Nate high-fived his classmate Andrew when he walked into his mansion just outside of the city. Andrew gave him a quick one-handed hug. "Yo, Nate! Thanks for coming, man. Drinks are at the bar, outside by the pool.
Nate walked through the house and out to the back patio. There was a big pool surrounded by a bunch of lounging chairs and a bar towards the back of the deck, which led directly to the beach. He felt someone grab his arm and turned to see Blair in a bright pink bikini and a white see-through cover up. He put an arm around her shoulder and squeezed her. "Looking' good, B."
She smiled. "So why is your shirt still on? Take it off!" She tugged at it playfully. "Where is the Basstard?" He laughed and pulled away from her.
Nate looked around, they'd driven here together. "We brought drinks so he was telling people where to put them, I guess. And Serena?"
"Changing into her bathing suit. I saw the ring you got her." She looked at him expectantly.
Nate shrugged. "I thought she might like it…does she not? Did she say she hated it? Oh God…she hates it, doesn't it? I didn't think it'd be too forward. I mean she's the one who's already named our babies. That's way weirder!"
"Nate, chill. She thought it was cute. Awww, I can't wait until Fletcher and Sofia come along. That's NOT weird. You're weird…weirdo."
Nate laughed. "Of course you helped pick the names out. Don't I get a say it in this?"
"Absolutely not. What makes you think you would?"
Nate rolled his eyes at her. "I'm too sober for this. Let's go get a drink." He held out his arm for her.
Blair shook her head. "Not until you take it off. Shirt off!"
Nate peeled his shirt off. "Fine. Let's go."
Serena spotted Blair and Nate at the bar and made her way to them. "Hi."
"Hey! There you are." Nate kissed her softly. "Blair has been making moves on me all night. She made me take off my shirt and is now complimenting my abs."
Blair rolled her eyes. "Gross. Get over yourself, Nathaniel. I simply made the observation that I guess you weren't completely disgusting looking. Speaking of…damn, S…could you be less hot? You're overshadowing me."
Serena blushed. "Shut up. Where's Chuck?"
Blair shrugged. She'd already had a few margaritas. "I'll go find him!"
Nate turned to Serena. She wore a deep green bikini under a crochet cover-up. The bikini made her eyes look even more gorgeous and her skin look perfectly tan. "I thought the point of cover-ups were to cover you up. Yours has a bunch of holes in it."
Serena looked down at her outfit. It was true that the cover up didn't cover much but it did more than a lot of what the other girls were wearing. "We're at a pool party. They aren't holes. It's crochet pattern! You don't like it?"
"I do like it. I mean…you're ridiculously hot. We get it. I just don't like that everyone else can enjoy the view too."
Serena frowned. "You're being mean." She felt like an idiot. She specifically planned this outfit for him, green was his favorite color, and he hated it.
Nate cleared his throat and put his drink down. "Sorry, I've had a few drinks. I just get a little bit jealous sometimes. Having a hot girlfriend comes with a hard life." He laughed and wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled him to her. "You could be wearing a potato sack and all the guys would still be talking about you."
Serena shrugged. "Oh shut up. Don't even get me started on all the underclass girls talking about how hot the captain of the lacrosse team is. No one needs abs like this. You're ridiculous." She punched his stomach lightly.
He held his shirt out to her. "Put this on."
Serena didn't understand why he was being so weird. "No. It's hot."
Nate downed
Nate kept her held tightly. "Let's go have S-E…hey guys!" He was caught off guard by a bunch of his teammates suddenly surrounding them.
A few of them slapped his back. Michael smiled at him. "Are we interrupting something?"
Serena looked at Nate and then shook her head. She kissed his cheek. "Come find me later. I'll let you guys alone."
Nate smiled at her. "I will."
…
Serena stood by the pool talking to Isabel, Penelope, and Blair. They talked about their summer plans and how they all promised to save a few days for an all-girl trip.
Isabel was drunk and a overly excited. "OHMYGOSH. Turks and Caicos would be perfect!"
Penelope shook her head. "No I'm going there next week. What about Bora Bora? Oh. Hi Nate." Her voice went from demanding to shy in only half a second.
Serena was about to look behind her when Nate wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled him to her. He planted a soft kiss on her neck and whispered in her ear. "I want you so badly."
Serena pulled away and looked at him. "You're tipsy." She laughed.
Nate shrugged. "A bit. So…?"
She nodded. "We'll be back." She said over her shoulder, not even bothering to look back. She took Nate's hand and he led them back inside the hall and down the hall to the furthest room.
Nate closed the door behind them. Then he wrapped an arm around her waist and pushed her against the wall. He pressed his body against hers and ran his hands up and down her sides, feeling the contours of her curves.
They kissed deeply and he walked backwards towards the bed, pulling her with him. Nate broke the kiss and lay on top of her softly. His lips moved from her mouth to her cheek and her neck.
Serena suddenly got the piercing feeling that they weren't alone. She looked out through the glass doors that led to the beach, a shadow moved in the darkness. "Nate…"
Nate kissed her chest and slid his hands under her cover-up.
Serena unsuccessfully tried to push him away. Her eyes remained glued to where she saw the figure move. "Nate, stop."
Nate sucked on the base of her neck.
Serena saw the figure in the distance again. "Nate!"
Nate pulled away from her angrily. "What!"
She frowned at him. "Get off!"
Nate let out a frustrated sigh and rolled off of her. "Seriously?"
She didn't want to worry him. She crossed her arms across her chest. "I'm just not in the mood."
He got up. "Fine. If we're not going to fuck then I'm leaving."
Serena felt her jaw drop; she couldn't believe he was talking to her like this. She grabbed his arm and stopped him from leaving. "Look at me. I don't care how drunk you are. Don't ever talk to me like that. Ever."
The hard look on his face softened. He was in a shitty mood. "I'm so sorry. That was disrespectful. I don't even know what's wrong with me. There's something off."
She rolled her eyes. She was still annoyed at him. She looked at his face and saw panic in his eyes. "Are you okay? Something off? What are you talking about?"
Chuck appeared in the doorway. "Hey guys. Come join the party."
Nate hugged Serena tightly and pressed his mouth to her ear. He was drunk and reeked of alcohol. He lowered his voice so it was barely audible. "Don't trust him."
…
Serena knocked on Nate's door softly before opening it. Nate rolled over in bed and looked at her before letting his head hit his pillow again. "I'm dying."
Serena smiled at him. "I knew you'd be hung over. I brought you a really gross smoothie and some water and ibuprofen. Sit up."
Nate sat up and Serena put a couple pills in his mouth and he chugged the bottle of water. "What happened last night?"
"You don't remember anything?"
Nate shrugged. "Parts of it."
Serena sat silently as Nate got up and showered. He walked out in a towel and gave her a minty kiss. She smiled at him. "You were mad that I wouldn't hook up with you. And told me that if we weren't going to fuck then you were leaving. That's literally what you said."
Nate's eyes widened. "What! Oh shit. Baby, I'm so sorry. You should have slapped me."
"Trust me, I wanted to." She put a hand over his. "Hey…Nate…are you okay?"
Nate looked at her questioningly. "Just a hang over, babe. I'm fine."
"You were scared of something last night. Of Chuck I think. You told me not to trust him."
Nate cleared his throat and looked away. "I was drunk. It didn't mean anything."
Serena walked around to look at his face. "I saw your eyes. You were terrified."
"It was nothing. Can we drop this please? My head is killing me."