CONNECTED BY COINCIDENCE

Mistake

*this story is written from Dan Humphrey's point of view*

She was sitting beside me on the floor, crosslegged- just like me. We were packing the gift bags for the party tonight. She hadn't spoken to me since last night. Since I had sabotaged her. I know that I shouldn't have done that, but I thought that she would do the same to me. Afterall, she was Blair Waldorf. Scheming was her second name.

Epperly would tell us her decision on what to do with us any moment. I was nervous. Not for me, but for her. What if the verdict was bad and she never spoke to me again? I felt a pit forming in my stomach. I looked at her- she was texting someone. Who could it be? Chuck? I shouldn't care, but strangely I felt something rising inside me. Something like jealousy. It was funny because we had know eachother for more than three years and all we did was fight. She insulted me all the time and I judged her all the time. We didn't hate each other, but we didn't even like each other. And even the thought of her and me together was hilarious.

It was too late until I realized that I was actually laughing out loud. Loud enough for her to notice my strange behaviour and stare at me. Actually, she was glaring at me. Her eyes said so much. They were full of rage and anger and accusation.

But why didn't she saborage me? I wanted to ask her. I opened my mouth to ask just as the door opened. We looked up at the same time.

Epperly.

My heart was racing. I was nervous. So nervous that I was sweating, which was strange since I didn't sweat much and our office was air conditioned.

"In my cabin," Epperly said.

Without a word I and Blair walked into Epperly's office- a bright white room with all the furniture black in colour. Black chair, black table with a glass top, black bookshelf with hundreds of classics and a welcoming black couch. The room was simple, but gorgeous. We sat down on the couch. Blair was sitting close by- close enough for the heat of her body to crush against the left side of my body. Epperly moved her chair infront of us and sat down.

"Well, you both were great interns and I saw a lot of potential in both of you. But..." she trailed off.

"But?" I asked, nervous.

"You see that the chaos and confusion created by the two of you last night was humiliating. And, your brawl worsened the situation..."

She was right. Our brawl was actually too bad. I'm sure it must have been threatening for the W's reputation. I wonder what would happen.

She spoke again, "Um... I and Steve have decided to fire both of you. You didn't leave us with an option. I'm sorry. I hope you understand that we are doing this for the company. So... all the best, I guess."

She rose any shook both of our hands' and informed us that our terminating letters will be mailed to us soon.

Blair marched out of the room without a word. She looked humiliated, as if someone had slapped her. Guilt washed through me. I thanked Epperly and walked to the interns' room. Blair was clearing her table. Without a thought I walked towards her. She looked so pale that I felt sorry for her. I wondered if she had eaten at all.

"Blair," I said quietly.

She looked up. She looked hurt and I felt this strange urge to comfort her. I knew I had screwed up. It was a mistake. I didn't know how to make things better.

"I'm so sorry Blair. I didn't think this through. I thought that you too would sabotage me. I'm sorry. I'm sure you'll find a better job. Eleanor will sort this out."

She glared at me, "Eleanor? Why do you think I would want to involve my mother in this? This has nothing to do with her."

I was startled by the way she was talking. Reluctantly I asked, "didn't she help you get in here?"

Her eyes grew even more serious. She looked offended. "Of course not. Why would I want her help?"

"I was just wondering. People don't get in her so easily." Even I had got the job because Lily knew Steve. And Blair was good at tracking contacts.

"What made you think that getting an internship at W was easy for me? Do you have any idea how hard I've worked to get in? I followed Steve everywhere for a complete month. I had his schedule memorised. I sent a fax to to every faxing machine in this building. And my mother runs a fashion house. She has nothing to do with fashion magazines. And even if she had, I would have never asked her to help me. Just so you know, I'm bright enough to achieve this myself."
She hadn't been speaking to me since morning and now she had said so much that I didn't know what to say.

"But, there are more than two hundred machines in the building..." I trailed off. I couldn't believe she had done all this for an internship. Shit. I had ruined everything.

"Three Hundred Thirty Two," her voice broke on the last word and a tear strolled down her left cheek. My hand rose to wipe that tear, "Blair..." I said, my hand inches away from her face. She quietly stepped back, wiped her cheek and said, "don't."

I didn't want her to leave me here-alone. We were quiet for I don't know how long.

"Can I ask you something?" I finally asked. She simply nodded.

"Why didn't you call Jerimiah and sabotage me?" I asked, curiosity burning in my words.

"I don't know what had gotten into me but I thought that your fake gestures of friendship were real!" she hissed.
She picked up her bag and darted out of the room, closing the door on her way out.

My legs felt weak and I collapsed into my chair.