Nate and Jenny (2024)

Nate and Jenny
Nickname:	Jate
Intimacy Level:	Kissed
First Met:	The Handmaiden's Tale
Started Dating:	N/A
Status:	Friends

The relationship between Nate and Jenny, also known asJate, is the friendship and former romantic relationship betweenNate ArchibaldandJenny Humphrey.

Overview

Nate and Jenny date in Season 2 for a brief time. They are secretive at first because Jenny is worried Vanessa Abrams, who is like a sister to her, will find out about their relationship. However, when they kiss and Vanessa sees, Jenny runs away from Nate effectively ending the relationship. She sabotages Vanessa causing Nate to realise that Jenny will always be two years younger than him and nothing he ever does will change that, however Nate still cares deeply about Jenny. He chooses Serena van der Woodsen over her though and this is one of the key reasons that Jenny sleeps with Chuck and gets banished in the first place.

Novels

In the Gossip Girl novel series, Nate and Jenny date only when Nate isn't with Blair Waldorf. Nate and Jenny "fool around" in Sheep's Meadow while Vanessa films them. After this fiasco, the two don't reunite until the final book, in which Nate goes to a party with Jenny rather than Blair or Serena. In I Will Always Love You, Jenny eventually reunites with and loses her virginity to Nate, and they date seriously for a while until Jenny pursues Blair's younger brother, Tyler Waldorf. At the end of the series, Nate tries to confess his love for either Blair or Serena.

Television Series

Season 1

In Season 1 Nate and Jenny are purely platonic, he looks out for her when she becomes involved with the mean girls and thinks of her as a little sister. When she asks to borrow money, he informs Dan Humphrey to make sure Jenny is okay, and she tells him the truth about Blair sleeping with Chuck Bass first.

Season 2

While his family's assets are frozen due to Nate's fathers impending trial, he moves in with the Humphrey's for a while. While living there, him and Jenny develop a mutual crush on each other but don't know how to navigate it. Due to Nate and Vanessa's history, Jenny is unsure because of her long friendship with Vanessa and doesn't want to hurt her. After Nate crashes Jenny's inappropriate photoshoot with Agnes, the two share a passionate kiss.

Unbenownst to Dan, who hates the idea of his friend dating his younger sister, Nate and Jenny continue their clandestine relationship. During Jenny's surprise fashion show at an event honouring Bart and Lily Bass, the two kiss and Vanessa sees, and leaves. Jenny, realising that her worst fear has come true, runs after Vanessa and tries to smooth things over with her friend.

Meanwhile, a distraught Nate sends Jenny an apologetic letter confirming his feelings for her and his frustration over how to continue their relationship. However, a jealous Vanessa is able to intercept the letter before it reaches Jenny, effectively keeping Jenny in the dark about Nate's feelings for her.

Later, having never seen the letter, Jenny believes Nate just blew her off and was not interested. But when she sees a photo of Vanessa and Nate kissing on Gossip Girl, Jenny decides to gravely humiliate Vanessa. Before the plan takes place, the guilt of stealing the letter convinces Vanessa to tell Nate she stole the letter and accept the consequences. Once Jenny's plan takes place, it ultimately backfires. Nate is disgusted by Jenny's viciousness and decides to pursue Vanessa instead. He tells Jenny about the letter himself, and says he isn't interested in her.

Season 3

In Season 3, Nate is constantly looking out for Jenny, protective of her, and saving her from whatever trouble she gets herself into. Jenny and Nate dance together at the ball when Eric van der Woodsen and Blair's sabotage at Cotillion fails. Jenny still likes Nate and spends lots of the series attempting to break Serena and Nate up so she can be with him instead. In "The Empire Strikes Jack", Agnes drugs Jenny and Nate picks her up from the bar where Agnes and her model friends left her. Jenny uses this to pull Nate back in at times. They spend the beginning of his birthday together, and they seem to be happy and playful together. Jenny's plan doesn't work and when she kisses Nate, he realises her plan from the start, he tells her that he wants to be with Serena. When Serena leaves Dorota and Vanya's wedding with Carter Baizen to find her father, she tries to call Nate to explain but Jenny answers instead. She tells Serena she'll pass her message along to Nate but never does, and instead just tells him she left with Carter. However, when Nate and Serena find out what she did, they both ask her to stay out of their relationship. Jenny is especially humiliated when Serena gets mad at her, she sleeps with Chuck and is the one who takes the photo of Serena and Dan in bed together. Once she sends this to Gossip Girl she knows it will break up Serena and Nate, but because of her being banished she still isn't with him.