair's tantrum. Summer laughed in response, and Marissa elbowed her in the ribs to get her to stop. "It's not funny, Summer. She's worse than Jekyll and Hyde. She's probably gonna be pissed for like, another week now. And for nothing. Why is it Ryan, that it's always us that has to apologize, even when it's not our fault?"

Summer and Marissa snorted collectively. "But it is your fault, Seth," Marissa couldn't stop herself from replying. She had wanted to keep her opinions to herself, but couldn't stand how completely incognizant Seth was. "She obviously wanted to spend time alone with you, and was just disappointed that you brought all of us along."

"Well what was I supposed to do? We're all friends, right? What's wrong with hanging out together? Couples do that all the time," Seth argued.

"Man, I am so glad I'm not dating you," Summer said under her breath. Seth ignored her and turned to Ryan.

"Ryan, help a brother out here. Do you think this is my fault, too?" Seth pleaded.

Ryan shot him an uneasy look. "Sorry, man," he replied matter-of-factly.

Seth groaned in despair. "So what am I supposed to do now? She's gonna hate me. She probably already does."

"Well, what did she say to you?" Ryan asked.

"She asked me what we were – what we are," Seth corrected himself, still feeling dazed out.

"And?" Summer coaxed him on.

"And I told her she didn't have to ask," Seth replied truthfully.

"SETH!" Marissa and Summer exclaimed in unison. Ryan gave him a look.

"What?" Seth asked, trying not to let their yelling distract him from his driving. He swerved a little to the left. "We kissed twice in front of the entire school, and practically everyone at Harbor knows that we're together now. What else could we be?"

"Look, Seth," Marissa answered, hoping to give him some insight, "girls need romance. People don't just get together, end of story. They need something. Some sort of grand gesture to show that she's your girlfriend, and not just some friend you like to hang out with. Plus, it doesn't really help that you like to bring along a girl that you used to date not too long ago," she paused, glancing over at Summer. "No offense, Sum."

"None taken, Coop," Summer sat up straighter and leaned towards the driver's seat to make her point. "Cohen, you don't have to worry about me. I'm fine with everything. I got along just fine even before you and Chino came into the picture. It's sweet that you don't want me to feel left out, but you really need to start giving some attention to your actual girlfriend."

Seth stayed silent. He knew they were right. He was so caught up worrying about Summer's feelings that he had forgotten about Blair's, and taken her for granted yet again. But he wasn't about to let her slip away so easily. After a few months under the guidance of Blair Waldorf, Seth was confident that he and his friends could cook up a scheme of their own to win her back.

"Okay guys, so here's what we're gonna do…"

Blair was trying to focus on her SAT flashcards, but to no avail. Her mind kept drifting off to that the whiny, insecure but insensitive, no-good, loser of a boyfriend – acquaintance…whatever he was – that she had. She rolled her notes up into a ball and threw it at the rubbish bin in her room. Missed. She fell onto her back and sighed. Suddenly, her phone rang. She wrinkled her nose as she realized it was one of her minions – Kelly Stevens. She picked up the phone.

"Hello? Blair Waldorf speaking. Talk fast, you're breaking my concentration," she demanded. She heard the sound of drums in the background, and immediately knew exactly what was going on.

"Uh – Blair? A couple of us are hanging out at the Bait Shop tonight, and we were wondering if you wanted to come with," she explained in a slow voice, as if someone was conducting her every word. Blair rolled her eyes. She could see through this ploy with her eyes closed.

"Tell Seth Cohen I'm not interested," she replied, ready to hang up.

"Oh, but I think you will be," a deeper voice shot back. It was Ryan. Blair became interested in spite of herself. "See you in ten." They hung up.

Blair stared silently at her cell phone, unsure of what to do next. Show up, and she loses. Don't show up, and she won't know what that little weasel had planned, and how he would explain away his prior idiocy. She drummed her fingers on her study guide, and planted herself into her bed decisively, resolving to keep her pride and let him wallow in his own misery for at least another month before she would let him see her again.

In exactly eight minutes, Blair pulled up at the entrance of the Bait Shop, where a large crowd of teenagers had already gathered. The noisy bar wasn't usually her scene, and she hated the feeling of having a bunch of Newport's sweaty rocker teens brushing up on her in the poorly-ventilated venue, but she had let her curiosity get the best of her. Besides, she must admit that she had a thing for alternative pop rock. She walked gingerly into the bar, scanning the room for a sign of Seth Cohen.

"She's here – she's here! Action stations!" she heard some random stranger calling into a walkie-talkie. Blair held back a smile at the fuss Seth was making for her as she walked further, towards the stage.

To her surprise, there stood Seth Cohen – on the stage itself. He looked more scrawny and awkward than ever in his geek-chic retro tee and fitted jeans, and was holding an acoustic guitar in his hands, standing completely erect in front of the microphone. Oh no, Blair thought, as she scrambled for an escape. This was more than just social humiliation – it was utter social destruction. She recognized almost half the people in the bar, and realized that Seth had probably invited the entire school for his coming-of-age performance.

"There she is!" Seth exclaimed into the microphone, pointing straight at her. To her complete horror, the staff at the Bait Shop quickly shone a spotlight on her, making her stop dead in her tracks. She had no choice but to turn back and face the stage to wait for whatever Seth had up his sleeves. She saw that Neon Trees had retreated into the shadows behind Seth, and wondered how on earth he had gotten the band to agree to this whole charade.

"This is for Blair Waldorf, the beautiful girl standing right there," he continued, strumming a chord onto the guitar. Blair was impressed. He seemed to know what he was doing. She watched as he opened his mouth and began to sing:

Here we go again

I kinda wanna be more than friends
So take it easy on me
I'm afraid you're never satisfied

Here we go again
We're sick like animals
We play pretend
You're just a cannibal
And I'm afraid I won't get out alive

No, I won't sleep tonight

The crowed sang along with him once he got to the chorus, his eyes never leaving Blair's the entire time. He had performed a slow, acoustic version of the song, and had sounded unexpectedly good, too. Guess his only strengths weren't just skateboarding and whining. She smiled widely as a group of strangers crowded her and cheered her on, encouraging her to step up on the stage. She waited for him to finish the song before she made her move.

Oh oh I want some more
Oh oh What are you waiting for
Say goodbye to my heart tonight

The audience erupted into loud cheers, and the drummer drummed softly on the cymbals, bringing the song to a finish. Seth looked down shyly at his feet, and put his hand up to receive the feedback. He glanced nervously at Blair, waiting for her response. There was no telling with Blair Waldorf. He put down his guitar and walked off the stage, caught in the spotlight the entire time. The audience grew quiet as they waited to see what would happen next. Seth stepped up to her and took a deep breath to steady himself. Confidence, Cohen.

"Blair Waldorf, will you be my girlfriend?" Seth asked slowly and earnestly, looking deep into her eyes.

Blair looked up at him, then replied slyly, "I don't know if rock stars are really my type." Seth threw his arm around her, pretending to strangle her, then gave her a suffocating hug – his trademark. She pretended to wiggle out of his embrace, but laughed happily, proud of her new boyfriend's performance. Then, without a warning, Seth swept Blair up from behind her legs and picked her up with ease, causing her to let out a girly scream in protest. She felt wondrously light in Seth's arms, and he spun her around before putting her back onto her feet.

"How's that for a grand gesture?" he asked, as the band started to play their next song.