I Will Always Love You by Cecily von Ziegesar Read Free Book Online Page B

couldn’t make it. He decided to go to a Boys’ Night Out party instead,”
     Thaddeus whispered. Serena could detect a hint of desperation in his voice. Thad obviously wished he was at a Boys’ Night
     Out party, rather than the Hollywood-heavy party Ira had insisted he host.
    “Of course.” Serena smiled as she trailed after Carilee and Thaddeus to the bar. It was the least she could do. Blair would
     understand.
    Of course she would.
    What the fuck, Blair murmured as she listened to Serena’s voice-mail message click on for the tenth time tonight. She was sitting on the
     edge of the bathtub in Chuck Bass’s Tribeca Star suite. Serena had promised that she’d only stay at her Hollywood is Hell
     party for an hour, but it was now almost eleven thirty. Of course, Serena had invited Blair along, offering to “add her to
     the guest list.” Like Blair was so pathetic she needed her movie star best friend to get her in places. She’d demurred and
     opted to meet Serena here instead.
    Blair sighed in frustration as she tossed her phone back in her clutch and sauntered out of the bathroom. She couldn’t believe
     Serena would just ditch her like this. They’d always spent New Year’s Eve together. Blair remembered so many parties in this very suite, splashing around in the raised hot tub
     in their skimpiest Calypso bikinis, trying to find the cutest guy in the room to make out with when the clock struck midnight.
    Of course, they always wound up kissing each other.
    “I heard Blair and her Yale boyfriend had this secret wedding in Mexico, but then they had to have it annulled,” Laura Salmon
     whispered to Rain Hoffstetter over by the makeshift bar in the kitchen annex. She wore a glittery sheath dress, and a matching
     Swarovski-studded headband was perched on her dark roots.
    “Really? I heard Blair found out she was pregnant with Nate’s baby and now she’s trying to make it seem like the Yale guy
     is the father. Luckily, she’s not really showing,” Rain Hoffstetter whispered back. A diamond stud glittered in her left nostril,
     drawing attention to her pug nose.
    Blair strode over to her former Constance classmates, aware their eyes were on her.
    “Hey,” she said to the group. She grabbed a bottle of Ketel One and liberally poured it into a tumbler, then added a splash
     of tonic. The suite was pretty empty. In the corner, a group of flannel-clad guys were playing Xbox, entranced by the flat
     screen against one wall. The hot tub, constructed in an anteroom between the bedroom and the main suite, was filled with flat-chested
     girls Blair vaguely recognized as members of the freshman peer group she’d led last year at Constance. Blair squinted to take
     a closer look. Through the steam, she noticed two topless girls making out with each other. Obviously slutty L’École girls,
     trying to get attention. Blair wrinkled her nose. Was this seriously how she was spending her New Year’s? This party was lame even by high school standards.
    “Where’s Chuck?” she asked Rain, trying not to stare at the infected boil that erupted from her nose piercing. She’d heard
     Chuck was in military school or monkey training school or something.
    You know, either one.
    “I don’t know.” Rain shrugged. “More importantly, did you see Isabel?”
    Blair shook her head blankly. Why the hell would she care about Isabel Coates?
    “Look.” Laura Salmon pointed a pearly manicured finger toward the two girls in the hot tub. “Isabel’s dating a girl named
     Casey. Except she’s just doing that to show off,” Laura said in disapproval. Blair squinted through the fog, recognizing Isabel’s
     profile. Interesting. She wished she could deconstruct the whole ridiculous scenario with Serena. Where the fuck was she?
    “Are you dating anyone?” Rain asked nosily as she chugged her vodka soda from a Riedel glass.
    “I’m dating a comp lit major. He’s a junior and I was just with his family for the holidays.