Authors Note: So I got kind of stuck and I apologize for that. I'm not happy at all with the way this chapter turned out and I like to get critique, but obviously I want positive feedback :P
Anyways I hope this chapter isn't too much of a disappointment and that you all enjoy it! Please leave a review and tell me what you think.
As she stood next to Dan outside the Plaza, Blair couldn't have felt more out of place if she had tried. The people walking past them talking and laughing or speaking on their phone all looked like they had stepped right out of a movie, it freaked her out a bit. But Dan just took her hand and nudged her inside.
When they reached a big room with a lot more people talking and laughing with huge tables filled with food Blair gulped. The girls were all staring at her in detest while some boys raised their eyebrows. Dan Humphrey, the prince of the Upper East Side walking in with a date? It was rare. They quickly located the table where Vanessa, Chuck and a few others were sitting and Dan practically dragged Blair behind him.
"Hey guys." He ignored the way Vanessa scowled at them.
"Good morning, looks like a very good morning too." Chuck smirked. "Sit down." He gestured to the two empty seats next to him.
Blair sat down next to Chuck and Dan sat down beside her.
"So, everybody this is Blair, Blair this is Penelope, Damian and Hazel." Dan introduced them awkwardly, trying hard not to be annoyed by the way Damian stared at Blair with lustful eyes. He hated Damian, ever since he got Jenny drunk and slept with her over a year ago, but he was good friends with Chuck so they always seemed to be around each other.
"Nice to meet you." Damian reached out his hand for Blair to shake over the table.
"Likewise." Blair scrunched her nose slightly at him.
"So what have you kids been up to?" Chuck smirked at them, clearly wanting the details from the night before.
Blair rolled her eyes and Dan was about to tell him to back off when he saw his dad waving at him.
"Would you excuse me for just a second?" He kissed Blair on the cheek and whispered that she would be fine. She shook her head slightly, her eyes begging him not to leave. "I will be right back." He reassured her.
Blair was a little bit put of that Dan left her when he knew how uncomfortable he was but forced a fake smile on her face and turned back to the people at the table. They had seemed to ignore their little exchange and the girls was talking about the new Marc Jacobs line while Chuck looked bored and Damian was watching her intently.
"So, what did you do to get yourself in to this hell?" Chuck took a sip of his scotch.
"I don't really know." She turned to him, ignoring Damian completely. Wasn't it a bit early to be drinking she thought?
"Well, don't let the girls get too bitchy, and be aware that the guys will try to hit on you."
"Why would anybody hit on me when there are plenty of beautiful girls here and they know that I came with Dan?" She watched as Chuck poured her a glass of orange juice which she gratefully accepted.
"You are new and you showed up with 'Dan Humphrey, the prince of the Upper East Side'" Chuck formed air quotes "and if Dan Humphrey dates someone, then she must be very special. And the guys will want to know exactly what that is. You don't just bring someone random to the Bass Sunday brunch."
"Nice." She muttered and sipped her champagne. She was grateful that Chuck actually spoke to her, unlike the rest of the table, but even though he tried in his own way to make her a bit more comfortable it didn't help one bit. She looked around the huge room and saw Dan standing with Jenny and what she assumed was his parents, beside him was an attractive Asian girl. She was laughing at something Dan said and touched his arm. The jealousy she felt that she didn't see coming hit her in the stomach. This must have been how Dan felt when he saw her with Carter she realized.
"Chuck, who's that girl?" She tried to sound as nonchalant as possible.
Chuck turned his head in the direction Blair was looking.
"Oh, that's just Kati."
"An ex girlfriend?" The nonchalant act wasn't fooling anyone and Chuck grinned at her.
"I guess you could say that."
Blair turned to look at him with a questioning glare.
"What Chuck's trying to say is that Dan fucked her." Vanessa was suddenly joining the conversation; Blair didn't even know that she had been listening. "Sort of like you fucked that bartender."
Everybody at the table seemed to fall silent to watch the exchange between the girls. Blair glared at Vanessa, feeling all eyes on her.
"Look," She said quietly leaning forward slightly to try keep the conversation somewhat private "Dan forgave me, he wants me here and I'm not going to give you the satisfaction of embarrassing me. He knew about Carter, it's now over and done with. So who don't you just keep your mouth shut?"
She saw Penelope and Hazel look at her in a mix of wonder and shock; no one ever spoke to the Queen B like that. Vanessa seemed to fume as she was about to retaliate when suddenly Dan was standing by the table looking at them with narrowed eyes.
"Everything okay here?" He asked looking at Blair intently.
"Yes, fine." She answered and leaned back in her chair, putting some distance between herself and Vanessa.
"Good." His eyes went to Vanessa, glaring at her "Blair, my parents would like to meet you." As Blair got up from the table Dan kept looking at Vanessa who glared back at him. His eyes shifted and instead of looking angry he looked disappointed. He thought he could trust Vanessa, she was his oldest friend after all. He wanted her to at least try to get along with Blair, but it seemed like she was set on making this as hard as possible.
"Dan?" Blair was standing next to him, her expression soft. He smiled and took her hand as they walked toward his parents. Rufus was smiling and Jenny was hiding a smirk behind him, close enough to hear the conversation but far enough so she wouldn't be dragged in to it. His mother on the other hand was too occupied talking to Bart Bass a few feet away to even notice that he was back.
"Uhm dad, this is Blair. Blair this is my dad Rufus."
Blair promptly stuck her hand out to shake Rufus's hand and smiled.
"Nice too meet you Rufus,"
"You too." Rufus smiled at her "I heard a lot about you."
Blair was a little taken back, she didn't know what Dan had told his parents about her.
"Really? All good I hope." The smile faltered a little as her eyes met Jenny's.
"Absolutely." Rufus looked around for his wife and saw her talking to Bart, a slight frown appeared on his face "Honey, come here for a sec."
Alison walked hesitantly to them, not sure what to think about the girl standing between her husband and son.
"Alison this is Blair, Dan's friend."
"Pleasure." She said curtly, looking at Blair up and down. "I haven't seen you here before, are you new to the Upper East Side?"
"Mom, actually Blair lives in Brooklyn." Dan cut in and put his arm around Blair's shoulders, warning his mother not to be rude. It didn't work.
"Oh, that explains it." She looked at Blair once more, distain all over her face "Will you excuse me I saw some more important people I need to talk too."
Dan was fuming, he knew that his mother would be hard to win over but he never in his wildest dreams had expected her to be openly rude to Blair.
Blair looked absolutely crushed, this was exactly what she had feared coming to this brunch. Being ridiculed by Vanessa was one thing, but by Dan's mother, in front of Dan was utterly humiliating. She felt her cheeks burn from embarrassment.
"I have to apologize for my wife." Rufus said, seeing the sad expression on Blair's face. "Where in Brooklyn do you live? You know I actually grew up in Brooklyn." The tension grew between them, she saw Jenny going after her mother with the small smirk still on her face. Dan was rubbing his forehead with one hand and cursed quietly under his breath.
Blair forced a smile on her face as she looked at the two brown haired men and stepped away from Dan's embrace.
"I'm sorry would you excuse me? I need to go to the restroom." Dan stopped her by grabbing her wrist lightly, turning her slightly to him. "I'm fine, really." She smiled and tried to get out of there as soon as possible.
She found herself in the bathroom with tears rolling down her cheeks. The humiliation was too much. As she looked at herself in the mirror she cried harder, never in her life had she ever felt like she was less than anybody because of where she came from. It was the opposite in fact, she was proud that she by the age of sixteen managed to get straight A's in school while working and living on her own.
The tears eventually stopped and she just stared at herself in the mirror. She had black lines of mascara running down her cheeks, her face was flushed and the red lipstick was almost completely gone. She needed to redo her make up before walking out there again. With shaking hands she started to make herself presentable. Blair didn't know for how long she stayed in there but suddenly there was a light knock on the door.
"Blair?" It was Vanessa.
"What do you want?" She really wasn't in the mood to deal with her right now.
"Dan is looking for you, can you open the door?"
Hesitantly Blair reached for the lock and turned it. Vanessa opened it as uncertain as Blair had unlocked it. The girls looked at each other for a few seconds before Vanessa sighed heavily.
"Look, Dan told me what happened and he's worried about you."
"I'll be right there." She said and applied another layer of lipstick even though she didn't have to.
"We actually have a room, he's there waiting for you." She leaned against the doorframe.
"Why are you being nice all of a sudden?" Blair didn't want to be set up, she stared at Vanessa intently.
"Because Dan is my best friend and I want him to be happy. He's happy with you." She gently reached for Blair's wrist to pull her out of the bathroom. "That doesn't mean that I like you though."
"Same here." Blair followed Vanessa through a corridor and the lobby "But, thank you, I guess." She said quietly, not really looking at the other girl as they walked. They stopped by the elevator.
"Top floor." Was all Vanessa said before ushering Blair inside.
As the elevator slowly made its way up Blair looked around the ridiculously big elevator. The soft carpet, the huge mirror, it all seemed so extravagant and… unnecessary. This wasn't real life she thought, this was a small bubble where the guy she was falling for was living in. The ding from the elevator caused her to snap out of her daze.
She slowly walked in to the huge suite, trying to take it all in.
"Dan?" She called out.
Within a second Dan appeared in front of her, his expression sad.
"Hi." She said softly.
"Hey." He reached his hand out for her to take and led her to a huge table. "Look I'm so incredibly sorry." He said after they sat down. "I had no idea my mom would act like that, none at all. Now I understand why you didn't want to come."
"Yeah." She popped her arm up on the table and leaned her chin on her hand. "It's not your fault though."
"It is sort of, I mean I made you come." His brown eyes were looking at her with such sadness. She's never been cared about this much by a man before. She sighed as she looked at him; she didn't know what to say really, the words just seemed stuck in her throat. Finally she managed to take a few deep breaths and took his hand in his.
"Look Dan," She started slowly "I'm not going to pretend that I'm okay with how your mom acted, I'm not going to lie. But I did sort of expect it and I don't want to start a relationship with someone when I feel like everybody you care about is against us."
"What are you saying?" He dropped her hand quickly "You want to end this?"
"No, no." She stroked his cheek and forced him to look at her "I just want you to think about what it means for you and me. Especially if your mom already hates me just because I'm not from the Upper East Side."
"I don't let my parents decide who I can and cannot date. Besides, you heard my dad, he grew up in Brooklyn too." He smiled at her, it was small and a bit lopsided, but a smile none the less.
"How come your parents ever got together?" It seemed strange that a laid back guy like Rufus would ever fall in love with the ice queen of the Upper East Side.
"When they met my dad had already made a name for himself here, I guess once upon a time my mom wasn't as judgmental and let it pass or something." He shook his head at the ridiculousness that was his parents.
Blair's phone started to ring in her clutch before she had a time to answer. She fidgety got out her phone and saw that Serena was calling.
"Oh God…" She groaned, her head rolling back as she let out an exasperated breath.
"What?" Dan looked curiously at the phone.
"She's going to yell about Nate, I just know it." She quickly answered the phone "Serena, what's up?" Blair's face quickly changed from amused to worried in a matter of seconds.
"He what?!" She stood up and started to pace back and forth.
"No, no, Serena calm down. I can't hear you. What!? I'll be there as soon as I can okay? Yeah okay bye."
Dan stood up too, grabbing a hold of her shoulder to stop her from walking.
"Blair what happened?"
"I'm not sure," She answered distantly "something about Nate breaking up with her and Carter was there, they got in to some sort of fight. Nate's in the hospital."
"Wait what?"
"I don't know Dan, I couldn't hear her between the sobs. I need to go okay?" She quickly grabbed her purse from the table and hurried to the elevator.
"Do you need me to come with?" Dan hurried after her and pressed the elevator button and it appeared within seconds.
"No, stay. I think I should go alone." She still seemed like she was in a daze, her eyes not focusing on anything and barely listened to Dan.
"You sure?" The doors opened and they got off.
"Yeah. I'm sorry I'll call you later okay?" She kissed him quickly before hurrying out the door without a second glance.
Dan sighed heavily, worried not only about Blair but for Nate too. He wanted to come with her but he understood that wanted to do this alone. He turned to walk back to the brunch when he saw his mother looking with disappointment at him shaking her head slightly. Sighing heavily he pushed past her without a second glance.
I know this seemed like a weird place to end this chapter, but it was the only way that made sense to me. Once again, hope you enjoyed this chapter!