Four. Dan.

Dan was thirsty. But he really didn't want to go to the kitchen to get a drink of water. It was 3am. God, why did he settle for the only room without an en-suite?

There were eight people living in the apartment, himself, Rufus, Lily, Jenny, Erik, Chuck, Andrew and Serena. The chances of him running into one of them were high, but he was particularly worried about running into one of them in particular.

He didn't think he could face Serena. She didn't have any reason to hate him any more than before. At least not one she knew about. He'd written a story about that night with Blair "31.12.09"* but his tutor at college had told him it was a load of crap. He'd kept though with all his other stories, filed chronologically, like some sick diary of his love life.

He decided that he couldn't live like this; he was going to be here for a few months, possibly more, so if he needed a drink of water, he needed a drink of water.

Switching the light on, he got up and tiptoed through to the kitchen, he was just taking out a glass from the cupboard when he heard a female voice behind him.

"Very stealth."

And there she was, his worst nightmare and only dream all rolled into won. She was sitting at the breakfast bar, all done up with heavy eye make-up, a tight black dress and killer heels; she was eating a pint of ice cream and had obviously only just got back.

"I didn't know there was a dress code." He told her, looking her up and down he felt the familiar swoop in his stomach. Shit.

"Do you ever?" she asked coldly. She hadn't meant for that to come out quite so harsh. She saw Dan's face harden and immediately wished the last five seconds would magically erase themselves

"I didn't mean . . ." she started, but he gave her a look which she recognised, he knew, he didn't take offence.

"Got any more ice-cream?"

Serena smiled, the room felt airless for Dan. She pulled up a carrier bag from under the counter; he could tell it was full of the stuff.

"My new vice" she giggled "it's better than coke right?"

"Right." He said, taking out a spoon and walking over "Where were you tonight anyway?"

"Ugh. Don't even ask, some party honouring someone too far up their own ass to see the party."

He laughed, this Serena wasn't exactly the one he'd left behind, but she'd grown balls, maybe he liked this one even better than the old one.

There was a pregnant pause, Serena looked across to him.

"Dan. . ."

"Don't."

She looked a little hurt for a moment, but blinked it back and it was like that little moment had never happened.

"So . . . Yale . . . was it everything you'd hoped it would be?" she teased, "I heard you topped Deans' List. Congrats."

"Not really" he said, "I don't know if I'll go back."

She took this piece of information in for a moment. "I heard Rufus and my mom talking about it but I guess I never thought it was true. Were you really that unhappy?"

Dan looked away; he didn't want to look at her. "Pretty much."

She felt her arms around his shoulders, she head resting on the back of his shoulder. "I'm sorry to hear that" she said.

He was frozen. She smelt the same. Her skin felt the same, and her hair tickled the inside of his elbow. His body took him back years, it felt like nothing had changed. His mind knew differently.

"Serena. . ."

"No, Dan, can we just sit like this for a moment. I've missed you."

He obliged. He felt he owed it to her.

She didn't lie it was only a moment, but she looked a whole lot better when she sat up again.

They sat in silence for a while, eating their ice-cream, she took a morsel and dabbed it on his nose when he wasn't expecting it, he responded by flicking a chocolate chip at her cheek.

It almost felt normal.

"We'd better get to bed, it's almost four," she said "and we've got the rehearsal tomorrow. I can't wait to see you in that bow tie."

Dan chuckled, "God I know, I'm going to look like Chuck."

"'Night" she said and kissed him on the cheek, she lingered for a moment as they both felt what had just passed between them and softly she kissed his cheek again, resting her lips against his face for almost a minute and her hand on his chest before going to her bedroom.

Dan sat there for twenty minutes more, silently and completely still; trying to figure out what he was going to do next.