eric untitled

Running into Eric van der Woodsen was never an unpleasant part of Lucille’s day. She liked him far more than she liked his sister, and though their families were friends, she’d never much liked Lily van der Woodsen. The woman was too obviously fake with the way she whispered about people with Anne Archibald all the time. Most of the other women didn’t notice, but Lucille did. She’d been trained to notice impoliteness in even the smallest of ways. “Eric! How lovely to see you. I heard you were in Florida. The sun did wonders for you skin.” She gave him a smile. “The real question is what didn’t you miss?” Brushing past the Fairchild ball, because she never wanted to talk about that, there was Isobel Prescott’s scandal… “I’m not one to gossip, you know that, but there was an unfortunate incident with Isobel Prescott claiming that Jess Knightly’s boyfriend–well, forced himself on her. She was disproved easily, but it’s been quite the scandal. We’re also still recovering from the news that Alex Vandervort is pregnant. I hardly thought she’d be the one to go first, really.”

What Eric didn't know about all of the many and varied families in this cliquey Upper East Side community of theirs, he learned from just listening to his mother and his sister talk, and even if he didn't have them, Lucille was kind of a legend, even of her ice cold reign at Constance had been before his time.  Even if he was technically part of the world, by virtue of his name, he couldn't help but feel a little apart of it.  Lucille mentioning Florida right away didn't help.  His smile faltered just a bit before he could recover it, and he felt one of his hands drift to his wrist, rubbing the skin over his shirt almost unconsciously. "It's nice to see you too," he said politely and let out something of a laugh. "Yeah, Florida was great, I really needed the change in scenery."  He blinked when Lucille jumped right into it and lifted an eyebrow.  "So...false accusations of crimes and pregnancy, it's great to be home," he said with a slightly amused twist of his lips.  "But it would be nice to start hearing about you specifically.  I can get caught up on Gossip Girl any time."

"Oh, right, like you weren’t watching Gossip Girl the whole time, waiting for some crazy story to show up.” Serena smiled at her brother, still unable to hide her concern for him even after all this time, but doing her best for his sake. She could be the strong one for once. “Well, there was a party–a ball really, you know how the Fairchild’s are–and Nate’s dad got arrested. It was…it was awful, Eric. I was so worried for him. I am so worried for him. People are saying it’s social suicide to be around him now, I’m–” Her heart drops mid-sentence and she inhales sharply (it’s more a gasp than anything). “Oh god, I didn’t mean…That was a bad choice of words. I’m so sorry.”

Quickly, desperately, scared of what will happen if she doesn’t change the topic immediately, she rushed on with her cheeks flushed and her voice artificially bright. “It wasn’t all bad, though. I think mom has a new boyfriend. Okay, that’s still another bad thing. Um, Georgina Sparks is back? That’s….undecided. Maybe nothing good has really happened. Except for you. You’re back. I’ve missed you a lot, Eric, I hope you know that.”

No matter how apprehensive Eric was about starting his life over again, even just hearing Serena's voice calmed him in a way that he couldn't even explain.  Despite having so many things that he just couldn't quite tell her, he still trusted her more than any other person.  He turned his face to her and let out a small laugh.  "I was actually enjoying being away from that for awhile," he said honestly, but his lips twisted up into a bigger smirk as she just went on anyway.

He didn't even really get a chance to process what she was saying either, not really before she said that.  And it wasn't so much that she said it really, Eric hardly noticed.  It was more the way she gasped and her face just feel that really hurt, stung this place inside of him that made him feel...broken.  Like no one would ever be able to have a normal conversation with him again.  God, it sucked. 

Jenny didn’t recognize the voice when he spoke to her– well, maybe not to her, but he was near her. That counted, right? Her eyes lifted from her magazine and she opened her mouth to reply, but the words caught in her throat. This was Eric van der Woodsen. The Eric van der Woodsen. Jenny had only ever seen a few photos of him, but gosh he was so much more handsome in person. She tried to scold herself, she really did, but she could literally feel her heartbeat in her throat. Damien and her hadn’t exactly DTR’d, but she shouldn’t be looking at other boys like this, right? “I-…” Her lips fell into a smile as Jenny tried to look less stunned. “Where would I even begin?”

Eric had been away from so much of this for so long that he sort of forgot how it felt to walk into a room and just know that people knew him, or at least of him.  Even before...well, before everything, it never really felt like it fit, like it was just this uncomfortably tight suit he had to wear around, smile here, walk there, pretend to know and care about these people because they have money just like you. He thought he'd gotten okay at navigating it, but now it was feeling uncomfortable and new.  

But he wouldn't be a van der Woodsen if he couldn't just turn it on, would he?  He turned to the voice and smiled, taking in the girl that had spoken to him.  She didn't immediately look familiar, but he found himself smiling at the almost sweetly stunned look on her face.  "I hope I'm not being incredibly rude, but we haven't met have we?" he asked, offering her a more genuine smile.  "But if you can help me get caught up, I'm definitely in need."  He could sort of tell by the look on her face that he didn't really need to introduce himself, which was...still weird.  But he held out a hand anyway --carefully carefully covered by long sleeves thank you-- and said, "Eric, by the way."