chapter THIRTEEN.

Dan shoved his bedroom window open with a loud thud, a thick gust of cold January wind rushing into his room and making him regret wearing only a pair of jeans and a hoodie. Nonetheless, he hopped right outside, allowing the biting wind to envelope him completely. He knelt down on the fire escape and flipped his cell phone open, scrolling through the messages in it, both voice and text.

Much to his dismay, there were no new ones in either category.

With a heavy sigh, he clicked his way back to the main menu and then looked under Photos. He'd never used his phone to take snapshots of anyone until Serena came along, so the only memories that lay in the phone's Sim Card were ones of he and Serena together.

There they were at the debutante ball, the young blonde resting in his arms. They were both beaming happily at the screen and you could tell by the way her arms were outstretched that she'd been the one holding the camera. . . Then there they were laying down on the tiny bed in Rufus' art gallery on Christmas morning, both naked besides the sheets that covered their most private parts. It had been Dan's first time and, metaphorically, Serena's as well, which is why Dan chose to think of the semi-nude picture as sentimental rather than twistedly pornographic. . . And finally, there came the snapshot of them perched atop a park bench, clinking their glasses of ginger ale and smiling at each other with reassurance. They'd asked the man who'd rescured Serena's lit papers to take the photo and he'd gladly obliged.

"Does this make my boobs look any bigger?" came his little sister's voice from behind him.

Much like Vanessa, Jenny didn't knock when she entered a room, which could become a bit of an annoyance considering the fact that their loft was so incredibly small and, being a teenager and in love, Dan liked some privacy from time to time.

He turned to look at his sister who was standing right near the open window, wearing a pink-and-black nightie from La Perla and nothing else. Dan nearly choked on his nonexistant drink when he saw her. "What the hell are you wearing?" He threw a conscious glance over his shoulder at Brooklyn as a whole and then climbed back into his room, shoving his sister further into it as well and then slamming his bedroom window shut. "People are gonna see you!"

Jenny stared at him blankly. "So?"

"'So?' Jenny, you look like a Victoria's Secret model!"

For some reason, this made her beam up at him with joy. "Does that mean my boobs look bigger?"

Dan gritted his teeth with anger and forced himself to sit on his bed before he caused any permanant damage to the room. . . Or his sister. "Where on earth did you get that anyway? And why are you trying it on?" He scooted closer to his nightstand and picked up the thick black book that had been laying there. He needed something to do as a distraction from staring at his sister's chest, feeling uncomfortable.

"I got this from Blair," Jenny explained vaguely, walking back over to his window and pushing it up. Once she did that, she took a seat on the windowsill and turned to face Dan, secretly hoping for some passerby to whistle up at her or tell her to take her clothes off. It would have been a little demeaning, sure, but it would also mean she looked hot.

"So what, now you're borrowing her underwear as well?"

"Why not? She repayed me for the things I did for her with expensive clothes. What, am I just not supposed to wear them now, after all I did for her?"

Dan sighed. What she said was, quite honestly, a valid point. But being an older brother, he didn't want to come off as easy, so he argued with the following: "Can you at least not wear that sort of thing in front of your brother? I think I might need therapy after this."

They both giggled a bit and Jenny threw a pillow at his head.

"You still haven't answered my second question though, Jenny. Why are you trying it on?"

Jenny sighed dramatically, wrapping her arms around her legs and bringing them up to meet her chest. "Because there's this guy that goes to St. Jude's. His name's Leo Dunne and he's super cute. And super popular. . . And I like him a lot. So. . ."

"So. . . You're just going to have sex with him all of a sudden?"

Jenny rolled her eyes. "No, it's not like that! I mean yes, it is, but not - It's just - I don't want - Shut up!" Dan could tell his sister wasn't genuinely upset, she was just a little confused. So instead of fighting back, he watched her as she left his bedroom. "And spare me the lecture! Dad gave me the sex talk when I was like eight, okay?!"

Dan could hear her bedroom door slamming shut and soon afterward nothing but silence. So he went to bed a little early. Again. . . And without Serena in his arms. Again.


Spotted: Lonely Boy cuddling up to the only person who's loved him unconditionally throughout the years. . . Too bad that person happens to be six inches tall and, well, a doll.

you know you love me.
xoxo; gossip girl