The city flew by as the car sped down the road, the two occupants inside barely taking any notice of what was passing them, too deep in their thoughts to worry about their surroundings. Night had fallen hours ago, and yet, the city was still thriving, people walking the streets, others dancing in high end clubs, limos and taxis zooming about. After all, it is New York City, the Big Apple, the city that never sleeps. Serena stared out the window, her warm breath fogging it up as she tried her best to avoid eye contact with the girl sitting beside her.
"We're going to have to talk about this sooner or later," the girl said, trying to meet her friend's gaze unsuccessfully.
"There's nothing to talk about," Serena stated, her stare unwavering as she watched the world pass her by.
"He's dead Serena, there's nothing we can do about that now, but holding in your feelings about what happened isn't going to solve anything. Believe me, I know," the girl told her, taking a hold of Serena's hand, only for her to rip hers away, shifting her hard stare to the girl.
"You don't know anything! You could've said something, you could've stopped this. You were supposed to be my friend!" Serena shouted, taking the girl by surprise at the tone her voice had taken on.
"I was just as out of it as you were. You know I'm not the one to blame here! She is!" the girl snapped, returning her friend's threatening glare, her brown hair spilling over her face.
"That still doesn't change the fact that it happened, and you knew that it was going to happen," Serena mumbled, crossing her arms over her chest defiantly.
"He did that stuff all the time Serena, neither of us could've known that he would react like he did. As far as I knew, that had never happened to him before," the girl said, her tone becoming softer, more comforting than threatening.
"Either way, I can't stay here. Even if that hadn't happened tonight, it still wasn't the worst thing I've done in the past six hours," Serena sniffed, fresh tears welling up in her eyes.
"It doesn't matter what you did. If you make amends now, instead of running away from your problems, you'll feel better for it," the girl assured her, gripping Serena's hand in hers again, only this time she didn't pull away.
"But what I did was unforgiveable. How could anyone forgive me after what I did?" Serena questioned, more tears streaming down her face as she met her friend's gaze, looking more vulnerable than the girl had ever seen her.
"There's a reason you have friends Serena. No matter how bad something is, you will always be forgiven, even if it takes a little while for us to get over it, you know that we will make it through together," the girl reassured her with a weak smile, giving her friend's hand a squeeze.
"Not this time, this is something that can't be forgiven. I'm leaving. I can't face her, I just can't," Serena sobbed, her shoulders shaking as each sob escaped her. The girl quickly took Serena in her arms and held her close, not planning to let go of her friend until she had settled down.
"You don't have to do it right now. Why don't you come home with me, and we can figure out what to do in the morning. Sound good?" the girl asked, seeing her building coming up fast, waiting for her friend to give a reply.
"Ok," Serena replied, just as the taxi came to a stop at the hotel's front step.
"Everything is going to be okay," the girl assured her, pulling away from her friend to get out, only for Serena to stop her.
"Thanks. For everything you've done," she said with a weak smile, her hands shaking slightly against the cold night air.
"You're my best friend. I'd do anything for you," the girl beamed stepping out of the car. As she turned around to help Serena out of the car, the door slammed shut, and Serena gave her an apologetic look, before the taxi pulled away, leaving the girl standing on the side of the road.
"Serena! Wait, Serena!" the girl shouted, watching in horror as her friend drove away, probably never going to see her ever again. She pulled out her phone and tried to call her friend, each ring making her worry more and more as they blasted in her ear. If she was being honest, each ring was getting louder and louder, blasting into her ear as the seconds ticked by. When she put her phone down and the rings still kept going, she turned around to find the source of the noise, not being able to find it.
"Tori?" a voice said, seeming to come from thin air, barely audible amongst the blaring of the rings in the girl's ears.
"Tori," the voice said again, sound slightly louder this time, but not loud enough to drown out the ringing in her ear, which was starting to sound more like an alarm, now that the girl really listened.
"Tori! For goodness sake, wake up!" Tori shot up in bed, hearing something fall to floor with a thump She looked around the quickly, taking in her strange surroundings, not recognizing the bedroom she had woken up in. It took her a few seconds to realize she was in the Waldorf's guest room, having slept over the previous night, so that she could go to party with her closest friend, and enemy, Blair.
"Blair? Are you in here?" Tori asked, searching the room for her friend, assuming it was her that had woken Tori up only a few seconds ago. Next thing she knew, Blair's head popped up from the side of the bed, making Tori jump at her sudden appearance.
"If you must know, I'm on the floor. No thanks to you," Blair snapped, pulling herself to her feet, using the bed to stable herself once she was standing up again.
"Sorry about that, it took me a while to fall asleep," Tori yawned, stretching her arms above her head, running her fingers through her hair, groaning when she found an uncountable amount of knots.
"Don't care why you took so long, all I care about is that we are going to miss my mother's party if you don't get up right now and get dressed," Blair said calmly, stepping away from the bed and throwing open the closest doors. She started skimming through the many dresses Tori had left there from her last visit, this room being Tori's home away from home, when she just couldn't go home and face her family, even if her father and brother didn't lived in the same room as her.
"Are you sure we have to go? We could just stay here and sleep all day," Tori suggested, throwing off the covers and swinging her feet over the edge, walking over to stand beside Blair as she rummaged through Tori's clothes.
"You already slept in longer than you should have, going to a party where your friends are won't kill you," Blair told her, pushing a knee-length, navy blue dress into Tori's arms, bending down to find her some shoes.
"But it's just going to be a bunch of adults standing around drinking champagne and talking about who's business is bigger than whose," Tori whined, giggling a little when she realized the double meaning of what she said. Blair gave her a strange look as she shoved a pair of black pumps into her hands, closing the door to turn and face her friend.
"We all know that your father has the biggest business of them all, and I mean actual business, not what your perverted mind is conjuring up. I swear, you're just like Chuck," Blair said, shivering slightly at the mention of Tori's twin's name.
"How dare you compared me to Chuck, I am not just like him. I'm worse," Tori laughed, receiving a playful shove from Blair before she walked out of the room, leaving to get herself dressed, ready for the party. Just as Tori stepped towards the bathroom to start getting ready, she heard her phone vibrate at the end of the bed. She quickly walked over and picked it up, rolling her eyes at the message from her brother, sounding just as insufferable as he always did. She threw her phone back onto the bed and stepped back over to the bathroom, her dream fresh in her mind as she closed the door behind her, ready for the day to begin.
Careful T. Everyone knows that dreams will always come back to haunt you, one way or another, and this haunting may be happening sooner than you think.
"Am I the only one that finds this party to be positively boring," Kati moaned, slumping down on the couch next to Chuck, who also had Isabel on his other side, the two girls pouting as they looked at the party around them.
"Be glad that you were even invited. After the stunt you pulled last week, you're lucky Blair even allowed you to come," Tori snapped, pushing Kati out of her newly claimed seat, so that she could sit beside her brother, leaving Kati to perch on the edge of the couch's arm.
"You're certainly in a bitter mood today sis. Wake up on the wrong side of the bed?" Chuck smirked, his smiled only becoming wider when Tori shoved him into Isabel.
"No, I slept perfectly last night, thank you. But then I realized I was related to you, and the day took a downward spiral from there," Tori bit back, getting laughs out of the girls, you shut up when Tori met their eyes.
"No need to exaggerate sis, you're usually in a good mood, even if I'm finding someone to make your day all the more interesting. What's up?" he asked, seeming to be genuinely interested in what was wrong with his sister.
"If you must know, I had a restless night last night. My dreams weren't exactly filled with puppy dogs and candy canes," Tori admitted, falling back to rest her, staring up at the ceiling.
"You still dream about those things?" Chuck chuckled, getting a more playful shove from his sister, rather than a forceful one.
"Of course not. I guess I must've been remembering something that happened a long time ago," Tori told him, glancing over to see Blair practically dragging Nate, her boyfriend, and my best guy friend, towards one of the empty bedrooms.
"Nathaniel. Any interest in some fresh air?" Chuck asked, miming smoking to his friend, completely forgetting about what I was trying to say.
"When I get back?" Nate asked, smiling a hidden smile at Tori, before Blair started pulling him through the open door.
"If he gets back," Blair called over her shoulder, closing the door behind her, leaving their activities to Tori's imagination. Just as her mind started to conjure up thoughts that she really didn't want to be picturing, her phone started to vibrate. She picked it up and had a look at her screen, smiling when she saw that there was a new post from Gossip Girl, the Upper East Side's very own gossip hub.
Hey Upper East Siders, Gossip Girls here, and I have the biggest news ever. One of my many sources, Melanie91, sends us this: Spotted Grand Central, bags in hand. Serena van der Woodsen. Was it only a year ago our It girl mysteriously disappeared for, quote 'boarding school', and just as suddenly, she's back. Don't believe me? See for yourself. Lucky for us, Melanie91 sent proof. Thanks for the photo Mel.
"Oh my god, you'll never believe what's on gossip girl," Kati practically squealed
"Someone just saw Serena getting off of a train at Grand Central," Isabel said, her tone almost mirroring her friend's.
"Good, things were getting a little dull around here," Chuck droned, swirling his drink around in its cup absent-mindedly. Serena was back. After a year of being missing, she had finally come back to New York, back to the Upper East Side. No one knew the real reason she had moved away to Connecticut for boarding school, why she had suddenly up and left all her family and friends. They all thought she must've gone on a bender, having been known as the resident party girl, everyone just assumed she was covering for going to rehab. Maybe hiding from the law, or something stupid like that. Only Tori knew the real reason Serena had run away. Only she knew what had happened that night.
"Guess things won't be dull for much longer," Tori smirked, standing up from the couch to go find herself something to drink. For the next half hour, while she waited for her friend to inevitable show up, Tori decided to mingle with some of the other guests, spending most of her time talking to Lily, Serena's mom. She, like Eleanor, Blair's mom, was like the mother I never had, being the role model I need in m life after my mother had died giving birth to me and Chuck. I could always find something to talk about with her. While I was in the middle of a conversation with Eleanor, I turned my head at the sound of a name I hadn't heard Lily say in almost a year.
"Serena darling." Tori fixed her gaze on her old friend, her back currently turned away from her as she hugged her long lost mother, the pair having been separated for as long as she had been from Serena.
"Will you excuse me," Tori said, stepping away from Eleanor to approach Serena, thousands of thoughts swimming through her mind as she tried to figure out what she would say to her long lost friend. Just as she was about to reach her, Serena turned around and met Tori's eyes, a sad smile coming to her face when she realized who she was looking at.
"Tori," Serena smiled, instantly pulling her friend into a tight hug, a hug that had been long overdue between the pair.
"I missed you, you bitch," Tori whispered, pulling away to flash her friend a smile.
"I missed you too bitch," Serena smiled back, her gaze moving past Tori to look behind her. Tori stepped away to see Blair looking out from the other side of the door, a flash of disgust crossing her face for a split second, before she broke out in a fake smile, approaching her once close friend.
"Hi, Serena, it's so good to see you" she said, pulling Serena into a quick hug, which ended just as quickly as it had begun.
"It's good to see you," Serena smiled, seeming sadder than when she had arrived.
"Come, we're about to have dinner," Blair told her, pulling her away down the hall, with Tori not far behind.
"I'll set place on the table for you next to Blair," Eleanor said, smiling warmly at Serena, flashing Tori a smile as well when she saw how happy she looked.
"Yeah, actually there's somewhere I have to go," Serena said apologetically, giving Tori an apologetic look.
"You're leaving?" Blair asked through gritted teeth, her distaste evident in her voice, something Tori had picked up on as the pair had grown closer, without Serena between them.
"Yeah, I just don't feel well. I just wanted to come by and say hi. I'll see you guys at school tomorrow," Serena told them, turning away to walk back to the exit. And just like that, she had left just as quickly as she had returned. Why had she come back now? After a year of being away at boarding, why had she chosen now of to come back? Tori didn't care how long it took, she would get some answers out of Serena, even if it meant waiting until school the next day.
"School. So I guess she's back for good," Blair mumbled, slumping against the wall next to Kati and Isabel, glancing at me when I walked over and stood next to her.
"Didn't you know she was coming?" Kati asked hopefully, interest in her eye, wondering if there was finally something that Blair Waldorf herself hadn't seen coming.
"Course I did. I just wanted it to be a surprise," Blair replied, forcing another fake smile onto her face to keep up appearances for her minions. She quickly walked away to the bathroom, slamming the door behind her, as Isabel and Kati went back on their phones, sending off a tip to Gossip Girl about Serena's arrival and departure.
"And here I was thinking that I was never going to be able to overthrow the Queen Bee," Tori smirked, an idea forming in her head.
"What do you mean?" Isabel asked, Tori's words pulling her attention away from the screen of her phone, hers and Kati's interests having been piqued.
"You both know how much Blair hates Serena right now, and with hate, comes vulnerability. Blair will be so focused on avoiding Serena wherever possible, that she won't be able to protect herself from being overthrown," Tori explained, taking the bittersweet return of her friend and turning it into her own power grab. No one ever said she couldn't be crafty and a bitch at the same time.
"But no one can overthrow Blair, no one ever has," Kati pointed out, exchanging a glance with Isabel in her confusion.
"There's a first time for everything ladies. Of course, I am only speaking in the hypothetical, so there's no need to be worried. I love Blair, she's my best friend, and she always will be. But what's the point of being friend's with a Queen, if you don't get a taste of the power she holds?" Tori grinned and started walking away, making eye contact with Nate before she mounted the stairs and walked down, needing a bit of fresh air. As she stepped out into the street, she was instantly hit with the ambience of the city, the city she had grown so fond of in her almost seventeen years of living. She heard the doors open behind her and she continued to walk, listening to the quickening steps of the person following her as she stepped out onto the sidewalk, smiling at any passerby's that looked in her direction.
"I take it you want to talk?" Tori turned her head to look at Nate, her smile staying plastered on her face as she met his hard gaze.
"I just wanted to find out where your head is at, now that Serena is back in town, after such a long trip," Tori smirked, looking out at the street, watching the cars speed by as she wrapped her coat tightly around her shoulders.
"If you're asking if I'm planning to tell Blair what happened that night, then your answer would be no, I won't be saying anything…" Nate trailed off, sounding like he wanted to say more but couldn't.
"But you really want to tell her, you need to tell her. Always love being the hero, don't you Archibald?" Tori teased, finally turning to face her friend, her face becoming a lot more serious than it had been mere seconds ago.
"What I felt back then was real. What if it's still real now?" he questioned, the inner turmoil plaguing his mind being easy for Tori to spot.
"If you had 'real feelings' for every girl you had kissed in your life that wasn't Blair, you and I would've started dating six months ago," Tori mocked, almost regretting bringing it up as the words left her mouth.
"I thought you didn't want to talk about the past anymore? Isn't that the whole point of this conversation?" he asked angrily, stepping a little too close to Tori for comfort.
"Yes it is. You don't want Blair to find out that you made the same mistake twice, and I don't want you getting in trouble with Chuck. If he found out what happened between us…" I trailed off, avoiding his gaze as I stared down at the pavement.
"But it was worth it at the time. I really did have feelings for you then," Nate reassured her, lifting her chin up so that she would look at him, only for Tori to pull away, starting to walk back towards the building.
"That was then Nate, and this is now. You're dating Blair, I'm happily single, and that is how it is going to stay. As much as I'd love to take away Blair's crown, losing her friendship because of one kiss isn't the way I plan to do it. You'll say nothing and I'll say nothing, and that's all there is too it. Understood?" Tori stopped in her tracks, turning around to look at Nate, his face a mask of sadness as he looked back at her.
"Understood."
Looks like T has more than one secret to keep away from her friends this year. Watch out T, keep a secret with an honest man and it won't stay a secret for long.
Hey everyone, it's me, yet again, after many months of being silent, I am attempting to jump back into writing.
I know I've done this many times now, for those of you who have read my work before, but I hope to start doing a lot more now, since my Uni work slowly starting to die down.
I will hopefully be working on this story, if you guys like it, and redoing the sequel to my TWD fanfic, since I wanted to take it in a different direction, and maybe starting work on a third, undecided story.
I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter and are looking forward to more, I have a lot of plans for my character, along with two other OCs that will be introduced in this season, who will become my main OCs.
Please review, follow and favorite, it would mean a lot if you did, so I can find out where I can improve.
Thanks guys.
You know you love me. XOXO. fandomismylife :)