"Rise and shine sweet cheeks." A voice whispered in my ear. It only made me groan and whack the offending person around the head.

"Go away Chuck!" I huffed.

"Well someone's in a good mood. Come on. If you get up now you might be able to catch a glimpse of a certain Nate Archibald working out."

I immediately shot up and ran downstairs. I was very disappointed in what I saw. Nate was fully clothed and talking to my dad.

"You forget that we had a thing going, Lexi. I know how to get you up." Chuck smirked from behind me.

"You're not funny." I huffed. "Besides me and Nate aren't even a thing anymore and we probably never will be."

"Oh Lexi, you're here." Dad said, suddenly noticing my presence. "Come, sit, have breakfast."

I looked at the spread on the table and shook my head. "I have to get dressed, excuse me." I said and bumped my shoulder against Chuck's glaring at him.

I walked into my bathroom and got in the shower, letting the water drizzle down my back. I liked the way it washed away all of my worries as if they didn't exist. The way the water trickled down your back, soothing every muscle in your body.

I turned the water off and got out of the shower. I got my favourite fluffy pink towel and wrapped it around me, feeling all snug.

I walked out of my bathroom and walked straight into Nate, making me almost topple over but he caught me in time.

"Are you okay?" Nate asked with his eyebrows furrowed.

"Yeah, but I'm a little naked." I told him with my eyebrows raised.

He immediately let go of me and I grabbed my towel to cover my body back up.

"What are you doing in my room?" I asked.

"Oh, I came to give you something. But when I knocked you didn't answer, so I thought I'd just put it down for you."

"What did you wanna give me?"

Nate reached in his pocket and pulled out a box. He passed it over to me with a shy smile on his face. I ran my fingers over the velvety material, my heart pounding against my chest like it wanted to escape.

"Open it." He whispered, as if talking too load would break the atmosphere in the room, as if it would ruin the moment between us.

I carefully pushed the lid up and gasped at what I saw. A dainty, silver, heart-shaped locket. It had pink diamonds for the petals on the flower. And carved into the silver were some words.

"To the bravest of souls and the strongest of hearts." I read aloud.

"Look at the back." Nate said.

I turned it over and smiled. "Yours forever, Nate."

A watery smile took over my features and I hugged him close to me, all worries about how naked I was were gone. "It's beautiful, but why did you get it?"

"Well, it's your birthday in a week and I was gonna give it to you then. But something just felt right about giving it to you today." He mumbled, suddenly bashful.

I smiled and took it out of it's box. "Could you put it on for me?" I asked and swept my wet hair out of the way.

He clasped it on and I fingered the necklace once more, finding myself unable to stop touching it.

"Thank you." I smiled and turned around to place a kiss on his lips.

As soon as my lips touched his, he tenderly kissed me back.

"You have two minutes to stop before daddy catches you in the act." Chuck said from the door way.

"Chuck! How long have you been there?!" I hissed as Nate partially stepped in front of my to hide my towel covered body from him.

"Long enough to know that you two made me feel very sick." He shrugged. "I was hoping for some action."

I reached behind me and threw a pillow at him. "Out!" I hissed at him.

"You too." I said to Nate, a lot nicer than I did to Chuck.

He smiled and kissed me once more before walking out the door.

I closed it behind them and sighed. Why is it that beautiful moment always have to be interrupted? But the moment you want someone to interrupt your awkward conversation, no one comes!

I dropped my towel from my body and worked on my outfit for the day. I chose my light blue, ripped jeans with a black long sleeved top and a floral cardigan. I had my black Eleanor Waldorf heels on and my necklace was on show.

I dried my hair and let it fall into it's natural soft curls.

I had just finished doing my natural make up when my dad walked in.

"Hi." I whispered and moved to fiddle with my purse to make it look like I was busy.

"Did you want to spend the day with me?" He asked.

"Just you? Or you and your little friend?" I asked, the bitterness seeping through my tone.

"You're going to have to spend time with him at some point. All he wants is to get to know you and Blair."

I pretended to think about it for a moment before shaking my nead. "No I'll pass, but thanks. I have a busy day planned. Maybe some other time." I smiled and walked out of the door. I walked to central park and took my cellphone out to text Samantha, telling her to meet me.

Only ten minutes later and Samantha was there with two lattes In her hands. *You know, you're kinda the best friend ever." I smiled and took one of the lattes from her.

"Of course I am. Now is there any particular reason for this impromptu meet up in the park?"

I shook my head. "Not really, I just needed to get out. There's just so much going on that I can't deal with." I bit my lip and rested my head on her shoulder. "Chuck and Blair are meant to be together and I don't want to get in their way anymore. But me and Chuck are always gonna have this connection you know? And then there's Nate. What we have is weird you know? I didn't even see it coming, I barely noticed it when it hit me. But suddenly there was so much more between us and I have no idea how to do with it. And honestly I still think he has a thing for Serena, or at least blondes. I mean it was Jenny I caught him making out with. I just- I think maybe me and Nate work better as friends, it's easier that way. I think that maybe he thinks he likes me, or he wants to like me but perhaps we work better in theory. I'm so tired of the drama. And I'm pretty tired of the sound of my own voice. Sorry I got a bit carried away."

Samantha laughed and took my hand. "Do you know what we need to do? We need to have a girly night. Me, you, an Audrey Hepburn film. We can steal your sister's like we used to."

I thought about it a second before smiling. "You know what? That sounds perfect, let's just get a coffee before we go back. I'm not ready to go home yet, daddy's trying to make me and B hang out with Roman and-" my sentence was stopped when I feasted my eyes on the scene in front of me. "You have got to be kidding me." I groaned.

"Alexia! There you are, and Samantha too. Brilliant, you can both join us." My father called from where he, Blair and Roman were skating on the ice rink.

I hung my head and slowly walked towards him, Samantha following just behind me. "I don't really want to join you, daddy."

"Nonsense, you love ice skating." My dad grinned, ushering us over to the rented skates.

"I used to. My physical activities are more limited nowadays." I snickered and Samantha nudged my side.

"What?" Daddy asked, clearly not getting it.

"Nothing. Let's just skate." Samantha quickly said and grabbed the rented skates. I begrudgingly followed her and put the skates on.

Skating wasn't horrible, but I couldn't exactly call it fun either, it's definitely not my idea of a fun way to spend the day. I skated loops around Samantha, having skated far longer than her and well- I'm a show off, it's just in my nature. I can't help it.

I caught eye contact with Blair and immediately knew she was up to something, she had that evil glint in her eyes. Before I could even fathom what she was up to, Roman was bent over in obvious pain having tripped over Blair's boot. I had to clamp my hand over my mouth to keep in the giggles.

"Oh my God! Are you okay?" I could tell from Blair's tone it was false concern, but I'd be damned if I didn't admit that she had mastered the tone well.

"Quick let's run for it while they're distracted." I whispered to Samantha and we both took off, quickly skating in the other direction.

We threw our skates back to the rental guy and ran out of the park, faintly hearing my father calling after us.

"Oh God, he's gonna kill me when I get home." I laughed. We were seated in a little cafe, drinking hot chocolate and sharing a slice of chocolate cake.

"And I'll be banned from your house forever. You'll have to sneak me in for late night sleepovers, I'll be a runaway from the law!" She gasped dramatically, both of us bursting out into fits of giggles.

It was nice like this. The sun was setting, hitting the window just right for the warm rays to hit us. It was serenity. Me and my best friend sitting in a grimy little cafe that I normally wouldn't have looked twice at. Somehow this moment had caused the most peace I had felt in months.

"I don't wanna go back, once we leave here the drama begins again." I sighed.

"What are you going to do about Nate?" Samantha asked. Oddly enough it wasn't the question that disrupted to peace, I didn't even get to answer it, what disrupted the peace was the person who walked in.