Find the Muse
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#1 - Post 5x24 + 2 years
"I wondered how long you'd last."
She closed her eyes at the pain he brought her just by speaking. But any voice at that moment would have stirred the emotions she was feeling.
Guilt. Shame. Abandonment.
She pulled back from the toilet and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand before wiping it off on the towel hanging on the wall after she stood up. She straightened out her skirt and finally turned to him.
"What do you want, Chuck?" she asked, not an ounce of caring in her voice, but no denial of what she'd just been doing either.
"I saw you come in here," he said truthfully, sounding somewhat resigned as he gave her a slow once over.
She hated how casual he sounded.
"And just what were you planning to do? Save me? Seduce me?" she asked bitterly.
"Talk."
For a moment, she couldn't look away.
"I got Bass Industries back," he said.
And she found the strength with a nod and a forced smile.
"I saw in the papers," she said. "Congratulations."
"Bart has a very small part of the company, but I have the controlling interest, and then Jack has the rest."
Her forced smile stayed. She didn't know what else to say without crumbling in front of him or lashing out.
"I heard you sold Waldorf Designs," he began.
She blinked once, slowly, unfazed.
"To Jenny Humphrey," he concluded, a hint of anger in his voice.
"She's going places." Blair shrugged it off. "And she did intern for my mother, so it's not like there's no connection. We can trust her."
"We can?" Chuck raised an eyebrow.
"She's only manipulative when she's in New York, Chuck. We've all seen proof of that."
Chuck seemed to relax some.
"Besides, fashion is her passion. She wouldn't jeopardize her career for the sake of a little revenge on the Upper East Side."
He allowed that, but then his features contorted.
"So, this has nothing to do with you giving up?"
"None whatsoever."
"I imagine Eleanor wasn't pleased about this."
"She understood my reasons, still does, and she knows first-hand just how talented Jenny is."
It would be best to shift gears before his disappointment was voiced.
"You're not with anybody," he said.
She raised her eyebrows.
"Romantically...physically..." he clarified, trailing off.
"It gets old after awhile."
His eyes narrowed in slight confusion.
"What does?"
"Trying to convince guys that they don't have to measure up to you."
"Maybe your wording is the problem."
She shrugged. "Or maybe the fact that none of them are you."
He looked a little taken aback, but he didn't pursue the subject.
"When I stopped caring whether or not they felt secure about our relationship, I ended it. Bad for the image."
"It's all about the image, isn't it?"
"Sometimes."
*
[FAST FORWARD TO END OF THE SCENE...]
*
"Why did you do it, Blair?"
"What?" she asked, exhaustion and irritation both evident in her voice.
"Why did you give it all up?"
"I guess I'm just not as strong as you thought I was."
He approached the toilet after she left. It was clear of any evidence of what had just been done there. Chuck flushed it again. Then he walked to the mirror and looked inside it. He wondered if his looked as empty and worn as hers did.