It's a Wonderful Lie
Winter in New York: A Gossip Girl Checklist to Surviving the Cold. Cashmere stole for ice skating at Wollman Rink. Jacques Torres hot chocolate for window shopping the holiday displays. And the perfect date to the senior snowflake charity ball.
"B, we have other things to do today." Serena pointed towards herself and Anna as the trio sat in the courtyard of Constance/ St. Jude's at a table with lists of guys in from of them.
"Serena, this is the holiday event for high school seniors. The pictures dominate the social pages through New York. I need a ringer." Blair explained.
"Wait, all these guys asked you?" Anna questioned as she filed through Blair's lists.
"Of course. You think Angelina Jolie even considers a project without an offer?" Blair asked her friends.
"So which one of these is yours for the night?" Chuck wondered as he approached the trio of best friends.
"What makes you think I'm not looking long term?" Anna shoot back.
"Call it a hunch." Chuck smiled.
"David Ryan." Anna spoke the first name of Blair's list that caught her eye.
"Are you kidding? Ever seen the guy without gum? The oral fixation alone would drive you insane." Chuck assured her.
"Okay." Anna breathed as she took Blair's pen and crossed him out on the list.
"Hey." Blair exclaimed in reply.
"I'm gonna go." Serena said as she spotted Dan across the way before she stood up and left.
"And I have to take this." Blair looked down at the ringing phone in her lap. "Here. Take this list."
Blair handed Anna over one of the many lists of boys for her to choose her Snowflake Charity ball date from.
"You'll need it." Blair finished before leaving the pair alone causing Anna to roll her eyes.
"So, who's next?" Chuck asked as he leant towards her and looked at the list of guys.
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The sound of the grand piano in the living room being played echoed through the quiet empty halls of the Hawthorne home as Anna walked out of the kitchen to find Chuck sat there.
"What do you want Bass?" Anna questioned.
"It occurred to me today while I was having my shiatsu that I should choose your date." He spoke as he stood up from behind the piano as the pair met in the middle of the room.
"You? Why?" Anna wondered with a smile.
"Why not? And it'll let me prove that I know you better than anyone else." Chuck pointed out as his famous smirk tugged on his lips.
"Fine." Anna agreed matching his smug look. "Then I choose yours."
"I bring a date for you and you bring one for me. See who was paying attention to the other's desires." Chuck replied.
"There has to be something to keep you honest and to make things interesting." Anna spoke.
"Name the stakes." Chuck challenged.
"If you actually like your date, you get me out of our dads' stupid annual Christmas Eve business dinner." Anna asked.
"Fine. And if you like yours, I get Elena." Chuck answered.
"What? Elena?" Anna questioned in confusion.
"Yes Miss Anna." The housekeeper called as she entered the room holding a duster.
"Fine." The brunette girl agreed. Chuck ran his hand over her cheek softly before walking away towards the housekeeper .
"By the way, I take my breakfast in bed." Chuck told her before he left the penthouse.
"What are you staring at me for?" Anna asked her as the older woman stood staring at the young brunette girl she worked for. Anna left the maid in confusion as she walked back towards the kitchen.
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"Where are you going?" Anna questioned as she met her father heading towards the elevator from the kitchen as she was waiting on her best friends to arrive.
"Last minute trip with Bart to Florida." Andrew explained as he grabbed his briefcase that sat beside the door.
"What? I thought you were going with mom to the Snowflake ball. She helping Lily organise it, remember?" Anna wondered aloud.
"Yes Anna, I remember." Arthur replied as he hit the elevator button. "And Bart made Lily the same promise so we should be home in time. Love you, bye."
"Love you, bye." Anna told him as she sensed the tone of his voice watching as he pulled out his ringing cell phone as the elevator door closed.
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"I thought I was clear that we had to find Chuck the perfect date?" Anna asked as she paced back and forth through the kitchen with the paper in her hand while Elena sat at the table. "Kristin Curran is the loosest girl in our class."
"And Elizabeth Warren? She's somewhere between Mormon and moron." Anna cut off the older woman in pure frustration. "How did you come up with these?"
"Facebook. I joined few groups with Dorota." Elena explained.
"This has to be Chuck's dream girl. Intelligent but not a bookworm, strong-willed but still a feminine. An equal. And he likes brunettes, deep brown eyes." Anna's mind wondered off she she got lost in thought.
"But Miss Anna, that's you-."
"No. That girl is out there and you better hope for your sake that I find her." Anna reminded the older woman of Chuck's demands if she loses.
"Please. I don't want to shine Mr Chuck's shoes for a month." Elena begged.
"Yeh, his shoes if you're lucky." Anna whispered to herself as she paced.
"What?" Elena asked not quiet hearing what the teenager said.
"Nothing. Just get back to work please." Anna asked of her as she left the housekeeper alone.
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The time for the Snowflake Ball had finally arrived and lucky for Anna and Elena, she had found Chuck the perfect date.
"Shoo. He's taken." Anna spoke as she stepped in between Chuck and a random girl he had been talking too.
"You look lovely." The Bass commented.
"Not as lovely as I'll look after the spa day I have planned for Christmas Eve. So where's my prince un-charming?" The brunette girl wondered.
"Sandbox rules. I'll show you mine if you show me yours." Chuck challenged as he leant forward.
"Fine. Here she comes, Justine, this is Chuck Bass." Anna introduced the pair.
"Very nice to meet you." Chuck replied as he shook her hand before signalling a guy over.
"You can't be serious." Anna laughed slightly as the guy stopped next to them. "I need to talk to you. Excuse us."
Anna took Chuck's arm in her hand and pulled him away to a quieter area of the ball away from the two dates.
"We both know that I'm your one and only and a knockoff seemed like the best option." Anna spoke as the pair leant against a wall talking.
"My thinking exactly." Chuck agreed with a smirk.
"Fine. But if beta Bass is anything like the original I have no doubt that sooner or later he'll disappoint me." Anna continued speaking.
"And I'm curious if the new Anna has all the features I enjoyed so much on the old model." Chuck replied matching her tone of voice.
"So the bet is still on?" The brunette girl asked.
"Unless you're prepared to concede." Chuck challenged.
"To you? Never." Anna promised before walking away and leaving Chuck alone.
As Anna left Chuck she noticed a familiar looking boy cross the room dressed in a fancy suit. She quickly upped her pace and grabbed his arm before pulling him away from the crowd.
"What the hell are you doing here?" Anna asked her older brother, Noah.
"I'm back little sis." Noah replied with that confident smile across his face.
"Like for good?" Anna wondered feeling confused.
"For good." Noah confirmed. "Now if you'll excuse me I've got a date to find."
Anna watched at Noah confidently walked across the room towards Blair who was quick to give him a small kiss on the cheek.
As much as it turned her stomach to see her brother and one of her best friends, Anna had to admit she had never seen either of them this happy in their entire lives.
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After searching the venue for her date, Anna found herself back in Chuck's company who was also searching for his date.
"Where are they?" Anna wondered aloud as they continued to walk.
"Relax. They'll be here somewhere." Chuck assured her as they walked back into the main area of the ball.
"This is the worst out of body experience ever." Anna spoke as she spotted their dates locking lips. "Hey. Explain this."
"After you and Chuck walked off, Justine and I got to talking." The Chuck look a like spoke up first.
"He took me up to the roof and we looked over the city." Justine continued as Anna gave Chuck a knowing look.
"Of course he did." Anna spoke as Chuck smiled at the similarities between the two pairs.
"We just knew we were meant for each other." The guy explained.
"But she's me. Only less. I gave her that headband." Anna said as she tried to figure it out in her head.
"We're as surprised as you are." He replied before they went back to kissing.
"Everyone, even our doppelgängers, can work it out, but we can't?" Anna asked as she turned back to Chuck and away from the kissing couple. Chuck took in silence causing Anna to sigh and walk away from him.
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As the night began to draw to an end, Anna found herself alone overlooking all the dancing and kissing couples below her, one of which included her brother and Blair.
"Dance with me." Chuck spoke as he appeared next to her.
"What's the point, Chuck?" Anna asked in reply as she looked back at their look a likes. "We're never gonna be them. We said so. Remember? It's not for us."
"Maybe. But I wouldn't change us. Not if it meant losing what we have." Chuck answered.
"And what do we have Chuck? You tell me." Anna begged feeling confused.
"Tonight." Chuck assured her. "So shut up and dance with me."
Chuck took her hand with saying anything more and lead them pair down the steps and onto the dance floor where they immediately fell into the swing of the soft tune. They were both content with one and other as they smiled while dancing together.
As the pair got lost in a world of their own together, they were completely unaware of the fact that outside of those four wall their real world was coming crashing down.
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I'm sure you all know what chapter/ episode is next and I'm so excited to write it. I have had questions in my mind about it for a while and I'm sure some of you have too and hopefully they'll be answered soon.
Also, thank you all for over 20k reads. It means so, so much to me!!
Until next time
-ky❤️