Dan woke up at 6, finding himself stuck in yet again another girl's arms he barely knew. He untangled her from his torso and went to the bathroom, looking himself in the mirror. It was a routine as he took his toothbrush and toothpaste. He blankly watches himself as another day goes by and nothing really changes. Work, bar, one night stand, sleep and then it goes around. Working sounds like a trip but recycling the same hash of editing articles instead of actually making a journal of writing wasn't fascinating at all. But he's done being fascinating, he's done writing words that could destroy someone.
He searched for a shirt, and practically threw away the one suit he had at the back. He hasn't worn one since a dinner with a dean from Yale. He took the one shirt that was visible to him and a jacket. Pretty simple. He ignored the small voice at the back of his head yelling at his fashion sense. He heard the girl squirming on his bed and blinked her eyes at him.
"Morning," she said.
"Hey," he simply said.
"Listen, last night was…"
"I got to go," he immediately puts his shirt on and left the room, leaving the poor girl dumbfounded. He knows he's being an ass but this is New York and it is what it is. The girl said she was a New Yorker so this is the usual in New York.
Dan was off to work, but then his shoes seemed to be missing.
"You leaving?" asked the petite blonde who is none other than his own sister, Jenny.
"Yeah, I got another big day, as always," Dan said blankly while finding his shoes.
"Uh huh," Jenny replied, obviously rolling her eyes at him. "Will you be free this afternoon? I got th…"
"I'll tell dad you said hi," Dan smiled and Jenny could only smile back. Then she sees the poor girl inside of Dan's bedroom.
"Who's the babe?" Jenny said boringly.
"I…" he tried to remember but he was awfully wasted last night. Jessica? Amy? He puts in every Caucasian name he had known, but seems like he didn't really caught her name. He looked at Jenny, pleading. "Can you…?"
"I'll play the young ex-wife mode to send her away," Jenny poured some orange juice in the glass. "It's fortunate that we don't look alike." He always got his back by playing his 'scorned wife'. He sleeps around at night and in the morning; Jenny puts on a mask and feigned despair that her 'husband' is cheating on her. No one wants a cheating bastard.
"Yeah, I mean you get dad's charm off the bat," Dan searched around for his shoes.
"And you get mom's sarcasm," Jenny barked back. She watched as her brother searched for his shoes. "It's under the first shelf on the left." He always lost his shoes.
Dan smiled. "Thanks."
Jenny looked at him. "You know, next month I'll be moving out."
"Yeah you've told me that, weeks ago. That was the plan," Dan took his shoes off the shelf.
"You couldn't even find your own shoes without me. What makes you think it will be easy leaving you here alone? Plus, no one will be there to clean your tramps," she can't leave him. Not like this. Not when he's in the place where he needs company the most.
"Come on Jen. No cold feet," Dan laughed. "Besides, I pretty much raise you around here. Don't you think it should be me worrying about you out there on your own."
"Yeah well…"
"No cold feet," Dan cuts her. "The plan was for you to get out of here, take your butt to Manhattan, and show those Gucci snobs that you are a talented designer."
"And when are you going to Manhattan?" Jenny asked.
"The Spectator is basically in Manhattan," Dan sat down on the couch.
"Editing pictures in a tabloid mag doesn't seem like your dream," Jenny told him.
"Well, unlike you, I don't have a dream. Not anymore anyway," Dan smiled but Jenny could only look at him sadly. He used to have goals but he threw them away. "But I do have a wish. You. Achieving what you dream of. That is my wish. So no cold feet Jen. We'll be fine. Dad will be proud of you."
Jenny laughed at the last statement. "If only he understands what I am pursuing."
"He does. In his way," Dan looked straight into her eyes. Jenny heard the girl in Dan's bedroom squirming. He can do much better than sluts.
"You're 27 Dan. I think you should, I don't know, consider settling down." Jenny looked at him, obviously worried.
"Getting married at 27 is young don't you think? It would end as fast as Kim Kardashian's marriage at that age," Dan puts on his shoes.
"The fact that you are referencing Kim Kardashian is pretty disturbing. No, I don't mean marriage, I meant a relationship. You finding a girl and settle for at least 3 months not a one night stand. You could get herpes," Jenny scrunched her nose.
Dan kissed his sister on the cheek. "That's why we have condoms, young one."
"Eww," Jenny looked on as her brother waved goodbye.
Jenny was worried, as always about her brother's criteria on living life. He used to be the fun one, the one who is responsible, the stable brother. But nowadays Dan just lived off like other guys would be if their life was so messed up. Dan still blames himself, always did. Jenny kept holding onto him, just in case one day he finally knock his senses and turn around. Or worse, when he finally explode and kills himself.
Dan walked down the street, looking for a cab. He ignored the lady waiting a few meters away. Although the lady did waited longer, this is New York, you got to steal a cab to be a true New Yorker. He deems himself as a nice guy, enough anyway. He whistled a cab which drove pass the lady and he wasn't really sorry. He entered the cab and told his destination. He looked outside and he chuckled remembering that one girl who would scold him for it.
"Don't be such a child Humphrey. She had waited longer."
And it was said that she was the snob. Dan shook his head, that memory should be erased.
Dan received a call and it was from Alessandra. He ignored the call. Alessandra had called him again and again but he kept rejecting. He was done writing.
He arrived in his office and there was a pile of pictures on his desk. He just sat down and stared at it. He works in a new tabloid company called The Spectator as a somewhat writer, packing in anything the photographers has and puts down caption on pictures. He was sarcastic as his sister said and that is exactly what the tabloid needs. He looks through the pictures, didn't know a single damn person on it. But he's smart enough to make s snide remarks on it.
"I don't understand how you can work like this" his co-worker Pete stood beside him. "Yet I have to say, you are pretty good at it."
"It pays the bill," Dan smiled.
"Well, it's better to be on Diana's good side today. She went in pretty early, and you know it's all cranky in Payneville if she's here early," Pete saw Dan's nonchalance about the subject. "But no, you are his golden boy around here. Everyone knows she loves you. It's only us the minions that are in danger." Pete peeked into the closed curtains of Diana's office. "You banged her right?"
"Pete, I told you from the start, I did not sleep with Diana, nor am I a favorite or anything. I just do the job well and she likes that I'm sarcastic," he would never tell the real reason Diana favored him or that she pays him 10 times than others get.
"Okay, it's just… what everyone says," Pete looked around. "Do you know she had a fling with one of the Archibald?"
"Who's the Archibald?" Dan roamed through the pictures.
"You work in a freaking tabloid magazine and you have no idea who the Archibald is?" Pete was shocked. More so when Dan shook his head when he asked if The Van Der Bilt ring any bell. "You have got to be kidding me. Are you living in some restricted area Kim Jong Un own where they have no internet?"
"I live in Brooklyn. So Manhattan people are kind of off my 'I care about them so much I have to know them' list," he looked down as he checked another photo. "But I know Kim Kardashian so that's one."
"Because Diana made you write a piece on her when she divorced, and now Kim favored you because you're the nice journalist," Pete rolled his eyes. He looked on Dan. "You have a freaking degree from Dartmouth and you had an article published in TIME. What are you doing here dude?"
Dan looked at Pete. "Sometimes it's better to sell these lies rather than the truth. Lies are entertaining while it lasts but the truth, it could be someone's daughter."
5 years ago
"Now this is the kind of stuff that I just detest," Noah Shapiro barked at the young 21 years old Dan Humphrey. "Lonely Boy finding happiness in Brooklyn, meet the girl of his dreams and somehow couldn't get her but time goes by and finally they belong together. Do you think this internship is a joke?"
Dan could only raise his brows. "You told me to write what I knew."
"I told you to write something decent," Noah shook his head. "Is this because I took your article on Steven Parker and published it in The Times? That made your name public!"
"He was a Dean in Dartmouth. It almost cost me to be dropped," Dan ignored Noah's publisher, Alessandra who chuckled on the subject. "And it wasn't at all finished."
"It already became a hit! Have some balls, Humphrey. That Dartmouth degree is not taking you anywhere without this internship. Now find me another story that is worth my time," Noah went back to his office, leaving Dan at his desk. Dan shrugged and rolled his eyes. He knew that, a Dartmouth degree is nothing compared to a recommendation letter from Noah Shapiro.
"You okay?" Alessandra approached him.
"Yeah," Dan looked up front and he receives a glare from her. "No."
"Well, for one, you have balls to go that far with him," Alessandra sat on his desk, looking down on him. "What happened? I thought you said Steven Parker deserved it. And that you are too much of a diamond for Dartmouth that anything you'll write would be fine, even how much of a scandal it may cause."
Dan looked down, feeling the guilt all over again. "He has a daughter, and she's only 13." Dan looked up at Alessandra. "How would you feel if suddenly at 13 you have negative things thrown at you because it was known to public that your father was a sexual offender?"
Alessandra looked at him. "You know when you first came in here, I thought you were very much like Noah. Ballsy, rough and will do anything to tear some people apart, the sole reason he hired you. But no." Dan looked down. Seems like she'll be giving negative comments. "Fortunately you still have a heart."
"Thanks. I guess," Dan said.
"By the way. I got some tips about a scandal in the Upper East Side," Alessandra said and Dan actually froze hearing that. "Interested?"
"I'll pass," he looked right at his computer. No way, not another UES.
"Well, I guess fashion scandal is never your forte," Alessandra teased him. Truthfully, Upper East Side is not his forte. "Listen, try not to piss him off, find a story, anything that is not Brooklyn boy vs the world." Dan looked down. Hearing he actually wrote something of that sort makes him embarrassed.
"Yeah, well, I'll find something," Dan looked back at the screen.
"Oh, what about that one story you wrote, that short story on an Upper East Side snob," Alessandra tried to recall. "Clair Carlyle?"
Dan could only laugh at that. "No." he said simply.
"Why not?"
"She hates me," he simply said.
Working hour was up and Dan walked home. He took his phone out. He dialed a number and called up his girlfriend.
"Hey, Vanessa," he smiled. He had been in a relationship with Vanessa fresh out of high school. He met her while he was waiting for Jenny after her Fashion Class in the Upper East Side, and there she was fighting for the rights of an old bar right on Broadway. She was strong and mesmerizing, exotic some would say but her heart is what kept him with her. "Yeah I just got off from Shapiro's office."
He was in a good time of his life now, even if Shapiro busted it a bit publishing his article without his consent, it did bring his name in TIME magazine. Everybody kept saying that his daughter would survive. He takes that into his head and tried to ignore the uneasy feeling inside.
He walked up to his loft and sees a visitor. It was Steven Parker, in all black and white lilies in his hand.
"Hello, Daniel," he said, face tired, obviously from the scrutinize of people. "Happy now?"
"What?"
"Are you happy?" Steven suddenly smirked. "Yes, I play a little with those students. But come on who has a happy marriage nowadays. Even Evelyn knows that!" Steven sees Dan silencing himself. "Oh right, you didn't know her name. Evelyn Parker, my daughter, who won't even look at me in the eye when the article was published, who hates me more than my wife does, who left yesterday hanging herself in her room because it was too much!"
Dan was shocked. So shocked that all he could do was stare at him, stare at the man who was too broken to realize his own fault.
"Are you blaming me for your decisions?" Dan looked at him, eyes cold, baring his soul. "I just wrote a simple truth about your decisions and you're putting it all on me? Sorry Parker, but I have nothing to do with this. Your daughter is dead because of you. You're only putting this on me because you can't accept that you are your own doing."
Steven Parker latched his fist on Dan's head and Dan felt blood flowing on his head. Dan felt that he deserved the punch. Whatever he said, it was too cruel, even if it was true, it was too cruel, something that is best to keep in. Steven kept hitting him and he couldn't feel pain because he deserved it. The last thing he remembered was his father running to him to stop Steven.
He woke up in a hospital. He knew the smell well enough. His mother died in the same place when he was younger. He looked beside him and there was Vanessa sleeping on the couch. Then he looked at up front, there was the nurse checking his charts, scribbling things that he wouldn't be able to understand. He tried to get up when the nurse went out, but he had woken Vanessa up.
"Hey, hey, easy tiger," Vanessa helped him up. "He got you pretty bad, you almost broken a rib."
"Well, I hope I did," Dan looked down, laughing a bit.
"Hey, you okay?" Vanessa held his hand, hers was warm but then he felt that maybe he was the one who is too cold.
"No," Dan immediately answered. Suddenly his eyes watered. "How can I… I mean I should have known!"
"Hey, shh." Vanessa hugged him and tried to calm him down.
"Her name was Evelyn. And if I didn't write those things, no matter how true it was, she would still be in school, with her friends. And…."
"It's not your fault," she kept chanting, but it didn't work. As he kept on crying, for the guilt he had. He tried to give reasons that would help him get over it, but like what he said to Steven Parker, this is all his own doing and he's having the hardest time to avoid it. He's at fault, he killed that young girl.
"You told me before, that maybe the article was too mean, I was too frank," he calmed down a bit, but kept whispering to Vanessa. "Alessandra said I have a heart, I don't."
Present
From that moment, everything changed. He quits the internship in Shapiro's office but somehow miraculously finished his studies in Dartmouth. He loved Vanessa, he really did but somehow things didn't work out with him putting a distance with her or anyone around. The only person who could sort him out was his sister, Jenny. But even she had a hard time penetrating him.
Dan had told Pete about the Parker case. Hell everyone knew about it but despite of what Dan thinks, nobody actually blamed him. Steven Parker was an asshole himself so it was actually in his face that he screwed up. Dan sees it differently. He knew what he wrote, he knew what he had done that triggered Evelyn's suicide. His words, his thoughts were thrown into the article. It felt like he was the one who drove Evelyn into death. Words could kill.
And he hadn't wrote an attempted sentence of truth since then.
"She didn't die because of you, man," Pete looked at him.
"You would never know," Dan simply said.
"Dude, you have talent in writing. Not just this sarcastic comments about celebrities doing their riches but real writing," Pete said. "I would kill to have your talent." He said the wrong word. "No, I didn't mean that, you know… I mean I wanted…"
"I get it," Dan said. "But I'm done."
He's not.
"Daniel," he heard Diana calling him. "Office, now."
Dan walked into the office, ignoring the whispers around him. "Yeap?"
"Your old publisher Alessandra called me the other day," Diana eyed his reaction. When she sees none, she continued. "She wanted you to write for her client."
"Well, yeah, I'm kind of over writing," Dan said. Diana looked at him skeptically. "I rejected her a few times so she should understand."
"That particular client is actually one of my very good friend," Diana smiled. "Celia Rhodes, or sometimes people call her Cece. And she actually told me what she was looking for in a writer."
"What? People that can bullshit into their biography?" Dan tried.
"No. People who can see more than just a scandalous story. Cece wants her own story to be told out there but people kept judging her for her status. She needed someone who sees more. I think you are the perfect person to do that." Diana eyed him as Dan struggled for words.
"You know I don't write anymore," Dan said.
"Well I think you should start again," Diana looked straight into his eyes.
"Diana, I gave you pretty much all the stories in this magazines. I think that is enough of writing for you," Dan said.
"You think you are selling lies here by controlling the things coming out from the tabloid, but I think that was just you being selfish on what to write. If you say it was because of Parker's case, I doubt it. If you were really troubled by Parker you already left the journal world. But here you are. Still trying to control the stories." Diana looked through her window, looking at the busy journalist trying to find stories. "Those writers out there, which I kept wondering why I hired them in the first place added unnecessary scandals most of the times, I preferred yours anyway."
"They weren't lies, I just tweaked a couple of tips," Dan said. The truth can hurt someone.
Diana looked at him. "It was an ambiguous approach. Naturally it's actually those kinds that the crowd loved. Pretty smart. But truthfully it won't take you anywhere and I know it drives you crazy. It wasn't a problem, but 4 years of Gossip Girl pretty much bury those judgmental self worthy bastard in you."
2 years ago
It was a new magazine at the time and Diana Payne was looking for a new fresh start for a tabloid. He was actually interviewing for the junior editor spot but Diana thinks he's too young.
"Is this a tabloid?" he asked.
"No, it is not," Diana looked at him. "The interview is done, you can g…"
"You want real news right? A real scandal," Dan started. "I, uh… I went to the Upper East Side school, St. Jude. And well, everyone there had a story to tell."
"I don't understand, Mr. Humphrey," Diana eyed him.
"I was on a writer's block and I figured I would write something out of being in the Upper East Side. But I had no resources. These people, the people you are trying to find out, each of them, they had something to say. Just like those students in St. Jude and Constance, everyone had a secret to tell. But they won't just to save face. Image is pretty important around those kids," Dan looked straight at Diana. "But there is this medium, a simple blog I put under the username Gossip Girl. I linked it to several girls I knew would have the scandalous views on everything, reciting, 'You can use my name to reveal anything you wanted'. And they simply emailed Gossip Girl, telling all the scandal about Manhattan's elite. They'd do it because they will remain anonymous."
Diana listened to him very carefully. "What is the difference to other blogs that have tips like Perez Hilton?"
"They felt safer with the person who is also anonymous. Ambiguity works much better with them. Unlike Perez Hilton who searches for tips, Gossip Girl receives tips almost every day."
"And then you post those tips online?" Diana asked.
"No," Dan said and he sees Diana confused. "I get to decide their story. The tips are more than just scandals, they are sometimes a feeling, a confession. For 4 years, I prepared a medium where people tell their stories and I wrote them in a way I wanted. I think you wanted to write like that, you wanted the power to information and I can give you that. I can code in a new blog and send it to the people that will share information."
"Will you write then?" Diana asked him.
Dan was startled. "No. I will be an informer." Dan looked at her. "I don't write, not anymore anyway."
"Why?" Diana was curious. Dan just stayed silent. Diana eyed him. "What do you want in exchange?"
Dan smiled. "A job with a paycheck way too big for that job. Just so I can keep being undercover." Dan looked at her. "And I get to choose what to take from the blog."
Diana thought for a bit. She stood up and held her hand up. "Welcome to The Spectator Mr. Humphrey."
Present
"Listen, Diana…"
"I think you are smart enough to know that it was her father that drove her into suicide. You never felt guilty about the article," Diana smiled. "But you are afraid of the person who wrote that article. Cold, and mean. The kind of person you detested. You had the full power to control the story around here but you let others write it because you were afraid of that 21 years old Dan Humphrey. "
Dan looks at Diana. She knows him too well. "Well, what do you want me to say here?"
"Meet her today at the Oak Room for dinner. Wear a suit, and you don't have to decide now. See her first, and maybe she would change your mind," Diana smiled at him. "Trust me Daniel. This will be good for you. You think Evelyn Parker is haunting you. I think it's just you not realizing your real potential."
"What potential is that?" he asked.
"Writing," she smiled. "Plus once in a while I would like the information not to be tweaked around here. It will be interesting to see what people react to something real. You need to grow up Daniel. And stop controlling things, you are not Gossip Girl anymore."
"Please don't say that out loud," Dan covered his face. He looked at Diana. "Fine, I'll meet Celia Rhodes."
"Great!" Diana was pleased. "You would love her, she is an exceptional women."
Dan left work at 3, with Pete nagging him that he did bang Diana. Dan ignored him and went straight out. He bumped into someone and he recognized him. From school.
"Sorry," he said. Dan swore he knew him from school, but the only people that stuck out in his memory from school are two girls, one he wished he would never see again.
Dan hailed a cab, but a man rushed through him. Karma works like a bitch. He looked up, it's not raining. It is only a few blocks away, so he walked. He looked up and saw the big ad board of the new L'Oreal campaign and it wasn't an unfamiliar face.
"Serena Van Der Woodsen," he smiled. He used to have a huge crush on her when he first entered high school but it ends with him just looking at her persona. She topped his blog every week, along with another girl. She ended up exactly where he thought she would be, the center of attention.
Dan arrived at the hospital, and waved at the nurse at the reception. "Hello, Agnes."
"Hello, Daniel. Isn't today Jenny's turn?" the old nurse asked.
"She got this thing and here I am," Dan smiled. He was welcomed warmly over here and sometimes he liked here more than his own office.
"Well, your father is in for his walk, you should wait for him in his room," Agnes checked her list.
"Can I join him? Jenny said she does that a lot," Dan said.
"Of course," Agnes took him to the park.
Dan stood by the entrance and he saw his dad. Rufus Humphrey sitting on a bench, watching God knows what. Rufus had an accident a couple of years ago and loses half of his brain function, leading him to not understanding speeches or gestures. He had therapy for almost a year now and it seems that he understands a bit at miracle times.
After graduation, Dan worked as an assistant in a newspaper room downtown but his boss there had lost his patience when Dan actually slept with the intern he's having an affair with. Dan got fired and started picking up jobs in Starbucks and restaurants. When Rufus had an accident, Dan had to get a real job and The Spectator came in. Honestly, he did want to leave the journalism world but in the end, it is a world he knows best and he needs to earn to pay the hospital bills and never let Jenny for get her dreams.
"Hey dad," he sat beside him and Rufus just looks at him blankly. "Sorry Jenny couldn't be here, she had this fashion thing. And here I am." Dan smiled. He hoped his dad somehow understands him. "You know today Diana, my boss throw me the biggest FU ever. Mind my language dad. But yeah. She told me I need to grow up from my blog in high school." Dan looked at his own hands. "I guess I'm still stuck in high school dad, where there are too much around me and I feel the need to control things and I don't know, perhaps write my own story. I was a nobody there and I guess I wanted to be someone, at least in my own world, I can control them."
Dan looked around and sees many care around him.
"I'm scared of myself dad," Dan admitted. "Evelyn Parker died and suddenly I was reminded that my words in that article may or may not have pushed her to death. But it doesn't matter anyway. I remembered my words and God it is absolutely the person I always hated."
Dan looked at his dad and Rufus had no reaction. Dan smiled. "Well at least you had mom. She was always there for you right. Practically kicking your ass every time you screw up. And even when she's sick, you kept by her side. I wish I had someone who could just hit me in the head whenever I screw up."
Dan was preparing to leave for the Oak Room. Had to buy a suit from Armani because Diana would flip if he wore the suit he had since high school. He had to admit, he looked dapper.
It was fancy, classy, extravagant, all the expensive words coming out. He didn't realize that tonight was a party until the waiter asked for his name. Surprisingly he's in the guest list. He didn't know anyone there, it was all Upper East Side vibe all over again and quite frankly, he hated that vibe. A vibe that makes you feel that you don't belong. He looked around and he sees some familiar faces from school but definitely the ones he hindered from meeting.
"Daniel Humphrey?" he looked back and see a pretty waitress asking for him.
"Yes?"
"Cece is waiting for you in the VIP room," she smiled.
"Sure," he followed the waitress. "VIP huh." He could never get used to this kind of luxury.
He entered a very much expensive area of the Oak Room. He sat down as the waitress call in for Cece. Suddenly, a pretty blonde came in, and he recognized her. The ad girl. Serena Van Der Woodsen. The pretty blonde who is always headlining his blog during high school.
"Hi?" she was confused as to why he was here.
"Hey," he kept it short.
"You are not one of Cece's boy toys or anything right?" Serena asked.
"No, he's not," an old lady in her 60's came out, glamorous as ever and looking at the resemblance between her and Serena, it was obvious that those two are related. "Hello, dear. How was Moscow?" She kissed Serena on her cheeks.
"It was fine," Serena chirped. "Even if Blair did not make it easy since her break up with Nate."
Dan recognized that name. He wished she wasn't here.
"Ah you must be Daniel," Cece noticed him. "Serena, this is my new writer for my own biography."
"Oh," Serena smiled at him. If he didn't stare too much on her short skirt, he might be able to realize she was flirting with her eyes.
"Um, actually…" Dan started.
"But Diana did tell you the deal," Cece watched him.
"Deal?" Dan was confused.
"You are on a 1 night trial. Sure Diana recommended you and Alessandra who is a very successful publisher also thinks highly of you, but I wouldn't let anyone interfere with my life until he met my own standards." Cece smiled as she sees a more confused Dan. "For a start, just enjoy the party first and I'll be down with you in a minute."
"You have your criteria?" Dan didn't want to do it, but this challenge from this lady made him doing things against his will. "I need to know my standards too."
"All the writers around kept selling me ambiguous persona of myself and even if it is endearing to hear how strong of a woman I am, I don't want that," Cece stood up and eyed Dan. "No bullshit." Cece left him in the room with Serena.
"Sorry. My grandma is kind of weird at times," she smiled. "Listen, just hang around and you'll see that she's not that bad." She pulled him out to the party, and as easy as she flows, she held onto him like she had known him forever.
Dan eyed Cece and she was like other Upper East Side royal, twinkling their eyes on everything their guest says but probably never honest about anything themselves. It was all business. He sighed. No bullshit his ass. Cece Rhodes is just another mogul who wanted attention through her biography. Serena's company was a pleasure though. He liked that she laughs easily even at his stupid puns. Her smile was as bright as her hair and she was as free as a wild child. He remembered everyone in Constance wanted to know more of her, and actually know more of her. She was the queen in his blog. Serena and….
"Blair!" Serena called and Dan looked behind him. Queen B. The devil herself had come. He could see her eyeing him and her fake smile approached as she kissed Serena on the cheek. "I was looking for you, where have you been?"
"I was with my dad for a bit before he goes back to Italy," Blair smiled. Dan remembered as all hell breaks loose when Harold Waldorf left Eleanor Waldorf for a male model. He wrote it as the disgrace of Queen B. But it didn't wear her down as she begins to stay on stronger. "And you bought a charity case Humphrey here, how nice."
Dan rolled his eyes. Of course, after almost 10 years, Blair Waldorf still acts like she hates him.
And that is a whole other story in Dan's life. Something that happened once but as significant it was in his life, it didn't feel like that to Blair.
To Be Continued
So yeah, I tweaked things a bit with the same plot, and decided to do this with continuous chapters because I realized that the One shot I made was too short. But read it if you want some spoilers but things may have changed a bit from there.
s/10306159/1/Inside