Eric Is Back (A Gossip Girl Novel)

6. 2007

"ERIC! WAKE YOUR ASS UP!"

I forced my eyelids open. My bedroom was swamped in darkness. What time was it? Was it morning already?

"ERIC! ERIC! ERIC!"

The door rattled like crazy. Fists pounded on the wood.

What the hell is going on...?!

"Serena?!" I called out.

"ERIC!" she yelled through the door. "COME ON! IT'S AN EMERGENCY!"

Rolling out of bed, I stumbled over to the door. Opening it, my sister appeared with her long hair hanging over her face in messy, blond waves.

"Thank God you opened the door!" she said, slurring her words. "My friend, Dan here is in dire need of a place to rest his curly, little head. Can you be of assist... assist... assistance?"

Sure enough, standing next to Serena was Dan. He was swaying from left to right, his eyes closing and opening again.

"W-what's going on?" I asked. "Have you two been drinking or something?"

Serena held up pinched fingers. "Just a teeny-tiny bit."

That surprised me. I mean, Serena and Dan were step-siblings... but they never hung out together or anything.

My eyes flashed to Dan. "So... y-you want Dan to stay in my room tonight?"

"Yes, squire!" Serena said in a British accent. "If you would be so kind!"

I huffed. "Well, why can't he take the couch?"

"Because I'm afraid he will choke on his own tongue, young squire," she said. "Please, squire! Just for one night!"

Rolling my eyes, I said, "Well... okay."

Serena clapped her hands together. "Yes! Come on, sir... let's get you to bed."

Grabbing his arm, Serena steered Dan into my room and helped him to get into bed. I cringed. I thought Dan might sleep on the floor or something. But before I could suggest it, Serena had already tucked Dan under the covers.

"There we go!" she said. "Now... onwards, young squire!"

And then, my sister was galloping out of the room, pretending to ride on an invisible horse.

Shutting the door, I turned to look over at my stepbrother. Last week, I had accidentally kissed him. I mean, he and I had completely forgotten about what had happened. But now... here he was... in my freakin' bed!

Well, it wasn't like anything was going to happen between us!

*

"Eric..."

My eyes slowly opened. When I saw Dan staring back at me, I flinched.

"Oops, sorry," he said. "It's just me."

"Oh, y-yeah... right."

I looked over at the clock on my night stand. It was three o'clock in the morning.

"Fancy seeing you here..." Dan joked.

I laughed. "Yeah, right."

"Don't worry I'm not drunk," he said. "I've sobered up now."

I raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure?"

"I'm sure."

"Oh."

I didn't know what it was like to be drunk; I'd never touched a drop of alcohol in my whole life!

"I've been thinking about you..." he admitted.

"Y-you have?"

"Yeah... about what happened last week."

I gulped.

"Oh, right."

"About that kiss."

Oh, no...

"What kiss?" I asked, playing dumb.

"It wasn't an accident, was it?"

I shook my head. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"There was no Damien, was there?" he said. "You came to my apartment looking for me, didn't you?"

"Dan, you're drunk... or dreaming... or just talking crap."

"You weren't sleeping..." he rambled on. "You wanted to kiss me, didn't you?"

Sitting upright, I said, "That's it! I'm sleeping on the couch!"

"Eric, wait!"

Just then, Dan grabbed my hand. It felt so soft in mine. Out of nowhere, all kinds of feelings started stirring in between my legs.

"Can we have a do-over?" he asked.

I gulped.

"A do-over?"

"Can we kiss for real this time?"

My eyes flashed to door. "Dan, come on! We're stepbrothers! That's gross!"

"Then why did it feel so good?"

Dan was right. It did feel good. His mouth should have felt slimy on mine. But instead, it had been like kissing something soft... like candy floss or something!

"Dan, you're drunk," I said. "Y-you're gonna regret this in the morning."

"Well, then let me regret it," he said. "Have you ever been kissed before? I mean... properly?"

I shook my head. "No."

"Then let me be your first kiss..."

My head was spinning. If I did this... it wouldn't be the worse thing in the world. I mean, technically we had already kissed – and Dan was clearly drunk. When he woke up in the morning, he'd probably have forgotten about the whole thing anyway! It would be as if nothing had happened!

"Just one kiss..." he pushed. "No tongues..."

Sighing, I flopped back onto the bed. Staring up at the ceiling, I prayed that this wouldn't backfire on me.

Turning to Dan, I said, "Fine. Just one kiss."

"Okay, sure."

And then, the next thing I knew, Dan was shuffling across the bed towards me. His eyes twinkled as a ray of moonlight shone into them. In that moment, he looked so handsome. More handsome than Damien Dalgaard had ever been! Even if I'd wanted to, I couldn't pull away from his dark gaze. I was trapped... trapped forever in his sparkly, brown eyes!

And then, his lips were on my mine... soft like candy floss. They merged with mine, moving around like he was conversing with me... as if he was sharing a secret... It didn't take long for me to catch on to his slow... sensual rhythm... and after sixteen years I was finally speaking the language of love...

Dan broke away from me then, his eyes fluttering like butterflies as they opened up. He scanned my face, his forehead wrinkling, his eyebrows pulling together.

"How was that?" he asked carefully. "Was it okay?"

"It was amazing," I replied. "I loved it."

He smiled. "Good. I did, too."