chapter TWO.

Jenny Humphrey giggled wildly as she stumbled up the steps to her family's loft all by her lonesome. She, Kati, Isabel, Penny, and Hazel had stopped by Area after shopping at Barneys and they'd spent most of their time downing non-virgin beverages and whispering to eachother about which guy they thought was hotter while they'd been there.

Area was this trendy new nightclub in Manhattan that didn't card minors and let almost anyone in, as long as they were attractive and dressed nicely. And since Jenny and her new group of peers all fell into that category, the scary-looking guy behind the rope had let them in with a wave of one tattooed arm. . . Suffice to say, the result of the entire evening had been a new pair of Jimmy Choos, a few guys' phone numbers, and a nasty headache.

Jenny grasped the doorknob to her home but for the life of her couldn't figure out how to open the damn thing. She groaned loudly and kicked it hard with her new pair of heels, her head spinning in a drunken stupor. Luckily, her older brother Dan could hear the frustrated moans on the other side of the door, so he curiously walked over to it and pulled it open. It was then that he drank in the sight of an obviously-drunk Jenny as she now spun around in little circles and laughed hysterically as if she'd just heard the most irresistably hilarious joke.

Dan clenched his teeth with a mixture of anger and worry and then stuck an arm out in order to stop her nonsensic spinning. Grabbing one of her arms firmly, he yanked her inside the house and tossed her onto the couch, trying to be gentle but failing miserably since he was so annoyed and disappointed in her. "Where have you been?" he demanded of her, rushing into the kitchen to make her a glass of water and snatch up a wet cloth from the sink.

Jenny stifled another giggle and allowed her eyes to flutter shut. Her voice came out soft and slurred, but she was still able to form words. . . Mostly. "I was out with B's old friends but then again I can't call her that since I'm not her friend and I never was no matter what dress I repaired for her or what gossip I told her and I guess I'm better off now anyway since I'm the popular one and she's the ruined one and all her friends seem to like me now and we really get along and Kati even bought me these shoes and--"

Dan put a hand over her mouth to quit her idiotic rambling and then he noticed one of her legs twitch. Obviously she'd tried to lift it up in order to demonstrate the pair of shiny, jet black, expensive-looking heels, but her mind was so weighed down with liquor that her body couldn't cooperate with it. Dan placed the wet cloth over her forehead and set the glass of ice water on the coffee table near the living room couch, within Jenny's reach.

"Jenny, where'd you guys go?" Dan persisted, looking at her limp body as it lay almost lifelessly on the piece of leather furniture that sat directly in the middle of the living room.

"We went to Area this nightclub in the city and it was so fun Dan and we talked and drank and had fun and checked out some of the guys and we even played another game of Truth or D--" Dan cut her off again and stood up as his cell phone whirred and beeped from his back pocket. Fishing it out, he read the screen: 'One New Message' it read neatly. Dan clicked on his Messages and saw that there was one new text from Serena. He opened it, not knowing what to expect after his sister's little tirade.

D; Found B, cnvinced her 2 stay. Now we're heading 2 SoHo 4 quick vacation. Be bck Mnday morning. Hope u don't miss me 2 much! Love, S

Dan grinned as he read the closer: Love. It was so nice to have finally said what he'd been feeling out loud, after all those years. And it was even nicer that Serena felt the same way.

Secretly, he felt like dancing around and popping open a bottle of the cheap champagne his father kept in the kitchen cupboard just to celebrate love itself and the fact that he had it, but then he remembered the task at hand. Jenny still lay there in front of him, her body in the exact same position it had been moments earlier, only this time drool having pooled at the corners of her mouth. Dan shook his head in disbelief, dropped a blanket over her snoozing figure, and flicked off the living room light.

His father, Rufus Humphrey, was out, presumably on a date, so he was basically home alone. And even though it was only ten o'clock, Dan decided to slip into bed where he soon fell fast asleep, Cedric perched on the pillow opposite of the one he had his head on.


Sweet dreams, D. I for one, know EXACTLY who you'll be dreaming about.

you know you love me.
xoxo; gossip girl