Chapter Ten – Bull's Eyes

You're blowing all your attention on me

I'm surprised the way you affect me

Like an arrow penetrating my heart

Take your best shot

I bet you'll miss

Disclaimer: I do not own GG & its characters. I do, however, own this story. Therefore the story is © by me. Distribution of any kind is prohibited without my written consent.

She's late… again.

Handing the taxi driver her fare, she swings the door open and make a run for the restaurant, almost dropping her bag along the way. Securing the straps back on her shoulder, she bustles quietly through the door and into the busied restaurant. Scanning the room, she smiles as her eyes land upon a booth near the back. "Sorry," she apologetically says, taking a seat.

"While you weren't here, we pooled to see how late you'd be," Eric says then looks at his watch, "And guess what? Elliott's won."

She makes a 'ha-ha-ha' face as he innocently bashes his lashes in return. "Don't act like you're so hurt, Jen," teases Eric with a laugh.

She rolls her eyes and wonders when he developed such a sassy mouth. "Shut up."

"Good luck because once he opens his mouth, it'd be a miracle to shut him up," Elliott chuckles. "Don't you just miss the days when he didn't talk too much?"

Jenny always knew she liked Elliott for a reason. "Yeah, whatever happened to that sweet guy who was shy, kind, and soft-spoken?"

Eric laughs. "He met you."

If looks could kill, he'd be dead right now. "Very funny."

"Stop glaring—it makes you look uglier than you already are," he then pushes her head away. "And you are lucky that we're not offended by your tardiness."

In response, she rolls her eyes again. It seems like a habit now that Eric's back into her life or she's back into his. Only a week has passed but somehow it seems like she's never left. They've been going out to lunch and dinner almost every day, with Elliott too, of course; and now, Jenny finally understands why Eric always has that dumb smile on his face when he spoke of Eliott. "And for your information, I ran into Eleanor on the way here," retorts Jenny. "We were chatting and time just got away from me."

Eric sits up, interested. "What about?"

"She asked me how I'm doing and well—" She pauses then bursts into a small smile. "She wanted to know if I'm interested in working for her again."

"Really?"

"Yeah and she said that once I'm finished with school, come to find her because she believes she has something that will interest me greatly." She then releases a couple of satisfied chuckles. "I said okay and yeah, that's basically it."

"I guess we'll forgive you for being late then."

"I still don't know why are you guys so adamant that I should be h—What?" She then eyes Eric then Elliott suspiciously when she saw them share secretive looks. If she's learned anything these past few days is to know when either one of them is up to something. "Is something going on?"

"Well—" Eric begins then turns to him. "Tell her El. After all, it's your idea."

He stammers, being caught off guard. "Wa-wait a minute. No it's not."

"Fine, it's mine but she won't kill you."

"But you're her best friend."

"But you're better at this girly stuff," he counters, "plus she's not going to be that piss, seeing as how she's still getting use to you."

Annoyed at the cat and mouse game, "Guys, in case you haven't noticed, 'she' is right here," Jenny interrupts, pointing to herself, "Eric, why don't you just say whatever idea is it that you both came up with?"

"Fine—" he then glares at Elliott who slightly shrugs, thankful that it isn't him who was picked. "Promise you won't be mad."

"I won't."

"And no crossing."

"I won't."

"Well—"

She definitely doesn't like where this is heading, not at all. "Uh huh…"

"We thought it'd be kind of fun if—"

No. No. No.

"You have someone… you know, a boyfriend?"

Sighing, Jenny rubs her temple. She should have seen this bullet a mile away. "Please tell me that you didn't set me up and that you're just asking me to take a trip with you."

"Come on Jen, "Eric says, trying to plead some sense into her, "You haven't gone out on the town since you've been back. When we try to take you out somewhere, you always rejected the guys that approached you."

"Is there a law that says I have to have a man to be happy?"

Rolling his eyes, "I never said that a man would make you happy," Eric corrects firmly. "I said that it might be nice to have someone. I mean, how are you ever going to—" he pauses when he saw her disapproving stare and her incessant tapping. "What?"

"Don't get me wrong. I appreciate you trying to set me up but," she pauses, trying to render her words so they don't sound offensive when spoken. It's not that she doesn't appreciate his concern for her wellbeing but the fact that he went behind her back and set her up with someone she doesn't know or is interested in does not sit well with her and she thought she made it clear with him that she's not looking for anyone right now. "You make it sound as if I'm never going to find that special someone like you did."

"How will you if you never give anyone a chance?"

"When I'm ready to meet and mingle, I will."

Eric looks unconvinced as he continues, "When was the last time you were on a date? And I'm not talking about having a boyfriend. I'm talking about just going out on a date, having fun, and experience life?"

"Three weeks ago with a guy in Paris," Jenny refutes, almost proud and purposely leaving out the fact that they never did go on a second date afterward.

"Right—and how long did that last? Because the last time I've heard you talked about him was—oh I don't know—never?"

Jenny's frown deepens.

"Look, it's just a little dinner. No pressure or anything. Plus, I'm not saying that this guy is going to sweep you off your feet," Eric explains. "I'm just asking you to give it a chance. You never know, right?"

Acknowledging defeat with a soft exhale, "Fine, just this one time," she concedes. "But you have to stay out of my love life from now on, okay?"

Eric raises both hands in surrender. "I promise."

She then points at Elliott. "This includes you as well."

He gasps dramatically then points at himself, "Me? Me?" Elliot asks, bewildered that he's part of the guilty, "what did I do?"

"Don't you give me the what-did-I-do crap? You are as involved as he is."

"Yah—I—I" he stammers. His face begins to redden, making Jenny chuckles in delight. He never did like being put on the spotlight. She found this out the hard way when she played charade at the loft with him, Eric, and a couple of their friends. He clamped up like an oyster, all sweaty and shaky and could barely hold his card in peace.

"Alright—alright—no need to get your panties in a bunch," she jokes to ease his discomfort. "Who's the guy you're setting me up with?"

"He's a friend of mine," Elliott explains excitedly, "He's friendly, outgoing, sarcastic and funny. Kind of like you, except for the funny part."

"Sounds like you should date him instead of me," Jenny jokes, looking at him then looks over at Eric, whose now has a frown on his face, "right, Eric?"

"Yeah—he sounds great so why don't you date him?"

Elliott's breaks into a wide grin. "Oh my—are you jealous?" He then laughs when Eric's face turns shades darker. "You shouldn't be because there's no one for me but you."

"Oh, get a room," Jenny comments, making a sick face at the lovey-dovey couple.

"Anyway, he's you, in a male version."

Jenny cringes. "When you say it like that, it sounds weird."

Elliott blinks, not understanding her. "Why?"

"You just said, he's me so in a way, I'm dating myself?"

"Except he's a bit smarter, "Elliott adds, which earns a glare from Jenny. "What?"

"Smarter than me, Elliott?" She raises her left brow. "No one's smarter than me."

"I'm just saying. He's not completely like you."

"And how do you know that he's smarter than me?"

"Because we know you," answers Eric and Elliott in unison. They both look at each other then burst out laughing.

"Okay—what's with this?" Jenny prompts, pointing at Eric then Elliott. "Something's going on and I'm not talking about you guys trying to set me up."

"What do you mean?"

God, this speaking at the same time and being emotionally connect is getting annoying. "Guys—"

Facing her, they both carry a Cheshire cat-like grin on their face as their hands intertwined. "We're thinking of moving in together."

Her eyes widen at the news. "Holy shit. When did this happen?"

"Well—" Elliott sheepishly grins, displaying the dimples on his cheeks. "I—"

"Two weeks ago, he came knocking in the middle of the night, with a bouquet of flowers in his hand and straight out asked me to," Eric answers, glancing at him with enamored eyes. "At first I was shock so I told him I had to think it over first."

Elliott returns with a smile. "So I went home, disappointed but then I got a call from him within a few minutes and—"

"We've been shopping around for an apartment and the rest is history."

"And I see that you guys already have that whole finishing-each-other-sentence-thing down," Jenny chuckles, looking on with a twinge of envy but mostly joy. Nothing would make her happier than seeing them together, especially since she always thought they'd. It was only a matter of time. "Damn. I'm jealous."

They both blush at the same time and look down at the floor.

Maybe this little blind date won't be that bad. Plus it wouldn't hurt to put her dating skills into use once again before she loses them. "Alright—" Jenny was stopped short when Elliott stands up and waves to someone from behind. Guessing that it must be her blind date, she takes a quick peek over her shoulders and finds herself speechless.

"No fucking way," whispers Jenny, because the last person she's expected to run into is Ian Anderson from Hudson High. He was the guy down the block that mothers warned their daughters to stay away from, due to his reputation of being a daredevil. He did all kind of crazy shit, one involving him skating off a roof and miraculously survived with his life intact by the end. Every girl she knew wanted him but none could get him; and for some reason, he decided to shower her with the attention while she in return, never gave him that time of the day because she knows his type way too well. They chase until they get bore.

"Jenny Humphrey." His voice is strong, clear and deep like how she remembers it and her name was spoken with a soft, hushed tone, as it was too fragile to slip from his lips in any other way that it made her heart skipped a beat. The corner of his mouth curves up with unexpected pleasure when he saw her blushing. "It's been… awhile.""

Awkwardly, she gets up from her seat to greet him. Barely reaching his shoulders, she forces her head upward to look at him in the eyes and she immediately regrets her decision to do so. With his towering frame of exactly 6'2, his familiar brooding blue eyes, those thick and dark babies' lashes, and high bridge nose, he almost made her heart skips a beat again, almost.

Elliott gives a pleasantly surprised look as he looks at her then back at Ian, "You two know each other?"

Straining a smile, she nods. "Unfortunately."

He gives a sly grin, alluding to the fact that this might not be such a coincidence at all; and she of all people should know better when it comes to him. "It's always nice to see you again," Ian continues with a wink. "And if I might add, you look ravishing."

To this, she rolls her eyes and wonders how, out of all the guys in NYC, she's managed to find another Chuck.

author's note

So gossip girl ended and it was crap. I guess this story is more after season 3 and set in AU. I refuse to make Dan gossip girl because it makes no logical sense. Thanks everyone for reading and I'm sorry it took so long to update. This story will be finished. I guarantee that. As always, comments or criticisms are always welcome =)

-dh