A/N: Hey guys. I'm so sorry for keeping you guys waiting so long but I was really working so hard trying perfect this chapter. It is the longest chapter yet so I hope that compensates for the wait. Thanks also for all the reviews and favorites, I appreciate them so much! And to "dairufly", thank you for leaving your review when you did. I was about to give up on finishing this chapter for at least another day or two because I just couldn't put any words together, but after your latest review I just couldn't let you and everyone else wait any longer *inserts puppy dog emoji*. So thank you!! Anyway, I hope everyone enjoys this chapter and please let me know what you think! Reviews really do help when I need motivation to write. Much Luv everyone!
The First Date.
I'm trying to settle my nerves by massaging shampoo into my hair but the fluttering butterflies in my stomach just won't let up. I wonder if massaging shampoo over my tummy will do the trick? Agh! Shower thoughts are called shower thoughts for a reason - because they're completely idiotic and should stay in the shower where you've thought them!
This is not good. In fact, it's extremely bad. Why does romance have to be like this? Why can't it just be roses? Actually, to hell with the roses because they're damn expensive and, like Mr.Gatsby knows so well, downright grotesque. Now that I think about it, roses actually represent an idealistic version of a love based on materialism and purchasable woo's. Ugh! Now I'm just spiraling...looping...rolling completely out of control!
I tilt my head back and the water runs soothingly through my hair. My fingers help wash away whatever's left of the shampoo and a smile evolves on my face as the thought of Blair's delicate hands grazing through my hair starts playing on my mind. Nothing will ever replicate that feeling. Nothing will ever come close to that feeling.
I'm not sure if it was the water or the thought of Blair that's brought me to this state of calm, but I allow the shower to continue running gracefully over my body as my eyes remain shut. My thoughts are clear now.
Last night Blair told me she'll be my Punk Rock Princess. So in other words, she's told me she wants us to become something. To take what we currently have - a thing which was, in the beginning, nothing more than just two strangers having a dance, but since then, hasn't felt like anything less than two people who've spent their entire lifetimes together - and make more of it. To iron out the creases. To remove the blurs from our lines. In teenage translation: she wants us to start dating.
I know. I know. I shouldn't be freaking out. This is something I wanted from the moment our eyes met, from the moment our hands touched, from the moment our hearts became in sync. But it's not the "dating Blair Waldorf" which is so daunting. It's the, "how do you plan a first date for a girl who's already gotten everything the world could possibly offer her right at her fingertips?", that's unsettling me.
I mean, I remember Blair telling me on one of our morning walks to school that she really wants to visit Central America one day, but it's not like I can board her on my private jet and take her to Nicaragua for the weekend. Hell, it's not even like I could buy us two plane tickets to do that.
So currently, as I let the hot water attempt to put me at ease because I'm starting to stress again, I'm in the middle of a 'first-dates' block. Something far worse than writers block could ever be. But I guess there's appeasement in the fact that it's only a one time block, and once gotten over, it's gone forever thereafter.
Anyway, I'm fed up with these arbitrary back and forth's in my head so I shut the water, get out the shower, dry myself off and head to my room. It's only 5 in the morning now - a testament to not being able to sleep soundly when you've a date to plan - and Blair's only expecting me later tonight at 8. So I've got 15 hours to figure this one out...
"I'll be right back sir. You can keep the meter running." I tell the cab driver as we come to stop in front of Blair's building.
"Yeah right, the last time a kid your age told me that, he never came back out his building. Pay for this trip first and then you can get out, son." The driver tells me.
"Okay, that's reasonable, I guess." I take out my wallet and hand the driver his fare, "But please wait for me sir. It's Saturday night so you'll know how much of a struggle it is to get a cab tonight, and I really need to be on time for this reservation I made."
"Don't worry boy, I'll be right here." He gives me an affirming wink.
"Thanks, man." I reply.
The driver puts his hazards on while I get out and it's only once I step inside the giant piece of construction in front of me that I realize my palms, my forehead and quite possibly my back are all sweating. The nerves haven't settled today at all yet, but after carefully architecting a plan which was listened to by my dad's new "friend" earlier, one would suggest they'll waver slightly at least.
I mean, if a million dollar lady tells you it's perfect and exclaims over and over again it's the most romantic first date she's ever heard of, then surely it tells a certain truth. Especially if it's for a million dollar girl. But I just won't be okay until I know Blair's impressed. She deserves the world, she deserves more than the world, and I just need tonight to go perfect for her. And if that means using all the money I made this summer from the catering jobs in one night, then so be it.
At least my moods aren't influencing any weather patterns though, or else we'd be in the midst of a thunderstorm. No, tonight is rather pleasant as the sky glitters with stars, and the chill in the air seems to be at a minimum. There's enough chill for a turtleneck and a jacket though.
I never thought I'd take fashion advice from my dad, but this leather jacket he's given me has me on a balancing rod of feeling like either John Travolta from 'Grease' or Johnny Depp from 'Cry Baby'. But it clearly hasn't granted me their confidence because as I put my hand down on the building's front desk it feels like I'm dipping my fingers in a puddle or something. Eww.
"Can I help you, young man?" The receptionist says, and I swear I hear him, but my eyes are still gazing in simultaneous astonishment and disgust over my wet fingers. It can't be humanly possible to sweat this much can it?
"Sir?" He says again, snapping me out of it.
"Oh, hey, sorry. Yeah, uhm, could you buzz the Waldorf residence please? It's the penthouse floor and I'm coming to pick up Blair Waldorf." I say all at once.
"Okay, one sec." The receptionist puts the telephone to his ear.
The receptionist goes through the usual process of calling Blair down and in the meantime I try to stop all the excessive perspiration escaping from what feels like all the pores in my body. If Blair saw me wiping my sweaty hands on my jeans or using this turtleneck as a hanky for my forehead, she'd probably kill me.
"Humphrey!" What'd I say? She scurries to me with narrowed eyes.
But there's not enough glare in her stare nor venom on her tongue that's about to tell me off which'll force me to react, because this maroon silk dress hugging her hips, hanging by the thinnest of shoulder straps, cutting off right at her mid-thigh, is making my head pirouette hazily. Even as she comes angrily toward me, her movements are still so elegant as her curls bounce while the lobby lights emphasize her glowing skin. And oh God, the way she's done her eye makeup tonight has those brown sparkles seeming deep and far away, like stars in the sky, but in the same breath, accentuates them as though they're within tangible reach, like a cozy study lamp on a cold winters night.
She's a foot from me now and her angry kinks are flattening out because those little happy kinks are forming from a smile she doesn't wanna show.
"Humphreeey..." She moans her signature moan as she grabs on my hands, "...those eyes, they're gonna kill me." And finally she lets that smile go.
"I'm sorry." I frown playfully, "You're just so beautiful."
"Oh, maaan." Her cheeks redden, "You're not helping me out here." She kids.
I chuckle and then our eyes dance while she rubs her thumbs soothingly over the back of my hands. Her eyes are almost always all that I can ever see. They're embedded in my memory, locked up in my daydreams, but when seeing them as I'm seeing them right now, no amount of nostalgia would ever be able to mirror this. She swallows a nervous lump as she pulls me in closer and I'm guessing I wasn't the only one feeling jittery about tonight. She looks down at our holding hands, for she's got this huge fascination with how they twine so perfectly, and then looks up at me again with a shy smile. A shy smile that makes my heart punch against my chest hastily.
"Your palms are sweaty..." She smiles sheepishly, "...I'm glad."
"You're glad?" My mouth falls open with a small laugh.
"I'm nervous too." She says almost inaudibly.
"Oh.." My lips corner up, "...I'm glad." And I bring her into a tight and tender hug.
I can feel her heart thudding against me once we're glued together but as we stay in this embrace for a short while, both our nerves start to settle down. It's so comforting, how she wraps her arms around my waist and digs delicately with her hands to keep a hold of me. Breaking all my walls but keeping me together all the same. She moves away and then takes on my hand again.
"Come on, let's go." She says softly, taking charge as per usual.
Despite the seven seas of sweat flowing between our hands, she keeps her fingers wrapped tightly around mine, almost as if the liquid might just make us slip apart.
"So do I get to know where we're off to?" She asks as the doorman opens the exit door for us.
"You'll see once we get there." I chuckle because I know she won't be happy with that answer.
She doesn't say anything but I do receive a scowl and stare in response. I then look up to guide her to the taxi waiting for us, but there's just one problem. There's no taxi waiting for us.
"Asshole!" I shout to the vacant drop-off-and-go area.
"What's wrong?" Blair tugs on my hand.
"The cab I came here with was supposed to wait for us, but he drove off!" My free arm feels like punching the air as it waves worriedly around.
"Hey..." Blair says softly as she brings me into her, "...it's okay. We'll just get another one." She then pulls me with her closer to the road.
"Okay, yeah, you're right." I try to relax.
Both Blair and I stand on the edge of the sidewalk, waving our arms in the sky like mad people, but the cabs coming past us are doing exactly that, coming past us. Not a single one stops. I look down to my watch and if I was a nervous wreck before, I'm about to have a full blown panic attack now. It's 7:45pm and our reservation is for 8! But just when despair creeps in, Blair becomes the glimmer of hope she so truly is.
"To hell with this, Humphrey. I'm calling my driver." She ruffles through her purse and grabs out her phone, immediately dialing the chauffeurs number.
She then shuts her phone, "He's on his way."
"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" I take her hand and bring her closer so that I can lay a thousand or so kisses of gratitude on her forehead.
"If calling my driver gets me all this affection, I might just be putting him on speed dial." She chuckles.
The driver literally gets to us in two minutes, giving us enough time to get to the restaurant in Madison Avenue, which is about 10 minutes away from Blair's home. I don't have any other choice but to give Blair's driver the address of where we're going to, so I lean over and whisper it in his ear so Blair can't hear. That grants me another scowl and stare from her.
At least the nerves are settling again, probably due to Blair's thumb playing over my hand, and suddenly a new feeling starts brewing inside of me as we get nearer to the place. I think it just might be excitement.
The driver brings his town car to a halt faster than I thought and Blair peeps out the window to see where we are. And with this new smile responding on her face, it's like the dam walls of relief have been opened up from within me, causing a smile to form on my own face too. I get out my side of the car and with a stupidly giddy skip in my step, I make my way to Blair's side. Her stiletto hits the ground as she takes my hand and steps out. I close the door behind her and we walk with linking arms toward the buildings entrance.
"Good choice?" I ask her.
"Best choice." She beams as her eyes dazzle over the sight in front of us.
We're met with a warm smiling doorman who nods his head kindly at us as we step inside. The restaurant is buzzing and Blair tightens her grip on my hand to assure me how happy she is that I brought her here.
"Good evening and welcome to Eleven Madison Park. Unfortunately we're at maximum capacity so we're not taking any walk-in guests tonight, but if you have a reservation then we should be all good." A lady tells us from behind a podium with a bright smile.
"Hey, yeah we do have a reservation. It's for Dan Humphrey." I reply.
"Okay great, just give me one second, sir." The lady uses her pen to scroll down the list of names in front of her.
She then turns the page and scrolls down the names again, but her smile starts to slowly turn straight and worried.
"Uhm, sir..." The lady bites on her lip anxiously, "...I don't see your name here."
"No it has to be, check again." I nearly scream as I peek over the podium.
"I've checked sir, twice over. There's no 'Dan Humphrey' here." She looks at me with eyes full of pity.
"Are you serious?" My heart drops as my eyebrows furrow.
"I'm serious sir. Your names's not on the list."
"Come on, Dan. It's okay, we can eat somewhere else." Blair grips on my arm to pull me away.
"I'm so sorry." The lady tells me sincerely as Blair turns us around to leave.
Blair walks us out the restaurant and back to the sidewalk where she takes out her phone to probably call her driver again. But through all of this her one hand stays gripped around my bicep, keeping me close to her.
My head drops and I shove my hands deep into my pockets. I can't hold Blair's hand right now. Not after messing up like this. Like, how the fuck could I let this happen? Tonight was supposed to show Blair how much she means to me. How there's not a thing in this world I won't do to see that smile on her face. But this shit show is the furthest from what she deserves.
"Dan..." She shakes my arm, "...get out of your head..." She then turns our bodies toward each other and cups my cheeks with her warm hands, "...everything's fine, perfect actually..."
"Oh, please..." I interject, "You're just saying that so I don't feel bad for fucking up." I try to take my face out of her hands but she doesn't let me budge.
"Hey..." Her voice is soft, "...you didn't fuck up. It's one freakin' restaurant, Humphrey. There's hundreds of restaurants in Manhattan. We're okay, honestly."
"Yeah, but tonight wasn't supposed to be 'okay'. It was supposed to be memorable, it was supposed to be the best first date you ever had, but it's not even close."
"Are you kidding me? Just being with you right now constitutes as the perfect first date. All this other crap? It's all superficial and hardly means a thing."
"I'm not sure I believe that, Blair. Even you were upset when that lady said my name's not on the list."
Her eyebrows furrow, "No I wasn't?"
"You were."
"Humphrey, I'm telling you, I wasn't." She smiles but I'm not buying it.
"Come on Blair, you said my name back there. The only time you do that is when you're upset or annoyed with me."
"Oh, man..." She pouts, "...sometimes I forget how attentive you are." Her thumbs rub on my cheekbones.
"Yeah, exactly." I say in defeat.
"But that wasn't one of those times. I only said your name because I needed you to listen to me. You looked liked were about to rip that lady's head off or even worse, have a freakin' meltdown."
"I did?" My eyebrows furrow.
"You did." Her bottom lip folds over as she nods.
"Ugh! I'm so sorry you had to see that." My face skews in embarrassment. No wonder that lady looked like she wanted cry. I was probably scaring her!
"It's okay, Humphrey..." She stands on her tippy toes and brings me into an affirming hug, "...I'm sorry you thought you needed to impress me." She whispers in my ear.
I quickly bring her out of the embrace and place my hands on her shoulders, "Hey, are you crazy? Of course I have to impress you. Constantly. You deserve the best Blair Waldorf, and only the best."
She smiles warmly, "Which is why I'm with you aren't I?"
I chuckle to hide the fact that I'm literally blushing right now. I'm never getting over how lucky I am to be with this girl. She's ethereal; the way she looks at me, the way she touches me, the way she kisses me, the way she talks to me, the way she secures me. Everything she does, she does so delicately and with so much care that it just turns my heart into a fountain of mush for her.
Tonight hasn't been the best, not by a long shot, but who was I kidding when I thought I'd find romance on the grounds of Manhattan, a place that epitomizes the "purchasable woo's" my shower head was on about. There's only one place that'll turn this date back around, one place where love roams free; my very own, Brooklyn.
"Light bulb moment?" Blair interrupts my thoughts with a chuckle.
"Like you wouldn't believe. Tell the driver to take us across the bridge when he gets here."
"Humphrey! You're not going back home to sulk! I won't allow it!" She glares.
"What?" My eyebrows furrow, "No, no, it's nothing like that. Just tell him, okay." I chuckle.
"Fine."
"And another thing."
"Yes?"
"You have to keep your eyes closed the whole ride, okay?"
"You know what, I think you should go home and sulk, after all." She crosses her arms and turns on her heels to walk off.
"Hey, hey..." I chuckle as I grab on her arm and turn her around, "...give me a chance to make this up to you, please?"
"But there's nothing to make up for..." She complains but I interject.
"Blair. Please." I plead.
"Fineee." She rolls her eyes.
The town car comes rolling to us in no time and Blair tells the chauffeur I'll direct him as she then lays her head in my lap, allowing me to play circles across her skin and twirls around her curls. She does as asked and keeps her eyes closed while I navigate the driver.
A blissful silence sings between us in this backseat as the warm streetlights beam in and out of the car windows. My fingers find their way to her ears, scribbling around them for the rest of drive. I've an urge to bite them with my lips but I stop myself because she seems so peaceful laying in my lap. We then get to the place and I whisper in her ear to tell her we've arrived, but like the babiest of babies, she's fallen sound asleep. Ugh, I hate that I have to do this to her.
"Blair..." I whisper again as I raise my leg to lift her head a little, "...wake up. We're here."
Somehow, she wakes up gracefully, "Already?" She looks up at me with soft eyes.
"Already." I smile.
She pushes up and orientates herself, straightening out her dress and making sure her hair still looks okay - it looks gorgeous. I quickly make my way out the car and around it to Blair's side. I open the door and she grabs on my helping hand, but immediately as she gets out she hugs herself into me as I close the door behind her.
"It's freezing, Humphrey." She shivers.
"Well we are at the beach." I smile and hold her tighter, hopefully warmer.
"We are?" She brings her head out of my chest to see the surroundings and her eyes start to glimmer as they stare into all the flashing lights.
A buzzing restaurant in Manhattan has nothing on a buzzing night in Coney Island. You can see it in the way Blair's lips tug up into a lovely smile as her eyes wander in amazement over the scenes in front of us.
She then buries her face back in my chest and gives me a tighter hug than all the other ones we've shared tonight.
For the first time a sure sense of relief washes over me tonight as I plant a kiss on her head. She then comes out of the embrace and pulls on my hand, and although I'm glad she's so eager to get us moving, I keep my feet planted to the ground.
"Come back here for a sec." I chuckle as I tug on her hand and then turn her on her shoulders to face away from me.
She looks over her shoulder, "What is it?"
"You were cold weren't you?" I say as I put my jacket over her.
She pushes her arms through the jacket and then turns to me with the puppiest of puppy dog faces as she clasps our hands, "Thank you." She pouts.
"Anytime, beautiful." I lay a tender kiss on her forehead.
As we stroll onto the deck with intertwining hands, there's something enchanting about the dangling lights everywhere around us as the carnival songs play loosely in sync with the ocean waves crashing against the shore.
Blair keeps her eyes cautiously on the ground because at any moment her heel could get caught in between the deck beneath us.
I look to my watch to check the time and it's already 9:47pm. The drive over here definitely costed us.
Since tonight was supposed to be a dinner in any case, I guess eating first would be the best option.
"Hungry?" I ask Blair.
"Starving." She groans.
"Okay, but just a heads up, there's no five star, fine dining sorta meals around here." I tease.
"Well, what are there?"
"There's this really famous hotdog restaurant we can go to, which is kinda like a 'have-to' when in Coney Island, but we don't have to if you don't want to."
"A customary hotdog? Could only be Brooklyn." She laughs, "Okay, let's go there."
We get to the restaurant and it's packed with people, but the restaurant's rolling out hundreds of hotdogs at a time. For such a cold night I gotta say I'm surprised there's so many people out here. Blair and I finally get to the front and before I can say the word, two hotdogs are already planted in my hands and all that's left to do is pay the cashier.
"C'mon, time is money young man!" The cashier prompts me.
After I pay the guy, Blair and I then make our way to a bench to eat. As we sit down my eyes stay on her, waiting to see how she likes the hotdog. She opens her mouth wide and angles the bun in her direction, but just before she can take a chunk, her eyes hit mine.
"Humphrey!" She glares.
"What? I just wanna see your reaction." I chuckle.
"It's rude to watch people eat."
"Okay, I'm sorry, I'll keep my eyes on my own buns."
"You better." She threatens. And it's not playfully.
I avert my eyes downwards to the hotdog sitting in my own lap, but through the corner of my eye I'm still watching Blair try and guide her hotdog into her mouth. Timing is everything in this situation, so I wait, and I wait, and I wait, and then just before she bites down I turn my eyes fully on her. There's nothing she can possibly do about it now because the divine powers of this heavenly tasting hotdog has already enraptured her. Her eyes shut in contentment and I can't help but chuckle.
"Mmm..." She says through a chew, "...mmm...oh my god. This is so good!" Her mouth is still full of hotdog but I understand the lapse of etiquette. Something so tasty deserves immediate praise.
I nod in agreement, "Yeah, it really is." And then take a huge bite out of my own hotdog.
After we're done eating I take Blair's packet from her to go throw it away, but as she gives it to me her eyes dart to my lips.
"Humphrey..." She chuckles, "...you got a little something..." She then rubs her thumb on the corner of my mouth, wiping off ketchup remnants, "...such a baby." Her eyes roll playfully as she wipes the ketchup from her fingers onto her napkin.
"Thanks." I laugh and then head off to throw away our rubbish.
Soon we're back on our feet and making our way through the park. Blair's not very keen on doing any adrenaline inducing rides, especially after just eating, so that leaves us with one other option; one other option I'm very much dreading - carnival games. But unless she asks outright for us to go and shoot something to win a stuffed animal, I'll act as though these hand-eye-coordination activities do not exist.
"Can we..." Oh no, "...go on the ferris wheel?" She finishes to my absolute relief
"Will your tummy handle it?" I ask, masking the 'phew' feelings.
"Yeah. It's not fast or anything, so I should be okay." She replies.
"Okay, let's go."
We're one more rattling stop away from reaching the summit of this wheel but by the way Blair's face is tucked into the nook of my neck and her hands are holding her tummy, it's clear she's not enjoying this one bit.
"Are you okay?" I ask.
"Does it look like I'm okay, Dan?" She mumbles into my neck, but her voice is icy.
My eyes widen worryingly, "Uhh, are you feeling nauseous?"
All she does is nod in response but before I can even think of a solution, the wheel moves abruptly again, shaking the shit out of the carriage. Blair starts groaning weird noises but all I can do is keep her as close to me as possible. Hypothetically though, if she does puke, I'm definitely moving her head over this safety railing. Whoever's under us, I'm sorry. It feels like we've been moving for forever as we hit the pinnacle and finally they bring us to a pause again. I tuck my hand underneath Blair's so I can rub on her tummy, hoping it'll soothe the sickening feeling.
"Does that help?" I ask.
She shakes her head no.
"Oh God, Blair." I bite my teeth, trying to come up with something that might help us here.
And then it hits me, "Put your feet on my lap!"
"What?"
"Just do it, Blair."
She comes out of my neck, "How the hell am I supposed to do that with this stupid bar here, Dan!?" She puts her hands on the safety railing and looks at me angrily.
"Oh...right." I'm such an idiot.
"Ugh!" She drops her head into her hands.
"Okay, wait..." I try and lean over the metal rod to get down to her feet.
"What are you doing, Humphrey?" She asks annoyedly.
"When I was a kid my mom used to press on my arches whenever I was nauseous." I say as my hands grab on Blair's feet.
"Did it work?"
"Like a bomb." I come back up with Blair's heels in my hand and give it to her, then lean down again, "Just take some deep breaths as well."
I use my thumbs to press as hard as I can into her arches without hurting her, moving in circular motions. But that's not the only circular motion happening as this damn Ferris wheel decides to move again.
"Humphrey..!" Blair wraps her arms around my waist and literally head butts her face into my back.
"Deep breath's, Blair!" I shout.
The wheel comes to a halt again but Blair keeps holding onto me because the carriage is still rattling. I somehow manage to keep pressing on her feet through the turbulence, but half-hanging over this safety railing is really making it difficult to breathe as blood starts rushing to my head. My mom used to have to do this for at least two to three minutes. I'd guess we're only about 30 in seconds right now.
"Feeling any better?" I ask loudly.
"Yeah, it's helping, but don't stop yet!"
"No, I'm not, as long as it's helping. Remember to breathe, Blair!"
"Oh yeah." She lets go of me and sits up again.
I keep applying pressure and drawing circles under her feet, just praying this wheel doesn't move again. But the pressure building up in my head is growing considerably stronger and I'm sure I don't have too long until my head freakin' explodes. But rather that than Blair puking all over me.
"Okay, it's going away, Humphrey!" She shouts.
"Yeah?" I ask with a smile of relief on my face.
"Yeah." I can hear her smiling.
I keep on pressing for about ten seconds longer and then I have to come up because I can't even breathe anymore.
"Phew!" I say as I try to get as much oxygen into to my lungs as possible.
"What's wrong?" She furrows her eyebrows.
"Nothing, your feet just really stink." I quip.
She gives me a death glare, "I should've vomited on you." Her eyes narrow.
"I'm kidding." I chuckle and put my arm over her shoulders, "Nausea gone?"
"Yeah, thanks." She hugs me appreciatively.
"No problem." I lay a kiss on her head.
Normally the first 360 on a Ferris wheel is to get everyone on it, hence all the stop-starts, but once we get to the bottom again, Blair and I both shout at the ride operator to free us from this nauseating monster.
"There's no refunds, hey." He tells us as he unlocks the safety railing.
"It's okay, just get us off this thing!" Blair prompts him.
Once the railing is out of the way we literally jump out and run onto the deck, Blair's heels still hanging in her hands, and we both start laughing ecstatically as we race away from the wheel. I expect Blair to stop soon though, but instead she keeps on running.
"C'mon!" She slows down and sticks her hand out to me.
I grab it, "Where...are...we...going?" I say between breaths.
"You'll see when we get there." She quips as she runs like she's having an adrenaline rush.
I shake my head in laughter. Of course she'd say that!
As we blitz over the deck, weaving swiftly between the crowd of people and all the bins and tables scattered around everywhere, I try to grasp this every moment. How the lights flash past me, how the people jump out our path in horror, how Blair laughs blissfully and infectiously, how her teeth bare rapturously, how her eyes sparkle from the carnival lights and the starlight, how her hand holds mine so tightly, how her hair graces thoughtlessly through the wind, how the cold air hitting her skin removes the colour from her face, how at her wildest, freest, she looks her most beautiful, and how she's stealing my heart...again and again and again.
We soon escape the deck and Blair guides us down a ramp taking us onto the beach. There's not a person nor a light in sight as we rush through the sand, and just as we hit the shoreline, she stops the running and crashes onto the ground, dragging me down with her.
We both try to recollect our breathing through an infection of laughter and I can't help but to fall back in blissful exhaustion. Blair falls back too and steadily we both begin to catch our breaths again.
Things go silent and all that's left is the sound of our beating hearts in tune with the crashing waves. Blair then finds my hand with hers to twine them together. And just as she does that, a star flashes gloriously across the sky.
Blair gasps at the sight, "Humphrey! Did you see that?!" She screeches.
"Amazing, hey?" I smile at the stars.
"Did you make a wish?" She turns her head to me.
"I did..." I turn my head to her, "...but only you'll be able to make it come true."
She turns her body to rest her chin against my chest, locking our eyes entirely, "What do you mean?" She asks softly, delicately.
I grab on her waist and pull her on top of me, "You're the only star in my eyes, so only you'll be able to make my wish come true."
Her cheeks redden, "So what's your wish then?" She rubs her nose on my nose as we smile stupidly.
She then backs away and suddenly her eyes dance with mine as our hearts begin beating rapidly. The waves emulate our reckless pulses as they keep crashing roughly against the shoreline. Our breathing turns heavy underneath the weightless sky glimmering above us. Nervous lumps fall through our throats while the moonlight floats calmly along the ocean bed. And the blistering air seems to have gotten ever so warmer within a matter of seconds.
I tuck a few strands of hair behind her ear and trace my fingers along her cheek, "For you to be mine, Blair Cornelia Paige Waldorf." I wish.
She chuckles with a warm smile, "Daniel Randolph Jonah Humphrey, there wasn't ever a moment when I wasn't."
And as though a revelation from some higher power has been bestowed upon me, Blair lays her soft lips on mine and kisses me until there's nothing more truer, not even the word of God, than the fact that she is mine and I am hers. For our being together is as bound to be as the dawn is to break. And us ever being strangers seems like something from a different lifetime, for with Blair, minute moments hold a forever feeling.
...