A.N.: Thanks to my beta, starzee. All mistakes are mine, because she's amazing. Get well soon!
Two weeks later, Jenny was finally caught up with her school work.
Quinn had been a huge help in getting her up to speed and she was very grateful to him. She could easily say she had never met anyone like him before. He was a complete nerd, but he also played on the lacrosse team. He came from an upper class family, but he wanted to teach in public high schools after he'd gotten his degree. He didn't read Gossip Girl, but he seemed to know everyone at school and everyone seemed to know him. The teachers loved him and the other students respected him. Jenny didn't know how he did it, but he somehow got the Mean Girls to stop harassing her. He denied any involvement in the matter, but she knew it was no coincidence that the day he started tutoring her, the pranks and the name calling stopped.
He also turned out to be a great listener. On their first session, Quinn said it was bad for digestion to eat while studying, so they took fifteen minutes to eat their lunch and get to know each other before starting. He asked her why she had just come back to Constance in the middle of the semester and she explained most of the story to him. She left out a few details of the story, like the fact that she slept with Chuck, but she told him all about trying to fix the relationships she destroyed before she left and he surprised her by telling her that he admired her for facing the consequences of her actions. There was something there, something more behind his words, but before she had a chance to question him he had changed the subject and started their tutoring session.
Nate had midterms during those weeks, so they barely saw each other. He still went on dates with Serena and told Jenny that they were slowly getting back to where they used to be before all the drama with Carter and her father. Jenny was happy for him, or at least as happy as you could be for the man you love who is in love with someone else. However, every time they spoke, every time they saw each other, Jenny felt their connection getting stronger and stronger. It made it harder for her to ignore her feelings for Nate, but she wanted so badly to be there for him, to be a good friend to repay him for the support he had shown her, that she managed every time to put her love back in a little box that she shoved at the back of her mind. It was always there and she always felt it there, but she managed to convince herself that if she didn't think about it, it would eventually melt away on its own.
When she showed up at his apartment that night, it was in both their intentions to study. However, after only half an hour they had both had enough of studying. They had studied so much in the past two weeks that they were completely fed up and burned out and they both agreed they deserved a night off. So they set their books aside and started an intense Wii® tennis tournament.
It felt good to just let go of their troubles and have some fun. For a few minutes, Jenny completely forgot about all the complications in her life and Nate laughed heartily for the first time in what felt like forever. He felt like he was finally getting back to being himself. He had a good feeling about his life at the moment: spending time with Jenny, going out with Serena, applying himself at school and at lacrosse practise... He had found the balance he always wanted and it felt good.
They got so engrossed in their tournament that Jenny completely forgot that there was a coffee table in front of her and that there were two cups of coffee on it. How she managed to spill both mugs of coffee on herself and on Nate she would never know, but both their shirts were soaked. They laughed for a good long while until Jenny realized that she was wearing a new shirt that she liked very much. She started getting upset but Nate told her he knew a magic trick to get out coffee stains, so he gave her a shirt to wear while he soaked hers.
The water was running in the bathroom while Jenny made another pot of coffee to replace the one she spilled. There was a knock on the door and Jenny called out to Nate, but he didn't seem to hear her. After the second knock, Jenny went to open the door herself. She was surprised to find Serena there and, judging by her expression, Serena wasn't expecting her to be there either.
"Oh." Serena said as she stared at Jenny wearing Nate's shirt. "I'm interrupting something. I should have called first." Serena muttered.
Just as Jenny was about to answer her, Nate came in the living room, shirtless.
"Hey Jenny, I think you're wearing my last clean..." He stopped when he saw Serena.
"Oh my God!" Serena exclaimed before she was spun on her heels and hurried back to the elevator.
Jenny looked at Nate who was standing there, befuddled. He didn't make a move to reach Serena, so Jenny herself started running down the hall to catch up to her.
"Serena, wait..." Jenny pleaded.
"No, Jenny, look, it's fine, I shouldn't have come, I..." Serena blurted before being cut off.
The elevator doors opened and Serena started to walk in but Jenny grabbed her by the arm.
"Please, Serena, it's not what it looks like. We were playing video games and I spilled coffee all over our shirts. Please, Serena, you know what a klutz I can be!" Jenny explained.
Jenny wanted desperately for Serena to believe her, to not be the reason for their break up once again, and that must have shown on her face because Serena let the elevator doors close behind her. Nate came walking up to them and Serena looked at him inquisitively.
"It's true, it was completely innocent." He finally said though he was a little annoyed that Serena didn't trust him.
Serena seemed to believe them and Jenny sighed in relief.
She walked back to the apartment and they both followed her. Jenny grabbed her coat and her purse.
"I'm going to let you two talk." Jenny said before turning to leave.
"No, Jenny, I didn't know you were here. I didn't mean to intrude on your time with Nate." Serena said, surprising Jenny with her civility.
"That's okay." Jenny shrugged. "I was losing anyways. You're letting me save face." She offered a small smile in the hopes her feelings wouldn't show.
She waved awkwardly and closed the door behind her when she left. Nate and Serena were left staring at each other in the living room.
"Hmmm, I'm going to get dressed." Nate declared when he realized he still hadn't put on a shirt.
He found a somewhat clean one and walked back to the living room. Serena was sitting on the couch and he noticed two things: first, Jenny had wiped clean the spilled coffee on the floor and second, that Serena was wearing a grey trench coat that reached mid-thigh and red high-heels. His mind went into overdrive, wondering what she was wearing underneath her coat and while he was the one who wanted to take things slow, he was pretty sure he was not going to be able to resist her if she decided to try to take him to bed.
When he looked up at her face again, though, he realized it was entirely too grave for a seduction.
"Serena, what's going on?" He asked her half curiously while maintaining and edge of caution.
"I came here to seduce you." She gave him a self-derisive laugh. "We were always great in that department and I wanted that connection with you again. We're back together and I'm glad we are, but it still feels like you're keeping me at arm's length, like you don't trust me still. And you and Jenny are so close, I can't help but be jealous, you know? It seems so easy with you two, and this is so hard..." She trailed off, as if she wasn't sure how to continue.
"What are you saying?" Nate asked in disbelief. Was this really happening yet again?
"I'm saying it shouldn't be this hard, Nate! We tried and I'm glad we did, but I can't do this anymore. I'm sorry." She got up and started walking away.
"Wait a minute! Serena, you said you'd be patient! You know trust takes time to rebuild!" Nate exclaimed though he could feel his anger building. It was typical Serena, bailing at the first sign of trouble.
She looked at him and smiled sadly. "It didn't take you that long with Jenny, now did it?" She said to him and he was furious.
He was outraged yet he couldn't find anything to say to that, so he watched her walk away. He let her leave without a real fight.
He sat back down on the couch, still in shock. On the television, the tennis tournament he had started with Jenny was still paused. He was confused and hurt. He thought he had reached some balance in his life, but he had been wrong obviously. While he was convinced things with Serena were progressing nicely, she thought they were stalling. His hurt quickly turned back to anger. He had asked Serena for time and she told him she was ready to give it to him. But she hadn't been patient enough to wait for him and that told him, more than anything, that she wasn't as in love with him as he wanted her to be. He knew that, in the end, it was probably better this way but he couldn't help but be resentful that he had fallen for her act. Again.
He grabbed his phone, ready to text Jenny, but he couldn't figure out what to write. He knew she'd call him back and he wasn't ready to talk about it yet. He wondered for a second if telling her about his break-up would give her hope that they could be together, but she had told him time and time again that she only wanted to be friends, so he dismissed the idea. Jenny knew he didn't feel that way about her anymore, and she would never try to seduce him or make him fall in love with her again. It felt as if he were mourning his potential relationship with Jenny while grieving for his dead romance with Serena.
He looked at the time and decided it was late enough to go to bed. He still had school in the morning and he resolved that even though his personal life was falling apart, he would make sure his school work didn't suffer. He was turning over a new leaf, one in which he wasn't a slave to his love life. He felt good about his decision and fell asleep right away, but not before making sure he had gotten the coffee stain out of Jenny's shirt.
