Emily Elizabeth Humphrey, the child heiress to the massive Rhodes/van der Woodsen fortune and the spoiled only child of teenage sweethearts Serena van der Woodsen and Dan Humphrey, promised, until she was blue in the face, to her mother that she had tried to be nice to her father's girlfriend; that she had gone into his apartment at the beginning of that weekend with the intentions of befriending Olivia Burke.
Dan looked up and offered a small, comforting smile to Olivia as he stood, leaning against the archway that led into the kitchen; the smells of an aromatic dinner wafting through the large home behind him, as she sat on the couch opposite Emily.
The two blonde girls had been staring at each other all afternoon, since Emily had walked through the front door clinging to her father's hand like she had done when she was five years old and starting pre-school again, anxious about the unknown.
While the elder of the two had attempted to play nice, making an effort to get to know the smaller one; Emily had just evaluated her silently, mentally comparing the actress to her much more beautiful and sophisticated mother.
"What sorts of music do you like Emily?" Olivia tried another conversation starter, she was beginning to run out of ideas; it was like this little girl was a mute.
"All sorts." Emily offered the closed reply, allowing for no further conversation. Olivia sighed, there was a limit to how long she could play the child's games, and stood up to join Dan in the kitchen.
"She's not usually like that." Dan offered as an explanation, wrapping one hand around Olivia's small waist, pulling her into him tightly; kissing her softly. "She'll come around."
The low indescribable sound that came from deep within Olivia's throat suggested that she thought otherwise, but she never vocalised it properly if she did.
Serena stared doubtfully at her daughter as she told her about the weekend, about how they had spent the day at Central Park, how they had gone to Grandad Rufus' art gallery, about how she had made every effort to be nice to Olivia, and if she hadn't come across that way then she couldn't be held to blame.
People always told Serena that her daughter was just a miniature version of herself, but the more she watched how her daughter would act, and how she would talk; the more she realised that she was going to have to limit the time she allowed her to spend at the Waldorf-Bass's.
"I spoke to your father last night Emily." Serena finally spoke, revealing that she knew her daughter's lies.
"Are you saying I'm lying?" Emily sounded shocked and hurt, and her innocent doe eyes widened. Yep, she had been definitely spending too much time around her Aunt Blair.
"I think you're saying what you want me to hear." Serena smiled at her daughter, pulling her up onto the couch next to her. How many times had she told her romantic daughter that she was not getting back together with her father? Serena had lost count, and she no longer bothered to keep reminding her of that, as her words were obviously falling on deaf ears.
"I don't want to like her." Emily finally grumbled, giving in to the silence in the room. "You never made me like any of your boyfriends." She pointed out fairly.
Serena laughed, leaning down to kiss her daughter's head, admitting defeat. "Fine." She mumbled into Emily's hair quietly. "You don't have to like Olivia."
G~G
After Serena managed to get the nine year old settled into bed for the night, to get a good night sleep before another week of school, she curled up in one of the armchairs in the living room, facing a window overlooking some of the best views Manhattan had to offer.
Her blackberry was in her hands, her crimson red manicured fingers brushing past the small buttons; brushing past the numbers for Dan's cell. She didn't like the fact that she now knew his cell phone number off by heart, after only months of communication. She didn't like that she had to spend so much time with the only man she had ever invested everything into.
She had days where she believed that this movie was just someone's idea of a cruel joke.
"Serena, what is it?" Dan sounded slightly annoyed once she finally dialled the number. She recognised that it was getting late and that he was either working, or with Olivia; but she didn't care.
"I'm not making Emily like Olivia. She doesn't have to like her if she doesn't want to."
"Se…" Dan went to speak, but she interrupted him again.
"I never once told her that she had to like anyone I was with; it's a little hypocritical if I expect her to do so for Olivia."
That stopped Dan; he had never really hidden his distaste for Serena's choice in men. There was some grumbling from his end of the line and then it went dead.
For years, from the first brief encounter until her mystery-clouded return from boarding school, I considered what it would be to know Serena van der Woodsen; not what the society pages in the paper told us about her, not what the mysterious Gossip Girl blasts speculated on, but what it would be like to know the real Serena van der Woodsen.
Despite the fact that it was closing in on ten p.m. on a Sunday night, and all the model heiress mother wanted was to curl up in bed, she was sitting at her desk looking over pages for the latest charity fundraiser she was involved with; reminiscent of her mother when Serena had been a teenager.
She often missed those days when she was a carefree teenager, when she was rebellious enough to take spontaneous trips to Europe because she felt like it, when she could skip classes to hang out on the Met steps or in Central Park with Blair.
She often resented the responsibility that her mother had thrust upon her when the elder van der Woodsen woman decided that it was time for Serena to become the society woman that she was; after her first divorce.
Serena had loved being a mother, giving all her time and attention and devotion to her little blonde haired angel; she had always declared that she would never turn into her mother.
The public perception of Serena van der Woodsen was that she led a charmed life, with the best of everything. She might have had the money, and the materialistic possessions but all she was, was a girl crying out for love.
G~G
Serena had purposefully kept her day plans from Emily as she dropped her off at school the next day, the little girl was still sensitive to anything to do with her dad, Olivia and the movie; and she didn't want her to deal with the trifecta.
She sat in the back of the limo that her mother insisted that she used, as the uniformed chauffeur navigated his way through Monday morning traffic, her sapphire eyes skimming the lines of the script that had been delivered by messenger over the weekend.
She had been invited to a sit down where the cast would read through the lines, to smooth out any last minute kinks before filming started next week.
Serena briefly wondered what would happen when the crew rolled into the quiet halls of Constance Billard, and broke the normalcy in her daughter's routine; what would happen when Olivia spent all day in the same school as her daughter. Every girl in the prestigious school who had a cell phone and internet access knew about Dan and Olivia's relationship, thanks to the ever present 'Gossip Girl'. Then she pushed it from her mind, she would be there to protect her daughter.
She went out with a complete stranger, who she knew nothing about, that night, to avoid facing the people she had hurt and left behind. She was always taking chances, giant leaps into the dark, and sometimes those leaps turned into something better.
"She doesn't know me. Nobody knows me. It's cool, it's fine." Max read from the script, and Serena silently noted that the best man for the job had won, as he spoke just like Dan had.
"Uhm, from last night, right? I'm sorry about that."
Everyone was sitting around a large table that was in one of the conference rooms in the movie studio that was financing the movie. Serena and Olivia were separated only by Dan, and as Olivia read, Serena noticed from the corner of her eye that Dan was smiling proudly at her.
"You remember me? She remembers me!"
Serena pushed her chair back, startling Dan as the actor's continued to read. She picked her bag up and quietly exited the room, with no one noticing except for the man who had been sitting next to her.
She was over Dan; she had been over Dan for seven long years.
But she was still walking away from the script; their story.
Thoughts? The story is really going to get moving now, so that means not too long (hopefully) before you all get the coupling you want. =D
Curiosity, does anyone want Dan/Olivia to last? Just wondering
Don't forget to review, 'cause you're all the best
Casey xXx