Serena
"…and the last question: how has married life been treating you, Mrs. Dan Humphrey?"
Serena couldn't help from chuckling and she self-consciously tucked some of her ash-blond hair behind an ear, exposing her feather earring. She uncrossed her legs and then crossed them at the ankles instead. She really didn't know how she was supposed to answer this question. Because married life was hard. And it had taken them so long to get married. Even though Dan was, undoubtedly, the love of her life, that didn't make it any easier to adjust to living with each other after maintaining a long distance relationship for such an extended period of time: five years.
"It's okay," said Serena to the New York Magazine editor, nodding her head and smiling that million-dollar smile that could now be seen for Waldorf Designs in every fashion magazine. She'd been the face of the company for the past four years. "It's an adjustment, I think, mixing your life with someone else's, but I think it's worth it."
"It sure is."
Serena looked over her shoulder. Dan was standing in the doorway to the vast living room of their Southampton house in a blue cashmere V-neck sweater and some old jeans. He was wearing Harry Potter-esque glasses that he'd probably gotten in LA and which he probably thought made him look cool. He'd recently cut all of his hair to the height that it was when they'd first started dating all the way back in high school, when she had just come back from boarding school to Constance Billard School for Girls and he was something of an outsider at St. Jude's School for Boys. Sometimes that felt like a lifetime ago.
"Mr. Humphrey," said the editor, Clarice Harper. She got up, her eyes lighting up on Serena's husband of almost a year. She flattened the front of her fire engine red dress and threw her chocolate brown hair over her shoulder. Serena wasn't sure, but had Clarice also pushed out her chest? "It's so nice to see you here. What an unexpected surprise. I didn't know you were here."
Serena hadn't known either. As far as she knew, he was supposed to come in tomorrow afternoon just in time for the pink party that she was supposed to be hosting to benefit breast cancer research. His suit hadn't even come back from the dry cleaner's yet. She'd sent her assistant Marlene to go get it while she ran a couple other errands in preparations for the party.
Dan had been in LA for most of the summer, leaving Serena to her own devices in New York. He had basically been out there assisting the executive producers and writing staff for his latest film Under the Brooklyn Bridge. This was his third movie in the past four years. Not to mention the fact that he'd turned out two books every year since he'd published Inside. Dan was becoming—no, he was a very successful writer and he'd earned millions from royalties. There was even a TV series based on Inside that was still showing up to this day. If Serena had put on the television she was sure to see it—and her character 'Sabrina'—in some love triangle or another at that very moment.
"Hi, sweetie," said Serena, getting up and running over to her husband. He wrapped his arms around her. It was amazing how he knew the contours of her body so well. "Welcome home."
"You cut your hair," he said, running his fingers through her now shoulder-length hair.
"Do you like it?"
"Of course," he whispered. Then he softly pressed his lips against hers. "I love it. You're perfect."
Serena blushed. "No, I'm not. Stop saying that!"
"You are," he said. "And I missed my golden girl. You know I can't write a word without you. You're my Zelda Fitzgerald."
"Oh, Dan," she swooned.
Clarice cleared her throat behind Serena and the couple looked over at her, blushing at the fact that they'd all but forgotten that Serena had been doing an interview with her.
"I'm sorry," said Serena. "I just haven't seen him all summer. So I missed him a lot."
"Of course," said Clarice, picking up her black Marc Jacobs bag, which was on the floor next to the white wingback she was sitting on.
Everything in the Humphrey house was white, which meant that the cleaning staff always had a lot to do, what with Serena throwing dinner parties every other day. And little Henry was always at the house—she was his godmother—and children are always so messy.
"I understand. I think I got everything that I need for the article. Thank you so much, Serena. And I'll come tomorrow with the photographer to take pictures of the event." She got up and left the room, making sure to brush her considerable bosom against Dan's back as if the doorway wasn't huge enough for her to pass.
They heard the front door close and Dan and Serena couldn't help from laughing at the absurdity of the situation. He took Serena's hand and led her back into the living room, throwing himself down on the long, white sofa and pulling her on top of him. He squeezed her tight until she protested and flailed against him. And then he settled down, gently running his fingers through her hair.
These were the kinds of moments that she missed whenever Dan was away: these quiet intimate moments when they would sit down and just be. They Skyped everyday and texted and called each other constantly. But it wasn't the same as the tangible, real Dan. But this summer was the first time since last December when they'd gotten married that he'd been away from her. And even though she hadn't wanted him to leave, she let him go because very often producers changed up details about books when making them into films. At least Dan was able to maintain the integrity of his novel because he was one of the executive producers.
But that meant that she'd spent the summer all by herself. Yes, her friends came over all of the time. But they didn't sleep with her at night. Well, Blair had a couple times, the way they used to when they were kids. Blair was the only person—other than Dan—that Serena could ever be remotely vulnerable around. That was why she felt like it was okay to blubber like a fourteen-year-old who just found out that her crush didn't like her over how much she'd missed Dan. Blair had just hugged her and they stayed in Serena's room all day eating Ben and Jerry's and watching corny Lifetime movies on more than one Saturday or Sunday that summer.
Between Monday and Friday, Serena had to be all business. She had her own business—S+E—a fashion PR company she'd started with her brother Eric three years ago and she was a fashion blogger, an occasional model and, of course, a New York socialite. Everybody knew that if you wanted to push a party over the top, invite Serena Humphrey. She wasn't just known in New York circles, but she'd made friends with more than a few celebrities in her time. So you could expect to see her bring Miley Cyrus or Elle Fanning along with her to a party as her plus one because she knew everyone who was anyone.
"Serena, could you just confirm the guest list?" asked Lily van der Woodsen, waltzing into the living room. She had her glasses on the bridge of her nose, carefully scrutinizing what Serena assumed to be the guest list on her iPad. She raised her eyes for one second to scan the room and found Serena and her husband cuddled up on the sofa. "Serena, you have a party to plan. Hello, Daniel."
"Hi, Lily," he said, waving awkwardly. He'd never learnt that no matter how you did it, waving was always awkward. Serena couldn't help from just kissing him on the cheek right then, making him blush. She knew he hated the PDA in front of her mother but she couldn't resist.
"Serena, come on," said Lily, rolling her eyes. "You asked for my help and I'm helping. Let's go."
Serena groaned as she pulled herself up from the sofa and followed her mother outside of the house and into the wide expanse of a backyard, which was busy with tents being put up and tables being set up. Everything was pink, of course, and it was going to be absolutely beautiful, tasteful and classic.
Lily handed Serena the iPad as they sat down at a table near the swimming pool. She scanned the list: Tinsley Mortimer, Michelle Williams, Olivia Palermo, Fabiola Beracasa, Derek Blasberg, Julia Restoin-Roitfield, Anna Wintour, Beyonce and Jay-Z…the list went on. Everyone had already RSVP-ed.
"Taste the food, Serena."
She hadn't even noticed that there was a plate with Salmon Tartar, sea scallops and roasted cod in lemon-white wine sauce in front of her.
"Mom, I already tasted everything," protested Serena, rolling her eyes.
"And you just need to make sure that everything is to your specifications," said Lily, putting some cod into her mouth. After swallowing, she said, "You wouldn't want the standard to be below par for your party, darling. I'm just trying to help you."
Serena knew that her mother was the only person other than Blair that she would ask for party advice. One of New York's premier socialites, Lily had thrown endless parties in her time so Serena should have been glad that she was helping her out. But that didn't mean that she liked her mother's style of micromanaging. If the food sucked at the party, Serena was sure that she could just throw it out and order pizzas and all of her guests would just chalk it up to one of those Serena peculiarities that they had all stopped trying to decode.
"Serena, you're not planning on using those peonies for your party, right? That's so not hip. Roses, honey. Roses."
Serena jumped at the sound of her best friend's voice and she dropped her fork and ran over to Blair, enveloping her in a hug.
"I just thought about you a little while ago," said Serena.
"Ugh," said Blair, taking Serena's hand and squeezing it tight as Serena let her go. "Let's go over to my house and have some wine or something. I think I just need a girl's night."
"Sure," said Serena good-naturedly. She could use a girl's night. She'd been so caught up in all the party planning that she hadn't really been taking any time for herself. "I'll invite some of the other girls too. Like Raina and Georgina and Jenny and see if they want to come along."
Blair scowled. "Just you and me, Serena. If I wanted to throw a party, I would have done it myself. And Georgina definitely wouldn't be on the guest list."
Serena laughed. Blair still wasn't really supportive of the fact that Georgina had married her husband's Uncle Jack.
"Blair. Nice to see you," said Dan, coming outside and smiling over at Blair. "How's Chuck?"
"Charles is fine," said Blair. "He told me you two played squash the other day. Somehow I never pegged you for a sport aficionado, Humph—Dan."
"I'm not," said Dan, "but everyone in LA is hyper fit so I had to get into something to keep up. Charles sent me an email telling me that he was looking at some real estate on the West Coast and he wanted to go get a drink or something. I remembered that he liked squash so I decided to ask him to come meet me for a game."
Serena had to hold in a laugh because Blair was watching Dan with the most vacant expression on her face, as if she didn't care for that extended diatribe Dan had just made. Blair had once called that period in time in which she'd dated Dan 'temporary insanity' because, as nice as he was, he wasn't the kind of guy that she was supposed to end up with. She made it clear that nothing was wrong with him and that he was perfectly good for Serena. But he was totally wrong for her. Over the years Blair had come to forgive Dan for the whole being Gossip Girl thing but she wasn't completely over it. Not just yet.
"I'll go get my stuff and I'll meet you out front," said Serena.
Blair slid past Dan.
As soon as she was out of earshot, Dan said, "But it's my first night back. I was hoping to spend it with you."
This presented a conundrum for Serena. Spending the night with the husband that she hadn't seen for three months or spending the night with her best friend, who looked like she really needed it.
"I promise we'll spend all of Sunday together," she purred, leaning into him and placing his hands on her hips. "All day and all night."
Dan smiled at the prospect. "Deal."
