【 𝗶𝗻𝗳𝗮𝘁𝘂𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 ━━ 𝗮𝗰𝘁 𝗼𝗻𝗲 】

𝗳𝗼𝘂𝗿𝘁𝗲𝗲𝗻, do forget about him
𝗲𝗽𝗶𝘀𝗼𝗱𝗲 𝘀𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻 - 𝘃𝗶𝗰𝘁𝗼𝗿/𝘃𝗶𝗰𝘁𝗿𝗼𝗹𝗮.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

THERE TWO REASONS PEOPLE stay awake. They are either lonely or in love, and neither of them seemed lonely.

Burlesque is all the rage again and sometimes a little raging is exactly what we need yet some guys aim to be ahead of the curves. But as always we can't get ahead of ourselves.

"I want to make something for myself. Not just feed off my dad for the rest of my life." Tom tells me, "And you will." I assure him. Glancing over me, he frowns, "Chuck gets it anyway." he shrugs, "And Charles needs it."

"Have you seen his grades?" I ask, "You don't need it. You are incredibly smart, and I know that you will accomplish great things if you put your mind to it." I tell him. Continuing our walk to school it stays silent, "You will too." Tommy says breaking it.

"I know." I nod. Moving up the stairs he holds my hand, "You still have ten minutes." nodding we take a seat on the steps. Looking around the empty schoolyard, "So... how was your night?" he asks awkwardly. Staying quiet I try to find the best word to describe last night, "Adequate."

Causing the boy to raise a brow, "I didn't—" I say before he could ask, "I wasn't going to ask." he denies. Cringing my nose I shake my head, "You so were." I chuckle.

Making a smile tuck up his lips by the sound of her laughter, "I wasn't, but if it happens to come up I wouldn't deny an answer." Tom shrugs.

"Okay." I nod. Smiling at him the spell gets broken by the bell, "This time I do need to go." I tell him. Moving my lips I try not to smile sadly at the departure.

Especially after how diabolical he has been. Leaning closer I want to kiss his cheek. Only for him to lean back more, "Bye." he says giving me a shoulder bump.

Standing up I look at the fast walking boy, "What the Hell?" I ask myself, "What the Hell?" the shoulder bumper asks himself.

"He shoulder bumped me. What is that? Some Pittsburgh goodbye?" I question, "Are we still talking about Tommy?" B asks as we are seated by the steps, "No." I deny shaking my head.

Taking another piece of chocolate I turn to the blond among us, "We are talking about Serena. I heard from Gossip Girl you are having sex with Dan out here." I tease.

"In streaming video." B adds, "Ugh, Katie and Is filmed us?" S groans. Humming we nod, "Oh, it's all very high school musical scandalous." B waves off, "They haven't streamed it... Yet, but we heard it was aggressive." I trail off amused.

Making Serena laugh, "I must say, Dan has been surprisingly good at everything we've done." S nods, "Which is... everything?" B asks, "No, but feel free to ask any personal questions." Serena says taking a piece of chocolate herself.

"I will take you up on that." I wink. Making them both laugh, "Starting with having talked about it. Right?" B asks, "No, mom, we haven't." S jokes, "May I remind you that this is your first real boyfriend, S, and in relationships, you talk about stuff." I tell her.

Causing her to sigh as she nods at my words in agreement, "I know, but I don't know. Sometimes talking about it or planning it can ruin a good thing. You know?" she tells us.

"Yeah." I nod, "I would know." B hums, "Now back to you." S says handing me a piece. Taking a deep breath, I shake my head, "I don't know, just- I know I should just forget about it, but I can't." I tell her.

Biting into the chocolate, I wave my hands around, "One moment he's nice to me, kisses me, and says he wants this. The next it looks like he would literally get a heart attack if I were to touch him." I continue.

"Is it possible for a guy to want to slow things down?" S questions, "Only the guys we like." B nods. Making us laugh, "But with you, can't imagine why." I tell Serena.

Having the final bell ring, I can finally go home. Finishing up some of my homework, until my phone goes off. It being Blair asking me to tag along to Chuck's future club, "Nope, I'm minimalizing any, and every Bass encounters as I can." I deny.

"Well, I'm going over there and then we'll meet up to get ready for dinner, okay?" B tells me, "Okay." I trail off scrolling through Gossip Girls blasts — I know it's a bad habit, but they were defiantly not about him, "What is more important than listening to me now?" my best friend questions, "Homework." I trail off.

"And by homework, you mean Gossip Girl?" she guesses. Hearing the words I click Gossip Girl off, reopening my English paper.

"Stop stalking him!" B screams through the phone, "I am not. I'm doing my English paper. Bye, Blair." I say pulling the phone from my ear, "Val-" she starts as I hang up.

All standing in my room Blair and Elenore try out dresses as I type away on my laptop, "She's going on, and on, about how it would end up around your finger." Elenore tells her daughter, "Someday." she adds seeing Blair's face.

"Nate spoke to his mother about our future?" she asks her mother as she smiles happily, "He actually asked for the family ring?" B asks for confirmation.

Humming Elenore nods, shooting me a wink before leaving. Squeaking I smile at the good news, while Blair looking for an outfit for me.

"And I'll help you forget Thomas and focus on Campbell." she says browsing through my closet. Looking over her shoulder I nod, "What does he like?" she asks me, "Uh, the black dress I wore?" I ask.

Taking out the blue dress she smiles happily, "It's the same style, only a bit tighter... and shorter." she winks, holding out the dress. Huffing, I take the dress from her as my phone rings. Seeing Chuck's caller I don't want to pick up.

Only for Blair to take it as she rolls her eyes, "She will be there." she nods. Causing my brows to furrow, "Now put that dress on and meet Chuck at The Palace. This anti-Bass thing is ruining your friendship." she tells me.

Sighing I unbutton my blouse. Putting on the beautiful satin blue wrap dress Elenore made, "I love it when you talk dirty." Chuck smirks as I told him how good the sandwich was.

"You have an unhealthy relationship with sex." I say raising a brow at the boy, "Well, you should talk to Thomas. He was the one introducing me to this sex life." he retorts. Raising a brow at him he just looks amused, "I had my fair share of sex talks with him to know that it was Jack." I tell him.

Humming, he trails his fingers over me, "What are you doing?" I ask, "Don't worry. Tommy doesn't have to know." he tells me, "What?" I question confused, "I can see the way you look at him." Chuck tells me.

Furrowing my brows he traces his hands moreover me, starting to kiss the side of my face. Breathing heavily I feel like I can't move, "Stop." I cry out, pushing him off me.

Stepping back at my action he raises his arms. Now realising the girl wasn't playing hard to get, she just did not want him or it. Jumping off the rack, I quickly make my way out. Followed by the older Bass, I move into the crowd successfully losing him.

Almost running out the building, hot tears stream down my face. Trying to hold a cab, a limo stops in front of me. The door opening, the last person I wanted to see steps out, "Val?" Thomas asks.

Sniffing I turn around wiping my tears, feeling a hand on my shoulder I keep looking up. Only to be turned around and lift off my feet. Looking down at him, he smiles sadly, "Just let me help you." he whispers.

Nodding I wrap my arms around him, letting him carry me. In his room, I try to explain what happened but end up just crying. Hearing the front door of the suite close, Tom's jaw clenches. Standing up he holds my hands, "Just stay here, okay?" he tells me.

As I nod he kisses my hands, before leaving the room. Walking out he pushes his brother against the wall the fastest chance he gets, "What did you do to her?" he asks angrily.

"Nothing." Chuck denies, "She is crying, and can't even speak without choking on her tears. The only thing she said was your name." he reminds him. Holding his brother in the tight grip, "What did you do to her?" he asks again, continuously holding him against the wall.

Only to be pulled back by their best friend, Nataniel, "I swear to God. If you touched her, I'll end you." Thomas warns, "I did what she kept handing to you, and you didn't take." Charles tells his little brother.

Making it seem like more happened than actually did, "You son of—" he starts, wants to punch his brother. Hearing the commotion, I open the door. Freezing them all in their stand, "Are you okay?" Chuck asks me. Nodding I glance at the remaining two, "Can I talk to Chuck?"

Looking at each other. All three boys nod, "Alone?" I question, as they kept standing there. Walking into Tom's room, I stand outside of it. Holding my arm to the couch, "Let's sit." I suggest. Taking a seat he looks at me sadly, "I am so sorry, Val." he begins immediately, "I thought that if we kissed you would be into it. I never meant to force myself on you."

Nodding I bite my lip, "We didn't at the masked ball." I start, "I have never- I never actually." I tell the boy, "I feel like such an asshole now." Chuck curses looking down, "You talked about how I look at Tom. Then started kissing me and your hands." I continue, raising his face by his chin.

"It got too much?" he guesses, "Yes, you are my friend. And I love you, I-" I start, "Never saw me as someone you want to have sex with." he ends. As I nod, he holds his hand out for me to take, "I promise you, I was never going to do anything you didn't want." he says squeezing my hands.

"When you said stop, I stopped. I don't ever want you to feel unsafe because of me." he tells me. Letting go of his hands, I pull him into a hug, "It's okay." I whisper.

Eventually pulling away, I walk back into Tom's room. For the two of them to stand in awkward positions, "Okay..." I trail off, "I'm taking a shower." I inform them. Taking the good towel from his drawer.

Opening the shower I take deep breaths. Rubbing my neck and shoulders well. Drying down, I lotion my skin before putting my clothes back on. Actually surprised by the amount of stuff of mine still here.

"Where are you going?" a familiar voice asks as I opened the door, "Home." I say walking out of the suite. As he follows me I can feel his eyes bore into the side of my face, "Look, he said sorry." I tell Thomas.

"Besides it's not like he forced himself on me." I remind him, not knowing the words Chuck said before we had our talk. Glancing at my watch I sigh, "I really have to go. I have a dinner to get dressed for."