Chapter 6

Amidst the busy streets of Manhattan’s Upper East Side, Chuck walked towards the door of the Waldorf home and rang the bell. With his hands tucked in the pockets of his light grey suit, he waited patiently until Dorota finally answered the door.

“Mr. Chuck,” she said with a happy smile and stepped aside for him to enter. “Miss Blair is not here.”

“I know, she asked me to come and pick up the books that she left here a few days ago,” he replied and motioned towards the stairs. “May I?”

“Of course, Mr. Chuck,” she said and closed the door behind them before nervously disappearing towards the kitchen.

Laughing after the bubbly maid, he made his way towards the staircase and began heading up. Once he reached the top floor, he turned towards Blair’s bedroom. Walking inside, he took a moment to survey his surroundings before seeing the two books on her nightstand. Walking towards them, he noticed a photo frame behind the books with a picture of Serena, Chuck and Blair. Smiling at the photo, he grabbed the books and began heading back towards the stairs. As he began descending, he heard Eleanor’s voice arguing loudly over the phone. Moving back, he stepped near the master bedroom and listened from the doorway as the elder Waldorf spoke hastily into the receiver.

“What do you mean he’s disappeared?!” she snapped into the phone. “Do you know who I am? The money does not matter! Find him!”

With that, she slammed the phone down and sat down on the edge of her bed, sighing heavily. With a frown on his face, Chuck knocked lightly on the door before walking inside.

“Charles?” Eleanor stammered in surprise. “What are you doing here?”

“Blair asked me to pick up her books for her,” he replied. “I didn’t mean to eavesdrop but is everything alright?”

“Oh yes,” Eleanor replied, rising to her feet. “Everything is fine.”

He stared at her for a long moment, taking in her stressed appearance before shaking his head.

“What’s wrong?” he asked.

Sighing once more, Eleanor sat back down.

“You’re just a boy. You don’t need to deal with my problems,” she began.

“Mrs. Waldorf, this past year I’ve been forced to grow up whether I liked it or not. My father spent my entire life telling me what a failure I was but ended up leaving me in charge of his multi-billion dollar empire,” he explained as she looked up at him. “Trust me, whatever your problems are, they can’t be that bad. And if it involves Blair, which I’m sensing it does, then please tell me.”

She considered his words for a moment before patting the edge of her bed for him to sit down.

“It’s Blair’s father,” she began once he had sat down.

“What about him?” he asked in return.

Eleanor remained silent for another moment before finally responding.

“Ramon and he broke up weeks ago because Harold had begun acting erratic,” she explained.

“Erratic how?” he asked with a frown.

“Apparently he feared that Ramon was cheating on him and he started behaving differently,” she said and shook her head. “He disappeared three weeks ago and no one has seen or heard from him since.”

Chuck took the information in before facing her once more.

“To be frank, Mrs. Waldorf…,” he started but she cut him off.

“Call me Eleanor, please,” she said as he nodded.

“Well, to be frank, Eleanor, Mr. Waldorf is a grown man,” he tried to reason. “Maybe he just took off for a while to blow some steam.”

“And not tell the people he loves where he’s going?” she asked in dismay.

Smiling at her, he looked down at his hands. “I took off for a month after my father’s death. If it weren’t for my twisted uncle, I don’t know when I would have come back.”

Eleanor looked away guiltily when Chuck shook his head and smiled once more.

“It’s alright; it was a long time ago. Things are different now,” he stated. “But maybe Mr. Waldorf just needed some time to himself.”

“I wish that were true,” Eleanor said, a worried expression on her face.

“What aren’t you telling me?” he asked as she faced him.

“The reason he was behaving differently is because…,” she said and ran a hand through her hair. “He’s addicted to heroin.”

The moment the words left her lips, Chuck sat up and frowned.

“Mr. Waldorf is a drug addict?” he asked as Eleanor nodded.

“He and Ramon would go to all these parties in Paris and one thing led to another. Ramon tried getting him to quit and go to rehab, but he wouldn’t. That’s why things ended between them,” she explained.

“So what, you think he’s out there shooting up?” he asked and laughed. “Come on, that’s just plain crazy.”

“Personally I have no care whatsoever for my ex-husband who cheated on me with his younger gay lover,” she began. “But he’s Blair’s father nonetheless. Things have just started being good in her life again, with college and with you.”

Chuck looked away at her words as she rose to her feet.

“I’m trying to find him. I’ve hired three different private investigators but it’s like he’s crawled under the world’s smallest rock and refuses to come out,” she said in frustration.

“Look, he’s probably holed up in the presidential suite of some hotel,” Chuck began, but Eleanor’s troubled expression forced him to grow serious. “You’re really worried, aren’t you?”

Eleanor looked up at the young boy before eventually nodding.

“Why don’t you let me try and look for him?” he asked as she shook her head.

“No, I don’t want you worrying about this,” she stated.

“Like you said, he’s Blair’s father and what matters to her matters to me,” he expressed firmly. “Look, my P.I is pretty good at what he does. Let me see what he can find.”

Eleanor considered the offer for a moment before reluctantly agreeing.

“Thank you, Charles,” she said as he nodded and moved towards the door. “But please don’t tell my daughter.”

He turned to face her with a skeptical expression on his face.

“He’s her father. She deserves to know,” he pointed out.

“I know, and I’ll tell her,” Eleanor assured him. “But just not yet. Not until I’ve found him at least.”

“I don’t…,” he started to say, but she cut him off.

“Please?” Eleanor asked, her voice pleading with him.

He stared at her for a moment before eventually nodding and walking out. Once he was outside and sitting in the backseat of his limousine, he whipped out his cell phone and speed dialed a number.

“It’s me,” he spoke into the phone. “I need you to locate someone and I need him found yesterday.”

As he continued speaking into the phone, his driver pulled away from the curb and into the heavy mid-afternoon traffic.

At NYU, an exhausted Blair made her way towards her dorm. Stopping at the door, she took a deep breath and shut her eyes to ready herself for what she might see on the other side. Walking in, she was surprised when she was greeted with silence and dared to open her eyes.

“Serena!” she exclaimed happily the moment her eyes were open.

Rushing towards her best friend, she pulled the blond girl into a tight hug which led them over the bed. Serena laughed aloud at Blair’s antics before they leaned back.

“S, what are you doing here?” Blair asked with a wide smile.

“I transferred!” Serena exclaimed.

“You what?” Blair said in surprise. “Why?”

“I tried it out over there for two weeks and it was great, but I missed my family and friends,” Serena explained. “I spoke with the Dean and he was disappointed at first, but eventually pushed my transfer through.”

“I can’t believe it,” Blair said, hugging her once more. “Are you staying on campus?”

“Yeah, do you want to see my room?” she asked as Blair nodded.

Rising to their feet, the two girls walked back into the hallway arm in arm. Heading down the corridor, they made a left turn before stopping at a room at the corner.

“Come on,” Serena said, opening the door and walking inside.

Once they had entered, Blair noticed a slight resemblance to her own room.

“Who are you rooming with?” she asked, sitting down on one of the beds. “Anyone’s better than who I got.”

“Georgina?” Serena said and laughed. “That’s really some luck you’ve got.”

“Thanks,” Blair said with a scowl. “So who’d you get?”

“Well, I’ll give you a clue. She and I had a few falling outs but now we’re closer than ever,” she replied, holding back her smile.

“I don’t get it,” Blair said with a frown.

“Okay, next clue,” Serena continued. “She used to date this guy who didn’t really deserve her.”

Blair continued to frown as Serna rolled her eyes.

“Now she’s sleeping with my step-brother,” she stated as Blair’s eyes widened.

“Who’s sleeping with Chuck?” she demanded.

“Oh my God, Blair,” Serena said through her laughter. “You!”

“Wait, what?” she began.

“We’re roommates!” Serena finished.

It took a moment for the news to register but Blair eventually jumped towards her friend and embraced her tightly, sending them onto the other bed. Lying down on their backs, both girls faced one another and laughed.

“How did you manage this?” she asked happily.

“I just used the Van der Bass charm,” Serena replied and shrugged. “And the checkbook.”

“It’s going to be so amazing seeing Whoregina’s face when we tell her. God, this is the best news I’ve had in such a long time,” Blair said before her smile softened. “I missed you S.”

“I missed you too, B,” Serena said and sighed. “So what’s new? How’s my notorious step-brother? Is he treating you good?”

“In or out of bed?” Blair asked, her words causing Serena to scrunch her face and look away in disgust.

“I don’t want those details!” she complained before they both laughed.

As they continued to reminisce with one another in their new room, Blair remained oblivious to the heartbreak she was about to experience.