The reviews were a pleasure to read and I'm grateful for the follows. I know from reading the prologue, it's really difficult to grasp the premise of this story. Even I have difficulty explaining the where this story is going. I think it's just my way of fixing season 5 and all the characters that have been tarnished, so I hope you enjoy.
The sun's shining bright and winter seems to be ages away. After spending the summer in the Hampton's with Eric, trying not to think of a certain brunette, he finally steps into his loft with his long curly hair, making his head feel a lot hotter than it should.
He drops his duffel bag on the side of the couch and pulls out his laptop to check his college email. Glancing across his laptop screen, he finds his inbox is filled with professors introducing themselves and attaching the course syllabus, messages from clubs of Columbia, and loads of informational emails from Columbia's staff, but his eyes fall on the email from Blair.
My Dearest Humphrey,
I filled out your course schedule, and even managed to get us to share three courses together for this particular semester. Don't smile yet, we still have loads of work to do. First being getting you a haircut. I'm sensing you haven't cut your hair since I left, and that needs to be dealt with ASAP. Second, we need to buy you a planner, seeing as how unorganized you are. And don't you dare sigh at me, I've seen your room...
Dan stops reading from there, realizing it would take him thirty minutes just to finish reading her email.
The door to Jenny's room opens. "Hey," Jenny says with a warm smile, leaning against the doorframe of her doorway.
Dan raises his eyes and grins from the couch. "So I'm guessing your internship at Waldorf Designs has ended."
"You guess right," Jenny replies heading towards the kitchen. "It ended a couple of days ago actually." Jenny pulls out a box of cereal from the cabinet. "What about you, how's the whole book thing going?"
Dan rubs the back of his neck nervously and scrunches his brows. "Yeah...it's getting released tomorrow, but um...I'm having a little gathering today to tell everyone about it."
Jenny chuckles as she pours milk into a bowl, shaking her head. "Good luck with that."
XOXOXOXO
"Hurry up Dorota," Blair snaps ascending up her staircase
"Coming Miss Blair," Dorota says, breathing heavily and carrying Blair's luggage up the staircase.
Blair steps into her room and sighs happily. She missed her room, her internship at Vogue was superb to say the least, but New York was where her heart lied.
"Dorota!"
Dorota drops her luggage in Blair's room, with her chest heaving in and out. "Yes Miss Blair."
"I need you to place my clothes in the closet, AND...Make sure everything is organized with season and color," Blair says lifting her chin high and proud.
"But Miss Blair, you going to be living in dorm, no reason to sort clothes now when moving," Dorota reasons.
"Don't be silly Dorota, there's no closet space in our dorm room. You will need to bring me my set of clothing for the day from this closet every morning," Blair explains glossing over her phone. She begins to wave Dorota off with her hand. "Go on, I'm not paying you to saunter around."
Dorota heads towards Blair's closet, mumbling under her breath. Blair chooses to ignore her maid's ungratefulness and continues to scan through her phone. She received a text from Dan, asking her to come to Lily's while there were ten missed calls from Chuck.
Serena pokes her head in from Blair's doorway. "B!"
Blair beams at the sight of Serena. She hurries over to Serena and envelopes her in a hug. "Oh S, I missed you...You must tell me about California."
Serena pulls away with a bright smile, looking slightly shy. "I will, but first I have to leave for my mother's."
A crinkle forms in-between Blair's brows. "You to?"
Serena steps back and tilts her head. "Dan texted you as well?" Blair nods hesitantly leading Serena to look at her curiously. "When did Dan start texting you?"
A wave of panic settles within Blair. "What can I say, it must be something important."
Serena eyes her suspiciously up and down, looking as though she's trying to read through her, and then finally gives Blair a slight nod. "Okay... let's go."
XOXOXOXO
Lily, Rufus, Nate, Chuck, and Eric are sitting in the living room, waiting for him, while he's in the kitchen, drinking a glass of scotch, trying to ease his nerves.
"Humphrey," Chuck states, standing by the doorway in his pink bow tie and gray suit. Chuck takes a few steps forward and pours himself some scotch. "I read the book."
"What'd you think," Dan asks, curious to hear Chuck's opinion
Chuck glances over presses the glass on his lips, taking in the alcohol easily down his throat before saying, "You're in love with her."
"Is it that obvious?"
Chuck shakes his head. "You weren't supposed to go there." Chuck's brows wrinkle in frustration. "She's Serena's best friend, it's wrong...It's supposed to be you and Serena, me and Blair."
Dan swallows nervously and stares down at his drink. "I can't help how I feel."
They hear the elevator ring and their eyes meet for a split second before they head towards the foyer.
Blair steps into the foyer feeling anxious. She hasn't seen any of these people for three months and the thought of Chuck makes her stomach feel queasy. She can still picture that night in the Empire and recall how scared she was.
Before they reach the living room, her eyes catch the sight of Dan walking into the foyer with Chuck. She fights against her heart warming and presses her lips tightly in displeasure. His hair is awful, too unruly for her standards. The last time she was with him, he was dressing better, but he seems to have fallen back to his old habits with the hideous pink and blue plaid button down he's wearing.
Dan's eyes go to Serena. "Serena… thanks for coming." His eyes then shift to Blair. "Blair… I'm surprised you came."
Blair steps closer, towards Dan, ignoring his greeting and narrows her eyes at his hair. "What is this?" She pokes at his hair with her index finger. "It's hideous," Blair says, scrunching her nose as she continues to pick at his little curls with her fingers.
Dan swats her hand away, looking slightly annoyed. "Can you stop?...It's just hair."
Blair presses her lips tightly and frowns. "Fine." She tilts her chin high and walks past him, hearing him sigh.
With the couches being filled, she stands in the back and watches Dan rip the tape off a large cardboard box, arms crossed. As he begins speaking and rambling on about some book, her attention goes to his body structure. He doesn't have the shoulders for T-shirts and she makes a mental note to make sure he understands that. She's going to have to rearrange his closet, which will take some time, maybe months, but she knows if she's persistent, he'll give in.
It seems Humphrey is trying to tell them something important so she begins paying attention again.
"Anyways, I've only taken parts of your character, it's not how I really view you guys," Dan explains before handing copies of novel out.
"So you're the one who wrote that novel Gossip Girl's been babbling about," Blair says presenting a fake sweet smile. "Well I don't think we should be too worried...Good writing is what sells."
"And there goes your copy," Dan replies placing the novel back in the box
Blair scurries over the cardboard box on the coffee table. "Don't be silly Humphrey, I need a good laugh." She grabs his novel from his box, shoots him a glare and goes back to her spot.
After Dan hands everyone their copies, he begins answering their questions, leading her to leave the living room and enter the dining room to have a moment to herself. Sitting on the chair, she slides her finger on the spine of the novel, feeling each letter of Inside on the tip of her index finger.
It's difficult to fight her smile. She's happy for him becoming a published author, but there's something unsettling about having to read his book. She wasn't the greatest person in the world, especially to him and can't help but expect the worst.
She opens the book and her eyes go on the summary. She rolls her eyes when seeing the picture of him with his Muppet hair.
"Hey."
Her eyes leave Dan's novel to find Chuck standing by the entrance of the dining room.
Chuck takes a few steps closer before stopping and sliding one hand in his pocket. "You've been ignoring my calls."
She places Dan's novel on the dark wooden dining table. "Surely you can understand why."
"I'm sorry." Chuck's eyes shut in disappointment. "It wasn't supposed to go that far."
She meets his eyes. "But it did."
"It did." Chuck nods in agreement, avoiding her eyes and looking hurt. "Are you two dating?"
"No...We've barley spoken with each other all summer," Blair tells him, trying not to sound disappointed.
His lips curve slightly. "I might be reading this wrong, but it seems like you don't want to be with him."
Blair rolls her eyes at the sight of Chuck's smile. "I went to him that night." Blair looks down and begins fiddling with the hem of her dress. "And he turned me down...He thought I needed to spend the summer clearing my head."
Chuck's brows knit together. "He turned you down?" She nods, leading Chuck to clench his jaw and take a sharp intake of air through his nostrils. "As much as it pains me to say... He really is a good guy Blair."
"I know," Blair says quietly
Chuck nods, turns his heels and starts heading towards the foyer, but he stops abruptly, and turns his head to the side, with a smirk. "His book's really good…You may want to have a set of candles out when you read it." Chuck then looks straight ahead and leaves the dining room, leaving her confused.
XOXOXOXO
Dan watches Chuck leave the dining room and head towards the foyer, seeing it as an opportunity to have a moment alone with Blair.
He steps into the dining room and finds Blair with her head down, smiling, and reading the inside cover of his novel. She raises her head and her smile fades, but her lips remain slightly curved, giving him a seductive look. She stands up and steps closer with her eyes meeting his. He's having trouble breathing from the way she's looking at him. It's something he's going to have to get used to.
"How was your summer," Blair asks
"Boring...Yours?"
"Hectic to say the least."
Dan's lips curve into a smile, leading her to heart jump. "It wouldn't be you otherwise." She bites her bottom lip, trying to hold back a smile.
"So…This book," Blair says, trying to ignore the look he's giving her. "Should I be calling my lawyers?"
His back bends forward to lean in closer, to where he can feel the heat coming from her skin. "Well, I do recall Dylan calling Claire 95 pounds of girly evil at some point in the book."
She arches a brow. "What else does he say?"
Dan pulls away from her breathing space, but his eyes remain on hers. "You'll just have to read it to find out."
A smile tugs her lips. "I should go then."
"Already?"
"Yes Humphrey, I have a book to read." She grabs his novel from the dining table, and stands on her tiptoes to press a kiss on his cheek before leaving the dining room.
He watches her leave, waiting in anticipation for her reaction to his love letter.
Review's always make my day :)
