Everybody Changes: 6/?
Title: Everybody Changes
Author: kellou24
Based On: TV Series
Rating: PG-13 (For Now)
Pairings: Jenny/OMC, OFC/OMC, Blair/Chuck, Eventually Nate/Jenny
Disclaimer: I do not own Gossip Girl. If I did Nate and Jenny would already be together.
Summary: 5 years can change a person. Right?
Previous chapters: http://kellou24.livejournal.com/tag/fic:%20everybody%20changes
Warning: Drug use.
I had just started a stimulating conversation with the Ambassador of France and his wife when Dan came up behind me, grabbing my arm.
“Do you mind if I borrow my sister for a second?” he asked with a falsely sincere tone and giving them a big politicians smile. They nodded yes and I gave them a small wave as Dan pulled me behind him towards an empty study. He shut the door behind him and immediately rounded on me. “Just what do you think your doing?” he asked.
“I’m attending my father’s party. After all wouldn’t it be a little weird if Rufus Humphrey’s daughter wasn’t in attendance since they’re so close. I mean after all she doesn’t have the excuse not to be here now that she’s living in New York again.” I say practically spitting out the last few words causing him to flinch and slouch against the door.
“What do you want?” he asked monotonously. I stared at him a second before replying.
“The truth.”
He sighed and ran a hand through his short dark hair. “Mind narrowing it down a little more?” He asked sarcastically.
“Okay. How about we start with why is Dad lying to everyone? Or how about why your covering for him? Or better yet, why have you been lying to me?“ I stared into his eyes with a look of indifference on my face.
“It’s a long story.” He said hesitating.
“I don’t care.”
“Fine. Well it started about two years ago--”
“Wait! This has been going on for two years.” I said shocked.
“Would you mind not interrupting?” He asked clearly agitated at being interrupted.
“Sorry. Go on.” I said trying to reign in my temper.
“Well anyway it was right after you and Ana had moved to South Carolina, Will and I were still living with mom and Ron and I’d been trying to get a job for my writing and get out of that hell hole so I could get up enough money to get Will and I our own place when out of the blue dad calls asking if I’d meet him for lunch and so I being the overly curious person that I am agreed. I arrived and the second I sat down he started spewing this crap about how he missed the way our family used to be and that he wanted to meet his grandson and be in his life blah, blah, blah. So anyway me not believing this for a second, considering the fact that he’d barely called in three years and in the past hadn’t even wanted to meet “the mistake”, told him to cut the bullshit and tell me what he really wanted. Well he starts going on in this long tirade about how Lily wanted us back in their lives and that they’d been trying to have a baby but Lily didn’t want another kid until our family was back to how it used to be so he basically offered me money and an apartment in New York just to come to family gatherings and pretend we were all one big happy family.” He finished letting out a bitter laugh and smiled sardonically, waiting for me to absorb everything he just said.
“What about me? He never asked for my participation.” I said confused.
“Well one: since you were going to school and had this whole new life in South Carolina he could easily come up with excuses about how busy you were. And two: You wouldn’t of went for it.”
“Why do you say that?” I asked curiously.
“Your to stubborn. You would of flew all the way here and told Lily the truth just to spite dad.” I nodded my head knowing that I would of. “Besides the only reason I didn’t do it was because I was desperate. Between paying off Georgina’s treatment bills and trying to support Will alone I was ass deep in debt and I honestly couldn’t see anything else I could do.” He let out a heavy breath and ran an agitated hand through his hair.
“I didn’t know it was that bad.” I responded biting my lip hard enough to taste blood.
“How could you? It’s not like I ever told you how bad it was.” Which is true because every time I’d asked he’d just shrug it off and said he had it covered.
“I would of helped.” I said needlessly. He looked at me and gave me a sad smile.
“I know you would of.”
“You still should of told me though.” I said letting him know that even if I understood why he did what he did I was still pissed about being lied to.
“I know I should of told you but considering how good our relation is I didn’t want to chance ruining it.” He seemed to be thinking something over before deciding to just go for it. “Who told you anyway?” He asked hesitantly.
“Nate Archibald.” I responded.
“How did he know?” He asked clearly confused.
“Well he didn’t technically. I ran into him, and I mean literally ran into him, outside a Starbucks and he kind of let it slip about the “Trip” you and dad took to South Carolina and the party tonight so I kind of put two and two together.”
“ Huh,” He sighed again and suddenly something he said earlier occurred to me.
“Hold on a minute! Baby? They want to have a kid.”
“Yeah. They’ve been going to a special fertility doctor for about a year and half now.” He said nodding his head and pursing his lips. “Actually that’s what the party’s for. Looks like your going to be a big sister.” Another thought suddenly occurred to me.
“They’re still having sex.” I said with a disgusted expression on my face.
“Jenny they’re only in their late 40’s.” He said with a small laugh.
“Oh god. I think I’m going to vomit.” I said putting a hand over my mouth and shutting my eyes trying to block out the thought of my dad having sex.
“Stop being so melodramatic. Come on we better get back to the party.” He said grabbing my hand and pulling me towards the door. He stopped right before he opened it though. “Jen. I know your pissed at dad, even more than usual, but could you please keep quiet about this to Lily? It’s just she’s been really good to me and Will ever since I moved back and I’d really appreciate it if you kept quiet.” He asked.
“I’ll think about it.” I said walking around him toward the door and started to open it but Dan grabbed my wrist causing me to look back at him.
“I’m serious. Please don’t say anything.” He begged. I swallowed the lump in my throat and whispered okay before slipping out of his grip and out of the door.
~
I quickly dodged my way through the crowd, carefully avoiding friends of my father’s and Lily’s while on the lookout for either a waiter or the bar. Preferably the bar.
I had just spotted the waiter and was about to grab a glass of champagne when I was suddenly grabbed and pulled into some room from behind. I heard the door shut and I was about to scream when the person that grabbed me must of sensed it because whoever it was suddenly put a hand over my mouth and spoke in my ear.
“It’s Nate.” He slowly lifted his hand from my mouth and flipped on the light switch. My eyes quickly adjusted and the second he let go of me I turned around and pushed him hard in the chest causing him to stumble back and rub his chest while muttering a soft ow.
“You scared the hell out of me.” I said trying to control my heavy breathing. I looked around and saw that he had dragged me into a bathroom. I shook my head and was about to leave when what he said next got my attention.
“Well I’m sorry and to make it up to you I got you a little present.” He said before pulling out a full bottle of Jose Cuervo and another joint. “Can you ever forgive me?” He asked putting on his best mock innocent look. I just shook my head at him and took the bottle out of his hands before replying.
“Only if I get first hit.” I said before opening the shower curtain and sitting down in the tub.
~
40 Minutes Later
“--And then the little girl just kept coming forward barking at me, and just when she was about to start clawing my face, I woke up.” I said taking an anxious breath and I looked over at him with wide eyes to see him looking at me with a blank face before he burst out laughing. To say my feelings were hurt was an understatement. So I reacted the only way my drug hazed mind could think of.
“Ow!” He yelped wrapping his arms protectively around his stomach that I’d just slapped. Although it may seem a bit extreme to hit him, I can’t say I didn’t enjoy his pain. Maybe if this fashion thing doesn’t work out I could have a future as a dominatrix. I bet dad would just love that.
“That’s what you get for laughing at me.”
“I’m sorry okay. It’s just when we were talking about our biggest fears I didn’t expect you to be afraid of a little girl.” He said trying to keep a straight face as he uttered the last few words.
“First of all the little girl has claws that were trying to fuck my face up and second, do I need to remind you of your worse fear?” I asked deviously, smirking at him.
“Hey! Worrying about my penis shrinking is not a joke.” He replied seriously.
“Well I guess if you just rule out masturbating and swimming, basically anything that involves stress in that area, you should be fine.” I said giving a small laugh before taking the last swig of tequila.
“Whatever.” He said sullenly before putting out the joint. We sat there in silence for a moment before he decided to speak again. “I’m sorry.”
“For what?” I asked confused. After all why would he be apologizing about laughing at one of my fears. Even I know it’s stupid.
“For not being there when you needed me.”
“What the hell are you going on about?” I asked having no clue what he was talking about.
“I should have been the one you talked to that night. Not Chuck. Maybe then things would have been different.” I just stared at him for a minute before bursting out laughing.
“You can’t be serious,” I said trying to reign myself in. When I saw his serious expression I figured I should explain something to him. “Look it wasn’t like he forced me. That’s one thing you and Dan just can’t seem to understand. Besides if it wasn’t him it probably would have been someone else.”
“Maybe but I can’t stand that that happened to you. I mean you deserve an apology from him.”
“Actually he already has apologized.”
“Really?” He asked surprised.
“Yeah. Um probably about a month or two after his accident he called me,” I said trying to think back. “He apologized and asked if I could ever forgive him.”
“And did you?” He asked curiously.
“What’s there to forgive? I mean it was a mistake we both made. So stop stressing over something that happened five years ago.” I said patting him on the thigh. I was about to move my hand away when he grabbed it and entwined our fingers together. We looked into each others eyes before his moved to my lips and he licked his before leaning forward only to be stopped by my hand on his forehead right before his lips touched mine. He moved back slowly and looked at me with a look of confusion on his face.
“I have a boyfriend.” I said.
“Oh right. I’m sorry.” He said running a hand over his face. I decided to take pity on him.
“It’s weird being on the receiving end of that.” I said trying to make a joke.
“What do you mean?” He asked confused.
“Well it’s usually you that has a significant other and I’m usually the one trying to kiss you, not the other way around.” I said giving a small laugh before taking another drink of tequila, savoring the burn and bitter aftertaste.
“True. So I guess I should start trying to seduce you away from him, right?” He asked mockingly.
“Oh come on. I wasn’t that bad.” I said thinking back to the old days where my whole life was centered around fitting in and my practically non-existent relationship with Nate Archibald.
“I don’t know. I seem to remember you walking around in my t-shirts and trying to get me drunk.”
“Hey! I told you I wore your shirt purely for comfort. Nothing else. Besides not my fault it looked good on me.” I quipped back. He was silent for a second and when I looked over at him he seemed to be having some internal battle with himself.
“I should probably thank you.” He said.
“Thank me for what?” I asked, confused on where his mind had gone.
“For help speeding along my breakup with Serena.” He clarified. I just stared at him for a second before letting out a very unladylike snort.
“Okay your officially high.” I said laughing at him.
“What?”
“You must be high if your actually thanking me for helping ruin one of your many relationships.” I explained.
“No I’m serious. I really do want to thank you.”
“Yeah in what way did I help you? I mean if anything I probably caused more bad than good.”
“What I mean is, I was blinded by her faults because I’d always seen her as being perfect and even though you did it for your own reasons, you really opened my eyes to how bad our relationship really was.” He explained.
“Bad? You were like practically perfect for each other. I mean the only time you guys actually fought was because of something I’d done so I don’t see how you can thank me.”
“That’s just it though. It wasn’t even really a relationship. It was two good friends having lots of sex. We both weren’t honest with each other and as you said we didn’t fight. I mean what makes a good relationship work is opening up to each other and actually wanting to fight to keep the relationship going. That’s always been my problem with relationships. I never fight to make it work. I always just follow along to whatever the girl I’m with decides.” He concluded.
“You’re pretty smart when your high.” I said causing him to laugh.
“Only when I’m high?” He asked smiling.
“Your already pretty you can’t be perfect. That would just be cruel.” He just shook his head at me before changing the subject.
“So tell me about this oh so amazing boyfriend.” He asked suddenly.
“Why do you want to know?” I asked scrunching my nose up at him.
“Well hypothetically speaking, if I were to try to get you for myself I’d need to know a bit about my competition wouldn’t I?” He replied. I couldn’t tell if he was joking or not so I decided to just shrug it off.
“What do you want to know?”
“Does he make you happy?” He asked grabbing the bottle of tequila out of my hands and taking a swig.
“Yeah. He does.” I said with a small smile playing on my lips. We both sat in silence for a moment before Nate stood up and held his hand out to help me up. I took it slowly and he pulled me up till I was pressed into his body almost intimately. He ran a hand through his hair and smiled at me.
“Well we better get out there.” He said stepping over the side of the tub.
“Yeah.” I quickly followed him putting my feet back in my shoes, trying to ignore the doubt creeping back into my brain
A/N: So this is the longest chapter I've ever written. Thank you so much for reading and your welcome to review.