§Not What It Seem§ |Gossip Girl|

8.

Back at Nora's suite, she and Chad sat together, her head resting on his chest and his hand playing with her hair.

It felt natural and familiar to Nora due to the times they had to do so to trick everyone they were the couple instead of him and Will.

She wanted some familiarity after the rush of odd sensations after Erik's reveal of why he was at Ostroff. She disliked them. Chad felt familiar and warm and safe.

Chad didn't want to take advantage of the way Nora was practically cuddling him. It was rare the time she asked for physical affection and since his romantic feelings for her grew, he longed for them so when she asked for them, he savored every second of it.

"I'm confused" Nora admitted, her hand playing with one of his shirt buttons. The brush of her fingers on his chest made his skin tingle and he refrained from shivering.

"You're Nora Bass, you're never unsure of anything, sweetheart" Chad reminded.

"Consider yourself and Will special then" Nora replied.

Chad's hand on her hair froze, "We make you unsure of things" he repeated slowly. "We confuse you"

"Can you blame me?" Nora asked, raising her head briefly to meet his eyes, "From one moment to the other, I'm being kissed by my best friend. How am I supposed to take it?"

She was right. Nora hadn't had time to process or analyze what she felt like they did. They had months knowing how they felt for her and accepting their feelings being natural and not weird. They expected Nora to acknowledge agree with their feelings in seconds. They needed to give her space to come to terms with what she felt and if she reciprocated them.

"You're right" Chad admitted, "We were unfair to you. You don't need to say anything, okay? We'll give you space, I promise that"

"No" Nora said hesitantly. Chad looked down at her in confusion, "We must continue the way we are or Gossip Girl will sniff out that there's something wrong and may pry until she finds the truth"

"I don't care what an anonymous person says through the internet" Chad retorted.

"But you care what others think of you" Nora countered, lifting herself from his chest to stare at him with a genuine intensity that always made his heart flutter. He called it the Bass effect. Nora and her brother had this deadly charm around them that lured you into a sense of security before trapping you in their webs, ready to have you for dinner if they so wished. Or kill you with one strike. Either way, the outcome wether good or bad always made you feel like you mattered until you didn't. "It is the reason why neither of you are out of the closet"

Chad raised his hand to pick a strand of her hair, twirling in his finger. Nora kept her eyes on him, refraining from following the movement.

"I have you to protect my reputation, don't I?" Chad asked, a playful smile on his lips. Nora's lips twitched, both remembering that was the reason she gave them when she told them she'd help to hide better their relationship.

Nora raised her eyebrowss, "Protect and my name isn't something one would hear being in the same sentence"

"What can I say?" Chad smirked, dropping Nora's hair, leaning back on the couch, comfortably, "You're our guardian Angel, Eleonora Bass"

"Only for you two it seems" Nora murmured, voice flat as she looked away.

Chad furrowed his eyebrows, "Nora?" Nora didn't answer and as he opened his mouth to speak again, Nora's phone dinged with a text. The two of them turned to look at the girl's phone in the table. Chad picked it up, reading the text. "Blair is with Serena. That's surprising"

Nora frowned, leaning forward and accidentally invading Chad's personal space - not like he didn't mind, he loved Nora's perfume - as she read the text on her phone.

"Blair's an idiot" Nora scowled, snatching the phone, deleting the text asking for Nora to meet Blair at Serena's.

Gossip Girl (Voice Over): "They say forgiveness is the attribute of the strong, but whoever said that didn't know Nora Bass at all"

"She's your friend" Chad reminded, though he knew it'd fall on deaf ears.

Nora looked up, "I don't hang out with idiots who allow themselves be crushed"

Gossip Girl (Voice Over): "And how unforgiving she could be. But that's what we love of you, don't we, NB? Let's see how long it takes you to raise a white flag or not, after all, there's no one else who loves a good tension between best friends. And we all know that's me"