Friendly Encounters-Chapter 3

What the hell had he been thinking? Has he really just asked Blair about how she shouldn’t go out with Nate and that she needed passion in a relationship? This had to stop, he sounded like a jealous boyfriend. Chuck Bass wasn’t supposed to be acting like a jealous boyfriend, especially when it was around his best friend.
He took a stool at the Palace bar and downed another glass of scotch. Why the fuck couldn’t he get her out of his head? He had been fine two weeks ago. Ever since he had seen her in that damn red dress he couldn’t get her out of his mind.
Nothing was working. He tried to sleep with random women, like usual, but even that wasn’t helping. After he was done, he only left dissatisfied. He must have scared the hell out of Blair while he was acting like a love struck puppy. He pulled a hand through his already rumpled hair. That itself was a sign of trouble for Chuck, he never went anywhere when he wasn’t immaculate.
He took another sip of scotch, letting the liquid warm his belly. He closed his eyes and her face immediately came to his mind. Chuck gave up. He let himself think about Blair. A smile touched his face. He remembered the first time she had come to him upset about something.

This wasn’t supposed to be happening to a fourteen year old, was it? Blair thought to herself. She wasn’t supposed to get her heart broken already. That was supposed to be when she was older and more mature, when she could handle it. Right now she knew that she could absolute not handle anything this traumatic. That stupid, stupid, Billy Perkins. She rued the day that she had laid eyes on him.
She walked aimlessly around town, until she ran into somebody. Billy Perkins.
He cringed at the sight of her. “I’m sorry Blair, that you’re upset. But you had to know that I was never interested in you. I only went out with you to get over Angela and now that we’re back together, I have to stop pretending that I ever really liked you.”
It was just her like to run into Billy when she looked horrible and she had tears splattered all across her face. “I didn’t know that, Billy. I really believed that you liked me but trust me I won’t make that mistake again. You should have been honest with me.”
Billy looked very uncomfortable. “I really thought that you knew. It was like a rebound, you know?”
She was surprised that he was still standing on his own two feet, when her eyes were shooting such powerful daggers at him. She wished he would die, that would make her life so much easier. Although it wouldn’t erase the pain. “You know Billy, it’s fine. Don’t worry about it.” Blair said as her tears started all over again. “I’m actually glad that you broke it off with me, it saved me the trouble off having to do it myself. I could never have stayed with you since you’re such a terrible kisser.” She lied, because as a matter of fact his kisses were quite pleasant. “I’m surprised that Angela even took you back, I guess she must like sloppy kissers.” She saw his hurt expression, but didn’t care. They didn’t call Blair the queen bitch for nothing. She had to save her pride and hurt his ego; it was the only way she could look at herself the following day.
He ground his teeth together before he said something that he knew he shouldn’t. It didn’t work. “You’re a real bitch, Blair. I don’t know anybody who would want you.”
His words cut her to her core, but she put her best bitchy smile on her face. “You don’t know what you’re missing.”
They got into another heated confrontation, and that’s the exact moment Chuck walked around the corner and saw them. He froze. It looked like Blair was in trouble and he knew he was going to over there to make sure she was okay. He had never liked Billy and he knew he was using Blair. He had tried to warn her but she was too stubborn to listen.
He ran over to her and pulled her arm. “Blair, are you okay? What are you still doing with piece of scum?”
Billy looked at him in disbelief. “Scum? You should go look in the mirror, Bass. Blair and I were just talking. You don’t have to run over here every time and save her. It’ pathetic.”
Blair nodded to Chuck that she was okay, but then she turned her attention back to Billy. “Don’t talk to him like that. He’s more of a man than you’ll ever be. I don’t know who the hell you think you are.”
Billy shook his head. It was hopeless; he wasn’t going to waste his time with these two idiots. He was about to leave when Chuck grabbed him. “If you ever hurt Blair again, you’ll be sorry. You’ve gotten away with it once, but don’t think you’ll be so lucky to do it again. Nobody fucking hurts her unless you want to answer to me.”
Billy swallowed nervously. He wanted to get as far away from Chuck Bass as possible. There was something about him that scared the hell out of him. He was very dominating and he had a presence about him that said, don’t fuck with me. Billy sprinted down the street away from him.
Chuck smirked when he saw this, but then turned serious when he saw Blair’s devastated face. “I know it hurts Blair, but it will eventually be okay. A few years down the road you’ll be glad that he broke up with you because he’s such a wimpy loser. You would never want to be with someone like that.”
Blair’s face scrunched up in a wail. “He broke my heart, Chuck. It hurts so much; I just don’t know what to do.”
He put an arm around her trembling shoulders. “I know, baby. I’m not going to bullshit you and say that you should just get over him. Because I know that’s not possible for you. I’m here for you though, you know that.”
She wiped her tears away. “I know, Chuck. Thank you. Do you promise you’ll always be here for me?”
He tightened his arm around her shoulders and gave her a hug. “Of course, Blair.”
“Will you spend the rest of the day with me? I need to distract myself with something, so I don’t think of him.”
He grimaced inwardly. He actually was hoping to get lucky with some young hot daughter of one of his father’s associates. He had been waiting a long time to land this one. He had lost his virginity when he was twelve and hadn’t slowed down a bit since then. He knew he would break off his date in a second for Blair, nothing was more important than her.
“I’ll do anything you want, Blair.”
Chuck took her hand in his own warm grasp and they walked back to her penthouse.

Chuck shook his head. He knew he was in some serious trouble. He had to do something. Maybe he should just stay away from Blair until these stupid feelings past. He wasn’t going to feel like this forever, was he?

XOXO
“Blair. You have to tell me, so I can help you. What is the matter?” Nate asked.
They were at school and Nate had found Blair very upset about something. But she wouldn’t confide in him, what was the matter and he didn’t know how to get her to tell him the truth.
She squeezed her eyes tightly shut and waited for her emotions to get under control. She was crying like a total baby in front of her boyfriend! What must he think of her? There were too many people around them, so she pulled his hand and dragged Nate into a quiet corner.
“I don’t know how to tell you, Nate. It’s just so hard too even talk about. I’m sorry.” Her voice crumpled into a wail.
Nate put an arm around her shoulders. “I need for you to tell me, Blair. That’s the only way that I’m going to be able to help you. Maybe it’s not as bad as you think.”
“Not as bad as I think? It’s even worse than that.” She breathed out. “But I guess I have to tell you.” She didn’t really want to tell him, but she guessed since he was her boyfriend that she had too.
Blair was just about to open her mouth and beginning telling Nate what had got her so upset, when she saw a shadow. Someone was coming into their corner. She looked to see who it was. It was Chuck.
“Chuck.” She cried as she ran the distance to him and flung herself into his arms. He caught her and saw that she was shaking. Both of them forgot about Nate who was standing there, looking shocked that Blair had run to Chuck.
“What’s the matter, Blair? Are you alright? Who hurt you?” He kept asking questions, terrified that someone had hurt his Blair. Wait. Did he just call her his Blair?
She threw her arms around his neck so tight that he felt like he couldn’t breathe. He hugged her back with the same force. They stood like that for a few minutes. Chuck silently comforting her, the way only he could.
She pressed her head into his chest, and he reached behind her to stroke her hair, and pull her more deeply into his chest. Blair sighed when she felt his hand in her hair. It felt perfect.
She raised her head to look at him and she gasped. She had never seen anybody in her life, that looked as good as Chuck did at that moment. He was the one that she could always go to. He made her feel safe and loved. Why she was choosing to go to Chuck over her boyfriend, she had no idea. All Blair knew was that she only wanted to be with Chuck at this moment in time.
He continued stroking her hair. “Tell me what’s wrong. I’m not saying that I’ll be able to fix it but it will at least feel good to get it off your mind and tell me.”
Blair nodded slowly. Tears were still running down her face and she wiped them away. “You know that my mom is in Italy, right?” He motioned yes. “Well, I just talked to her before I left for school and she’s moving to Italy. She said something about how she has to live there now because her designs are so in demand there. She doesn’t want me to come with her and I don’t want to go, but that’s not that point. I feel like she’s abandoning me.”
Her face scrunched up and she let out a cry of distress again. “Wow, Blair. I can see how that would you make feel terrible. But in all honesty, your mother has never been a good parent to you, just like Bart with me. If she wants to go off gallivanting around the country, then let her. If she doesn’t realize how important you are, then that’s her lose. She’s a fucking fool. I don’t know how she could leave you but you know that I’m always going to be here for you.” So much for his plan about staying away from Blair. He didn’t have the willpower to do that right now.
He continued, “I know how you must feel though Blair, because it’s how I feel every time Bart just pushes me to the side like I’m a piece of scum. But we’ll get through it together. Okay?”
Blair smiled up at him through her tears. “How is it that you always know what to say to make me feel better? I couldn’t ask for a better friend Chuck, so thank you.”
His mind screamed, friend. She had just admitted it herself, he was only a friend. But that didn’t stop Chuck from feeling like he was a hell of a lot more.
He pulled her into another bone crushing hug, and he placed a kiss on her temple. What the fuck was he doing? He was going beyond the call of being a friend by kissing her.
They pulled away from each other when they heard the bell ring. Blair gave him another watery smile. She leaned up on her tiptoes to give Chuck a kiss on the mouth. A friendly kiss. But the moment her lips touched his, heat exploded in both of them. She always had kissed Chuck on the mouth before, what was different about this time? Blair pulled away instantly from him, scared of what she was feeling. She had never felt such passion in her life and they hadn’t even kissed. Their lips had just touched. They stared at each other, both dazed by their feelings.
He wanted to really kiss her, show her what it meant to be kissed by someone. And just as he moved closer to Blair, Nate cleaned his throat from the side of where he was standing. It was the first time Chuck noticed him. Had he been standing there the whole time?
Chuck could almost still feel her lips on his and he definitely still felt the heat coursing through his veins. And that scared the hell out of him.
“Come over to my place later, okay?”
Blair nodded and she watched as Chuck run to his class. He ran like that devil was chasing him. She should have never done that, it was obvious that he didn’t feel the same about her. Blair didn’t even know how she felt about Chuck, just that she had never felt about anybody like she did him. But she was determined to ignore these feelings. She had to for the sake of her boyfriend.
Nate walked over to her and he did not look happy. “What the hell was that?” He questioned.
Blair decided to play dumb. “What do you mean?”
“That thing with Bass. I ask you to tell me what’s bothering you and the moment you see him, you go running to him and act like I don’t even exist.”
“It’s not like that, Nate. It’s just that Chuck has always been there for me about everything. He’s my friend and I feel like I can tell him anything.”
Nate still glared at her. “And you can’t tell me everything? Wait. Don’t even answer that. I already know what you’re going to say. Maybe it’s time you didn’t spend so much time with Bass, and focused more of your attention on me.”
“What?” Blair sputtered.
“I’m asking you Blair as your boyfriend to not spend as much time with Chuck. I think it would benefit both of us, if you didn’t. So what do you say?”

XOXO
Blair walked into the Bass home later in the day, and found Chuck waiting for her on the couch in the living room. She went over to him and plopped down, next to him. She let out a huge sigh.
Chuck noticed. “Are you okay, Blair?”
Blair raised her eyes to him, she still felt a little uneasy to be around him. All because of that damn kiss they had almost shared. “I’m okay. It’s just a little harder than I thought it was going to be and then I had to deal with Nate, on top of everything else.”
“Come here.” He said as he grabbed her and brought her back to his chest. She went willingly, the solid wall of his chest felt amazingly well against her back. “What do you mean you had to deal with Nate?”
“Nate doesn’t want me to spend as much time with you anymore. He thinks that we’re a little too close.”
Chuck felt fear grip his chest. He pushed her off of him. “What did you tell him?” He asked Blair angrily.
She felt a little confused; she already missed the heat of his body. She didn’t like to see Chuck so angry. “I told him that you were always there for me, and that I would never jeopardize our friendship. Nate has to deal with that. There’s room in my life for the both of you.”
He relaxed a little, but he couldn’t help but feel the jealousy curl in his stomach. He wanted to be the only man in Blair’s life. “Thanks for telling him that, Blair. He was being unreasonable.”
Blair leaned her head against his shoulder. “Yeah. I know he was.”
She looked up at him suddenly, and Chuck had to physically restrain himself from leaning down and capturing her lips with his. He had never wanted a woman so bad in his life. He didn’t know how much longer he would be able to last around her only being her friend. At this very moment he wanted so much more.
But he would never ruin his friendship with Blair. But how much longer would he be able to fight the pull of this attraction and resist her?

To Be Continued…

A/N: Whew! Here’s the next chapter and it feels like a really long one at that. I feel like this is a nice, fluffy story and it kind of helps with that torture that they’re going to put us through on Gossip Girl tonight. *sighs*
Let me know what you think of this chapter.
XOXO Sam