XOXO | gg

TWO

Chapter 2

Friendzone

ALICIA DONOVAN settled down by the dinner table. Taylor had just left their elegant townhouse and was on her way home. The candles were lit and white roses in glass vases were standing on the table. A lovely family dinner at the Donovan's, you might think? Oh, what a mistake! 

''Mom, dad is talking to you,'' Alicia said to her mother who clearly had zoomed out from the conversation. 

Mrs. Donovan sighed. ''Well you have to excuse me, but I'm just so tired of having the same conversations over, and over again. Let me guess, Harold Astor is doing everything in his power to create a scandal. Or is it Trump who's been spamming his twitter with lies, perhaps? Can we, for once, talk about anything else than politics?'' 

''It's my job, Lydia, and it's your responsibility to be involved. Maybe you could start engage yourself a little,'' her father William said with a frown.

Alicia and her brother, Isaac, looked at each other. Oh, no. Not again. 

She raised her voice. ''I gave up everything for you and your career, don't you dare to try to lecture me about engaging myself in your job. I'm sorry that I'm sick of hearing all about politics day in and day out, but right, no one other than you and your job matters. Isn't that right, William?'' she gestured heavily with her hands. 

''Can someone hand me the water?'' the twelve years old Isaac mumbled. The water carrier was right next to William but, of course, he was in the middle of an argument and was simply too busy to listen. Alicia stretched across the table and handed the water container in glass over to Isaac.

William continued. ''That's absurd, you're acting ridiculous. But of course you have to make everything into a fight, as always.'' 

Alicia raised her voice and interrupted the discussion, ''What's the matter with you two? Why can't we have a nice dinner like normal families, for once? Me and Isaac are tired of listening to you constantly fighting, just stop, please!'' 

The room fell quiet for a moment, but it didn't take long until their parents started to blame each other. Again. This was what most of the dinners in the Donovan household looked like. Well, except for the ones where Mr. Donovan was working late evenings at his office. He was the mayor of New York City, and therefore a very busy man. Considering his job, it wasn't very weird that politics occupied a large part of the conversations in their home, but sometimes it could be a little ... too much. 

Lydia stood up, putted her napkin on the table and began walking out of the dining room. ''Really? Leaving the dinner? Come on!'' William said loudly and rolled his eyes. ''I lost my appetite,'' they heard her shouting from the hall. 

- 

It was Monday morning and Alicia was standing in her bathroom brushing her buttery blonde hair. She checked the time on her phone, 8:05 AM. Fuck, she was running late. Typically Alicia, she could never be done in time but hated to be late. Those five minutes of extra sleep maybe wasn't worth it, after all. She quickly applied her favorite lipgloss to her lips and rushed down the stairs. She grabbed an apple in the kitchen, kissed her mother goodbye on the cheek and threw on her beige Burberry coat in the hallway. 

''Thank you, Thomas!'' she said politely to their driver after he parked the car outside the school entrance, which was full of students. She breathed out, she didn't get late after all. Alicia saw her closest friends; Taylor, Elle and Vega standing next to the stairs so she waved and walked up to them. ''Hurry up! I'm freezing,'' Taylor shouted across the schoolyard. It was in the start of December, and awfully cold for being New York. 

- 

The first lesson of the day was completed, and the four best friends were sitting at a table in the common room. ''Guys, did you read about Tristan and Isabel? Gossip Girl posted about them this morning, apparently they've been seeing each other,'' Elle bent forward and whispered to the others. 

''What?'' Alicia exclaimed, sounding very surprised. 

''That was an unexpected couple,'' Vega stated. ''Wait, Tristan hasn't told you?'' she asked Alicia and looked at her. 

''Um, yeah, of course. It just slipped my mind, but now that you say it I remember,'' she answered, swallowed, and looked down. ''... Nice for him,'' she looked up with a small smile. 

They all looked at her very sceptically. ''Well, how do you really feel about it?'' 

''As I said, I'm happy for him,'' she said with an annoyed tone. ''Why would I care? Me and Tristan were never even a thing, we're just friends. Friends, and friends only. That's it.''

Lauren raised her eyebrows. ''Yeah, you don't seem to care at all.'' 

Alicia chose to ignore the obvious sarcasm in her voice and glared at her. ''No. I really don't,'' she answered, trying to sound unbothered. 

The truth was that Alicia did care, very much. Not that she would ever admit it. Her and Tristan had known each other for as long as she could remember and she had always had a thing for him, knowing that he liked her too. But for some reason nothing had ever happened between them, and now he had a girlfriend. And except the fact that he was with another girl, someone who wasn't her, he hadn't even told her about it. She tried to convince herself that she didn't care, and that she was happy for him, but the truth was that her heart felt like it had been broken into a million pieces. And how could he choose Isabel Baldwin, out of all people in New York? 

''Let's talk about Elle's mystery boyfriend instead. How is everything between you two? Is he in the city right now?'' Alicia asked Elle in an attempt to change the subject. 

Elle smiled big and sighed happily. ''It's great. He's perfect. He's at Yale now, but I was thinking that I can invite him over for dinner on Sunday. I can't wait for Gabriel to meet my family.''

''Spotted: A avoiding a sensitive subject and E babbling about her mysterious boyfriend. Who even is he? You know you love me. XOXO, Gossip Girl.''