Disclaimer: I do not own Gossip Girl.
"I'm the loneliest girl in the world." She sighs half-drunk, half-driven by melancholia.
"You're not." He turns to her. Since they met and rekindled at NYU they've been like bread and butter.
She has changed a lot. The headbands are gone. And skinny jeans and flats took the place of designer dresses and high heels.
She now calls him C.P. instead of Cabbage Patch and he kind of likes it on a secret basis because it gives him streetwise credit among the seniors although he doesn't need any. It also creates an aura of mystery among the sorority girls. He can't deny he appreciates that too.
He has held her head twice while she was meeting the bowl after one of those oh too many campus parties they attended together – because she threatened never to talk to him again if he didn't.
But she's still Blair Waldorf. Thus meaning they still banter over things and she still disagrees to every statement he utters. Only now she does it with a smile on her face and he never knows if she actually means it or it's just plain mockery, Blair Waldorf style.
So when she claims to be the-loneliest-girl-in-the-world he feels slightly upset because if there is one person in the whole-wide-world that is always there for her it's him.
"People abandon me all the time," She pouts turning to his side, dreamy eyes and all. "What's wrong with me?"
They are lying on the campus field after one of the too many parties. He could discuss the reasons but he's way too tired for bantering right now.
He just looks at her and keeps quiet. They are facing each other, eyes locked. The perfect moment for the perfect kiss.
Only it doesn't happen. Not that he hasn't thought of it before because – who is he fooling here? – she's absolutely gorgeous but no, thanks. He knows exactly where it will end if he tries and - ironic as it may sound - he still prefers her friendship than nothing.
She touches his face and he cringes internally. "We should get inside." Blair lies back and looks at the sky. "No. Not yet."
Dan lies back too. The stars are especially shiny tonight. Or maybe the rum punch was so good he just kept drinking.
"I've been thinking - -"
"Really?" He scoffs. She punches him playfully.
"We're survivors, Dan."
She rests her head on his shoulder. He embraces her with his left arm, his right serving as a pillow for himself. "We've been through an awful lot, it's about time we get our break."
"And how would that be?" Dan's eyes are slightly sleepy now. She shrugs. "I dunno. Like, I left the Upper East behind. Did you leave Brooklyn?"
He shuts his eyes and thinks for a moment. In the past he struggled a lot to keep things decent. His mom's estrangement, Serena, being rejected in Princeton. Blair had issues too. Her parents, being cheated by Nate and Serena, Chuck - on his own. Just to mention a few. She was right. It was about time they had some rest.
She looks up. "Promise me, C.P." Her eyes are a premise of something good.
"What?"
"Promise you'll never leave me, no matter what."
He stops for a short while. "Y-yes." His voice twitches in his dry throat but he manages to answer.
She leans in. The promise is sealed with a kiss.
"Now we can go back." Blair utters. The loneliest girl is not lonely anymore.
Thank you.