Pret -a- Poor -J
Anna Hawthorne had opted to walk to school today in order to clear her head of all things Bass related. She held her umbrella of her head to block out the droplets of water that fell from the sky as a limo slowed down next to her.
The black tinted window of the limo rolled down to reveal the one man she had been trying to avoid.
"Wanna get in?" Chuck questioned as he leant his head out the open window slightly. "I'd love to give you a ride."
"Oh, I'm sure you would. Too bad you've made the terms of that arrangement impossible." Anna replied as she continued to walk.
"About that, maybe I was a little too hasty. Come on, get in." Chuck spoke as the limo came to a stop and so did the brunette walking next to it.
"Maybe I don't want you anymore." Anna tried to convince not only herself but Chuck.
"Don't torture me. I'm dying." Chuck begged as Anna's mind had its own internal battle on weather or not to agree. After thinking for a moment she stepped forward and reached for the door but not before Chuck pressed the lock. "All you have to do it say those three magic words."
"I hate you." Anna replied before the tinted window went up separating herself and the Bass boy leaving her to walk to school in the New York City rain.
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"You have to help me destroy Chuck Bass." Anna spoke as she grabbed Blair's arm and pulled her towards where Serena and Dan were sitting in the courtyard talking.
"I'll take that as my cue to leave." Dan said as he started to stand up.
"You're very perspective." Blair replied sarcastically earning her a look from her fellow brunette friend.
"Dan, wait. If Anna is having a problem with Chuck, a man's perspective could be helpful." Serena pointed out as she stopped Dan from leaving.
"I agree. Dan, sit down." Anna pointed towards the seat where the Brooklyn native was previously sitting.
"If you're plotting against Chuck Bass, I'm sure I could think of something." Dan replied as he sat back down.
"Fine. She has an itch only Chuck can scratch and he won't oblige unless she tells him she loves him." Blair said with a smile hoping her briefing of the situation would chase Dan away.
"Blair! Really?" Anna exclaimed as she scowled her best friend for her awful description.
"You need help getting Chuck to sleep with you? Really?" Dan asked confused.
"Are you judging me?" Anna questioned in reply.
"Sorry. No judging, only helping." Dan apologised. "So do you love him?"
"No, no. Of course not." Anna assured him and her friends.
"Then why don't you just say it to get what you want? Guys have been doing that since forever." Dan spoke.
"I can't. Because that would mean Chuck wins." Anna reminded Dan.
"Right, but if you say it, then you get him and you win." Dan pointed out to the Hawthorne girl.
"We have very different ideas Humphrey." Anna told the Brooklyn boy before turning to her best friends. "How about I disappear for a while? Give Chuck taste of life without me."
"No don't disappear." Dan assured her. "Become unavoidable. Chuck might be a deviant but he's still a man. Just drive him crazy, wear him down."
"Not bad Dan." Anna nodded her head in agreement.
"Look who finally got a little interesting." Blair said to him.
"I'm sure it's a fluke." Dan replied before Serena smiled at him.
"Uck. Even broken up you guys make me nauseous." Blair spoke as she took her bag and Anna's arm before walking away.
"Thanks for your help Dan." Anna called out thankfully as she was being dragged away. He smiled in response before the pair of brunettes disappeared from sight.
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After a failed attempt at winning Chuck back and receiving more inspirational advice from Dan Humphrey, Anna was moving on to the next part of the plane.
"Richard, can you drop me off at the Bass residence?" Anna asked her driver and friend after she got off the phone to Dan.
"Of course, Miss Anna. Is Mr Chuck okay?" The driver questioned as he started to pull away from the sidewalk and into busy Manhattan traffic.
"Oh he'll be fine." Anna assured the older man as she turned her attention to the passing city lights out the window.
The drive didn't take to long and Anna was thankful that there was no one else home on the Bass/van der Woodsen penthouse as it would've just made things even more awkward trying to explain her need to be her especially with Serena out with Dan.
Anna dimmed the lights in the bedroom as she started to light candles when the music started to play. Now all she had to do was wait.
Moments later, the sound of the bedroom door opening caught the brunette's attention but she kept her back to the door.
"What are you doing here?" Chuck voice questioned as he entered the room.
"Serena knee how upset I was." Anna started as she began to use a slide clip to put her hair in a messy low bun. "She didn't want me to be alone so she invited me at stay over."
The sound of Chuck's soft steps echoed quietly in the room signalling he was walking towards the girl.
"Go away Chuck. I'm not going to say it." Anna assured him.
"I don't care." Chuck promised as he ran his hand over her bare shoulder before the pair's lips connected. The sound of a phone could be heard but it was ignored. Until it went off again.
"Ignore it." Anna told him before kissing Chuck again. But she knew Chuck long enough to anticipate his next move. They both dived onto the bed and reached for the phone but it was Chuck who reached it first.
"You almost had me Anna." Chuck spoke as he threw the phone down on the bed after reading the messages. "Almost."
With that, Anna was left alone sitting on the bed as Chuck walked away and left her alone regretting her decisions.
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"Wow. Blair Waldorf in Brooklyn. Are you three lost?" Dan asked as the three best friends walked into the art gallery.
"It wasn't by choice." Blair assured him.
"Will you talk to her? She won't listen to us, maybe she'll listen to you." Serena spoke as she nudged Anna towards the Brooklyn native. "We're gonna go look at some art. Talk."
Serena took Blair's arm and guided her towards the art gallery leaving Anna alone with Dan to sort out the mess she was calling a life right now.
"You and Chuck have been toying with each other since forever. So you didn't win this one. Maybe you should just let it go." Dan explained as he continued to unbox bottle for the small cafe in the gallery.
"This is different, Dan." Anna replied as she leant her arms against the counter top.
"Why?" Dan asked which caused the brunette to sigh. "Do you love him? Wow someone loves Chuck Bass."
"I don't know. I just don't understand how it got to this place." Anna said as she ran her hands through her hair in frustration.
"You know the first time I told Serena I loved her it was terrifying. I've never felt so exposed." Dan spoke. "But the feeling I got when she said it back to me. It was probably the single most greatest moment in my life."
"But you broke up." Anna reminded him trying to to sound too harsh when she said it.
"Yeah. Doesn't mean I wouldn't do it all over again." Dan replied.
"If I say it, he wins. And if he wins then I'll just be another girl to him. I've known Chuck my whole life. I watch how he treats girls. It's like one week on, next week onto the next one." Anna explained.
"You don't know that's true. It could be different with you. You have to decide what's must important to you. Keeping your pride and getting nothing or taking a risk and maybe having everything." Dan spoke honestly causing thoughts to flood through the brunette's mind.
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After sharing a last minute not so peppy, pep talk with Dan Humphrey at the art gallery opening where she was meeting Chuck, Anna headed up to the Brooklyn building rooftop in search of the Bass Boy.
"Brooklyn." Chuck spoke as he noticed the brunette girl walking towards him.
"At least it will be memorable." Anna shrugged her shoulders in response as she stood next to him by the wall at the edge of the building.
"I'm sorry but don't you have something you wanna say to me." Chuck wondered as the wind picked up on the rooftop.
"Yes." Anna replied as the wind caught her hair and raised it off her shoulders. "This is silly. Why does it matter who says it first? Why don't we just say it together?"
"Because that wasn't the deal." Chuck reminded her.
"Why does everything have to be a deal?" Anna questioned with Dan's words playing on her mind.
"Because we made it one. What's going on Anna?" Chuck asked. "You told me you had something to say to me. Say it."
"Why do I have to be the one to go first? I was the one who waited on that helipad for you. I went to Tuscany alone." Anna reminded him as she felt her emotions began to take over.
"That's ancient history." Chuck replied.
"I was the one who asked you to say it first."
"At the White Party? When you were on your way out with the count? Did you really think I was going to say it then?" Chuck asked over the growing wind.
"Yes. And when you didn't, I wanted to die." Anna answered back.
"Don't tell me you brought me all the way to Brooklyn for this. I thought you were ready to tell me how you felt. Obviously it was just another one of your games." Chuck spoke, their eyes never leaving one and other.
"My games? You're the one who started this."
"And you're the one who finished it." Chuck replied before turning and look out over the edge before Anna turned and left.
"Excuse me." Serena excused herself from the people she was talking to and walked towards Anna who had tears in her eyes after coming down from the room. "A, what happened?"
"It was a disaster. I'm leaving." The brunette replied.
"I'll get Blair and we'll come with you." Serena assured her.
"No you guys stay. I just have to get out of here now." Anna said before turning and leaving brushing the tears of her cheeks as she left the art gallery and called Richard.
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The problem with fairy tales is that they set a girl up for disappointment. In real life, the Prince goes off with the wrong Princess. Or the spell wears off and two lovers realize they're better off as... well, whatever they are.
Anna sat alone in her room with the single light on her desk as the only source of light while she removed her jewellery.
"Are you hear to gloat?" She questioned as Chuck entered her room.
"Over what?" He wondered.
"Well, you won. Pop the champagne." Anna replied.
"I didn't win." Chuck assured her.
"Then why does it feel like I lost?" Anna asked, her eyes clearly swollen from crying over the situation.
"The reason we can't say this three words to each other isn't because they aren't true." Chuck replied as he tucked his hands into his pants pocket.
"Then why?"
"I think we both know that when we do, it won't be the start of something, it'll be the end." Chuck explained.
"Think about it. Chuck and Anna going to the movies? Chuck and Anna holding hand? Chuck and Anna attending their parents business dinners as a couple?" Chuck continued causing a smile to tug on the corner of Anna's lips as she couldn't even imagine it.
"We don't have to do those things." She assured him. "We can do things that we like."
"What we like is this." Chuck reminded the brunette girl in front of him.
"The game." Anna clarified.
"Without it, I'm not sure how long we'd last. It would just be a matter of time before we messed it all up." Chuck spoke before he took a step forward and knelt down in front of Anna. "Look I'd rather wait. And maybe in the future.."
"I suppose there could be some excruciating pleasure in that." Anna answered with a smile before Chuck stood up and gave her a soft kiss on the lips. He pulled away but held her hand for a moment as she brushed the tears away from her cheeks.
He softly let go and left the room, closing the door behind him, leaving a broken hearted brunette behind him.
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