writing from her heart
"an undying infatuation with words"
Tuesday, June 17, 2008 @ 7:56 AM
InspiredByGossipGirl.

Inspired By Gossip Girl

It was beginning to get dark in the park. There was a slight breeze that brought threats of rain from the east and she shivered. Serena pulled her black leather jacket tighter around her shoulders as she approached the wooden bench where she had agreed to meet up with him.
Little pinpricks of goose pimples appeared on her slim legs, prompting her to hurry over to the bench. She cursed herself for deciding to go out in a dior dress that she had modified herself. "Why wasn't I smart enough to go home and change into a sensible pair of jeans?" she asked herself.
An accoustic guitar was slung over her shoulder in it's polished timber case she had bought eleven years ago when her late grandfather had taught her the joys of music. She had forked out hundreds of dollars for the case-not wanting to use the endless amount of money in her bank account-and she loved it to bits. The guitar on the other hand was a gift from her father on her tenth birthday.
Although she had started learning the piano a year after that, she still loved her guitar more than any instrument in the world. It was always with her. She carried it everywhere she went. To school, to the library, anywhere.
It comforted her when she was down. It accompanied her in her hours of happiness. It was a refuge for the times when her parents couldn't care less about her. She felt safe whenever it was around and nothing could make her angrier than when someone threathened to smash her guitar to tiny wooden bits.
An hour before, she was playing at her best friend, Blair's birthday party. She had received a text message from a certain someone whome she loathed-but at the same time loved-asking to meet her at the Baltimore Square Garden half and hour before midnight.
She didn't want to but although she loathed that person, she loved him more than anything in the world. She had fallen in love with him in her sophomore year but he had never taken notice of her ever since that very incident in her freshman year.
He was two years elder than her. Their very first encounter was a horrific one, something she didn't wish to remember. Some idiot had decided to trip an unsuspecting freshman just to get a laugh out of it and she so unluckily was the victim. At that very moment, she was wearing Jimmy Choo stilettoes and everyone knows that when you wear stilettoes and get tripped, it isn't at all a nice experience.
She had fallen on top of him and everyone in the school had thought she was trying to get some in the middle of school. It was utterly embarassing but it had also been a lucky one. Blair was the most popular girl in school at that time-and she still was, next to Serena though neither of them knew it.
She had taken pity on Serena and helped her up and from that day on, they had bonded like sisters, carrying the same handbags, wearing the same make-up and shoes but never the same clothes. Both had different styles and they respected each other's fashion statements.
In her sophomore year, after the summer holidays, everyone had changed, including her. She was fuller and curvier and of course, he was more good-looking than he was before. Nate Archibald. When she had first entered the school compounds and laid eyes on the sexy body of his with the sexy tousled dirty-blonde hair and sparkling green eyes, she had fallen in love.
When she had seen his performance in the winter musical that very year end, she fell even more in love yet she never had an intimate conversation with him. Of course they had spoken a couple of times but only to discuss about the script of an upcoming play. She treasured those times with him and she never forgot a single moment she had spent with him.
He was smart, witty and at the same time charming. There wasn't a single conversation with him that wasn't interesting. He was the only person who could make her laugh freely-with a slight snort-and not laugh at her about it.
The only heart-breaking thing about him was that he was completely infatuated by her best friend. They had been dating on and off for three years and were officially the golden couple of the Baltimore School of Performing Arts. Both she and Blair were drama majors and so was Nate and that complicated things even more.
It hurt her to see the both of them flirting every practice. Sometimes, she felt very left out but most of the time, she just left them alone to rehearse her own lines since she had landed the lead female role with Blair as her stand-in and in a supporting role.
She sat down on the wooden bench and lay the guitar on the bench next to her, stroking the case, tracing her fingers over the metal plaque at the bottom of the case with her name and the year she had bought the guitar along with a dedication to her grandfather. She had ordered the plaque herself without her father's knowledge. Her bank account was so vast he wouldn't notice a few hundreds missing from it.
It was quiet all around her except for the occasional passer-by out for a midnight stroll and the rhythmic lapping of the lake against the shore. Deciding that it was unnerving to be sitting alone on a park bench with no one around, she picked up the guitar and walked over to the lakeside.
She eased her feet out of the leopard print Gucci flats and dipped them into the cool water of the lake. She sighed in pure bliss as the water eased the aching in her feet. She should really let the pair of flats break in before wearing them again. They had left a small cut on the back of her heels and it was currently stinging.
"Thought I might find you here instead of the bench," came a deep masculine yet elegant voice from behind her. "You were never the one to follow orders."
She instantly turned around, clutching the guitar to her chest like it would protect her. She breathed a sigh of relief as she realised who it was. "Don't ever scare me like that again, Nate," she sighed, putting down the guitar.
He just gave her a dazzling smile and sat down beside her, stretching out his legs. She felt awkward with him sitting so close to her with nobody around but she liked it. "I didn't see you at Blair's party earlier," she said, swirling the water absent-mindedly with her index finger.
He sighed and crossed his arms behind his head before lying down on the soft grass. "I was busy," he said simply.
Serena could tell he was lying since he usually spoke in long elaborate sentences. "What were you busy doing?"
Nate raised an eyebrow as he looked at Serena. "Nate, I can tell you're lying."
He just sighed and smiled, dazzling her once more. "Mrs. Fritz wants me to direct the spring musical so I was busy preparing manuscripts for those who made it past the auditions."
It seemed true enough since he was as good an actor as he was a director so Serena believed him but something in her didn't buy it. "Why'd you invite me here?" she asked, changing the subject.
"I just wanted to talk. To escape the worries of life and just spend time with-" but he didn't continue the sentence.
A nagging feeling was at the back of Serena's mind but she ignored it. "Blair was pretty mad when you didn't show up," she said, glancing up at the sky to find it surprisingly clear.
The stars were twinkling like there was no tomorrow and a ghost of a smile appeared on her lips. "I guess," Nate replied in a bored tone.
Serena shot him a dirty look. "She had mascara running down her cheeks in black streaks and her chignon was in a total mess," she said, her voice low and angry. "Do you know what running mascara does to your pores?
"She even made a bet with Chuck to see if you would turn up by eleven thirty and she's currently making out with him."
Nate laughed, darkly. "What was the bet about?"
"If you turned up, Chuck would leave her alone forever but if you didn't, she had to spare him one night."
Nate laughed once more and then he was silent for a few minutes. "I never knew Chuck liked her," he said with a slight smile on his face. "If I did, I would have handed Blair to him a long time ago."
Serena gasped in pure shock and she raised her hand to slap Nate hard across his face. "How dare you?!" she shouted, connecting perfectly with his left cheek.
Nate said nothing as he nursed his hurting cheek but Serena could tell that there was an annoying smirk on his perfectly sculpted face. "What would Blair say if she knew you were sitting here with me and not attending her birthday party?" Serena growled, glaring angrily at him.
He shrugged and she resisted the urge to slap him once more. "She'd probably run off to her room crying while tossing a pair of Manolo heels at me,' he said in a soft laugh.
Serena raised her hand once more to slap him hard but at that very moment, a sharp beeping tone cut through the tension. Nate pulled out his BlackBerry and pressed a few buttons before dazzling Serena with a smile. She looked at her wristwatch to find that it was midnight.
In a swift move, he had his arms around her waist and his lips pressed against hers. She protested and squealed but she soon succumbed to his kiss. He was surprisingly a very good kisser.
She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him closer to deepen the kiss. She boldly slipped her tongue in between his lips and she felt him smile against her lips. She fought for dominance but she gave into him.
She was the one to break the kiss. She touched her lips in disbelief as she looked at Nate with a slightly dazed look. "Why?" she whispered. Then, she snapped to her senses. "I've got to go."
She stood up and slung her guitar case over her shoulder. Nate instantly grabbed her wrist. "Don't go," he said, a sad look in his eyes.
She tried to pull away but Nate held a firm grip. "Let me go," she squealed, trying to break free but she couldn't. "You're Blair's boyfriend. It's not right for me to do this. I have to tell Blair."
Nate sighed and let go of her wrist. Serena wanted to run home to sob her eyes out but something in Nate's sigh told her that something was wrong. "What is it?" she asked, reaching out to touch his hands.
"Serena," he began, "Blair and I broke up yesterday."
"But-"
He pulled her into another sweet kiss, this time shorter than the one before. "We couldn't get along that well and," he said, stopping before he looking into Serena's eyes with a playful smile on his lips, "I fell in love with you from the time you fell on me."
Her eyes widened to the size of dinner plates and she gasped. She took those words as a cue and she leapt onto him, pushing him to the ground and kissed him hard. She broke off and took in a deep breath. "Nate, I've always loved you."
There was no need to tell him about only liking him after her sophomore year. It would sound stupid and silly. He smiled and sat up. "By the way, Serena," he said, reaching into the pocket of his jacket, "happy birthday."
He dangled a platinum chain with a small pendant in the shape of a quaver with a rose entwined around it. He put it on for her and she smiled. Everyone was so caught up with Blair's party that they had forgotten that she shared the same birthdate. Even she herself had forgotten about it but he had remembered.
Tears instantly sprung up in her eyes and he brushed them away with his thumb. "Your mascara will run and you know what that does to your pores, don't you?" he asked before leaning in and kissing her once more.
They broke apart and whispered in unison, "I love you."

Written specifially because Rifdi has such a huge ego that he couldn't stand me correcting him that he decided on a write-off and I won! He ultimately lost! *insert evil laugh* Sorry, Rifdi, sayang.