Serena is beautiful. She's everything delicious, and wrong and vulgar. She's experienced.

Blair is cute. She's everything innocent, and sweet and simple. She's inexperienced.

Nathaniel Archibald is a seventeen year old boy. No not a man, a foolish, young, naive, boy.

Who do you think appeals to him the most?

Serena was twelve years old when she started taking interest in boys. Taking a real, interest in boys. Nathaniel Archibald, to be exact.

Even when Nate was young, he was attractive. Glittering green eyes and golden curls that fell over his face in small chunks. And if you wanted to add to that, he was also playing on the ages twelve to fourteen, Lacrosse team. Lacrosse was hot.

Nate was perfect. And she loved him. Even at the very young of age twelve and a half.

Serena loved him.

Blair knew she would marry Nathaniel Archibald the day she met him. She didn't have to think it through, it was, in her mind, already set in stone.

When she told him, as they were playing hopscotch, all he did was smile. Smile. That's it. No protest. No complaints. Just a smile.

Blair took that as a yes.

Christmas Dinners bring families together. The Waldorfs, The Archibalds, The Van der Woodsens, and The Basses that is.

Christmas Dinners bring love triangles to its pit.

Christmas Dinners require acceptable behavior.

Basically, Christmas Dinners suck. Especially for heartbreaking liars, like Nate Archibald.

Blair's no idiot. She's not completely oblivious to the fact that both her best friend and her boyfriend have both excused themselves from the long polished wood table, where numerous people are eating, to use the restroom only approximately thirty seconds after each other.

She was able to detect an eye lock between the two of them before Nate excused himself. An eye lock... that meant something.

So, she did what any suspicious girlfriend would do, she excused herself as well and followed them.

Straight into the walk-in pantry.

Serena's not used to this feeling. She's not really quite sure what it is at the moment. But when Nate leans over to brush his lips against hers for the ninth- she counted- time that minute and he stops midway to turn to a befuddled Blair- who is still as beautiful as always, even with that look on her face- the feeling gets worse.

Blair, for once in her life, doesn't say anything. She just runs. And Nate, oh-so-gorgeous Nate, runs after her.

And Serena realizes it. The awful feeling in the pit of her stomach is guilt.

Guilt.

Nate doesn't know why he's chasing her.

He knows, she knows, they know, God knows, she isn't going to listen to his excuses.

His lies.

She continues to run. Runs right out of the penthouse.

Down the elevator, which Nate, so conveniently misses by a tenth of a second.

And out she goes on to the cold streets of New York on the very chilled Christmas evening.

Leaving her tears to freeze on her red, lightly freckled, cheeks.

Dan Humphrey is taking a walk.

After all, if you're going to be alone on Christmas evening, you might as well enjoy the city lights that are the wealthy Upper East Side.

Jenny's watching the Nutcracker with her God-awful friend Elise. He didn't even know they had a show on Christmas. They probably don't.

And as usual, even on Christmas, Rufus is at a Poet Gathering. So much for acting like a family.

Suddenly Dan hears a horn being honked and by instinct he turns to the street. When he turns back to the sidewalk all he sees before he falls backward, onto the cold, hard, sidewalk, is a chunk of Auburn hair.

Blair continues to run.

Blair continues to cry.

Blair continues to curse.

damncrapasshellfuck

What Blair doesn't do, is watch where she's going. And that's why she runs into Dan Humphrey, knocking him down and falling on top of him in the process.

Dan is in shock for a moment, more than the girl on top of him is.

She quickly gets up sniffling and wipes her nose on her sleeve.

Nice Job Dan, he thinks, you made her effing cry.

He scrambles to his feet as well and that's when he realizes that he didn't make just anyone cry, he made the reigning princess of the Upper East Side cry.

Shit.

But before he can apologize, she does. A quiet, muffled one, but an apology nonetheless.

He asks her why she's out alone at a time like this, especially on Christmas, and that makes her cry even harder.

Blair starts venting before she can stop herself.

She's telling, Dan, Dan Humphrey, the boy she only knew because of her temporary roommate Vanessa, who used to hook up with him, all about her boyfriend and best friend's liaison, that she finally caught in the act tonight.

And he's not laughing or giving her a weird look, or turning away. He's listening to her.

And that makes Blair more happy then she's been in weeks. Because finally, someone is at least acting like they care. And that was enough for her.

Sometimes, before you can find your true soulmate, you must first spend some time with someone else's

XXX

Disclaimer: Nothing's mine.

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