Chapter 53

Chapter 53

“Jenny Humphrey, isn’t it?”
Becky Summers strode into the Brooklyn coffee house, giving the place a slightly disapproving once-over. Her eyes settled back on Jenny, and a warm smile flooded onto her face. She walked over, and sat down on the steel chair across from J. Glancing down, Becky noticed the double-chocolate-chip muffin on Jenny’s plate.
“A few grams of sugar past healthy, don’t you think?” she said, raising her eyebrows. Looking at Becky’s expression, Jenny could feel her unspoken demand. The demand to toss out a perfectly delicious muffin, just because it didn’t fit Beck’s anorexic standards.
“You’re probably right,” Jenny said dismissively, grabbing the muffin and tossing it into the trash can by their table. Becky laughed.
“Come on. Don’t feel like you need to turn all Bulimic Blair on us,” she said cheerfully, waving over one of the servers. Jenny was about to point out that being bulimic and not eating breakfast were two totally different things, but then she thought better of it. Mainly because she had just noticed how Becky had managed to toss the word ‘Blair’ into that statement. Who needs breakfast after all? There’s some food for thought right there.
“Yes, two double-chocolate-chip muffins, two chocolate dip donuts, two éclairs, and two iced coffees, no sugar. We’re trying to watch our eating habits.” She gave a completely innocent smile to the waiter, who just stumbled off, looking quite puzzled.
Becky glanced at Jenny. “We need to get some fat on your bones, girl. You’re way too skinny to be 14. And too hot.” She winked, sending red rushing up into Jenny’s cheeks.
“Um, I… I only have a few bucks on me,” Jenny said carefully. “I don’t think I have enough for all of that. I left my wallet in my Chanel purse at home.”
Becky laughed. “Oh, Little J. So naïve.” She gave Jenny a sympathetic smile. “You don’t have to lie to me. Blair told me about your Brooklyn roots.”
Jenny blushed an even darker shade of red. “Sorry,” she managed to mumble.
“Oh, it’s okay. Having the friends you do, I’m sure you really do have a Chanel bag. Or if you don’t, it won’t be long until you do. Or at least Burberry, if Blair’s cheap.” Becky laughed as she took a sip of her coffee. Something deep inside Jenny told her Becky wasn’t kidding.
“But hey, anyway…” Becky tore off a piece of muffin and popped it into her well glossed mouth. “What do you think of Waldorf’s inner circle? Nice people, huh?”
Jenny couldn’t decide if that last part was sarcasm or not. But she decided to go with it. “Yeah. Serena’s pretty cool, and Nate’s fun, even though he and Blair… you know.” Jenny blushed, once again. This was just one big embarrassment after another.
“Yeah, I know,” Becky said casually. Suddenly, her eyes lit up. “Nate, huh?” Her infamous eyebrows were raised. When were they ever not? “So… what’s the deal with you two, anyway? You seemed pretty close when we went out last week.”
“Oh, we’re just friends,” Jenny managed to say nonchalantly. “After all, my heart belongs to Chuck Bass.” Even with her light-hearted attitude, J couldn’t help but feel a little nauseous at her own joke.
Becky laughed. “Yeah, in your dreams.”
“Then dreams must mean reality because I swear, it wasn’t all innocent at the Kiss on the Lips.” Jenny raised her own eyebrows in a pathetic attempt to achieve Becky’s classic look. She sipped her coffee as if it were a martini; delicately, with poise and a hint of arrogance. Normally, on someone like Blair Waldorf, the action would have been admired, but on Jenny Humphrey, it just looked as pathetic as her eyebrow-raising.
But with that statement, Becky looked up, in both surprise and amusement. An impressed look could even be found deep in her eyes, if one looked hard enough. Caused by either her believing Jenny and her little remark about the Kiss on the Lips, or by her not believing a word and being awed at J’s audacity.
“Oh really,” she said finally, daring Jenny to spill. “And what does that mean?”
“Well,” Jenny said, stirring her drink as if it was no big deal. “Let’s just say Chuck and I were not without action on the hotel rooftop.”
Becky stared at her incredulously. Jenny couldn’t even comprehend what she was saying. But she knew it was impressing Becky Summers, which was always a good thing.
Suddenly Becky’s expression morphed from intrigued to serious, almost solemn. “Tell me about Chuck,” she said, her voice slightly lowered.
Jenny cocked her head slightly. “What’s there to tell?” she asked. “I thought you knew him pretty well.”
“I did,” Becky said gravely. “But I heard he, changed, after I left.”
Jenny shrugged. “He’s always been kind of perverted.” She let out a little laugh. “Well, not kind of. But you know.”
Becky remained silent for a moment, as if this was new information to her. “Yeah, I suppose so,” she said slowly. Gazing into her swirling coffee, Becky considered her next few words. She finally looked up, staring right into Jenny’s eyes.
“You know,” she said quietly, her gaze so intense she didn’t even blink. “Chuck wasn’t always… perverted. Well, I mean, he always said pervy things, but he was never so… what’s the word? Sex obsessed? You know what I mean.” Becky searched J’s eyes. It made Jenny feel extremely uncomfortable.
She swallowed hard, trying to digest this information. But it was hard with beads of sweat rolling down her neck. “Um, yeah,” was all she managed to squeak.
Becky leaned in and lowered her voice even more. Her stare lightened up a little bit, as she looked like she was getting ready to tell Jenny a very exclusive secret. And maybe she was.
“What I’m trying to say, is,” Becky paused, a naughty half-smile gracing her lips. She glanced around the not-so-busy coffee house. “Something must have happened to turn Chuck into the person he is today. Something very big. Very big.” She stared at J, never moving her eyes even in the slightest way. It was as if she was waiting for Jenny to catch on to what she was saying, with the littlest hints possible. But Becky soon realized it was going to take more than some vague tips to let Jenny Humphrey in on Chuck’s biggest secret.
“Jenny, do you know who Chuck Bass lost his virginity to?” Becky’s voice was now very hushed, and almost inaudible. Jenny had to read her lips just to make sure she heard everything.
“Well, no, I mean, I guess I never really thought about it…” Jenny looked away for a moment, racking her brain for an explanation of this conversation. Where was Becky going with this? The only possible reason was… well, no, it couldn’t be. It just couldn’t. Impossible. Unthinkable. Unbelievably ridiculous. Yet somehow, it didn’t seem like the slightest bit of nonsense. Becky Summers was telling Jenny Humphrey…
Oh. My. F-ing. God.