AN
Thanks so much to everyone who read/reviewed/favourited/alerted my story. I really appreciate any feedback you can give so don't be afraid to leave a review.
This chapter is closely linked to the first, so it might not hurt to read that again if you've forgotten what happened. But it's not totally necessary.
Enjoy :)
Summary
A story about how Dan and Blair fall in love.
This is set after Season 2. The only difference is that Chuck doesn't come back from Europe, so the Chair 'I love you too' scene never happens.
Disclaimer
I own nothing but the story.
True Love Waits
When Blair Waldorf arrives on her first day at NYU, she has never felt so lonely.
She's overdressed and out of place. She knew college would be nothing like Constance but the difference scares her. Countless students mingle in the courtyard, introducing themselves and recognising strangers. She stands there alone and decides that they are all beneath her.
She thinks of how her Yale dream is lost and how she is stuck with a bunch of college students who are going to spend the next four years killing all their brain cells from partying, dancing on tables and drinking straight from kegs. She crinkles her nose in disgust at the thought and immediately makes her way to her dorm.
When she reaches her single dorm room (Blair Waldorf does not do roommates, especially those who play hipster music and put socks on doorknobs every Thursday night), Dorota has already moved in all her things.
Blair sits on her bed as she goes over her classes for tomorrow and prints her map of the campus.
She doesn't open up Gossip Girl because she has unsubscribed.
The first time Blair sees Dan is when he is climbing to a seat with a broken table near the front of a full Psychology lecture. She watches the back of his head as he searches for a pen. Trust Cabbage Patch to be late, forget his pen and not brush his hair, she thinks.
She gives him a pen because the way he keeps looking around and reaching into each pocket multiple times is distracting from the lecture. And she's sure the professor said that everything from the beginning of the first lecture to the end of the last lecture would possibly be in the final exam.
He doesn't even thank her for the pen, which was imported from Germany (Blair Waldorf does not do calluses), but Blair remembers that they don't teach manners in Brooklyn.
'I don't want it back when you're done by the way. I can do without your Brooklyn germs'.
It's the only way she can make sure Humphrey knows that this is not her being nice. This is Blair Waldorf making sure he doesn't make her fail Psychology.
He tries to start a conversation with her in the next lecture by commenting on her jeans. She can't tell if he's being sarcastic so she insults the cost of his wardrobe in return.
Dan continues to try to converse with her and it makes her snap at him.
She feels as though he's judging her. Serena had told her how all of the break-ups between Dan and her were about how he could never accept that she belonged in the UES. So to her, Dan Humphrey commenting on her jeans is more like I see you're sitting here all alone and I feel sorry for you (Blair Waldorf does not do pity).
Blair feels him staring at her. She wonders if her jeans are giving her muffin-top or if her hair is too messy in her ponytail. So she tries to distract him by asking him his major.
The shock on his face and his stuttering answer makes her laugh. She likes that she makes Dan Humphrey nervous (she doesn't know why).
They talk about dystopian literature and she finds that it's the first real intellectual conversation she's had in her life.
When Blair tutored Nate in English during high school, she thought she could finally talk about novels with him. The closest they got was Blair trying to explain that Lord of the Flies was not simply about kids going crazy on an island. He distracted her by proposing that they get lunch instead. His blue eyes would always make her melt.
Serena always preferred to watch film versions of books rather than read them. When they had a paper comparing Le Morte D'Arthur and Harry Potter, Serena simply wrote about the Hollywood blockbuster film adaptations instead, claiming that she didn't have to read the tale of King Arthur and Lancelot when Clive Owen and Ioan Gruffudd could show her the story.
Chuck was probably the most intelligent out of them all. Blair even believed he was more intelligent than her. But he lacked determination. It was exactly how their non-relationship ended. Chuck Bass loved Blair Waldorf. He just wasn't determined enough to tell her.
So when Blair finds herself feeling disappointed when the lecturer interrupts their conversation, she decides that Dan Humphrey isn't as bad as she initially thought.
The Tuesday lectures become tradition and Blair realises that she enjoys Dan's company.
It doesn't take long before they're meeting outside of class.
It starts when Blair finds out from Nate that Chuck is back from Europe. Blair shows up at the loft with a tub of ice-cream and Breakfast at Tiffany's. Dan doesn't ask her what's wrong (he already read on Gossip Girl), and they sit down to watch the film. It's not long before they're discussing the UES and the film and ice-cream are discarded.
'He's not worth it', Dan tells her.
'Wow Cabbage Patch. You've been watching too much of The View. I know he's not worth it. But that doesn't make it easier to hear about him bring models up to his penthouse every night'.
'Do you still love him?' He questions.
'I don't know', she says quietly, 'it's like you and Serena I guess. The first great love that you'll never forget.'
He doesn't tell her that he's forgotten all about Serena and that she's the only one that has been on his mind ever since their first Psychology lecture.
'You really have to consider redecorating or something Humphrey. I know you live in Brooklyn, but surely you have some taste. Your sister is a fashion designer after all'.
He doesn't have time to respond before she tells him, 'I'll take you shopping tomorrow. We can get a new couch that doesn't collect bed bugs and some hydrangeas to make this place look more alive'.
He can't find it in himself to feel offended when he thinks about how he's going to spend the whole day with her.
'Oh my god... is that an Aaron Rose?'
