Free I Will Always Love You by Cecily von Ziegesar

couldn’t
     believe the words he was saying. They seemed so cheesy, like lines from one of those black-and-white movies Blair used to
     force him to watch.
    A single tear fell on the hem of Blair’s dress. Normally, she never let anyone see her cry. “You left me. You left me, Nate,” she whimpered, finally letting go of all the anger and frustrations and dashed hopes she’d carried with her for
     the past four months.
    Nate felt his heart breaking in two as proud tears rolled down Blair’s beautiful cheeks. He wanted to kiss her again and again
     until everything was better. Instead, he sat beside her and placed his hand tentatively over hers.
    “I’ll never leave you again. Blair. I love you.” Nate’s stomach knotted, willing her to echo his feelings.
    “I love you too,” Blair said finally, another tear trickling down her cheek. She wasn’t sure why she was still crying. She
     was just so relieved and happy and homesick and excited, all at once. Nate gently wiped the tear away with his index finger.
    Blair leaned in and kissed him, hard. “I love you,” she said again.
    Together, they lay down so they were facing each other. The strap of Blair’s dress was falling down her shoulder. He reached
     out and eased it down, so Blair’s skin was exposed. They didn’t need to talk anymore. All they needed was each other.
    Just then, a loud buzz emanated from Blair’s Chloé clutch where it had been hastily tossed on the wood floor.
    “Let’s ignore that,” Blair said, reaching toward the waistband of Nate’s khakis. She wasn’t mad at him anymore. What he’d
     done last summer didn’t even matter anymore. All that mattered was this—them, together.
    breakfast of champions
    Please answer the phone, Serena whispered as she dialed Blair’s number on New Year’s morning. It was 10 a.m. and she’d been up since seven, feeling
     guilty about abandoning Blair last night. She wasn’t sure how to interpret Blair’s e-mail. It wasn’t bitchy, exactly.
    Not exactly.
    But what could she have done? It wasn’t like she could leave Thaddeus alone with his homophobic ditz of a date. She’d only
     been able to leave after Carilee passed out on Thaddeus’s bed after one too many amaretto sours. It had proved impossible
     to get a cab, so she’d gone back up to the party and begged Ira to let her use his town car. Finally, she’d gotten to Chuck’s
     party. It was crawling with L’École and Seaton Arms underclassmen she’d never met before, all eager to hang out with her.
     But no sign of Blair.
    Knowing Blair, she’d probably gotten a suite and was watching an Audrey Hepburn marathon and hating her life—and maybe even
     Serena. She felt guiltier each time she thought about it.
    Hi, you’ve reached Blair Waldorf…. Serena threw the phone on her bed in frustration.
    Just then, the intercom buzzer to the apartment rang. Serena sprang up and buzzed Blair in.
    She raced back to her bedroom, plucked a pair of black Stella McCartney for Adidas yoga pants off the floor, and yanked them
     over her Cosabella boy shorts, padding to the door on her size nine bare feet.
    “Hey Booger Braids!” Serena called the kindergarten-age endearment down the hall, not caring what her neighbors might think
     about her inappropriate greeting. “Sorry I missed you last night.”
    Blair rounded the corner of the elevator bank into the hallway. But she wasn’t alone.
    “Look who I found!” Blair announced, feeling a slight thrill of pleasure at the look of shocked surprise on Serena’s face.
    “Natie?” Serena said weakly, letting her arms fall slack against her body as she leaned against the doorframe for support.
     How was Nate here? How were he and Blair here, together? Blair’s hair was damp and tousled around her small, pretty face. Nate’s expression was dazed and happy,
     like he was in a dream he didn’t want to wake up from.
    Suddenly, everything came horribly together. Blair and Nate were here with each other