Chapter 22

Chapter 22

Nate woke up at noon with a spitting headache. After the Jenny ordeal, he had ordered almost as many drinks as Chuck had. After drowning himself in scotch, he had rented a hotel room. Mrs. Archibald wouldn’t have been pleased if Nate had come home.
After taking some aspirin, N checked his phone. No messages. He thought about calling Blair, but decided on Chuck instead.
“Hey, man,” Nate said into his phone. “Quite a night that was.”
“I’ll say.”
“Do you know where Blair went? We kind of broke up.”
“Um, I think she went home. Too heartbroken, you know?”
“Yup. Well, just as long as some other guy didn’t snatch her up.”
There was a pause.
“Speaking of that, everyone’s been talking about the little video of you and a certain Jenny Humphrey on Gossip Girl,” Chuck said finally.
“Oh yeah, I should probably go and apologize to her. And Blair.”
“Why bother with Blair? You guys broke up. Again. Don’t you think it’s time to just end it for good?”
Nate paused. “Chuck, I love her.”
“Sure. You’re as in love with her as I am,” Chuck said sarcastically, but a little cautiously.
“Whatever. Maybe I can talk to Serena or something.”
There was another pause.
“About Blair, of course,” Nate added. “You know, see if she can help get me and Blair back together.”
“Sure. That’ll work perfectly.”
Nate sighed. More sarcasm. Hanging up, N went to get his coat. Serena’ll help me, he thought to himself. Sure she will; we’re friends. And if anyone knows Blair, it’s Serena van der Woodsen.

Serena rounded a corner and rushed straight into Chuck Bass.
“Going somewhere?” Chuck asked as he picked up the handbag S had dropped. Handing it to her, he raised his eyebrows.
“Actually, yes. But I’m kind of running late.”
“Really? And who are you meeting up with?”
“Nate. We’re meeting for lunch.” Serena started to move off, but Chuck stopped her.
“Hold on there, van der Woodsen. What are you doing with Nate Archibald?” Serena sighed. Chuck looked at her, extremely suspicious.
“I’m just going to meet him to talk about Blair. Apparently, he wants me to help him find a way to get back with her.”
“…Do you want them back together?” Chuck asked cautiously.
“Well, not really. I mean, Nate’s been such a bad boyfriend in the last while, and B could do so much better. I just want her to get over him and move on. Why? Do you?”
“Well, I agree about Nathaniel being terrible lately. Plus, he’s hanging onto a dream. Like Blair and him will ever be really together again after all he’s done to her. I think she should just leave him forever.”
“…So she can be with you?” Serena asked suspiciously. C glared at her. “Oh, come on, Chuck. It’s so obvious that you want her. And I know about B not spending last night with Nate. She told me everything.”
Chuck sighed. “Alright, maybe I don’t want her to be with Nate. But it’s not because I want her to be with me; I just want her to be happy. And if I make her happy, that shouldn’t be a problem.”
Serena laughed. “I never knew you could actually care about someone, Bass.”
“I care about people!” Chuck insisted. “I care about you, don’t I? I mean, I held your secret for so long.”
S rolled her eyes. “The only reason you didn’t tell people about me and Nate was because you didn’t want people to be disgusted at you for watching.”
“Serena, since when do I care if someone thinks I’m disgusting? It’s who I am.” Chuck’s eyes narrowed at her.
“No, it’s who you’ve decided to be.” Serena lifted her bag to her shoulder. “I’ll see you later. I’m already late.” She started to walk off again, but Chuck put his arm in front of her.
“Tell you what,” he said to her. “If you agree to ditch Nathaniel, I’ll take you out to lunch.”
“What an honour,” Serena said sarcastically, crossing her arms.
“Come on. You know you’d rather go out with me than him anyway.”
“Oh, yes. I want you so bad.”
Chuck smiled at her. “Of course you do.”
“I don’t think Dan will like you very much for this,” Serena said as Chuck started leading her down the sidewalk.
“He never really liked me that much anyway. Jealous, I think.” Serena laughed as they headed towards a nearby restaurant.
“I have a feeling you won’t be much of a favourite for very long, Bass,” S said, grinning, “if you continue stealing everyone’s girls.”
“Hey,” Chuck smiled back. “It’s who I am.”

What an interesting morning this has been. B has finally seen my video, but has not yet had the courtesy to comment. What’s wrong, Waldorf? Not scandalous enough for you? Well, how about this for some juice: we heard N tried to have a little lunch date with your best friend. Fortunately, a certain Bass was able to persuade S from meeting with him. Better watch it, B; it’s like the Spice Girls say: If you wanna be my lover, you gotta get with my friends. And applying these words of wisdom to your situation, it looks like Nate is trying his absolute best to be your lover.

xoxo, GOSSIP GIRL