CHAPTER 3

Gossip Girl: After a year of boarding school, our favorite Wasp legacy has indeed, returned. Is this cause for celebration? S and N seem to think so…

Spotted: S and N making their way towards Central Park with S's cousin, recently accepted to NYU and Constance Billiard student/Rock 'n Roll Princess, A; all looking as though in the midst of celebrating. But if we still know S as we used to, the partying has only just begun…

Blair sat down across from Kati and Isabel, "I'd hardly call this place worthy of it's review."

She looked around at the unfashionable decorating and furniture with a look of disgust.

"You haven't even tried the food yet," Kati tried to reason, knowing it was pointless.

"Yes, well, I--" Blair trailed off abruptly when she spotted Serena through the glass window of the café. The blonde wasn't alone, however. She was with her cousin. Blair bit down on her lip, unsettled at seeing Serena, yet wanting to go talk to her. Ever since their encounter earlier, she'd been wondering what the blonde had to say to her after all this time.

Then she saw two more people join the cousins. It was only a split second before she realized one of them was Nate, her boyfriend.

Blair was out of the café and up the street in practically an instant, and Serena was the first to spot her.

"B!" she called out giddily. It wasn't until Nate turned around and smiled at her goofily that she put two and two together.

"You're high," she said matter-of-factly to Nate, disregarding Serena entirely.

Nate shrugged, "It would seem that way, wouldn't it?"

She shook her head at him, then looked over at Serena, her lips curling with disgust. "You just don't listen, do you?"

Serena opened her mouth to speak but was interrupted by Chuck, who had the worst timing ever. "Serena," he drawled, walking up behind the blonde and making his presence known. She immediately recognized his voice and closed her eyes as she reluctantly turned around.

"Nice to see you, Chuck," she greeted him with a neutral tone. Her run in with Blair had already been a buzz kill. Adding Chuck to the equation sobered her up almost instantly. She knew from experience that you needed to watch yourself around him.

"Well don't look so happy, my lady. I see I wasn't invited to your warm little… homecoming," he scanned the group with amusement at the undeniable tension.

Blair scoffed and turned back to Nate, "Don't do anything stupid." He looked down and nodded slightly, understanding what she really meant. Even though she had no idea that Serena and Nate had slept together, she was aware of their history. He still felt guilty about the matter, so he put up with Blair's jealousy.

As the brunette turned and started back towards the café, Serena decided to go after her.

"Blair," she said catching up to the girl. "Please… stop."

The shorter girl slowed to a stop and turned to Serena expectantly. "What?"

"Please. We need to talk. I need to talk to you. Just five minutes, I--"

Blair shook her head. "I don't think that's a good idea," she turned her head, looking towards the café then down at the ground.

"It is. We need to talk about this." Serena insisted trying to catch the brunette's averted eyes with no luck.

With a sigh, Blair started towards the café again, leaving the blonde without an answer.

Serena was disappointed, yes, but she hadn't expected anything less from Blair. She knew she was wrong to leave abruptly and without warning. The honest truth was that, after what happened with Blair, and then with Nate, she hadn't known what to do and running felt like her best option.

And now she had come back to confess, knowing that after Blair and her had their talk, which she was determined to achieve, Blair would never want to see her. Let alone speak to her, ever again. Sleeping with your best friend's boyfriend definitely had a price.

Serena turned and headed back to the group wearily. She was almost there when her phone went off. She stopped to fish it out of her purse. It was a text from Blair.

My house at 9

The blonde smiled sadly, remembering how hard it had always been for Blair to stay mad at her.

When Spencer had spotted Blair coming towards them, she had grabbed Ashley and tugged her into the closest store possible, which happened to be a maternity boutique. The brunette had been caught off guard but had still followed Spencer.

"Are you…?" Ashley began, looking around at the clothes, noticing the maternity theme. However, it took the blonde a moment or two to realize what Ashley had been referring to.

"Oh, no… No, I just needed to get out of there before I got dragged into the whole Blair and Serena mess. It had the potential to end up very badly."

"How do you mean? How are you involved in the fight?"

Spencer contemplated this for a moment, her thoughts still hazy, before smirking, "It's a long story."

"I've got time," the brunette shot back with the lopsided smile Spencer was growing accustomed to.

The blonde laughed and nodded, "Alright, then. Come back to my place and I'll tell you the whole story, just so long as you promise not to tell Serena."

Ashley held her hand out for the blonde to take, "Deal."

"I have to tell her, Nate," Serena said as they sat in his car. They were on their way back to drop her off at her hotel and Serena was anxious about talking to Blair. "I'll take the blame. I'll tell her we were both drunk. You know she won't blame you."

"No," he sighed, shaking his head and looking over at the girl. Before she could protest, he continued, "I'll tell her. You can't take the whole blame."

"I don't want to mess up what you have with Blair," the blonde said firmly.

Nate leaned over towards her and said softly, "I don't care. I'm breaking up with her."

"What?! No, you can't! Why would you do that?"

"So that we can be together," he reached out and grabbed her hand. "I know that we both want this. What happened between us wasn't just a drunken mistake."

"But it was," she whispered looking away from him and taking her hand away. "Nate… I didn't come back for you. I'm-- "

"Look, I know you want to protect Blair, but after she finds out, she'll hate us both," he reasoned as the driver pulled over and stopped in front of Serena's hotel.

"I know, but she loves you and even if I did feel that way about you, I could never do that to Blair, you know that." She opened her door and looked back at the now destroyed Nate. "I'm going to tell her tonight." she continued softly, then got out of the car and closed the door.

The driver rolled down the window that separated the front and backseats. "Where to?"

Nate leaned back against the seat and sighed, "Blair's."