AN: Sadly, I own nothing.

Chapter 10: Hate (I Really Don’t Like You)

It was mid Sunday morning, around 10:32 to be exact, and as per tradition, the van der Woodsens and Basses were enjoying a large spread of every breakfast item known to man.

Except, it wasn’t exactly the same as it always was. Someone was missing. And it was that same someone that was causing Big Bart Bass to become more irritated by the second.

Chuck was nowhere to be found and although Serena would usually be pleased about this, she was kind of hoping that Chuck would magically appear. Because in his absence, everyone was feeling the tension that Bart was emitting, and it was quite painful.

Bart, however angry he may be, decided not to acknowledge his missing son and instead set his sights on bonding with his future stepchildren. He was failing miserably.

“Serena,” Bart said sternly, causing Serena to flinch, “how is school going?”

“Umm, good. School is going good… I mean well.” Serena corrected herself quickly. It was difficult to think clearly with Bart directing all of his attention at her and she was trying to respond without stuttering.

“Your mother has informed me that the SATs are quickly approaching. Have you been preparing for them?” Bart asked. “You know, that may be one of the most important exams of your life. It will help determine where you go to college and could potentially affect your career.”

“Uh… yeah, umm, yes, I’ve been taking practice tests and Dan and I are reviewing together.” Serena mumbled nervously.

“Very good.” Bart said and turned to face Eric, who visibly shuddered.

“How has school been for you, Eric?” Bart questioned.

“Good. I’m really enjoying it. Chuck and I have been hanging out a lot… during lunch and all and it’s been fun.” Eric said, smiling at the thought of his future older brother.

However, he had inadvertently brought up the taboo subject that now hung heavily in the air.

“I’m surprised that Charles is still asleep.” Lily stated matter-of-factly. “He’s usually awake by now.”

“Well he came in pretty late last night.” Serena responded a bit angrily.

Because of Chuck, they were all being forced to converse awkwardly with Bart. And Bart had totally and completely freaked her out about the SATs. And it was all Chuck’s fault!

“Besides, I’m pretty sure I heard a girl’s voice coming from his room. We probably won’t see him for hours.” Serena added bitterly. The tension in the air grew at Serena’s suggestive revelation.

Lily was quite appalled about what Serena was implying and who was listening to her implications. Eric, for one, did not need to be hearing about… those sort of things. And Bart… well it was unladylike for Serena to talk about such things in front of him.

Bart cleared his throat loudly and Lily took a long sip of her mimosa. Serena rolled her eyes. Why did adults always act like everything was perfect? It was slowly driving her insane.

“I don’t think so.” Eric said thoughtfully.

“What was that, dear?” Lily said, relieved that Eric was changing the subject.

“I don’t think that Chuck would bring a girl home.” Eric clarified his previous statement and Lily took another sip of her drink, as if Eric hadn’t spoken.

“Why wouldn’t you believe it? He is Chuck Bass, isn’t he?” Serena said. “No offense.” Serena added looking in Bart’s direction.

“Yes he’s Chuck Bass but I still don’t think that he brought some girl home.” Eric said confidently and if Serena wasn’t mistaken, a bit angrily.

Chuck was his friend and he felt a little protective over him. To be honest, Serena’s accusations were sort of getting to him.

And although Chuck never came out and told him that he had feelings for a certain fair-skinned brunette beauty some things didn’t need to be said. Which is why Eric was about 97 percent sure that Chuck was alone.

“What makes you so sure?” Serena demanded.

“I just am.” Eric retorted, getting a little fed up with his sister.

“Eric, I know he’s your buddy and all,” Serena said, her disgust evident, “but you don’t know him like I do. And I can guarantee you that Chuck has some random girl up in his room. Probably a hooker.” Serena amended.

By now, Serena and Eric were ignoring Bart and Lily, which was just as well because Bart and Lily were attempting to ignore Serena and Eric.

“Look, I know how Chuck used to be but he’s changed.” Eric insisted.

“He hasn’t changed. Chuck Bass will never change.” Serena explained as if Eric was five.

“Believe me, he’s changed. Have you seen him with any girls lately? No. Has he brought any girls home? No. He’s changed.” Eric said strongly.

“That doesn’t me-” Serena started but Eric cut her off. “Look, he loves Blair okay? He’s changed. And if you don’t believe me, just look at him.”

Serena paused for a moment to consider Eric’s words, and then just as quickly, dismissed them. Chuck Bass didn’t love anyone other than himself. She was sure of that if nothing else.

“Fine, if that’s what you think then would you be willing to put, say a hundred dollars on it?” Serena asked.

She knew she would win. How could she not win? Eric would learn a valuable lesson that she was always right and she would be a hundred dollars richer. Not that she needed the money or anything but it was the principle of the matter.

“Why not make it two hundred? Why not a thousand?” Eric said fiercely. His sister was being a little know-it-all and it was really rubbing him the wrong way.

“Let’s make it a thousand then.” Serena said and they shook on it.

Blair sleepily rolled into something soft and warm on her bed. She was quite comfortable and didn’t want to get out of bed today, or ever.

She had a pounding headache that was sure to become a migraine within a few hours and she knew that if she stood up she might just throw up all over herself. It was safe to say that she was severely hung over.

But the question was how did she get that way? She could not for the life of her remember last night or the events of the day before.

Not that she was too concerned at the moment. All she wanted to do was snuggle under her covers the entire day. And thankfully, today was Sunday. Or was it Saturday? Either way, it was the weekend and that meant no school.

She lazily wrapped her arms around what could only be described as a giant moving pillow. She thought nothing of this and pulled the pillow closer to her body, reveling in the smell of it. It was quite delicious and somewhat familiar.

She decided that she simply adored the new laundry detergent that Dorota was using and would have to compliment her later that day. That is, if she ever got out of bed.

As Blair contemplated what could have possibly happened the day before- had she gone clubbing with S? - she heard a loud grunt that brought her out of her reverie.

Startled, Blair realized that the sound had been made by something extremely close to her. Specifically, something that she was clinging to at that very moment. And that’s when she opened her eyes.

When he woke up, they were tangled together. Her legs were mixed with his and he was holding her tightly to his body. Her head was lying on his chest and his nose was buried in her hair. It was what heaven was like, he was sure of it.

He barely moved as he tried to determine if he had woken her up. He hadn’t, thankfully.

He smiled a stupid, goofy, Nate-like smile and couldn’t fathom why he had pushed her away before.

Oh yeah, she broke his heart. Finally he had admitted it to himself. Not that he hadn’t already known that, but he was actually acknowledging it.

He wished they could stay like this and forget everything from the past. It would be perfect. They would be together and she wouldn’t be ashamed of him like she had been before. And he… he would tell her, well he would tell her a lot of things.

He didn’t know how long they stayed like that, her wrapped around him. He tried to stay as quiet as possible and move only when necessary in fear of waking her up. Because, despite what he wanted to happen, he knew Blair. Blair would not be forgetting the past anytime soon. So he decided to savor this feeling of happiness and butterflies and everything that he was supposed to hate because he was Chuck Bass.

When he felt her stir a little, he closed his eyes tightly, ready to feign sleep so she wouldn’t catch him being all sappy, but then she didn’t wake up. He breathed a sigh of relief.

When he felt her pull him closer to her, he thought he could die right then. Just die out of pure joy. For a moment he deluded himself into believing that she was awake and knew exactly what she was doing. Of course, when he snuck a peek at her, she was still half asleep.

He stared at her as she snuggled closer to him, noting all of her perfections. Perfect hair that always smelled so good and was silky soft. Perfect skin that was smooth and ivory and delicate and beautiful and untouched. Perfect nose that was just the right shape. Perfect chocolate eyes that could be as sweet as candy one moment and as black as night the next. Perfect lips. Lips that were rosy and pouty and were just so damn… perfect. All he wanted to do was kiss them.

She pulled him closer still and he couldn’t help but let out a grunt as she unconsciously touched him… there.

He froze. He knew the gig was up. And sure enough, her eyes opened and began to adjust to the light.

Eric and Serena had been giving each other menacing looks as Lily tried to discuss the dancing lessons that they would all be partaking in prior to the wedding. Apparently, the wedding party would dance on the ballroom floor as everyone watched it awe. At least that’s what Serena managed to digest as she glared at Eric in between taking a bite of a piece of cantaloupe.

Bart looked as if he wanted to say something, when they were all interrupted by a shrill shriek that caused one of the servants to drop the valuable bone china platter that she had been holding.

Lily was about to scold the poor maid, that plate was a family heirloom!, when more female screaming reached the breakfast table from somewhere upstairs.

Serena cleared her throat and gave Eric a look that not only said I-told-you-so but also said don’t-you-ever-question-my-brilliance-again. She stabbed a piece of watermelon and popped it in her mouth enthusiastically.

“By the way, I accept cash or Jimmy Choos, size eleven.” Serena gloated.

Eric was listening thoughtfully to the screaming from above, that had slowly dissolved, although stomping could still be heard.

“Don’t count your chickens before they hatch, Serena.” Eric smirked.

Serena gave him a look of pure and utter confusion. Had she just hallucinated the yelling or something?

“Is it just me, or did that voice sound oddly familiar?” Eric said with a smirk still in place.

Serena thought for a moment. The voice could have been one she had heard before. Maybe. But… no. It wasn’t. It so wasn’t. It was absolutely, positively, definitely not. It couldn’t be.

“No way.” Serena muttered to herself. She shook her head ‘no,’ although her face was screwed up in thought.

She hadn’t seen or heard from Blair since Friday when she brought Dan over. She had been a little preoccupied since then.

And Blair had said that she and Chuck were going to see a play, but Serena had just assumed she was making that up to force her and Dan together. And Les Mis, the play that Blair and Chuck were supposedly seeing wasn’t even being shown in New York.

Had Blair really gone out with Chuck? And if she had, why did she come back to his suite? She despised Chuck, didn’t she? And if she had for some reason willingly gone back to Chuck’s suite, why had she been screaming so loudly? That hadn’t sounded like that kind of screaming. And Serena knew that Chuck wouldn’t ever take advantage of Blair… right?

“No.” Serena said out loud. “He wouldn’t.”

As awful as Chuck was he wouldn’t try that shit with Blair. They had sort of been together. Which was a first for Chuck. Chuck had even bought Blair a freaking diamond necklace, so he obviously cared about her.

“Look, he loves Blair okay? He’s changed. And if you don’t believe me, just look at him.”

She had refused to believe Eric because she was positive that Chuck’s heart was replaced by a black hole at age six, but maybe it wasn’t. Maybe he did have some kind of heart deep down. Deep, deep down.

Serena knew that even if Chuck didn’t love Blair, he liked her at least. Liked her enough to buy her a necklace and to be with her more than once. Blair was definitely the first girl that Chuck ever did that for.

With another shake of her head, Serena decided that Chuck wouldn’t try anything with Blair… without her consent of course.

Then why had Blair been yelling her head off not two minutes ago?

Blair’s eyes adjusted to the blinding light coming from one of the many windows on the far side of the room. A room that was clearly not her own. But she decided to think about that at a later time. First things first, what the hell had made that offending noise?

Her eyes landed on the pillow she had been clutching which really wasn’t a pillow at all. It was the form of a man. A man whom she hated and despised and loathed and every other synonym for hate that she could think of.

Chuck fucking Bass was staring at her. He looked quite frightened as he realized that Blair was no longer asleep. And he had every reason to look that way.

Blair gasped in surprise, as she finally understood why the pillow had seemed to be moving, and why it had smelled so good and then anger surged through her. She was in bed with Chuck Bass. Why? And why couldn’t she remember anything?

She pushed him away with more force than someone her size should have, and leaped out of bed. He briefly closed his eyes. This was going to be painful.

“YOU SICK SON-OF-A-BITCH!” she yelled loudly and he winced.

“You’re sick. You’re fucking sick, you know that?” She demanded of him.

She yelled and ranted and stomped around his room and became more infuriated at his lack of reaction.

She grabbed the first thing she could find, a picture of him and Nate at a baseball game in third grade, and threw it against the wall. The glass cracked, and so did a piece of his heart.

“How dare you?” She repeated over and over again as she threw more of his possesions against the wall.

“You disgust me, Chuck! I don’t know what I was thinking ever being with you! I must have has some sort of aneurysm or… or stroke or something!” Blair shouted as she threw something sharp at his head.

He got up slowly, his head throbbing a bit, and walked towards her.

“Get away from me!” She shrieked, and he was sure that everyone in the penthouse had heard her.

“Blair…” He muttered.

She had to know. She had to know that he would never do that to her.

“You sick fucking asshole. How dare you?” She screeched.

“I always knew you were a pig but I never thought that you would treat me like one of your whores!” She whispered viciously.

“Blair I didn’t…” He trailed off, watching her stomp around his room, frantically grabbing her things.

“Have a nice life!” She yelled and threw his door open.

He went after her. He had to let her know that she would never be one of his whores. Without thinking he grabbed her arm as she neared the top of the stairs.

“Don’t touch me!” She shouted. “Don’t you fucking touch me!”

She pulled away from him and he followed her down the stairs.

He wasn’t surprised to find his father and future stepmother and stepsiblings gawking at what they had overheard.

He stood motionless as Blair sprinted out of the penthouse, not even bothering to say hello to Serena. He was sure it was out of shame. He couldn’t blame her. He wouldn’t want to be seen with him either.

At the sound of the door banging shut, Bart stood up swiftly and glared at Chuck. Lily, Serena, and Eric remained paralyzed in shock.

“Charles.” Bart barely whispered. His expression said it all.

“I didn’t touch her.” He mumbled and walked upstairs without sparing anyone else a glance.

“By the way, I accept cash or video games.” Eric said smugly to Serena.

Spotted: Or should I say heard. Her royal highness’ shrieks were heard throughout Manhattan bright and early Sunday morning. And where did the offending noises originate, pray tell? Why The Palace, of course. What could have made B scream bloody murder at such an ungodly hour? I have a few theories but so far nothing has been confirmed. And as for C, what hath thou rout? You know you love me. Xoxo, Gossip Girl.