Chapter Nine: Blaine Waldorf must pie!
Thanksgiving – One Year Ago
"Who gets wasted on Thanksgiving!" Blaine Waldorf exclaimed physical pushing his so called best friend out the door and onto the street.
"The holidays are lonely for some people, I wanted to keep them company" he said laughing for absolutely no reason, stumbling around on the footpath.
"Your mom is freaking out which means my mom is freaking out-" he tried to explain grabbing his friend by the upper arm in a hope to calm him down.
"Which means you freak out? Cut the cord, go nuts" his eyes lit up with a sudden idea "let's do shots!"
"I told Lilly you were buying a pie" he snapped as Sebastian tried to shove the both of them back the other way "have you got everything, where's your wallet?"
"Oh, my wallet" Sebastian said sheepishly, it was obviously still inside. Blaine groaned.
"You stay here okay?" he told him "I'm gonna go look, don't drink or hit on anything"
Across the street Danielle Humphrey was leaving a store with the pies that the Humphrey thanksgiving was missing. She was on the phone to her mother, cheerfully telling her that their pie crisis was averted but had to hang up when she spotted Sebastian Van Der Woodsen stumbling across the street. He was definitely not sober and was almost hit by several cars.
"Oh god" she muttered before dashing out onto the road and pulling him out of the way of an oncoming taxi that didn't look like it was going to stop. She felt like a hero but it was a pity her pies had to be crush because of this.
She looked away from the taxi and her pies to see Sebastian stumbling away again.
"Hey, hey excuse me!" she called out to him, grabbing his arm to stop him when she reached him "do you need like a crossing guard or like a cab maybe?"
Apparently he didn't need her help getting a cab because somehow he managed to flag one down and it pulled to a stop beside them.
"Oh, pie" Sebastian said walking to the front of the cab and looking down at the remains of the pie's Danielle had just brought, so apparently the Humphrey's were going to have a pie free Thanksgiving this year after all.
"More like road kill now" she noted "but better it then you, right?"
Sebastian turned around slowly and just stared at her.
"I'm Danielle, Danielle Humphrey" she said sticking out her hand for him to shake, which he did with a large dopey smile on his face. It was kind of nice actually even if she was sure he was drunk.
"We met last year" she told him "you might not remember, you probably don't"
Danni was very aware of the fact that nobody seemed to ever remember her, so why should Sebastian Van Der Woodsen been any different. After all she'd been going to school with Natalie Archibald and Charlotte Bass for years and they still accused her off stalking them when they saw her at school.
"You need to be more careful" she said. Blaine Waldorf appeared at this moment, just her luck really.
"And you need to back off" he snapped at her "trying to take advantage of him on the holidays"
He started dragging Sebastian towards the waiting cab.
"Bye Darla!" he called, laughing as he got in.
"Bye" she replied. What did it matter that he completely messed up her name and would probably never remember her or her life-saving or her road kill pies, Sebastian Van Der Woodsen had talked to her. They had an actual conversation. She was pretty much on top of the world.
Thanksgiving – Present day.
"Big national holiday, you excited?" Danni asked Sebastian when he called her that day.
"Actually I am" he admitted "might be the first Thanksgiving in a while I actually remember"
"Yeah I bet" Danni muttered straightening her skirt, remembering their encounter last Thanksgiving.
"Huh?" he asked. Whoops she hadn't meant for him to hear that part.
"Nothing" she told him "you almost at Blaine's?"
"Yeah" he replied "it's the first time his dad will be home since he left and he's really excited"
"Ah family reunions all around then" she said "we too have a full Humphrey household, hopefully it will stick"
"Well it seems like your mom's really trying" Sebastian pointed out.
"Better Thanksgiving then never right" she said tugging on the sleeve of her shirt with her free hand.
"Call me between every course?" he asked on the other end of the line.
"Okay" she told him. She probably would've done it if he hadn't asked; she could really use the escape that talking to Sebastian gave her. He was right, her mother was trying but it just wasn't the same, she was trying to just paint over the cracks but they were still there, just not as visible as they were.
….
"It's our first holiday back, I want it to be special" her mother was saying, wrapping her arms around her father.
"I think that's called guilt" Danni cut in and Alison's smile quickly left her face and she pulled away from Rufus.
"Yeah, yeah I guess it is" Alison admitted brushing some hair away from her face with her hand.
"Well if it means more midnight turkey sandwiches for us then so be it" Rufus declared.
"Yes Danni, we on this side of the kitchen choose to be positive" Jeremy added.
"Yeah Danni" her father said jokingly pointing the knife he was using at her "what's it going to be?"
She held up her hands in mock surrender, smiling a little. It almost felt like everything was back to normal.
"Fine I'm in" she told them "as long as I get to take the cranberry sauce out of the can that is my specialty"
Her father smiled tossing the can opener to her.
….
"Have to find this recipe before my dad gets home" Blaine was saying carrying the recipe box with him.
"Ah Harold Waldorf's famous pumpkin pie" Sebastian said. It had been a staple at every Waldorf thanksgiving that he could remember.
"Well it may have been Bobby Flay's but that didn't stop my dad from taking credit" Blaine said laughing slightly. It was nice to see him so happy after everything that went down at his birthday party.
"You're very chipper today" Sebastian stated.
"I'm in a good mood; it happens" was his explanation "sometimes because I increase my Lexapro dosage, sometimes because my dad's in town"
"And sometimes because things are good with a girl" he pointed out "did you get back together with Nat"
"No" Blaine told him.
"What's Chuck doing today?" he asked hoping he was being subtle. He'd seen them getting hot and heavy in the bedroom Blaine had been hiding in at his party when he went to check on them.
"Why are you asking me?" Blaine asked.
"Well you guys are friends" he pointed out "you know you can tell me anything right? I'd be the last person to judge anyone"
"With good reason" Blaine frostily shot back, all traces of previous excitement and happiness disappearing from his face. Sebastian own smiles dropped too.
"Blaine I saw you with Chuck" he told him.
Blaine sighed, rubbing at his forehead.
"I don't know what I was thinking; sleeping with her once maybe I could understand, but twice?"
"Wait you slept with her?" Sebastian asked "Blaine!"
"What happened to no judging!" he snapped.
"I'm not" he assured him "I thought you were all for waiting"
"Oh so Nat gets the free pass and I'm the slut?" Blaine asked.
"Tell me you didn't sleep with her for revenge" Sebastian said.
"Well it wasn't because I like the way she smells, besides nothing hurts more than sleeping with the best friend right?" he asked staring pointedly right at him.
"Way to prove a point" Sebastian snapped standing up and heading for the door.
"Well I learned from the master" Blaine said. He spun around to face him.
"If you're sleeping with Charlotte, I'd say the student's become the master" he said angrily.
"What, jealous that you didn't get to sleep with her first?" Blaine said "there had to be somebody left on the Upper East Side"
He's pretty sure things would've continued this way until someone threw a punch if Eleanor Waldorf didn't walk into the room at that moment.
"Sebastian, do you know when your mother is arriving?" she asked him.
"She's not" he told her and Eleanor smile fell "were not doing Thanksgiving here anymore"
"Oh?" she said in surprise "why?"
"Because I uninvited them" Blaine chimed in looking rather happy with himself.
"Happy holidays Eleanor" he told her before leaving the Waldorf penthouse, wondering what the hell were they going to do for Thanksgiving?
…..
The only shops open on Thanksgiving were the ones in Chinatown so that's where the Van Der Woodsen family found themselves that day, walking along the streets hoping to find something that they could eat for a Thanksgiving dinner.
"Mom, I know it's my fault that we're here but let's not get crazy" Sebastian told her, as their mother surveyed the streets.
"Well I don't know what you're complaining about" Lily replied "I'm just trying to provide my family with a home cooked meal"
There was just one problem with this plan.
"Mom, you don't know how to cook" Erica pointed out.
"Don't blame me, talk to your brother, he's the one that got us exiled from the Waldorf's" Lily said.
"I'm sorry" Sebastian told them.
"And even if you could cook, we don't have an oven" Erica said.
Okay so maybe there was two problems with the plan.
"Preaching to the converted Erica" their mother replied "look we'll just pick up a few things and try to make do"
"Peaking duck on Thanksgiving?" Erica asked pointing to the row of ducks hanging in the nearby window.
"Hmm, not a bad idea" Lily said.
"No, mom" Sebastian told her.
"All of the other shops are closed" Lily reminded him "there's nothing wrong with having Chinese food on Thanksgiving, Jews have been doing it on Christmas since forever" she paused in front of some pumpkins "look isn't this festive?" she asked picking one up .
"A pumpkin for Thanksgiving?" Sebastian asked taking it from her, only to pass it off to Erica when his phone rang. He smiled when he saw Danni's name on the caller ID and answered it.
"Hey so you couldn't get make it past the salad?" he asked her.
"I opened the cranberry sauce, my job is done" she told him "how's the Waldorf's?"
"I wouldn't know, Blaine kind of gave me the boot" he admitted
"H-he kicked you out of his house?" she asked in surprise "what happened now?"
"Ah, don't ask" he really didn't want to go throw the whole Blaine sleeping with Charlotte for revenge thing again "but the good news is my mom is gonna slice us up a pumpkin, oh and there's duck" he added sarcastically.
"No, you can't eat duck and raw pumpkin on Thanksgiving" she said turning around to look at the large amount of food behind her, an idea forming in her mind "you know what? I'm the guardian of Van's brother's van for the weekend and we here at the Humphrey manor have an oddly large kitchen table…"
"What are you suggesting?" Sebastian asked.
"Come here, bring the whole family" Danni told him "it'll be great"
When he got off the phone with Danni his mother was leaning over and smelling something he didn't quite recognize.
"This smells great" she was saying.
"Yes, so we can starve in a fragrant hotel room" Erica said, her sarcasm oh so very obvious.
"We're not going to starve" Sebastian told them "I got us into this mess I'll get us out of it"
"Elaborate Sebastian" his mother instructed.
"Thanksgiving at the Humphrey's?" he suggested "Danni invited me and Erica's friends with his brother and his dad's really cool"
"Awesome!" Erica chimed in "I'm leaving the pumpkin"
"What do you say mom?"
…
Thanksgiving – One year ago
Sebastian who had ended up at the Waldorf penthouse was sitting at one of their tables, shoving mashed potatoes into his face with the serving spoon. He turned it towards Blaine who merely laughed a little and pushed it away.
"Found it!" Harold Waldorf called walking into the room with the dish he'd been looking for "sou chef, you're needed"
"Ready and awaiting orders" Blaine called cheerfully moving to join his father in the kitchen, Sebastian waggling the spoon at him as he left.
"I see we have extra help" Harold noted nodding at Sebastian.
"Yes, Sebastian's spending Thanksgiving with us this year" Blaine explained.
Sebastian turned in his seat and waved at the both of them.
"Ah, the more the merrier" he told him "happy to have you"
"The canapés were a great success" Eleanor Waldorf commented walking into the room, plate in hand, she stopped by her son "I saved one for you Blaine"
"I'm not really hungry" he told her.
"Well, what does that mean, you're not really hungry?" Eleanor asked.
"I had like fifteen of them when dad first made them" he assured her heading back to a hopefully sobering Sebastian.
"Fifteen?" Eleanor echoed.
"Sebastian" Blaine hissed as his now almost asleep friend tugging on his coat. Sebastian who'd had his head on the table moments before sat up.
"Hey!" Natalie Archibald called in greeting arriving at the Waldorf residence.
"Hello, happy Thanksgiving" Eleanor replied with a smile kissing her on each cheek.
"You too" Natalie told her, hugging her lightly. Once she pulled back Eleanor headed out to join the other guests.
"Hey, what did I miss?" Nat asked, wrapping her arm around Blaine.
"Nothing" Harold told her "but you're about to witness the return of sober Sebastian"
Sebastian squealed Nat's name before jumping up and pulling her into a bear hug.
"Maybe not" Harold said "honey, take him upstairs, put him in the bath before your mother gets wind of the whole situation"
"What and leave you alone?" he asked "Thanksgiving is our thing, Nat will you please take care of him, please?"
"Alright" Nat agreed herding Sebastian towards the stairs, arm around his back.
…
Thanksgiving – Present Day
"Are you sure you don't want us to stay with you?" Erica asked her mother, pulling on her coat. Their mother who claimed to not be feeling well was curled up on the sofa with a book.
"Yeah, we don't want to leave you if you're not feeling well" Sebastian told her.
"No, you kids have fun I don't have an appetite anyway" she told them, patting her son on the arm.
There was a knock on the door and Sebastian jumped up to answer it.
"It must be Danni" he told them. He swung the door open only to receive an employee with a cart full of food.
"Room service" the man called.
"No, no sir" Sebastian told him "you must have the wrong room"
"Ah, no you're early" Lily called in frustration from the sofa, dropping her book "I lied"
"Mom!" Sebastian exclaimed.
"All I care about is that you two are together, I don't want to be an imposition" Lily explained moving to the room service cart.
Just at this moment Danni arrived knocking on their door frame to get their attention.
"Girl with van at your service" she told them with a grin and a bow.
"Hey" Sebastian greeted as Danni walked into the room. When she was standing next to him, he wrapped an arm around her waist.
"Hey" she told him, before turning to his mother "bold choice of attire Mrs Van Der Woodsen" she said looking down at the robe she was wearing "unless that's what they're wearing on the runways these days"
"Mom was pretending to be sick because she'd thought she be an imposition" Sebastian explained.
"I am fine just curling up and reading a good book" Lily tried to assure them.
"You're supposed to be with your family on Thanksgiving" Erica pointed out.
"Yeah and –" Danni said twisting her head to see the book "Nicholas Sparks is hardly family"
Sebastian shot her his best begging face.
"I'm not taking no for an answer, in fact I'm not even asking" Danni told her "I'm adult-napping you"
Lily sighed putting her book down.
"Fine, if you just stop talking I'll go get changed"
…..
"Hey, we're here!" Danni called entering the loft, Sebastian and Erica by her side, Lily trailing along behind them.
"You're lucky you made it while the turkey's still hot" Alison told them, smiling upon seeing them.
"Mom, this is Sebastian" Danni introduced "and this is his sister Erica"
Sebastian smiled at her and shook her hand.
"It's so nice to meet you both" Alison told them
"Nice to meet you too" the Van Der Woodsen siblings chorused.
"And this is their mother" Danni finished "Lily"
You could practically cut the tension in that room with a knife. Danni hoped she wasn't the only one that saw this, both Alison and Lily froze upon seeing each other.
"Happy Thanksgiving" Lily finally said.
…..
Thanksgiving – One year ago.
"Just in time" her mother noted as Danni stepped back into the loft, closing the door behind here "but I thought you were going to bring pie"
"I was" Danni told them, unwrapping her scarf from her neck "but it kind of got run over by a taxi, as I was trying to help this guy stay out of traffic"
She slipped off her jacket and flopped down onto the nearby armchair swinging her legs over the armrest.
"Ah who needs desert when we have a real life hero in our midst" her mother said "did you hear?" she asked Jeremy "your sister just saved a guy's life"
"I thought you had to be near a guy for that to happen" Jeremy teased looking up from the carrots he was grating.
"Not just any guy" she informed him "the guy"
"Oh you mean the blond you stalk in school?" Jeremy asked.
"Just the one!" Danni replied. Jeremy had noticed her crush on Sebastian Van De Woodsen long ago and she didn't think he'd ever let up about it, not that she particularly minded though. It was nice to have someone to talk to about it even if it was her little brother.
"A thing for blondes" their mother said "you really are your father's daughter"
"Apparently I have a thing for the ones who go get drunk on Thanksgiving and almost die" she quipped.
"Well you're dad like 'em dangerous and troubled too" Alison commented. Danni raised an eyebrow at her in what she hoped was a questioning look.
"You were dangerous?" she asked.
"Who said I was talking about me?" she shot back.
"Well I didn't realise there was anybody else"
…..
Thanksgiving – Present day.
There was an awkward silence for a few moments as everybody just sort of stared each other. Danni begun preparing herself to jump in and say something to break it when Lily did it for her.
"Well, it's nice to meet you" she told Alison flashing her a courteous smile.
"I'm Alison" she replied "it's Lily right?"
"Right" Lily replied, the same smile still on a face. Sebastian noted how fake it seemed, like somebody had plastered it on there. Lily moved quickly, collecting her children's coat and stacking them with her own.
"I'll just go put these coats in Danielle's room" she told them. Alison shook her head, reaching out for the coats.
"No, let me do it" she said. Lily quickly handed them over and handed Rufus the bottle of wine she'd brought along for the occasion.
"Thanks" he told her before addressing their kids "alright Jeremy, Erica you're on napkin duty, Sebastian, Danni I want every water glass filled and every candle you can find lit"
…..
The meal was a little too quiet for Danni's tastes. It all seemed to be going well but the lack of words and the strange stars their parents were sharing were really beginning to get on her nerves. Her mother had once said she'd never met a word that she didn't like so she just let the words tumble out.
"So Mrs Van Der Woodsen, what were Thanksgivings like for you growing up?" she asked and for a second there Danni's sure Lily is glare at her for asking a question like that but she smiles like she's glad to be included and it's worth it. Maybe Sebastian's mother was warming up to her after all.
"I grew up on a little ranch in Montecito" Lily tells her, pouring more of the wine she'd brought into her glass.
"I didn't know there were little ranches" Jeremy chimes in, reaching across the table for more food.
"There aren't" Alison said jokingly, a laugh ripples through the table and Lily's smile is wiped from her face.
Sebastian's phone, the one that's sitting on the table next to him, rings at this point. He takes one glance at the caller ID and he takes the call muttering apologies as he does so. Danni briefly wonders who it could be but doesn't dwell on it for long because Jeremy tells some old, bad joke that she doesn't fully hear but she's probably heard a hundred times before and another laugh ripples through all of them and it's so good to see everyone so happy that the last thing on her mind is Sebastian Van Der Woodsen's phone call.
It's a quick call and he ends it abruptly with:
"I'm on my way"
She can't help but be a little bit disappointed but she tells herself it must be important if he has to leave in the middle of Thanksgiving dinner.
After Sebastian leaves Danni diverts the topic back to Lily and her ranch.
"Did you have horses?" Jeremy asks.
"I had my own actually, Rosewood" Lily says with a smile.
Jeremy's head snaps up and away from his plate, a smile forming on his face.
"My dad has a song called Rosewood" he announces.
"No, not that Rosewood" Rufus clarifies.
"I completely forgot about that song!" Danni exclaimed.
"Yeah it's about my mom" Jeremy tells her "because she had this perfume that she always wore it was um roses and uh-"
"Sandalwood" Danni finished for him.
"It was like her own personal scent" Jeremy finishes.
Things quickly grow quiet and awkward again as their parents begin whispering again, she can hear her say "I'm a fool" and her dad reply "no you're not" and Danni is left wondering if it was something they'd said. She tries to make eye contact with Jeremy but he's staring at his food again.
"I'm sorry Alison, I never told Rufus about that horse I'm sure it's just a coincidence" Lily says taking another of the wine that she's probably had a little too much of.
"Wait a minute, why are you talking like you know each other?" Danni asks, silently praying that they're Thanksgiving doesn't get any weirder then this.
"Do you two know each other?" Erica asks looking just as confused as Danni feels.
"We kind of did know each other" Rufus tells them after sharing a look with Alison "a long, long time ago"
"What?" Erica asks obviously surprised.
"Know each other how?" Jeremy asks.
The room falls silent again and Danni follows her mother's gaze right to Lily Van Der Woodsen.
"Oh my god" she muttered to herself. This was just all too much. Apparently her mother felt the same as she left the room for some air snapping at Rufus not to follow her as she did so.
"You have a lot of explaining to do" Danni told her father before throwing down her napkin and following her mother out of the loft.
…..
Thanksgiving – One year ago.
Nat had lead a now robe clad Sebastian up to the bathroom. He still hasn't sobered up and is laughing like a four and it kind of makes her laugh too.
"I don't want a bath" Sebastian declared with a pout sitting beside the Waldorf's bathtub.
"Sorry, Blaine's direct orders" Nat reminded him.
"Blaine's not the boss of me!" Sebastian exclaimed.
"Are you new here, cause Blaine's the boss of all of us" Nat pointed out, turning to close the bathroom door "seriously Sebastian you smell like the floor of a brewery"
"I do not" he argued, until he caught as whiff of himself "yeah I do, I need a bath"
He leaned over and turned both taps on, water filling the tub.
"Blaine's a bossy genius!" Sebastian said grinning at Nat.
"Yeah, yeah he is" Nat told him with a nod and a smile, because he may be bossy but Nat loves him.
"What about you?" Sebastian asks twisting the shower head towards her like a microphone, she playfully pushed it away.
"What about me?" she asked "I'm not the one who smells like an ash-tray"
"But you do look like an ass-tray" Sebastian says turning the shower head towards her, soaking her with water. She squealed, putting up her hands.
"Sebastian!" she exclaimed "what do you think you're doing, stop, stop!"
He stops, looking guilty and she smiles to herself grabbing the shower head turning the table on him, and it's all wet and playful and fun, even though she almost slipped a few times, until Blaine barged in and asked them what the hell they thought they were doing. There's a lot of umming and ahhing until Sebastian turns the water on him and Blaine begun laughing too, soon all three of them laughing.
Thanksgiving – Present day
Sebastian finds Blaine sitting in a corner of the same bathroom they were messing about in just last year. Sebastian moved to sit beside him, sitting squished in the corner is uncomfortable but there's no way he's moving until Blaine's feeling better because even though they fight and argue all the time he was always going to be his best friend.
"I didn't see your dad downstairs" Sebastian said.
"My mother just decides everything" Blaine says. Sebastian can hear the anger in his voice and briefly thinks about just about everyone she knows has problems with their parents.
"Everything in the world is just totally up to her" he continued.
"Yeah I know" Sebastian told him "hey why don't we got out of there"
Blaine shakes his head, sniffling a little.
"I'm not going back to that party" he told him, voice full of determination.
"No, I mean out of here out of here, out of this apartment" Sebastian clarified "to a place a little more sane"
A small smile crossed Blaine's face.
"Any place would qualify"
…
"So you actually threatened Lily Van Der Woodsen with physical violence?" Danielle asked her mother as they walked together, it's actually really nice to talk to her alone "mom you are a badass"
"Well yeah what can I say, I was younger than" her mother told her "and wearing steel toed boots"
Alison's laughed a little and Danni was actually scared that her mother had once been in a fight with her new boyfriend's mother.
"No, no, we didn't actually come to blows" Alison assured her "I focused on transforming my anger into art, I made some collages, I wrote a trilogy of one act plays about her, named the character 'Millie' to try to be you know...subtle"
"Clever" she told her with a small laugh.
"So what was so bad about her?" Danni finally asked "I mean aside from the superior fluttering eye lids and punishing sarcasm"
"Well.." her mother started "she was your dads first great love as she liked to remind me every chance she got, it's kind of hard to compete with that"
She always thought her mother was her dad's one great love. She kind of wishes she hadn't asked the question now.
….
"Oldest friends?" she heard Lily Van Der Woodsen say once she and her mother got back to the loft "it certainly didn't feel that way when you kissed me at Eleanor's party"
"What?" Alison asked. God they just had impeccable timing didn't they. The almost happy vibe she and her mother had previously been sharing came quickly crashing down.
"Danni would you uh-" Alison started.
"Go check on Erica and Jeremy" Danni finished for her knowing she was just looking for an excuse to get her to leave.
…
Thanksgiving – One year ago.
Nat, Sebastian and Blaine came down the stairs together, laughing, both Nat and Blaine, supporting a still very drunk Sebastian. They plopped him down on a seat as soon as they could.
"Sebastian, you look wonderful" Harold commented, stopping in front of the three of them "looks like that shirt was made for you"
"It was made for you" Sebastian told him, pointing at him and laughing.
"I knew there was a reason I liked it" Harold said with his usual smile "and yours too?" he asked Nat.
Nat looked down at the borrowed button up she was wearing and shook her head.
"Blaine's actually" she told him.
"And this mine" Sebastian declared reaching for the alcohol on the tray Harold was carrying, Blaine immediately took it away from him, laughing slightly.
"Would you help me with the potatoes?" Harold Waldorf asked his son.
"Sure" he told him and the two of them headed back off to the kitchen.
….
"Hey guys I'm back" Sebastian announced stepping into the Humphrey loft, Blaine by his side "and I brought…" he paused upon seeing his mother and Danni's parents standing alone in the room all looking relatively stressed and angry, especially Alison.
"Blaine" Sebastian finished.
"Hey" Blaine said. All the adults stayed quiet.
"Wow, weird vibe" Sebastian commented "um, where's Danni?"
…
"There's no chance we're related right?" Danni asked from her position curled up in Jeremy's dark blue armchair.
"Maybe, just look at Erica's roots" Jeremy said with a small shrug.
Erica looked a little worried for a moment, reaching up to touch her hair.
"What's wrong with my roots?" she asked.
"Well they're kind of Rufus like" Jeremy teased. Thankfully the conversation about the possibility of being related was cut short as Sebastian walked into the room, followed by Blaine Waldorf.
"Hey Sebastian and Blaine…" she said, so apparently this Thanksgiving was just not going to get better at all.
"Explanation to follow" he told her moving to sit on the arm of the chair she was sitting on "but first what's going on with our parents"
"Oh, our dad dated your mom" Jeremy told her figuring that being blunt about it was the best option.
"What?" Sebastian asked.
"We're not related though" Danni added.
"Ignore my roots" Erica said.
"Wait…what?" Sebastian said.
"You know what's really weird?" Blaine asked "there's a garage door in the middle of your room"
And maybe Danni should've closed that garage door as this way Blaine Waldorf could see straight into her bedroom.
"Oh is that Cedric?" he asked spotting the cabbage patch kid sitting in her bookshelf.
"Well this day just got a whole lot worse" Danni said, mostly to herself.
"Wait hold on" Sebastian said turning the topic back to their parents "how serious were they? Our parents"
"I think it's uh safe to say that they've had sex" she said, god she really didn't want to think about that.
"Oh no, I think I'm gonna faint" Sebastian muttered with a groan, running a hand through his hair.
"To repeat, we are not related" Jeremy said.
"She was a groupie and he was almost famous" Danni tried to explain.
"Suddenly my family seems so sane" Blaine said a small smile playing on his face.
"This is too much to handle on an empty stomach" Sebastian said toying with the sleeve of Danni's shirt in a way that was almost comforting.
"Well…" she paused looking towards the door "we are definitely not going back out there"
"Can we leave here then?" he asked sliding off the arm rest and holding out a hand to help her up "leave here, eat, escape"
Danni smiled a little, accepting his hand and standing up.
"That's why they call it a fire escape"
…..
"My mom is such a hypocrite" Sebastian said after the five of them escape the apartment and found somewhere to eat "all this time she was going on about my behaviour"
"And she's just mad at you for being her" Erica finished.
"All this time my dad's been giving me this advice based on this girl he dated, this girl who was lot like Sebastian…" Danni said
"It's his mom" Jeremy finished, stating the obvious.
"When you think about it it makes total sense that your mom was a groupie" Blaine said "I mean only a women that had completely satisfied her sexual appetite in her youth would ever marry your step-dads"
"Oh god" Sebastian said "can we please not talk about my mom's appetite?"
"Or who satisfied it" Danni added.
"It's just.." Sebastian started.
"..so.." Danni said.
"Gross" Erica and Jeremy finished together.
Lily Van Der Woodsen walked in at this moment, walking right over to them. Danni briefly wondered how she found them but didn't dwell on it for long it wasn't worth it she had enough question floating around after everything that happened with her parents today.
"Hey mom" Sebastian greeted her.
"Is everything okay?" Erica asked.
"Yeah" Lily told them after a few moments.
"Do you want to go home?" Sebastian asked "I can call a car"
"No, not yet, I need fries" she said, turning to the waiter "excuse me? Can I get some French fries and keep them coming?"
"Jeremy and I should probably head back to the loft" Danni said speaking for the both of them. The Van Der Woodsen's should probably have their Thanksgiving alone this year and anyway they had their parents waiting for them at home and although she was not looking forward to talking about any of this it was probably needed.
Jeremy seemed to agree to as he wiped his mouth with his napkin before standing.
"I'm gonna go too, leaves you guys alone" Blaine told them.
Before she stood up Sebastian kissed her quickly on the cheek. She turned to smile at him as they left.
…..
Blaine, Jeremy and Danni shared a cab for most of the way home and although Blaine kept asking about the garage door in the middle of the room and Cedric Danni had to admit it wasn't all that bad.
"Bye Waldorf" Danni told her as she and Jeremy were dropped off.
"Well today was not boring" she said to Jeremy as they walked.
"No" Jeremy agreed "I never should've asked mom to come home, but I didn't see this coming"
"Who could've?" she pointed out "don't worry about it"
"So weird that our parents had lives before us, you know?" Jeremy said.
"Or they had lives before each other" Danni added, Jeremy nodded.
"Lily seemed pretty upset" he noted "I wonder what happened when were gone"
"I don't know" she told, looking up to see their parents walking towards them "but I think were about to find out"
"Hey, who's in the mood for a little Humphrey family scrimmage" their father called tossing the football to Danni who was glad to see that at least both of them seemed rather happy.
"What will it be?" he asked when they got closer "kids against parents, boys against girls?"
"Definitely girls against boys" Danni said with a smile looking at her mother after their talk earlier it would be nice to spend some more time together.
"Come on, let's work out our plays" Alison said linking her arm with her daughter.
