her eyes again. [..] She bent down and kissed Nate’s cheek, breathing
in the wonderful sandalwood soap smell of him and dampening his skin
with her tears. She was crying because she loved both him and Blair, and
she was never happier than when she was with them. How could she leave
her two best friends? And maybe she was crying because the idea of Blair and Nate snuggling on
his parents’ bed without her was simply too much to bear. ----- “Do you think he and that girl are really..?” Blair’s voice trailed off.
[..] Serena shrugged her shoulders sadly. How could the boy she loved
so dearly be so careless and insensitive? Didn’t he know that she lay in
bed every night imagining how it would be- them together – like an
Eternity perfume ad, only better? They even looked alike- sort of.
Didn’t he get it? ----- When she returned to the bedroom, Nate was lying next to a sleeping
Blair on top of the white eyelet bedspread, blinking up at the white
eyelet canopy overhead as if deciphering the constellations. Serena
climbed up next to him and lay down, reluctant to get under the covers
and add a layer of separation between her body and his. Instead, she
wound her long legs around him and pressed her face into his chest. “Happy Valentine’s Day,” she whispered, ever so softly. They lay like that for a minute, wide awake. Suddenly Nate felt more
turned on than he ever had in his life. Why now? Actually he was
starving. But he could stave off hunger if Serena would just roll on top
of him and kiss him. “Nate?” Serena was still drunk and felt relaxed and daring. Nate was
right there and she was right here. It just felt like the most obvious
thing in the world. “I know this might be weird but—“ she lifted her
head and looked down at him smiling expectantly up at her. Then she
didn’t say anything more, she just did it. She kissed him. Blair was only inches away, breathing deeply, but they couldn’t stop
kissing. Nate wasn’t even thinking about Blair. All he knew was how good
it felt to kiss the warm, familiar, incredible girl in his arms. Serena
had wanted to kiss Nate for so long, doing it for real was an
entire-body experience. She opened her eyes, watching him kiss her in a
tipsy haze. This is crazy, she tried to tell herself, still kissing. “I could just kiss you forever,” she murmured softly, her lips brushing
his. Nate opened his eyes and smiled ecstatically back at her, and her
heart exploded into a thousand glittering stars. She kissed him again,
more fervently this time. I love you, Nate! Her thoughts were so loud
she was sure she’d wake Blair, but maybe Blair would understand. After
all, they were best friends. And Blair’s crush on Nate was just a
flirty, childish thing, not real, not grown-up love. Not love like this.
Not kisses like this. Finally they dozed off, holding each other, their lips cracked and
parched from so much kissing. ----- Blair turned her leaden head. Nate’s cheek was on Serena’s chest. His
gray T-shirt was off and he looked totally..blissful. Serena was wearing
a skimpy white camisole and was hugging Nate’s head tight. Blair bolted
upright and kicked away the covers, simultaneously removing them from
their cozy cuddle sandwich and revealing their long legs, which were all
atangle. ----- “Summer,” Serena mused aloud. No school. Sunny days filled with kisses. Skinny-dipping. Nate. “I can’t wait.” She slipped her hand over Nate’s
wrist and squeezed his free hand. He squeezed back, and she kicked her
feet happily against the mattress, silently screaming with the thrill of
it. This was just the beginning, the beginning of her and Nate. ----- “Hey- wait up!” All of sudden Nate’s adorable golden head and
irresistible, glittering green eyes swam in front of her. He leaned in
and kissed her right on the mouth. Hello. “I thought about you all weekend,” he told her, suddenly realizing that
he could have been kissing her all weekend if he hadn’t been getting
high with his buddies. Duh? “Me too,” Serena whispered back, her heart banging wildly against her
ribs. Had he come to apologize for leaving her house so abruptly
yesterday morning? Had he come to tell her he loved her? She grasped his
hand and swung it back and forth between them, her cheeks turning a
bright, happy pink. [..] Nate pulled the tiny blue glazed sailboat he’d made in art class out of
his book bag and handed it to Serena. “I made it for you,” he told her
shyly, sounding about seven years old. Serena had spent most of yesterday with Blair, pretending to be excited
about Blair and Nate. Now she could barely resist grabbing him and
kissing him all over. She took a step toward him and leaned into his
muscular chest. He smelled smoky and Nate-y, and wonderful. [..] Nate took a step forward and kissed her lightly on the lips. “You look
pretty today;” he said, wishing now that he wasn’t quite so stoned. Serena giggled and pushed him away. “I’ll call you, okay?” she told him
quickly before dashing across the street and into a waiting cab. Sitting
back, she fished the little blue boat out of her coat pocket again. HMS
SERENA was etched in the stern, with a tiny red glazed heart next to
her name. ----- Nate stumbled into the suite, carrying a black Bergdorf’s suit bag and
looking completely adorable in a baked, wide-eyed sort of way. Serena
knew at once that she couldn’t go through with Blair’s charade. She
wasn’t a selfish girl by nature, but Nate was already hers and she
wanted him. She wanted him all to herself. “Natie!” she exclaimed, dashing over to help him with his things. “You
look nervous. Come on, have a cocktail. It’s going to be fun, you’ll
see.” Nate’s eyes were huge and emerald green. Serena was so damned gorgeous.
Why the hell was he going to that fancy debutante dance when he could
just stay here and kiss her all night?
authenticity, but at least Nate would know where to find her. ----- It was Blair, sounding so excited she was practically screaming. “We did
it!” Serena flopped dizzily down on her bed. She felt wrung out or
waterlogged. What was she supposed to say- congratulations? At least
Blair was happy now and not leaning over the toilet, miserably puking
her guts up. “Is he still there?” Serena whispered hoarsely. “Yes,” Blair whispered giddily back. “He’s sleeping.” Serena closed her eyes as tears spilled out of them uncontrollably.
“Oh.” ----- “Wait!” Blair cried, flinging her arms around Nate’s neck one more time.
She just had to kiss him in the exact spot where Audrey Hepburn ate a Danish out of a brown
paper bag on the sidewalk outside of Tiffany in the opening scene in
Breakfast at Tiffany’s. This is way better than any cheese Danish, she
thought greedily as she ran her tongue over Nate’s perfect teeth. Today a
gold heart, in a few years a diamond engagement ring! Suddenly Nate
pulled away and took a step back. "Hey,” he called over Blair’s shoulder. He wiped his mouth on the sleeve
of his blue wool toggle coat, looking slightly sheepish. Blair whipped around. There was Serena, looking cold and sort of
bedraggled and completely gorgeous, like the princess in The Princess in
the Pea before she stumbles into the castle out of the storm and meets
the prince who winds up marrying her. Serena darted away from them, about to cross Fifth Avenue, when Nate
called up on her again. Hey, wait up!” She stopped and turned, her stunning navy blue eyes wide and startled
looking, as if she’d only just noticed them standing there. “Oh, hey,”
she faltered. “I didn’t see you guys.” Likely story. ----- Serena wanted to be angry with him for not showing any signs of remorse,
but as soon as she saw his dear, unspeakably handsome face, the anger
didn’t surface. She loved him. It was as simple as that. No matter what
happened, she would always love him. ----- “We’re going to the zoo,” Blair announced, taking her friends arm. “You
have to come.” As soon as she’d said it, though, she realized with a
strange sort of queasy meanness that she really didn’t want Serena to
come at all. When she was with Nate, she wanted him to herself, because
now he was hers - all hers. “You know how much you love the polar bear,” Nate reminded Serena. It
was one of the things he adored about her, the way she talked to the
polar bears like it was her long-lost twin. “I have a date,” Serena lied, marvelling at herself. A date? With whom? “With Chuck?” Blair asked perkily. Serena stared at her, horrified. Did Blair actually believe that she’d
kissed Chuck last night because she was into him? “I’m meeting my dad for brunch,” she informed them. “He wants to discuss
my future,” she added, shooting Nate a pointed look as if to say,
because he couldn’t wait to see her get off that train and- There it was, the silver Metro-North train with its thick orangey-red
stripe. The doors opened and she stepped onto the platform, three cars
down, wearing a thin light blue slip dress and pink rubber flip-flops,
her pale blond hair hanging nearly to her waist. She spotted him and her
face lit up with the most glorious smile. Then she broke into a run,
her flip-flops thwacking the ground as she came closer and closer. He wrapped her in his arms and picked her up, swinging her around like a
little kid. “Oh Natie, you’re so strong!” she laughed, and then she
leaned in and kissed him right on the lips. Nate closed his eyes and held her for a second longer before putting her
down on the platform. He was pretty sure this was about to be the best
day of his summer, or maybe even his life. He was in no hurry. “Lets get
a drink in that place upstairs;” he told her gruffly, trying to hide
the fact that he had just experienced his very first swoon. [..] Nate took her hand and led her upstairs to the open-air bar overlooking
the main terminal. The bar stools were covered with red velvet and the
seats of their stools were already touching when they sat down, and they
didn’t bother to move them. “Two dirty martinis, please!” Serena barked
at the bartender in a superior voice and then collapsed against Nate’s
wonderful-smelling chest, giggling. She felt drunk already. What was
wrong with her? Love, baby. Serena sipped her martini without tasting it and stared into Nate’s
adoring, glittering green eyes. She couldn’t tear her eyes away. He
looked just like he always looked. He was the same- exactly the same
Natie she’d dreamt about all summer- but better. He was everything,
perfect. She reached out and smoothed down the fine blond hair on his
deeply tanned forearm. Then she pulled her hand away, grabbed her glass
and gulped her drink. “Arent you going to tell me about Maine?” Nate wanted to grab her hand back and put it on his arm again. Touching
her was all he could think about. Serena, his girl, his dream girl, was
right here, right now, sitting so close, her thigh pressed against his,
breathing the same air he was, talking to him and stroking his arm. What
was to stop from kissing her again? And kissing her, and kissing her..
“We did a lot of work on the boat. One day I’ll take you sailing in it,”
he gasped, finding it hard to talk. Her huge blue eyes were like oceans themselves. “Oh, Natie. It’s so good
to see you,” she gushed, her whole body trembling. “I’ve been
so..there’s just been way too much of me and not enough of..you this
summer.” Nate gulped down most of his martini. His hands felt all grabby and he
wasn’t sure he could control them. He just wanted to grab every gorgeous
bit of her and hold on. Below them the terminal was milling with
people, but it felt like they were the only people in it. Like the
entire station had been built for them alone. Their little bar with its
Serena tightened her grip on Nate’s arm and pulled him toward her. She
kissed him softly on the lips and then quickly pulled away, her face
flushed. Her light blue slip dress was soaked. Nate’s pants were soaked.
What were they doing? “Sorry,” she apologized, removing a strand of wet
pale blond hair from her cheek. Nate grabbed her hand and laced his fingers through hers. “It’s okay.
Don’t stop. I don’t want you to stop.” He kissed her perfect cheek, and
then her perfect nose, and then her perfect lips, and then her perfect
neck, and then her lips again. And they didn’t stop. They kept going, kissing like mad and yanking the
rest of each other’s clothes off. It was kind of embarrassing to be
outside in front of the security cameras, though, and besides, the
fountain was kind of small and wet and there was no place to lie down. "Lets go upstairs,” Nate murmured, picking Serena up in his strong arms
before she could even answer. As if in a dream – the most glorious dream she’d ever dreamt – Serena
allowed Nate to carry her inside the house and up the elegant,
red-carpeted staircase. She was done being a martyr. Nate wanted her and
she wanted him. End of story. Actually, this is just the beginning. ----- Nate carried Serena up two flights of stairs to his parents’ bedroom.
Her dress was in the fountain, a soaking ball of blue silk. So were his
pants and his belt. There wasn’t much left to take off. He settled her
gently on top of the golden yellow cotton coverlet and lay down next to
her, admiring the glow of her smooth skin in the rays of late summer sun
beaming through the skylight overhead. Serena turned her head and
pressed her forehead into his. “I could just kiss you forever,” she
murmured, her lips brushing his. “But I don’t want to just kiss.” They looked into each other’s eyes with an excited intensity that only
excited them even more. This was it: the thing neither of them had ever
done before was about to happen and in the most perfect way- with each
other. Nate pulled Serena close. “I love you,” he said loudly because he wanted
the whole city to hear it. “I love you,” she replied, even louder. Then she erupted into excited
giggles and began tearing his white cotton boxers off with her long,
graceful, overeager fingers, followed by her own fountain-soaked white
underwear. She tossed the soggy undergarments across the room and they
landed on the floor by the door.[..] How fun, how right, to be doing the scariest thing for a girl to do for
the first time with her best friend, the boy she’d loved forever. Her
Nate. There was really nothing scary about it. It was exactly the way it
was supposed to be. He brushed his nose against hers. “Are you sure?” he asked quietly, even
though he was pretty sure he knew the answer. “Yes,” Serena nodded, pressing her body against his. She’d never been
more sure of anything. “Please?” she added with a giggle, because it was
pretty obvious that he wanted to too. So they did it. And the fun part was watching each other’s faces,
because they both looked so scared and happy and surprised. Serena could
not stop laughing. It hurt, it did, but not in the way she’d thought.
It was still so much fun, because Nate was so sweet. He didn’t want it
to hurt, and every time she flinched he just kissed the hurt away. She
loved him o much, hurt was the wrong word. There were no words for how
it felt. It was like getting the present she’d wanted for such a long,
long time and finding out it was even better than she’d anticipated. It
was amazing. He was amazing. Nate couldn’t believe he got to do this for the first time with the most
beautiful girl in the universe. He was damned glad he’d waited, because
nothing could top this. He loved Serena so badly it made him feel like
he was going to explode. He couldn’t stop smiling and laughing and
looking at her. It was amazing. She was amazing. Their bodies were amazing, the way they fit together and knew
instinctively what to do. It was like this was somehow preordained.
They’d been built for each other, created to be together, like two
pieces from a model sailboat. They weren’t laughing anymore, because there wasn’t anything funny. They
just held each other, shivering with the thrill of being closer than
they’d ever been before, sharing something they didn’t know existed,
something they’d keep with them forever. Eventually they dozed off in each other’s arms. Nate woke up first. It
was nighttime now. The stars had come out in the skylight overhead.
Without thinking about what he was doing, he reached for the remote on
his dad’s bedside table and switched on the TV. It was tuned to the
History Channel, and the narrator for a documentary about Moses, who
sounded an awful lot like Serena’s friend Isabel Coates’s dad, said in
an incredibly loud voice, “Moses saw no alternative but to part the Red
Sea so that he and his people could cross it.” Jesus, it was loud. Nate had forgotten his father was practically deaf.
He pressed the volume button over and over again to soften it, but
Serena’s long eyelashes were already fluttering open against his chest.
She lifted her head and grinned at him. “You parted my Red Sea!” They both snorted, erupting into giddy giggles until they were howling
with laughter. It was kind of a gross analogy but pretty funny too. They
wrestled with each other under the covers, their bodies sleeo with
sweat. Soon they were kissing, unable to stop, and before they knew it,
he was parting her Read Sea once more. There they go again, making history! ----- Her new green metallic Treo was clutched in her white-knuckled hands,
where it had been the whole ride up. She flipped it open and snapped a
picture of her bare toes on the dashboard. Her toenails were chipped and
weather-beaten, but they were still painted all different colors, the
way they’d been that night with Nate. She pressed send and e-mailed the
picture to him, hoping it would make him laugh. Then she flipped her
phone closed and tossed it into her bag. Two big, glistening tears slid
down her cheeks.