Chapter 2. The Aftermath
The morning after, the most dreaded moment after going out, was here. Jenny got out of bed early, which was very unlike her on a Sunday morning. She stumbled to the kitchen only to be surprised by all the people in her suddenly crowded living room.
"Jenny, darling" Lily said, taking her in her soft, maternal arms, "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine, what are you doing here?"
"We're here to see if you were okay" Blair answered
"So this is like," jenny couldn't bring herself to say the words, "an intervention?"
"No silly," Vanessa said, jumping out of her seat, to hug Jenny, who completely avoided Vanessa and went to sit down in the seat Vanessa had emptied ever so politely just seconds ago. She was definitely taken aback by this sly move.
"We're here because we were worried about you" Serena finished for Vanessa.
Blair continued: "We saw you on Gossip Girl, and we just wanted to make sure you were okay" as soon as Blair finished her sentence Jenny rushed to her bedroom slamming the door, immediately checking Gossip Girl, and there she was, front page news. Little J gone CSI:NY; hookers and tramps. Ugh, Gossip Girl could be so cruel sometimes. She read further into the blog; NV no more. That explains why Vanessa was suddenly all let's-be-friends-again-and-pretend-nothing-ever-happened. She read more; Chuck saving the day… Her memory assisted her in remembering last night, wait! Why wasn't he here?
She had to get out of the house, so she got dressed and went out the fire escape. (…) she got off the subway, now on foot. Damn it! Why oh why did she decide to wear high heels today? She was already having a bad day, being stuck in the middle of the street wasn't going to make it any better. Oh no, approaching truck, pull it out Jen! Pull it out! Car still coming! Oh God, no! Auch… there she was, on the boardwalk, with him on top of her. Sighing. Breathing. Gasping for air.
"I'm sorry" he breathed
"Uh-huh" she mouthed in between her little sighs. He got up, outstretching his hand to her, offering his help.
"Are you okay?"
"You saved my life" she sighed
"It wasn't a big deal"
"It was"
"I didn't want to see smashed Humphrey"
"Right" she believed him, walking away, leaving him all by himself. Standing there Chuck couldn't help but notice the grace Jenny possessed.
"Wait!" he caught up to her, running. "Wait," he said when he finally was next to her, "let's get some breakfast"
"Okay"
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"Are you sure you're okay?" he asked while picking up his fork and knife to start eating.
"Yes, for the 13th time" she said, annoyed
'What were you doing in the middle of the street?' he asked
'Oh I don't know, I was looking for a few nickels and then when I found none decided to get stuck in the gutter' she said
'Easy tiger' he said, shocked, 'What I meant was, what were you doing in the middle of the street so early?'
'Oh, well, I was running away from home'
He looked even more shocked as before, making Jenny to calm him down, 'Relax…' she soothed him, 'Not like that, I just had to get out for a while'
He relaxed into his seat. 'Right, why?'
'They were having an intervention'
'For you' he picked on to her sentence
'Yes, and they were all touchy-feely'
'Define 'they'' he demanded
'Blair, Serena, Eric, Dan, Lily, my dad and Vanessa'
'Ooh big mistake on the Humphrey front'
'What?'
'Once Blair interferes, you shouldn't walk out on her, huge mistake J'
'Well, she'll cope' Jenny said matter-of-factly, smiling. He joined in.
Re-structuring his face he said: 'So about that 'getting out of the house'-thing how's that going so far?'
'Well,' she looked down, avoiding the necessity to answer the question, that and thereby admit how much she hates it that he saved her life. Now she owed him something.
'That explains it' he said, 'What if I invited you to a party tonight?'
'Depends,' she answered, 'What kind of party?'
'One in honour of Bass Industries'
She started packing her stuff, 'It's not a date' she got up. He smirked: 'I won't even pick you up' she headed for the door, he yelled after her: 'I'll text you the address'
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'Jenny, hi' he greeted her, taking her coat, making her spin around, 'you look stunning'
'Not so bad yourself'
'Thanks, I'll get you a drink' he turned around walking towards the bar.
Jenny didn't feel comfortable at all, 'This was a bad idea' she whispered to herself. Walking towards the door, she felt her heart beat twice as fast. Why? Was she that mad at herself for leaving? Well she couldn't stay. She hated herself for actually wanting to stay with Chuck all night, but she couldn't help herself. She had to fight that feeling. So she had to leave.
BUMP !
'Watch where you're going will you!' she said angrily, picking up her stuff from the boardwalk
'I'm sorry' he apologized
'It's o—' she knew that voice, wait! What? He was here? 'Hi' was all she could say.
'Hi' Nate replied.