Beyond The Words | Chapter 28
World was on fire, no one could save me but you
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Nate paced up and down in the elevator, any second now he’d be walking into the elevator and be greeted by Chuck. This was the first time in weeks that Nate has purposely chose to be in the same room as the guy, but it’s what Jenny wanted and honestly, he’d do anything for her. Watching the doors open he exhaled deeply before making his way into the lobby, observing the Loft there was no sign of Chuck, guess he’s not in. Turning to leave, Nate saw Chuck walking out of him room - whisky in hand.
“Nathaniel? What are you doing here?”, Chuck asked shocked by his former best friends unexpected presence.
Nate shook his head, pulling his hands out of his coat pockets. “Honestly? I don’t know.”
“Well let me fix you a drink”, Chuck replied a small smirk forming on his face.
Nate watched as Chuck walked over to the bar, getting him a glass. He really didn’t want to have a drink with him, but Jenny’s words kept running through his mind which made his very aware that he was here for her. Leaning against the pool table, Nate looked over at Chuck’s room. Was that where it happened? Of course it was. The room, the bed, the night that took the last of Jenny’s innocence from him. Nate found his stomach knotting, and his fists clenching tightly together almost subconsciously, Nate wasn’t sure if he was as strong as Jenny was, if he could just forgive and forget.
“Here…”, Chuck muttered passing Nate the glass.
Taking the glass, Nate took a sip of it before laughing weakly.
“What?”, Chuck asked sitting down on the stool at the bar.
“Seems I keep finding myself in this situation with you…”, Nate put ran his thumb across the top of the glass. “You stealing the girl that’s supposed to be mine.”
“I didn’t steal Jenny from you Nate”, Chuck replied frowning at his former friend.
“No, you took something that wasn’t yours to take, now to me that seems a hell of a lot like stealing.”
“And who’s was it to take Nate? Yours? You and Jenny were not together then.”
Nate shook his head, taking another sip of whisky.
“That last time I checked you were in love with Serena, and Jenny didn’t even exist to you.”
“That’s not true…Jenny and I were friends.” Nate replied, setting his glass down on the table.
“Oh and you made sure you made that perfectly clear to her at every opportunity you had. It didn’t take a genius to know the girl was in love with you. She pretty much fell at your feet whenever you walked into the room.”
Nate looked down shutting his eyes tightly, every word Chuck was saying was true. He knew how she felt about him, the kiss on his birthday made things pretty obvious but he still couldn’t stay away from her, just couldn’t say no. She was the girl he was always pushing away, but always fighting for to get back, to stop her moving on, moving away. He was a bastard…he knew that now.
“That girl worshipped you, and you just pushed her away.”
“So what you slept with her instead?!”, Nate replied his tone getting louder.
“Look it’s not like it was pre meditated it’s just something that happened. I gave her a choice and she chose me.”
Nate rose from the table walking over to Chuck, his jaw clenched together. “You should’ve known better, you should have said no.”
Chuck arched his brows, a smirk forming on his face. “Nathaniel, Im Chuck Bass… when have I ever said no?”, looking down at Nate’s hands he noticed his fists were drawn together. “What are you gonna do? Hit me again, I think we both know that doesn’t solve anything, you clearly don’t feel any better about the situation.”
Nate swallowed deeply before pacing the room, shaking his head as he did so.
“I didn’t know she meant that much to you, I really didn’t.” Chuck got up and walked over to Nate, pulling a hand on his shoulder. “Whatever you think, I do care about her. I would never have done it if she didn’t want me to.”
Nate pushed Chuck’s arm off his shoulder. “Can we not talk about this anymore, kinda makes me wanna vomit.” Nate mumbled bitterly.
“Nate I would never would have done what I did if you were together, you’re my best friend and I do care about the girl, you deserve to be happy.”
Nate nodded his head. “A part of me despises you and everything you stand for, but a bigger part is telling me I only feel this way because you did what I should’ve, you didn’t hurt her, you didn’t push her away. It’s my fault, you two…”, Exhaling Nate walked over to the pool table and picked up his drink, necking it back.
Chuck followed him, walking over to the bar he poured himself another drink. “All that matters is you and Jenny are together now, I assume your together right?”
“Yeah, were together”, Nate mumbled his insides smiling as he thought about Jenny.
“Im glad, you two always were perfect for each other. You both project the teenage angst very well.”
Nate smirked down into his glass before looking over at Chuck, the smirk disappearing.
“Jenny is my girlfriend, she’s mine and I love her. So if you ever hurt her, or look at her in the wrong way again…”
“Would dream of it Nathaniel.” Chuck interrupted, holding up his hands. “Now what do you say we finish off this bottle?”
“I cant, I have to go.” Nate said putting the glass on the bar.
“What you cant stay for another drink? We have a lot to catch up on…”
“Chuck just because we’ve come to an agreement doesn’t mean were friends again, that’s gonna take some time.”
Chuck shook his head, before walking around the bar to Nate. Holding out his hand. “Well I’ll see you around Archibald.”
Nate took his hand and shook it, his eyes like daggers, he wanted Chuck to know how serious he was about Jenny. Letting go off Chuck’s hand, Nate walked into the elevator exhaling as the doors shut behind him. Well, that was one down - next stop… Dan.
….
Making her into the Gallery, Jenny looked around nervously before seeing Vanessa behind the counter. Gulping, she straightened out her dress before walking over to her. Vanessa was messing with the coffee machine before she looked up and spotted Jenny across from her.
“What are you doing here?!”, Vanessa asked.
“I need to talk to you.” Jenny replied playing the rings on her fingers.
“Well I have nothing to say to you.” Throwing some change into the cash machine, she slammed it shut before walking past Jenny.
“Vanessa please, I just need to explain. Give me five minutes.”
Exhaling, Vanessa looked at Jenny. “Fine, 5 minutes. Your lucky it’s dead in here.”
Sitting down at one of the tables, she watched as Vanessa sat across from her with a bitter look on her face.
“Im so sorry about last night, I didn’t want you to find out like that.”
“Oh, so your were just gonna keep lying to me?!”.
Jenny looked down, biting her lip anxiously.
“Have you been seeing him this entire time?”
“No, it happened at the Roses are Red party…”
“That’s why he ran after you?!”, Vanessa shook her head. “I knew it, how could you do this to me Jenny you knew how I felt about him!”
Jenny’s eyes widened, as she leant forward. “I knew how you felt about him? Vanessa, Nate and I were practically together when you stole the letter last year!”
“Oh so this is about revenge?!”
“No of course it’s not!”, Jenny rose from her chair pacing the gallery, annoyed by Vanessa’s hypocritical remarks. “I am in love with him, I always have been and I always will be! And Im sorry if that has hurt you in anyway it was not my intention…”, Jenny yelled looking down at her friend.
Vanessa stood up throwing her apron down onto the table. “Incase you’ve forgotten Nate and I were actually together we didn’t just have some little meaningless fling!”
“Yeah and why was it just a fling Vanessa?! The second you saw Nate happy with me you put an immediate stop to that, were you thinking about my feelings when you went through MY MAIL and took a letter that he wrote for me?! Were you thinking off me when you told me to move on, or when you kissed him at the Snowflake Ball?!”
“Jenny he never wanted you, me and him had history. He was mine first!”
Jenny ran her hands through her hair, the anger building up inside of her. Was she for real?!
“He was yours first?! Vanessa he was saving my ass long before he was screwing yours!”
Vanessa looked over at her shocked by her remark. She couldnt say anything about that, Nate always did have an annoying habit of saving the girl.
Resting against the counter, Jenny looked around the Gallery. “I didn’t come here to fight with you.”
“It’s a little bit late for that.” Vanessa muttered bitterly, before sitting back down on her chair.
Jenny looked down, folding her arms. “I am sorry for hurting you, but I love him Vanessa, I love him so much.” Looking up, Jenny observed Vanessa. “And Im not gonna let you come between us again..But if we cant get past this then so be it.”
Grabbing a drink from the refrigerator, Jenny put some money into the cash register. Before walking up to Vanessa. “You’re my friend, and I love you… but I love him more.”
Walking to the door, Jenny opened it slowly.
“And what makes you so sure that he’s not just gonna get bored of you and throw you out like he did with all the other girls?!” Vanessa shouted sourly.
Jenny took a sip of her juice, swallowing deeply. “You mean like what he did with you?!” Looking through the window she saw Vanessa stand up in the reflection. “Goodbye Vanessa.” Jenny muttered leaving the Gallery. She wasn’t going to feel guilty about being with Nate, about being head over heels in love with him, she wasn’t going to back down, Nate was hers and she intended to keep things that way.
….
Slamming the cab door behind her, Jenny gave the cab driver his money before stretching. Walking into her building she nodded at the doorman, pressing the button for the elevator Jenny turned suddenly crashing into a familiar figure with a delicious scent.
“Nate?! What are you doing here?!”, Jenny asked smiling up at her boyfriend.
“Figured it was time to sort things with your brother.”
“Oh, I was actually gonna do the same thing.” Grabbing his hand, she lead him into the elevator directing it to her floor. Frowning Jenny leant against one of the walls, looking down.
“Are you Ok?”, Nate asked putting a hand on Jenny’s back.
“Yeah Im fine just, I had a fight with Vanessa.”
Arching his brows, Nate wrapped his arms around Jenny. “Im sorry.”
“It’s not your fault.” Jenny muttered leaning her head against his chest. Although she was pissed off at Vanessa, she couldn’t help question some of the thing she’d said to her. Licking her lips, Jenny grabbed Nate’s hands. “Your not gonna get bored of me are you?”
“What?!”, Nate asked spinning Jenny around to face him. “What kind of a question is that?”
“I don’t know a relevant one? I mean you’ve not exactly got the best track records with previous girlfriends.”
Nate widened his eyes, shaking his head. “What’s that supposed to mean?!”
“It’s not supposed to mean anything just… Nate I love you, and I need to know that your not gonna leave me for somebody else.”
Stroking Jenny’s shoulders, he smiled at her weakly. “I would never do that. You actually have no idea how much I love you do you?”
“If it’s as much as I love you, then were in pretty deep.” Jenny mumbled, looking into his eyes.
Nate smiled broadly. “Come here.” Kissing her gently, Nate cupped her face as he felt Jenny wrap her arms around his neck, pushing her up gently against one of the walls the two got so lost in each other they didn’t even hear the elevator door opening. Hearing a grunt from the side of them, the two both turned to find Dan staring at them.
“Oh you two are really pushing it now.”