Eric Is Back (A Gossip Girl Novel)

21. 2009

"You look like shit!"

When Jenny threw open the curtains, letting in the sunlight, I felt like that green witch from The Wizard of Oz...

I'm melting! I'm melting!

"I'm fine..." I grumbled. "Go away..."

"Eric, I can't keep covering for you like this!" Jenny snapped. "Sooner or later your mom and Rufus are going to realise that you're not going off to Jonathan's every night."

"It's fine..." I said, burying my head under a pillow. "Everything's fine..."

"But is it though? Seriously – 'Cherries' nightclub? Eric, what the hell were you and Chuck doing in a place like that?"

Chuck! The video!

When last night came flooding back to me, I sprung upright and regretted doing so immediately. My head crashed; I might as well have been hit by an eighteen-wheeler truck!

"Ow! Ow!"

"Want me to get you an Aspirin?" Jenny asked.

"Yeah... please..."

When Jenny left the room, I fumbled around my night stand for my cellphone. When I found it, my fingers were shaking so hard as I searched for the Gossip Girl website. Clicking on the link, my heart was in my throat as I waited for mine and Chuck's faces to pop up on the screen...

I waited... and waited... and waited...

But, to my surprise, Gossip Girl's latest 'blast' was just a picture of me and Chuck entering the Cherries nightclub.

Sure enough, I kept refreshing the page... furiously tapping the screen... Why hadn't Gossip Girl posted the video? There was no way Chuck hadn't leaked the clip himself. Chuck Bass popping a van der Woodsen's cherry? Of course he was going to brag about it! I was relying on him to brag about it... so that Dan's heart would break and he'd come swooping in like a knight in shining armour and save me!

"Here you go!"

Jenny's voice made me jump out of my skin, making my head hurt all over again.

"Oh... thanks."

"By the way, Rufus and Lily are out so that should give you a few hours to sober up."

"Oh... right."

My heart was pounding so hard as I took Jenny's glass of water and gulped down the Aspirin. I was furious! I mean, I'd just let Chuck Bass have his way with me! And what did I have to show for it? Nothing!

"Hey, Jenny..." I said, trying to sound nonchalant. "Um... s-so what are they saying about me on Gossip Girl now?"

"Just that you and Chuck went to Cherries."

"A-anything else?"

"Well, I mean, there are a bunch of rumours going around in the comments section," Jenny said. "I think the funniest one was about how you were tied to a bed and gang-banged by a bunch of masked men or something!"

I forced out a laugh. "Oh... right."

"Oh! And how you spent the night begging Chuck to sleep with you or something. I mean, that's just crazy, right?"

I cleared my throat. "Right..."

"Yeah, I thought that last one wasn't true... Maybe the first one though."

I laughed again, my voice shaking as it came out.

"Anyway, I should probably leave you to it," Jenny said. "Unlike you, I can't spend all day in bed recovering from a hangover! I've got homework to do!"