I Like It Like That

Originally released in 2004 by Little, Brown and Company
Written by Cecily von Ziegesar
Preceeded by: Because I’m Worth It
Followed by: You’re the One That I Want

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No gossip ever dies away entirely, if many people voice it: It too is a kind of divinity.
- Hesiod, ca. 800 B.C.

It’s been a couple of weeks since the events of the last book, and it’s a nearly spring break. Before school, the family (Cyrus, Eleanor, Aaron and Tyler) are making plans for their trip to Oahu where they will spend their break surfing. On top of Eleanor’s redecorating of Blair’s bedroom into a nursery for the new baby girl, Blair is not too happy with everything and storms off to meet Serena for their morning walk. Waiting for Blair outside, Serena is defacing the Les Best ads for “Serena’s Tears”, the new fragrance from Best modeled after Serena’s signature scent of patchouli and sandalwood. Blair finds Serena and proceeds to dump on Serena about her issues. The girls chat and Serena finds a fix: let Blair move into her brother, Erik’s bedroom before going away to college and to go to Sun Valley with her family for the break instead of Oahu. Blair agrees and plans on moving in after school.

At St. Jude’s, the lacross (lax) team is unwinding with some free-throw after scrimmage. The Coach is in need for new team captain so he observes Nate and the others working on their throw. However, Nate is distracted; not by weed or being stoned, but by Georgie calling him. Now that Georgie is an in-patient, she can only call Nate under supervision, which she does often. Georgie invites Nate to head to Sun Valley to stay at her mother’s cottage. The Coach sees Nate not practicing and berates him, saying that he will never make captain. Nate skulks off to find his friends, Jeremy, Charlie and Anthony for some solace. He lies and says that Coach offered him captain, but turned it down to allow a Junior to be captain. They offer him a joint, but he refuses.

Meanwhile, after Riverside lets out, Dan heads over to the Plaza to meet with Rusty. Mystery hasn’t kept in touch with Dan since the last book, but she has been busy. She wrote her memoirs and is on a world tour for her book despite not having officially released it yet. Rusty informs Dan that his work hasn’t been met with the same praise. She suggests an apprenticeship with Red Letter, a literary journal published by acclaimed Sigfield Castle. She calls Sig on the spot and secures a job for Dan starting Spring Break. Dan heads over to Constance to find Jenny and brag, but instead finds Vanessa first. The two have an awkward conversation and Vanessa tries to escape, using her parents’ visit for the next two weeks as an excuse. Vanessa hasn’t returned any of Dan’s messages or emails since the Mystery public sex show.

Jenny finally exits the school with Elise in tow and notices Leo before she sees her brother waiting for her. Jenny introduces Leo to Dan and they make small-talk. Elise suggests that they do something because she’s cold. Jenny proposes that they all head to the Humphrey apartment on the Upper West Side, since she would like Rufus to meet Leo. Dan tags along certain that Rufus will eat Leo alive. On the bus ride, Elise starts to flirt with Dan and Leo points out to Jenny some fake fur, making Jenny more curious about Leo’s background.

Blair moves into Serena’s after school, and she comes across some of Erik’s personal items. While Serena flips through Erik’s Playboy featuring Demi Moore, Blair reads Erik’s journal entry that he made when he was 17. He expresses doubt and uncertainty about the future and Blair starts romanticizing their brief history. She wonders out loud if Erik has a girlfriend and Serena decides to ask Erik. Serena hands Blair the phone and she promises Erik that she will be at Sun Valley during the break. The two girls then decide to get ready for an art foundation at the Frick Museum called Virtue vs. Vice.

Meanwhile, Nate tries to cheer himself up by shopping for snowboarding gear before heading to the Frick. While shopping, the attendant who helps Nate tries to flirt with him, enticing him with her breath laced with pot smoke. But Nate fends her off, saving himself for Georgie.

At the Humphrey’s, Rufus grills Leo about poetry, much to Dan’s amusement and Jenny’s chagrin. Meanwhile, Elise is trying to flirt with Dan. Leo gets flustered and leaves, putting on his new Burberry scarf, which makes Jenny wonder more about his wealth and family. As Jenny heads to her bedroom, Elise stays at the dinner table to chat Dan up some more.

At night, Vanessa’s parents, Gabriella and Arlo, drag Vanessa and Ruby to their found-art sculpture exhibit at a huge gallery. The parents don’t see Vanessa as an artist, even though she is an avid film-maker. She has kept her passion a secret from her parents with Ruby’s help. Arlo chides Vanessa for a bit on the merits of art. Gabriella then announces that the family must go to an art foundation party at the Frick. They head together to Fifth Avenue, Arlo wearing a bamboo skirt, Ruby in her leather pants and Vanessa still wearing her school uniform.

At the Frick, Blair and Serena arrive, wearing each other’s dresses. They don’t quite fit right; despite having the same bra size, Serena’s dress is falling down and Blair’s dress is a too tight. As the girls get some drinks, Chuck and his mother Misty are gossiping about the various people at the party, including Blair and her episode at Breakaway. Chuck spies Nate approaching and tunes out his mother to eavesdrop. Serena and Blair meet Nate looking dashing in his suit and completely sober. When they talk about Breakaway and Georgie, Blair starts feeling ill, but when Nate says that he will be at Sun Valley during Spring Break at Georgie’s mom’s house, Blair dashes for the washroom. Alone, Serena and Nate share a hug, which leads to Chuck spreading some rumours about Serena and Nate hooking up.

When Vanessa and her family arrives at the Frick, the rest of the Upper East Side is surprised by their outlandish appearance. The Rosenfeld, long-time friends of Arlo and Gabriela, invite them over to their table. Pilar tells Gabriela that they don’t have enough time to keep up with their hippie ways of old, and thus, no longer recycle. This shocks Vanessa’s parents, much to Vanessa’s amusement. The Rosenfeld son, Jordy, is the anti-christ to all values that Arlo and Gabriela hold dear, so she strikes up some conversation with him and they later dance.

Meanwhile, Chuck invites Serena and Blair to dance with him, but in their haste to run away from Chuck end up naked! Serena’s dress is caught on her chair and falls down and Blair’s dress rips from both seams, revealing their penchant for no underwear. The girls scurry away laughing, while Vanessa continues dancing with Jordy.

It’s now Spring Break and Nate and Georgie are heading to Sun Valley to find Georgie’s mom’s house. They circle around for a bit and find Georgie’s place already occupied. Nate had expected Georgie’s mom to be there, but she is in Venezuela. Instead, Chuck is there with the entire Dutch Olympic snowboard team, naked in the hot tub. Georgie dashes off to join Chuck, whom she apparently lost her virginity to in grade 6. Nate is reluctant to join and instead heads up to his bedroom to call Serena and Blair. He ends up spending the night watching Georgie doing Jager shots, crushing his hopes of spending alone time with her.

Meanwhile, at the Sun Valley Lodge, the girls are lounging about when Erik enters their room. He’s naked, except for a towel, and Blair becomes even more enamored with him. Blair and Erik chat about skiing, annoying Serena slightly and she picks up Nate’s message. She calls him back agreeing to meet up with him tomorrow to ski together. Erik tells Blair of the warm weather and that girls are skiing in their bikinis and she fantasizes skiing in her bikini top with Erik in nothing but swim trunks.

In NYC, Jenny is trying to figure out Leo by spying on him. She drags Elise along, since they have no homework or responsibilities over the break. They follow him a bit and see him enter a fancy building on Park, only to exit with a great dane dressed up in little pink booties. This only raises more questions for Jenny and she resolves to continue stalking Leo.

It’s Monday and Dan is starting his new internship with Sigfried. It starts off a little rocky and Sigfried seems to only want Dan to run errands instead of writing things for the journal. Sigfried sends him off to mail a letter and pick up some caviar. Once free of his overbearing workplace, Dan walks to the piers and thinks. Absentmindedly, he drops the letter in the river and decides to go get the over-priced caviar. At the store, he runs into Elise, who is carrying a baguette. She mentions to him that she brought cookies to his office to celebrate his new job and as she is about to get into a cab, Dan wipes some flour off her face and kisses her on the cheek. He begins to formulate a poem about Elise and heads back to the office to write it down.

When Dan returns to Red Letter, Sigfried beckons for Dan to join the staff in the meeting room. They are eating the cookies that Elise brought for Dan, and when he presents the caviar, Sig throws the can in the garbage, only saving the sticker. Sig then unloads the public submissions onto Dan that the journal received, instructing Dan to read them and then dispose of them, despite Red Letter being an open submission magazine. Dan questions this, but Sig shooes Dan away. Once alone at his desk, he begins writing his poem but leaves for the washroom. When he returns, he finds that the beginnings of his poem about Elise is missing.

Meanwhile, Vanessa is helping her parents explore Williamsburg to find some more found-art in garbage. Her mother expresses some serious concern over the Rosenfelds, but Vanessa is delighted that she has found someone that is the total opposite of her parents. She anticipates only good things when she brings Jordy to the SugarDaddy concert where her parents will be.

At the concert, Jordy shows up. Arlo and Gabriela are fawning over Ruby being a musician and watch on with admiration as Ruby sets up for the performance. Gabriela confronts Jordy over the lack of recycling, and his response of “it’s not necessary” shocks her more. Vanessa is turned on by this and Jordy kisses her. She quickly compares Jordy against Dan, and decided that Jordy was yummy, despite having a huge nose and being a pre-law geek.

Jenny and Leo are out on a date during all of this, but she can’t stop thinking about Leo and his place on Park. Leo suggests that they attend an art exhibit on love and kissing at the Met, but Jenny is too distracted to notice the nice gesture. He goes in for a kiss, but as they are kissing, Jenny can’t stop thinking about the mysteries of Leo.

In Sun Valley, Blair, Serena, Erik, Nate and Georgie are waiting in line for a ski lift. Blair and Erik are flirting heavily, but she is a little upset when she sees Georgie. When Chuck shows up with a ski instructor’s pass for the short-line to the ski lift, they all agree to follow Chuck. On the ride up, Serena and Georgie bond over what appears to be some past history, while Blair tunes out everyone but Erik. Nate has to sit with Chuck and figures that he must really be gay now, given that he has a woman’s ski suit and sporting a woman’s snowboard. While skiing with Erik, Blair realizes that Erik is the one she will lose her virginity with.

While Jenny and Leo are baking brownies, Elise shows up. She makes an excuse to find Dan and the two flirt a bit. But when Elise asks Dan to kiss her, he comes on a little rough and Elise leaves upset. Him being 18 and her being 14 makes Dan realize that it wouldn’t work out with her. As Dan heads to his second day of work, he drops some more letters in the Hudson. But on his way back from Chinatown picking up exclusive rice paper for Sig, he notices a spinning, Japanese, pink UFO toy and is reminded of Vanessa. He uses Sig’s money for the mail to buy the toy and send it express delivery to Vanessa.

Back in the kitchen, Jenny and Leo are eating the brownies they just made and Leo says that he has to go. Jenny questions Leo about this and when she asks to go with him, he agrees. Leo takes her to the place on Park and they walk the dog. Jenny is still a little confused and Leo asks if Jenny wants to go. She says yes and Leo arranges for a cab to pick her up. But as Leo leaves with the dog, Jenny decides to follow him again. She follows him to a brownstone far away from the Park Ave. apartment and sees him enter, but not leave. She tries to wait for him to leave, but after some time, she heads home.

Vanessa, needing companionship, invites Jordy out and he suggests for them to meet at Bubba’s, an Italian restaurant near his place. Jordy asks some sincere questions about Vanessa and Dan and she starts crying. He sees that talk about Dan upsets her, so they change the conversation, but Vanessa realizes that she still loves Dan.

Serena isn’t having such a fun time in Sun Valley. Although Serena has been getting some attention from Jan, the aspiring dentist on the snowboard team, Blair and Erik are very into each other, which makes Serena feel loveless. Nate hasn’t been having fun either, as he has been monitoring Georgie’s drug and alcohol intake to make sure she doesn’t die. The snowboard team and Chuck goad Serena and Georgie into a drinking match, but a look from Nate quells that desire. Blair, Erik and Serena leave to prepare for dinner with Serena and Erik’s parents, but Serena decides that she will return some other day to have some fun.

In Sun Valley, Serena and Blair are getting ready for a party at Georgie’s house, but Serena and Blair have a minor tiff about Erik. Blair vows to move out of Serena’s apartment. Erik and his Ski Patrol buds are wondering where Blair is, and Serena tells them that she’s getting ready. When Blair emerges, she is looking hot in a tight cashmere sweater and jade chandelier earrings (both of which belong to Serena). Blair is stoked because tonight is the night she will make love with Erik.

At the party, Serena goes off to find Georgie and Erik follows her to find Georgie naked in the hot tub. Erik jumps in, but Blair and Nate don’t get in with them. Blair turns around to head back inside and Serena tells Erik that’s her cue. Blair finds Erik in nothing, but a towel. She grabs some champagne and chocolate-covered macaroons and invites Erik upstairs.

As Blair seduces Erik, Serena and Georgie are left outside in the hot tub, and Serena suggests tobogganing in the Ski Patrol toboggan. Georgie loves the idea, and her, Chuck and Serena run naked to the cars parked outside. Chuck invites Georgie to do some lines of coke and Georgie straps Serena into a toboggan, with nothing but a blanket to keep her warm. The pair drag Serena through the snow and Serena starts feeling helpless and scared. When cops show up and bust Chuck and Georgie, they let go of the tobaggan, sending Serena careening down into a ditch, where cold water begins to flow over her. The police do not notice Serena at all.

In the master bedroom of the house, Blair and Erik try to make love, but Blair becomes wrapped up in thoughts about what losing her virginity means and when she should do it. Instinctively, her knees block Erik’s advances and Erik snaps Blair out of her thought train. Meanwhile, Nate was outside trying to clear his head from Georgie’s drug-induced behavior and comes across Serena. He releases her from the toboggan straps and discovers that she is naked. He carries her back to Georgie’s place and decides to head to the master bedroom to look for some clothes for Serena to wear, but instead finds Blair and Erik almost having sex. He stares for a bit and then leaves. Erik stops his advances once Blair says she’s not ready. But Erik says that he know that she’s ready, just that he’s not the right guy for her.

Back in NYC, Jenny calls up Elise to apologize for ignoring her because of the whole Leo mess. They both resolve to write emails to Leo and Dan, which they type together while on the phone. Jenny emails Leo a demand, stating that she will show up at the brownstone to see his home. Elise emails Dan, stating that he was a jerk to her and that he still loves Vanessa.

while the Humphreys bond with Jordy, who has a love for the alternative, Vanessa receives the toy from Dan. She is instantly inspired to start filming, but desperate to keep her work private from her parents, she works quickly and then leaves the apartment to get some more footage. But her behavior gets Arlo interested in her work.

When Vanessa returns, she finds her whole family sitting in front of the TV. They are watching Vanessa’s “War and Peace” mood piece and Arlo and Gabriela are enrapt. Arlo can barely get words out, crying at the beauty of her art, claiming that she puts them all to shame. Ruby announces that Vanessa got an early admission offer from NYU for film studies and that sends the parents over the moon. Gabriela starts calling Vanessa “eggplant”, the endearing name she had used with Vanessa when she was a child. They talk about Jordy, who is planning on joining Arlo and Gabriela up in Vermont to live the alternative lifestyle a bit. Her mother asks if Vanessa minds, but Arlo is quick to realize that Vanessa still loves Dan.

At Red Letter, Dan notices his poem scribbled on a washroom stall beside a tagline “How Not to Write”. Dan writes his own comeback on the stall, about the old “assuming makes an ass” adage. When he leaves, he runs into Sig who questions him about the mail that should have gone to Mystery. Dan tells Sig off and quits. Rusty gets word of this instantly and Dan relieves her of her managing duties. Finally, Dan calls Vanessa for the first time in a long time.

Meanwhile, Jenny finally gets to see Leo’s real home and meets his normal parents living a normal life. She sees his normal room with his normal things and Jenny realizes that she can’t accept Leo as he is. She storms out, leaving Leo in the house calling out her name.

Blair returns home (not Serena’s, but with the Waldorf/Roses) and Eleanor introduces Blair to the newly finished nursery. It’s done in tones of yellow and spring green, with a daisy motif. Eleanor tells Blair that she will have the honor of naming the new baby girl. Aaron suggests Daisy, but Blair rejects the idea. Aaron begins telling Blair about the girl he met in Oahu, Yaielle and Blair decides that “Yale” might be a good name.

Now liberated of Blair, Serena invites Nate over and he comes. She wonders why she hadn’t kissed him in Sun Valley, and she asks Nate why they can’t be together. Nate pauses and then asks about Blair. Serena tells him that she moved back home and that Erik and Blair didn’t have sex. He remains silent, and Serena tells him that even though she loves him, she knows who he wants.

It is the Monday after the break and Blair is nursing a cold due to her bikini skiing, and makes up with Serena. V/M/C and Elise and Jenny join the senior girls for peer group and Blair brings up the topic of knitting. Blair drags all of them out to get yarn and Serena heads home to grab a blanket to sit on outside.

After a GG post, asking all boys to come to Sheep’s Meadow where Gossip Girl will reveal herself on a red blanket, Nate, Anthony, Jeremy and Charlie show up. Jeremy tells Nate that since the junior to be lax captain was busted, Coach had no other option than to make Nate lax captain. Leo and Dan later show up to see the sight. There they find Blair, Serena, V/M/C, Elise and Jenny sitting on a blanket knitting booties. Also there is Chuck on a red blanket, with his new pet snow monkey; a gift he received from Georgie’s family for getting Georgie out of jail in Sun Valley. He is joined by Kati and Is who play with the monkey for a bit. Aaron shows up and joins Blair on her blanket to play some reggae on his guitar. Later, Vanessa shows up with the pink UFO toy, filming on a red blanket. The six boys watching the event wonder which one could be Gossip Girl.

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