Gossip Girl (Book Five)

Ten

I sat on my bed, trying to smash my engagement ring onto my finger when Rose walked in with my tea. "Same thing happened to me. Pregnancy makes fingers swell up like kielbasas." Rose stated, setting my tea down on my nightstand.

"Well, the paparazzi aren't camped out downstairs to find out if your wedding is called off. They see me without my ring, they'll think it means something." I could only get the ring halfway on.

"I start to think maybe it does. Mr. Louis is back from third world. It's been a week, and he is still waiting at the consulate--"

"Where he'll remain until I decide what to do." I quickly cut her off, trying to take the ring off.

"You know what to do. Mr. Chuck told you secret to making Louis good man again. Say like magic spell-- Bibbidi-bobbidi-boo, I will never leave you. Poof! Louis will feel safe again, and you live happily ever after."

Now I can't get the ring off my finger. "But I'm not sure...I can promise...Louis that I'll never leave him." Oh my God, it's stuck!

"Handsome prince who is father of your child loves you. What is stopping you?" I looked up at her and Rose's eyes got wide. "It is the thought of Mr. Chuck that makes you unsure."

"Well, I will admit that Chuck has changed, but this is about Louis," I went back to trying to pull the ring off. "and until I can promise him he'll never lose me," The ring was still not moving, so I just sighed in defeat. "or my fingers regain their elegant shape, we are not leaving this apartment."

"That could be very long time." Rose picked up my hand and with one good twist and pull it was off.

Unbelievable. She couldn't have done that before? "I loosened that for you." I stated, grabbing my tea and walking out of the room.

The food was coming up and I walked towards the elevator. Rose walked over to me with a DVD in her hand. "DVD on prenatal yoga. Maybe we use this time to get in shape for childbirth." Rose suggested.

"I plan on having my child the old-fashioned way-- fully sedated." The delivery man walked in and I took his clipboard. He took the pen from behind his ear, handing it towards me. I shook my head, grabbing a pen from the foyer table. I was about to sign my name when I saw a flash. Rose started yelling in Russian and I covered my face with the clipboard. I waited for him to be gone before showing my face again. "I'm not even safe in my own home!" I yelled, tossing the clipboard down. "I have to get out of here! Somewhere they'd never think to look for me." My phone started ringing and I pulled it out to see Dan's name. "And I think I know the perfect place." I stated to Rose before answering the phone, putting it to my ear. "Hello."

"Hey, I was wondering what you were doing today." Dan asked.

"Coming to stay with you, actually."

"Uh, okay." Dan sounded confused, like always, but he didn't ask any questions. So I packed a few things, snuck out of my apartment, and went to Brooklyn.

I was on the couch, drinking tea when Dan finally came out of the bathroom. "The sheets you brought are on the bed, your Jo Malone candles are burning in every room, and every trace of my existence has been removed from the bathroom."

"Thank you."

Dan went over sitting on a stool by the kitchen island. "I saw your photo in the paper. Is--is everything okay?"

I sighed. "Everything is horrible. I need to go to Louis and reassure him that he's never gonna lose me, but something is stopping me."

"Chuck is stopping you."

I quickly shook my head. "No."

"Please." Dan scoffed. "You two have some strange force field effect on each other. Physicists should study it."