Part 1 of 2 : Summer, Kind of Wonderful
Not good, not good, not good! He chanted to himself as he breezed through his front door.
It was bad enough that he'd had to jump out a window in his boxers, but then to somehow run into the street at the exact moment that Serena was passing Catherine's house? It sounded like a scene from a cheesy overdone movie.
Oh, and Catherine just happened to end things with him before his little example of leaping prowess. How could he forget that part?
He didn't know which was worse: Catherine ending things, or Serena knowing that she'd been covering for him while he was with an older, married woman. He didn't want to think about what Serena's reaction would be. She looked more than a little ticked in the brief glimpse he'd gotten of her over the hood of some vintage hot rod that screamed "fuck me, fuck my car"—if you happened to like old cars. Nate could care less, and he probably wouldn't have even noticed the blasted thing if the grill hadn't nearly collided with his face.
After everything, Blair Waldorf was the very last thing on his mind, and the absolute last person he wanted to see that day.
But she didn't seem to care about his wants.
"Surprise!" Blair exclaimed. Her lips twitched in amusement at the look that must have crossed his face from finding her waiting his living room.
A million things raced through his head to say, not the least of which was 'get the fuck out!' But he was a gentleman first and his manners wouldn't let him invoke his inner Chuck Bass at the moment. Plus, though they hadn't spoken about any of their issues at all since their final breakup, they had managed small exchanges before she left for vacation—all of which took place merely due to their combined desire to help and support Serena. Cussing at her and ordering her away would've been a little over the top.
So, for lack of a better thing to say, he remained silent, just stared at her and waited for her to present her reason for materializing in the middle of his living room.
"Good," Blair said sarcastically. "You're happy to see me." She shrugged. "I'll make this quick."
"I'm waiting," he muttered with perhaps too much disdain in his voice.
"I need my pin back," she said, eyes flashing for a second before settling back into an exaggerated smile that twisted up the corners of her lips sardonically.
"Pin?" he asked, confused. That was the last thing he expected her to say.
"Ha," she rolled her eyes. "Of course you'd forget you had it, story of my life."
She threw her hands up in the air in mock surrender. Then she stared at him expectantly with that expression she always used whenever he was supposed to remember something that he was supposed to know but, for the life of him, couldn't remember.
But this time, he did remember. It only took him a few seconds, which was probably a record for him in the stupid game called 'Let's put Nate on the spot!'
"It's summer," he finally said, tight lipped and incredulous. "Why would I bring a sweater with me?" Of course he remembered the pin now. It was just the furthest thing from his mind at the moment. It seemed like forever since he'd used that pin to remind her of how much she loved him so that she would come back to him. That was practically another lifetime ago.
"Oh, you have it," Blair shrugged, gesturing toward the stairs exaggeratedly. "Just get it so I can leave."
Nate looked at the direction of her hand and back at her, unable to believe that she was still trying to order him around even though they'd been broken up since the beginning of the year. He raised his eyebrows and was about to snap that he didn't have the stupid sweater, when she saw the doubt on his face and interrupted.
"Jeeves packs it every year," she explained, looking at her manicure so as not to look at him as she continued. "I told him to."
That stopped Nate in his tracks. "You told my valet to send a sweater with me?" Unbelievable.
"Of course," she shrugged again. "That way, you'd have it wherever you go."
"You're crazy," he said, completely dubious.
She took exception to that. She snapped her head around to glare at him, dropping her hand back to her side. "No," she spat the words out angrily. "I loved you. And stupidly thought my heart was safe with you. I was obviously very wrong!"
Silence hung between them, both glaring at each other as all the bad memories flared in their heads.
"Go get it," she said between clenched teeth. "Please," she finished as sweetly as possible, dimpling with the faux grin she gave. "I have things to do this evening, and can't possibly enjoy myself knowing that a vital symbol of my emotions is still in your possession."
Nate finally turned on his heel and stalked up the stairs. He hated himself for once again following one of her orders, but if it got her to go away, he'd probably even stand on his head for her amusement. He was having a crap day and a heated exchange with his ex was hardly going to make it better.
When he returned with the sweater—yes, he actually found it and, no, he wasn't at all surprised that the dictates of Blair Waldorf had held firm even after their relationship was over—he threw it at her.
"Just take the entire thing," he muttered with disgust.
The sweater had been one of his favorites, the pin was hers, but he didn't want any part of it anymore. That had been what started this whole mess to begin with. If he'd never decided he missed her, then he never would have fallen in love with her all over again. And if he hadn't had that pin he probably wouldn't have figured out a way to appeal to her, ere go, he wouldn't have gotten her to go to Cotillion with him and then he wouldn't have gotten Chuck's leftovers.
But that was beside the point.
She sighed and began feeling the sleeves, looking for the tiny trinket.
"You got what you came for," he pointed out. "You can go now."
It was like she hadn't heard a word he said as she continued to look for the correct sleeve, finally finding it.
"Still bitter, I see…" she mumbled as she wiggled the small hook that was sewn into the material.
"Wouldn't you be—"
"Ah-ah-ah," she said, looking up beneath her lashes just as pointedly as he'd looked at her before.
He closed his mouth. She was right. She would have been… but she'd gotten over it, rather quickly too.
"At least I told you," he finally excused himself.
Blair shook her head, looking at him with disgust. "The difference was that you cheated, I didn't."
"Riiight," he drawled out, rolling his eyes heavenward.
Blair just smiled to herself in amusement. She knew she was right and he was wrong: story of his life. She was annoying him too much. And she was still fiddling with the stupid pin. Why wasn't she just taking the sweater with her too? Why was she still standing there, arguing with him?
"So, what?" he finally asked impatiently. "Got someone to give that to already? You do work quickly if I remember. Poor Chuck, or is it Chuck?"
She smirked. "Why? Jealous?"
He was not. He started to shake his head.
"I don't owe you any explanation," she spat the words, suddenly looking angrier than he'd ever seen her look at him. She yanked the pin out of the sweater, surely tearing the material—as if he cared—in the process. "I never did."
She balled the sweater up and threw it back at him un-expectantly.
He fumbled to catch the thing before it hit him full in the face.
"Hope it keeps you warm at night," she retorted before turning on her heel and leaving with a hard click of her heels across the wood floor paneling, slamming the door hard on the way out.
He flung the sweater away from him and flopped on the couch in relief that he finally had a few moments to himself.
Hopefully he wouldn't see Blair again for a long time—or at least until school started.
It looked like he wasn't the only one who was still bitter.
It's been the longest winter without you
I didn't know where to turn to
See, somehow I can't forget you
After all that we've been through…
It still amazed him that he had managed to keep his 'friendship' with Catherine a secret from Chuck. He knew Chuck would've probably been proud of him… but he'd promised Catherine he wouldn't tell anyone. Of course now Serena knew, but he hadn't told her. And he knew she wouldn't tell anyone.
But she had tried to call him last night and this morning too many times to count. He had resorted to putting the phone on vibrate so Chuck wouldn't wonder why he was ignoring it.
… if Chuck was actually paying enough attention to him to notice. As it was, Chuck had spent most of the morning talking about some new guy Blair was seeing and had brought to dinner with her to the Van der Woodsen/Bass home yesterday. At least now Nate knew the location of Blair's pin's new home. As if he cared.
He contemplated mentioning Blair's visit to see him the evening before, but then he thought better of it. Chuck would only want to know all the details, and what could he say? That he and she had both argued like a divorced couple and it appeared she was still just as bitter as him about the breakup?
Nate wasn't completely stupid. He knew that Chuck was jealous of this James person. He'd never actually seen Chuck being jealous, but he figured that the only reason Chuck would return to the city early was because he didn't want to see Blair with the Princeton boy.
…which was actually confirmed by Chuck himself when he finally ran out of excuses—the sprinkler line had been a little transparent. Chuck didn't need see-through material to know what was under a woman's dress. He'd seen enough of what was underneath one, he could probably envision everything just by looking at the outline. Plus, if there was someone there Chuck wanted to see naked, well, he was Chuck Bass. He'd have her in bed before the night was out.
"And, I don't want Blair throwing her call boy in my face," Chuck admitted.
He was surprised Chuck actually admitted that he was bothered by Blair and her new boyfriend, but he just kept up his supportive best friend routine. He really didn't want Chuck to leave early though. Now that Catherine wanted nothing to do with him, he was going to be completely bored over the next few days especially if his best friend wasn't around.
"By the way Archibald…"
Nate almost blanched. Chuck never referred to him by his last name. What was up with that?
"Now that the summer's almost over, I can tell you that I never believed any of the talk that you hit it with my sis."
Busted. Nate did blanch that time. He tried to cover it up and make his face go completely blank, but he knew Chuck wasn't buying it. His mind raced for some explanation and he was about to settle on complete denial—he was secretly dating Serena, but they had been trying to keep it under wraps until Serena could talk face-to-face with Blair. Serena didn't know if Blair would be hurt by the info, so they'd decided to wait to go public.
At least, that was part of the story he and she had concocted in case close friends or family members decided to pry into the rumor.
Fortunately, he didn't have to lie—and possibly make Chuck start to obsess over the possibility of Blair actually feeling that way—because apparently when you speak, or think, of the devil, she—or they—appear.
"Morning, Waldorf," Chuck said.
Nate wanted to turn and go the other way because, even though Blair was too busy rolling her eyes at Chuck and paying absolutely no attention to him, Serena was paying a lot of attention to him.
It was no use. She grabbed him and pulled him to the side before he could say 'Van Der Woodsen'—because apparently calling each other by their last names was the trend that morning.
"Nate, why didn't you call me back this morning," Serena said under her breath, clearly annoyed with him.
He turned quickly to make sure Chuck and Blair weren't paying attention.
"I can't talk about that here," he said quietly, looking around to see who else might be in the vicinity.
"When you told me your secret girlfriend was older, I thought you meant college. Not to mention, Catherine's married!"
Now he was feeling a little sheepish, and was that a little shame creeping in? Wait, what did he have to be ashamed of? He wasn't the one cheating on his husband… er, wife. Whatever!
"Catherine ended it with me last night," he just told her the truth quickly. He might as well get that over with before Serena continued to try to lecture him in front of the world.
"What? Tell me," she said, her face going from indignant to concern.
That was the best thing about Serena. She was very perceptive to other people's feelings, so obviously she'd picked up on the hurt in his voice right away. He didn't want to talk to Serena about any of this stuff on the middle of the sidewalk in the Hamptons, spitting distance from their best friends.
"Serena! Let's go!"
Sometimes, but only rarely, Blair Waldorf could be a savior, not the devil. This was one of those times.
Blair's command got Serena moving and she ended the conversation quickly. "Well, I'm glad to hear you're not seeing Catherine anymore. We can talk about it later."
He managed a nod, relieved to see them go. He joined Chuck just in time to hear him on the phone with Eric talking, once again, about Blair's little friend.
He couldn't stop himself from shaking his head. Chuck had it bad.
And it looked like he was going to spend the rest of the morning hearing all about Blair Waldorf while Chuck tried to prove that he was right and Blair was wrong… which reminded him of the argument he'd had with Blair the night before. Maybe he should have told Chuck to make haste out of the city. He could fend for himself for a few days.
But, as he continued following his best friend and listened to him go on and on about 'Princeton' versus 'Georgetown' and how he knew something wasn't right, he found himself agreeing with Chuck's antics. Chuck was going to stick around the White Party so he could snoop on the competition and search out a way to discredit him to Blair.
Nate could only smirk and laugh as he snored his way through a game of croquet—he was pretty sure it was Eric's idea to play that particular game.
He was feeling a little better about things though, especially after he followed Chuck's lead and decided he was going to check out Catherine's husband that night. He was very curious about the man. He probably should have said something to Serena first before telling Cece that he was escorting Serena… but he was positive she would understand.
He was half right.
But ultimately, he got what he wanted. He managed to make her jealous—maybe Chuck should take that little pointer from him… if he could tell Chuck about Catherine he would suggest that technique and the success he'd had with it.
He knew that it was all wrong, but he'd been through so much in the past year he just couldn't stop. He was happy, and he deserved a little happiness for once.
He kissed good bye to summer and made the decision to head back to the city with Chuck the next morning, content that his little summer fling would last a little longer.
He should have known better than to think he could avoid his problems forever though.
He was about to learn that sometimes things don't get better in time.
No matter how much he wished they would.
Going coming thought I heard a knock
Who's there no one
Thinking that I deserve it
Now I realize that I really didn't know
You didn't notice you mean everything
Quickly I'm learning to love again
All I know is I'ma be okay
To be continued, from Never Been Marcused.
SONG: "Better In Time" Leona Lewis