DISCLAIMER: I don't own anything. If I did, Serenate would be endgame.
"Damn it." Serena swore, as the rain continued to pour down. It had been almost half an hour now. She was in the middle of a park, and had no intention of getting up.
"Yup, today is definitely not my day." She thought, sighing. But she didn't move - she continue to sit on the park bench. She was in no mood to go home and answer the questions that were sure to bombard her, and even though she was soaking wet and quite cold at that, she stay put, shivering in her little blue dress.
And then, she couldn't feel the rain anymore.
"Hey there", said Nate, as he sat down next to her. "When I found out everyone was looking for you, I figured you'd be here. And that you'd need an umbrella." "Thanks." she mumbled. "That's all I get? Atleast tell me why I'm here, holding up an umbrella for you." "Because you're a good friend?" "Serena.. You and I both know what I'm asking about here. Please."
He didn't sound desperate to know. He just.. sounded like he cared. The way Dan had. And then, without warning, images of that morning flashed in front of her eyes. She blinked them, and the newly appearing tears, away.
"No reason." She mumbled.
Nate put an arm around her and pulled her close. Now, she started to feel uneasy. Like there was something disgusting in her stomach and she had to spit it all out, and then everything would be okay. She took a deep breath in, refusing to break down. But then Nate started rubbing circles on her back. That did the trick.
And that was her breaking point. "We broke up."
Nate said nothing, which she was grateful for - she just needed to get it all out.
So she did. She told him about how Dan claimed she brought too much drama with her, and how she loved him so much. She cried about how Blair and her kept fighting, and how Chuck and her family just didn't seem to care. She sobbed, as she told him about how everything in her life was just falling apart, and that when Dan broke up with her, she felt like she had nothing. Like she was just another slutty rich girl, with no direction in life - and how deep inside, she knew that that was all she was. And how scared that made her.
And when she stopped talking, Nate held her. She - Serena van der Woodsen, who didn't ever have a reason to cry - cried.
Nate kept the umbrella aside. He didn't bother with words of comfort - he wasn't Dan filled with false words of reassurance. He lived her life. He was like her. He knew that on the UES, nothing was that simple, nothing fixed itself. He couldn't promise her about things whose certainty he had no idea about. So he made her one promise that he knew he could keep.
"Serena. I don't know what's going to happen. But I'm going to be there for you. I'm going to stand by you, okay?"
Serena slipped her hand into his, and put her head against his shoulder. This wasn't a movie - those words wouldn't just fix everything and make her smile. She was scared, she was sad, she was broken, even.
But for a split second there, just for a flash, she felt whole again.
"When the rain is blowing in your face,
and the whole world is on your case,
I will offer you a warm embrace,
and make you feel my love"