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Chapter 15.
Serena literally jumps a few inches off the ground when she heard a knock on the front door followed by voice calling out her name - so unmistakable, it can only be one person, Dan.
When she got home earlier, she immediately called Eric for advice. If what she's doing is even right. He tells her no, especially since Georgina warned her about her boyfriend. She asks what to do and his brother suggests that she should just cancel their dinner because he's pretty sure Dan of all people would understand why she would think that having dinner together would be wrong. But if she's going to be completely honest, she wants to spend time with Dan. Nevermind that this might be several levels of wrong. So she tells Eric that she'll think about it - the canceling part - even though she's decided that she won't.
After applying her finishing touches of make-up, she grabs her purse before running towards the door and flinging it open.
"Hey!" She greeted, a warm smile creeping on her face. "You're late."
"I - Sorry, guess I lost track of time."
"No, it's okay. I just finished getting ready anyway."
"So..." Dan shoves his hand on his pockets, feet tapping nervously.
"Umm... Yeah." She reaches for the front door and after shutting all the lights off, she closed the door while Dan watches her.
"You look beautiful." Dan whispers and when Serena whips her head to face him, he realizes that he may have said it out loud - she wasn't supposed to hear that - and he almost panicked but before he could, Serena flashed him another smile and thanked him, saying that he looked good as well.
"So, uhh... Where are we going?"
"You'll see." She giggles before taking his hand in hers.
...
When they stepped out of the town car, he blinks twice before he turns to Serena with a questioning look. Is he the only on who realizes that this is where they ate the night Steven broke up with her, that little place just outside the Upper East Side where he took her to get away from everything and everyone? He's still looking at her because it's as if she's completely oblivious to it or maybe she's just choosing to ignore it, unlike him.
"Hey, this is -"
"What? I am craving some fries and burger so I thought we eat here." She turns to look at him and her smile falters when she noticed him looking at her, a bit uncomfortable. "Why? Don't you want to eat here? Because we can go somewhere else."
"No, no..." He grabs her arm when she made a move to go back inside the town car and she stills, looking at him. "... But don't you think I'm a little overdress?"
She looks at him from top to bottom before laughing slightly. He is a bit overdressed, considering they are going to eat not on a five-star restaurant but rather, on a small diner somewhere outside the Upper East Side. He is currently wearing a suit with a cerulean blue dress shirt and a white tie - honestly, he looks like he's going to one of Lily's charity events.
"Well, you never told me where we are going, so I am just going to blame you."
"Fine." She tugs at his sleeve, pulling him closer to her then she unlaced his tie and took of his jacket for him, tossing it carelessly on the car before shutting it close. She inspected how he looked once more before nodding, happy with how he looked - not to formal, just right.
"Now, come on!" She tugs at his sleeves, urging him towards the diner. "I'm starving."
He chuckles at that before following the blonde inside.
...
"Hey, umm... so, how are things with you and Georgina?" She asks him after their food arrived. He was just about to take a bite of his burger but stops once he heard her, looking up and meeting her gaze. It was hard for her to ask that particular question and she's not really even sure why she wanted to know but for some reason she wants to know if their relationship was going well, if he's happy with her.
"What?"
"How are things with you and Georgina?" She repeats, her voice wavering a little as she uttered his girlfriend's name.
"Uhh... We're - we're good. Fine." He clears his throat. "Why?"
"Nothing. I was just wondering." She whispers softly, looking away from him.
"Serena." He reaches for her chin and lifts her head up, forcing her to look at him again. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing."
"Serena, I'd like to believe that I still know you better than anyone. So, what wrong?" He gives her a small smile and it eases her emotions. She hates his effect on her. "We're Dan and Serena, I hope you know you can tell me anything."
'We're Dan and Serena, you can tell me anything. It must be true because I read it online.'
"I just -" A sigh, because as much as she wants to ask if he's happy with Georgina, she doesn't really want to know the answer. She's tried asking before and when he failed to give her an answer, she found herself feeling relieved because she really doesn't want to hear him say yes. "Nevermind."
"What? Come on, tell me."
"It's just... Are you happy with her?" She tears her eyes away from his, focusing instead on her fries that she ordered even though she's not even eating it right now, simply playing with it.
Her question makes him drop the burger he's holding back to the plate. Was he happy with Georgina? He could honestly say that maybe even once, maybe he felt happy with Georgina. She's his girlfriend and yes, that alone should make him happy but he's really not. She had her moments of course, but in all honesty, most of the time, he even finds her annoying and irritating. He remembers one time Jenny asked him why he's dating Georgina and when he thought about it, it's because Georgina is the only person who sided with him and talked to him without judging him - it may have helped that it was partially her fault why this whole mess happened, because she listened to him, because like he said to Serena before, Georgina was the only one who was there for him. Them being together sort of just happened, and it's sort of like convenient for them and it just stuck.
"Look..." Serena interrupts his train of thought. "..you don't have to answer that, I was just thinking aloud."
"Well, honestly, I've been happier." Dan answers the question anyways. I've been happier with you.
"O - kay." She mutters as she took a sip of her chocolate milkshake. "Because I actually saw her the other day..."
"Yeah?"
"And she kinda told me off, which is crazy because we really don't talk all that much and I know you've been busy and stuff but she's telling me that you've been distant and ignoring her and all that, so I was just wondering maybe you guys are having trouble, because I could try and stay away more." Serena rambles as she watches Dan's face turn from amused to confused to irritated in the span of one minute.
"No." Dan says, with a little bit force than necessary - and what she actually expected. "Don't - You don't have to do that. It's fine, I think. I'll talk to her."
"Okay." She smiles, going back to her fries.
There was an awkward silence around them as they continued eating. Neither of them suddenly not knowing what to say, how to make the atmosphere light again.
"So..."
"So..."
Serena giggles and it's light again - not the awkward phase they fell into a minute ago. He's not sure how she is able to do that, but he's thankful, because he'd really rather being friends with her than the two of them ignoring each other.
...
Somehow, after eating, they ended up in Central Park with Serena carrying a bottle of champagne. Serena insisted that they celebrate - what they are celebrating, he doesn't really know - and have something to drink so they went inside the first bar they see and Serena orders a champagne (a glass, miss? No, we want the bottle.) before he suggested taking a walk somewhere, which she agreed to, that was why they are currently at Central Park.
"You know, Blair used to feed the ducks here." Serena speaks, making Dan, who was looking at his shoes as he walked by her side, look up at the blonde. "Sometimes, she'd do it with Nate or me, but it's Dorota who always goes with her."
"Well, that must've been fun." She nudges his shoulders because sarcasm was oozing out of his voice. "No, really, feeding the ducks with Blair Waldorf, that - that was some experience, I bet."
"I wonder if she does that with Henry and Chuck."
They stop to sit under a tree, with the pond in their view. Serena pops the bottle of champagne open, aims it at Dan - resulting in him being drenched with the liquor - and squeals when it overflows. And she looks so happy, so carefree that it didn't even get Dan to care that he's drenched. Maybe it's the alcohol in her system that makes her act like that but it's probably the first time he's seen her this way, so who was he to complain?
They sit in silence - with occasional outbursts of thoughts - for about half an hour, the bottle of champagne they've been passing back and forth, taking turns at drinking, nearly empty when Serena suddenly hits him in the shoulder.
"Oh, before I completely forget..." She rummages through her oversized purse - a Blair Waldorf original - and he sits there, watching her as her face scrunches in annoyance because she can't seem to find what she is looking for. He wants to laugh because she looks so cute and pretty but doesn't. It will probably ruin the moment.
After yelling out a short hooray when she finally pulled out whatever it is she was searching, she turns to him and places a little brown notebook in his lap.
"A notebook?" Of course, he had to ask because he has absolutely no idea what's going on.
"It was supposed to be a birthday present, two years ago." Serena tells, before he felt her head drop on his shoulder. "I never got the chance to give it to you, for obvious reasons."
"Thank you." He tells her sincerely. He's already decided that this notebook is the best thing he's gotten in the past few years - maybe it's a little bit because of who gave it to him, too.
"I found it while I was going through my still unpacked things, looking for my shoes." She explains, even though he did not ask while chugging down what's left of the champagne. "I figured now's a good time to give them to you."
"I - uhh - thank you so much." Dan turns to her, wrapping an arm around her shoulder, pulling her in a somewhat side-hug. "Even though it really isn't my birthday any time soon, this is - it's amazing, Serena. Thank you!"
She watches as he runs his fingers across it before flipping the whole thing one too many times. When he looks at her, she's smiling at him, although he could see that it doesn't quite reach her eyes. He forgot the last time he saw her smile reach her eyes.
"Alright." She exclaims, standing up and dusting off the dirt off her dress. She even stumbles a bit but manages not to fall. "I'm going to go home."
"I'll take you home."
"No." She responds immediately, spinning around to face him. "You don't have to. Besides, we're going in different directions, so..."
She doesn't wait for him to respond before continuing to walk away from him, leaving him feeling confused.
Dan stared at the blonde's retreating figure a few seconds before shifting his gaze back to the notebook Serena had given him. He opens the notebook, turns the first page before he stops, surprised at what he'd seen written in. What Serena had written inside, for him.
'Just so you know,
I forgive you.
For everything.
S.'
He's overwhelmed as stares at the words she's written, I forgive you. He's feels the happiness, relief, and many other emotions overcome him because Serena forgives him, for everything he's ever done to her, all the hurt, all the heartbreak he's ever caused her, all the mistakes he made. After everything, she gives him this notebook, with this words written by her. She gives him her forgiveness.
He snaps the book shut, looks up to see that Serena was still there, just a few feet away from him, hailing a cab - well, trying to.
"Serena!"
The blonde beauty turns around and sees Dan moving towards her. She doesn't have enough time to react when he grabs her wrist and pulls her towards him, their mouths meeting. Dan wraps his free arm, pulling her impossibly closer to him, kissing her more deeply.
She kisses back and threads her fingers through his hair. She knows it's wrong, so incredibly wrong but can't get herself to regret what's currently happening. She'll just blame it on the alcohol in her system.
They both pull away a few moments later, breaths heavy, foreheads touching as they stared at each other.
"I'm sorry."
"Dan, I -"
"Let me take you home."
"What? I - okay."
...
"So..."
"So..."
"Are we really not gonna talk about what happened earlier?" Serena asks as she opens the door to her apartment.
"Serena -"
"Why did you kiss me?" She wasn't mad, her tone suggests that she wasn't, just plain curious.
"Honestly, I don't know."
"You have a girlfriend. You have Georgina."
"I know that, okay?" He claims as he stuffs his hand in his pockets, frustrated. "And if you're going to ask me if I regretted kissing you, I don't. Honestly, I don't even care if Georgina finds out. Serena, I just - when I saw what you wrote in this notebook, I just -"
"You should go." She whispers softly.
"Serena..."
"Dan."
"Alright." He sighs, going over to maybe hug the blonde or something but stops because when he took a step closer to her, she took two steps back.
"I guess I'll just see you then." He lets out an awkward wave before walking away.
"Bye Dan." She waves at his retreating figure before going inside her apartment. She leans back against the front door, fingers touching her lips.
Because that kiss, well, for the first time since, it felt like forever.
.to be continued.
So...
A/N: Ha ha! Okay, so a new chapter. I don't know what to think of this, honestly. I'm not that happy about this and this probably sucks, I know. But I do love the last line. But I do hope you enjoyed this chapter. Next chapter is kind of an aftermath, Dan and Serena will talk about what happened on their 'date' with their respective siblings. I'm still working on the next chapter.
Again, I really really hope you enjoyed this! I'd like to know your thoughts, what you think of it. Your reviews are very much welcome and appreciated, and it really makes me happy.
Thanks guys! xx