This is the penultimate chapter and the format's different in this chapter because everyone's in New York. I hope to have the last chapter posted soon. As for Bad Before Good, I don't know when I'm posting it. I've kind of lost my muse and I'm having trouble finishing the chapter even though I know how it ends. Hopefully soon is my only answer for those waiting. After this fic is completed, my attention will solely be on Back to Life and An Affair for The Ages, which will not be posted as quickly as these chapters were. I wouldn't be surprised if it took me a year to finish those stories so I hope you'll stay with me.
With all the guests gone, Blair's left alone to cleanup. After putting the leftovers in the fridge, her heels click to the foyer and catches Dan standing in the middle of the marble floor with his hands in his pockets.
Her heart jumps at first glance.
Dan swallows nervously. "Hi."
Blair approaches him and folds her arms across her chest, tapping her heels impatiently. "I thought I made myself clear Humphrey."
"You did, but I'm having trouble believing you," Dan says
Blair presses her lips in displeasure. "Well…Then you're just an idiot."
Blair heads for her staircase, but before she can set her foot on the first step, he grabs her wrist and pulls her back to where her back is pressed against his chest. His hands slide all the way down to her hips, grasping on.
"You have five seconds to explain why I shouldn't slap you right now," Blair warns
"I'm sorry," Dan whispers and presses a soft kiss on her collarbone, leading her to shut her eyes. "I really am…It's just…You kill me." Dan presses his hips against hers.
"Stop," Blair protests weakly
"Tell me you haven't missed me and I will."
"Dan," Blair says softly and his lips begin sucking on her neck.
"I miss you," Dan whispers before he goes back to her neck.
She grabs the back of his head with one hand and presses him closer to her neck while sliding his other hand to her right breast, hoping his lips will mark her. Dan gets the idea and slides his other hand to her left breast. He squeezes and pinches, each causing her to whimper and cry softly. Her hips begin slowly grinding against his, leading him to teeth her neck.
He spins her around and their eyes meet. She loves how wanted he makes her feel. She attacks his lips and they begin kissing wildly while feeling out each other's bodies with their hands, eventually falling on the marble floor of her foyer, not wanting to wait anymore. He's kissing her on the neck and she can hear him unbuckling his belt. Their too impatient to slide her panties off, so he slides the crotch of her panties to the side, feeling the hard floor against her back and…..
Blair's eyes flutter open to the sound of her alarm clock. She's swept through with irritation for dreaming of Dan and throws the pillow on the floor in frustration.
XOXOXOXO
It's well past noon when he wakes. Jenny's towering over him, arching a brow, with her hands on her hips.
"Time to get up," Jenny says in a sunny voice that makes him want to bury his head under his pillow. "Brunch is in two hours."
Dan rubs his eyes with the both of his curled hands. "What are you talking about," he asks with a raspy voice leaving his throat.
"Chuck's holding a Bass brunch at the Empire," Jenny tells him as he begins to stretch out and yawn
"Does it require formal wear?"
Jenny gives him a look of what do you think, and he roll his eyes while sliding off his bed. He brushes his teeth, showers, and puts on some formal attire for Brunch. When he leaves his room and steps into the kitchen, he finds Jenny sitting on the couch, with a remote control in hand, watching the style network.
They head downstairs to see a town car parked in front of the curb of his loft and he realizes a lot's changed since he left. He follows Jenny and steps into the town car, welcoming the comfort of the leather seats.
Dan glances over to his sister. "When did you start using a town car?"
"When I was handed the responsibility of designing for Waldorf Designs," Jenny tells him
His eyes become filled with concern and his brotherly instincts take over. "Are you guy's friends now?"
It becomes clear Jenny notices his uneasiness when her hand lands on top of his. She gives him a reassuring smile of everything's fine. "You know I've always looked up to her."
"She's not a good person," Dan says with a sad smile. "You shouldn't trust her."
"What can I say, us Humphrey's have a certain fondness for Blair," Jenny replies, smiling lightly
He nods and glances over to the window, deciding not to touch on the subject anymore.
He arrives at Brunch and it's just like before, all eyes are on him and they're all wearing white. Whispering and gossiping grow to his attendance.
He spots Serena, drinking orange juice, and walking away from a couple of well-dressed women. Her smile brightens once she meets his eyes. Just as he's about to greet Serena, Blair appears, ruining the mood.
"Who invited you," Blair asks scrunching her nose to his presence as she shines in her white, half sleeve, knee high dress, with pink on the edges.
"Um…." His eyes swing around the room, searching for his sister. "Jenny."
"Pity," Blair says and presses her lips in disapproval, leading Dan to roll his eyes
Serena nudges his shoulder. "Why don't we get a table?"
"Oh Serena, never did I think you would become this desperate. Still clinging onto your high school boyfriend," Blair says with a fake sweet smile. "How about you save yourself some time and read Inside."
Serena mockingly laughs and looks away, pinching the nose of her bridge with her index finger and thumb. "Right…I'm the one clinging to my high school boyfriend. I'm sure you'll be crawling back to Chuck soon and then he can decide when you guys are allowed to get married."
His mouth is left open and he's beginning to wonder why in the hell he came back in the first place. Both girls are on edge and he's worried with how far they'll take it.
"No…Unlike you, I've moved on to bigger and better things."
Serena tilts her head and raises her brows. "I remember you saying that once before, but then you crawled back to the ex who sold you for a hotel."
"You can throw all of these past indiscretions at me, and then I'm sure I can go on about your drug overdoses and slutiness, but I'll be the bigger person and let it go because I have something you cherish most… Dan's heart," Blair replies giving Serena a condescending smile.
Serena smiles it off. "Huh…Don't you think you're being a little conceited?"
A smirk forms on Blair's lips as she bats her eyelashes innocently at Serena. "Oh…Humphrey didn't tell you about us sleeping together last year?"
Serena glances over to Dan, looking slightly hurt. "You slept with her?"
He meets Serena's eyes. "I did and it was obviously a mistake." He then glances over to Blair and gives her a stern look. "It's something I truly regret."
"The feelings mutual," Blair says, pressing her lips in displeasure
If Blair's hurt by his words, he can't see it. Her dragging him into her little fray with Serena is unnecessary and very irritating.
They're interrupted with Nate calling them over to his table.
He pulls up a chair and plops down. The tension's the same as it was the first time he attended the Bass Brunch, except it's too late to fix the mess they've created this time. Serena and Blair's friendship is over, while Chuck still isn't over Blair, and Nate's the only one who seems to be happy.
They sit quietly, playing with their cellphones until Jenny comes along. Blair's smiles once Jenny sits beside her and they begin chatting away about some interview Blair has with W Magazine. Dan tries to ignore the conversation, but it becomes impossible because it's Blair, so he pushes his chair back and leaves for the long narrow table filled with trays of food.
After he's finished eating, he feels bored and decides to leave. Stepping into the main lobby of the hotel, he sees Blair outside the hotel, looking for a cab.
Blair rolls her eyes once her eyes fall on him approaching.
"I wasn't anticipating fireworks," Dan teases, trying to lighten the tension
She ignores him, and continues on looking for a cab. He follows, doing the same, deciding it was best to leave her alone. He takes out a pack of Camel cigarettes, pounds the pack with into the palm of his hands a couple of time before pulling out a cigarette and lighting it.
Blair scrunches her nose in disgust. "When did you start smoking?"
"Didn't you hear?" His brows knit together as he smirks. "I'm Hollywood now."
"Well it's disgusting… and not you."
His lips curve slightly after he inhales the smoke. "It's too late, I'm addicted."
Too be honest, it's a habit he picked up from the L.A. crowd, which he regrets already. Cigarettes have ruined his life. They're overpriced and he's become too dependent on them.
"I have a proposition for you," he tells her as he leans in closer and blows smoke on her face, leading her to square him a glare. "I promise to quit if you have dinner with me."
Blair raises her brows and gives him a superior smile. She presses her hand against his face, covering most of it, and pushes him off her breathing space, leading him to almost lose his balance.
"Feel free to reduce your life expectancy because I'm perfectly content without you," Blair states, folding her arms across her chest.
Dan presses both his hands on his chest dramatically, feigning hurt, while keeping the cigarette in his mouth. "Well…I'll always have that night in France."
Blair frowns slightly and looks down, wall dissolving. "I thought you said you regretted it."
Dan sighs. "You put me in the middle of a feud between you and Serena."
"I don't recall you being that spiteful with Serena when she used you to hurt me," Blair says, standing her ground firmly
"First of all, you weren't there, so you have no idea how I reacted when Serena used me because you were too busy chasing Chuck. Second, she apologized for the sextape… Something you never do," Dan clarifies
"I apologize for things," Blair replies stubbornly. "I sent my apologies through emails and voicemail."
"You can't be serious?" He looks at her incredulously.
She shrugs her shoulders in response, not showing any sign of sympathy, arms still crossed.
"When I came back from Rome, you turned on me. It was like you pulled a complete 180 on your feelings for me. You showed no remorse for anything you did and in the end, it was me who had to come to you," he explains.
She looks up and meets his eyes. He feels his eyes soften and he hopes she can't see how much pain he's in as his mind drifts off to the past.
"I've seen you treat people pretty horribly before, even Serena…But I never thought you'd do it to me," Dan tells her softly.
She purses her lips and inhales through her nose deeply, not leaving his eyes. Her lip's twitching and fighting against frowning. She looks to be struggling with what to say as her eyes soften.
Dan sighs and looks down, shoulders easing from tension, and then his eyes rise to meet hers. "It's okay Blair…I haven't been perfect either. So I suppose I'm just as bad as you."
Dan gives her an understanding smile and walks away.
XOXOXOXO
Ordering a cup of coffee in Brooklyn, Dan runs into Harry, an old friend from NYU. They hadn't seen each other since he dropped out due to the release of Inside. They catch up and Harry invites him to a party being held in Soho where all their old friends from college are gathering.
He has trouble deciding between who he should invite as his plus one. His relationship with Serena has become awkward while he isn't in the mood to argue with Blair. He could bring Jenny, but he still wants to impress his old friends and bringing his sister makes him feel like a loser.
He decides to go with Serena, hoping she'll accept his invitation.
Serena seems normal on the phone and gets excited when he invites her. It's so Serena to just forget and ignore the giant elephant in the room.
A week passes and it's the day of the party. He decides to go with a long sleeve navy blue sweater, brown pants, and leaves his loft to pick Serena up. After taking a cab to Serena's place, she buzzes him in and he knocks on her red door once he climbs the stairs.
The red door opens and Serena's standing in front of him, wearing a white long sleeve brown striped top with light blue jeans and a brown scarf wrapped around her neck. She looks as perfect as ever.
Dan blinks, thinking about how perfect she looks in normal clothes. "Hey."
A smile forms on Serena's lips. "Hey." She grabs the purse on the couch and they catch a cab to Soho.
Sitting in the cab, he can't help but check her out with the corner of his eyes.
He turns his head to look at her. "Thanks for coming by the way."
"You know I can never say no to a party," Serena jokes with a glowing smile.
"Of course not." Dan chuckles and nods his head slightly, looking away. "I just thought you've been mad about the whole Blair thing."
Serena looks down and frowns slightly. "I was at first…But only because I think you can do better. She doesn't deserve you."
Dan swallows and looking worried to what he's about to ask. "So you're not jealous?"
Serena's lips curve slightly and she raises her brows. "No…We're so over."
Dan chuckles and steers the conversation in another direction, feeling lighter than ever. He catches her up on his friends from NYU so she can become easily acquainted and by the time they've finished talking about his short-lived college years, the cab reaches the address. He gives the taxi driver money and enters the loft.
It's a nice three bedroom loft with high ceilings and modern looking furniture. The place is crowded, but not crowded in terms of space to maneuver. Of course the first thing he looks for is alcohol because that's the first rule of a party. It doesn't matter how old he gets. He notices everyone drinking from a wine glass and realizes it's more of a calm catching up sort of party where there's always one idiot who gets way to drunk while everyone's sober and looks like an idiot. He decides he's not going to be that guy tonight.
He looks around and the first thing he notices is how much fatter everyone's gotten from college. It becomes obvious most of the people at the party probably had office jobs and that's why they looked a little different.
"D Humphs!"
A startled Serena and him look around until they see a balding man wearing a sweater and sliding through the room while holding a wine glass.
He reaches Dan and they slap hands. Dan can barely recognize him with his thinning hair.
"Nice party," Dan says as he continues to study the party. He then feels Serena nudge his shoulder. "Oh! Right." Dan shakes his head at his stupidity and points at Serena. "This is Serena…. Serena, this is Travis."
Travis recognizes her and the whole party turns into D Humphs bringing over the girl from the Calvin Klein billboard.
As he catches up with his friends, he realizes everyone's pretty unsatisfied with their current jobs. People doing CPA and going into Auditing want to kill themselves already, the Investment Bankers are hopped up on Cocaine, the lawyers are having trouble finding work, but the medical students seem to be pleased. The only thing on their head is student loans, but most are confident they'll be able to pay it. Then there are the people who chose the uncommon major and they tend to be happy and money isn't important. He wonders if that'll last once they reach their thirties.
Everyone at the party thinks he's rich, but they don't realize he hasn't sold the rights to Inside and he's still waiting on his cut on the sales of his current album.
Oh well
For once in his life, he didn't mind people thinking of him as a talented singer. He enjoys the praise and flirting but he doesn't show interest anyone particular because he's too emotionally invested someone else.
XOXOXOXO
The next day, after having breakfast, there's a knock on his front door to the loft. He opens the door to see Blair standing in front of him, holding a brown paper bag, and a file folder with the other hand.
Dan sniffs a little to take in the scent.
Dan arches a brow with a slight curve to the lips. "Do I smell pork and cheese?"
"Yes, and it was a horrifying experience Humphrey… I had it with me all the way on the drive up here."
She pushes past him and strides into the loft. When he turns around, she hands him the brown paper bag and he takes it from her.
His lips curl into a smile as he looks deeply into her eyes. "I'm sorry too."
He's rewarded with a small smile, but it's more genuine than most of the smile's she gives others. He breaks their gaze and puts the food on his countertop in the kitchen while Blair shrugs off her coat and places it on one of the bar stools.
"So what can I do for you," Dan asks, turning around and stepping towards his sofa chair to sit in front of Blair who is sitting on his couch.
She takes her eyes off her skirt to meet his as he sits on the sofa chair.
"I have an interview with W for an internship and they requested I write them an article on a topic of their choice."
"And you want my help." Dan fills in the blank.
She nods, biting her lip nervously, and pulls out her stapled together article while he leaves his seat to sit beside her on the couch.
He begins reading through her paper and realizes she's in way over her head. Her laziness in research is showing. She doesn't have the same wit and wasn't willing to take as much risk as she would have when she was younger. It's understandable. Blair has spent the past few years running a company with people working under her doing more of the hands on work. Her responsibility was to oversee things and she has very little writing experience.
"What," Blair asks at the sight of his lips curving
"Your grammar's rusty."
It earns him a glare and she swipes the article away from his hands. He sighs and places his hand on her thigh, leading her to soften a little.
"Do you want an honest critique or not?" Blair nods and gives him a vote of confidence to go on. He then turns his knees to face her and his hand remains on her lap as he keeps his eyes on her. "After doing what you've done, I just don't think you can go back to running out and getting coffee."
"No… I can and I will," Blair replies, giving him a determined look
"But you're going to be miserable doing it," Dan says softly. "I don't even understand why you're in school."
Her eyes drop. "I want to start over." She shrugs her shoulders
"I personally think you should work around your resume…Like running an Interior Design firm or creating your own Party Planning Company." He reaches for her cheek and meets her eyes. "It's too late…You have to think of your writing career as a sunk cost."
He's surprised when she leans her forehead against his and shuts her eyes, taking in a deep breath. Her hand slides on top of his. His eyes are fighting to stay open as her perfume begins to consume his nose.
"Okay… I'll think about it," she concedes, looking defeated
"And I'll help you either way."
She moves away and smiles, dimples showing, making his heart jump. He wants to lean in and press a soft kiss, but they're interrupted with a knock. He sighs, and gives her apologetic smile, leaving her to attend to the door. He's expecting Nate who is planning to come over and play FIFA.
Right on cue, Nate's standing on the other side of the door, grinning madly. As Nate enters, Blair receives the message and begins gathering her things, ignoring his protests to stay.
She reaches in her purse and pulls out a box of nicotine patches.
"You'll be needing these."
She hands him the box of patches while giving him a mischievous smile, hoping he gets the hint.
"Bye Humphrey."
She spins around and he watches her sway her hips out of the loft.
So how was it?