The usually quiet, familial penthouse had exploded that night with the furious voices of the couple that lived there; their argument heard by those living on the floor below them who were either enjoying the show or calling for backup.
"Don't walk away from me!" Serena Humphrey yelled, standing in the middle of the living room, glaring at the retreating back of her husband of two years. "You can't say that about me and then disappear."
"I can't talk to you when you're like this." Dan stopped dead in his tracks, halfway up the stairs of their penthouse home, pivoting to match the glare on his wife's face.
"This is not the woman I married." He thrust his hands out to point at her, speaking no quieter than she was despite their two year old daughter who was in her nursery, where it was unlikely she was still sleeping.
"You have always known who I am, what my world was like." Serena was storming up the steps after him now. "You knew what my life was when you first met me, and you told me it didn't matter."
"Well, it does now."
Dan Humphrey's penthouse home was dark and silent despite the time being only eight o'clock in the evening. Since Emily had arrived to whisk Emily back to her mother's, the author had retired to his study to attempt to work on the novel that he was meant to be writing.
The only light that was coming from his 5th Avenue home was from the faint glow of his Mac Book as the blank white document that filled the screen mocked him and his inability to write anything.
What made it worse was that he knew what the problem was. A Life to Love had come from the time he had fallen in love with the wild woman that was Serena van der Woodsen. His two following best sellers had come during a time when he had been in – lust, at least – with a number of woman.
Right now, there was no one in his life that was inspiring him to write.
Sighing dejectedly, he saved the blank document, and shut down the computer; he would have to find something else to do until inspiration found him again.
After the room was thrown into complete darkness, the young author turned his desk lamp on, casting a brighter light through the room than before. He leant back in his comfortable chair and let his eyes skim the titled of the novels that filled the tall Jarrah book shelf.
Beside his three books, the books that had made his name synonymous with that of Nicholas Sparks, there were the book by authors he idolised. Dan Brown, James Patterson, George Orwell…
Maybe that was his problem, he thought as he stared at the book spines; maybe he was letting his previous words define who he was as an author. He was known for writing novels that were classified in the 'Chick Lit' section, maybe he needed to branch out into different genres.
He wasn't sure if he could pull of that feat or not, but before he went crazy deliberating on his next career move he decided that he needed to get away from the computer for the night, before he lost his sanity. Being in the same building as the offending piece of technology wasn't doing him any good.
If Charles 'Chuck' Bass knew that his step-sister's ex-husband had taken a seat in Victrola, the first club he ever opened, back when they were still in school, he would have security there to eject him before he could even blink.
Luckily for Dan though, nobody paid any attention to him in the crowded and popular bar. He ordered a beer from the bar tender, nursing it while he watched the women up on the stage dancing, enticing and teasing the men in the audience with their slow movements.
"Fancy running into you here." Dan was completely transfixed by the women that were still up on the stage when someone greeted him from behind.
He hadn't seen her for a month, the last time she had come in to audition for the role of Serena.
"Olivia." The woman who was his favourite to take out the role of his teenage sweetheart slid into the recently vacated seat next to him, ordering her own drink. "What are you doing here?"
The younger woman shrugged, pausing to thank the bar tender as her drink arrived. "I thought this place sounded interesting, you mentioned it a couple of times in the book; so I thought I'd check the place out. You know, in case I get the role."
Her flirtatious, confident smile suggested that she knew that she was likely to win the highly talked about role. Dan nodded and laughed, swivelling around in his barstool to focus on the woman.
He might get his writing inspiration back tonight after all.
He and Olivia didn't stay long at Victrola after that, they couldn't now that he was with the "It" actress of the moment. They were more likely to be recognised together and more likely to come to the Bass' attention.
So after the two drink had been polished off, Dan grabbed Olivia's hand brazenly, leading her out into the Manhattan night. He had already made the promise to himseld that tonight was for having fun, and now that he had a beautiful girl with him a whole lot more opportunities had arisen.
The music of the night club and the sweaty bodies of twenty-something's as they gyrated to the music on the crowded dance floor of the latest club to open up in Manhattan was rushing straight to Dan's head, along with the alcohol that had been free flowing all night.
It had been months since he'd gone out like this, it had been months since Dan had had someone to go out with; spending nearly every day with his ex, like he'd been doing with Serena, had ruined any chances.
He smiled down at Olivia as she wrapped her arms around his neck, her hips gyrating to the rhythm of the music as she pulled him back into hit; he leaned forward to whisper in her ear, and she nodded enthusiastically, just making out the words amongst the noise in the dark room, extracting her arms from his neck again to lead him off the dance floor.
"Tonight doesn't have to end just yet." After Dan had suggested to Olivia that they find somewhere else besides the club, somewhere quieter, they had ended up walking hand in hand through Central Park; a chance encounter quickly escalating into a full-on date.
Olivia smiled suggestively at Dan as she peered over the top of the tall take-away cup that held the Vanilla milkshake she'd stopped at a park vendor for.
"My apartment's just across the street." Dan understood exactly what Olivia was leading to.
The sound of a cell phone ringtone woke Dan up early the next morning, confusing him momentarily as he tried to get a grip on his bearing while it felt like a jack hammer was being used on his head, evidence of the hangover that had been inflicted on him after his activities from that night.
It took him a minute to realise that the ringtone didn't belong to his phone, but to that of the blonde girl asleep next to him, wrapped up in his sheets. Olivia stirred, and picked up her phone without opening her eyes or looking at the caller ID. Her eyes widened as she realised where she was while the person on the other end of the line spoke to her.
"Mr Goldberg." Olivia's mouth formed a perfect 'O' shape as she turned to face Dan, ready to relay the message that the movie producer was about to announce. "No, you didn't wake me up." She lied.
"That's great." Her eyes brightened like a child on Christmas day who had just found the waiting presents that Santa had left at the bottom of a Christmas tree. "Of course."
She hung up the phone, and turned to smile at Dan. "I got the part." She squealed like a small child, throwing herself onto Dan again, who pulled her back down into the pillow, rolling on top of her as he gave her another passionate kiss.
Casey xXx
[Edited: 30 April 2010]
