hey guys, here's another installment. Sorry it took me ages for this chapter.... I just found it so hard to write!! But here you go, and I'm pretty happy with it. Also, I've planned out a good deal of the following chapters and don't worry there's plenty more to come! Hope you like it.
Dan paced around his apartment. This was a terrible idea; he had known this was a terrible idea. He never should have let Jenny talk him into this. Or his father. He imagined worst case scenarios: unavoidable reunions with people he had very little in common with. Only one thing actually.
A knock on the door woke him from his day dream, and he opened it to find his little sister looking all grown up. He looked her up and down before letting her in.
"You look nice."
She stormed past him, and turned around suddenly, as if doing a double take of him in his track pants.
"Thanks. You don't."She said bluntly, giving him a disapproving glare and before he can defend himself she continues, "Where's your suit?"
"I'm not going." He says, thankful their father isn't there to reminisce on his childhood stubbornness. He is aware that he sounds 5 years old. He is also aware that he doesn't care, if it gets him out of going.
She sighs, clearly frustrated. "Dan. You have to go. You were invited. Nate Archibald invited you."
He nodded, "Exactly. The reason for which I'm not yet sure of." He moves towards his kitchen to quench his sudden overwhelming thirst but she blocks him and starts pushing him towards his bedroom.
"And you already R.S." She reminded him, as he wondered when she had gotten so strong.
She brought him to a standstill in front of his wardrobe, and turned around to face her. Clearly, she didn't understand.
"Jenny, I can't-"he shrugged, not wanting to go into enough detail to finish the sentence. She gets the idea, and it pisses her off.
"You are so wrong, Dan Humphrey, if you think you're the only one this wedding is going to be awkward for. You have no idea! But we go. We go and we smile and we keep up appearances." Red cheeks start showing through her makeup. He decides not to tell her and hopes she doesn't walk past a mirror.
"We're from Brooklyn; we don't have appearances to keep up." He flashes her a grin, hoping to turn the conversation into a joke.
She gives him an icy stare, and pushes past him to grab his suit, neatly hanging at the end of the rail. "We've had appearances to keep up ever since we stepped foot on the Upper East Side." She shoves the hanger into his hands and storms of out his room, yelling "Hurry up or we'll be late!" behind her.
He's obviously not the only Humphrey to dread this event. It makes him wonder, though, what reason could his sister possibly have for not wanting to witness a happy ending.
He hands her the shimmery pale blue dress and she holds it up in front of her, cocking her head and sighing before turning to her brother. "What do you think of this one?"
Eric looks her up and down, though his answer is the same as it was for the past six dresses, "Serena, it looks great on you!" He says, feigning sincerity and trying to hide the impatience in his voice. "What doesn't look so great is the embarrassment on your face when we walk in half way through the ceremony."
She laughs, even if it wasn't that funny and turns around to the mirror again. "Okay, okay. I'll wear this one. Silver shoes, right?"
He raises an eyebrow, "You're asking me? Mom's just in the other room." He tosses a cushion at her playfully.
"Hey, you're a Van der Woodsen. You should know these things." She laughs, blocking the cushion from hitting her face then gesturing for him to turn around.
He obliges, gladly and remains silent. He can hear his mother's voices coming from the living room, although her words are muffled. And all the while, he can't help but think how right Serena was. The duties of a Van der Woodsen were many, as were the sacrifices.
It's been a long time since she last went to a wedding. Eight years to be exact. And even so, last time was different. It was her own, for one. Weddings were the perfect opportunity to do some social climbing, or falling. And for once, she wasn't sure if she was up to the challenge.
Her phone rings and after checking the caller ID, she makes sure the door to Serena's room is closed before answering.
"Hello." She answers, a smile curling her lips. She couldn't help it; it just always appeared when she heard his voice.
"I'm good, hoping to enjoy a lovely wedding later on today. That is, if Serena can find an outfit she's satisfied with." She laughs as he empathises. Of course, he must go through the same thing too.
"No he's not here, I'm meeting him at the church. He had to go to the office. As always."
Her face lights up, and she's thankful no one is there to witness it. It's been a long time since someone made her so giddy. "I should be free, I could call you after the reception?"
"I'll make something up. He'll probably be busy anyway."
The doorbell rings, and Lilly moves towards it. It was liberating, letting go of the maid. She wished she had done it sooner, though Bart still couldn't understand what had come over her.
"Hold on, someone's at the door."
She puts the hand over the receiver and she opens the door.
"Blair! How nice of you to come over. " She smiles widely, a perfected smile she has been practising for years.
Her guest nods, mirroring Lilly's smile. They are from the Upper East Side, after all. "Hi, Is Serena ready?"
She lets Blair in, but points to the telephone before quickly putting it to her ear.
"I have to go. I'll see you later. I l– me too." She hangs up quickly, a grin washing over her face before she replaces it with a more appropriate expression.
"I'm sorry; I interrupted your phone call."
She waves her hand, "Don't worry. It was just Bart."
Blair nods, and neither are quite sure how to continue. But then she remembers her struggling daughter, stuck in her bedroom with nothing to wear.
"She's in her room, not even close to being ready. Please, go help her!"
Blair makes her way to Serena's room. Lilly opens her phone again. 'Sorry, Blair came to help Serena get ready. I'll see you tonight. I'll make something up.' She typed into her phone and looked around cautiously before adding a 'love L' on the end and sending it to a much used number.
"Please don't tell me you're wearing that." A voice cried from the doorway.
They both recognised the voice straight away and Eric groaned loudly. "Oh God, no, no. We just decided on this!"
She turned to the mirror again; she had thought it was fine. Flattering, perfect for a wedding. Blair was just being picky. She was Blair, after all. She cocked her head, as if that gave her a new perspective, before turning to her friend. "What's wrong with it?"
Blair sighed with all the fashion wisdom and experience she had, and walked straight to Serena's wardrobe. "This isn't only a wedding. It's Nate Archibald's wedding. And you're going looking like Alice In Wonderland." She shot a look of disapproval over her shoulder causing Serena to look down at herself. She smoothed down the pale blue dress and sighed, before kicking off her heels.
Eric stood up immediately, obviously fed up with being the onlooker. "Fine, change again. But we're leaving in 10 minutes."
He closed the door behind him, and the girls looked at each other before giggling. Blair quickly returned to the task at hand, dressing her best friend and Serena sat on her bed, playing with her hair.
"Are you nervous?" She bit her lip as she watched her numerous dresses be tossed onto her bed.
Blair looked at her, "It's not whether we're nervous, it's whether we look nervous." She said, and picked up the dark green halter neck dress from the pile, "Oh, you are so wearing this!!" She tossed it into Serena's arms.
She looked at her with a smile on her face, "You are so Eleanor Waldorf's daughter!"
"You say that like it's a bad thing." Blair pushed Serena off the bed and sat down on her spot. She watched Serena say nothing as she stripped herself of the blue dress. But when the green dress was on, and Serena looked at her, asking for approval, she started laughing.
"I'll take that as a compliment?" Serena raised an eyebrow and twirled in front of Blair.
Blair stood up, handing Serena the gold heels and purse she had been holding. "We're gonna rock this wedding!"
Serena stared at her for saying something so uncharacteristic. She obviously had changed, as she had been proving to Serena for the past couple of weeks. Maybe you didn't have to leave the Upper East Side to actually lose it.
Hope you enjoyed chapter three. I'll go get started on the next one :)
Please tell me what you think!! xoxo