"I should have known you would be here" Chuck said, as he came over. "did Nate, by any chance, tell you we'd be here?" Dylan asked. "as a matter of fact, he did. Earlier this morning. But, information, and sheer loathing aside, this is a party, or more like an event" Chuck got a glass of champagne. "if you'll excuse me, I think I'll go get myself something, cheers" he spotted a girl, then followed her. "hey, Jenny, thanks for the dress, again" Dylan said. "oh, no problem. You're like my very own Barbie doll now" Jenny said. "me? I thought Serena would be a Barbie doll" Dylan laughed. "no, no, trust me. You'd make a way better Barbie doll than I am" Serena laughed as well. "hey, guys, ready for the Hamptons tomorrow?" she said. "oh yeah, I think I've packed enough already. Still need to do some shopping though when I get there tomorrow. Haven't brought enough clothes with me when I arrived here yesterday" Dylan said. "cool! I'll come with you. I'm in dire need of a girl shopping buddy aside from my boyfriend over here" Serena's eyes lit up. "yes, please, take her" Dan said. "did I miss anything?" Nate suddenly appeared. "a little, but I doubt you'd want to hear about it" Jenny said, then going around to the crowd. "try me" Nate grinned. "we're going shopping" Dylan looked at him. "oh, please, I am not in the mood to hear any more about that" Nate covered his ears, while Dan laughed.
Chuck sat in the bar, looking at the crowd partying, disgusted. "lack of potential. Although, with you, I'd make an exception" he stroked the cheek of the female bartender standing in front of him. "hey, Chuck, enjoying the party so far?" Dan appeared at the bar, then ordering a drink. "does it look like I'm enjoying?" Chuck looked at Dan. "sorry I asked" Dan said. Chuck groaned by himself, then finished his drink. He then looked at Dylan, Nate, and Serena, all whom were laughing and talking in the corner, each holding drinks. He began to stare at them, especially Dylan, looking her up and down. He shrugged as he remembered what happened on the day they first met. "she has her eye on that guy in the coffee shop across the street from their house" Chuck suddenly said. Dan raised an eyebrow in confusion. "excuse me?" he said. "Dylan. She's had her sights set on this coffee shop guy. I'm wondering what's her type" he said. "this is a first. Chuck Bass, wondering what kind of guy does Nate's friend like" Dan said. "and I'm emphasizing on Nate's friend" Dan said. "don't push it" Chuck said. "and besides, I remember telling her, by the time this summer ends, she's be all over me" he said. He cast a look at Dan. "why am I telling you this? Ugh, excuse me. All this opening up is getting a little excruciatingly painful" Chuck said, leaving. "suit yourself" Dan said, drinking.
"Chuck, you're here. I thought you don't want to come to these things" Nate said, as Chuck appeared. "this can be an exception" Chuck said, then looking at Dylan. "oh, hi again, Chuck" Dylan said. "hello, mademoiselle" Chuck said. "same to you, monsieur" Dylan said. "can I talk to you in private?" he whispered in her ear. "why? what's there to talk about?" Dylan said. "is there a problem or something?" Serena noticed them. "nothing. There is no problem" Dylan said. "excuse me, I need to have a word with Dylan here" Chuck said, pulling her to the corner. "okay, okay, fine" Dylan trailed after him.
They went to one corner, and Dylan crossed her arms. "what do you see in the guy in the coffee shop?" he asked. "what? how do you know about Julian?" Dylan raised an eyebrow. "I know some people" he said. "so, you do like the guy" he looked at her. "why do you care? He's cute, and for your information, it's none of your business" Dylan said. "actually, I think it is my business. You see, that guy, Julian Mercer, is not really the guy you think he would be" he said. "so it seems. Actually, I got a message from him. I'll meet him later tonight, at least it's before I leave" Dylan said. "not that you'd be so interested or anything" she added. "don't believe me, fine, go with him. I don't think Nate would actually notice, since this is a party, and you can sneak out like a ghost" he said, taking a step forward. "alright, you can bet on it" and Dylan left the place.
She walked back to the house and crossed the street, and saw Julian, leaning on the streetlight. "hi, Dylan" he said. "hey" Dylan smiled. "you want to come inside for some coffee" he said. "sure" and they went inside. "table for two, please" he said to the waitress, and she led them to a table in the corner. "thanks, for agreeing to this meeting" he said. "it was a pleasure. I would've known our little eye contact across the street was going to turn out to be like a date" Dylan smiled. "of course. It's my pleasure to go out with a Von Furstenburg" he said. "no, no, the pleasure is all mine. And besides, it's nice to go out with a New Yorker, apart from the guys back home" she said. "home? In Paris, right?" he said. Dylan looked at him weirdly. "how did you know? I didn't even tell you" she said. "I have eyes and ears" he said. 'okay, this is getting out of hand' she suddenly thought. "how was it like back there? given your past history of partying all night long in those nightclubs?" he continued, giving her a look. "what?" she said. "and the fact that you were a slut back home?" he said. Dylan stood up all of a sudden. "excuse me" she said, rushing through the crowd to get out. "hey! Hey!" Julian followed her out onto the street. "you can't run away from what happened back there!" he said, as Dylan was across the street already. "I know where you live in Paris, whore!" he shouted. "hey! Stay away from her" Chuck appeared all of a sudden. "stay out of this Bass" he glared at him. "she's my friend. Now, you can either stay away from her, or if not, I'm going to call the cops and charge you for sexual assault. You forget, I can find some evidence that you did" he said, coming up to him. Julian glared at him, and at Dylan, who was fuming, then walked away. He turned around, and came up to her. "let's go back to the party. There's an open bar, free-flowing drinks, and, of course, all of the people we know" he said.
"hey, you're here, I've been looking all over for you" Nate said, as Chuck and Dylan arrived. "you better bring her home" Chuck said. Dylan still didn't say anything. "are you okay?" he asked her. "me? I'm fine. I just-I just want to go to the bar, and get myself drunk, if that's okay with you" she said. "okay, okay, tell me everything over there. Thanks for bringing her back, Chuck" he said, following Dylan to the bar.
She leaned on the bar, her martini beside her. "what happened back there? did Chuck do anything to you?" Nate asked. "no, he didn't. Something did happen to me, and fortunately, he was there and stopped it all" she said. "what? what happened?" he said. "can, you please take me away from here now? I'll tell you about it later" she got down from the barstool. "okay, come on, come on, let's go home, let's go home" he said. As they passed by Chuck, Dan, and Serena, they left abruptly. "what's going on with Dylan and Nate?" Serena asked Chuck. "something happened, good thing I was there to stop her. Look, I have to take off too. Always a pleasure" Chuck said, then left the place. "what's up all of a sudden?" Dan said, confused. "Dylan looked pretty upset, and shaken all of a sudden" Serena looked at him. "at least Nate's there. He's her best friend" Dan assured her.
They got back to the house, and Dylan slumped on the couch. "you remember Julian, right?" she said. "yeah" Nate sat beside her. "well, I guess you don't really know the whole thing about me all these 12 years in Paris. He suddenly knew me. My personal life, everything. He knew about the guys I went out with. He called me a whore." She said. "wow, your own stalker" he said. "and I just rushed out of there, and Chuck came out of nowhere, and stood up to him" she said. "wow again, good thing Chuck was there" Nate said, a little relieved. "I just got all upset. I wanted to leave all that behind when I got back here" she said. 'whoa, didn't Serena go through the same thing, well, not so much the same' he suddenly thought. "hey, you okay now?" he said. "I'm fine. Talking about it to you made it better, you know. Thanks a lot" she hugged him, then went upstairs. "goodnight" she said, stopping. "goodnight" he said.