Serena pressed her head against the pillow and held her phone up to her ear. "It was bad."

Blair frowned on the other end. She looked out the window and at the sunshine. "It's going to be fine. You two are going to make up." She held up a blood bag to Serena. "Drink ."

Serena took the bag and sucked on it. "I just feel so shitty, ya know? Nate obviously knew something was up with Dan. Even though we were just talking."

"You didn't actually do anything, though! Nate is just being sensitive. He'll get over it and apologize. Just you wait."

Serena ignored another one of Nate's calls. "He's called me three times while we've been on the phone."

"Talk to him, then."

"I don't want to! He shouldn't have left me like that last night. I wanted him to stay and comfort me. It was just so cruel, I hated the cold look he gave me."

"Boys are idiots. I'm looking at an idiot sitting across from me right now." She gave Chuck a smile when he shot her a dirty look. "But you should talk to him. Besides…you know that's a sore subject for him."

"What is?"

"The whole…he made you a vampire bit. He has always felt so guilty for tearing you away from the life you knew and giving you this life that you never asked for."

"He has? He's never said that to me, ever."

"Well it's true. Anyway I gotta go, Chuck is getting grumpy because he wants breakfast. Talk to you soon. Love you." Blair hung up the phone. She looked at Chuck. "They had a fight last night."

Chuck nodded. "I heard. Who is this Dan character?"

"Serena's ex-boyfriend. But he's no one, I don't understand why Nate got mad."

Chuck raised an eyebrow at her. "Well, I do. But I guess we can agree to disagree."

Blair shrugged. "So…food?"

Chuck kissed her lips. "Yes. Where would you like to go?"

"Somewhere with bottomless mimosas."

Chuck knew she would suggest that. "Sounds good. Let's go."

…

Serena heard a knock on her door and went to open it. Nate gave her a small smile. "I'm sorry."

"No, I'm sorry."

Nate shook his head. "No I was being an idiot."

Serena shook her head back at him. "I was being more of an idiot." She stepped out of the way. "Come in."

He walked in and closed the door behind him. "I guess we should talk."

Serena shook her head. "We don't have to, we're fine."

Nate nodded. "Okay. Whatever you want." He kissed her softly on the lips. "So… orientation starts today."

"I know! I'm so excited. And I'm so glad neither of us have class on Friday, we can do weekend trips!" Nate and Serena had talked Blair into arranging her schedule so she didn't have class on Fridays either. She held up a dress to him. "What do you think of this as a first day of school outfit?"

Nate shrugged. "I thought you and Blair had already coordinated."

"We did…mostly. It's down to this dress or these jeans and skirt and blouse combo."

"You'll look beautiful in both. I'd go with the skirt…I think blue is cool…Columbia's color is blue."

Serena smiled at him. "You're perfect." She slipped on her outfit quickly and slipped on some booties. "I'm ready."

Nate looked her up and down and smiled. "Everyone is going to hate me."

They arrived at orientation and checked in. Everyone looked nervous and excited and eager to make friends. Serena looked around for Blair but couldn't see her. She looked at Nate. "Well…I guess this is where we make friends."

Nate nodded. "I guess so. I think I'm going to check out the Lacrosse team, they have a booth set up over there." He kissed her cheek. "See ya."

Serena smiled and watched Nate walk away. She frowned when she saw a bunch of girls check him out as he walked by.

"S!" Blair waved at Serena from a few feet away. Serena quickly made her way to her. "There you are."

"I was checking out the debate club. They have a coffee cart in the quad. Want to go explore?"

Serena nodded. "Let's go."

…

Serena was headed to class and turned a corner to see Nate walking with a couple of guys. "Hey there."

Nate flashed her a perfect smile. "Hey. This is Matt and Jeff, they're on the lacrosse team. Guys, this is Serena."

They both gave her friendly hellos. She smiled at them. "Well I gotta run to class. I'll see you at lunch?"

Nate wrapped an arm around her waist and gave her a quick kiss on the lips. "I can't wait." He kissed her cheek and whispered in her ear very softly. "I'm so hungry already."

Serena rolled her eyes at him. "It was nice to meet you guys."

Matt and Jeff couldn't help but watch her leave. They both turned to Nate and shook their heads at him in unison. Nate shrugged. "I am very lucky, yes."

Serena spotted Nate in the cafeteria and made a beeline to his table. She smiled down at him sitting reading a course outline. "So studious."

Nate looked up at her. "Hey."

She took the seat across from him. "Hi. You have no idea how much I wish no one else were here so we could make out."

Nate gave her a smirk. He got up and walked over to her then he pulled her up and kissed her deeply. She kissed him back for a few seconds until he pulled away.

She looked around at everyone who was frozen in time. Nate took a seat and everyone started to move again. Serena licked her lips. "Thanks."

Nate smiled at her. "Tell me about your week so far."

…

"It's for charity!"

Chuck let out a sigh. "Fine, I'll be there."

Blair kissed his cheek. "Bring lots of cash."

Nate joined them. "What are you to talking about?"

"A bunch of schools in the city are getting together and doing a date auction for charity. Serena and I are going to be auctioned off to have a date with the highest bidder."

Serena looked at Nate and cleared her throat. "Well?"

Nate frowned. "I have tryouts all of tomorrow. If it ends early I'll run over."

She shrugged. "Well, some other gentleman will have to take me out then."

Nate shot her a dirty look. "Chuck…"

"Yeah, yeah I'm on it." He got up. "I'm going to bed. "Some of us have actual jobs in the morning."

They all rolled their eyes at him in unison. Chuck gave them a smirk and finished his drink. "I saw that." He slapped Nate's back and kissed Serena and Blair's cheeks. "Have a good night."

Blair got up too. "I'm going to bed too. See you guys tomorrow."

…

Serena looked at Blair. "What are you nervous about? You know Chuck is going to bid on you."

Blair shrugged. "I still want other guys to want me, S, duh. How do I look?"

Serena nodded approvingly. "Perfect."

Blair's name was called and she walked up on the stage and waved at the audience. "This is Blair, she's from here and she loves long walks on the beach and whatnot."

After a few back and forth and Chuck intimidating a guy with a dirty look, he won the bidding war. He gave her a small wink and turned back to his phone.

After a few other people went, Serena's name was the last to be called. She walked up there and smiled at the crowd. "This is Serena, she was raised in LA but then moved here. Let's start the bidding!"

Serena frowned when she didn't see Chuck in the crowd. She heard someone yell "60 dollars" and recognized Dan in the crowd. Uh oh. After what seemed like a lifetime, Dan made the final bid and the gavel sounded. Serena gave him a small smile and walked off the stage and over to him. "Hi. What are you doing here?"

He shrugged. "I go to NYU, we're also sponsoring this. So when is our date?"

Serena shook her head. "I don't know if that's such a good idea, Dan."

"Come on, I won fair and square. It's for a good cause! They already gave me a 50 dollar gift card." He held it up to her and grinned.

Serena nodded. "Okay. We can do lunch…for charity."

…

"Are you serious?"

"Nate, don't be like that."

"Don't be like what!?" He turned to Chuck. "You said you'd bid on her!"

"I had to take a phone call, dude. Chill."

"Don't tell me to chill! I'm chill!"

Serena grabbed her bag angrily. "Wow. I really don't want to be in the same room as you." She turned and left.

Nate followed her out of Chuck's penthouse and into the elevator. "Why am I the bad guy here?"

"Just forget it, Nate."

"Forget what? I don't understand why you're mad at me when you're the one going on a date with your ex-boyfriend!"

She gave him a dirty look. "Jealousy is so unattractive on you. I'll call Dan to cancel first thing in the morning." The elevator arrived and she stepped into it.

Nate followed her. "Great, now I'm an even bigger asshole."

"What do you want then!? It's not my fault he happened to be there and happened to place the highest bid. It's not like I asked him to do that."

"You're right. Just go on your lunch. It's fine, really. I am just tired, can we just go to bed?"

"Fine."

…

Serena woke up and brushed her teeth. She frowned at herself in the mirror and thought about how much she hated being mad at Nate. She went to the kitchen and started the coffee maker and then went back into her room to pick her outfit. She heard Nate turn on the water in the shower. She shrugged and walked into the restroom.

He watched her walk in and kept shampooing his hair. She slipped off her clothes and climbed in the shower with him. He gave her a small smile. "Hi."

She wrapped her arms around his neck. "Hi."

Nate leaned in and kissed her. "I don't want to be in a fight."

Serena nuzzled against him. "Me neither this is dumb. I will cancel lunch, I don't care."

"No, no. Don't. Just go. You can catch up with an old friend."

Serena kissed his chest. "Okay."

…

"Serena, hey."

Serena smiled at Dan and gave him a quick hug. "Hey Dan. How are you?"

"Good, I'm good. I can't believe we're finally catching up."

"Yeah, I know. It feels like a lifetime ago."

Dan smiled at her. "So, tell me about what you've been up to."

"Well, I'm dating this guy Nate and it's getting serious. And I'm so excited about Columbia and taking classes in different departments. How about you? How do you like NYU so far?"

Dan looked at her and sipped his drink. "How serious?"

"Very serious."

"You seem happy."

Serena nodded at him. "I am."

"NYU is great so far, I'm meeting a lot of new people. I've only had a week of classes but I love them all already. Tell me about living in Manhattan."

…

Serena got to her apartment and felt like she was floating on a cloud. It felt great catching up with Dan and now all she wanted to do was see Nate. She hopped off her cab and knocked on the door to Nate's apartment then let herself in.

Nate sat on the couch watching SportsCenter. "Hey babe."

"Hey yourself." She went over and plopped down next to him.

He pulled her onto his lap. "How was lunch?"

She swung a leg over his lap to straddle him. She wasted no time and reached down and unzipped his pants. "It was good. We made small talk and talked about what our old friends were up to. I told him about you and then we talked about school."

Nate ran a hand up her thigh and under her skirt. "Oh yeah? Sounds fun."

She nodded. "It was good. He's a nice guy. How was your day?"

"I went hunting with Chuck today. It was nice, we hadn't been in a while." His hand tore her underwear. "Sorry…"

Serena shrugged. "It's okay. And you kill anything exciting?"

He shrugged. "Just a deer. Then I showered and here I am."

Serena ran her fingers through his hair and he lowered her onto him.