A/N: Ok, I don’t know how it happened…but I found time on my hands, and so am continuing on with my lovely little list of stories to write (that I’ve enacted, obviously ;p). First of all, I just saw the 2x25 promo—HOLY CRAP. Oh and I bet he won’t even say it when they show in the promo *rolls eyes* ridiculous. We’re going to have to go through ANOTHER heartbreaking CB angst scene before we get all the love and fluff. *huffs* No wonder Blair’s reluctant to just take him on his word, before the ‘I love you’. I would be too! I mean, talk about pain and rejection—it hurts!!!! *dies* *clears throat* Anyways…
DISCLAIMER: I own nothing. If I did…we wouldn’t have had to wait ALL season for those three little words. *sighs* honestly….
*BTW, I’m sorry it took so long to update this little ‘story’ or whatever you want to call it…but since it is just previews for my future stories, I’m sure you’ll live.
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Idea 8 (Summer of Silence)—This preview focuses on Chuck’s Blairless summer taking place just before Season 2. I may decide to make it AU and make it more CB focused when I actually write the whole story, or I may follow along with the actual timeline. It all depends. Enjoy! ;p
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    “So, Serena told me you reconsidered on Tuscany with Blair.”
    Chuck turned away from his inquiring blonde friend, scratching the back of his neck awkwardly. He was hoping that topic wouldn’t come up and they could all just enjoy summer as they had always done before, only this time Blair would be in France with her father. He could forget about her during these months, and if necessary, drown himself in an excess of women and booze to force the erasing of that beautiful brunette.
    He smirked. “Was there screaming and a gesture of arm-waving in the process?” Chuck asked.
    Nate laughed, but only briefly and in a very soft tone. “Perhaps,” he said.
    Awkward silence.
    “What happened, man?” the blonde boy seemed to be begging for some sort of genuine sensitivity out of the aforementioned womanizer. “At your father’s wedding, you told me you were in love with her.”
    He had stopped, and there was no point in Chuck moving on forwards. They were at their house in the Hamptons anyhow, and he would’ve had to turn at the end of the yard at some point and confront those pleading blue eyes.
    He sighed. “I said I fell in love with her,” he began, forcing himself to meet the baby blues head on. “Past tense.” The bad boy started walking again, refocusing his gaze to the high-grown bushes ahead of him.
    Nate scoffed. “So, that’s it? You’re just…done?” He was in disbelief. Even when he himself seemed to have fallen out of love with the feisty vixen, he never would have broken away in such a hurry, without even trying to fix things.
    Chuck realized his best friend had not started walking again, and with a deflated sigh he halted his steps again and turned towards the confusion that kept talking. “That’s it,” he said.
    Nate’s eyebrows furrowed and Chuck desperately wished his best friend could just read between the lines sometimes. It would make being vulnerable a hell of a lot easier.
    “Nathaniel,” he said, walking back towards him, “I am not a boyfriend. I’m a…” he gestured with his hands, sparing a few glances.
    “Womanizer,” Serena barked from the porch, nearly twenty feet away.
    Chuck could sense the blonde boy tensing at the shrill in her voice. He cast him a sidelong glance and mouthed ‘run’, but the boy did not seem to catch on and by the time the blonde wench reached them she had slapped the very sanity out of him, so as to force his disappearance from the backyard.
    “Don’t say I didn’t warn you…” Chuck muttered under his breath.
    “And you!” she began, throwing yells in his direction, all of which he ignored. He had ignored them when she cast them at Nate as well, only really noticing when a slap of her hand echoed across the confused boy’s face. It was true—Nate really had nothing to do with the complication that was Chuck and Blair, but it was summer. It was hot. She was cramping up badly, cursing her time of the month. Both Nate and Chuck had dumped Blair within the last couple weeks, regardless if one was done in a more gentlemanly manner, and because of Georgina, and her own untrustworthiness, she too had been dumped by her own first love.
    She was still yelling. He knew this, because when he removed his hands from his pockets five minutes after the crazy blonde ran up to him, her mouth was still moving.
    “Don’t you have anything to say for yourself?!” she screeched. He glanced to her eyes for a moment, and then past her to the pool.
    “Excuse me,” he said, walking around her in the direction of the house. She turned a moment or so later and stood gaping at him. A moment or so later, though, she just huffed in frustration and stalked off.
    He smirked.
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    “Is it safe?” he heard Nate whisper from behind one of the couches, once he had reached the indoors.
    He chuckled. “Yes, of course it’s safe,” he said, throwing a pillow at him at random.
    “Hey!” he said, slightly in shock when his blonde bangs flew to the opposite side of his face and the cushioned mass bounced off of him onto the floor.
    Chuck exited the living room and found himself by the bar, pouring a glass of scotch and emptying the container into his dry mouth. Nate had straightened out his bangs and readjusted the pillow on the couch. He followed the sound of annoyed sighs post drinking scotch from the adjoining room, and walked to see his best friend planted on a stool.
    The boy gestured to the empty glass and scotch beside it, but Nate declined, putting away the liquor before Bass boy became too fond of it. Chuck shrugged in a way that said in so many ways ‘your loss’. Nate sighed and shook his head, pulling a stool up beside him.
    Chuck’s glass was empty now and pursed his lips in the limitations his friend seemed to be giving him.
    “So, about Blair…” Nate began again.
    The brunette’s eyes seemed to reach the Heavens as he lay his glass down somewhat too softly. “I’m not going to live this one down, am I Archibald?” he asked, turning to him.
    Nate said nothing.
    He sighed.
    “My dad…reminded me…of what I’d be losing if I…”
    “…started dating Blair?” he finished.
    Chuck only nodded. “More or less,” he said, tipping the glass to his mouth for the hope of a few final droplets.
    Nate folded his arms across his chest and turned his back, leaning against the bar. “You would be losing a lot, Chuck.”
    Chuck turned to him, interest piqued.
    “You’d be losing all the women, possibly all the alcohol,” he gestured to the empty glass in Chuck’s hand. “You might actually have some limitations,” he half-mocked to his best friend, punching him lightly in the shoulder.
    “Hey!” he retorted, “Don’t make it sound stupid! That stuff is all I am!” his eyes became intense.
    Nate held back a snicker. He grew silent when Chuck’s watery eyes numbed him. He truly believed this. And there was so much within the golden boy at that moment that he wanted to shout at Chuck. He wanted to show him how much more he’d be losing if he didn’t go after Blair. That there was so much more, and maybe it wasn’t a side he cared to uncover for fear of hurting his pride, but that she would help him through it. There was a connection between the two of them, and try as his best friend or step-sister might…they would never really understand him in the way Blair could. If Chuck didn’t go after her soon enough though…it would all become manipulation and games and he would have to claw at the edge of the cliff to climb back up.
    “…Chuck?” he asked in confusion.
    The brown-haired mass slipped off his stool and abruptly left the room, leaving Nate sitting on his own stool in silence. He had mumbled ‘forget I said anything’ or ‘that’s not what I meant’ or something of that nature as he left the room. He didn’t know what exactly had been said, but he knew no more of this ChuckBlair issue would be solved today.
    He moved into the room by the back door leading in from the backyard. He figured Chuck had gone upstairs to his designated guest room, and Nate followed suit not more than a second later.
    Serena had returned.
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A/N: Please R & R!!! Let me know what you think! ;p