Peonies and Gin Martinis - Chapter 5

Chapter Text

Blair woke up in her thick duvet with a start. Yesterday had not been a dream. She had found out Nate and Serena had slept together, all her worst fears had been confirmed, and the night had ended with her dancing at a gentleman’s club for her boyfri- ex boyfriend’s lecherous best friend before climbing on top of him in the back of a limo. Oh God. Before giving away her virtue to said lecherous best friend.

She rolled over and pressed her face into a pillow, letting out a scream that was, thankfully for everyone else, muffled. She heard the door creek open, no doubt Dorota bringing in her routine breakfast of fruit and fat free yogurt.

“Miss Blair?” Her accented voice broke the silence, and Blair sat up abruptly, her eyes mask on top of her head. She couldn’t believe this. She couldn’t even fall back on the excuse of being drunk, she’d barely even been buzzed by the time they clambered into the limo, and she wasn’t even hungover. Oh God, had she gone temporarily insane?

“Tea? Coffee? Juice?” Dorota asked, gesturing the variety of things she had brought in for her. Blair stared at all of it and her stomach churned at the thought of eating anything at all. “Miss Blair, you have to eat,”

Blair wanted to snap at her maid’s insistence, but she knew she was right. She plucked an apple slice from the plate and dipped it into the yogurt and slowly began crunching it. Dorota smiled at her kindly and left her to herself as she did every morning. Blair stomach about half of her breakfast, struggling, anxiety bubbling through her.

She couldn’t believe this. Years she’d kept hold of her virginity, her virtue. Years. She’d given it away to the most heinous person who attended her school, possibly in all of Manhattan, without a moment’s hesitation. She hated herself, she hated him, she hated the warm feeling between her thighs and the quiver in her abdomen at the memory of Chuck Bass f*cking her senseless in the back of his limo. She closed her eyes to push away the memory, and tried to call Nate, once, twice and thrice. No answer. She wasn’t even sure why she was calling, regardless of what she had done she had broken up with him because of what he had admitted without admitting…which still hadn’t gone away. Nothing really made sense but calling him just seemed like something she could try to do to figure it all out. She sighed, frustrated.

This was ludicrous. Between Nate and Chuck, Blair knew the better option. Nate was effortlessly handsome, with a schoolboy charm and innocence that every other girl envied. He was compassionate and kind and had incredibly hair. His main downfall was his fixation on Serena, which Blair was due she could eradicate upon reflection. Chuck, despite his womanizing status, was not exactly conventionally attractive. His hair was slightly thinner than Nate’s despite still being thick, it was darker and messier, and his face was wider and less joyful than Nate’s. His grin was more of a leer and when his eyes raked over you, you didn’t feel seen and cared for, you felt dirty and objectified. She ignored the thrill the memory of his eyes trailing over her the night before sent through her. No, there was an obvious decision here. Chuck was a completely moment of insanity, Nate was the right path.

Her phone was vibrating on her bedside table, and she picked it up panicking, convinced someone had seen her last night or Nate had contacted her.

Chuck had text her. I’ll send a car, meet me for breakfast.

Presumptuous asshole, how dare he think she would just cave and give into his demands. Breakfast. He must have hit his head off of the door when she had been straddling his lap-

Good God, Blair, focus.

She started typing. Would rather starve, lose my number.

She hit send and instantly felt a little apprehensive. He would either be amused or feel this was a challenge he had to rise to. She knew him fairly well, she knew he wouldn’t go for breakfast with a girl he’d just bedded, but she also knew that this was different. Chuck and Blair did not do this sort of thing. He, oddly, had always respected her relationship with Nate and seemed to have a strange respect for her. Perhaps this was his way of just wiping the slate clean, having them both return to business as usual.

I’m already outside. Are u always such a bitch in the morning?

Blair huffed in frustration, throwing her phone down on the bed. She had to nip this in the bud, this could not be her story, this could not be the narrative that people associate her with. She did not spend years cultivating her image with Nate by her side to lose it all because of one error in judgement. The error being a roll around in the back of a limo. Ugh God, why was she getting goosebumps thinking about it? She told herself it was revulsion. She knew it wasn’t revulsion. She picked up her phone again and sighed.

What do you not understand about the word no? See you at school, Basshole.

She pushed away the half-eaten breakfast Dorota had brought her and headed for her bathroom. She felt completely out of control, her head spinning.

She turned on the faucet.
…..

Chuck had pulled away from Blair’s building, an irritating feeling of embarrassment cascading over him. He was not used to rejection, and he certainly couldn’t fathom why he’d even gone there in the first place. He had told himself he wanted to torture her, mock her, make filthy jokes or even try for another round before morning classes and yet…all he knew was that when he’d gotten back to his suite, he’d replayed her on stage over and over again. He’d replaced unzipping her dress, and biting her neck, and finding his hands in her locks. Every replay had triggered that disgusting flipping in his stomach, which actually felt more pleasant than it did disgusting.

He’d received multiple texts from Nate, which he’d ignored. He felt a stab of guilt in his stomach, at not only ignoring his best friend who was dealing with a familial crisis, but because he’d been ignoring him so he could f*ck his girlfri- ex girlfriend. He picked up his phone and cleared his conversation with Blair, he couldn’t risk Nate seeing that. He shot a quick message to Nate.

Sorry I was MIA. Ride 2 school?

“You’ve got a lot of stuff to deal with right now, man,” Chuck said as the car door opened. “Put Blair on the back burner for now.”

Nate nodded and gave Chuck a grateful smile before stepping out of the car. Chuck took a moment to take a deep breath, trying to figure out if he was actually giving his friend advice, or just trying to convince him of what he wanted. As soon as he’d heard Blair had tried to call him, his chest had constricted. Why? Why the f*ck did he care at all?
——

Chuck, despite his relaxed demeanor, was nervous. He and Nate walked onto the courtyard, and despite his best efforts, he was searching for a glimpse of her. Nate had gotten his blood pressure up on the car, claiming that she had called him, not just once but a few times. He despised how that information made his stomach lurch. One f*ck with Blair should not be having any effect on him, he hasn’t looked at her as anything other than his best friend’s girlfriend until the previous evening, so it should be, no it would be easy, to go right back to that-

sh*t, there she was, walking through the gates. She’d dressed up her Constance uniform with a skin tight pencil skirt and a striped blouse. She had on a black satin headband, and a black satin choker with a giant onyx gem. Chic, effortless, almost French. God he wanted to peel it all off-

f*ck, focus Chuck.

She was searching too, but not for him it seemed. She clapped eyes with Nate, who grabbed Chuck’s arm in response.

“Dude, she’s coming over here,” he said quickly to his friend, running a hand through his hair. Chuck’s own heart was pounding against his chest, his palms sweating, and he said nothing to his friend as Blair approached them. Remarkably, she didn’t look at him at all. Her gaze did not even flicker. Chuck stared right at her, the stubborn defiance he felt evident in how his jaw was now set, his teeth clenched.

“Nate,” Blair said, chin in the air. Chuck felt a slight thrill run through him that he could almost see where he’d kissed her last night, he could remember the parts of her neck he had nipped at and licked. He glanced between Blair and Nate, daring her to lose her steely resolve. “I’d like to extend an invitation to my birthday party this evening,”
Nate blinked, dumbfounded, and Chuck felt irritation prickle up his neck that she hadn’t verbally invited them both.

“I mean, are you sure that’s a good idea Blair?” Nate said, the nerves in his voice obvious. “Don’t you think we should talk first-”

“We can talk tonight,” she said, maintaining her perfectly chipper disposition. “You know where to find my gift, I look forward to seeing you-”

“We’ll be there,” Chuck said, wrapping an arm around Nate’s tensed shoulders. Blair finally caved and looked at him, and he was satisfied to see she desperately wanted to reject this, and to spit something venomous at him, but she couldn’t. Not in front of Nate. She turned on her heel and walked away, and Chuck did his best not to make it obvious that he was staring at her perfect ass. Nate turned to face Chuck, completely confused. Chuck almost felt sorry for him, and he gave him a shrug.

“That’s Blair for you,” Chuck said, feeling surprisingly better than he had all morning. He couldn’t help it, he watched her, and he felt his stomach flip when she turned her head and met his gaze. Hers was like ice, which just made his co*ck twitch even more. The bell rang, causing their eye contact to break, and Nate and Chuck headed to the boy’s corridor.
…..

Blair watched Chuck and Nate walk towards the corridor, and she excused herself from her friends. She fortunately had a free period for their first class, and while she would often be studying or planning or scheming, instead she had to go deal with her most recent problem. Chuck. She hurried over towards the boy’s corridor, where Chuck had separated from Nate to head to the bathroom, more than likely to inhale something or snort something.

“Chuck!” She hissed after him once all the classroom doors had clattered shut and he was rustling in his tartan coat for something. His head snapped up, and she ignored her cheeks flushing red when he looked right at her. She put it down to the fury she was feeling towards him. She stalked over to him, determined to wipe the self-satisfied smirk off of his face. “You are not coming to my birthday, consider yourself uninvited.”

Chuck refused to acknowledge the hurtful pang he felt at another rejection by Blair and maintained the smirk on his face.

“That hasn’t stopped me before,” he said, removing a flask from his inside pocket and offering her some. Her nose scrunched up, disgusted. “Why so frosty, Blair? I feel all warm inside thinking of how well we’ve recently bonded-”

“Don’t.” Blair snapped, taking a step towards him. She pointed a manicured finger at him, right into his chest, and he laughed in surprise at how far she was going with this. He did love to mess with her. He wrapped his hand round hers and pulled her into the closet behind them. ‘What the f*ck are you-”

He covered her mouth with his hand and peered out the cracked open door as two peers of his ran towards a late class, feet stomping. Once their footsteps had become silent, he removed his hand from Blair and gave her a smug smile. They were in extremely close proximity again, so close Chuck could smell today’s aroma. Lilies and peppermint. She was scowling at him, but he saw it, and she couldn’t deny it. Her cheeks were flushed, her lips were wet.

“I’m just saving you from a scandal of being caught with Chuck Bass in the boys corridor during class no less, God forbid,” he said, leaning an arm against the wall beside her head. Blair closed her eyes, inhaled deeply, and then opened them again. God he loved how dark they were, almost completely blending in with her pupils if it weren’t for those flecks of hazel-

“Chuck, why are you torturing me?” She asked, her voice almost a whine.

“Why are you inviting Nathaniel to your birthday shindig despite recently burying your relationship?” He asked, eyebrow arched, trying to keep the jealousy out his voice. Keep it mocking. She took a deep breath and tried to calm down her heartbeat.

“I think we were too rash, splitting up!” She said, her voice an octave higher than normal. “When he comes to my birthday, we’ll talk it out and get back on track-”

Chuck slid a hand onto her waist, anything to stop her filling the closet with these pathetic proclamations. She gasped at the sudden contact, and she went to push him off, when he grabbed that hand with his free one. He tugged her towards him until her body was flush against him, and she suddenly stopped resisting. Her pupils dilated instantly, and he knew it. He knew it wasn’t just him.

She was just as turned on as he was.

“Chuck, we can’t do this,” she said, her voice less confident now. “Last night didn’t happen, and we certainly can’t repeat something that didn’t happen.”

“What didn’t happen?” Chuck whispered in her ear, grinning to himself when she shivered. He pressed his lips to her neck, a glow spreading through him as goosebumps multiplied over her flesh. He knew he should stop; he had just said goodbye to his best friend in the corridor, he had just watched Blair invite said best friend to a party and she then proceeded to disinvite him. Blair had basically said she wanted Nate back, and yet he felt this pull towards her. Since feeling her in every sense of the word, he felt like he couldn’t stop himself from being near her.
Something told him she wasn’t far off feeling it herself. Her breath was hitched, she felt like she was getting warmer, her gaze lifted to meet his and she looked just as he felt. Hungry.

Their mouths crashed together, her hand locking into his hair to bring his lips even closer to hers. He groaned into her mouth, hands sliding round her waist. She leaned upwards and he took the bait. He roughly pulled up her skirt and lifted her so her legs could wrap round his waist, and he pinned her against the wall for leverage. She whimpered into another kiss as he bit her bottom lip. Her heart was pounding against her chest, her stomach was doing somersaults. This has not been the plan. She had told herself the limo was a fluke, born out of too much champagne and the adrenaline of her burlesque performance, but everything she was telling herself was not stopping her nails digging into his neck, not stopping her sigh as he licked from the base of her throat up to her earlobe-

“Oh god,” she practically whined, and her nipples became bullets. She arched her back, pressing herself into him, and he just responded even more hungrily.

Anything she and Nate had ever done, however romantic and feverish and needing, had been nothing compared to this. Every sexual encounter with Nate, although pleasant, had not felt this way. Blair didn’t even know it could feel this way. Wet and messy with teeth and frankly, a bit scary. f*ck, she had to stop this, she had to slow down, she was not on her right mind. She wasn’t thinking. She was in a closet in the boy’s corridor, for heaven’s sake. With all the willpower she could muster, especially as he was now nipping at her throat and reaching for her blouse button, she placed a hand on his chest and pushed.

“Stop,” she said sharply, and he lifted his head a fraction. “We have to stop,”

Chuck scanned her face for a moment, finding she was being serious. Reluctantly, he placed her back on her feet and leaned back against the wall behind him, panting. She readjusted herself, pulling her skirt down to her knees and ignoring the wetness in her underwear. Her lipstick was all over his mouth, and she fished a tissue out of her purse and handed it to him. He wiped his crimson lips, eyes still never leaving hers, as if trying to work her out.

“We can’t do this, we can’t do this to Nate,” Blair said quietly, brushing her fingers through her hair. Her heart rate was slowing down. “I know you love him just as much as I do Chuck, we need to forget about this. We need to acknowledge that it was an error in judgement and act as we always have,”
Chuck felt the guilt pound in his ears at her words. He hated even thinking of his best friend, of his lopsided grin and his laid back nature. He did love Nathaniel very much; he was the only family he had.

Then why did he feel sick at the thought of Blair never letting him touch her again? Of never feeling her moan beneath him and cry out his name again? Why did the thought of Blair and Nathaniel back together, a concept he had been used to and fine with for their entire friendship, suddenly cause his teeth to clench and his hands to become fists? Why did the prospect of never kissing Blair again, feel as terrible as never speaking to Nathaniel again? He shrugged his shoulders, feeling frustrated. His dick was straining hard against his trousers.

“I’m not so sure I can go back in time,” he said, lifting a hand to play with the ends of her curls. God her hair was so soft, everything about her made him want to bend her over the shelf next to them and f*ck her until her eyes rolled back in her head-

“Well, you had better figure it out,” Blair snapped, slapping his hand away. He scowled at that, and her ability to suddenly become an ice bitch again. She gave him once last venomous look, and her appearance was remarkably polished again considering he’d just pinned her against a wall. She opened the door and shut it behind her, leaving Chuck alone in the dark closet.

He sighed, pulling a joint from his inside pocket. Might as well take advantage of the solitude.

——

Nate was staring at the clock at home, at a loss of what to do. Blair had been so final the night previous, she had said ‘we’re finally over’ and even told him to never look at her again. In all honesty he hadn’t really bought either of those things. He knew Blair liked to keep up appearances almost as much as their parents, but it seemed like a quick turnaround. He’d have thought he’d have to work harder for her to talk to him.

However, this wasn’t what had thrown him off. It was at his frustrating disinterest at working it out with her. He felt terrible, about Serena, about everything he had done to her, but he was searching for a reason to be together, and he was…coming up empty. His dad was in jail, his mom was freaking out about the aforementioned jail time, and everything seemed to be going downhill. His relationship with Blair? It just didn’t ring with the same importance that it had once done.

He felt like he owed it to her, to desperately want to work it out. To be clawing and scraping for forgiveness, to cut off Serena forever, to tell Chuck he wasn’t going out for the foreseeable future and that he would only be focusing on Blair and his family…and yet. He couldn’t find the will to do it. He felt entirely switched off, distant from the whole thing.
So much so he’d forgotten to visit the jeweller he had been visiting since they were twelve. He had completely forgotten, and only remembered once he had gotten home, that he hadn’t picked up any of her pre ordered items, and the store would be closed and there was nothing he could do.

Even then, despite a pang of guilt, he couldn’t muster up much energy to try and rectify this error-

“Listen to me, you get in there and you represent him properly. What are we paying you for if you’re not going to get him out of this?” His mother’s voice was rising in volume, and Nate suddenly felt like he was surrounded by too many walls. They were getting closer to him, and his families overly large Manor House suddenly felt like a hole in the ground. He grabbed his coat and his cell phone from the table and passed his mother leaving the family room.

“Nate, where do you think you’re-”

“Out,” he said shortly, coat on and front door open. She opened her mouth to protest, to tell him dinner would be ready soon even though she hadn’t even told their chef what they were to be having yet, but before she could make a sound he’d slammed the door shut.

Peonies and Gin Martinis - Chapter 5 - WinterWinds17 (2024)

Chapter Text