This is my first fic, please read and reveiw!
"I'll do it!" Blair raised her pen and pushed her chair forward to make sure she could be seen at the long boardroom table. She was sitting in her editor's weekly staff meeting at Elle. Her boss, the Style News Editor, was discussing the "Street Trends" spread needed for the May issue. With the fashion houses locked down beginning work for the fall shows, the magazine thought it was the perfect time to focus on the street and urban wear seen on the hipsters who seemed to be flooding the music and entertainment industries these days. Blair immediately thought of tapping into Serena's contacts in the music business, and tagging along to a fabulous party to get the goods on the latest styles.
"Alright Blair, you've got it. But I don't want to see a bunch of the same faces that grace the party pages of Vanity Fair every month; we need real people, who are bringing real, creative style to the city." Her Editor looked pointedly at her.
"Of course, I've got it covered." Blair smiled her best "I'm on top of it, boss" smile. While the agenda moved on to other assignments, Blair sat back in the high backed leather chair, thinking about where to start. She knew that she had to knock this one out of the park if she wanted to continue her rise at Hachette Filipacchi Media. This was her first "real job" out of college and she was determined to make it the first step in a great career. She had finished up at Columbia a little less than a year ago. Her position at Elle was one of several offers she had considered (the first offer being Senior Assistant to her mother- "No, thank you"), but quickly decided on this job, once her investigation of each of the offers turned up several visits to a fertility clinic by one Style News Editor for Elle Magazine. For the past several months she had focused on making a name for herself as the go-to-girl in the Style News office, in preparation for her boss' impending pregnancy (she just hoped it would be soon). Now, with this latest assignment, she had the opportunity to really show them her talent. Looking at her notes, the word "hipster" jumped out and she immediately thought of plaid shirts and old scarves. Dan, Jenny and Vanessa embodied that word, and she knew she would have to tap in on their locale to really understand the look and concept for this story. She quickly wrote down "Brooklyn", underlined it 3 times and turned her attention back to the meeting.
Her last visit over the bridge was over 2 years ago, and that was not a time she liked to spend much thought on. She and Dan had formed an unlikely friendship during their sophomore year of college, and yes, she had spent some time in Brooklyn, mostly holed up in his loft watching movies. But with all that had happened to Chuck and Lily, they had decided that the friendship would have to wait as their attentions were needed elsewhere. Oh, there had also been that kiss, that "one kiss" as Dan had called it. And while it had been "wow" (as she recalled), it just wasn't the right time. They went back to being more formal acquaintances that had the occasional run in at parties, but never spent time alone together or had much of a relationship to speak of. Blair thought the last time she saw him must have been for Eric's birthday back in February, but she honestly had no idea what he was up to, or even if he still resided in Brooklyn.
As the meeting ended, Blair quickly walked over to the administrative assistant the staffers shared and asked her to find the number for a Daniel Humphrey in Brooklyn or Manhattan. She could have asked Serena for the number, but for some reason she wanted to keep this professional and private. Within the hour she had a neatly printed post-it reading "Daniel Humphrey- The Hudson Review" with his office and cell numbers listed. Of course he was in the industry, she smiled. Even though fashion and literature were worlds away in publishing, she found some comfort knowing that they had both landed at magazines. She picked up the phone, dialed his office number, and readied herself to leave a message after the third ring. But, instead of the voicemail picking up she heard "Hello, this is Dan" on the other end and she suddenly became very nervous.
"Hello?" he said again after a beat, with no response from the other end.
"Dan, it's Blair, Blair Waldorf." Blair recovered quickly, remembering her assignment.
"Blair. Hello." Dan sounded perplexed as to why she was on the phone. "Is everything alright?" thinking she could only be calling him due to some emergency with Serena or Nate.
"Oh, yes, everything is fine. I didn't know you worked for The Hudson Review."
"I do. I've been here about a year. Are you calling me for a job? I thought you were busy climbing the success ladder over at Elle?"
"Oh, no, I'm still here at Elle, I just didn't realize you were in the industry too until I got your number. In fact, I'm calling you about an assignment I have here at Elle that I'm hoping to get your help with." Embarrassed that he seemed to know what she was up to and she had no idea about his life, she decided not to ask about Brooklyn quite yet. "Maybe we could meet for coffee this afternoon and I could tell you about it?" She asked hopefully.
"I'm free after 2pm today. Does that work for you?" Dan asked, not even stopping to find out what she needed his help with.
Blair smiled; it was so like him just to jump in without question. "Sure, let's say Café Metro at 2:30?"
"See you then."
"I look forward to it". Blair said, and actually meant it.
Blair finished up her 1 o'clock and headed back to her office, noting she had a little over 20 minutes until her meeting with Dan. She pulled out her mirror, smoothed her hair and applied a fresh coat of red lipstick. She grabbed her coat, bag, the current issue of Elle for inspiration and hopped on the elevator.
In the cab Blair flipped through the current issue, smiling when she saw her name among the staffers in the front pages of the magazine. She pulled out her notepad and looked again at her notes from the meeting. Her editor was looking for a true "street look", something both inspired by and inspiring to the big fashion houses. She wanted not just trends, but whole looks captured, and wanted interviews with the style makers on how they pulled their looks together. Blair envisioned informal shots of the wearers on the streets accompanying her copy. She sat back in the seat and smiled to herself over her pending success with this spread.
Blair entered the café and quickly took a seat by the window. Dan had yet to show up and she saw that she was a few minutes early. She ordered her latte and looked back at her notes. She glanced up as she heard the door open and saw Dan walk through. He was in dark jeans, a gray, v-neck t-shirt and a dark green blazer. He had on his ray-ban wayfarers and Blair wondered if she'd ever seen Dan in sunglasses before. Other than the ever-present scarf, she had never thought of him as an accessories kind of guy. He looks good, she thought. And he did. He looked comfortable, confident and every bit the city boy he was. He took off the sunglasses, glanced around the café and nodded once he saw her. As he made his way over to her, she stood and walked toward him with her hand extended in an all too professional greeting.
"Dan, thank you so much for meeting me" she smiled warmly and thrust her hand forward.
Dan eyed her hand suspiciously, and looked up to her face with a small chuckle. He took her hand in a firm, but slightly mocking handshake. "No problem Blair, good to see you" he said, with a quick nod to the table indicating that they sit down. "So, what's up?" he placed his glasses on the table, while Blair motioned to the waiter to get Dan's order.
Blair sat up and straightened her shoulders while folding her hands on top of her notebook and current issue of Elle. "Well, thank you again for coming, I appreciate you taking the time to meet with me" she said a little too formally. "I have a new assignment at Elle and I'm hoping you can help me with it".
Dan smirked at her formality and wondered where the real Waldorf he knew so well was hiding. "So you said on the phone, are you looking for a writer? I dabble in some freelance work outside of the magazine, but I have to warn you, my rates are high and I'll need some advance notice to clear my schedule."
Blair snorted through her sip of coffee, almost spilling. "Your rates are HIGH, Humphrey?" she said with a laugh. She imagined going back to Elle with a proposition for a story by Dan Humphrey and shook her head to clear the ridiculous thought.
Oh, there you are, thought Dan.
Blair caught herself before she truly crossed the line. "I mean, no, I am not looking for a writer, although I'm sure you are very talented and by all means deserve those high rates for your work" she snickered. "I'm actually looking for some help with a fashion spread."
Dan's eyes widened "So you thought you would come to me, the biggest fashion plate you know, for help?" Dan said with a roll of his eyes.
"Humphrey, get over yourself, of course I'm not looking for your help with fashion" she paused. "I'm looking for your help with Brooklyn."
At least she's not calling me Dan anymore, he thought as she continued.
"My editors are looking for me to bring in an article on street fashion. They want something urban and approachable, so of course I thought Brooklyn would be the perfect place to find what they want". She smiled at her brilliance as she spoke. "And I need you to help me find it!"
Dan looked taken aback at first. This was not what he had in mind when she called him. Blair Waldorf, whom he had barely spent 5 minutes alone with in the past two years, was not only looking for his help, but was looking for him to show her Brooklyn? As she smiled and looked at him expectantly for an answer, he took her in.
The last two years had done nothing to decrease her beauty, taste and charm. She was still very much the Queen B, but she also looked less confident now. He had seen her on occasion at parties, off to the side, watching her regale everyone with stories of the fashion world, but hadn't been this close to her in a long time. Usually she was surrounded by Serena, Nate, Chuck and Eric, their close friendships surviving the break-ups, make-ups and drama of the past years. He still remained close with Nate, Serena and Eric, but as always, in a different way than what this core group had together. Blair one on one seemed different, warmer, somehow. They had always had an easy dialogue so he was surprised to hear some anxiety behind her seemingly confident approach to asking for his help.
"So, you need me to show you Brooklyn". He stated, knowing that there was no way he could say no to a Blair Waldorf task. "Of course I will." He finished with a smile.
She let out a small sigh of relief and smiled. "Great. We should get started right away. This is for the May issue, so we only have a few weeks to get it done. Can we meet at the loft tomorrow?" She jumped right in.
Dan shook his head as she began her planning. "I don't have the loft anymore. I own a townhouse in Williamsburg, which, yes, we can meet at tomorrow."
Blair raised her eyebrows "Townhouse?" she clarified.
"Yes, and I have the mortgage payments to prove it." He gave her the address and watched as she put it into her Blackberry. "So let's say 9 am tomorrow. Saturday's are a good day to get the feel of the real Brooklyn. Why don't you meet me at my house and we'll head out from there?"
"Sounds good" Blair confirmed, as she watched Dan summon the Waiter and pay for the coffees. They said goodbyes a little less formally, and walked out together, Dan holding the door for her, before heading in separate directions down the street.