AN: So yes, the prologue was ridiculously short but I plan on making up for that with this chapter. Thanks to those of you who reviewed and those of you who have added this story to your alert list…it's really exciting to know that you guys are actually reading this story and looking forward to the next chapter. With that said, here you go.

Standard disclaimers apply.

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Untitled

By Aashka

Chapter 1

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The children were screaming and jumping around as if they were trying to make their way over a lava lake. Mothers were massaging their heads, mentally reminding themselves that they loved their screaming little brats. Reminding themselves that once their children got past this stage, they would no longer seem like a burden. This chaotic mess, also known as afternoons at the arcade, is what greeted Serena when she walked through the glass double doors. Ignoring the fact that she had outgrown this place years ago, she walked over to the counter where she had spent countless hours of countless days back when she actually had time to waste, and sat. She waved at her friend Andrew, once a lowly mop boy and now owner of this surprisingly lucrative business establishment, and tried not be ashamed of her age when surrounded by children. Luckily, her friends chose this exact moment to walk into the busy arcade cum diner and stand next to her. At least she wasn't the only college student here now.

They moved to their normal booth, the one they'd been sitting at for years. Don't get it wrong, they had tried coffee shops and other places more suited to their new found maturity, they just never worked out. Maybe they weren't as mature as they thought they were. Serena looked at her friends. They were the only people she could count on to always be there for her. These girls had seen her through relationships that had only ended in a broken heart and those moments that really mattered, when her father had decided he didn't want to be part of her family anymore. They were the ones she turned to when it felt like her world could no longer go on. She couldn't help but feel guilt at the fact that these girls, who had always been there for her, who had shared all their deepest secrets and fears with her, had no idea of the secret she was keeping. She had been lying to their faces for months, and although she hated it, she would go on to lie about this one thing. She was unwilling to let them know how low she had sunk.

The door jingled, signaling the arrival of another customer. Speak of the devil and he will appear. Or in this case, just think about him. She tried to ignore his presence, like she had always tried to do and once again, she utterly failed.

"Hello, girls," he said, blatantly flirting with her friends, his back to her, "I saw this group of stunning ladies and I just couldn't stay away." He then turned to her and said, "Oh. And Serena," and went back to ignoring her. She should just ignore him, pretend like he didn't bother her. He was trying to get a rise out of her, she knew it. She shouldn't let him win but she couldn't help herself.

"Wow, Darien. Here I thought that you might finally learn how to not act like a rude jackass in public. Oh well, my mistake. Guess Daddy's money can't buy charm. Sucks for you."

"Oh Serena, where were my manners. Here let me order your normal 13 pounds of food. Can't let you get cranky in that corner of yours. No wait, I actually don't think I have enough money to cover your appetite. " He smiled and went back to talking to her friends and all she could do was glare at his back. His broad muscled back that probably still bore the scratches that she had placed on it in the midst of passion. 'Bad thoughts' she scolded herself, 'get away before you do or say something stupid and give yourself away.' Thinking that was a good idea, Serena got up from the edge of the booth and walked back to the counter. Shooting a smile at Andrew, she ordered a milkshake from the new cashier.

"Serena." She looked up from her wallet to see that Andrew had made his way over to her. Turning to the cashier he said, "I'll take care of this." He then proceeded to deny letting her pay for her drink and pulled her to another table further away from the games and screeching children.

"How are you? I feel like I haven't seen you in a while."

Serena looked into the green eyes of one of the only guy friends she had ever had and responded, "Oh you know, college…etc. You've been there done that. It's a time stealer." She sent him a weak smile and went back to staring into her glass, barely sipping her drink. Here was another one of her friends that she had kept her secret from.

"You seem pretty happy though. Has something good happen to you recently? Or in the past few months? You seem to have kind of a glow about you…I mean, it's been a while since we caught up so I didn't know…"

"Haha, Andrew. No, life is the same it has always been. Pretty boring…but enough about me. What about you? Are you seeing anyone?"

Andrew chuckled, "Nope. I'm still doing the same thing. You know, waiting for you to finally admit that you want me." Serena laughed. This had been an ongoing joke between them for years.

"I know. I just can't get up the nerve to jump your bones like I want to."

"Really. Well, may I suggest you just do what you always do? Wear skimpy clothes and bend over. That should do it," a third voice chimed in, its baritone not hiding the derisive lack of respect for the topic of the conversation.

"I think you've had a mix up in that miniscule brain of yours. You're the slut in the pack, not me," Serena responded feeling anger start to build up from his cruel remark.

Andrew just shook his head, "Some things will never change. I was hoping you two would get along or at least be civil as you grew up. Guess that's just one more thing I was wrong about." He shrugged then added, "I better get back to running this place. It was good seeing you both. Catch you later." And with that he left leaving the two enemies to spar with each other.

Serena glared at Darien, "I changed my mind about you. There actually is one thing you're good at in the world, chasing people off."

"I'm sorry if I ruined a good thing for you. I can call Andrew back here and you and him can make a public display in front of all these children, if you want. Or maybe you should just follow him into the back room. That's probably the nicest place you've ever fucked anyone."

"Careful, Darien," was all she said in response then stood, "I wish I could say it was a pleasure seeing you again but lying is something I'm trying to work out of my system." 'Yeah right,' her conscience responded. She turned and walked back to the girls, gesturing towards the door.

"But we haven't had the chance to even really catch up," whined Mina, the designated blonde of the group. She and Serena could have been sisters, they were so similar in looks. In the past, they had both shared that bubbly, outgoing, carefree personality. Serena loved Mina, but she was glad she had outgrown that phase.

"She's right. Sit down and talk to us for a bit. You don't need to rush off right now," said Rei in her normal bossy tone. Serena wanted to tell them that they were ruining her exit but then she would have to explain who it was that she was trying to get away from. So she sat and turned to Amy, the shyest of the group and said, "Okay. What's new?"

"Fill me in on the details of your lives," she looked over at Lita and said, "How's your restaurant doing Lita?" As Lita dove straight into some story about her restaurant the other day, Serena struggled to pay attention to her friend. Instead, she was trying to recall where she was the night that Lita was talking about.

"Are you listening?" She was jarred out of her thoughts by Lita.

"Yes, you were telling me about the celebrity who came to your restaurant…Brad Pitt?"

"Yes, him and Angelina Jolie…" Serena drifted again.

"Put your arms above your head" came through her mind and she sucked in a breath, thinking about him again. "Good. Now spread your legs. Like that. Like how that feels baby?" She stopped herself from moaning in front of her friends, feeling incredulity at the fact that just the memory of one of their encounters could evoke such arousal in her.

"That's great, Leets," she turned to Amy, "How's Greg?" She smiled seeing her friend blush at the mention of her boyfriend's name. She was envious of that. They had been dating for years but their relationship was as cute as if they had just started dating. And what was she doing? Fucking her enemy behind everyone's back. That wasn't a relationship, it was a sickness.

"He's great. The other day he-"

What was wrong with her? He was never nice to her. She could never talk about the sweet thing he did the other day. Why was she selling herself so short? 'Great sex,' came the answer. Incredible, mind-blowing passion. She could still feel the hot water trailing down her body while he-

"Serena? Are you okay? You're looking kind of flushed."

"Actually, I am feeling kind of off. I think I'm getting to get going. I want to get home and lay down for a bit. I hope I'm not coming down with anything." Her friends nodded their heads in agreement and sent her off with "Feel better!"s and "Try to get some rest!"s. She was a horrible person, lying had become second nature to her at this point. She left the store, shooting one last significant look at the man who was slowly taking over her life.

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He watched her leave, staring at her retreating form with a hunger that he could never seem to satiate. He just barely quelled the urge to follow after her, to drag her back to his place or hers and just have his way with her. Again. Why did he want her so much? Sure she was beautiful but then again he had been with beautiful women before. Actually, it made no sense. In truth, he could barely stand her presence beyond the times when she was too occupied to be able to speak.

She was slowly taking over his life. Everything had started reminding him of her. This was not good. He could be in the middle of a meeting and out of nowhere he would be thinking about her. Worse, he would be yearning for her, the taste of her, her touch. He remembered the one time he had paused in the middle of a presentation just because he caught a whiff of something that reminded him of her perfume. He had to do something. This was starting to become a sickness.

"Dare, you okay buddy?" He suddenly realized that he had been staring out the window in the direction she had headed for a while now. This was a problem.

"Yeah fine, Drew. Sorry, must've spaced out."

"No blame, dude. You finally presented that thing to your boss today right? That presentation you've been working on forever. Dude, now that it's over we should go out and celebrate."

"You're just looking for an excuse to party…anyway, I don't think I'll go out tonight. That presentation took a lot out of me and now I can finally catch up on my sleep." He didn't mention that one of the reasons he hadn't been sleeping was one incredibly annoying but somehow ridiculously sexy blonde.

"Party pooper. Oh well, guess it'll just be me and the girls tonight."

"Huh? The girls?"

"Yeah, you know, Serena's friends. They were going to some new club tonight and they invited me."

"So I'm assuming that Serena will be there. Good thing I turned that invitation down."

"Dude, I don't know what your problem with her is. She's probably one of the coolest girls I've ever met. Not to mention the hottest."

Darien felt a surge of heat run through him with his comment. He wanted to punch out Andrew, one of his best friends, just for pointing out how good looking Serena was. Shit. He had felt that way earlier too, that surge of jealousy when he saw them flirting. Damn. He was becoming possessive. This had to stop.

"I find her extremely annoying. I can barely tolerate her presence. I'd do anything to goad her into leaving in one of her immature fits. But anyway, you're on your own tonight, Drew. I definitely don't plan on seeing Serena more that necessary." He needed to start avoiding her. He disliked her with a passion and he didn't want to be around. Now only if he could get his body to feel the same way.

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She was grinding up on some loser on the dance floor. She was letting him touch her body the way he yearned to do so. And where was he, standing against the wall, getting angrier and angrier. Why was he there? He had told Andrew and himself that he wouldn't come here tonight. He had promised himself that he would avoid her tonight. Finally get his life back to normal. Focus on his normal daily schedule of events, do his work and not sit around planning his next rendezvous with her. So why was he here?

It was because of this exact reason. The thought of her being with some other guy…in his mind he despaired over it being Andrew. Luckily for his friendship with Andrew, she set her sights on come other poor loser tonight. That jealousy, the same one from earlier, was eating at him again and he could not just stand there and watch her with that idiot. She was HIS, god damn it! Practically growling under his breath, he pushed away from the wall and made his way towards the dance floor.

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She was letting him take liberties. Her mind might have been clouded by the 5 shots she had just taken at the bar but she knew that she was letting this go too far. The guy who was dancing against her was feeling her up in a way that almost made her sick. But she let it happen, desperate to find that all-consuming desire with this guy, any guy. It wasn't right that it happened only with him. It made no sense. She hated him more than anything else and yet every time he touched her, she burned. So she let this guy's hand wander a little too far down, hoping that he wasn't the only one who could make her lose her mind with desire. Of course, it didn't work and she just felt disgusted by this asshole.

She turned and left the dance floor, deciding she needed another drink. Forgoing another shot, she ordered a mixed drink, knowing that straight alcohol sliding down her throat would only cause her to want to throw up. She felt him then. He was definitely here and he was watching her. She didn't know how she knew, but she did. She felt him then. He was behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist and placing his lips on her neck. Instantly feeling sparks, she sighed and turned into his body, staring at his broad chest and refusing to meet his eyes. She should've known, trying to have something with that other guy only made her want him more.

He tugged at her hand, pulling her back onto the dance floor. He didn't know why he led her there. He normally didn't even like to dance but the thought of feeling her body against him moving against him to the music drove him wild. They were dancing, forgetting that anyone else was there beyond themselves. He pulled her closer to him and brushed his hands along her curves. She pushed against him harder, giving into the feeling of being with him even though everything about them together seemed wrong. Regaining her senses for a moment she said, "People will see us, Darien."

She made no move to separate them. Darien grew heated at this comment. What was her problem? All he wanted right now was her and all she could think about was someone seeing her?!

"Who the fuck cares," he replied and then proceeded to drag her off the dance floor and into a dark booth in the corner.

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AN: Okay, I know that's a weird place to stop but I've run out of time and I wanted to get something up for you guys. I have the next chapter written I just need to type it up and post it so it shouldn't be too long. Thanks again for reading!