Chapter Five
Serena woke up to butterfly kisses from her shoulders up to her lips. She grabbed his face and gave him a huge kiss on the lips.
"Good morning my darling." His boyish grin played on his lips.
"Good morning my handsome man." She grinned back.
"I wish we could stay like this forever." His long muscular arms wrapped around her waist and their legs were tangled under the bed sheets.
"Me too, but we all have busy lives."
"Come on, let's get up and get ready for breakfast with your family." He winked. Serena groaned and got ready for breakfast and another day of work. She walked out of the bathroom ready to go and saw her man standing by the elevator door looking dashing. She walked towards him and wrapped her arms around his neck as he wrapped his arms around her slender waist.
"I love you, Serena."
"I love you too Nate."
Serena abruptly sat up from her bed in shock. She just had a dream about Nate, or was it a nightmare?
"Serena, are you alright?" She turned her head with a shocked face to see Oliver looking worried and felt his hand caressing her back. She gulped and nodded.
"I'm fine. Just a weird dream." Serena said. She got up and got dressed for an outing with Blair before having to shop for groceries to cook dinner for her best friends tonight. Erik again was taking Greg out to show him the nightlife of New York City. Serena met up with Blair on the iconic steps of the Museum of New York, where they spent most of their lunchtimes eating frozen yoghurt and gossiping about the fashion sense of fellow Constance Girls and the hot guys at St Jude's. Serena looked at her watch and grinned. 'I'm early.'
Serena sat down and pulled out her IPad from her Prada handbag.
"S!" Ten minutes later, Blair had finally shown up. Serena looked up to see a smiling Blair with two cups of Frozen Yoghurt.
"I brought food!" Blair grinned. Serena squeaked and watched her best friend take her place beside her and admired Blair's beauty, confidence and success. They spent some time catching up on old times and reminiscing all the fights and make-ups that they have been through since they had become best friends.
"Humphrey has gone back to Brooklyn. I'm thinking about letting Jenny come work for me. She has the talent." Blair said thoughtfully.
"I agree. I think we have punished her enough honestly. She can only come back if she gets rid of her gothic look. She cannot work with you if she looks like some sort of vampire."
"I was just thinking that too. Have you forgiven her?" Serena realised that she no longer cared about what happened five years ago. She really had forgotten about it and she forgave them for what they did.
"I have forgotten what happened five years ago or at least I have not bothered trying to remember. I don't even care about Dan and Jenny. They can do whatever the hell they want, just as long as I'm not involved."
"Wow, Serena, you sound almost all grown up." Blair teased. Serena laughed.
"I have grown up, we all have."
"S, tell me honestly, are you back here for good? Your mother said you were back for good." Serena looked at Blair who had a sombre expression.
"B, I'm not sure. The Upper East Side is not my home anymore. I have a home in Australia. I have a job, friends and a life there. It's too good to let go."
"But you don't have your family or your best friends. You don't have Chinese food at midnight. You don't have fashionably rich men living in the apartment above or below us."
"Darling, you are married. We have more than Chinese food at midnight and there are many men walking along the streets dressed well enough to drool over. I miss my family and best friends but I have to live my own life."
"I know. I know. But I miss being so close to you! I miss us hanging out at our favourite café and restaurants, walking around Central Park having gelato and shopping along Madison Avenue."
"Hey! You liked shopping at the huge shopping malls with me when you visited."
"What if Chuck and I move there to be close to you. You need some family near you." Blair looked hopeful and determined and she was. Blair had had enough being away from Serena for long period of time – when she went to boarding school and whenever she said she needed to get away from her boyfriends.
"Aww, B that's so sweet of you but you won't last. You and Chuck belong in the Upper East Side, you belong in the Hamptons. You and Chuck have no purpose being in another continent in the other side of the world."
"We can make a purpose. Chuck can buy and own business. Own Bass Company there and I can open my fashion label there. Haven't you heard of expanding the business?"
"B! You don't belong there. It took me a long time to adjust, you would take twenty years. It's not as proper as the people here. They use slang, they dress casual, they love their sports, women eat steaks and drink beer and the men are very different." Blair sighed in defeat. Serena was right. She could not do those things – they just weren't her. She did belong in New York. Serena sighed with relief knowing that her best friend had given up the thought of leaving her home.
"Come on, let's go. I need to go get some grocery for dinner tonight." Serena smiled.
"Are you cooking dinner again?"
"Yes, admit it. That breakfast that I cooked was the best breakfast you've ever had."
"Fine. It was. We know your cooking skills were terrible. What if breakfast was a once-off?" Blair teased. Serena smirked and giggled.
"We'll see." After spending over an hour shopping, Blair had never had so much fun learning about food from the last person she expected to know.
Upon returning to the Empire, both women saw Nate being straddled by Juliet and making out, much to Blair and Serena's horror.
"Excuse me. What is the meaning of this!?" Blair yelled in horror. Not only did she hate Juliet, but she hates Nate being with her. Nate saw Blair and Serena standing there carrying bags of groceries?
"Serena! Blair!" Nate said in shock. Juliet looked up and turned her head. Her lips were all puffy and swollen and her cheeks flushed a bright red. They both stood up abruptly and straightened out their clothes.
"What are you and this heathen doing here?" Serena sighed and laughed inside. She got the grocery bags off Blair and walked to the kitchen bench behind Nate and placed the bags on top and started unpacking.
"Blair! Don't be so rude to Juliet! What were you guys doing with grocery bags?" Nate asked in a frustrated tone. He was sick of his girlfriend being treated like dirt. They had been going out for about six months and everyone was nowhere near accepting her into their world.
"We went grocery shopping for dinner tonight. I'm cooking dinner." Serena grinned. Deep down inside, she was feeling slightly disgusted seeing Nate with a lying bitch.
"Wow, Serena, you have changed, actually doing things for yourself. Did they not have maids and butlers where you were?" Juliet sneered.
"Yes, Juliet. I grew up. Unlike you, I took responsibility for my own action and now living independently. No, I did not, but it's a good thing because I learnt how to live my own life without relying on others, unlike you." Serena replied sick of her childish jibes. Nate and Blair stood back watching the events unfold. Blair smiled with pride that Serena was fighting her own battles.
"You know nothing about me. When Ben was in prison I was alone and I did live my own life. I took everything in my own hand and learnt to live independently." Juliet snapped.
"And this is coming from the girl who needed Colin's money to keep up her rich life image. What are you even doing back here? I thought you were banished?"
"What, are you jealous that I'm here? Are you jealous that I'm here with Nate!?" Juliet taunted. Nate was about to open his mouth when he felt Blair's hand on his arm squeezing as an indication to let them fight it out.
"Why the hell would I be jealous of you? I'm more woman than you. I have my own boyfriend thank you very much. I couldn't care less that you are with Nate… now get the hell out of my room before I pull you by the hair and drag you out." Serena said angrily. She was officially fed up. Nate didn't like the way she said about not caring about Juliet being with him. Deep down, he wanted her to give a damn about him for once.
"Now, now, you don't want to make any threats. I wonder what would happen if your little boy toy found out all your dirty secrets." Blair looked at Juliet with her eyes wide open. This bitch had gone too far.
"Juliet, leave now, or so help me…" Blair seethed.
"Blair, its fine. I can handle this. Listen here, Juliet. My boyfriend knows everything – from Georgina to Ben to everything. I have nothing to hide from him. Your little threat to expose me is so spiteful and childish. Come over and apologise when you're ready to grow up. Now get out." Serena smiled with pride.
"You can't kick me out! I'm here with Nate." Juliet picked up her back and walked over to Nate and started trying to convince him to let her stay by nibbling on his neck and giving peppery kisses. Serena had enough and could not deal with her a second longer.
"That's it." Serena walked behind Juliet and grabbed her ponytail and pulled her to the elevator with Juliet trying to claw out of Serena's grip. The elevator door opened and Serena pushed Juliet in and pressed the button. Once Juliet was out of her sight, she turned on her heels and looked at her best friends with a satisfactory grin on her face.
Serena and Blair went back to preparing dinner with Nate on his laptop doing some work. About 20 minutes later, they heard the elevator. Serena looked up at the time and it still was a few hours before dinner.
"It's got to be Juliet again. Chuck doesn't finish work for another two hours."
They heard footsteps. Serena huffed and walked around the bench.
"Juliet, I swear on my dead grandmother's life, get the hell out of here."
"Woah….what did I miss out on?" Everyone turned their head and saw Chuck smirking. Serena flushed a bright red and laughed nervously.
Tonight was going to be good fun.