Chapter 19 -Part 5

Chapter 19
Part 5

Serena was sitting at her table alone. Blair had gone off with Nate, and Jenny was dancing with another freshman. She sighed, and looked around. Suddenly, she saw the last couple she thought would ever show up.
Dan and Vanessa.
Staring wide-eyed at them, Serena was shocked. How dare they! Serena was pretty sure they weren’t even invited.
Seeing S gaping at her, Vanessa dismissed Dan and walked over to Serena. “Well, well, well,” Vanessa said in a noticeably fake sweet voice. “I didn’t expect you to show up; least of all, dateless.” V looked around, pretending to search for Serena’s date.
“Well, I didn’t expect you to show up either,” Serena replied, narrowing her eyes. She so didn’t want to do this tonight.
“I couldn’t let Dan down,” Vanessa said. “I know how much he loves a good old fashioned Upper East Side party.” Serena stared at her, a bitter look in her eyes. She knew Vanessa had dragged Dan here, insisting that S wouldn’t show up. And of course, the only reason she had done that was to rub Dan in Serena’s face.
Serena smiled. “Excuse me,” she said sweetly, rising from the table. Vanessa looked after her, amused.
S rushed into the bathroom, getting out her lip gloss. She fixed her makeup and hair to be perfect, and then ran back out. Luckily, Vanessa was still mingling with some of the richer kids. Spotting Dan alone near the entrance to the ballroom, Serena gracefully strode over to him.
“Dan,” she said, acting genuinely surprised. “I didn’t expect to see you here! I thought you hated these events.”
“Uh, hi, Serena. I, uh, I didn’t know you were going to be here either.”
“Well, you know me,” Serena said, beaming. “I can never turn down a good party.”
“Um, yeah.” Dan looked past her, probably for Vanessa. Realizing small talk wasn’t going anywhere, Serena decided to use the direct approach.
“Dan, actually, I wanted to talk to you about us.” Dan turned to her quickly, surprised.
“Why? I thought you dumped me. Don’t you want nothing to do with me?”
Serena stared at him, confused. “What? I thought you broke up with me.”
“How did you get that idea?” Dan was just as bewildered as she was.
“Well, Vanessa came by a while ago and said you were dumping me. She said you realized I wasn’t the type of girl you wanted.”
“But how can that be? She came by and told me that you were kissing some other guy, and that you realized I wasn’t the type of guy you wanted!”
“What? But I didn’t say that! And I definitely didn’t kiss any other guy!”
“Well, if you didn’t break up with me, and I didn’t break up with you, then why would Vanessa lie to both of us like that?”
“To split us up, maybe? I mean, she kept going on about how you rejected me for her.” Serena looked over to where Vanessa was laughing with another girl from Constance Billiard. Good, Serena thought. She hasn’t noticed us yet.
Dan thought for a moment. He ran everything through his mind, and realized what Vanessa had done. “I can’t believe she would do that! She knew how much I cared about you. And she just broke us up so she could have me! Who would do that?”
“Vanessa Abrams would do that,” Serena sighed.
“I’m so sorry, Serena! I never should have believed her in the first place.”
“That’s okay. At least we know now, and we’ll never let her get in the way of us ever again.” Serena smiled at Dan. He smiled back. They hugged, and he kissed her cheek.
“So what do you think we should do?” Dan asked. “Like, should we tell her that we know?”
“Well, she’ll suspect something if you just stop being her date for the rest of the night,” Serena laughed, adjusting Dan’s necktie.
“Hmm. I guess you’re right. But I don’t feel like getting into a huge feud tonight. To tell you the truth, I’ve missed you so much that all I want to do is be with you.” Dan smiled shyly as Serena looked up at him.
“I feel the same way,” she said softly. “I’ll tell you what; how about we ditch this place?”
“Do you think Blair would mind?” Dan looked worried.
“Probably not. She knows how much I like you, and besides; I think she’s gonna be busy for a while.” Dan raised his eyebrows at her, but she didn’t go on.
“Well, alright then. Vanessa can just hang out here with Blair’s groupies.” They both laughed. “We should stop for ice cream. I’m hungry.”
“Oh, yes, definitely,” Serena said, relieved. “All they have here is salad and sugar-free mints.”
Smiling, the two walked outside together, heading for a nearby ice cream parlour. “I’ve missed you so much,” Dan said as they were walking. “You’re so much funner than Vanessa.” Serena laughed.
“Is ‘funner’ even a word?” she said, looking at him sceptically.
“Probably not, but it’s funner than saying ‘more fun’.” They both laughed as they continued down the sidewalk.
“I’ve missed you, too,” Serena said after a while. “I definitely didn’t enjoy being single, and I couldn’t muster up the nerves to ask Cedric out.”
Dan smiled. “Well, that’s good for me, then,” he said. “Because that Cedric really knows how to treat a girl.”
Serena laughed and kissed Dan’s cheek. Oh, how good it was to have her boyfriend back.