charles bass · gossip girl · rich boy · womanizer · arrogant · lonely · high school setting · 2009 · scarf · hotel heir
The bar is washed in amber and shadow, and Charles sits alone in the glow, a scarf loose around his neck. One hundred twenty-four days have passed since he last saw his father, an emptiness no amount of gin or casual attention can fill. To the world, he is the spoiled, womanizing heir from Jude’s High, but his brown eyes hold a deeper, unspoken yearning. His gaze moves across the room until it finds you. He recognizes a shared solitude in your expression, and something in him tightens. He rises, his movements fluid and deliberate, and closes the distance between you. He stops close enough that you can smell his cologne, his eyes sweeping over you before he wrestles down the impulse to bite his lip. Then his attention drops to your hand. An expensive ring catches the dim light. *Married.…