"How did we get ourselves into this mess?" I laugh before I kiss him lightly, with my arms around his neck.
"Come on Serena, it's not like we haven't lived together, before." He smiles.
"Yeah, well last time it was because we were sort of siblings." I wince, because those were not always the best days.
"True." He says, as I drop my arms to my side.
They become crossed as I watch him walk over to the closet to start unpacking his clothes. I'm about to walk over and help before I hear the doorbell.
"I'll get it." I say, and I make my way across the penthouse.
I open the door, expecting Blair, but instead, Nate greets me.
"Nate!" I exclaim, as I fling my arms around him, embracing him. "What are you doing here? We haven't talked for a whole two days!" I ask, as I release my grip on him.
"And a very dreadful two days, they were." He laughs.
Nate's Point of View
"I just thought we could hang out like the old days; and like you said, it has been two days." I reason.
"Your opinion is valid, Nathaniel Archibald." She gives me that sweet smirk, as she closes the door. "Do you want something to drink?"
"Water's fine." I reply. I take a seat at the breakfast bar. I take in the familiar view of Manhattan, as I gaze out the floor-to-ceiling windows.
"Nate? What are you doing here?" I hear Dan's voice echo from a few meters away. My heart immediately drops.
I spin around, still in the chair, and look over at him. "Oh, hey. I could ask you the same question." I ask, as I try to hide my internal distress. Please don't say that you've moved in.
"Well this is sort of where I live now, so that might be why, haha." He sounds happy, but his body language says otherwise. "You?"
"Oh, congrats!" That was the worst response, ever. "I thought I'd just drop by and hang out for a bit."
"For who? Me, or Serena?" Dan inquires. Though it sounds like a sarcastic joke, I feel like he's completely serious.
"Do you want me to lie? Or do you want the truth?" I laugh, trying to ease the tension. Dan stifles a laugh, but doesn't seem amused.
"Here's your water, Nate." Serena gently places the crystal glass before me, completely oblivious as to what happened.
"Thanks," I struggle to sound happy.
"So what should we do today? She asks, propping her elbows on the countertops.
"I actually have to unpack and then do some work, so I'll stay here." Dan says, turning to leave.
"Aw dude, don't be such a Dannie Downer. It's a Saturday!" I call out, friendly.
"Please Dan? You can work later." Serena chimes in after me.
"Unfortunately," he turns around dramatically before reaching the corner, "some of us actually have to work a job for money." He says before walking into the bedroom and closing the door.
A silence hangs in the room. "Was that an insult to you, or to me? Because I'm almost 99.9% sure that I run the Spectator." I joke.
"Probably me, since I don't have a job." She laughs. Even though I asked that question, I already knew the answer. It was kind of hard to miss his cold glare at me before he left.
"Speaking of jobs, I applied for a spot at Vogue." She happily says with a glisten in her pretty, blue eyes.
"Wow, that's great, Serena! I'm really proud of you." I smile. "Which position?"
"See, that's the thing. I want to model, but I want to do something productive that requires my brain, too. So I applied for everything!"
"Typical Serena." I laugh. "Always so indecisive."
"No, I am not!" She pushes herself off of the counter.
"Would you like me to provide some examples?"
"I'd prefer it if you don't."
"So what do you want to do?"
"I don't know!"
"Point proven." I smirk.
"Oh shut up, you choose for once."
"Shopping for the lady?"
"You know me so well, Natie." She smiles before tossing her hair and turning to touch up on her makeup.
Serena's Point of View
"Oh my gosh, I totally forgot!" I exclaim, as a million thoughts bombard me.
"What? What's wrong?" He immediately asks, stopping dead in his tracks.
He turns to face me, so I grab his arms. "I need a new dress for my engagement party!" I exclaim, throwing my arms up and continue walking.
"Oh," he sighs, "Don't you have 50 of those dresses already?"
"But none of them were for my own wedding!"
"So I assume we'll need to buy 50 more?" He says.
"Nate, you know that I only plan on having one wedding, which means one engagement dress."
"I know, I'm just kidding, Serena." He says in a solemn voice.
"Can we go in here? I want to look around." I ask, as we approach Bergdorf Goodman's.
"If that's what you want." Nate says, and holds the door open for me.
"Thanks."
I immediately scan the store for any new collections. I begin to cautiously walk around racks as Nate follows close behind. When I start to walk too slowly, making sure that I look at every dress, Nate decides to look around.
After several minutes of browsing, I'm disappointed. Nothing has caught my eye. I half-heartedly grab a few dresses that are my size and follow the sales associate to the dressing rooms. On the way there, my eyes search the store for Nate. He's probably just sitting down somewhere, playing on his phone.
I walk out of the dressing room to view myself in the mirror. This is the last one that I picked out, and I'm still dissatisfied. I guess I'll just go to a different store. Normally, Bergdorf's has everything that I could possible want, but I guess today just wasn't a good day. I'm about to return to my dressing room when I hear Nate.
"Serena, are you in here?" He calls out.
"Yeah, don't worry, I'm done. I won't take much longer." I reply.
"Wait, I found this dress; I think you might like it." He walks around the corner, holding a white and gold dress.
"Oh my gosh, Nate. Where did you find this? It's beautiful." I say, taking the dress from him.
"On a rack. Shocking, huh?" He laughs.
"But seriously, Nate. This is stunning. Get me out of this dress so that I can try this on." I exclaim, turning so that the zipper faces him.
Nate's Point of View
My fingers find the delicate zipper on the side, and they slide it down; it's an all too familiar motion.
"There we go." I sigh, backing up.
"Thanks." She smiles, and quickly returns to the dressing room.
I take a seat on the plush, white leather ottoman that sits in the center of the area. It isn't too long before Serena comes bursting out of the room.
"What's the verdict?" I ask, nervously.
"Nate." She looks at me sternly. "I love it. Can you zip me up?" She asks, holding up her golden hair.
"Of course." I zip the dress up slowly, for no particular reason. She shivers a bit because I am breathing on her neck.
"You look beautiful." I whisper, as she lets her hair back down.
"You're too nice, Natie." She turns towards me and smiles. "So why did you choose this dress?"
"I don't know," I watch her admire herself in the massive mirror. "I guess the gold reminded me of your hair. The dress is modern and crazy, but it's also classic and simple, which I guess describes you perfectly. Oh, and it's white, since it's an engagement party and all." I sigh. She looks like a goddess, a goddess that's not mine anymore.
"Aw Nate. Thank you." She smiles, humbly. "This fits me perfectly, how did you know which size I was?"
I pause for a second to think before replying. "Well I have taken several dresses off of you, so I've seen the labels, which have the size." I smirk.
She punches me lightly, and goes to sit down on the ottoman. I take a seat next to her.
"What's wrong?" I ask, suddenly worried.
"I'm getting married to Dan, Nate." She states the obvious.
"Wait, what? I thought we were getting married?" I ask, offended.
"Oh, Nate." She rests her head on my shoulder and sighs. "In a few months we won't be able to talk like this again, you know."
"And why is that?" I ask.
"Dan would hate you even if he heard us talking right now."
"Yeah, I figured." I turn away, but keep her head on my shoulder.
"I'm going to miss this."
"I'm going to miss you." I counter.
Suddenly alert, she stands up and folds her arms. "What do you mean?" She frowns.
"Like you said, Dan will be your husband. And I don't think that many guys would like to see their wife constantly with their male friend." I explain.
"But you're not just any male friend; you're my Natie. Dan can't take that away from me. He'll have to find his own best friend." She says over her shoulder, as she returns to the dressing room.
She walks swiftly, but still elegantly. Being here with Serena today brings back the feelings that I had when we were together. But then I remember why we were in here; to look for an engagement party dress. An engagement party that isn't Serena's and mine. I sit there solemnly until Serena opens the door.
"Here, I'll carry it. You can go look around some more if you want." I offer, extending my hand.
"Wow, Dan would never do such a thing. Thanks, Nate." She says as she hands me the dress. "I'll only take a few more minutes, I promise. Sorry if I'm boring you." She apologizes, knitting her brows in worry.
"Serena, it's really not a problem. It'll never be a problem."
"You're the best." She says as she kisses my cheek. She walks away from me, but this is the rare occasion where I know she'll come back to me.
"Hello, did you find everything that you were looking for?" The sales associate asks with bright eyes. "You must be Nate Archibald. I'm a fan of The Spectator."
"Yes, thank you. I am Nate Archibald, actually." I reply, aware to the fact that the girl is standing up a little straighter.
"So you're buying a dress? I didn't think you had a girlfriend."
"It's not for my girlfriend, which is non-existent, by the way. It's for Serena, who I assume you already know." I say, placing the dress on the counter.
"Oh right. She's getting engaged, isn't she?"
"News travels quickly." I laugh. "Can you put this on my account?" I say handing her my card.
"Of course." She gently takes the card and scans the dress. The price doesn't shock me, nor does it worry me, because anything for Serena is worth it.
"Thank you. Have a wonderful day." I say, as she hands me the bag.
"Have a good day, as well." She replies.
"Nate!" Serena calls out to me. "Why are you holding a bag?" She exclaims.
"My gift to you."
"Nate, you really didn't have to. I wouldn't have given the dress to you if I would've known, I –"
"Serena, it's not a problem." I reassure her.
"Nate, that wasn't a cheap dress. It's Burberry!"
"Well, this was the last size, so I suggest you just accept it."
"Fine. You win this time, but I'm going to get you a great gift." She says, grabbing my arm, as we walk out.
"Hey Natie?" She asks with her head on my shoulder.
"Hm?
"Take me home. I'm tired. But we also need to get some coffee first. Just like before."
"Anything for you, Serena."
A/N:
Sorry I haven't updated for a while! I procrastinate way too much. Anyways, thank you for the reviews. It really does mean a lot to me. As for the dress, the link to the dress is - : / / w w w . bergdorfgoodman Burberry-Prorsum-Spongy-Sable-Stud-T-Shirt-Dress/prod87930266_cat80001_ ?icid=&searchType=EndecaDrivenCat&rte=% %253FitemId%253Dcat80001%2526pageSize%253D30%2526No%253D30%2526Ns%253DPCS_SORT%2526refinements%253D718%252C&eItemId=prod87930266&cmCat=product - (take out the spaces and add the dot com) just in case you want to envision the dress. I love this dress so much, if only I had the money for it. Anyways, I hoped you guys enjoyed the Nate/Serena interactions. Have a good day or night! xx