Only one more chappy after this one!!

Chapter 14 –

Decode.

Dan was sat in the diner, their diner, waiting patiently for her. He thought about Serena and Lauren, they were totally different people. Lauren was a brunette for starters, thin possibly even slightly scrawny and short, no more than five ft two. Serena was a blonde, tall and with curves in all the right places. They were both beautiful in different ways. Serena was funny, confident and he'd fallen instantly for her, Lauren was slightly shyer and more bookish, they were different and the reason Dan was attracted to Lauren was that she was so different to Serena. He saw her through the window and sat up a bit straighter as she walked straight over to him, not needing to look around.

"Hey," Serena said softly, looking at Dan, sadness in her blue eyes.

"Hey," Dan repeated. "I think we need to talk."

"Yeah," Serena agreed. "There's nobody at my apartment so we could shout as much as we want."

"That's probably a good idea," Dan smiled, standing up and following Serena out. Pat gave him a small smile as he went, wishing him luck.

"Here." Dan handed her his helmet and jacket, he'd only realised recently that Serena had his spare helmet, he'd given it her as sort of a sign that they were meant to be together, along with a guitar.

"Thanks." Serena smiled again and climbed on behind Dan, who'd pulled his sunglasses out of his jacket pocket before handing it to Serena. He pushed off the ground and sped away, out of Brooklyn.

Spotted –

Lonely Boy zooming through the streets of Manhattan with a girl on the back that looks suspiciously like Serena. Could old flames be rekindling? I hope so.

XOXO...XOXO...XOXO...XOXO...XOXO...XOXO...XOXO...XOXO...

They entered the van der Bass apartment twenty minutes later, the awkward silence still present. Serena dropped her bag onto her bed while Dan looked around her new bedroom; he'd never been in there before. It was furnished in a modern sense, minimalistic; a bed a desk, some artwork and photos on the wall. One of them was a photo of the two of them, Serena was sat on Dan's lap while he was trying to teach her the guitar, Eric had taken it when they'd been so engrossed in what they were doing. He really loved that photo of them.

"What happened?" Dan asked her softly, sliding down the wall and sitting on the floor while Serena sank onto the bed.

"Which time?" Serena asked him.

"What made you go out and get drunk? I was stupid and I was so quick to believe that you just got bored of us and wanted more excitement," Dan asked her, looking up at her with pleading eyes.

"It was the night of the Shepherd wedding, a society dinner and it got boring so I bailed..."

'Hey, I'm on my way,' an already drunk Serena told Georgina down the phone as she stumbled down the pavement and towards a taxi.

She took the taxi all the way to the hotel room where she'd agreed to meet Pete and Georgina. They were probably going to get stoned as usual before hitting some parties and clubs, they'd pick up some guys or girls for Pete before heading back and having meaningless sex. It was the life she lived, she didn't know anything else. Pete started kissing her as soon as she got into the room; leading her to the bed but something just didn't feel right, it was different.

'Where's G?' Serena asked him, pushing him off her.


'Other room,' he muttered, leaning in again and trying to attack her lips.

'It's too hot in here,' Serena told him, looking at the windows.

'You're hot,' he told her kissing her neck.

'Let's just smoke up first,' Serena suggested, pushing him off her again.

'Fine,' Pete mumbled, taking the pot and smoking it.

It was two seconds before Serena realised that something wasn't right. He started fitting and when Georgina ran in and started grabbing everything that could implicate them as she called an ambulance. They fled the room quickly, splitting up and going in opposite directions. Serena turned back and hid in an alley across from the hotel lobby, waiting to see if Pete was ok. When she saw the body bag her whole world seemed to crash down around her, she'd never felt so guilty in her life, she'd ran to save herself rather than stayed and done the right thing...

"I've never been able to forgive myself; I'm constantly reminded that someone is dead because of me," Serena said softly, staring at her carpet.

"But what then?" Dan asked pleadingly.

"I went over to Georgina's, I'd left my favourite jacket there months ago and ever since I'd met you I'd been putting off going over to get it. I went because I was feeling so happy, we were so perfect and I thought nothing could bring me down." Serena paused. "I found a note for me and a memory stick, she'd been planning on sending it me or something."

"What was on the memory stick?" Dan asked carefully.

"She'd been planning on making a sex tape of me and Pete. Pete knew but I hadn't a clue and she'd videotaped that night and after I watched it I felt so...angry, betrayed, 'How could Georgina have done that to me?' I kept asking myself, I thought she was my friend and..." Serena trailed off. "I felt like crap, worthless and it was like it was happening again and I did what I always do, I ran."

"You ran to a party?" Dan asked again, it didn't make sense to him, maybe a bar or something, but a party?

"It's what I've always done, escaped onto a dance floor where nobody knows me," Serena told him, looking up from the carpet and across at his pained face.

"I knew who you were before we started dating, I knew you were wild and liked to drink and party. I wasn't upset or angry about that, I accepted you for who you were and I saw you change. When I saw you that night I...everything I thought I knew about you vanished and it was replaced by doubt. It's not that you partied; it's that you didn't come to me. What did you think I'd do?" Dan asked her, he'd been speaking slowly, as if each word hurt him.

"I don't know! Judge me?" Serena cried.

"I wouldn't have judged you; I'd have listened for hours if you'd asked me too," Dan told her softly, "But now...I don't know if we can ever get back from this."

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