"Stripped and polished, I am new, I am fresh
I am feeling so ambitious, you and me, flesh to flesh
Cause every breath that you will take when you are sitting
next to me will bring life into my deepest hopes,
What's your fantasy? Cause I was born to tell you I love you
and I am torn to do what I have to to make you mine."
-Secondhand Serenade

A month passed. September became October, the city got colder, and Nate's coursework at Columbia got harder. He felt as if he couldn't even find a few moments to breathe at times, let alone visit Jenny. Besides, it wasn't as if Dan would be alright with Nate being within five feet of Jenny now that he knew what had happened at the Snowflake Ball. Nate certainly understood and didn't blame Dan. He had to prove himself first, and for the entirety of September, he devoted himself to that goal. There were times when Nate could feel his brain slowly collapsing from exhaustion until he couldn't see straight. If he wasn't doing school work then he was at his internship, slowly and steadily climbing up the ladder there so that he could finally get to a position where he could do something important for once. Sometimes he felt as if he were drowning, if it could be called that, but drowning for a cause. Each text he got from Jenny kept him sane, and once or twice he was able to visit her at her school, and each time she looked at him with concern and admiration all at once, and it was the best feeling in the world. It was almost twisted, the way he enjoyed suffering for her.

One afternoon in early October, while Nate was sorting documents, he looked up and saw the visage of Jenny Humphrey just beyond the glass doors, waving at him with a weak smile on her face. Nate barely managed to refrain from dropping all of the papers. It had been at least two weeks since Nate had seen her in person, but they'd kept a little contact through texting. Nate glanced around at the other interns, and a few of them were raising their eyebrows at him expectantly, while some were too absorbed in their work to notice the blonde at the door. Nate put the documents down and practically slithered his way out of the room, attempting to be as quiet and, for lack of better word, Chuck-like as possible.

"Jenny!" He exclaimed, blinking a few times to wash away his fatigue and make sure this wasn't some illusion. "It's so great to see you. What's up?"

"Chuck told me that you've been busting your butt here, and Dan says that college students always appreciate home cooked meals, so..." Jenny trailed off and waved a brown bag sheepishly. "I made you lunch."

So she had been talking to Chuck about him. Nate's face lit up at that, and he took the bag from her. "Thank you so much, Jenny. I really appreciate this... wait, you came all the way from Brooklyn to give me lunch?" Nate had a feeling that there was another motive to Jenny's visit, and he was right. He led her outside of the building to a table outside, pulling out a chair for her and then sitting across the table.

"Well, to be honest, I also really wanted to get out of my house." Jenny scowled and Nate raised his eyebrows at her as he rifled through the bag of food, pulling out a bowl of chicken soup -- his favorite, as she'd learned from the time he'd stayed in the loft a year ago. "Scott came today."

Now Nate was frowning. "That's the first time since the party, right?"

Jenny nodded. "He didn't even look at me. Just pushed right past me and asked to see Lily and my dad right then and there. So I decided to put together some food, and we'd just had chicken soup so I put some of that for you too. It was totally spur of the moment." Jenny paused here, pulling out a spoon from the bag and handing it to Nate. "But Chuck did tell me you've been super busy. I'm sorry I couldn't visit earlier."

"Don't apologize. I should be apologizing to you for being so distant lately," Nate replied before taking a sip of the rapidly cooling soup. He never wanted to hear Jenny apologize when he was the one who had damaged her in the first place. Nate hated to admit it, but he owed Scott his eternal gratitude for healing Jenny while he'd been stupid and away in Europe. "But look. I really think you should stay away from Scott, okay? I don't like that guy."

Surprisingly, she laughed. "You know, Scott said the same exact thing to me about you this summer."

Nate leaned forward across the table a little, looking into her blue eyes intensely, and he caught that familiar vanilla scent that was all hers and he felt the strands of hair on the nape of his neck stand up. "Do you want me to stay way from you, Jenny?" He asked quietly, not looking away from her eyes.

She was silent for a moment, just looking at him, and he could tell that she wasn't going to lie to him because she had never been able to. "I don't want you to." She whispered, and a strand of blonde hair fell in front of her eyes and he hesitantly tucked it behind her ear. His fingers felt as if they were on fire and he dropped them to the table, resisting the urge to trail his fingers from her hair to her jaw and cheekbone. All of a sudden Jenny leaned back and so did he, the trance broken.

The feelings for her were still there even after not seeing her for weeks, and Nate knew, he just knew, that without her none of this would be happening. He wouldn't be working so hard at his internship or on his schoolwork. He didn't mind at all, he enjoyed this challenge, because -- at long last he realized-- Jenny Humphrey was worth it. He didn't mind not sleeping at night or not seeing other girls or not smoking as much as he used to because as long as he was hers in the end, everything would be okay.

As he realized this Jenny was mumbling something about having to leave and getting to her feet. Nate got to his feet as well, clutching the bag of food like an anchor.

"Jenny," he said abruptly when she took a step away. She turned around to face him expectantly. "A friend of mine is holding a movie screening this weekend. A bunch of Columbia students will be there, and this is going to sound really lame, but will you come with me?" He grinned at her now. "My friends are always trying to hook me up with these girls that aren't really my type, and I can't think of any other girl I'd be more comfortable going with."

Her eyes scanned his face for a minute. "So you want me to come as like a fake date?" She asked curiously, looking amused and intrigued.

Nate nodded. "Exactly."

It was official: She was perfect.

Jenny molded in easily with the students at Columbia. Most of them came from the same background as Nate-- lots of money in their trust funds, powerful families, designer clothing-- and she fit right in even though she wasn't supposed to belong there. She didn't shun her Brooklyn roots, but she didn't reject the ways of the Upper Class either. She was a chameleon, shooting from one role to the other in half a second, and Nate was blown away by it. With Blair it had always been about the upper class society; with Vanessa, it had been about rejecting it. With Jenny, he could do both. He could go to a gala with her or ride the subway to a pizza parlor on her side of town. There, that night in a park just near his university with the October evening air a little chilly, he realized that she wasn't just perfect -- she was perfect for him, and he had known it since day one but had been much too afraid to admit it. He had been in a relationship with Blair for years. Maybe he had been afraid to launch into another long term relationship and had settled for things that couldn't last. Maybe he had been intimidated or afraid or inadequate or insecure. But now he knew that Jenny Humphrey was good for him, and that he was good for her, to.

Her perfection was in the way she looked in her midnight blue trenchcoat and jeans, totally and completely comfortable with her little headband absent from her head because here royalty didn't matter. It was in the way she absorbed and contributed to the conversations his friends carried, always at ease, always attentive to what Nate said, too. It was in her genuine smile, the way her eyes would light up or darken at certain topics, the way her hand brushed against Nate's like this when one of his friends attempted to approach with a hopeful looking girl in tow, and there would be sparks burning his skin at the spots she so carelessly had touched. She took his breath away, each and every moment, every second, until he wasn't quite sure how he was standing there feeling so high when he hadn't had a blunt in a week.

When it came time to watch the movie they had to lay out on blankets. Nate laid down and Jenny sat beside him, her knees up and her elbows wrapped around them, pulling them close to her body. Nate was too exhausted to sit up; he put his hands beneath his head and tilted his chin down to see the screen properly. The movie started and Nate looked over to see that she was shivering.

"You okay?" Nate asked, sitting up on his elbows.

"Just cold." She murmured, and Nate looked at her silently for moment before stretching out a hand and beckoning to her with his fingers.

"Come here."

He became nervous as she looked at him with the most serious of expressions in her eyes and then she slipped her hand in his and he pulled her close to him. They were lying down and he had his arm around her, and Jenny was tense at first, just huddled by his side. It became bittersweet then; she pulled into him too carefully, finally resting her head on his chest, one of her arms looping around his stomach. Nate closed his eyes for a moment before looking at the top of her head, and her face was tilted away from him, and he felt like they were curled up to fall sleep together, not to watch a movie.

If he could have seen her face, maybe he would have seen that her eyes were wide open, transfixed on the movie but not seeing it. If he had taken in every little detail he would have noticed that her fingers were curled lightly into his chest as if she were holding on to him, that her legs were meshing with his, that she could hear the beat of his heart underneath her ear. It was bittersweet the way they got to hold each other now because her heart was opening up to him and it was painful for her because she was afraid, so afraid that this was all an illusion, that he hadn't really changed, that it was all pretend.

He was the only one she needed, and she was the only one that he needed, and that night under the stars was when they both realized it.

Hope you guys liked the chapter, please review!