You Know You Love Me

Originally released in 2002 by Little, Brown and Company
Written by Cecily von Ziegesar
Preceeded by: Gossip Girl
Followed by: All I Want Is Everything

I’m your Venus, I’m your fire. At your desire.
- Bananarama, “Venus”

This book starts in early November, a few weeks after Book 1. It’s Friday and Blair and Nate are meeting with Mr. Harold Waldorf, Esq., Blair’s over-the-top, newly converted, homosexual, embarassing father. Blair decided that after this dinner, she is ready for sex. Having coped with the fact that Nate has already lost his virginity with Serena, Blair is ready to be with Nate tonight. Blair’s a little on edge about having sex for the first time and heads to the washroom to vomit, so Mr. Waldorf talks to Nate about his college plans. Nate reveals to Mr. Waldorf that he’s not sure about wanting to go to Yale with Blair next year; he could sail for a year or go to Brown. When Blair returns, her father surprises her with an early birthday celebration since he won’t be in NYC to celebrate on the actual day. He gives her a shoe-inspired birthday cake and Manolo Blahniks. Once home, Blair dons the shoes for her first time with Nate, but Eleanor and Cyrus interrupt with exciting news; they are getting married! To add to Blair’s dismay over having Cyrus as a stepfather, Eleanor and Cyrus have decided the ceremony will be on the Saturday after Thanksgiving, which is also Blair’s 17th birthday! Blair overreacts and Nate, now thinking that Blair never wanted to have sex, leaves.

Meanwhile, Dan and Serena are having their first date after having talked on the phone many times. They are at an old-fashioned hamburger/ice cream parlor, and are talking about college plans. Dan is romanticizing the date in his head, imagining Serena as a goddess and angel. Serena invites Dan to go up to Brown for interview with her next weekend. Dan plays it cool, giving her a tentative answer. Overstuffed by huge sundaes, Dan and Serena walk down Fifth Avenue and end up sitting on the steps of the Met. Serena explains to Dan that this is where her, Blair and Nate used to hang out and she becomes teary. Dan goes in for a kiss and they kiss tenderly. Dan is elated and Serena rests her head on his shoulder, breathing in his smoky scent. She then gets up to go and Dan is left there lusting for Serena.

Later, Serena is trying to sleep, but her mother comes into her bedroom. She tells Serena the news about Eleanor and Cyrus, that Blair will the maid of honor and that Serena will be a bridesmaid. Serena asks when the wedding will be and Lily tells her that it’s on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. Serena realizes the date and feels for Blair. She tries calling her brother, Erik, to talk about the wedding but he’s sleeping. The next day, at the Humphrey house on the Upper West Side, Jenny is trying to pry information out of Dan about his date with Serena. He doesn’t tell his sister that he kissed Serena or that he wrote a poem about the event called “Sweet”. Dan then gets a call from Serena. She asks him to be her date to the wedding and Dan agrees. Dan also confirms that he’s going to Brown with her next weekend. Jenny asks Dan about his phone call, but he doesn’t reveal any information which leaves Jenny lonely.

It’s Sunday morning and Blair is having breakfast with her mother, Tyler and Cyrus. Eleanor decides that the reception will happen at the St. Clair Hotel. Blair bargains with her mother for a suite to use for the night and Eleanor agrees. Blair is ecstatic as she plans on losing her viriginity with Nate in the suite. Cyrus explains further that Blair will have to meet Aaron, his son since he is now marrying Eleanor. Alone, Blair calls Nate to tell him that she wants to lose her virginity at the wedding on the night of her 17th birthday, but Nate is nonplussed. Blair then asks to meet with him now, but he declines, explaining that he will be playing ball with the boys. Worried that Nate may no longer love her, Blair decides that she needs to find a gift for Nate the says that he loves her and wants to be with her forever. At Barney’s.

Erik calls Serena back and Serena explains that she’s coming to Brown next weekend to visit, and maybe with a friend. He agrees and Serena tries to find clothes to wear to Brown, but is bored with what she currently owns, so she decides to go to Barney’s to find something new and special. At Barney’s, Blair stalks off to the Menswear Department; Serena notices and follows Blair. Blair eyes a pair of grey cashmere pyjamas for 360$, but when she tries to pay for it, her credit card is rejected. Blair decides to return it to the shelf, but when she notices that the security tag has already been removed by the sales clerk, she stuffs the pants into her purse. Meanwhile, Serena is watching the whole event, hiding behind a men’s extra large bathrobe which she eventually buys. Outside, Blair notices Serena walking by with a Barney’s bag and she dismisses any threat Serena may pose if Serena saw Blair shoplifting.

In Williamsburg, Vanessa, Jenny and Dan are at the Five and Dime, the bar where Clark (Vanessa’s boyfriend) works. They are waiting to meet with Serena so they can view her film that Vanessa and Jenny helped her on. In reality, most of the film work was done by Vanessa, but she isn’t asking for credit on the film, even though Vanessa thinks the movie is really good and that should be entered into the Constance senior film festival. The prize is two tickets to the Cannes Film Festival, but that would not be new for Serena. Vanessa becomes annoyed with Serena’s lateness and she gets Dan to call Serena to meet them. Serena forgot that today was Sunday, so she leaves a message on Vanessa’s voicemail at her apartment and a message with Mr. Humphrey asking to view the film tomorrow at school. Rufus lets it slip that Dan was supposed to meet Serena too and that he writes poetry about her. Serena is a little weirded out hearing this.

At the club, Dan decides to go watch Serena’s film alone at Vanessa’s apartment, Jenny tries to get a cab home to the West Side and Vanessa decides to stick it out with Clark. Vanessa couldn’t bear to go with Dan to see him grovel for Serena, so she turns to Clark for affection; but she still feels for Dan. Then, Dan plays the film: it starts out with just a close-up of Serena’s lips. She explains that she is getting a cab. Once in the cab, she says that she wants to go to a clothing store. At the clothing store, she looks around, and the camera view is still a close up on Serena’s lips. She finds a red dress and goes into a change room to try it on. She leaves the changing room and she starts spinning and the view is entirely on Serena. Dan is elated and calls Serena. She apologizes for not making it to Williamsburg. He tells Serena that he watched her film alone in Vanessa’s apartment and she’s a little weirded out, again. He brings up the weekend away at Brown and Serena brushes him off. She hangs up and Dan is left wanting more, so he re-watches the film.

On her ride home, Jenny gets stuck in traffic, so she decides to walk home. Cutting through Sheep Meadow, she stumbles across Nate and his friends (Anthony, Charles and Jeremy). Nate notices Jenny’s large breasts and thinks that his buds would enjoy the sight. Calling herself Jennifer, Nate invites “Jennifer” to light up. They smoke; Jenny feels uninhibited with Nate and Nate finds Jenny to be genuine. They enjoy some conversation while passing around a pipe and Nate invites Jenny back to his townhouse. Once at Nate’s home, he notices a package with a note from Blair. He hides it in his room, thinking it’s a another lame gift. They have a tender moment of hair touching and Jenny asks if Nate is comfortable with her being 14. He says, “it’s okay”.

At school on Monday, during lunch for the upper years, the other senior girls and some juniors are trying to get gossip about Eleanor’s wedding out of Blair. Once alone, Kati, Isabel and Blair are chatting about their roles as bridesmaids. Kati and Isabel console Blair by saying that she only has to interact with Serena on the day of the wedding. Blair agrees, not revealing that on the weekend before the wedding, the bridal party will be having a spa/beauty day, which will include Serena. This upsets Blair’s and she storms off to email Nate. Serena is sitting by herself, reading Goethe to understand Dan’s motivation in their relationship. Jenny notices Serena and tries to make conversation about the book. Jenny tries to bring up Nate, but Vanessa shows up suddenly, asking Jenny to help her out with exposing some photographs. Both girls work on Rancor, the school arts magazine where Vanessa is the editor-in-chief. Serena says that she has to leave anyways since she has an appointment with Mrs. Glos, the college advisor, and Jenny becomes upset with Vanessa. Jenny bitches out, tellingVanessa to call her “Jennifer” now and leaves. Vanessa thought having Jenny as a friend would help her get closer to Dan, but all Vanessa feels is more drama.

In the computer room, Blair tries to IM Nate, but he ignores her and instead IMs Jenny. He invites Jenny out after school to be alone and Jenny agrees. Meanwhile, Dan is emailing Serena a love poem he wrote earlier in the morning, with an invitation to meet him in Sheep Meadow after school. After school, Jenny meets Nate in front of the Met and they walk over to Central Park where he rolls a joint and takes a toke. He explains to Jenny that he wants to take time off before going to college. They lean in to kiss, but Jeremy, Charlie and Anthony show up. They play some soccer and Dan, sitting near the basketball court, notices his sister playing with Upper East Side boys. He decides to not intrude and writes some poetry about Serena instead. He’s anxious because she might appear, but she’s actually the dentist. Zeke, Dan’s “friend” shows up to play some basketball with Dan. Zeke asks why Dan has been more lame lately, and Dan explains that he has a “girlfriend”. Zeke laughs.

Wednesday afternoon, Blair meets with Mrs. Glos about questions Blair should ask at her Yale interview on Saturday. She heads home, but she finds her place to be in disarray. Apparently, Cyrus and his son, Aaron and his boxer dog, Mookie have moved in. Blair is traumatized from meeting her soon-to-be, dreadlocked, hippie, vegan stepbrother. She hides in her room and tries to watch her film for the Senior Year Film Festival. It’s a remake of the first 10 minutes of Breakfast at Tiffany’s set to different soundtracks. But Aaron barges in to try and make nice, letting in Mookie who terrorizes Kitty Minky, Blair’s cat. Blair yells at Aaron to leave and he does so. Blair calls Nate for some comfort, but he’s baked and feels distant. He hasn’t even thanked her for the stolen cashmere pants. She cries.

It’s Friday and Blair is with her mother at Saks trying to help her choose a wedding dress. Eleanor is taking her time in choosing a gown, so Blair tries to hasten the process by saying that she looks good. Eleanor then asks Blair about bridesmaid’s dresses; she suggests a chocolate brown Chloé silk dress that she saw at Barney’s, saying that it will look wonderful on Serena but may make Blair look hippy. Frustrated, Blair tries to leave, citing prep work for her interview at Yale as an excuse, but before she leaves, Eleanor tells her that Aaron is going to drive her to New Haven for the weekend. Blair wants to cry, but tries to fight back the tears. She heads home and runs into Aaron who suggests that they leave today to be in New Haven early. Blair figures that that might be a good idea, so they both pack.

Dan is waiting to meet Serena at Grand Central Station, but she’s late. She finally shows up and they smoke and have some drinks. Dan is very excited for their romantic weekend getaway, but Serena is a little scared. She brings up the poem about love and death that he sent her on Monday, but she’s distracted by a group of four boys. It’s Nate, Jeremy, Charlie and Anthony on their way to Brown. Serena invites the four boys to go with her and Dan, since they’re both going to Brown. Despite the Blair-enforced Serena sanction, Nate agrees to go with Serena and Dan is not happy. Dan’s dream of a weekend alone is ruined.

On the ride up, Blair explains to Aaron that she is only applying to Yale since she was meant to get it in. It’s been her dream since she was 6. Aaron spots a Motel 6 on the way and decides that they should spend the night there. Blair is wary, but Aaron and Blair raid a Shop’n'Save for junk food and beer and they end up partying the night away. Blair cannot believe that she is having a good time with Aaron. Having drunken a couple of beers, she passes out on the bed with Aaron. Meanwhile, Dan is driving up with Serena and Nate and his buds. Dan is feeling left out as Nate and Serena reminisce about their good times at fancy and rich getaways. They find a Best Western and Dan hopes that Serena and him will have to share a room. But all six are booked into one room, with two double beds and a pull-out sofa. Dan is depressed and resolves to get drunk. He falls asleep beside Charlie and wakes up to find Serena and Nate sharing a bed, holding hands as they sleep. Dan seeing this wants to write some intense poetry, but he left his notebook at home since he was expecting major make-out sessions with Serena. He locks himself in the washroom to write on toilet paper.

It’s Saturday morning and Blair is not awake. She finally wakes at 10:03am, giving her only an hour to get to her interview at 11am. She rushes frantically to get dressed and Aaron goes to check on the car. At 10:30, Blair is ready to go, but she finds Aaron with the car’s hood popped up. Apparently the lights were on all night and the battery is dead. After jumping the car’s batter, Blair ends up at Yale on time, but she still has to wait 15 minutes. At this point, Blair’s a nervous wreck. She meets her interviewer, Jason and bombs the whole interview. She admits to shoplifting, being suicidal, upset with Nate and confesses her issues with parent’s divorce and mother’s subsequent re-marriage. She gives herself a foot massage and ends the interview by kissing Jason. She stumbles out of the interview, temporarily alright, until Aaron starts asking her about the interview. Blair breaks down to Aaron, blames him for the tragedy and demands a ride back home to NYC.

In Providence, Serena, Nate and Dan are having interviews with Brown admissions. Serena’s interviewer has a chip on his shoulder and tries to shut down Serena. Nate’s interviewer is really perky and convinces Nate to try getting into Brown. Dan has a nervous breakdown as his interviewer asks him about his poetry. During his interview, he comes to a realization that Serena loves Nate and not him. He becomes even more depressed, so he walks out in the middle of the interview. Serena rallys up Nate and Dan and they go to a kegger at Erik’s place.

In NYC, Jenny is bored waiting for Nate and lonely without Dan, so when Vanessa calls asking for Dan, Jenny suggests that the two hang out. Jenny can tell though, that Vanessa is sad that Dan didn’t tell her that he was going to Brown with Serena. Vanessa tells Jenny that she’s screening her “War and Peace” film that she plans on submitting to the Senior Year Film Festival at the Five and Dime. Jenny agrees to be there. At the bar, Vanessa, Ruby, Clark and Jenny watch Vanessa’s mood piece on “War and Peace”, but it comes across as confusing, and ridiculous – mostly due to Marjorie’s poor acting skills as Natasha. Serena would have been a better Natasha, but Vanessa could bear to see Dan mooning over her, so she casted frumpy Marjorie instead. Vanessa is upset with the film, but Jenny tries to cheer her up. Jenny reflects: she wanted Dan to be with Serena because Jenny wanted an excuse to be able to approach Serena at school. But since Jenny is now the mature Jennifer, she doesn’t need to cling to Serena, which opens up the possibility of Vanessa going out with Dan. Jenny tells Vanessa to pursue Dan and Vanessa considers the idea. Jenny then tells Vanessa about her hunk of a boyfriend, Nate Archibald.

It’s the day of the Senior Year Film Festival and all the upper-year girls are dismissed early to view the submissions. Serena wants to win to use the film as her one extracurricular on her college application. Vanessa wants to win to support her NYU submission portfolio. Blair wants to win to try and make up for her poor interview; she’s already gotten her father to donate a vineyard to Yale. Arthur Coates, Isabel’s famous actor father, is the sponsor of the prize trip to Cannes, and after the viewing he announces Serena as the winner. Serena invites Vanessa and Jenny up to the podium and gives them each a ticket to Cannes. Blair fumes.

Serena calls Dan to tell him the good news, but he seems distant. He thinks that Serena really loves Nate. Serena reminds him about Eleanor’s wedding, and though Dan does not want to go with her, he still agrees to be her date, thinking that she NEEDS him. Meanwhile, Jenny is talking to Nate and he tells her about Brown being a possibility for the future. He then apologizes for last week in the park when his friends stopped them from kissing. He makes up for it by kissing Jenny.

It’s now the weekend, and Blair still hasn’t heard from Nate since he went to Brown. Today is the spa/beayty day for the bridal party, so Blair, Kati, Isabel, Eleanor, Serena and Blair’s Aunt Zo Zo are at the spa getting milk pedicure and manicures. Blair hears Serena telling Eleanor that she was at Brown last weekend for an interview. Blair becomes suspicious and probes Serena for more details and she finds out that Serena saw Nate at Brown on the weekend. This infuriates Blair and she rushes out of the spa, spilling milk everywhere. Serena reassures Eleanor that everything is alright and that Blair must be nervous for the wedding.

It’s the day of the wedding and Blair is ready to go. She hasn’t exactly spoken with Nate, but she’s hoping that from the one text message she sent and their sex session later tonight that everything will be solved. The bridesmaid’s dress selected is the brown one that Eleanor said would make Blair look hippy, but Blair looks fantastic in it. Kati and Isabel aren’t so lucky. Serena, as usual, looks awesome in the brown dress. Before the ceremony, Blair tries to ignore Serena as much as possible and searches the crowd for Nate. Nate is sitting, fingering Jenny’s calligrapher pen in his pocket; a piece of Jenny that she gave to him to cheer him up over the week. Dan is also at the ceremony, hiding in the back pew, overhearing gossip about the bridesmaid’s dresses and Eleanor’s choice in man.

Once the ceremony is over, Blair corners Nate and tries to engage him in conversation about sex later tonight and her birthday, but Nate bails. Meanwhile, Serena and Dan are leaving together in a limo. Dan is excited that they are finally alone, but before they leave, Nate and Erik barge in and Dan is depressed again. At the reception, Serena, Nate, Dan, Chuck, Erik, Kati and Isabel are seated together. Dan feels a little uncomfortable about sitting with Nate and Serena. Blair arrives and she makes her way to her table and sees Nate next to Serena and she gets upset. She tries to get Nate to leave so they can talk, but he resists. He is secretly planning on meeting Jenny at the reception and he doesn’t want to have to deal with Blair right now. Blair insists on leaving now and ends up holding up the speeches at the reception. After Aaron gets her to calm down, Blair is silently broods in her seat.

Jenny and Vanessa arrive at St. Claire’s, dolled up to meet Nate and Dan. Vanessa is hoping that by wearing a dress she can win Dan. Nate meets Jenny and they have some PDA and Vanessa wanders off for a drink. Inside the reception hall, Blair is upset and turns to talk to Nate only to see that he is gone. Her parents try to convince her to adopt the Rose last name, she protests and leaves for the washroom. Serena and Erik are molding their food into shapes, but Dan asks Serena for a moment. He starts to apologize, not sure for what, and Serena says that he was just being “too intense”. This depresses Dan and he leaves. Serena watches him go, but she wants to dance, so she does.

Jenny and Nate continue rubbing on each other as Dan tries to find a seat at the bar. He notices his sister with Nate, and sees the scumbag that Serena really wants and he wants to start something. Blair passes by Nate on her way to the washroom and see him making out with Ginny! She heads to the washroom to cry. Dan confronts Nate and grabs Jenny to go home until vanessa beckons him away. Dan is mesmerized by Vanessa’s bald head, black dress and red lipstick, so he complies. Vanessa is loving that she is flirting with Dan even though she hasn’t broken up with Clark yet. Nate asks Jenny to go to the wedding party and she agrees. Meanwhile, Serena is dancing with her brother until Chuck interrupts. She feels guilty about Dan being sad, so she uses Chuck as an excuse to stop dancing and find Dan. At the bar, she notices Dan talking with Vanessa and she realizes that they like each other. Serena doesn’t want to spoil the moment, so she heads to the washroom instead where she finds Blair.

Serena and Blair share a moment in the washroom. Serena tells Blair that she saw her steal the pyjamas. Blair asks her if Serena told anyone and she says that she didn’t. Blair beings to complain about life, so Serena tells Blair to “fuck ‘em” and to celebrate her birthday. Blair agrees and the two go up to the suite where Blair intended on losing her virginity. They laugh about Blair’s bikini wax that she got for Nate. Blair turns on some old Audrey Hepburn movies and Serena suggests that they order a pizza. Blair asks Serena if she looks like Audrey and Serena says “sure you do”. Blair decides that Serena’s right.

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