I am overwhelmed by the number of reviews this is getting. Thank you dearest readers! I cannot fathom how ace you all are for liking this! I really want to kiss you all right now. So, i've decided to continue on. Sorry for the delay though, you know how it gets during Christmas week. Au revior!

If anyone is willing enough to Beta, please please message me. My apostrophe's and semicolons seem to be ! Reviews would be very very lovely if that's not too much to ask.

-Danielle

Oh, also, I might be adding some Dan/Serena/Nate here. Idk yet. I have an idea for their plot~ Yes/No?

She lights a cigarette, watches the stars twinkle in the sky from the cabaret's terrace. Thinks of Nate again, of the heart shaped pink diamond ring inside the square velvet box tucked somewhere at home. She recalls faintly the night he had given her that ring, the words he had spoken. It's a family heirloom, Blair. She remembers how it had sparkled on her finger, how she wore it everyday and showed it to her friends.

"Taking a break?" a voice asks from behind, she closes her eyes as she blows out some smoke and smirks. It was him. The boy with the dishevelled brown hair and dark eyes. She says his name in her mind, plays with it over and over as if it were hers to own. Chuck Bass. Oh, the way he had said it made her insides flutter.

"I suppose that's what you call it." she mutters disdainfully, his hands find her hips and she lets them rest there. He lets out a sigh, his warm breath hitting her cheek. It feels as if the smoke is clouding up her mind, the darkness of the night overshadowing her own thoughts. She could not decide wether or not she liked him. This Chuck Bass. How he had followed her and took her hand. How his hands were on her hips.

She thinks of the things Georgina taught her when she first came in. Don't even think about falling in love just stop thinking and be reckless. She runs the words in her head and whispers the word reckless under her breath. Being reckless didn't really help Georgina, who ran away with a baby in her belly and too much alcohol in her system.

"You have another?" he asks in a voice so smooth she swears she can melt in his grasp.

She quickly composes herself and pulls away. "You'll have to get your own, darling." she blows out another puff. "And how did you get up here? It is a private place for the dancers."

"There is no sign specifying so, is there not?" Chuck squints his eyes at her.

"I suppose so, Mr. Bass. Now, what do you want?" she heaves a sigh, her heels impatiently tapping the hardwood floor. He shakes his head.

"Oh, nothing. Just to dance under the moonlight." he drawls, looking devilishly handsome.

"Then you can go outside." she gestures sharply to the ground below them. Chuck takes her hands and pulls her closer until his forehead is leaning agaisnt hers. She takes in his scent, musk and heavy cologne. "I'm afraid this is no place for that."

"This isn't a place for you either, isn't it?" he remarks snidely.

She ignores this, takes in the moment. "You know how to sweep a girl off her feet, don't you?"

"Oh, sweetheart, I know how to do more than that." he purrs in her ear, his lips move to her neck. She closes her eyes and buries her face in his hair.

"Same as everyone else." she tells him. "They claim to know much but they don't, you know?" Blair pulls away because she was close. Too close.

"Let's not play coy now. How much will it take for me to bring you home for the night?" he asks with leering eyes. She's not surprised with how straight forward he is. She knows why he's there, why else would he come to a burlesque in the silence of night? Surely not to flirt with the dancers or sweep anyone off their feet. He was like the others with their greedy stares and lust driven ways.

He was there for the scantilly clad girls who sold their bodies to pay off whatever debt they owed, for the glitter and giggles under the spotlights. Where he could be anyone and take anyone. She raises her eyebrow at him. "Maybe we can negotiate something in your hotel room?"

"Shall I take you now?" he grins, his gaze hungrily undressing her.

She presses her lips agaisnt the cigarette in between her fingers and turns her attention to the night sky. "Tell me why you're here first, Mr. Bass. I've met numerous men with different reasons but somehow almost the same." she says in a slow tone and remembers the usual excuses. How she would listen to them all beside the dim glow of a lamp before they undressed her with desire. "His wife died, nobody likes him, he needed to forget a girl. All of them were lonely...but you, it seems like you can pick up any lady you like." She wonders why he had put on a mask and chased after a girl for an hour or so. Why he had ignored the leggy blonde who was all over him.

"It is possible that I may be crazy or perhaps i'm just looking for some easy way to fullfill my pleasures." he whispers in her ear. He was fox, this Chuck Bass. He had known how to seduce a woman, how to pick someone up and take them away in one swift beat. Surely, he was not there for easy company like the others.

She shakes her head. "No, I do not believe so. I've proven to not be easy on you, if you wanted easy you would've simply picked up my blonde friend who, I have to say, has taken quite an interest on you."

"What if I tell you I wanted to find love?"

She knows this is a joke and she laughs. "Love? You simply cannot find love in a place like this. Indeed, you must be crazy."

She thinks of the girls dancing under the vibrant colors, who sway to the slow seductive music and she thinks of how they look for love. How they search for wordly possesions.

"Oh, I am simply joshing." she faces him now, she watches the smirk form on his lips and imagines what it would be like to have hers pressed agaisnt them. She thinks of how he had tasted down on the dance floor. Like scotch and smoke with the faintest hint of his musk lingering in the air. How his lips were soft and pouty as hers met his. "I'm here on account of some bussiness." he suddenly says.

"And what bussiness is that? Seducing young women?"

"I'll tell you," he whispers. Her hands find the nape of his neck, she grazes the skin lightly before she moves on to the knot of his mask hidden under tufts of brown hair. She stops thinking for a moment, turns off her thoughts. "if you give me your name." she closes her eyes as he says this, lets out a sigh before pulling the string. She watches the mask hit the ground before she studies his face carefully. His dark brown eyes gaze into hers intently as if he were waiting for a reaction. She's not surprised to find a handsome face hidden under.

Her fingers move to his cheeks, just where the lights cast shadows on. No words come out as she traces the lines of his face.

"Say something." he says but it sounds more like a plead.

"I-" the problem is, she has nothing. It feels as if the words are lost somewhere in the glitz and colors of the cabaret. There are no answers where they usually are, she looks away, tries to think straight. Tries to forget how his eyes look and how his lips tasted.

She hears the faint sound of heels clacking against floor. "B!" the blonde's voice echoes along the corridor. "B, where are you?" she calls out, louder this time.

"Shit." Blair mutters under her breath as she steps on the cigarette. "Not supposed to smoke, you know? Gives us wrinkles, no one likes wrinkles." she whispers to Chuck.

But he ignores her remark, his eyes squinted in deep thought. He places a finger over his pouty pink lips, tapping it repeatedly. "B? B for?"

"Bank's closed, hot shot. Maybe next time." she winks, placing a kiss on his cheek before walking off. She spots the blonde with her hands on her hips and smiles. "What?"

Serena rolls her blue eyes before questioning. "Who was with you?"

"Nobody," she says, her voice tight. "just a desprate client."

Nobody, just a desprate client. Rings through his ears repeatedly, he will not just stand there and be insulted. Chuck Bass has his pride as well, he will not let a girl who does nothing but hide under the safety of a masquerade mask take it away from him. He pulls the mask back on along with his deep mysterious facade, the one she cannot read as he is so positive that she watches each letter and sentence written on his every expression. He follows her voice inside the somewhat hollow corridors of the second floor of the burlesque house, passing through more lush seats, bright curtains with lace.

"You left him there?" the blonde asks. "B, you know only we're allowed there."

He clears his throat, the two turn their heads in his direction. He takes out a cigerette stick from his pocket and waves it to the brunette. "You forgot this, doll." He can have a little fun too, right?

"What in blazes are you talking about?" she questions angrily, her hands balled up into fists.

Chuck Bass knows how to play games as well as the brunette knows how to tease. "Oh, B, did you forget our little rendezvous already? I would've thought I was more than a mere client." he drawls, moving the cigarette in a lazy circular motion. "Come on, let's take another drag."

"You, Mr. Bass, are most certainly full of baloney." she huffs, placing her tiny hands on her hips.

"Oh, I am also crazy. Am I not?" he grins slyly, walking closer to the two. "But you said it yourself, I've certainly swept you off your feet, haven't I?"

"On the contrary, only damsels in distress are swept off their feet." she counters, he rolls his eyes for dramatic effect.

"You make it seem as if you are one."

"Only because you're the one putting me in distress!" she retorts angrily, looking as if she were to hit him. He steps back just in case.

"You two are giving me a headache." the blonde groans, her hands on her temples. "You know we're not allowed to smoke, B."

"It's not like you don't break any rules, S." The brunette sneers, the blonde places her hands on her hips, sequins on her dress sparkling under the dim glow of the yellow lights and shakes her head slowly.

"Don't even start with me, you know that was one time!"

Chuck smiles at the two. "Ladies, ladies. There's no need to fight." He looks in the his girl's doe brown eyes hidden amongst the chestnut curls and the scarlet mask covering most of her porcelain face. Her ruby lips form a frown aimed at him. He does not acknowledge it, and if he were to dare watch them (which he will not), it will be the end and he will lose nothing but his pride. (And his pride was the only thing that actually mattered.) So he looks away.

"If you do not mind, Mr. Bass, my friend and I shall get going. It's awfully late and we have to get to somewhere." she tells him in a way she wants to let him know that she doesn't want him. "Perhaps tomorrow."

He holds on to that perhaps and grins. "Perhaps."

A/N: Happy new year to everyone! Please tell me what you think of this chapter! Oh and please please message me if you can Beta! Thank you so much.