(Untitled)

[im_chuckbass]

Chuck's head was buzzing as he retreated into the relative silence of his own, empty room, having left Dan, Blair, Jenny and Eric behind. He'd stayed in there as long as he could stand it - long enough to say everything that had come to mind and some besides, anyway - but there inevitably came a point where you had to cut your losses, and for Chuck

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[learnwhatsreal]

Jenny had shoved Dan and headed off after Chuck as soon as she could. Her head was still spinning a little; the drink she'd had before they left had been both a good and a bad idea, and everything that had happened since was still just sinking in. She knew where she wanted to be, though, whose side she was on, weird as that was to think about.

Once back at the room, she was a little relieved to find Chuck still there, to see that she hadn't missed him. She lingered for a moment at the door frame, trying to figure out what would be best to start with, but in the end, she just gave in and spoke. "I'm sorry about Dan," she said, the disdain for her brother evident in her voice. "He shouldn't have done that." She was very deliberately not mentioning what had been said about Blair. That wasn't the point.

[im_chuckbass]

"If we want to start talking about things Humphrey shouldn't have done," Chuck says, opening up his bottle and taking a deep swig, "what happened in there isn't the at the top of my list." He grimaced at the taste of it, but the burn was sweet, and just about the only thing he really embraced feeling at this moment.

It was clear that no one in that room had been very happy with Jenny, when all was said and done, but Chuck still had no problem with what she'd done. It hadn't been her secret to keep in the first place, and in his opinion the only thing she'd done wrong had been keeping it for as long as she had. But the truth was out now, and everyone was going to have to face up to the consequences that they should have been hit with two months ago.

"You alright?" he asked, raising an eyebrow at her. He didn't mean it as an invitation for her to really go into detail about her feelings, but given the situation it was only right for him to ask.

[learnwhatsreal]

Jenny couldn't disagree with that. The question, though, made her pause. Ordinarily, she might've shrugged it off and said she was fine, at least until she knew with more certainty just where she stood with everyone, but she had a pretty good idea of what people thought of her now. At least Chuck seemed to be on her side, or maybe she was on his; it was difficult to be quite sure.

"Well, I think I've lost most of the people I was friends with," she replied almost wryly, head tilting to one side. She crossed a little further into the room, though, taking a seat on the bed much like she'd been sitting earlier. "I'll be okay, though. I don't regret telling you." That, really, was the important part. Dan and Blair and whoever else may have hated her, but she'd done what she should have long before.

[im_chuckbass]

"You shouldn't," he said, as though the alternative would be ludicrous. "It needed to be told." The thought of how long he'd gone around not knowing about it nauseated him. He'd simply been going on, business as usual, while Blair and Dan and Jenny lived with it every day, probably thought about it every time they ran into each other. It humiliated him, and there was no better way to inspire a Bass to incredible levels of malice than to humiliate him. If Blair and Dan hadn't known that before, he was sure they did now.

"You can stay here," he said, gesturing to the room. Eric would be back, but he was far from the type to kick Jenny out because of what had just happened. "I'm not." Where he was going, he didn't precisely know, but he thought he'd probably have figured it out by the time he got there.

[learnwhatsreal]

"For good?" That he didn't want to hang around wasn't surprising, but Jenny couldn't help being startled at the idea of his going somewhere else permanently. It was a more displeasing thought than she'd have liked. Really, she didn't know when she'd begun to care so much, but the fact remained that he'd been better to her than anyone else from home on the island, weird as that was. With everything else that had happened, and Serena and Blair so close, it was difficult for her to imagine his being gone.

[im_chuckbass]

For just a moment, he entertained the thought of saying yes to that; the idea of just disappearing from the compound one night was almost too appealing to resist. Histrionic, though, and definitely an overreaction; besides there was no way he'd be able to convince himself for even a minute that he'd be willing to move into one of those god-awful huts. The dorms were no luxury, but running water, a/c, and electricity were not amenities he was prepared to do without.

"Just tonight," he said, picking up his coat from where it lay at the foot of his bed. "I can't deal with this - any of it - right now." Couldn't risk running into Blair on the way to the bathrooms, couldn't walk past her room without seeing Humphrey's smug, self-righteous face pushing him up against the wall. Without thinking about how she must have thanked him after Chuck left. He remembered all too well what Nate's knight in shining armor act earned him after the debutante ball.

[learnwhatsreal]

Jenny nodded in understanding, inexplicably relieved. She'd have probably gone elsewhere herself, if she'd had anywhere at all to go. As it was, though, coming here had been a last resort, and as much as she may have been comfortable staying in Chuck and Eric's room now, she had as many options now as she had then. "Alright," she replied, almost carefully. "So I, um, guess I'll see you around, then?" It was the best she could manage.

[im_chuckbass]

"Eventually," Chuck said, pulling the suitcase he'd arrived with from under the bed and rummaging around in it until he found what he was looking for. He'd thought he'd never get a chance to wear his scarf again - not in any seasonally appropriate fashion, anyway - and it was a small comfort on this fucked-up night to be proved wrong. He wrapped the scarf around his neck, feeling a little more like himself already.

He picked up the bottle again and considered it for a moment. Chuck may have been self-interested, but selfish? Rarely, especially when there was enough to go around. He had a few clean glasses yet, and he pulled another out, pouring a healthy serving to leave with Jenny - certainly more than she should drink all at once, but enough to help her sleep if she needed it. "It's not warm milk, but..." he said as he offered it to her.

[learnwhatsreal]

She definitely needed it. "Thanks," she replied as she took the glass, really, honestly grateful for it, despite the fact that she was still frowning. Never before had the sight of alcohol looked so appealing to her. The day had been too long already, and she was sure it was only going to be followed by longer ones. With the way everything had gone back in Serena and Blair's room, she had a feeling that it was going to be awkward between them all for a while to come.

[im_chuckbass]

"Not all at once," Chuck said, arching an eyebrow at the relief on her face. She was tiny, after all, and he could only imagine Humphrey's reaction if little J ended up with alcohol poisoning under his watch. "It's going to be a long night. You'll need it." He doubted if anyone who'd been in that room would be having a restful night tonight.

He had a foot out the door before one more thought occurred to him, and he paused, turning again to look at Jenny. "I'll be back in the morning. Let me know if anything else happens." He though Humphrey and Blair were both smart enough to leave well enough alone, at least until the whole thing had a chance to cool off, but if one of them did decide to track Jenny down to take another shot, he wanted to know about it. He might not be able to prevent it - nothing was going to keep him in this hallway short of a locked door - but he'd be able to make sure that neither of them would try it twice.