Suitcases of Escape
Disclaimer: I don't own Gossip Girl, Jenny or Nate, but this idea is mine despite how cliché it is.
It was fun to write a spare-of-the-moment one-shot. Thank you for taking the time to open up my story. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. Thank you to my beta sliver. wings .34
Suitcases by the door, handbag over my shoulder, sewing machine in my hand. The perfect escape. I took one last look around the Loft, my final goodbye.
I pushed my blonde fringe from my eyelashes, pilfered a deep breath and took slow step after slow step towards the door. To my surprise, shock, and sudden sinking of the heart, it bust open like explosion – an explosion of ... "Nate?" I asked. "What are doing here?"
"I'm here to stop you from leaving, to save you from making the worst decision of your life."
My lips parted in shock as I took in his sudden appearance. Noble Nate was going save me from making the worst decision of my life? This was the best decision of my life – it was going to change my existence.
"I can't let you save me again," I whispered, pushing past him. If I allowed my senses to see him – feel him – then I might just change my mind and I couldn't throw away everything that I'd been working towards for months on end. As I brushed past him, I felt his shoulder, and I faltered. I could smell him: dangerous, soft, like fire thawing snow – I wanted to melt away, fall into him and everything he was. But I just kept walking.
I winched the handle from the suitcase, ready to tow it behind me. I stopped. I promised myself I wasn't going to say any goodbyes. Goodbye and sorry were the two hardest words in the English language but only one would allow me what I wanted. So I elected sorry over goodbye because, for me, it was the right thing to do. But now ... now for Nate Archibald – Nate fucking Archibald – I was going to break the promise I'd made to myself.
"Goodbye, Nate." My eye line dropped to my toes. I walked out of the Loft, leaving him standing alone in a house that wasn't his. I walked down the hall, my suitcase and sewing machine heavy weights burdening a walk of freedom. My steps became protracted and sporadic as though I was incapable of walking naturally. Nate was in the Loft for me. For me. Tears threatened my blue eyes.
From behind me he came out with words that threatened my future, my career, my credibility and reliability as a fashion designer: "Jenny, I love you."
My intermittent stagger came to halt and I crooked to see him standing in the doorway, his hands in his pockets, his face sad, sincere, nervous, vulnerable – a Nate I'd never seen before.
I didn't know what to do. My career or my love.
"Jenny, did you hear me?"
When I still didn't answer he advanced me. My face was blank, a black void that information slipped into and never returned from. I was a volcano of emotions and not one of them was showing how I felt. Angry, annoyed, impassive, bemused, but above all and most importantly, in love.
"Love?"
I backed up to the wall and slid down the rough, uneven bricks. They were cold and hard, exactly how I wanted N – him to see me, but I broke down instead.
"This is my career, N –" I couldn't say his name, couldn't even think it after the words he had just spoken to me. It lingered on the tip of my tongue, fighting for its right to be heard loud and clear. "This isn't just another dress in Eleanor's collection. This is my own, my very own collection. Paris is waiting for me to prove myself and you come here to stop me." My sobs were irrepressible and disobedient to my commands for them to stop. He sat down next to me and pulled me into a hug, caressing my hair. I fell into his lap.
I felt tears run down my cheeks, bringing with them black mascara that smudged lines of sinister pain down my cheeks. Why was this happening to me now?
Sobbing, I attempted on many occasions to speak, but words just wouldn't form. Finally, I settled enough to breathe. Nate's hand was still stroking my hair. I stared up at him and whispered, "I love you too."
There you go! My cliché N&J piece.
Please take into account that this was written after I'd seen Inglorious Basstards not that it really makes much difference, it's relatively futuristic when you think about it. Although I hope you understand the Jenny is still a Constance and Nate is still with Serena. And the events of the finale were not even considered.
Your comments and reviews are much appreciated as this is my first step into the Gossip Girl fanfiction world. I hope you enjoyed.
Ta ta for now my lovely readers,
CGIL xx