CH.5—Transparent
    Vanessa had never been one to be manipulative. In fact she had NEVER been manipulative in her life, NEVER. In all honesty, her attempt to manipulate Blair had been pretty pathetic. Who was she going to show the picture to anyways? Dan? Again? She could always send it to gossip girl, but she had never gotten mixed up in that rich kid nonsense, and she wasn’t going to start now. It was just plain ridiculous. The gossip. The rumors. The lies. Even the truth was unheard of sometimes. It was all a big manipulation.
    And yet, here she stood. In her apartment. Chuck’s phone in hand. Her fingers hovering over the SEND button. It wasn’t like she could go back in time and UNSEND the text she had so flippantly sent to Blair. It had been raw and pretty cruel, but that spoiled brat deserved it for deleting all the pictures on her phone! She had pictures of Nate on there! Of Jenny! Of Dan! Sooooooo many pictures. And they were just ALL GONE.
    Perhaps it was her fault for never putting her pictures anywhere else but on her phone, but she never thought ANYONE would just purposely delete all of the pictures because of a simple scandalous threat.
    Vanessa tossed the phone in between her two hands, speed increasing as the seconds passed. Suddenly, she paused…coming to the realization of what she had just done. This was SO unlike her. She had never really intended to spread that picture to anyone. It was just a threat to save the bar. And really, if all Blair Waldorf was going to do was delete all her pictures, then why the heck would she go to such lengths to get back at her? I mean, she did have other pictures. Those memories were still imprinted in her mind, and she could even still make NEW memories!
    She had crossed the line, and she knew it. She slumped down on the couch of which she had been standing in front of, pacing. She was still grasping the phone tightly, and in a paranoid moment she thought she saw a light flicker, or even feel a slight buzz in the crevices of her fingers. She quickly found the off button along the side of the sleek technology. There was no way she was going to respond to a bitter, angry Blair Waldorf. At least not yet. She was not prepared, and she was feeling REALLY guilty.
…………….
Blair glared at the phone. Trying to erase all the letters simply by looking hard at them, and maybe even by shutting her eyes, tightly. It didn’t work. Everytime she opened her eyes, there they were….MOCKING HER. When she turned away or closed her eyes, they were plastered on the inside of her watery lids. There was no way to escape them and she could hardly believe that after how apologetic he had seemed, especially when they had departed, that he would jump to these lengths. That he would crush her in this way.
You shouldn’t have come tonight. You ruin everything. Whatever you think or thought we had never existed. So do me a favor, and stay out of my life. You mean nothing to me.
            -C
A part of her screamed that this was not him. That he was drunk. That he was high. That someone had stolen his phone. But who would’ve stolen his phone?! He had it with him the whole time, and who would’ve been stupid enough to grab it, even if he had dropped it somewhere. In the elevator perhaps. Whether fake or not, it still cut her to the bone. It was worse than her mother criticizing her apperance, or Serena claiming spot as Queen of the school some weeks ago. It was even worse than learning that Nate had cheated on her a year ago. This was all so much worse. Because Chuck had always been there for her, and he had only said something almost as awful when he lost his friendship to him because of her.
She cried. The phone was tossed across the room. More like whipped actually, by her own hands. She had forgotten. The tears ran wildly down her face, and screams could be heard forcing their way out of her delicate, swollen lips. They were suddenly so chapped from her tears. Tears that would not stop running down her face. They dripped from her chin to the nape of her neck and down into her nightgown. She covered herself up desperately with her blanket, but it did not calm her nerves, did not stop the ache in her heart. The ache she thought she would never feel again. Because though she would never admit it….when she had almost left for France but a year ago, it had been Chuck’s hurtful words that caused that rash decision. Nate’s had hurt. Serena’s had caused pain. And the girls at school felt like ice shooting through her. But Chuck had always respected her, had teased, had tortured, and when he had become so entirely serious towards her and spoken those painful words….that was when she fell apart.
She tried to be grateful. Tried to feel like she deserved it. She should’ve never made the stupid bet. But how could he say that she meant nothing to him?! After all that they’d been through, he was ready to throw them away so carelessly? It just didn’t make sense.
She sniffled, trying to make sense of it all. But she couldn’t….no matter how hard she tried. It wouldn’t have even made sense had he been drunk or high or any particular situation that’d she’d seen him in…or that he would be capable of, because he was capable of a lot. Come to think of it, the text didn’t even SOUND like him….it sounded like an imposter….a jealous imposter. Someone who was mad at me for something I had done, that somehow had to do with Chuck…
Blair slowly took the covers off of her again, and sat on the edge of her bed, leaning over. She tried to come to a conclusion, but only one answer kept ringing in her head.
“No, that’s impossible…” she muttered, getting up to pace the room. “She wouldn’t have the guts to….she wouldn’t have had the nerve. She hardly had the nerve to…” her thoughts wandered.
She ran to the side of the room where her phone had coincidentally fallen to. She picked it up and flipped through her messages, until she came to that awful one that had been the cause of her tears. She took it back to her bed, analyzing it as she found herself back beneath the covers.
After some time, she realized there was really only one for sure way of discovering the identity of the thief. She called Chuck’s number, only to find that the answering machine was the only response.
She smirked, half at Chuck’s message, half at how scared that little thief must’ve been.
“Oh, the game is ON.”
…………………………
Chuck scratched the back of his head momentarily, before grabbing his silk blue robe and pulling it around him, tying it loosely in front. He sighed, making his way over to the bed. He sat down on it, relaxing himself into a mode of forgetfulness. That’s all he wanted to do now was forget. How could he have been so stupid? He, OF ALL PEOPLE, should’ve been able to read through Blair’s façade. She was crazy jealous, and she still wanted Chuck to fight for her after all this time. And here he was thinking that she wanted nothing to do with him and it was all his job to make her think she wanted him.
But it wasn’t, and she had just realized that it wasn’t. That’s what had caused the whole yelling fest, in a broken down elevator of all places. He shook his head, making sure the next time they ended up in an elevator together, they would NOT be yelling, wouldn’t even be speaking! Well, except for the occasional moan or purr their bodies allowed. He smirked at the thought, then snapped out of it when he realized there was a lot to be done before any of those actions could be accomplished.
He had to apologize. Well, he had already apologized, but not in the way he should have. He should’ve made it clear that he WOULD say those three words to her. He had known since the blow with Marcus….well long before then, but maybe he had forgotten, maybe he had erased the feeling of loving Blair from his mind. It was just easier that way. And taking the easy route had ALWAYS been the way of Chuck Bass. From women to scotch, it all came easy, and that was how he liked it.
Blair had been something new. A challenge. And he liked that even more. But somewhere in the midst of dominating her and setting her body on fire, she had claimed him, and no matter how hard he had tried to go back to his old life, to doing things easy….it just wouldn’t happen. She had marked him….and with SO much more than her virginity.
He would tease her about that fact, tease her until the day she died. Tell himself that was the only reason he was so attached to her….the virginity. Of course that thought pattern never lasted long enough for him to congratulate himself, because he had taken plenty of virgins, and none of them felt like her. None of them would ever feel like her…because she was Blair Waldorf, and he was in love with her.
His bedroom door swung open, and he turned to see the window cracked open on the far side of his room. He went to shut both openings when the thought occurred to him that he had not checked his phone in a reasonably long amount of time. Usually he would’ve brought the item from his pants pocket to the slender dwelling place along the side of his robe. He felt for it, but it was not there. He went to his dresser and pulled out the pants he had been wearing. Nothing in them. He found his suit jacket and dug in both of its pockets—nothing there either. His eyebrows furrowed, and he reopened the door strolling out into the hallway, though with some sort of troubled determined hop in his step. He looked around the living room hesitantly and into the kitchen. Lily and Eric were nowhere to be seen and his father wasn’t there, but that really wasn’t surprising. All the guests had left by now, and his guess was Serena had diminished among them. Would be home later.
All of these assessments were NOT calming his nerves. He NEVER LOST ANYTHING. Much less his phone. That had his PI on it, much other needed resources, and Blair. He sighed again, raking a hand through his hair. He had done that too much this evening, and if he hadn’t been such a perfectionist about brushing his hair, or combing it in the very least, goodness knows his hair would’ve looked worse than when he had stepped out of the elevator, only to chase after the girl that had captured his heart with a simple unzipping of her dress. Sounds worse than it is, but then again….it is not exactly contradictory that Chuck would fall for a girl while she stripped. Maybe he should’ve expected it. But who in their right mind could’ve ever seen the day Chuck Bass fell in love? It took EVERYONE by surprise.
He glanced over the whole of the room, flipped over a few cushions, trying not to look as paranoid as he clearly was. No one knew this about him. But his phone was like his lifeline. So much so that it almost took priority over his scarf. Almost.
He turned and went back into his bedroom, sliding on his slippers, and heading towards the infamous elevator. He had taken his phone out ONCE tonight. Or at least only that one time he had not bothered to put it back in his pocket, because he had been making a point. A point to Blair. A point about them, one that he clearly lost the argument to. But in the rush of it all, he hadn’t picked his phone back up. His only hope now was that no one had bothered to pick it up, or if they had, they deposited it in the lost and found on the ground level.
………………
Vanessa, driven by guilt, turned the phone back on. Yes, the same motive that had caused her to turn off the phone, was the one that made her turn it back on. After all, she had started this mess and she was intent on finishing it. Maybe she could just say it was hers.
She flipped open the phone and was nearly appauled to already have a message. It was getting late and she didn’t honestly think Blair would’ve responded so….so…..harshly.
You’re imagining things, Bass. I never felt anything for you. But if you honestly think you could get anything going with that Vanessa nobody, then you’ll have to excuse me while I pour myself a drink. You always did supply me with the best entertainment.
        -B
Vanessa gaped in shock, and her eyebrows furrowed in anger. Of course she KNEW that Blair Waldorf hated her guts, but the very idea that she discussed that hatred with Chuck and even used it as ammunition against him, made her blood boil.
She fingered eagerly, sending a response as fast as her twitching fingers could manage.
“Ha! How’d you like that?” she snickered evilly to herself, once she had sent the response.
After five minutes however, she went back to look at what she had sent and her victory faded into dust. She sounded like a completely desperate idiot.
You know, I was GOING to apologize. But you have made it clear that you were never worthy of my time.
    -C
She remembered how close she had been to accidentally signing with a ‘V’ and thanked the Lord above momentarily that Chuck had a ‘C’ programmed into the end of all of his texts. She sighed in relief when no response came after ten minutes of waiting. Perhaps Blair really had felt threatened. Perhaps she had caused that in her. She certainly had not looked pleased when she had forced the manipulation on her in the school courtyard only days ago.
She smiled to herself, feeling victorious, if only for a moment. The phone started buzzing again. Vanessa jumped at the feeling of it in her hands. But it was different this time, because this time the vibrating did NOT stop, but only grew louder and continued on until….well, just continued. Vanessa had dropped it from shock only seconds earlier, but she picked it up now from its spot farther down the couch.
There was only one logical reason why the vibrating had not stopped. Blair Waldorf wasn’t texting anymore. She was calling.
……….
Blair could not contain her giggles on the opposite line. This was by far the highlight of her evening. She wasn’t worrying about Chuck anymore, she had pin-pointed EXACTLY who the little thief was, and regardless if Chuck was buying the bar or not, she would royally screw her over.
“Come on, Vanessa. I just wanna have a little fun,” she smirked into the phone, as the rings continued to blare into her ears.
She pouted a bit at the blank response and hung up the phone at the lack of conversation. She sighed, actually looking disappointed for a moment, but then she flipped open her phone again and redialed Chuck’s number.
Same response.
Elongated Dial Tone.
Ridiculously Sexy Answering Machine Message.
Like THAT was helping her unstable emotions. She rolled her eyes and sighed, closing her phone for good this time, and turning the ringer on silent.
Chuck.
She couldn’t get him out of her head, and now that she knew he hadn’t sent her those awful messages, or she was at least convinced by now that he hadn’t, she knew there was still something standing in the way of them. Apologies had now become so overrated, and begging didn’t really help either, though it was endearing in its own way.
She began to fidget with the strings hanging down from her neckline. It didn’t matter how much fun she was having screwing with Vanessa. It wasn’t the same as screwing with Chuck. She smirked. Or screwing Chuck in general.
She thought back to their first night, in the back of the limo. God, he had felt so good. Had felt so right. And she hated herself for denying it for so long. I mean, really Nate had NOTHING on him. Nothing whatsoever. She huffed, hating herself for remembering all these details of long gone. It seemed like a dream, the events of last year. It seemed so….so….unreal.
……………….
Well, there was no phone lying in the base of the elevator, as Chuck suspected. It wasn’t unexpected. Now there were only about three dozen people that could possibly have his cell phone, along with any of the occupants in the building itself. It drained his mind to think about all the possible places his phone could’ve ended up.
The whole battle in itself was exhausting, because he really could just buy a new phone. It’s what he would’ve done in any other occasion. But this time it was different. That text from Blair was in his phone. He WANTED that text. NEEDED that text. Needed ALL her texts that were safely secured in his phone. He even had texts from her that were almost a year old. He had to HAVE those texts, had to keep those memories alive…because if worst came to worst and they never DID get back together, he would need those texts so he could remember…so he would never forget.
So, Chuck Bass did something very unlike him. He took the elevator down to the lobby and asked the concierge to call up his limo, giving him a light glare when the man asked (however timidly it might have been) as to why the Junior Bass couldn’t just call the driver himself.
Blair had been the last person to see the phone, and she would knew best he guessed. Either that or he had just thought up an incredibly pathetic reason to see her. He couldn’t wait till school to fix how things were. Even if they wouldn’t be mended completely, in the perfection the both of them had been seeking, he had to try. Because the thought she still wanted him warmed his insides and at the same time absolutely broke him for the way he had ended things earlier that night. He should’ve stopped her from leaving. He should’ve—
“Sir, your limo’s here,” the doorman reported.
Chuck nodded at him, blue silk robe, fuzzy slippers and all. “Thank-you.”
…………..
The hours passed by….okay, so maybe only another hour. But still there had been no receiving text on Blair’s part and she was getting irritated. Had Vanessa given up? Nonsense. But of course Blair had forgotten to respond to the latest message, and in all honesty, it relieved the Brooklyn girl, who could not really deal with the Upper East Side madness Blair and Chuck produced if she wanted to!
Blair sat still on the edge of her bed, thinking about Chuck. A single tear drifted down the side of her face. She had been unaware of it when it happened or she would’ve tried to hold it in, but she hadn’t. She was lost in herself, thinking about Chuck…thinking about them.
She didn’t notice even then that her door slightly cracked open, and wasn’t even aware of the fact that it closed just as quickly. The only thing bringing her out of her hazy moodset was the chills that ran up and down her spine as the cool breeze made its way through the room. She turned and went to the window to close it. She heard the door slam behind her then. She spun around at the sound of it, as it nearly scared her to death. Had it been open this whole time? Had the window?
She went to the door and slowly turned the knob, her heart rate increasing as she did, afraid of what she would find on the other side, so sure that it would be something she was truly desiring. Although at the same time, afraid that it would be something she was not. They were often the same thing, and it confused her constantly.
Even slower she opened the door. It creaked as it went.
She looked into the darkness, and saw nothing. She sighed, quite disappointed in herself. Feeling completely idiotic for being so convinced of obviously nothing more than a forgotten task of closing the door and the window. She would be speaking to Dorota of this in the morning.
As she began to close the door again, not as slowly as before, but definitely in a rush, she was stopped. She yanked at the door in its inability to close, but found herself completely helpless to the stubbornness of the wood. She groaned in the complexity and irrationality of the whole situation.
But that’s when she felt it.
That smirk.
She felt it. The heat rising up in her face.
She looked up slowly, back into the darkness, and loosened her grip on the door handle.
“Chuck,” she whispered.
“Blair.”
……………..
A/N: ANOTHER LOOOOOOOOONG CHAPTER!!!!!! YAAAAAAAAAY!!!! I don’t know if Vanessa would really be freaking out that much simply out of inexperience in manipulating but I thought I’d play around with it. ;p OH! And what happened with Chuck and Blair at the end?! *gasp* You’ll just have to wait and see. Hehe. ;) PLEASE REVIEW!!! =DDDDDDD