Christmas 2016

"I need to talk to you." He eyed her warily, conscious that she was using the tone usually reserved for drunken declarations of love, which were less drunken than he dared hope to believe.

"No," she said at his expression, "no nothing like that, I am completely sober." She waved her drink in his face. "See? Sparkling water."

"What's up?" He shifted a little along the fire escape so she could fit her longer limbs through the window with ease. Her hair, he noticed had gotten longer and paler so that she resembled old school New Yorker Jenny more closely. Rufus and Lisa had taken over the loft for the duration of the festivities and their entire social circle had filled up Jenny's home. He thought that the young, blonde introvert had handled the situation with some grace.

"There's a vacancy in town." Nate smiled.

"Ah. The Mayor thing."

"You're running for it right? You have to run. You have to."

"I'm ridiculously young."

"So was Barack Obama."

"I'm not as cool as Obama."

"Oh I'm sorry, did he lose his virginity to Serena van der Woodsen?"

"It wouldn't surprise me if he had." They exploded with laughter, disturbing the unusually quiet Brooklyn night.

"Nate," she said, once they'd quietened. "I know how scared you are of turning into your parents but none of the Vanderbilts would take such a risk politically, to run with so little experience. And the city really does need you."

"Even without political experience."

"No one knows New York City better. What we need, what's great and what's terrible – you know it all. You could be the next Bloomberg and even more successful to boot. Hey." She nudged his foot with hers. "Do it for me."

"Anything for you." His eyes spoke volumes.

"Hey!" They jerked apart suddenly, abruptly guilty for no reason. An excited Eric came into view, bobbing up and down at the window. "Where the hell have you two been? Dan just proposed to Serena."

When Nate walked back into the loft he was surer of the prospect of his mayoral bid. But he was also sure, looking from the empty smiles on Dan and Serena's faces to the broken one on Blair's and the disinterested, unseeing expression on Chuck's, that the single man's life was very much for him. For love, in all the forms it took around him, was clearly too twisted, too hollow, too superficial to be worth it.