A/N: Sorry for the delay in an update, I'm a full time college student with a huge procrastination problem (not to mention I tend to spend more time reading everyone else's fan fics rather than work on my own). Thanks to those who added the story to their alerts and those who reviewed! I can't tell you how much I appreciate it. This chapter is pretty long and I'm hoping to have the next one up sometime next week.
Also, the Nate in my story is a mixture of the one from the book (he's so freaking adorable, but I hate that he's always too stoned to make any kind of decision… ever), the one from the TV show (less of a stoner, but a little too much of an airhead at times), and my own personal version (which mixes the best of both worlds).
Disclaimer: I don't own Gossip Girl/the characters associated with it. (Also – anything in italics in this chapter came directly from the prequel, "It Had to Be You".)
Enjoy!
Chapter One - Lies
Nate had always loved New York City at night. It lived up to its nickname - "the city that never sleeps"- and it was amazing the kind of people you could run into, no matter how late into the night it was. Nate smiled as he passed an elderly couple on the sidewalk strolling hand-in-hand on the warm summer night and he briefly wondered if he would have that kind of everlasting love with someone some day.
He let his mind wander to the two individuals that always seemed to occupy his thoughts, Serena and Blair. A frustrated sigh escaped his lips; he had really managed to fuck things up this time.
Nate hated to be the guy that went back and forth between two beautiful girls because he "couldn't help it" or he "didn't know what he wanted", but if he was being honest with himself, he really didn't have any idea of what, or who, he wanted. Blair and Serena were as different as night and day, and yet he found himself loving both of them. He always had and he probably always would.
Nate paused for a moment as he walked past the bench where he and Blair had shared their first kiss. He had taken her to see some cheesy romantic comedy (which he doubted he would have gotten through if he hadn't smoked a blunt just before picking her up), and then asked if she wanted to take a walk with him. When they paused to sit down for a few moments, he noticed her staring at him expectantly. That's how Blair had always worked- planning out her perfect story in her mind and then just expecting everyone else around her to follow the script.
And that night, Nate had. He leaned in, tucked one of her long chocolate locks behind her ear and then softly kissed her. He smiled as he remembered the look on her face when they pulled apart, he couldn't remember a time he had seen her happier. And yet, Nate had found his mind drifting towards a completely different first kiss that had happened only a few months earlier.
His first kiss with Serena had been completely different than his and Blair's. It had been unexpected, sudden, and amazing (just like everything was with Serena). They had been lying in bed, with Blair sleeping right next to them, when it just happened. Serena had literally just looked at him and kissed him. He wondered if Serena ever thought about what she did before she did it. And yet, he knew she wouldn't be the Serena he loved if she wasn't so reckless and care free. Nate allowed a small smile to creep onto his face as he thought about what would have happened if Blair had seen them kissing. They hadn't been dating yet, but something told Nate that he and Serena being together would never have been a part of Blair's life movie script.
And yet, here he was, walking to Serena's house in the middle of the night behind Blair's back. And for what? Nate had no idea what he even wanted to say to her, but he had to see her. He knew that what happened between them last night wasn't something he could ignore… it wasn't something that he wanted to ignore.
As he rounded the corner to Serena's penthouse he suddenly began to lose his nerve. His hands were sweating, and his stomach was at his feet. Maybe I should've smoked that blunt before coming over here, he thought. He took a deep breath and put on a smile as he approached the building's doorman, James. "Mr. Archibald! Long time, no see, how have you been?"
James was a kind-hearted, loud, Italian man and Nate had always liked him. When he, Blair and Serena were kids he used to sneak them in chocolates and hide them under the overly massive/overly expensive chairs in the lobby.
"I'm good James, how are you man?" James smiled as he patted Nate on the shoulder, "Can't complain son, I'm assuming Ms. van der Woodsen is expecting you?" The smile on Nate's face dropped momentarily. Was she expecting him? She had never responded to his text message. "Um, yeah… she is." I hope, his subconscious added. James gave Nate a knowing smile, "You know I always thought there was something between you two, ever since you were little." Nate was about to agree when he remember he was dating Blair… not Serena. "Oh, I... um, we're not…" James let out a small chuckle, "Whatever you say son, go ahead up."
Nate gave James one last glance before stepping onto the elevator. If his nerves were bad before, they were unbearable now. The elevator seemed to go thirty times slower than usual as Nate watched the numbers lighting up get higher and higher. Finally, the elevator shuddered to a stop at the van der Woodsen's floor and Nate shakily stepped out into Serena's foyer.
The dark room was bathed in moonlight, coming from the floor to ceiling windows throughout the main floor. Nate slowly made his way into the living room, barely making out the outline of the expensive European furniture the van der Woodsen's had imported years ago, the same furniture that Serena, Nate and Blair used to secretly jump on when no one was looking. It was also the same furniture that Nate had thrown up on after they had all gotten drunk together for the first time. He knew if you looked close enough, the stain was still visible on one of the cushions.
He continued on through the kitchen and the rest of the main floor, flipping on the lights as he went. Where was she? Had she left after he told her she was coming over? Did she really want to avoid him that badly? Was she out at some party, dancing up against one of the many guys that were always drooling over her? Anger and something else (jealousy?) briefly spread through Nate's body as he made his way up the stairs to continue his search.
When he reached the top of the marble staircase, he noticed a lack of light coming from any of the rooms on the second floor as well. Getting frustrated, he quickly headed down the familiar hallway until he came to a stop outside her bedroom. Sprawled across the door written in beautiful calligraphy, was Serena, in all pink letters. A small smile spread across his handsome features as he remembered when she had first forced Nate to come and see her "new door" when they were six years old. She had declared that it made her room the "perfect princess room", since she was, after all, a princess. Nate shook his head, she had no idea how true those words were.
Hovering in the threshold for several moments, Nate decided against knocking and slowly pushed the door open. In all the years he had known Serena her room had never really changed. The massive queen sized canopy bed sitting to his left was colored brightly with different shades of pink satin. The sheets were rumpled at the bottom of the bed (she always kicked the sheets off when she slept), which told him she had been here recently. There was a beautiful, full-length oak mirror near one end of the room, though Nate was never sure why she even had it, he knew Serena hardly ever looked in a mirror before leaving the house, she never needed to.
Nate made his way over to her dresser and briefly glanced at the picture of him, Serena and Blair sitting there. It was amazing how different things were now and yet still exactly the same. Nate's eyes then spotted something he didn't expect to see; there, perched on the top of her jewelry box, was the little blue sail boat figurine he had given her just a few months ago after they shared their first kiss… back when he thought they were going to end up together, not him and Blair. What the hell had gone wrong?
He picked the little boat up and slowly ran his finger over the small "HMS Serena" that he had painted on the side. He smiled to himself; he couldn't believe he had been that cheesy.
"You know, I never knew you were such an artist," came a teasing voice from behind him. He took a deep breath before turning around to face her, but the site he was met with left him breathless anyways.
She was leaning against the door frame of her walk-in closet, watching him with a small smirk on her face. His eyes traveled up her legs, which were endlessly long and bare in a pair of gray "softy" shorts, or whatever the hell they were called. The neckline of her black beater scooped low enough to see the top of her breasts, making Nate's face grow hot as memories of the previous night flooded his mind.
When he finally reached her face, her smirk was gone and her navy eyes had grown wary. He hadn't meant to stand there like an idiot and blatantly check her out; he hadn't meant to do a lot of things when it came to Serena.
Clearing his head, Nate chuckled and finally replied, "Actually, some people say I'm going to be the next Monet, you better hold on to this fine piece of original artwork. It'll probably be worth a fortune someday." He felt relieved when he saw a smile return to her face, and she seemed to relax again. "Oh please, you couldn't even draw a circle in first grade art class," she teased, rolling her eyes at him as she finally stepped into her bedroom.
"Hey, I was just a kid in first grade, a lot of things have changed since then," he replied, but regretted the words as soon as he saw Serena's face fall. The mood had gone from teasing to tense in a matter of seconds, and Nate mentally scolded himself for not choosing his words more carefully.
"Yeah… things have changed since then." Her voice was soft and sounded far away, her eyes suddenly looked sad and tired. Nate didn't know what to say next. Serena was hardly ever sad, and when she was it usually only lasted for a matter of seconds.
After a few moments of silence passed between them, Nate felt the small weight hanging from his right hand, and remembered his "excuse" for coming here, if she had needed him to give her one. He cleared his throat and opened the plastic bag, pulling out Serena's light blue slip dress that she had worn to his house yesterday… before he had taken it off her. "I wanted to stop by and bring you this, I had Theresa wash it for you, and your um… ya know, underwear are in there too," Nate had to choke out the last part, and Serena's cheeks were covered in a deep blush by the time Nate finally shut up.
"Thanks," she murmured, grabbing the clothing and tossing it into her closet.
When she returned Nate was sitting on the edge of her bed, and a small smile graced her lips. "Oh, so now you think you can just get in my bed anytime you want," she challenged. Nate looked over at her and replied, "It's never been a problem before, Ms. van der Woodsen," his green eyes glittering mischievously.
Serena was about to come back with some witty remark about how any previous times he had been in her bed were before his balls dropped, but reminded herself, instead, what she had decided before he came here.
Biting her lip (and driving Nate insane by doing so), she hesitantly walked over and joined him on her bed, making sure there was enough space between them so that they didn't touch. She took a deep breath and angled her body towards him, finally getting the courage to look him in the eyes.
He really was gorgeous. Her gorgeous, adorable, golden Natie. Her eyes traveled down to his lips, and for a moment all she wanted to do was kiss him until they both couldn't breathe, until they forgot about the rest of the world. But her subconscious kicked in and Blair's beautiful face entered her mind. She finally looked back up at him to find his emerald green eyes searching her blue ones expectantly, as if hoping to find all the answers that he needed there.
Nate knew he should say something. After all, he was the one that came over here. But he found it hard to think with her sitting this close to him. He could practically feel her warmth radiating from her body, and his heart felt like it skipped a beat. Did she even know the affect she had on him?
"Serena," he began, his voice sounding unsure, but she quickly interrupted him. "Nate, we don't need to do this… thing. The whole conversation thing. Obviously you're with Blair, and she's my best friend... I forgive you for what happened last night, and while I appreciate you being all gentlemanly in coming over here to talk to me, we can just forget it ever happened."
Her words came out in a giant rush, and by the time she had finished she was looking down at the floor, instead of at Nate. But at least now it could be over with. He could be happy with Blair and not have to feel like he owed her anything.
There was a moment of silence, and Serena swore it felt like her heart was going to beat out of her chest. Why wasn't he saying anything? She willed herself to look up at him and was surprised by what she saw in his eyes; anger.
Nate felt like the room was spinning around him. He didn't know what he had expected her to say, but it hadn't been that. How could she just brush him off like that? Did he really mean that little to her? Was he just another one of those guys that followed her around like a little puppy dog?
He found himself getting off the bed and spinning around to face her. "Is that really what you want Serena? To pretend it didn't happen? Seriously?" His voice sounded harsher than he had meant it to, but he didn't really care at this point.
Confusion spread across Serena's breath-taking features. She furrowed her eye brows together and looked up at him, "What did you want me to say Nate? I'm not going to sit here and swoon over my best friend's boyfriend." Even though she did swoon over him on a regular basis, and probably always would.
"Can we just leave Blair out of this," Nate snapped, "This is between us, not her." It was Serena's turn to jump up from the bed, reaching eye level with Nate. She glared at him for a moment, trying to resist the urge to slap him across the face, "Seriously Nate? This has everything to do with her. She is your girlfriend," making sure to annunciate every syllable in the word girlfriend. And then adding as an afterthought, "And she's my best friend."
"What happened to us?" Nate asked his voice much softer than before. "What do you mean? " Serena asked, relieved that he seemed calmer. "I mean I thought… I don't know. You kissed me on Valentine's Day, and several times after that. But then in the hot tub at that party…"
Serena cringed. She was hoping he wouldn't bring that up.
Serena could feel her own hands drifting through the warm water toward Nate's body, reaching for him. He was hers, her Natie, and she couldn't wait to kiss him again. And again. And again.
"I don't want you to go to that dance with that girl," Serena heard Blair murmur bravely. Serena dropped her hands and forced them behind her back. Blair looked so hopeful, and her life was just so shitty right now. She deserved to have a moment alone with Nate. After a few minutes, he'd sweetly reject her, come find Serena, sweep her up in his arms, and carry her off to spend a blissfully romantic night together. The first of many.
"Maybe I won't go," Nate replied, edging toward Serena.
That's right, Serena thought blissfully as Nate drifted in her direction. He was grinning at her in that irresistibly cocky way of his, and it was all she could do to keep from hurling herself at him. Then Blair giggled giddily and flicked water at Nate's head, and Serena was once more reminded of her mission.
"I've changed my mind," she announced, placing her hands firmly on the side of the tub. "I do like boys."
Nate chuckled and slipped his arm around her bare waist, pulling her toward him. Of course she liked boys. She liked him. She loved him.
Serena squeezed her eyes shut and forced herself to wriggle and splash out of his grasp. "Actually, I've always really wanted to kiss Chuck," she lied, pulling herself up and out of the tub. She grabbed a white terry-cloth robe from off a chrome hook and wrapped it tightly around her body before skipping off.
"Nate…" Serena began, uncertain of how to continue, "that was just, I just… I don't know. Blair was going through such a hard time with her family and everything. And before I could even tell her about us, she told me she had feelings for you and then she asked me to help her get you two together…" she finished lamely.
Nate stared at her in disbelief for a moment. "And you just did it? Did I really mean that little to you Serena? Huh, so this is what it feels like to be one of Serena van der Woodsen's boy toys… exactly how many of us are there anyways?"
It was Serena's turn to be left speechless. How could he say that to her? He had always meant everything in the world to her. "Did you ever think to come find me after I had left the hot tub, Nate? Just because I left that night didn't mean you had to kiss Blair. It didn't mean you had to start dating Blair. You made that decision all on your own, without ever so much as even talking to me about it, so don't you dare try to blame me." Serena was pacing now, and she knew that she was dangerously close to losing her tight grip on her emotions.
"You think I treated you like one of my boy toys, Nate? Really? Then please, tell me what you think you treated me like when Blair showed up at your house this morning?"
Blair didn't even seem remotely suspicious. She lit a cigarette and puffed on it dramatically. "You guys would not believe what a freak show my aunt's wedding was. I just had to get the fuck out of there. And Scotland is so medieval. The toilet paper was like burlap." She turned and walked over to Nate. "Our wedding's not going to be anything like that," she told him, slipping her arms around his waist and resting her head on his shoulder. She heaved a huge, exhausted sigh. "My family is so fucked up. I'm just so glad to be home."
Nate patted her chestnut-colored hair, his face twitching with conflicting emotions. Part of him wanted to blurt out that he was in love with Serena, that they were together now, and though he was sorry for hurting Blair, she'd just have to deal. But part of him still loved Blair too. He loved how unsuspicious she was right now. How she was so caught up in the drama of her life she didn't have time to be petty.
Blair lifted her head and kissed him on the lips, a long, inviting, 'remember me?' kiss. And he did remember her. He remembering kissing her for the first time, and he remembered loving her. And he remembered that he couldn't just break up with her right now because he'd hooked up with her best friend, whom he happened to be in love with, too.
"You treated me like I was nothing Nate, like I meant nothing to you. Like what happened last night meant nothing to you. You barely even remembered I was still there. But, you know, I'm sure you thought that since I have oh-so-many boy toys, seeing the guy I just lost my virginity to fucking kiss my best friend in front of me wouldn't bother me."
Nate flinched as if he'd been hit by an invisible hand. He had been such an ass this morning. But he hadn't known what to do. Blair had shown up so quickly he had barely had time to get dressed, let alone think about anything that had happened.
"Fuck…" Serena muttered under her breath as she felt the familiar sting of tears build up again. She scolded herself for letting her emotions get the best of her. This was nowhere near how she had expected this conversation to go.
"Serena," Nate whispered, his voice sounding strained. He started to move towards her, when she quickly held up her hand to stop him.
"I want you to leave Nate."
Her voice sounded cold and concise, leaving little room for argument. He had never seen her look so detached before.
"Serena, come on…" Nate started, but she quickly interrupted him again.
"I'm serious. I meant what I said, Nate. I just want to pretend this never happened". She was glad her mother had made her take those acting classes last summer; she almost believed the words she was saying were true. "I also think it'd be a good idea if we didn't talk to or see each other for awhile."
Nate shook his head and took another step towards her, "Serena, I'm sorry for what I did, but you're being ridiculous… if we just talk about-"
"Nate. I'm done talking." She saw the desperation in his face and she knew if he didn't leave soon, her resolve would break. "Last night was just sex. It didn't really mean anything and I'm sorry if I led you to believe otherwise."
Nate stood frozen in place. He couldn't believe the words that were coming out of her mouth. "You don't mean that."
Serena lifted her chin slightly higher, and pushed her pale blonde hair behind her shoulder. She knew the next words out of her mouth would hurt him, but not as much as it would hurt her.
"Nate, I'm seeing someone. He's older… one of my brother's friends from college," she bit her lip as she watched Nate's face drop, but forced herself to continue with her lie, "We met while I was up in Ridgefield this past month… I care about him, and I could really see myself being with him long term. So, like I said, I'm sorry if I made you believe last night meant anything, but it was a mistake. I was just caught up in the moment or whatever." She finished with a shrug, and prayed that her face didn't reveal that she was falling apart inside.
Nate felt like his blood was boiling and he had an increasingly growing urge to punch something. He stared at the beautiful girl in front him and searched her face for any trace of remorse; he found none.
"Fuck you." Those words echoed in the air, as Nate stormed out of her room and slammed the door behind him.
xoXox
Serena awoke the next morning to a soft knock on her bedroom door. Groaning, she glanced over at her clock; 9:46 AM was way too early for her to be coherent, especially after last night.
After Nate left Serena had stood, frozen in place, for a few minutes before she finally allowed the tears to fall. When she finally managed for pull herself together it was well after midnight and she felt exhausted. She crawled into bed and pulled sheets up to her chin and fell into an uneasy sleep. Her dreams were filled with images of either her and Nate or Nate and Blair. One nightmare even involved Blair walking in on them and her promptly grabbing a machete and chopping Serena's head off (Serena had a feeling that dream might become quite real if Blair ever found out what had happened).
Hoping that whoever was on the other side of her door would go away if she just ignored them, Serena grabbed the unused pink pillow next to her and plopped it over her head. Relief flooded over Serena as silence filled the room once again. She felt her eyelids slowly growing heavy when she heard another knock on her door, louder this time.
"Go away," she grumbled, squeezing her eyes tightly shut as she heard her bedroom door open.
"Don't speak to your mother that way darling, I thought I raised you better than that."
Serena cringed at the sound of her mother's voice as she walked over to the windows and pushed the plush magenta drapes apart, allowing the New York sunshine to stream into Serena's bedroom.
Burying her face deeper into the pillows, Serena silently wished herself to be anywhere else at that moment. It wasn't that she didn't love her mother, she did, but Lily van der Woodsen was missing a sensitivity chip when it came to her children, and especially when it came to anything that didn't meet her high society standards (i.e. anything and everything that Serena said and did on a daily basis, such as sleeping in past 9AM).
Serena kept her eyes closed for a few moments longer, praying that her mom would just disappear. She slowly opened one eye to see her mother standing at the side of her bed, glaring at her. Surrendering with a loud sigh, Serena tossed the pillow off of her head and sat up, returning her mother's glare. "What is it mom?"
Lily seemed to be momentarily taken aback by her daughter's hostile tone, but quickly recovered. Raising a perfectly manicured eyebrow, Lily sat on the edge of Serena's bed and cleared her throat. "First of all, I wanted to talk to you about boarding school again. I don't think you're thinking clearly-" "I already talked to dad about my decision mother, and I have no intentions of changing my mind, so if that's all you came here to tell me, then you wasted your time," Serena snapped, tossing the sheets off her body and making her way towards her walk-in bathroom.
Lily gave a reluctant sigh; she had no idea when her daughter had become so hard to talk to, but she missed the days when Serena didn't even know the meaning of the words "talk back".
"Blair has been calling the house all morning," Lily started, noticing that her daughter stopped dead in her tracks at the mention of her best friend's name, "And you know how annoyed your father gets when the line is tied up. She said she's been trying to reach you for over a day now, are you two having a disagreement?"
Serena mentally cursed her best friend for being so creative. Blair knew very well that Serena's father hated it when her friends called the house line (one of their favorite games growing up had been to see how many times Blair could call before Serena's father lost it- the number was usually somewhere around 3), Blair also knew it would only be a matter of time before Serena's father forced Lily to make Serena return her friend's call – on her cell phone.
"No mom, we're fine. I've just been busy, I'll call her back in a few minutes, tell dad I'm sorry," Serena replied, running a hand through her long blond locks, that still looked flawless even though she had only woken up moments ago.
Lily studied her daughter for a moment. Something didn't seem right. Looking into Serena's eyes, Lily saw a deep sadness, one that a young girl of sixteen-years-old shouldn't have to experience just yet.
Surprising them both, Lily stood up and pulled her daughter into a hug. "Whatever's going on, I'm sure it'll all turn out fine in the end," she said softly as she pulled away. And with that, Lily walked out of the room and closed the door gently behind her.
Serena stood there in shock for a few moments. How did her mother know something was wrong? Serena suddenly felt as if she had the words "I'm miserable" tattooed onto her forehead, subconsciously running a finger across the smooth skin there. Making her way into the bathroom, she slowly turned to look at herself in the mirror.
Her pale, straight hair fell just below her chest, gleaming back at her under the intense illumination of the three vanity lights above her. Her features were delicate and graceful, inherited mostly from her mother's side of the family. Serena had never been shallow, but she knew that there was no denying she was beautiful; it just was what it was. Girls had been copying her since elementary school; trying to mimic her smile or get their mother's hairdressers to give them the sun-kissed highlights that appeared naturally throughout Serena's hair every summer.
Serena had always been amused by her peers' obsession with her looks. Every one automatically assumed that her beauty meant she lived the perfect life; one filled with butterflies, rainbows, and constant happiness. And she gladly played the part that everyone expected her to. She indulged the guys that followed her around with playful flirting, she went along with Blair's schemes against girls that "they" weren't supposed to like, she got drunk at parties and danced on tables, and she was well mannered and polite in front of her mother's friends. Serena played her daily roles perfectly, projecting the image of the beautiful, care free girl that everyone thought she was.
Serena wondered what people would think if they knew what she had done last night. The great Serena van der Woodsen, she thought bitterly, crying herself to sleep over a guy.
Shaking her head, she turned the vanity lights off and walked back into her bedroom. She had known she could only avoid talking to Blair for so long, and it seemed as if her time was up. Reluctantly, she reached for her BlackBerry and scrolled down her list of contacts, stopping at the simple letter "B" with a heart next to it.
With a heavy sigh, she hit the send button and nervously waited as the sound of ringing began to fill her ears. Unfortunately, she didn't have to wait long as she heard her best friend's annoyed voice coming through the receiver after two short rings.
"Where the fuck have you been? I've been calling you since you left Nate's yesterday morning."
Serena was amazed how Blair always had the power to make her feel like a 5 year old child being scolded by their mother.
"I was tired B," Serena whined, "I literally slept all day yesterday." That technically wasn't a lie; Serena had spent all day sleeping, minus the small part when Nate had come over to talk to her.
"I swear to God Serena, if everyone in the world slept as much as you," Blair replied and Serena could practically hear the smile on her friend's face. Blair had spent countless hours throughout the years of their friendship trying to get Serena to wake up for one reason or another.
"You're starting to sound like my mother," grumbled Serena, "and speaking of my mother, apparently I have you to thank for her barging into my room this morning demanding I call you back."
"I have no idea what you're talking about Serena," innocence filling her voice, "But now that you're awake, we're going shopping. I have so much shit to vent about after spending a week with my fucked up family."
The last thing Serena wanted to do right now was prance around with Blair, pretending that she was perfectly fine, but she knew when it came to Blair, she had little say in any matter.
Already walking towards her closet, Serena replied, "See you in 20," before pressing the end call button and tossing her phone to the floor.
xoXox
"I don't think poor Mr. Simmons was ever the same after that night," laughed Blair, shaking her head at the blonde walking next to her on the busy city sidewalk.
"Well I had to think of something to distract him or else we all would've gotten caught," replied Serena as she took another gulp of her iced latte from Starbucks. "And the only thing you could think of was mooning him," the brunette asked, barely containing her laughter.
Serena smiled to herself as she adjusted the several large shopping bags that hung from her arms. The shopping trip with Blair had ended up being a pleasant surprise. The girls had spent the afternoon weaving in and out of Barney's, Bergdorf Goodman, Bloomingdale's, and Saks Fifth Avenue while reliving all the crazy things they had done during their first two years of high school.
She couldn't believe how easy it was to act completely normal around Blair. "I knew I could do this," Serena thought, giving herself a mental pat on the back. Now if only she could act this normal around…
"Nate!" Blair's voice rang through her thoughts and before Serena could protest, Blair was dragging her across the street to where Nate and Chuck stood, waiting for them.
The already warm summer air suddenly seemed 10 degrees hotter, and Serena found herself struggling to breathe properly. "You can do this," she told herself, "just act like nothing ever happened."
The smile on Blair's face grew wider as they finally approached the boys. She immediately threw herself into Nate's arms and embraced him, planting a kiss on his cheek before pulling away. "Hi beautiful," Nate said, smiling down at Blair. His emerald eyes then glanced over at Serena, who he greeted with a brief nod.
Serena stood there, momentarily stunned. Was Nate really that mad at her? The only form of acknowledgement she was worth now was a nod? She couldn't decide if she wanted to roll her eyes at him and tell him to grow up or give in to the tears she felt building up behind her eyes. She decided against both of these and, instead, plastered the famous van der Woodsen smile on her face. "Hi Natie, hey Chuck," she said cheerfully before taking another sip of her latte.
Nate's body immediately stiffened as soon as she spoke. So she thought she would pretend their conversation last night never happened? Nate felt a fresh rush of anger flow through his body. Serena had something else coming if she thought he was just going to sit back and play along with her.
"So what have you been up to," asked Blair, "besides watching Bass attempt to hit on anything with two legs and a vagina?"
"You know Waldorf, there is something so sexy about a girl saying the word vagina," Chuck responded, a small smirk appearing on his face.
"Ugh," Blair replied, disgust written on her face, "Why are you such a pig Bass? Maybe if you could learn to keep it in your pants, girls would actually be able to tolerate you. Sex isn't everything, in fact, Nate and I are waiting until we're ready, right babe?"
Before Nate could open his mouth to respond, the sound of Serena coughing filled the air.
"Sorry, wrong pipe," she choked out in between coughs, as she pointed to the latte in her hand.
"Mmm, I could think of something else I could put into your mouth that would make you gag like that," Chuck said, his eyes slowly traveling up Serena's bare legs.
Serena rolled her eyes, "Seriously Chuck? So gross."
Nate's hands had clenched tightly into fists and he was trying desperately to get the urge to punch Chuck in the face under control.
"Be careful with how you talk to her Chuck, her new boyfriend might get pissed," Nate said, the amount coldness in his voice even surprised himself.
"Her new what," Blair exclaimed, glaring at her best friend, "How could keep something like that from me? And more importantly, how could you tell Nate before me?"
A smug look formed across Nate's face, "Yes, Serena, why haven't you told Blair about your new boyfriend?"
Serena could feel her face growing hot. Her mind raced as she tried to think of something believable to tell Blair.
"I'm sorry B, it happened when I was in Connecticut with my family. And I know how much you hate hearing about my 'brief little flings', so I just wanted to make sure it had the potential to be a serious thing before I told you about him," Serena said, praying that her face looked sincere. "And the only reason Nate knows about him is because I mentioned it to him when we were hanging out the day you came back from your aunt's wedding," she quickly added.
After a moment, Blair let out a small squeal and threw her arms around Serena. "I'll let it slide this once. I'm just so excited that you actually finally have a boyfriend." Serena let out a sigh of relief and she returned Blair's hug, wrapping her bag-filled arms around Blair's small waist.
Looking over Blair's shoulder, Serena was met with an icy glare from Nate, which she happily returned. If Nate wanted things to be this way, then fine, she would happily oblige him. Serena van der Woodsen could be an expert in making guys miserable when she wanted to be.
After a few moments, Blair finally released Serena and immediately began bombarding Serena with questions about her "new boyfriend", all of which Serena answered with ease. It was amazing how much easier lying came to her the more she did it.
"I have a great idea," Blair exclaimed, "We should all go get drinks together tonight. Like a double date! Especially before Serena's boyfriend has to go back to college."
Serena was about to protest when Nate interrupted her, "I'm down, I'd love to meet the lucky guy." The sarcasm in his voice was obvious and Serena once again had to keep herself from lashing out at him.
"I guess I can call him and see what he's up to…"
"Great! So it's settled, we'll all meet up at Chuck's hotel around 9-sish. Bass, I guess you can come if you can find a girl with low enough self-esteem to tolerate you for an evening."
"I'll be there with several," Chuck replied, "I never limit myself to one female for an entire evening."
Blair rolled her eyes once again before declaring that she and Serena needed to find new dresses for this evening. She gave Nate a brief kiss on the lips before happily dragging Serena back in the direction of 5th Avenue.
And while Blair couldn't stop talking about the new dresses they needed to find, Serena couldn't stop thinking about the new "boyfriend" that she needed to find… by tonight.