Previously in Chapter 7 – Dan sabotages Blair's Internship.
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After Ben was falsely framed by Damien, Dan began to see, maybe Ben had a good side. Their forced living conditions weren't really allowing friendship to grow naturally. That and Ben was currently seeing the ex-love-of-his-life, Serena van der Woodsen. Dan was beginning to appreciate careless do-gooder side of Serena, and his appreciation wasn't all positive.
There was someone who was growing in his esteem and that someone was Blair Waldorf. He shook his head, in the past four weeks, he couldn't believe the range he had seen in Blair. She was ambitious and terrifying to be sure, but her tenacity was to be admired, not feared. Her determination impressed him every single time he thought about how she faxed 300 machines to get her internship. Even her little moments of sabotage were all part of the package, part of her ferreting out the weakness of her opponents. She was a good game fighter and she fought fair, which Dan had not expected.
After he unintentionallyruined her internship and gotten them both fired, he backtracked quickly to Epperly and placed the blame squarely on himself, where it belonged anyways. He knew she had landed back at W and although they weren't on speaking terms right now (he being the Brooklyn Benedict Arnold), he was hoping that she would never look at him again with such an expression of regret and injury. That night when she proclaimed that she thought their "fake friendship was real," he actually felt his spine stiffen. He didn't intend to hurt her at all, but that is precisely what he had done by not trusting her.
He walked into the W office, fully intending to hand his article to Epperly, who at least promised him an editor contact before his internship was up, and instead, he saw Blair sitting where Epperly should have been. He wasn't quite sure what to do.
"Waldorf." He attempted a neutral tone. "Where the new Epperly?"
"You're lookin' at her." Blair sat back in her chair and gestured to the tiny cubicle proudly.
"Oh god, what did you do to her?" His tone implied that Blair had Epperly's body stuffed somewhere in a fashion closet.
"She's in a better place." Blair paused for the intended effect. "She's in Bali doing downward dog with some British wally named Pratt. Or pratt named Wally." She smiled at her good fortune. "In any case, she quit."
"That's great." His mouth twisted up in a smirk. "My only contact at Condé Nast has been replaced by a staple stealer."
It was so like Humphrey to pick on her last nerve. "I will staple whatever's in your sweaty hand to your jeans if you don't leave this instant!"
"What's in my hand is an article. Epperly said that she would get it to Details? I assume you can't do the same?" He looked around the flurry of interns and knew he was pushing his luck. "I did, kinda, get this job for you."
"Only after you got me fired. How many times must I repeat myself? We are not friends." Blair didn't know why she was being so bitchy this morning. Maybe because at the morning meeting, Stefano commented that her work wasn't on par with Epperly's. Or maybe it was the ten espresso shot red-eye drink she downed right before Humphrey walked in. "Just because we went to see a movie—or five—does does not mean that I will go out on a limb for you."
Dan winced. Ok, she was still mad. And she had the right to be. But he really needed a published article now that his internship was kaput. "Ok, how about I just drop it here." He slid the folder into her inbox.
Blair glared back up at him, another folder in the growing pile of work in her inbox. Did he know what he was asking of her? She rose from her seat and grabbed a huge pile of To-Dos and dumped it on top of his article.
She snarled at him. "As you can see, I don't have time to read faux-ticles, by wannabe writers."
"Blair? Please." Dan knew he had gone about it all wrong. Blair was on edge this morning and he was only aggravating her, but maybe he could appeal to her sense of humor? "I'll apply to another internship and get back in the ring with you. You remember our little wrestling match?" The corners of his mouth lifted up at the memory. Even though he knew it was wrong, he really enjoyed that physical confrontation with Blair—she was freakishly strong for a tiny girl—but it was all so exciting for him. No one ever got passionate enough with him to face palm him into the floor. And passion was something that Blair had in spades, but unfortunately, today, her passion was replaced by fury.
"How about you apply yourself to a job that's more within your breeding." She snapped. "Isn't there a bat mitzvah girl in need of a Shirley Temple?"
"Actually, I gave my cater waiter contact to Ben. He's doing Martha Stewart's Valentine's day party." He barely let the insult ding him. Blair's phone suddenly beeped—it was Reina on the other line, turning down the opportunity to do a social piece for Blair's newest assignment. As she hung up the phone, Humphrey noted how her shoulders hung whenever something disappointed her. He was going to make sure that he never put her in that posture. But opportunity presented itself.
"Guess you have time to read my article now." He smiled tenderly at her.
Dan wasn't off the hook yet. Even if she appreciated his good humor, she still gave him a withering look and stalked back to her desk.
After he left Eric and the schnitzel truck, he thought about his own advice. Make the gesture. He wanted to spend Valentine's day with Blair, but not romantically. He only wanted to see her to make sure that she had read his article, which at first blush, might have been about Serena, but was really about the difficulties of moving on when the ex was so close. He thought Blair might sympathize with the article—seeing as her ex, Chuck Bass, never seemed to be far out of orbit. Speaking of the Devil, Dan thought, he would have to find some way to attend Chuck's outlandishly expensive party. Maybe Lilly would have tickets? He quickly dialed Lilly's number.
With the tickets secured in his jacket pocket, Dan was thankful that Lilly had insisted on buying him some Hugo Boss suits last season. He thought flannel was acceptable for most occasions, but this was clearly not the time or place to argue about fashion. As far as Chuck Bass parties go, Dan didn't really notice any discernable differences from the ones Serena was forever inviting him to. Only this time, Dan had invited himself, and he wasn't here to see Serena. He had Waldorf in his sightline; she was trailed by what looked like a camera crew. He shook his head, Blair was always up to something.
"Humphrey, what are you doing here?" She demanded as soon as she picked out his curly hair and a surprisingly nice suit that even she couldn't disparage.
"Stalking you, actually." His smile crooked up at one side of his mouth. "You didn't by any chance read my article?" He withdrew his hands from his jacket pocket and looked at her hopefully.
"I didn't need to, I know what it's all about." She waved dismissively. "A boy from Brooklyn and an untouchable upper east side blonde." Blair pressed her lips together into a thin line. She was lying, she had read the article and was struck by the realism and the insight that seemed to be touch the same wounds that Chuck had carved into her heart. Right now though, the article only brought her worst enemy/best friend into the forefront, and Blair wanted nothing more than to humiliate Serena in what she was sure was a bizarre plot to sabotage her career at W.
"Well, as a matter o fact-," Dan rocked back on his heels and put his hands back in his pocket. He could feel his chance slipping away.
Her eyes scanned the room. "I work at W now. I'm an arbiter of taste. If I were to stand behind some lame Humphrey lamentation—" She really didn't want to discuss events of her recent heartaches, it was too close to home. "It would be like showing up at an accessories shoot, in crocs."
"How do you know it's lame?" He extended his palms pleadingly. "You haven't read it. Maybe I've matured as writer and maybe you've matured as a person. And you can help someone who really needs just because it's the right thing to do." Dan knew that appealing to Blair's sense of altruism wasn't the best card he could play, but it was the only one he had. She hadn't heard a word he was saying because her eyes were already blazing holes into whoever it was standing behind him. Heaven help whoever was Blair's moving target.
With a slight push, Blair stepped around him. "If you'll excuse me, I have a Valentine's day vendetta to exact." Dan caught his breath a little as he look at her departing figure. Her silver dress clung to her slender frame, but it was the back that was breathtaking—the dress was cut low and exposed everything from her neck to her last vertebrate. Her back was polished and reminded him of a Man Ray photograph—where a woman had the F-holes of a violin carved into her back.
That went well, he thought. He would just have to continue to circulate the party until another opportunity with Blair arose. He decided to wander around the hotel—it was a grand, ostentatious piece of property. Maybe he could write an Edith Wharton-esque piece about the gilded people here tonight. He rounded the banister of the second story staircase and saw Blair's ex showing an extraordinary looking hotel room to Reina. Chuck didn't look like he was making any power plays for Reina—in fact, he looked completely smitten. She was a beautiful girl to be sure, but now she had the expression of someone slowly falling for Chuck. Dan felt a slight pang for Blair, it looked like Chuck had moved on.
Blair would find out, somehow about all of this. Chuck and Reina's grand romance was taking place only steps away from where the party was—all it would take is some bad timing for this revelation to crush Blair. He quickly went down the staircase to find her, she shouldn't be alone when she finds out that her Basstard had given his heart willingly to someone else. On his way to the bar, he heard scraps of Serena and Blair's argument. Blair was huffily defending Chuck's eternal love for her; she was sure that Reina was a scheme. By now, Dan knew better. He watched her angrily stomp towards the upstairs suite to find Chuck and he trailed after her.
Blair took a breath when she stepped into the suite. She had never seen anything like it before—even though it wasn't her style (French country a la Marie Antoinette was more like her), she recognized that the opulent bedroom had a specific purpose. She heard soft footsteps behind her.
"Blair…" Dan's voice was so soft, as if he was afraid of breaking something.
"I'm looking for Chuck. What is this place?" Her tone was uncertain. She did not know if she would like the answer.
"Ah. He—uh—built it for Reina." Dan fumbled for his words.
"He's pretty serious about this game." She frowned.
"I don't," before Dan could finish, they both heard two voices rapidly approaching.
"Shhh." Blair grabbed his arm and lead him through a doorway into an empty room. It looked like the suite had been built recently, and this empty room was still in its unfinished state. Scraps of wallpaper hung off walls and the air was still musty with age. Dan stood in front of the smoky glass that concealed them both and Blair leaned in on him. She swallowed hard a few times.
Reina was furious. She had just see Chuck betray his step-mother, Lilly, effectively ousting her from Bass Industries. Chuck was scrambling for footing; he rapidly ran down the list of reasons-why-Chuck-Bass-is-fucked-up, a sure fire way to bring women to empathy, but Reina was having none of it. She saw straight through him and she had no wish to become part of his damage. When Chuck finally whispered to Reina, "You are sacred to me," Dan felt Blair, who had been leaning on him during this exchange, shrink back.
"Wow, he is good." Dan muttered.
"Shut up Humphrey." Blair said without vehemence.
In this moment, she could not feel more nauseous. What was supposed to be a move for Chuck Bass to regain his family company had turned into something else. She thought of how she had helped Chuck to gain the woman that he now said he loved. She knew the tone in Chuck's voice. She had heard it before when he was about to propose, she had heard it when he said "I love you" for the first time. And now that tone was directed at someone new.
She tried to steady herself and turned towards the antique couch in the corner of the abandoned room. She felt like the room. In despair and forgotten, while through those doors, the freshly renovated suite was Reina. Shiny and new. Would Chuck ever remember that he had the abandoned room adjacent to his Reina suite? Blair looked down at the floor and crossed her legs; she folded her hands into her lap, shrinking herself to the smallest, most defensible posture.
Dan gripped the curtain uncertainly. He felt hesitant; he had never seen her so wounded—save for their hallway conversation. She was imperceptible trembling with emotion, and he wanted to soothe, to buffer the pain. He wanted to steady her. As he sat next to her on the loveseat, he reached out and wrapped his hand around her small fingers.
She looked at his hand for a second felt the calm and honesty in his touch. Of all the people in the world, why was Dan here with her now? He would never understand what it felt like to be betrayed, over and over again. Actually, maybe Dan was the only person in the world that would understand how she felt. She thought about his article, how exactly he had pinpointed the sharp twists of emotions with a past love. Serena must have done this to him so many times. Serena, with her endless supply of love, forever slipping past Dan to the next receptacle. Dan would understand. His hands though, felt foreign to her. The comfort and strength coming through his gesture confused her. She quickly withdrew. She couldn't handle all this right now, not when Chuck, whose love and abused she had borne for years, was now apparently up for next casual buyer.
She wanted Dan's hand back, but she couldn't bring herself to do it. She didn't want him to think that she was weak. Her eyes grew watery and she knew that Dan was quietly looking at her—not with pity, but with understanding. She glanced at his face, solemn and calm, and for a second and felt relief that he was there. His presence was enough.
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Yeah! Only a few more scenes until the kiss! Actually, I am glad to be writing chronologically. Thank you to the reviewers who suggested this because it definitely fleshes out their emotional growth more. Please review? More reviews mean a story gets more traffic and if you like what you read, don't you want others to read it too? Let the great Dair ship sail in this world, even if the writers of GG won't.
