Chapter 2
They were in the process of continuing their conversation when they noticed how the cameraman approaches them. "Oh, good! I found you; you are the last two people."
"What, on earth?" Dan asks in an attempt to make a joke.
"Right, right, funny." Says the cameraman but doesn't seem to find his joke funny at all. Dan quickly glances at Blair and sees that she is smiling. "No. You are the only two people who haven't done your video testimonials."
Both Dan and Blair seem a little confused so the cameraman proceeds to add: "Testimonials to the bride and groom, congratulating them on their choice, wishing them health and happiness and all that."
"But wouldn't it just be more heartfelt if we did it in person?" Dan asks.
The cameraman looks at them both as if he doesn't know what to say and after an awkward pause says: "This is for the wedding video, for posterity."
"Well, if it is for posterity…" Blair says standing up, "Anyway, how do I look?"
"Good." Says the cameraman.
"Good!" exclaims Dan, "God! She looks fabulous man. You just don't say to Blair Waldorf that she looks good."
"I'm sorry, it's just…"
"Don't worry about him he's just trying to get laid." Blair says as to not make the situation matter too much and Dan can't help looking at her between bewilderment and amusement.
The cameraman directs towards Blair a signal that can only mean that he has started to film her. Blair noticing this starts to talk abruptly. "Jenny, well… I'm certainly glad that I can be here to share your special day." Dan looks at her with a grin and she continues, "And even when I haven't spend much time with either you or Nate these years, hell, we haven't had any sort of communication in the past years until two days ago. Anyway, Jenny you look great in that wedding dress and Nate, you are very handsome in that tuxedo. So, so… I'm not angry that you didn't invite me until you know, the last minute; because if you had invited me before I would probably have thought about it too much and then I wouldn't have come at all. What I'm trying to say is," She smiles at herself, "That I'm really glad that you found each other and that I could be here to share your's and Nate's special day because hey, a wedding only comes once in a lifetime doesn't it? Or more than once, in my case, but hopefully just once for you two." After making a pause she seemed to have finished and adds, "You'll edit this down, won't you?"
"Ohm, that was great, very heartfelt, sincere." Answers the cameraman.
"It was nice." Says Dan while Blair sits again next to him.
The cameraman turns towards Dan and he doesn't bother to stand up when the cameraman says: "Ready?" Dan nods, "And… action."
"Congratulations sis." And he is finished and Blair looks at him with an open mouth, "And that's how it's done."
"Is that it?" asks the cameraman.
"Well, she took up a lot of our time." Dan answers pointing at Blair.
"Hey, short and sweet." The cameraman comments, "I love it, great, awesome. Have fun."
And the cameraman leaves them but stands just near enough of both Blair and Dan, so they can hear him when he says into his own camera: "Ok, eh… camera note 201A. Pretty girl with a slight British or possibly Australian accent, in pink… totally unusable. And the guy with curls, unusable but apparently the brother so, let's find a way to get him in the video."
Both Dan and Blair laugh after hearing this and then Blair asks, "You really don't like Nate, do you?"
"No…," says Dan but then adds, "I do like him it's just, I don't hate him. But we haven't been close or anything, after, what happened." After he says this he notices a tiny bit of sadness in Blair's eyes so he quickly asks, "Why are you asking this?"
"Because in the thing, the testimonial, you just, you only mentioned your sister."
"Well really, I just don't know Nate anymore so I do not know what to say to him. And if my sister is happy with him, then… look I don't want to talk about Jenny and Nate."
She didn't seem to catch up the memorandum or decided to just ignore it because next she asks: "I know that Jenny is a fashion designer, Humphrey Designs or something of the sorts but, what does Nate do for a living? Do you even know?"
"I heard, via Jenny, that he still works at The Spectator, made an empire out of it," when he says the word empire he looks at Blair, she seems to not notice his flinch at the word, "But he also serves as a kind of journalist in there too, writes news or something."
"Well you can't object to that."
"Object to what?"
"To his profession," Blair answers, "You both write, you are both writers now if you look at it; you can't object to that."
"Well, maybe I'm a self-hating writer."
"Are you?"
"Is there any other kind?" Dan asks and then adds, "It doesn't matter. I introduce them, didn't you heard Nate's speech? Anyway, I don't want to talk about Jenny and Nate."
Blair is about to say something when she is interrupted by the wedding singer that is speaking through a microphone: "Everyone on the dance floor… it's the last dance and then we're going to call it a night. Congratulations Jenny and Nate."
They both are now kind of immersed in their own thoughts and the situation is the most awkward of the night until Dan decides to just ask, "Do you dance?"
"You know what," Blair answer's him, "I don't have too many opportunities to dance these past few years. I used to dance quite often before I turned 22, in a gala, in a benefit or something. But now that I'm, well, older than 22, I just, had less occasions for it. I guess the dancing phase of my life is over. " She is now whispering, "I'm afraid my dancing skills had atrophied."
"Maybe I should have been a little bit clearer." Dan says, "I meant: would you dance with me?"
"Yeah, I knew it." Blair answers him with a smile, "I was just rambling, and I didn't know how to answer."
Dan stands up and in front of Blair. He offers her his hand and nods with the head towards the dance floor. "Come on, old times' sake."
"If old times were any good we wouldn't let them get old."
"You'll regret it if you don't."
"I regret a lot of things." Blair says and the sadness returns to her eyes again, "I think one more regret in my life doesn't matter at this point."
Dan doesn't want to make this conversation awkward again, neither for him nor for Blair, so he just says: "You'll regret it, you'll regret it in the elevator when you go back to your room, you'll regret it in the airplane and you'll regret it in ten years when you suddenly think about it and your husband will ask what is up and you would not know how to answer him, so he'll interpret this as a sign of coldness in your relationship and that coldness will turn into a separation and before you know it, your marriage is over; and all of this because you wouldn't dance with me tonight." He tried.
"Okay." Blair says standing up. "But I won't go on the dance floor. Dance floors are depressing at the end of the night, they feel like funerals. Hang on," she says and drinks just a little bit of champagne of his glass, way to break the record.
They walk not towards the dance floor but towards a clear space in between unoccupied tables. "Is this okay?" Dan asks her. She nods. And at that moment he remembers one particular occasion where they found themselves in a similar situation, but instead of today, where they are dancing with the weight of years, in that particular occasion they are dancing with a lightness that neither of them had experienced before, and he was remembering this specific occasion because now and then, they are dancing to Sidney Bechet's Si tu vois ma mère.
"I know how old are you, you know?" Dan asks her as they are both still moving in unison to the melody.
"I know."
"And then why you hesitate when you talk about your age?"
"I don't" Blair says but then adds, "Because, it's starting to be a surprisingly large number and I don't like how it sounds."
"I'm the same age as you."
"Oh please," Blair exclaims, "I shouldn't have to tell you that it is different for men, unfair, but it is different."
"You call more attention to it when you hesitate to say your age."
"Good advice." Blair says, "I'll remember that." And they both share a smile.
"So after all of what happened, you moved to London." Dan kind-off asks her.
"After what happened I did move to London, but before I lived in Paris, me and my husband, before establishing in London for real," she pauses, "Let's not talk about it."
"Why?"
"Because…" and now is Blair that doesn't want to make the situation awkward, "If I talk about London I talk about my husband and if I talk about my husband, then, I'll feel too bad about what I'm about to do and then I won't."
"Yeah?" Dan asks, "What are you going to do?"
"Don't be clever." Blair says laughing, "I don't like it when you're too clever."
"Clever?" Dan asks, "Clever played better, I don't know how many years ago, when I had the youthful swagger to go with it."
"Yeah, what plays well now?"
"Sincerity," Dan answers, "When I can fake it. Wisdom if I had it."
And then, they both immerse in their own thoughts. Dan is remembering the weeks after she so suddenly left. When he decided he didn't want to play all vindictive in his new book. He remembers how he was looking for her, searching, reaching for any girl that resembled Blair from behind, without success. That behavior lasted about two weeks. Because after two weeks was when Nate, that still was trying to maintain contact, told him to look at Gossip Girl in an attempt to make him get over Blair. And he did, and he saw, she wasn't even in New York anymore. She wasn't even in the same country, or in the same continent. And that is when Dan finally accepted it, that Blair have left him without a moment's notice. That was the moment he decided to begin a new life away from all of these people, away from all these memories that hurt him so much.
He was still remembering this when Blair touches his shoulder slightly to make him notice that the music had stopped a long time ago.
"Where is everyone?" Dan asks.
"I don't know." Blair answers, "I was just as lost as you were."
And they decide to stop dancing and walk again towards the open bar. "Can we have another drink please?" Blair asks this time.
The bartender just walks away and they both laugh. "He completely ignored us." Dan says.
"There was a time when I thought I saw you in the street." Dan told her, "And it turned out you were in London. This is just how New York is. Someone you once thought that you knew very well could leave the country and you wouldn't even know it."
"Of course," Blair tells him, "You don't know me very well."
"True," Dan tells her and even when he feels something in his chest he manages to smile, "That is very true." He pauses and then adds, "You know you're killing me?" he tells her and gets a little bit closer to her, "And that's truth."
She looks at him momentarily and then starts walking away. He follows her and then asks: "And you will be here how long?"
She turns around to face him and answers: "My plane leaves at 6:00 a.m. and I guess I will leave the hotel at 4:00a.m… It was so last minute that I can only stay a night."
"The curse of the seventh bridesmaid." Dan whispers and then looks at his clock, "I mean, you should get to bed."
"You're right, I should." Blair whispers back, "I will probably just go upstairs and watch T.V., to kill time."
Dan looks around and the waiters are already cleaning tables and glancing at them occasionally. "They really want us to leave."
Blair laughs. "You think?" She sarcastically asks him.
He laughs too. "Ohm… where should we go?"
She looks at him a little taken aback and says: "Well, I should go up to my room and you should go to yours and then back to Olivia, the actress."
"Or we could stay here." Dan interjects.
She stares at him and then turns around, Dan follows her and she suddenly faces him again and asks him abruptly: "Do you want to watch some television with me?"
"You mean I should?" Dan answers her with a question.
"I think you will anyway."
They both smile at each other and Dan holds her hand for the first time in the night and they both walk towards the elevator.
"Hang on," Blair suddenly says.
"What?"
"Doesn't it remind you...? Never mind." Blair says and of course Dan knows what she was about to talk about, it was too obvious. Before he had time to say anything she says, "If we get in we're committing to a course of action."
"We're committing to a 30 second elevator ride."
She just looks at him and says: "Let's just stand here for a second." They do not stand there for long when suddenly one of the other bridesmaids surprises them; it was the lavishly beautiful made of honor.
"Hey guys." Serena greets them and then adds, "What is everyone looking at?" Serena hasn't seen neither Dan nor Blair for many years now, ever since that night and after all this time, the only thing she seems to be able say is what is everyone looking at? The situation could not be more awkward.
"So, Serena," Blair begins, "What have you been up to all these years?"
Dan was surprised that Blair started the small talk; didn't she tell him that she hated that game?
"Nothing much," Serena answers, "Traveling here and there, organizing charities and galas. I married Carter Baizen after all, so I'm now Serena Baizen."
"S.B.," Blair whispers to herself, "The last name certainly suits you."
"And what about you, Blair?" Serena asks, "I heard you married him. You know, I still couldn't believe it, that you married him after all, but hey, you did. That is how destiny works."
"Well, I believe you make your own destiny." Dan interjects, mainly because he doesn't want to hear what Blair has to say about her husband anymore. He just doesn't.
"Listen, I'm so very tired that I didn't even notice the elevator had arrived." Blair begins.
"Oh, you poor thing." Serena says. "Jenny told me you came all the way from London." Blair nods, "And what were you waiting for?" Serena asks Dan.
"Hmm…" Dan doesn't know how to begin, "Ladies first?"
Serena laughs one of her typical laughs. "You are so polite." She tells him while she kind of taps his shoulder.
"Ladies first." Dan repeats and then the three of them get into the elevator.
"And what floor are you going to?" Serena asks Dan while Blair stands in the corner of the elevator just looking at him. When she hears Serena's question she smiles to herself.
"Ah… I don't know." Dan answers. Serena laughs again, "Honestly, I do not remember."
"Well, I'm… I'm going to the eleventh floor" Blair says and Serena doesn't pay any attention to her at all, she just looks at Dan.
"Eleven, I'm going to the eleventh floor." Dan says to Serena and it seems that she did heard what Blair said because she stops laughing and says, "That is funny."
Awkward silence until Serena talks again, "Nice dress" She says to Blair.
"Thanks." Blair smiles, "You look better in it actually."
"Ah, well, you know…" Serena begins but doesn't finish and the silence takes place again. "Do you… did you arrived together or something?"
"Oh, no, no, not at all" Blair says.
"Aha." Serena says and then turns to Dan, "How is Olivia doing? Jenny told me about your relationship."
"Good."
"Yeah?"
"Yes."
"Good."
"Yes."
"She wasn't here tonight, was she? I didn't…"
Dan laughs and he doesn't even know why, well maybe he does, Serena is too obvious in her intentions anyway, "No she didn't came, she is filming back in L.A."
"Ah yes, she is an actress after all. God, what a talent she used to have."
"Still has," Dan tells Serena.
"She is so beautiful too," Serena says, wanting more for Blair to hear her comments than Dan, "Amazing, amazing. And so…"
"Skinny?" Blair suggests.
"Yes." Serena answers, "I will murder for her body, there's just no one hotter in the world as Olivia, and I saw a picture of her recently." Now it was just too obvious what Serena wanted to do. "This is my floor," Serena said when the elevator opened at the seventh, "Give Olivia my best regards,"
"Bye," Blair tells her while she gets out of the elevator.
"Bye Blair," Serena answers and the elevator door closes between them.
So? What do you think after these two chapters? I'm still debating some ideas, one thing in particular can you guess which thing? Anyway, as I said, this doesn't have a beta so any mistakes, please do point them out so I can correct them. Thank you for everyone that is reading the story (my traffic stats say what my reviews doesn't). I really hope you are liking it and do not think of it as too much of a rip-off. (Although, it totally is, well, not totally, but a lot is, so whatever.)
