Free Nobody Does It Better by Cecily von Ziegesar Page B

state-of-the-art sound systems both on deck and below decks.
    After a dinner of beer, Brie, and potato chips, Nate passed up another session of bong hits with his buddies and climbed up into the crow's nest at the top of taller of the boat's two masts. He sat down and hugged his knees, contemplating the situation from up high. Since they were only drifting, he was pretty sure they weren't going to get farther than the New Jersey
     Shore
     before Monday, which was fine with him. He was also pretty sure he was just about to miss that Yale party he was supposed to go to with his parents. And he'd probably missed a whole slew of Blair's pissed-off, upset, and maybe even worried calls.
    Probably.
    Nate had the nagging feeling that his little foray onboard the Charlotte
     had been kind of a mistake. The crew would be frantic to find the boat missing, and his dad would be pissed as hell. But as long as they were back by the time the Hamptons
     cruise was supposed to start, there was no harm done, right? He lifted up his worn black T-shirt and checked to see if the hickey Blair had left on his belly the day before was still there. A shade lighter, but yes, still there. Just thinking about Blair eased his mind. Even if she was pissed off at him eighty percent of the time, they would stay together for always, and hopefully even go to Yale together. How good it was, he thought, as only a par-baked boy can, knowing you had someone's hand to hold when you were about to step into the big bad unknown.
    “Peace, dude!” a girl's voice called up to him from the deck. “Alors, I found some Oreos for our desert!”
    Nate peered down at Lexie. From where he was sat she looked very small and bright-eyed, like a little girl. All over the deck, groups of guys and a few girls were smoking and drinking blond Belgian beer out of crystal beer steins. In the aft of the boat the lazy music of one of Nate's mom's French jazz CDs wafted out of Bose waterproof speakers.
    “Want one?” Lexie added. “I can climb up.”
    For a moment, Nate didn't respond. He shifted his gaze to the brightly lit Coney Island Ferris wheel, turning slowly round and round across the twinkling, greenish-brown water.
    He was pretty sure he didn't want Lexie to join him in the crow's nest. First of all, there was hardly room up there for one person; second of all, if she did, the obvious thing would be for him to kiss her, because she was pretty and had that sexy tattoo, and because she so obviously had a crush on him.
    But these days he really didn't feel like kissing anyone but Blair. After all, he and Blair were supposed to going to college together and getting married. They were going to spend their whole lives together.
    Wait. Is he, like having some sort of epiphany?
    Nate stood up and began to climb down out of the crow's nest. He couldn't sit up there all night, waiting for the boat to turn itself around. Not when Blair was waiting for him, not when he had his whole future ahead of him
    He jumped down the ladder and Lexie handed him an Oreo. “The water makes me feel so free,” she declared swaying slightly as the Charlotte
     drifted over a patch of rough water. Her tie-dyed dress had somehow loosened or gotten torn, and the cap sleeves drooped down over the tops of her arms, revealing her tanned shoulders and making the most of her tiny sun, moon, and stars tattoo.
    Nate took an Oreo, pulled the two halves apart, and licked the white icing inside. Yes, he had his whole future ahead of him, but sometimes it's important to enjoy the simple things in life.
     
     
     
     
     
     
     

Gossip Girl 07 - Nobody Does It Better
    THE ISLE OF B
     
    “Will you be dining here tonight, or shall we have your food sent down to your rooms at the Plaza, miss?” Aaron asked in his best hoity-toity English butler voice.
    Blair glared at the annoying dreadlocked head that had poked its way into her so-called bedroom. “Actually, I'm going out,” she replied, yanking her never-worn