Chapter 1


To say she had been surprised by her first semester at NYU would have been an understatement. Despite her schizophrenia suffering room-mate from hell, who frequently gave out tips on how Blair could save her soul before then going off to sniff copious amounts of coke, she had fallen into a comfortable routine she thought she'd never find at any other school besides Yale. She was beginning to see how first appearances and past expectations had been so wrong, take the guys in her life for example.

Nate had been her scripted prince since the age of 4, her knight in shining armour, till he fell off his horse when he fell onto Serena. She had been naïve and in hindsight knew this, there had never been any passion in their relationship and with this lacking she had tried to make up for it by pushing it to resemble something from a fairytale. Looking back the love that was there had only ever been pure, she smirked thinking of that clichéd show Serena had made her watch when she was younger. Nate was her Dawson. Her first love. But ultimately not the one she ends up with.

Then came Chuck, her anti-Nate, the passion that had been lacking in her first relationship, Chuck made up for it ten fold. Their first couple of months together she had been so consumed with lust and what she thought was love that she hadn't seen the signs, they simply couldn't communicate. Most days were spent in bed, or on the floor. If a conversation wasn't going the way one of them wanted, one of them would simply break the other off in a kiss and all was forgotten in a sea of tangled limbs.

It wasn't till summer had past and reality had kicked in, in the forms of work and school, that both realised that they were gonna have to try bloody hard to make it work and try they did, Blair smiled at the memories of Chuck's late night rendezvous, showing up with flowers and champagne at the dorm in the hope Georgina had somewhere better to be (She hadn't). But ultimately there was always an assignment to finish or a meeting to attend and both should have been able to see where it was headed. They had been together only one month into school when she caught him with his secretary, his pants round his ankles, she merely closed the door and walked away, expecting him to run after her, thankful he didn't. It wasn't the painful or harsh breakup she had envisioned, both admitted beyond the sex and without the games they were wrong for each other, in a way maybe too similar. She said she probably never really trusted him and so wasn't surprised nor angry, he said he had never given her a reason too. They had parted amicably and more importantly Blair thought, as friends.

The most surprising thing of all was the relief she felt, after all the trouble, Nate-Chuck-Marcus-Nate-Chuck, for the first time she was free from drama. But as enjoyable as the single life seemed Blair still hoped that one day she'd find her Soul mate, her Pacey.

NYU therefore was her fresh start, she could become who she wanted to be, someone who occasionally wore jeans, who drank cheap coffee off a vendor and someone who had rode the subway (Only once so far, but baby steps she thought). NYU was Blair's chance to reinvent herself and become someone who was less time consuming to upkeep, her chance to finally find herself.

After the initial shock of meeting her room-mate, Blair had realised Georgina wasn't all bad. It had taken her little over a month and a half to get herself kicked out (Coke habits didn't bode well with the dean) thus leaving Blair with a dorm room to herself, a dorm that was close as she could get to resemble her room at home. She had thought about hiring an interior decorator to try and rescue the room but knew the stares and mummers that her neighbours would give. She was aware half of the students thought of her as that spoilt rich girl Gossip Girl had an obsession with and that was only because the other half had never even heard of Gossip Girl, to them she was just rich and spoilt.

Serena had visited once, spending the whole weekend excitingly babbling about Brown, about how sorry she was to hear about Chuck, "Although I have to say B, post break up seems to suit you, you look great" and also mentioning she had to check in with Dan at some point, asking if he and Blair had kept in touch. She said they hadn't, in fact she hadn't given much thought to him being on the same campus.

"Well maybe you two should catch up, you have things in common now, same school and all." Serena had said without any hint of sarcasm.

Blair knew Serena was worried but trying to create a play date with herself and her Ex was pushing it, she simply smirked and replied "We had you in common before and I didn't like communicating with him then."

"Yeah but your this whole new nicer package now Blair don't forget, I seem to remember a certain text about you spending a whole 23 minutes on the subway, not to mention you being able to share a bathroom, maybe expanding your friends will be part of the growing process too." Serena said with a raised eyebrow and pursed smile. Blair simply rolled her eyes adding, "There's being nicer and there's pigs flying S."

She saw him in her English Lit class not long after her discussion with Serena and wondered how it had taken this long. He'd been away over summer, Serena had mentioned something about him visiting his mum before joining Vanessa and Nate in Europe, but he would have been at NYU, in this specific class for five weeks, how had neither not noticed one another before. He was in a Navy plaid Shirt, a light tan on his skin, evidence from his summer Blair thought and his hair was slightly longer letting the natural curls grow out. From her side view she could see he was tapping his pencil onto the open textbook in front of him, staring at nothing in a spaced out kind of way, simply daydreaming. She smiled at the image, Serena had been right, it was good to see a familiar face, even if it was Cabbage Patch.

Blair had packed up and left the lecture hall first and on a spare of the moment decision she decided to wait outside for Dan. As she waited she began to take in her surroundings; the hustle of classmates leaving, talking about the recent assignment or their plans for that night. Her first month at university she had been busy with Chuck so she hadn't really embraced what it was like to be a fresher, to throw caution to the wind and act a little reckless, she made a mental note to try and start now. He was talking to some Bimbo as he walked out the door she noticed, holding it open for the nameless blond. Upon noticing Blair he raised his eyebrow as a look of surprise flashed his face, Blair simply smirked before saying, "Glad to see things haven't changed, still pushing above your weight Humphrey." Dan simply rolled his eyes before gesturing to the blonde and saying "Olivia this is Blair, Blair Olivia." The girl waved and said a nervous but polite hello before saying she had to get to her next class, she made plans with Dan about some study group before walking off.

She was pretty Blair noted, not Audrey Hepburn beautiful but pretty in a cute, girl next door kind of way, almost Serena like, if only she had better taste in clothes, she looked like a walking Gap commercial.

Dan started to adjust his satchel strap and shuffle his shoes as they were left alone, if Blair didn't know better she would have thought he was nervous, "She's errr just a friend, she rooms with Vanessa so we hang out sometimes, mostly in class...." Blair put up her hand as if to stop his rambling, "I don't care Cabbage Patch, I just wanted to know what you thought about the assignment, I figured an analysis on Wuthering Heights would be your thing, with your penchant for chick lit." Dan shook his head with a light laugh, "Afraid I'm the worst person to ask, I never really liked the book, always thought if Cathy had just been honest about her love for Heathcliff things would have worked out, saved themselves and others all that heartache."

"Yeah but then that would have made a boring book, everyone knows the best love stories are complicated." Blair stated wistfully, looking at the ground. Dan must have noticed Blair's face drop because he took a step closer, put his hand on her shoulder and asked if she was ok, Blair straightened immediately and started to walk, she knew he must have heard about her and Chuck but she really didn't want that conversation, especially not with Dan. As he fell in step beside her Blair ignored his question and asked, "You want to dissect over a coffee? It will be good to get a different view on the novel I guess, even if it is from an optimistic romantic." She turned noticing Dan had stopped walking, he yet again had that surprised look on his face and the raised eyebrow, it was quickly replaced by a small smile and a nod of his curls before he resumed walking, "Er yeah sure, although I'm pretty sure someone who can recite every line from Breakfast at Tiffany's isn't exactly a pessimist, if that's not a hopeless romantic I don't know what is."

Blair turned to face him, looking directly into his eyes before saying "Yeah well, things change."

So this is my first attempt at writing, i love the thought of Dair so much it inspired me. This hasn't had a Beta read through so is probably littered with mistakes, especially when it comes to paragraphing and writing speech. Any pointers would be apprecitated. :)