Sorry for the late update guys, but this is me, writing in the middle of the Dair love fest going on in the fandom (I still love them though). I feel like it's extremely badly written, a little rushed, and god forbid my grammar mistakes, but, you know :) Enjoy anyway! And don't forget to review :)
Can you tell
Nate breathed deeply a few times outside of Blair's and Serena's apartment. He was trying to think straight. Blair seemed determent to see him tonight about Epperly, and this was his chance to finally help her for real and make her happy. He felt utterly guilty for doing this even though he never promised anything to Dan, but that meant being disrespectful to his best friend's wishes. Nate ran a hand through his hair nervously and knocked on the door. The only response was Blair's voice saying it's open. He opened the door and closed it carefully, suddenly afraid to break his own insecurities silence. When he entered Blair's room, she laid on her bed, hiding her face behind a huge pile of papers, her reading glasses on the tip of her nose. She looked like a concentrated yet a hot secretary. He cleared his throat when she didn't seem to notice he's standing in her door. He could see her eyebrow arching behind the pile of papers she was reading, and she signaled him to sit on a chair beside her bed. He chuckled and sat down. They reached a new level, she was bossing him wordlessly now, and it was more than amusing. Two minutes of silence passed until Blair let the paper guard down and looked at him, a satisfied look on her face. She was definitely on to something regarding Epperly.
"That look… All you need is a light bulb above your head", Nate teased.
"Yes, but before I spill out my genius plan, first things first, how was your conversation with Dan?" She asked, looking genuinely interested and afraid of his answer at the same time. He hesitated. Telling her about the real conversation he and Dan shared would be a bad idea. He didn't want her to know just yet about Dan's request, because if she knew, she would also know about his feelings for her, and that's another thing she can't know.
"It was… good. I reassured him there's nothing between us and it's just business in order to help you", he explained.
She raised both of her eyebrows in surprise and moved closer to him, sitting on the edge of the bed.
"Is that it? He wasn't madly jealous and protective?" she asked, obviously disappointed.
"No. I mean, he was worried, but he trusts me. And you of course", he lied and an image of a scowling Dan popped right into his head and refused to leave.
Blair frowned, puzzled. "Weird. We had a huge fight over this a week ago, and he called me a day later and asked me to come over", she mused out loud.
Nate chuckled and smiled weakly at her, not knowing what to say. He had to move the conversation elsewhere, but the only thing he could think about was her walk of shame earlier today. "You're not the one for a shameful walk in an NYU t-shirt by the way", Nate forced himself to laugh. It wasn't really funny, but he was certain they didn't have sex according to Dan's confusing answer; he just needed to hear that from her as well. And she delivered just fine when she said "No, it wasn't really… I mean…" she mumbled and stared at the floor. She sighed when she figured out that that's was all she could say at the moment. "You don't have to tell me, I get it", he said, trying to calm her down. It was pretty odd to him though. Blair might not be the one to sleep with someone that quickly, but it didn't look like they haven't tried. It looked like several failed attempts to him, and he smirked a little, thinking about Dan not being able to perform was amusing. Comfortable silence fell on both of them while Nate thought about his next move, but Blair's voice interrupted his thoughts.
"So, about Epperly…" her scheming tone rose from the ashes, and she looked enthusiastic again.
"I used the past week to our advantage, and I thought about a great plan, yet simple one for you to seduce her", she stated proudly. Nate chuckled. She seemed so excited for him to sleep with Epperly. She really did deserve that week off, she has been working her ass off lately and he could see the fatigue taking over her face. Even though he wasn't that excited to sleep with the control freak that is Epperly, he nodded and signaled her to continue.
"I'll tell her to meet us for drinks in Wednesday after work, and I'll be no show, and that'll cause my supposedly boyfriend to get mad over it, and then you'll rant about it to Epperly, and when she's drunk enough, you'll kiss her and seduce your way to her pants", she explained quickly.
"Sounds great", Nate responded, even though he wasn't sure he'll be convincing enough as an actor to pull the mad boyfriend act.
"But wait, how do I even seduce her?" he added a moment later.
Blair stared at him in disbelief. He blushed and shrugged.
"What do you mean how? If Chuck slept with half of Manhattan, I'm pretty sure you've slept with the other half", Blair arched her eyebrow at him.
He cleared his throat. "I didn't… I mean maybe I did… But I'm serious".
"That's just ridiculous. What, are they falling on their knees and beg you to sleep with them?" She asked. He shrugged and smiled in response. It wasn't far from the truth. Thinking about it, he couldn't recall the last time he actually made an effort to conquest a girl, except for Blair, years ago.
"Come on Archibald, you're smarter than you look. Make sure she drinks a lot, and seduce her, it's not that difficult. Just work your charm", Blair said, losing patience over his ignorance in seducing techniques.
"I don't think my charm will be enough in this case. She's a tough nut to crack to be honest. Don't you know her better by now?" he chuckled.
"For once, you might be right", Blair confessed dramatically when she realized seducing Epperly might be a little harder than she originally thought.
"Alright, I'll be you for a second, and you'll play Epperly", she said while getting up from the bed. She was wearing one of her night gowns, one of those that left no room for imagination, and Nate had to force himself to look away and not to stare.
"You'll have to start slow. Touch her accidently", she said while demonstrating on him by grazing her hand on his shoulder. Her touch sent a shiver down his spine.
"Through the conversation, you might want to hold her hand when she doesn't notice" she added and sat on the edge of the bed again, placing her hand on his. Her hand was warmer than his, and when she squeezed it, he sighed quietly.
"Now what?" He asked her hand still on his. She seemed distracted.
"Oh… you know, you wait for the awkward intense silence and then you kiss her", she responded quietly. Few moments of silence fell on the them both when Blair tried to pull away her hand, but Nate grabbed her wrist gently, returning her hand to it's original place, right on his. He reached his other hand and lifted her chin to make her look at him, and he could see clearly now she was on the verge of tears.
Her deep brown eyes sparkled and a tear escaped from one of her eyes. He leaned in and kissed the tear away, and then kissed the tip of her nose once, something they used to do when they were younger and weren't experienced at kissing. His kiss made her laugh bitterly a bit, before she pulled him closer to her by his shirt, and crushed her lips over his. Their kiss was more than sensational and Nate was more than satisfied to feel her lips again. In that moment he decided he wanted to kiss those pair of lips every morning for the rest of his life, and he wanted to make sure she knows it, but he couldn't say a word just yet. He didn't want it to end. The kiss became more urgent and feverish by the minute, and she managed to push him onto the bed and climb on top of him without breaking their kiss for a second.
She unbuttoned his shirt as quickly as she could before running her hands all over his chest, feeling his muscles come to life under her touch. He slipped his hands under her gown and grazed his hands over her thighs, aiming up to her inner thighs. She moaned into his lips and placed her hand over his heart. A moment later, she pulled away from him, her eyes wide. He stared at her, confused. She could definitely feel his fast heart beats, and his heart responded to her touch just like it did years ago, when they shared their first time. This was too familiar, too natural, too right. She climbed off of him and sat on her bed, staring at him in disbelief. She couldn't comprehend what just happened.
"I think you should go", she mumbled, shifting her stare to the wall behind his head.
"But…" He tried to protest. "Don't. Just-just leave, I need… to be alone", she whispered.
"But we… this…" He tried to explain while buttoning his shirt back.f
She shook her head and stared at her feet.
"I mean, this is exactly how you should approach Epperly. If you'll follow what I've just done, you'll be just fine", she said a moment later in a harsh tone.
"Epperly? What… oh" He sighed. Blair was the queen of denial. This had nothing to with Epperly what so ever, and they both knew it.
He looked at her one last time before leaving her room. Two images refused to leave his head when he walked down the cold street, one of them was still the image of scowling Dan, but the other one was the sight of Blair, trying to hide her tears right before he left.