Eric Is Back (A Gossip Girl Novel)

17. 2007

"Dan's here to see you," Rufus said, hovering by the doorway.

"Huh?"

"Dan's in the living room – I think he wants to talk to you."

"Oh, right... um, tell him I'll be there a minute."

"Okay!"

Dan was here... in the living room... wanting to talk to me...

I should have jumping for joy... bouncing off the walls...

But how could I be happy about this?

This was just another twist in our roller-coaster relationship!

But who knows? Maybe he wanted to apologise for messing around and was planning on riding off with me into the sunset of our happy ever after?

In the living room, sure enough, Dan was sitting there on the sofa. When he saw me, he looked up at me and sort of half-smiled. He looked like he had just been sent to the Principal's office or something.

"Hey, Dan," I said. "Um, what's up?"

He gestured to the elevator. "Wanna go for a walk?"

"Oh... um, sure."

*

It was funny – as Dan and I were strolling through Central Park, we actually passed the bench that Damien Dalgaard had dumped me on. I wondered what life would have been like if that hadn't happened. Would I still be delivering drug packages for Damien? Would he have grown to like me and fallen in love with me like I'd hoped? Or would he have gotten bored of me and found himself another drug-mule?

Would the universe have found another way for Dan and I to cross paths and start a romantic relationship together?

"Look, Eric..." Dan said now, looking anywhere but my face. "I'm sorry for messing you around all of the time. It's just... with everything that's been going on... it's been hard for me to keep my head straight."

"Okay..."

"So, I've been thinking a lot about us – the future, what we are, what we were mean to each other."

Here goes... Eric, I'm dumping you...

I almost wanted to laugh. We might as well have done it on that damn bench!

"Okay..." I said carefully. "A-and what have you been thinking?"

Just then, Dan took my hand and squeezed it, surprising me. "I've been thinking that I want to be with you. Like, for real."

My stomach dropped. "Oh... r-really?"

"Yeah."

"As... like, boyfriends?"

"Yes – as boyfriends."

Holy crap!

When I looked down, Dan was still squeezing my hand. My eyes flashed around the park, wondering what would happen if someone saw together like this?

"So, you wanna do it?" he asked. "You wanna be my boyfriend?"

I nodded quickly. "Of course, I do!"

Just then, a smile lit up Dan's face. It was first time I'd seen him look genuinely happy in a long time.

"Okay, let's do it, then – boyfriend."

I felt like a little kid when I giggled and said, "Sure... boyfriend!"