A/N: Thanks for the reviews! I love getting them so by all means, continue giving them. ;)

By the way, I'm someone who'd rather write eight long chapters instead of twenty short ones like I've done in the past and whill do with this story too. This chapter will probably be my longest one as it is 7000+ words; just saying this as a warning, in case you guys you can't concentrate long (joking!).

Anyway, enjoy it!

4. Keeping up Appearances

The sunlight broke through all the cracks, slits and windows of the Humphrey house, lighting up the dust, which almost made it seem like the room was sparkling. Dan furrowed his brows and scrunched his nose, not appreciative at all of the simple beauty of morning. He let out a single yet long yawn as he stretched his arms, upon which he heard a complaining sound beneath him.

Blair.

They had been sleeping together for about a week and a half now. When their parents were too busy finding their rebellious child or trying to reach a deadline, they'd also sleep in each other's bed. Dan looked down at her and pushed a lock of hair out of her face.

Their relationship was dysfunctional at best and unhealthy at worst. Hate, envy and lust are what he felt for her. She knew the latter emotion was the sole reason he let her stay in his house, sleep in his bed and insult him. She was the opposite of Serena, and so he treated her as such. Blair, too, didn't quite see a Chuck or even Nate in him. He didn't or couldn't play mind games and on top of that, she didn't love him. She was using him, just like she knew he was using her.

He placed a kiss on the side of her neck and scooted a little closer before continuing to shower her nape with kisses until he stopped where he knew it'd affect her most. He watched as she slightly opened her mouth in pleasure yet forcing herself not to make a noise. The one thing Blair Waldorf hadn't held into account when she had made her deal was that she'd be having sex with Dan Humphrey. The feelings of disdain she bore for him had not faded and so she consciously punished him for being who he was sometimes by not acknowledging the sensations he gave her body.

Dan abruptly turned her around so that she lay flat on her back and trapped her underneath him. Blair gasped and furrowed her brows at him. He didn't care but just covered her mouth with his. He kissed her hard and thoroughly, with a confidence that surprised Blair a week ago, but didn't anymore now. When he stopped and looked in her eyes almost challenging her, she pulled his lips back against hers roughly and bit his lip harder than was needed to gain entrance to his mouth. He disconnected their mouths, touching his lip and looked shocked at the drop of blood on his finger. Blair just stared up at him with an almost menacing glance in her eyes.

Dan knew why she did it. He treated her less than tenderly, both emotionally and sexually. Sometimes, out of nowhere he'd sneak in a bite as he kissed her neck, just to have her scream and she couldn't count the times she had been slammed up against a wall this week on one hand anymore. The anger and contempt in her eyes after would make him look down self-consciously in real life but not when they were in a position like this.

She was even worse. Chuck had once told Blair that if she wanted it rough, all she had to do was ask. Sex with Chuck was amazing, mind-blowing, and ravaging but despite his dominance in bed he still had never… bitten her. In return, she had never oh-so considerately dug her nails deeply in his back before letting them run down 'till it had scratches everywhere and even some drops of blood like now.

Monday Dan's back looked attacked by a wild cat. Wednesday Blair had to wear five extra layers of Dior foundation and a turtleneck. Thursday her back ached from them doing it against a wall.

The struggle to be in control with Chuck was different from the one she had with Dan. At the end of the day, Chuck and Blair got each other and their world. Dan and Blair still didn't and it was as if each time they had sex or argued where to have sex, they were trying to convince each other of something. Other times they were trying to make the other feel weak: they had quickly discovered each other's sensitive spots and weren't hesitant to use them when the time called for it.

Dan narrowed his eyes to splits and crawled off her, but only to take her underwear and his own off. Moving so that he was right between her legs, he covered her mouth with his again. Connecting their bodies swiftly, Blair tore her lips away from his. Her head fell back as she gasped at the second of pain, which was quickly replaced by the surprising, unique and intense sensation having sex with him never ceased to be. It was a clash of two completely different environments and personalities and at this moment still the only reason they tolerated each other's presence.

"Dan…" Blair whined. She would never say 'kiss me' though it was something that went hand in hand with sex for her, she wanted it and luckily for her, Dan knew exactly what she wanted just from the way she'd say his name. He bowed over and pressed his lips to hers.

"Dan?" suddenly came a voice from the living room.

They froze and gazed to the direction of the door.

"Vanessa!" Blair breathed displeased. "What is she doing here? You and your stupid troll friends."

Dan rolled off her. "This is not good… Huh, hide, under the bed!" he whispered, yet firmly. "Quickly."

"I'm-"

"You're hiding under the bed! Now."

"I'm naked, you dumbass!"

"Goooooooo!"

"Dan, hello?"

Her head peeked out from behind the corner. "Oh, my God!" She immediately looked away as she saw him standing naked, with rosy cheeks.

"I wasn't expecting you!"

"Damn, Dan!" she cried disgusted. "I thought you could use some company with your dad hardly being home and Jenny… You know. But obviously you have enough pleasure… Pleasuring yourself. Just… Ew. Ew, ew, ew, ewwwww."

"I was not…" He put on boxers and a shirt and stepped into the living room.

Vanessa hardly dared to look at him. "Gross," she let out.

"Vanessa!"

"No, Dan, see you tomorrow. Because I won't be able to look at you without …Huh…" She waved her hands up and down a couple of times in a fast tempo, as if that'd quickly wipe what she had just seen away. "Bye."

Blair crawled from under the bed and rolled her eyes.

"Talk about a mood killer."

x

There'd had been no possibility of relaxing today. Not only did his father ring him twice with the message that he may be on to Jenny for real this time, but Dan had also been forced to replace Allen in the Hamlet play Constance would perform as he was out with mono. He had begged not to have to do it, but in vain: his English teacher had more or less forced him too, saying that the only way to know Shakespeare even better than he already does, is actually playing one of his characters and getting in the psyche fully. His only solace was that the female lead was Julie Senden, a pretty redhead.

Right now though, he was letting all the worries the day brings with, off him as he let his bath run full off water. Lately he had subconsciously started to develop a habit of taking long baths, sometimes he over an hour because the bathroom seemed the only place he had peace. It was the one place where he didn't constantly have to wonder if Jenny was OK and how things would go in his future.

He had just taken his clothes off and was ready to put his foot in the water when he heard an impatient knocking. Great, he thought. Deeply sighing, he wrapped a towel around his body and walked to the door. Opening it, a nervous Blair appeared.

"Why are you naked?" she asked confused.

"It might come as a surprise to you, but sometimes people bathe."

"Whatever," she ignored him. "I'm in a crisis."

"Blair… An "I'll-die-in-less-than-24-hours", a "Dan-one-more-sex-mark-and-I'll-mark-your-date-of-death", or an "oh-no-I-broke-my-nail one"? If it's one of the two latter or both, I don't want to hear it."

"It's serious!" she cried. "My mother has a new boyfriend! Cyrus; he's above and beyond ugly, and short like one of the Seven Dwarfs. I hate him!"

"OK…" Dan paused. "That's classified under 'oh-no-I-broke-my-nail'."

"B-"

"I'll be in the bath. And you'll be a good girl and go to Sylar."

"Cyrus."

"Whatever!"

"I'm not going; I need to talk about it."

"BLAIR…." He groaned loudly. "You have to become friends with Serena again. I… can't take it anymore. You said just sex but you've been yapping to me non-stop for the past week," he said sternly. "Enough is enough!"

With that he stepped back into the bathroom, closed the door and finally went to sit in the tub. He added some hot water and then began reading his book.

"Humphrey!" sounded Blair's displeased voice. "How dare you? I'm basically a slave for you." She knocked his door. "Do you hear me? I've had more sex this week than I've ever had in my life and you can't listen to my problems for five minutes?"

"GO AWAY." He looked to the ceiling and whispered: "I'm begging you, God-"

She opened his door and undressed herself.

"What are you doing?"

"This is the only way I can obviously get your attention."

He started mumbling in himself annoyed. Sex with her was great, if not to say the best he ever had, but she was very demanding. In every possible way. She was not by any means following the rules she had set herself. Every little thing that happened in her life and what she'd normally tell Serena was now something she felt he needed to know, from Hazel's bad haircut to this new development in her mother's love life.

"What are you saying there?" Blair asked with her hands in her sides, looking down at him.

"Nothing Blair; I was just thinking how any link between your and my reality and-or logic is completely coincidental."

"Glad we agree on something," she said snottily. "Now move."

"But …"

"Dan!"

He put himself a little straighter and she went to sit in front of him. When they were in a comfortable position she handed him the shampoo. "Wash my hair."

"Can't you do it yourself?"

"No, I can hardly move," she complained rolling her eyes and wiggling ostensibly. "This thing is like a bucket compared to what I have at home."

Dan stared into nothing for a second, in disbelief. She leaned her head back and looked up at him. "Earth to Humphrey!"

Still speechless, he took the hard-plastic cup standing at the side of the tub and poured it over her head. Blair looked back in front of her pleased. "So like I said, his name is Cyrus.".

"Yes, tell me what he has done to poor, helpless Blair Waldorf. Maybe the dwarf has… come on to Snow White?"

"Ew….Humphrey, gross!" She looked up at him once more, her eyes betraying shock and disgust at the suggestion that her mother's ugly tiny boyfriend had laid a hand on her. "No, it's b-"

"No shallow reasons," he ordered staring down in her eyes. "Because I won't listen."

She sighed and looked back in front of her. "He's nothing like my dad," she then revealed the real reason of her disapproving attitude towards him.

He took a bit of Jenny's rose-scented shampoo and rubbed it in her hair, looking concentrated while doing so. He hadn't had to wash another person's hair before and if he ever had, it was when he and Jenny still took baths together when she was two and he four.

"… and I miss my dad." She paused. "Do you miss your mom?"

"Huh… Yeah." He nodded. "But we don't really bother to see each other anymore, you know? I'd feel like I was being disloyal to my dad if I did go to visit her; it just wouldn't feel right."

"Because she cheated?"

"Yes…She… Uhm… What she did represents the end of an era. Jenny… Well and me…I didn't always used to be so judgmental."

"Oh, please. You probably gave people a judging stare as a baby when they didn't hold you right."

"OK, so I have always been like that," he admitted. "But it was never paired with such disappointment."

"Disappointment? In people?"

"Yeah."

"…My dad cheated on my mom too."

"You hate him for it?"

"No," she said quickly. "He couldn't help it, Dan. He's gay…" she chuckled bitterly. "You know, if he had cheated with a woman, it… I mean, that would've been OK. Sort of. You can recover from that, I think. But he fell in love with a man. What could she do?" She shrugged. "What could my mom possibly do about that? She had lost before there was even a battle."

"You mean you had lost before there was even a battle."

"That's not fair!" she protested. "I love my mother; I want her to be happy!"

"Well, chances are that despite being nothing like you or even your mom had imagined, Cyrus makes her happy." His voice sounded deep and soft and calmed her to the point that she considered the possibility that life with Cyrus might not be the hell she thought it would be. "What does your mom say about you always being here by the way?" Dan then asked her.

"Well, obviously I don't say I'm here," she responded glancing down. "She just thinks I'm having a lot of sleepovers with Serena."

"Speaking of Serena-"

"NO."

"YES."

"What about her then?"

"Make up with her. She misses you, she loves you and she isn't afraid to come out for that."

"Have you heard anything from Jenny yet?" she changed the subject, not in the mood to talk about her best friend.

"She wrote me a letter," he responded affected. "She made it clear she isn't planning on coming home." He paused. "I'm scared for her; I have such a bad feeling about all of this…" He felt a lump in his throat and closed his eyes, as if that would block out his concerns too.

But it didn't.

She was his baby sister, the one who had always been by his side. The one he stood in pictures with, clothed in a strawberry-stained shirt and underwear. She and his dad had always been the only constant factor in his life and now she was God-knows-where. Somewhere under a bridge, maybe in a squat. He felt guilty somewhere. He had seen her transformation; she had slowly changed from a glowing child into a troubled, depressed teenager and he hadn't thought twice with it. On top of that he had a strong suspicion she was doing cocaine, which only made him feel worse.

He softly pushed Blair's back, stood up and stepped out of the bath. After putting his boxers on, he walked straight to his room. Blair followed his example, dried herself quickly and put on underwear. She found him sitting on the rim of his bed and went to sit beside him.

"Are you OK?" she asked hesitantly. "I didn't mean to-"

"Of course," he said successfully keeping his emotions under control. "I always am." However, when he looked up, he couldn't keep eye contact longer than a couple seconds before feeling his emotions take the upper hand again.

She scanned his face and then opened her arms, ready to embrace him.

"No, Blair," he fended her off. "It's OK. You're not a hugger anyways."

She placed her hand on his arm and pushed it down before wrapping her arms around his neck. He bowed his head and curled his hand around her wrist. She kissed his black curls and leaned her head against his. There was a change in atmosphere but it wasn't caused by awkwardness. It was more so confusion, which they both blamed on not having much experience with no-strings-attached sex.

"I feel uncovered," he complained insecurely.

"That's because you kind of are."

"Emotionally, Blair," he replied.

"I know," she smiled. "Now you know how it feels."

Blair broke their embrace and pulled back. They locked eyes and he knew at once she was aiming at the day he found her in the toilets and slept at her place for the first time, thought not with her. "I… have bulimia." He just rested his stare on her, which made her feel like she shouldn't have mentioned it again. She inhaled nervously and looked away. "Huh… Forget I-"

But he softly grabbed her hand, reassuring her it was alright to talk about it if she was ready now. "Talk to me," he urged. "There will never be a reason for me to use it against you; I'd never have any profit with it."

"Why are you saying this?"

"Because I know that is what you're scared of."

She nodded. "OK then."

Then she talked about her mother, who had been giving her subtle remarks about not eating too much since she was six, about always feeling inferior to Serena and about how she was always let down by the people she cares about. Step by step he began to understand a bit better how Blair Waldorf was constructed. He had felt her wall crumble a bit earlier too, when she had been talking about her father but this conversation was even less casual. It wasn't about her relationship with someone; it was about her relationship with herself.

"You and Serena are incomparable," he said when the conversation steered to her best friend for the umpteenth time.

"Yes, like a donkey and a Ferrari are incomparable."

"No, like… J.D. Salinger and Emily Brontë are incomparable."

"I'd better be Brontë here."

"You are. Serena is more open-minded and out there. She looks for freedom."

"And I'm narrow-minded, introvert and conventional?" she asked insulted.

"I'd describe you more as an old soul."

"Well," she sighed. "It's hard to find a kindred one," she responded batting her eyes down. The fact that they had started out thinking so lowly of each other had oddly enough helped them to be so open around the other now. They had never tried to disguise themselves or played games with the thought that the person opposite them wasn't all that either but in fact socially or morally beneath them; the opinion of the other didn't matter. Now, Dan didn't think so lowly of Blair anymore and vice versa, but they had reserved the open attitude around each other.

"Yes," he agreed. "But when you will it'll be unique. And it won't be like Serena who considers every current boyfriend the One like you said," he said with hints of bitterness. "It'll be forever."

"I thought I'd have forever with Chuck." She raised her eyes to the ceiling. "I used to compare our relationship with the one of Cathy and Heathcliff in Wuthering Heights. But now I'm just tired, and hurt and I don't feel like our story was epic like Wuthering Heights. I feel like it was just a big farce." She paused. "Did you read that book?"

"Of course, it's a classic."

"And?"

"What, and?"

"What do you think about my comparison?"

"NO," Dan said firmly. "I mean, you guys have the tortured souls element down but that's it. What formed Heatchliff and Cathy's lives, is the difference in class. What made their relationship is that while they were so different, they were completely the same in the core, underneath all the shallowness and pressure of society."

"You only say that about social classes because you identify with that aspect," she replied a tad disappointed. "You're seeing it too technical."

"No, I see it like it is. If Heathcliff had been as rich as her, from the right parents, him and Cathy would've married and had a couple of children. There would be no deaths or abuse. Cathy and Heathcliff weren't afraid to love each other and let it show without shame… Though they should've been ashamed considering she was married." He paused. "You and Chuck hurt each other for no reason, couldn't commit to each other and are too proud to let your guard down for each other. It wouldn't work in such an epic story. Plus, Heathcliff never left Catherine to go to Tuscany on her own nor would he have tried to get over her by inviting a billion girls in his room. He would've never done any of that; he would've taken every slim opportunity to be with her despite knowing her mere presence could kill him."

"Dan!"

"What?"

"You're stomping all over my fantasy world."

"It's your own fault. You don't say to someone who has read every book, every story considered great and epic he could lay his hands on since he was six that… whatever you and Chuck had going on can compare to Wuthering Heights. If you're talking about a donkey-Ferrari comparison, Blair, well that's one."

Her face hardened. "You're saying the most intense experience I've ever had with love is …a donkey?"

He simply shrugged. "I never understood your relationship with Chuck. If you're deeply in love with someone and dream about being with that person you just forget yourself and your insecurities. Doesn't matter which kind of personality you have. When it feels right I don't think anything else matters. In my eyes, true love is selfless." He looked in her eyes. "You guys weren't."

"You and Serena aren't all that epic either! She might be your first love-"

"I agree," he nodded. "First love is only a little foolishness and a lot of curiosity."

"What?"

"Shaw," he responded.

"Quoting writers to prove your point is so lame."

"No lamer than trying to shape a real life situation after the ones in books and films," he pointed out. "And literature helps me. I use it to get over my… hurt. You, on the other hand, use it to keep hanging on to things that won't ever return to the way they were, like the time before Chuck didn't meet you to go to Tuscany."

She looked down, hit with the frustrating feeling that Dan Humphrey was one-hundred per cent right. "… I hate you!"

For a moment, there was complete silence until Blair looked up at him tearing up. It was his fault, he knew that, but he wasn't going to apologize for speaking the truth. Not when she wouldn't veil things for him either. "I think I'm going to sleep," he announced casually. Blair watched as he crawled under his sheet. Before she could ask if she could stay, he raised the sheet and tilted his head. "Come here."

"It's cold," she pouted as she curled her body in fetal position. "How come you are always so warm?" she complained. Dan looked down into her demanding brown eyes and pulled her closer. After laying herself against him in the most comfortable position, she nuzzled her face into his neck. "You're like a furnace."

Dan reached behind him, turning off the light. "So no sex today, I suppose?"

"I'm not in a sexy mood after you maimed my epic love story."

"If you had no hope you'd be jumping out of my window as we speak."

"I'd rather bug the living shit out of you until you jump out of your window."

He smiled and closed his eyes. "Goodnight, Waldorf."

"Goodnight, Humphrey"

X

The weather was awfully depressing. It had just rained and New York was still covered by a grayness, which was only broken by Blair Waldorf's cherry-red coat. Closing her umbrella, she walked over the street, surrounded by her usual proud bearing.

"Serena just texted me."

Blair glanced over her shoulder to see Dan walking right behind her and immediately lost some of her pride and confidence. "Humphrey, not so close, we're in public!" She turned her head from side to side, making sure there was nobody she knew around. "We're already lucky we're not on Gossip Girl yet. Let's please keep it that way."

"Come here then," he responded and pulled a reluctant Blair in an alley.

"Yes, I made up with Serena!" she admitted aggravated. So what?"

"You made up with her because I told you so."

Her face deformed in disgust. "As if."

"No, you did," he pertained. "You care about what I have to say."

"In your dreams."

"In reality!"

"You're annoying me." Suddenly Blair heard the voices of her minions, which made her eyes pop in panic. "Oh no!" she cried. "We got to hide!" She looked around her nervously and noticed that if she'd start running now, she'd be caught no matter what. "But we can't!"

Thinking quickly, Dan pushed her against the wall so that he covered her body and kissed her so that nobody could see her face. The shadow in the alley did the rest and the minions only briefly paused to say how tacky it was to make out in such a dark, smelly little street and then haughtily walked further.

"They're gone."

Blair just grabbed his head and pulled his lips to hers again.

"OK…" Dan began five minutes later, completely breathless. "Now we really should go to school."

She broke away and fumbled with his tie. "We're still on for tonight?"

"Sure."

They locked eyes and smiled. He loathed what she stood for, she despised his lifestyle but in a twisted way they had come to need each other.

"I'll rent Gangs of New York for you," he offered.

"Ew."

"What?" he asked confused. "I thought you liked DiCaprio."

"He's dirty and unwashed there."

"The Aviator?"

"I saw that one already. It's the one where he collects his pee."

"Is that all you remembered from such a good movie?"

She rolled her eyes. "I can hear the judgment in your voice."

"You deserve it for being so shallow."

"-"

"I'll rent The Departed," he gave in to her desire of seeing a clean DiCaprio. "And no 'buts' on this one. I haven't seen it yet and I love Scorcese."

"Is-"

"Yes, he plays an undercover agent there. Those are usually washed. Unless it is to annoy Blair Waldorf of course."

"What's it about?" she then asked mildly interested.

"Love," he lied.

"Wuthering Heights love?"

"No, but I'm sure you can twist it until it is."

"Oh, shut up," she rolled her eyes. "And come here, you've got lipstick all over your face." She lifted her hand and brushed her thumb around his lip as he gazed down at her almost estimating her with his eyes. Suddenly she looked up at him seriously. "By the way, I do not want you to walk around school in your Hamlet costume."

He looked away, raising his eyes to the sky. "And why not?"

"Because the girls always laugh at you then and say they don't understand how you ever got Serena," she explained riled up. "And then I get all red and embarrassed because you do look completely ridiculous in it and unlike them, I'm sleeping with you."

Dan stared down at her incredulously.

"Well?" Blair asked in a demanding tone.

"Oh, Ophelia!" He slipped his arm around her waist so tightly she had to arch her back. He then threw her even further over his arm and kissed her neck.

"Let me go, Humphrey!" she cried but couldn't suppress a smile.

"Are you honest?"

"Dan!!!"

"Are you fair?"

"You're crazy!" she squealed.

"Close," he responded. "But it should've been 'What means your lordship?'."

"You're silly." She pushed him away and tried to unsuccessfully wipe her grin off her face. "I just hope we can conclude out of all of this you won't be wearing your costume again anywhere but on stage or in the locker room."

"That's what you concluded. Remember I've been an outsider since I was a kid; I stopped caring about public opinion a while ago. I'll continue wearing that costume. Not a million little dominatrices like you could stop me from that."

"We shall see about that," she answered.

"We will."

"Don't try to battle me, Cabbage Patch," she said in a derogatory tone. "It'll end badly."

He drove her against the wall again and smiled almost invisibly. "Yeah, what you gonna do?" he asked provoking. "Kiss me?"

Blair looked at him in shock; he didn't seem the slightest bit rattled by her threats like he used to be a couple of months ago. "Oh, my God, I'm rubbing off on you." Suddenly she realized that it indeed was the same the other way around. Like Dan had said: she had made up with Serena was because he had talked her into it. She frowned confused and suddenly felt a bit trapped. "I'm going to school," she announced as she pushed his arm away and ran out of the alley, leaving him there alone.

When she finally arrived, she went straight to her locker to get her English books. "I heard you and Serena have made up," Blair heard from behind her at once. With all the energy running through her veins at the moment, she almost had a heart attack at the sudden voice.

"Chuck," she breathed out before quickly composing herself. "Indeed," she continued in a calmer tone. "Serena is like a sister. Can't live with her, can't live without her."

He raised an eyebrow. "Right." He leaned against the locker next to hers. "Now that you've gotten over your issues maybe I can persuade you to come get a drink with me?"

"Huh… I can't tonight. Maybe tomorrow," she answered hastily.

Chuck ran his eyes over Blair and furrowed his brows. Something was going on with her, he could feel it in every fiber of his being. "What's the matter with you? You're nervous, sweaty and your hair looks like a mess. You're looking like a Brooklyner."

She gasped appalled. "The chances of you and me having a drink just decreased immensely!" With that she turned around and walked into the English classroom, where she seated herself next to Serena.

In front sat a girl none of them had seen before. She wasn't a girl you'd like twice at walking down the street but she had beautiful red hair, kind brown eyes and a sweet smile. "Who is she?" Blair asked.

"Emma Patrick," Serena answered. "You know, brilliant author, only nineteen years old but already has a best seller under her belt?"

"Hm…And she is here, why?"

Serena shrugged. "I guess Mr. Wood thought it'd be interesting to have her over. Either way it's better than a normal lesson. I'm all for it!"

"She seems like a total geek." She shortly gazed at her hands. "Like Humphrey."

Serena glanced at Dan, who looked at Emma like she was the Messiah. "Maybe that's why he seems to like her already."

Blair looked over at him and clenched her jaw, the sight before her eyes displeasing her. "Do you have a problem with it?" she asked Serena at once. "I could punish him."

"No, Blair, it's OK," she reassured her. "I'll always have a soft spot for Dan but I'd never go there again, even not now me and Aaron are broken up. I mean, yeah, I can look back on our time together with a smile but that's it. We don't have a future together."

She looked at Serena annoyed. "No punishment then."

Serena shook her head, cracking a smile in the process. "Let's just listen to her now, alright? Crazy girl."

Emma started talking about her career up until now and it initially took her some time to find the writing style she was comfortable with. When at a certain point she asked if anyone in the class was a writer, the room remained eerily quiet.

"Dan is a writer!" Serena blurted out. "He even had some of his poems published in the New Yorker."

Dan turned around giving her a death glare. Serena just grinned at him while giving a little shrug.

"You're Dan?" Emma asked him.

"Y-Yes. But my work isn't that good," he blushed. "I still need to evolve a lot as a writer."

"He's being modest, Ms. Patrick," the teacher now butted in. "He's the most talented student in my class."

Emma nodded. "And do you write anything aside from poems?"

"What is this?" sounded out of nowhere. "The Dan Humphrey show?"

"Ms. Waldorf!"

"I'm sorry, Mr. Woods but I don't think anyone is even a tiny bit interested in lame Dan Humphrey's lame stories. He hasn't even gotten accepted into Yale yet because he preferred hooking up with random girls during the summer to actually concentrating on his… work."

"B!" Serena hissed. "What the hell are you doing?"

Dan looked over his shoulder feeling not only embarrassed but also taken aback. He thought they had started to come on the same wavelength lately but obviously he had been severely mistaken. Mr. Woods shifted his eyes nervously a couple of times. "From what I've heard from Dan himself that behavior is in the past now, and even if it wasn't, it should not be discussed in class. I suggest you remain quiet until the end of the lesson, Ms. Waldorf or you will feel the consequences of your… huh… lack of control." He took a deep breath. "Now go on, Dan, answer Ms. Patrick's question."

"Short stories," Dan answered, avoiding looking at Chuck, who rolled his eyes.

"Who's your favorite author?"

"Edgar Allen Poe, probably."

"Dark."

"That's me," he replied.

"Never thought about writing a novel yourself?"

"Thought about it? Yes, sure. Actually started writing one? No. It's a step-"

"That's hard to make," she finished his sentence. "I understand. I was like that too."

"You were?" he asked surprised.

Blair raised her hand. "Mr. Wood, this is boring."

"And you seem like a self-centered little nag," Emma attacked Blair, the girl's eyes betraying an intriguing fire. "So I'm boring? What I say is boring to you? I'm only a year older and have accomplished a lot more than other people my age and probably more than you will have next year when you are nineteen."

"And what exactly have you accomplished?" she asked with a less than genuine smile. "Aside from being an arrogant cow then."

"Shut up!" the teacher cried, before quickly biting his tongue. "I apologize for that choice of words. But Ms. Waldorf, you shall be quiet. I'm not used to these kinds of outbursts from you and I won't tolerate them either. Continue like this and you will see it on your rapport card. Is that understood?"

Blair leaned back in her seat looking at Mr. Wood like he was doing her terrible injustice. Her stare even made the poor man sweaty.

Emma in the meanwhile looked back at Dan. To be honest, she didn't really care about whether or not he had talent. She didn't know, but what she did know is that he was extremely good-looking. "If you want, I could read your work sometimes," she smiled.

"Is 'read your work' now the same as 'get it on with you'?" Brandon asked in a loud and obnoxious voice.

"To the PRINCIPAL," Mr. Wood cried immediately following, upon which Brandon reluctantly stood up and left the classroom.

Serena laughed at Dan's beet-red head but Blair looked like she had just bitten in a lemon. "It's not funny," she said sternly. "The world doesn't revolve around him."

"Blair, you seriously have to chill," she answered. "Don't act like you don't know that his work would be brought up with a published author only a year older than us. He's most likely to follow in her footsteps sooner or later."

Blair looked away aggravated and heaved a sigh.

The rest of the lesson went on without too many interruptions. However, as they heard the bell sign and further all started leaving the classroom, Brandon was proved right: just as Dan was about to step through the door, Emma slipped him a piece of paper. He threw it a quick glance and saw it was her card. Looking back up, she winked at him. "Call me when you worked out your issues with that girl."

His jaw dropped. "Wh-What?"

"Isn't there something g-"

"How do you know?"

"I had something similar going on in high school, with a football player."

He shook his head in disbelief. "And huh… What happened?"

"Well, he was smoking hot, but not very smart or anything so I got bored and dumped him."

"Oh." He looked at her for another second. "Anyway, I have to go," he said tilting his head towards the door. "Hamlet repetitions… Bye."

"See you later."

x

'Oh, no," he let out as he saw Blair in the door opening but she was too quick an slipped inside. "What are you doing here?" The cold look in his eyes sent shivers down her spine.

"What did you think? That I was going to be nice to you?"

"For Christ's sake, Blair, nobody is asking you to be nice. All I ask is a little decency from you. You had absolutely no reason to embarrass me in front of everyone like that!"

"She was coming on to you, I was just looking out for Serena!" she lied. She didn't know why she had freaked out over the attention given to him so much but it was too odd for it to ruin their twisted little thing.

"LIAR," he yelled.

"Don't scream at me like that!"

"I was being too friendly with her, and you didn't like it. And you know why?"

"-"

"I do," he cut her off. "You see me as yours even though you claim you hate my guts. It all has to be about you and everyone stepping into your world has to be under your control: Serena, Jenny, Chuck…You're a possessive bitch and you drive everyone crazy."

"Take that back!"

He walked over to her and moved his face less than an inch away from her. "You …are a lunatic." Further he turned around. "We've done nothing but abused each other since we started our deal up. It's time to end it."

"Fine!" she yelled to his back. "Being with you, even merely in your presence, made me feel ashamed about myself anyway, you rat. You're poor and unworthy."

He walked back to her, caught one of her wrists easily and pushed her against a wall, holding her wrist above her head. "You know why you're ashamed Blair?"

"Let me go," she deadpanned.

"You've opened up to me." He narrowed his eyes to splits. "And how imperfect am I?" She didn't answer but just stared up at him confused. "You never thought a guy like me could be of use to a girl like you and now that that has happened, what should you do? You've broken with your own standards." He finally let her go and she rubbed her wrist. "Now you'll have to live with that. But without me."

He turned his back at her.

"I did!" she yelled tearing up. "I opened up to you and I told you everything about myself. Well, is it not good enough?"

"What?"

"Why do you need her for? Am I not good enough?"

She began to cry and Dan approached her yet again, completely rattled as he cupped her head with both hands. "You're so confusing," he told her. "I thought you wanted this. Sex with no strings attached. I mean, I'm here for you like I guess a friend would be but if you forbid me to see other girls, where does this end? It'll lead to something we both never wanted."

She stared down clueless, feeling like an abandoned, wounded little bird. Dan sighed and wrapped his arm around her, closing the distance between them. "It's OK… I wasn't going to call her anyway, she's not my type," he said, both knowing that if Dan even had a type, it'd be Emma Patrick.

She pulled back, cupped his cheek and kissed him just once.

What had happened yesterday between them had pushed them both on a slippery slope filled with holes and treacherous turns, one that should be tread upon with great carefulness, something that they just had failed to do.

Dan's brain was hurting merely thinking about the situation him and Blair had gotten themselves into. When suddenly his cell phone rang he was almost relieved by the distraction. He quickly took his phone out of his pocket. "Hello?"

"We found Jenny," sounded at the other end of the line.

"You… You did?"

"But… I…She's in the hospital, she took an overdose," he responded with a lump in his throat. "She was unconscious when I found her and she still is. They're trying to find out how long she was in that state right now. I want you-"

Dan heard his father beginning to cry. "Sure, I'm coming right away."

"-"

"Dad…She's going to be OK, I can feel it." With that he hung up. "It's Jenny," he told Blair. "He found her but it's not looking good." He quickly grabbed his coat.

"I'm coming with you," Blair said.

He shortly looked over his shoulder, not knowing what to say but then shook his head. It didn't matter if she'd come or not, all that mattered now was his sister. "OK, OK… Let's just go."

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