𝐓𝐄𝐍𝐍𝐈𝐒 𝐂𝐎𝐔𝐑𝐓, gossip girl

𝟏𝟓. 𝐛𝐮𝐬𝐲 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐝, 𝐧𝐮𝐦𝐛 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭

𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟏𝟓; 𝐛𝐮𝐬𝐲 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐝, 𝐧𝐮𝐦𝐛 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭
(𝘴𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘰𝘯 𝘪𝘪, 𝘦𝘱 𝘹𝘪𝘷 - '𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘮 𝘰𝘧 𝘣𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘴')

"𝑱𝑼𝑺𝑻 𝑨 𝑾𝑨𝑹𝑵𝑰𝑵𝑮." Nick pulled away from Gwen breathlessly, which made her frown and pout slightly, he couldn't help smiling at how cute she looked with swollen lips and rosy cheeks. "You can't fall in love with me." from the way he was smirking it was obvious that he was merely teasing her.

The Vanderbilt girl laughed as if  she had been told the funniest thing in the world — and, quite frankly, at that time that was a joke. An absurd joke that made no sense. "Yeah, that won't be a problem." she assured the Waldorf boy and then pulled him closer by his shirt's collar. "Good luck for you, though." their noses were brushing as Gwen whispered. "I'm totally lovable." she giggled at her own words.

"Yeah, that won't be a problem." Nicholas copied her response grinning widely.

Several months later and Gwendolyn was wondering what the hell happened. She couldn't properly understand her feelings anymore. How does one even know whether they are in love or not? Gwen didn't think she had ever been in love. Sure, she briefly dated some guys before, but what she felt for them didn't seem like love. Well, not that Gwen knew much about love anyway.

You see, spending New Year's Eve in one of the most romantic cities in the world wasn't much of a good idea. When some friends from the tennis club invited Gwen on a trip to Venice, she not once thought they would all bring their partners with them. Gwendolyn never had a problem with third-wheeling, she usually just didn't care, this time, however, being around that many couples made the girl uneasy. Perhaps it was because she was in denial.

Gwen didn't understand why every time she looked at those couples her mind fabricated images of her summer with Nicholas, or why looking at random things made her wonder what he would say about them. Well, to be honest, she didn't want to understand. The truth was right there at her reach, but Gwen couldn't stop herself from running away from it. It had been almost a month since her last encounter with Nick, and Gwen was taking every opportunity to keep herself occupied — if she stopped and thought about what she told him and how he react to her words or even what Nick would've told her had she not cut him off so harshly like that. If her mind did wander to those uncharted parts, then her unwanted feelings would catch up with her, and Gwen just couldn't have that.

Even when she was in Venice, Gwen did everything she could to stay busy. The Vanderbilt girl wasn't that much keen on sightseeing — she would usually choose to read a nice book in the lobby of whatever fancy hotel she was staying instead —, but this time she explored the city she was visiting from the inside out. Did you know Venice was once an independent empire? Well, Gwen didn't, but, after visiting about nine museums or more, she was now quite acquainted with the town's history. Her tour didn't only include historical parts, however, Gwen enjoyed the amazing Italian cuisine to the point she was sure her mother would be pointing out the new pounds she gained — still she had no regrets about it.