Chapter 40

Chapter 40

Blair walked along the lunch line. She picked up a low-fat lemon yogurt and placed it on her tray. She walked over to an empty table, and gracefully sat down. Serena had an appointment that afternoon, so she had left before lunch.
Peeling back the lid on her yogurt, Blair reached for a pack of artificial sweetener. She tore it open, dumped it into the pale yellow dairy product, and stirred it in.
Suddenly, out of the corner of Blair’s eye, she saw someone sit down across from her. She looked up.
“Blair, you don’t need to starve yourself just to look good for me. You’re skinny enough.” Chuck eyed her lunch, which consisted only of the lemon yogurt. He brought his hand up from under the table, and slapped a foot-long sub covered in plastic wrap down next to her. Turkey, with lettuce, tomatoes, Swiss cheese, and margarine instead of mayo. Her favourite.
Blair hesitated. “Chuck, there’s only six months ‘till swimsuit season. And there’s nothing grosser than a flabby girl in a designer bikini. That just looks pathetic.” Blair put a spoonful of yogurt into her mouth.
“Fine,” Chuck said stubbornly. Blair noticed a large gift bag sitting on the chair beside him.
“What’s that?” she asked, tipping her chin in the direction of the bag.
“Just a little gift I bought you, in celebration of buying you that delicious, and rejected, sandwich.” Chuck lifted the bag onto the table. Reaching inside it, he pulled out a plush toy that vaguely resembled a Cabbage Patch Kid. And that was only because of the Cabbage Patch tag pinned to its arm.
“What the hell is that?” Blair said, forcing herself not to burst out laughing.
“It’s a custom-made Cabbage Patch Doll I had made specially for you,” Chuck replied, setting it down in front of him. “His name is Chuckles.”
Blair looked the strange doll up and down. It had shaggy, dark brown hair, and strong, sharp features. It was wearing a miniature version of the St. Jude’s uniform, but with a tiny black, red, and white scarf around its neck. It completely matched the scarf wrapped around Chuck’s own neck at that very moment.
“It’s… supposed to look like you?” Blair said slowly, twisting her lips upward, forming her curt little smile. She had to purse her lips shut just to keep from spilling out laughter.
“It’s to remind you of me.” Chuck raised his eyebrows, a suggestive smile playing on his lips.
“More like to scare me in the middle of the night. It looks like a transvestite.” The eyes and lips looked very feminine, but the eyebrows were thick and bushy. An interesting combination.
“You should really work on your jokes, Blair. They’re getting kind of crappy.”
“I think that’s just from hanging around with you too much,” Blair replied, a wide grin spreading across her face. “Really, awesome doll, Chuck.” Sarcasm soaked her words.
Chuck’s little smile vanished from his face. It was replaced by an offended scowl. “I go to the trouble of getting you something special, and you don’t like it at all.”
“Awe, of course I like it!” The grin was still quite evident on B’s face. It was too much. “It’s just… um, well, you know. Strange?”
“Whatever,” Chuck snapped, pushing his chair away from the table. “I’m going to get a fruit or something.”
Blair watched him go, laughing quietly. She picked up the doll and examined it closer. Her fingers played with the scarf a little, and she flipped over one of the ends. Embroidered on the back of the dangling scarf were tiny gold words. They read, You know you love me.
B stared at the words, sewn on with such precision and carefulness. Chuck suddenly sat back down at the table, startling her. She put ‘Chuckles’ down.
On Chuck’s plate was a huge fruit salad. Bananas, apples, mangos, peaches, pears, watermelon, cantaloupe, honeydew, pineapples, strawberries, oranges, and just about every other fruit.
Blair supposed ‘a fruit’ had a much exaggerated meaning.
“Has he grown on you yet?” Chuck asked, digging into his food.
“Um, not exactly. We’ll see, though.” B smiled at him. It was kind of cute. Well, not the actual doll, but the gesture. And that’s what mattered. “But, hey, I have to go. I have a social test next period, and I want to be super prepared.” Blair grabbed the doll, stuffed it in her pink Coach handbag, and stood up. She kissed C’s cheek, and headed towards the doors.
“Later, Waldorf,” Chuck called after her. He winked.
“You know you love me!” Blair called back, just before she swiftly exited the cafeteria.