Like check out Blair's bare ass, or worry about condoms, or bad breath, or try to say the right thing. He was barely thinking at all. Blair's room was a blaze of candles. A bottle of red wine was open on the floor, with two glasses beside it. Blair knelt down and poured each of them a glass like a little geisha. She felt more comfortable naked in the darkness of her room. “What kind of music do you want to listen to?” she asked Nate, handing him a glass. Nate gulped the wine, swallowing noisily. “Music? Anything you want. Whatever,” he said. Of course, Blair had her CD mix all cued up. The first song was Coldplay, because she knew Nate liked them. Slow and sexy, rocker boy. Blair had made and remade the movie of this moment in her head so many times she felt like an actress who was finally getting her big break, playing the role of her career.She reached up and put her hands on Nate's shoulders. He tried not to look at her, but he couldn't help it. She was naked, and she was beautiful. She was a girl and he was a boy. There have been plenty of songs written about this. “Take off your clothes, Nate,” Blair whispered. Maybe after we do it, I'll tell her, Nate thought. That didn't seem completely fair, but still, he kissed her. And once he started, he couldn't stop. When Serena woke up a little while later, Chuck had changed the channel to MTV2 and was singing along loudly to Jay-Z. Serena's Pucci dress had ridden up above her waist, and her lacy blue underwear was showing.Serena propped herself up on her elbows and wiped the lip-gloss scum out of the corners of her mouth. She pulled down her dress. “What time is it?” she said. Chuck glanced at her. “Time for us to take off our clothes and get in bed,” he said impatiently. He'd been waiting long enough. Serena's head felt thick, and she was dying for a glass of water. “I feel awful,” she said, sitting up and rubbing her forehead. “I want to go home.” “Come on,” Chuck said, flicking off the TV. “We could take a hot tub first. That'll make you feel better.” “No,” Serena insisted. “Fine,” Chuck said angrily. He stood up. “There's water on the table. Put your boots on, I'll help you get a cab.” Serena pulled on her boots and stared at the cold rain falling outside the hotel room window. “It's raining,” she said, taking a sip of the water. Chuck handed her a scarf, his trademark blue cashmere, monogrammed with the letters C.B. “Wrap it around your head,” he said. “Come on, let's go.” Serena took the scarf and followed Chuck out to the elevator. They rode down in silence. Serena knew Chuck was disappointed that she was leaving, but she didn't care. She couldn't wait to get out into the fresh air and into her own bed.A cab pulled up, the Remi brothers' poster in the box on the cab's roof. Serena thought it looked like a close-up photograph of lips puckered into a kiss. “What's that? Mars?” Chuck joked, pointing to it. He glanced at Serena without a trace of humor in his eyes. “No, it's your anus!” Serena blinked at him. She couldn't tell if Chuck trying to be funny or if that's what he actually thought the picture was. Chuck held the cab door open for her, and she slid into the back seat. “Thanks, Chuck,” she said sweetly, “I'll see you soon, okay?” “Whatever,” Chuck said. He leaned into the cab and pressed Serena against the seat. “What's your problem anyway?” he hissed. “You've been fucking Nate Archibald since tenth grade, and I'm sure you did just about every guy at boarding school, and in France, too. What, are you like, too good to give me some?” Serena stared directly into Chuck's eyes, seeing him as he really was for the first time. He'd always been hard to like, but she'd never actually hated him before. “That's okay, I wouldn't want to do it with you anyway,” Chuck sneered. “I hear you have diseases.” “Get away from me,” Serena hissed, putting her hands on his chest and shoving him away. She slammed the cab door shut in his face, and gave the driver her address. As the cab pulled away, Serena hugged herself, staring straight ahead through the rain-spattered windshield. When the taxi stopped at a light on the corner of Broadway and Spring, she opened the door, leaned out, and threw up into the gutter. That will teach her not to drink on an empty stomach. Chuck's scarf swung from her neck and dangled in the puddle of pink vomit on the pavement. Serena pulled the scarf off, wiped her mouth on it, and stuffed it into her bag. “Gross,” she said, slamming the cab door closed again. “Tissue, miss?” the cab driver offered, passing a box of Kleenex back to her. Serena pulled one from the box and wiped her mouth with it. “Thanks,” she said. Then she sat back in the seat and closed her eyes, grateful, as always, for the kindness of strangers. “What about a condom or something?” Blair murmured, gaping at Nate's hard-on. It looked like it was going to take over the world. She had managed to get all of his clothes off, and now they were lying down on her bed on top of the covers. They'd been fooling around for almost an hour. On the stereo, the Jennifer Lopez song “Love Don't Cost a Thing” was playing, and Blair was getting hotter and hotter. She reached for Nate's hand an............