Beyond The Words | Chapter 22
Chapter 22
“If you need a sympathetic ear, anything…”
“You’ve done enough for me already”
____________________________________________________
When Im loosing my control, The City spins around,
You’re the only one who knows, you slow it down
….
Rubbing her eyes furiously Jenny climbed out of bed making sure not to wake Nate. Running her hands through her hair, she frowned - I need a shower, she thought to herself opening her bedroom door slowly. Tip toeing to the bathroom, she turned on the shower grabbing some towels from the bathroom cabinet she threw her shirt onto the floor, taking off her panties she threw them in the laundry basket before climbing into the shower.
“Ouch!”, Jenny yelled, this thing was always too hot in the mornings, turning it down she hoped she hadn’t woken Nate with her outburst. Lathering her hair in shampoo, she began thinking about Nate. How happy she was he was here, asleep in her bed. How safe she felt last night when he held her due to the storm, stroking her arm with his thumb. And how relieved she was that he was ok, he was still here. If anything had happened to him that night, she would never have been able to live with herself… to live without him.
Exhaling, she turned off the shower before stepping out of it. Wrapping a towel around her, she made her way to the kitchen turning on the coffee machine. Coffee was defiantly needed this morning, the storm had kept her awake most of the night, and then when it finally stopped she found herself staring at Nate the whole time he was asleep. Stretching she quickly grabbed onto her towel before it fell off her.
Nate awoke to the sound of someone pottering about in the kitchen, seeing Jenny wasn’t next to him. He got of bed slowly, his ribs aching and his shoulder stinging he’d gotten up too quickly, forgetting about his accident. Gripping onto his shoulder, he slowly made his way out of Jenny’s room, before staggering to the kitchen to find Jenny in just a - towel.
“Well I could get used to waking up to this every morning.” Nate croaked out, staring at Jenny.
Smiling, Jenny looked up at Nate noticing him clutching his shoulder. “Are you ok?!”, she asked making her way around the counter to him.
“Yeah Im fine, do you still have those painkillers you were talking about?”.
“Of course.” Jenny replied making her way to the bathroom, opening the cabinet she pulled out the bottle of pills before walking back over to Nate. “Here, you know I should wrap your ribs back up too. I completely forgot last night.” Walking to the sink, she poured Nate a glass of water.
“Here.” Jenny said passing him the pills and water. “Take two, they’re pretty strong.”
“Thanks.” Nate replied before putting the pills in his mouth and gulping down his water. Passing the glass to Jenny, he watched as she put it in the sink before turning to face him.
“Bandages…”, she muttered walking back into the bathroom again.
“You know you don’t have to do this.” Nate laughed at her generosity, she hadn’t stopped moving since he woke up.
Walking out of the bathroom, she unwrapped the bandages before taking them out of the packet. “Well someones gotta take care of you, and your ribs need the support.”
Throwing the packet onto the counter. “Lift your arms up… slowly.” Nate watched as she aided to him, gently off course - she was always gentle. Pressing her chest to his, she fastened the bandages up slowly, feeling his breath on her face. Gulping, she looked up at him.
“Better?”
Nate nodded before scanning her face, he noticed her frowning, he saw her pondering something. “Are you ok?”, he muttered looking into her eyes.
Jenny swallowed deeply before looking down. “It’s just… Im sorry.”
“Sorry? Jenny you have nothing to be sorry about.” Nate said shaking his head.
“I do.” Jenny looked up into his eyes. “For not saying goodbye, for pushing you away, for the things I said…”
“Jenny. I was stupid, and naïve and so selfish, I didn’t know how much you really meant to me. And honestly, I was so angry with you after you’d left, I was hurting so much, and I just couldn’t figure out why. Why I was obsessing over a girl, who all I’d ever done was push away, until I saw you at Dan’s birthday. Everything was clear then, I cant live without you, I don’t function right and when I saw you at that party, all that pain and anger went away the second I saw your face.” Cupping Jenny’s face, he began to stroke her cheek with his thumb before scanning her body. He hadn’t forgotten she was in nothing but a towel.
“Now since you’ve seen me naked, I think it’s only fair…”, Nate removed his hand from her face, shifting to her towel. “.. If I saw you.” Jenny smiled, her cheeks turning pink as she blushed at his remark. Nate smiled broadly at her resting his forehead against hers, putting her hands on his chest she leaned up kissing him smoothly, softly. Nate pulled away licking his lips.
“You know, I forgot what it was like to kiss you.” Nate whispered. “I never wanna stop.”
Jenny threw her arms around his neck. “Then don’t.” Scanning her face, Nate picked her up gently with his good arm ignoring the pain he felt in his ribs. Walking over to her bedroom, he shut the door with his foot before placing her on the bed, his lips not leaving hers. Making sure he didn’t put too much weight on his broken bones, he rested on top of her gently. Finally pulling his lips from hers, he shifted them to her neck, down to her collarbone and then her chest. Looking up into her eyes for approval, he saw Jenny’s eyes filled with want, with longing - he got his answer, he often did when he gazed into those beautiful blue eyes. Undoing her towel, he pulled it off her slowly exposing Jenny’s naked body.
Her heart began to beat unhealthily, her body shaking uncontrollably. She was naked in front of Nate Archibald, she felt exposed, almost like he’d take one look at her then run, she could hide from Damien because of her night dress, and Chuck didn’t see anything because it was dark, but with Nate her was fully on show, no shadows, no illusions, just her naked body. And she wasn’t beautiful like he was, atleast that’s what she thought. Noticing her discomfort, Nate rested his forehead against hers once again.
“Hey, look at me.” Jenny looked up into his eyes slowly biting her bottom lip. “You… are perfect.” Nate whispered before kissing her nose. Jenny’s stomach fluttered furiously, that was all she needed to hear. Fisting his hair in her hands she pulled him back into a kiss, moaning as his lips slanted perfectly over hers. Feeling his hands move over her breasts, cupping them slightly before tracing his fingers down her stomach slowly, the tugging between legs was getting unbearable she couldn’t wait any longer, she needed him inside her. Running her hands down his stomach, she grabbed the elastic of his boxers before hearing… was that the door?!
Looking up at Nate, her eyes widened. Shifting from underneath him, she grabbed the nearest shirt she could find and threw on a pair of old shorts that were luckily laid out on her floor. Nate jumped off the bed and ran into Rufus’ room shutting his door just as the front door was opening. Luck was defiantly on their side this morning. Flustered, Jenny walked out of her room to find Dan and… Vanessa walking into the loft.
“Hey guys…”, Jenny said tugging on her t shirt.
“Hey Jen.” Dan replied throwing his bag onto the floor. “Vanessa came over to check on Nate.”
“Yeah is he still sleeping?”.
Gulping, Jenny made her way into the kitchen. “I think so yeah, I wouldn’t know.” Jenny replied, pouring herself a cup of coffee. “So what’s new?”, she asked leaning against the counter.
“Well we were just er, discussing the Roses are Red party tonight.” Dan said getting himself a cup.
“Roses are red? What’s that about?” Jenny asked her brother before turning to Vanessa. “It’s so sad, I have to ask my brother about parties these days.” The two girls laughed.
“Well, it’s sort of a late Valentine’s day party. For couples.” Jenny looked at her Dan disapprovingly. “And single people too.”
“Yeah Im sure it is.” Jenny said rolling her eyes.
“It is! Vanessa’s going.” He replied pointing to his friend.
Frowning, Jenny looked up at her. “You are? I thought you hated Manhattan parties? It is a Manhattan party right?”.
“You really think Brooklyn would have come up with a name like that?”. Dan mocked, causing the three of them to laugh.
“Yeah I am actually.” Vanessa finally replied, sitting down at the counter. “It’s not really my sort of thing, but you know it sounds like fun and you never know I could meet someone there…”.
“Don’t you have to go with a date?”, Jenny asked before taking a sip of her coffee.
“Yeah which is why I think it would be perfect for Vanessa to go with Nate.” Jenny spat out her coffee, before coughing uncontrollably.
WHAT?!!
“Jenny are you ok?!, Dan asked patting his sister on the back.
Opening his bedroom door, Nate was now fully clothed. Thank god he still had most of his clothes here. Walking over to the kitchen he found Jenny coughing fiercly and Dan aiding to her. “Jenny! Are you alright?!”
Nate yelled walking over to her.
“Im fine.” Jenny coughed. “It just went down the wrong whole is all.” Clearing her throat she sat back up.
Shooting Jenny a confused look, Nate soon noticed Vanessa sat across the counter. “So, what were you guys talking about?”.
“Well before Jen went into a coughing fit, we were talking about the Roses are Red party tonight.” Dan said passing Nate a cup of coffee.
“Oh yeah? Isn’t that more a couple‘s thing?” Nate asked drinking his coffee.
“Yeah, we were saying how perfect it would be if you were V’s date.” Nate now spat out his coffee.
“What is up with this coffee?!”, Dan asked looking down at his mug.
Clearing his throat, he looked over at Jenny. “I don’t know, I wasn’t even gonna go to this thing.”
“Oh come on Nate, It’ll be fun I promise.” Vanessa said turning to face him. “Plus you do owe me, for saving your life!”, Vanessa joked.
Nate laughed weakly. “Yeah I guess I do.”
“So it’s settled then, Nate you can go with Vanessa.”
Jenny looked down flicking her mug with her thumb frustrated. “You know, Ive gotta go meet Eric.” Standing up she felt Nate grab her arm softly, choosing to ignore it she walked over to her room to change. This was not happening.
….
“Can you believe this?! I mean can you actually believe that my own brother did this to me?!”
“What’s the big deal? You and Nate aren’t even together officially.” Eric asked walking down the street with his best friend.
“That’s not the point, things are actually pretty perfect between us right now, we don’t need Vanessa getting in-between us… not again.”
Jenny muttered looking at the ground.
“Jenny, your not gonna loose Nate to Vanessa. It’s different this time.”
“Oh yeah? How? Cause the way I see it, it feels like history repeating it’s ugly self.” Jenny threw her coffee cup into the trash.
“It’s different because Nate wants to be with you, not Vanessa. Those two are ancient history, it’s pretty obvious to everyone that flame is well and truly out.”
“Yeah everyone but Dan and Vanessa.” Jenny mumbled bitterly.
“Vanessa’s into him again?”. Eric asked looking up at Jenny.
“I don’t know. I think so, I mean she’s been all over him since the accident.”
“Well lets go to this thing tonight, I’ll be your date, and we can keep an eye on them.” Jenny looked at Eric angrily.
“- Her.” Eric corrected.
“I suppose we could go. Don’t you have plans with your new beau tonight?”
“He’s going too, so I’ll just meet up with him there.” Jenny smiled linking arms with her step brother.
“Although, annoying at times, you are pretty amazing Eric van der Woodson.”
“I know, I know.” The two laughed before Jenny’s frown soon appeared on her face.
“I really don’t want to loose him again Eric, I want him… so much.”
“And you wont, cause your not gonna let that happen again.”
“Yeah well, I hope your right.” Jenny muttered as the two made their way into the restaurant.
….
Looking at herself in the mirror, Jenny observed her figure. The little red dress she had on fit like a glove, although she did hate the color red she was only wearing it because that was the theme of the party. Sighing, she began thinking about Nate. Would he picking Vanessa up now? How good did she look? Would Nate think Vanessa looked nice? Shaking her head, she put the last of her perfume on before walking out of her room making her way to her Dad and Eric.
“So what dya think?”, Jenny asked twirling.
“You look beautiful.” Lilly said walking down the stairs. Jenny had decided to get changed the apartment it easier for her and Eric and Vanessa was getting ready at the loft, and she really didn’t want to be around her.
“Not as good as me of course.” Serena laughed, walking down the stairs after her mom.
Rolling her eyes, Jenny picked up her purse. “Ready to go?”, She asked Eric.
“Yeah. You coming?” Eric asked his sister.
“No, Dan’s picking me up from here so Im gonna wait.”
“Alright, see you there”, Eric said before Jenny linked arms with him.
“Bye guys.”, Jenny waved before turning to Eric.
“I hate it when you wear heels…” He muttered as they waited for the elevator.
“Why?” Jenny asked looking down at her shoes.
“Because your always so much taller than me.” Eric replied as they made their way into the elevator.
Laughing Jenny pressed the button. “Well, that’s not hard!”.
....
Getting out of the Limo, Jenny made her way into the party. Woah. It was defiantly red, she thought to herself as observed the heart shape balloons and, the red candles and roses. It would have been the perfect setting, if only it were Nate on her arm and not Eric. Looking around the room she couldn’t see Nate or Vanessa anywhere, they weren’t here yet - Thank God. It gave Jenny more time to prepare for when she did see them together.
Gulping she took a glass of champagne before necking it back quickly.
“Jenny, it’s gonna be fine.” Eric reassured her.
God, I hope he’s right.