Eric Is Back (A Gossip Girl Novel)

8. 2007

I didn't even have to wait for last night to come back to me. The moment I opened my eyes I knew exactly what had happened.

I had kissed Dan...

My freakin' stepbrother!

It had happened once. No tongues. Just one... long... drawn-out... kiss...

As I looked at my sleeping stepbrother, my insides kept whirling around and around. I couldn't decide whether I had done something extremely thrilling or extremely messed-up!

Not only had I kissed my stepbrother, I had kissed him whilst he was drunk. I mean, he'd said that he had sobered up. But had he really? When I'd kissed him, I could still taste the alcohol on his lips.

Had I taken advantage of him? Would he wake up kicking and screaming and call the cops on me?

I guess there was only one way to find out...

Dan's eyes fluttered open. I just stared at him, my face expressionless.

Here goes...

All of a sudden, his face twisted as if he was in pain or something. He snorted out a grunt.

"Ow!" he complained. "My head!"

"A-are you okay?" I asked, my heart pounding like crazy.

"Yeah," he grumbled. "I'm just fucking hungover."

I blew out a breath. "Oh... r-right. D-do you want an Aspirin or something?"

Dan rubbed his forehead. "Yeah – if you have one."

"I'm sure I can find one..."

Rolling out of bed, I darted out of my bedroom and into the hallway. Rushing into the kitchen, I started rummaging through the cupboards, trying to find a box of Aspirin.

"The one at the end!"

The voice made me jump out of my skin. Spinning around, I found Serena sitting on the sofa, her arm raised, her finger pointing.

"H-huh?" I squeaked.

"The cupboard at the end is the one with the Aspirin in it," she said.

"Oh, r-right."

Moving over to the end cupboard, I opened it and found the box of Aspirin. Popping out a tablet, I dropped it into a glass of water and watched as the tablet started fizzing.

"How is he?" Serena asked. "I bet he feels like hell, right?"

I nodded quickly. "Yeah – he's in a bad way."

"Poor thing. Should we make him breakfast-in-bed?"

I cringed.

I didn't want to do that. I wanted Dan out of my damn bed as soon as possible!

"Um, I'll see how well the Aspirin goes down first."

"Good idea."

Back in my bedroom, Dan was still in bed, tossing and turning, groaning and moaning. Getting rid of him wasn't going to be easy!

"Um, Dan?" I said, standing over him with the glass of water. "You should drink this."

He looked up at me, his face twisting. "Oh, thanks."

Taking the water, Dan took a big gulp of it before scrunching up his face again. "Ew!" he blanched. "Thanks."

"Don't mention it."

Putting the glass down on my night stand, he said, "I'm never drinking again."

I nodded. "That's probably a good idea."

"Have you ever been hungover before?" he asked.

"No."

"Good – it hurts like hell."

*

As I waited for Dan to sober up, I started to feel like I'd dodged a bullet. I kept waiting for the moment to come when he'd bring up the kissing...

But it never came.

It didn't come when I helped him to sit upright in bed... or when I helped him to get out of the bed... or when I walked him to the kitchen and we ate breakfast together in the living room...

Dan had totally forgotten about what had happened.

My secret was safe.

It was as if nothing had ever happened!