AN: Hello everybody, here's chapter two of Tangled! Just in case there were a few people with question marks hovering above their heads as to why they were getting emails about an author they'd never heard about, my previous penname was SailorEm , so if she/I was on your Author Alerts as that....Well, hopefully that question mark is now gone, and is replaced by an excited exclamation mark?
If I could thank Kaitlyn Fall in buckets of something yummy and exciting for her betaing and ideas and support, I would give her chocolate. Yummy, yummy chocolate (the kind that tastes good, whilst still being completely lactose-free). And another thanks would go to Railway Station for keeping me alive with constant hilarious twitter feeds! Girl, you'd better enjoy that party tomorrow night for the both of us! And of course to the lovely, lovely, lovely people who reviewed the last chapter. Thank you!!
Disclaimer: Yo Kazuki T; I'm really happy for you, and Imma let you finish, but Naoko T. has one of the all-time best anime and manga series in the world (Sailor Moon belongs to Naoko in other words - sorry for the obviously awful joke ^_^;;)!
Demi Lovato was just finishing her last song. The crowd of spectators cheered her on as she bowed, concluding her act. Demi waved and put the microphone back in the stand, ready to rejoin the party. The minute she was off the stage, another singer was on her way up. Before she could reach the microphone however, a beautiful melody began. It echoed around the large, round room, weaving its way into the very air, and creating a new, and very different atmosphere.
Amy sat at the piano bench, watching in amazement as Scott McAllister's fingers danced ever so lightly across the piano keys, making beautiful, harmonious music. She was in awe of such talent – raw too, apparently, as this was not his first choice of instrument. He began humming to the music, causing Amy's eyes to widen even further at how well his voice sounded. He must have been a born musician.
Amy suddenly became aware of how silent the room had gone and looked up. Everyone was staring at them. Correction; they were staring at Scott.
Amy's eyes roved the crowd, finally spotting Serena somewhere towards the other side of the hall. Serena caught Amy's gaze and raised her wineglass in a silent cheer, mouthing 'wow' to her friend. Amy blushed. Amy had blushed more times tonight than she had in her life. There was something about this man, this different, intelligent, musical, quiet, handsome man.
Amy lowered her eyes to the keys, but in that moment she caught sight of Darien Shields standing behind Serena. She liked Darien; he was genuinely a nice guy. It turned out he was Raye's half-brother. Amy had fed him some story about Serena's father having worked with Raye's before, and he seemed to believe her. She couldn't remember if that was the same story Serena had told her to use, but she was glad at least she was off the hook.
Glancing back down at the piano, the song began drifting to an end, the notes fusing together until one final, melancholy note hung high in the air. Silence followed for a few seconds, before applause erupted. Amy clapped just as enthusiastically as everyone else, and Scott turned to her. His face was flushed with excitement, and his eyes laughed at her. Still clapping, she beamed back at him, trying to shout over the thunderous applause a "Well done!"
When the noise had died down, and almost everyone picked up their conversations again, Scott stood up and held out an arm to Amy.
"Care for a breather?" he said, pointing towards the open double doors on the western side of the room, which revealed a balcony high over the gardens, overlooking the entire rose maze.
Nodding breathlessly, which was very unlike Amy, she linked arms with him and they walked across the room. Amy wasn't sure, never having been that good with guys and relationships, if the distance between them was the norm, but she desperately wanted to close the gap between them. To fuse herself to his side. She wanted to hold his hand and talk for hours, to stay up late and to ... wait a minute. Amy's inner thoughts screeched to a halting stop and her smile dropped. What was this feeling? She was acting completely out of character; she wasn't herself! And she barely knew the guy. He could be a... a... a psycho for all she knew! An axe murderer, who just happened to be good at playing piano and humming, and making intelligent conversation, and enjoyed reading and –
Amy took a deep breath. She was getting ahead of herself. Maybe she'd just had too much wine, or maybe she just had a slight crush on the guy, and was taking it to new heights. Whatever it was though, it was both terrifying and thrilling at the same time.
As they stepped over the threshold and onto the balcony, Amy inhaled the cool air. She could smell the roses below. Walking the remaining distance to the railing, she leaned over. She felt his hands lightly by her side as if making sure she wasn't going to fall, which made her feel protected and warm inside. She smiled and turned to him.
"What kind of books do you like?"
"I can't believe you!" Mina gasped, shoving Serena playfully in the shoulder. "I did too!"
"Mina," Serena sighed, a slight smile tugging at her lips. "You know you looked good. You're just fishing for compliments now."
Mina flipped her hair over her shoulder. "I'll have you know the red carpet adds ten pounds!"
"Then you were already ten too little," Raye laughed, joining in. "Honestly Mina, a model of all people should be the least concerned with how much they weigh."
"That's not true!" Mina's eyes widened. "Do you know what kind of pressure we have just to maintain our size? If the clothes don't fit the girl, the girl don't fit the catwalk." She wagged her finger. Raye and Serena traded bewildered looks.
"Are you still talking about how skinny you are, Mina?" Lita asked as she approached. Her cheeks were flushed and her green eyes were lit up. No doubt she and Andrew had shared a few kisses on the dance floor.
Mina pouted with her hands on her hips. "You guys just don't get it!" Suddenly, her hand lashed out and locked on Serena's wrist. "Come on, let's go to the bathroom, I need to check my make up."
Serena rolled her eyes. "It's fine!"
"You don't know that!" Mina pointed to her face. "How do you know I couldn't look better than this? How do you know this isn't my all time low?" She began dragging Serena towards the direction of the bathroom. Serena looked back at Raye and Lita, catching them as they subtly high-fived. They both just grinned and made shooing motions when they noticed they'd been caught.
'Better you than us,' Lita mouthed.
"Not too long in front of the mirror, Mina!" Raye called loudly. Mina nodded and raised a hand in acknowledgement, continuing with her crusade.
Banging the bathroom door open, Mina strode up to the wall. At least, Serena thought it was a wall, before realising it was in fact a very, very large mirror. She put her clutch down on the counter beside the mirror and walked up to it slowly, as if in a trance. The bathroom was big. Well no, big was an understatement. It was huge! It had the same theme as the ballroom outside, with large white walls and a golden trim. It's thick, heavyset door was the only non-elegant thing about the place. One entire wall was devoted to a mirror, if there was any wall behind it at all, whilst another wall held a long, much narrower mirror above a marble sink. The sink didn't even really exist. The water simply slipped off the tilting counter and down the back wall. Very modern. The actual toilets, Serena assumed, were in the ajoining room, which was divided by another white wall and a thin glass door, which stood ajar. Serena was in awe by the sheer beauty of the room. And it was just a bathroom! She wanted to sink into the comfy looking sofa in the corner.
"It's so...." She trailed off as she raised a hand. Her reflection did the same.
"It's all right," Mina shrugged, opening her own small purse and digging through. It was amazing how much stuff such a small bag could hold. Serena, in a very uncharacteristic sudden act of spontaneity, spun around, keeping her eyes glued to the mirror as she twirled. Her gown flared up around her, making her feel very much like a little kid again. Finishing her little impromptu spin, she caught sight of Mina's reflection. Her hand was poised, holding a stick of lipstick just millimetres away from her lips, eyes incredulous as she stared at Serena through the mirror. Serena blushed.
"Sorry," she muttered, slightly embarrassed at being caught acting so silly. Mina made a face at her, but thankfully began to reapply her lipstick, drawing the coral coloured wax across her plump lips, spreading its colour.
"It's like you've never seen a bathroom like this," she said as she smacked her lips together.
"Well, I haven't," confessed Serena. Mina raised her eyebrows but said nothing. She dug through her bag again and pulled out her mascara.
"So," she began as she brushed the wand against her eyelashes, leaning so close to the mirror, it was in danger of being fogged up by her breath.
Suddenly, the blonde snapped up. "Ow!" She cried, hands flying to her eye.
"What? What is it?" Serena stepped up, worrying what she'd done.
Mina gave her a sheepish smile beneath her hands. "Sorry," she apologised, "I got excited and kinda sorta stabbed myself."
She lowered her hand and Serena laughed. Mina had a large clump of black goo in the corner of her eye.
"Here," Serena said, reaching forward. She held Mina's head in one hand, and dabbed lightly at the mascara with the pinky of the other. "So what got you so excited you decided to puncture your eye?"
Mina was blinking obsessively as Serena's finger dabbed at her eye.
"Well, I just thought…" She paused, struggling for words.
"Go on," urged Serena, wiping the last of the mascara away and releasing Mina. Mina stepped back and blinked a couple of times.
"Thanks," she sighed, reaching for her dropped purse on the ground. Serena was surprised the dress didn't rip, it was just so short. Mina slowed her movements. "I was just wondering if you wanted to come sailing with us on the weekend." She paused completely, avoiding Serena's eyes and turning back to the mirror. "With the group and I, I mean," she added hastily.
Serena was glad Mina wasn't looking at her. Her smile dropped and her heart sank. Pushing aside the guilty feeling in her chest, she pasted on another smile and replied as brightly as she could.
"Sure!"
Mina's eyes flicked to hers in the mirror.
"R...Really?" she stuttered in amazement. "You'd want to?"
Serena's heart warmed as she saw the hope dawning on the blonde's face. Mina Aino wanted to hang out with her? Mina Aino, who could get practically anything she wanted in the world, wanted to hang out with little Serena Tsukino?
"Yeah," she felt herself beginning to get excited. "I'd love to!"
Mina's leaned on the counter behind her and eyed Serena speculatively. "So," she began innocently. "Darien seems to have taken quite the shine with you."
Serena's palms tingled, a sure sign she'd be sweating in seconds. She licked her lips, nervous all of a sudden. "Oh?"
"Yeah," Mina nodded, spinning to the other mirror and admiring herself from the new angle. "He doesn't usually warm up so quickly to a new acquaintance. I wonder what's up with that?" Her tone implied exactly what she thought.
"Mmm, I wonder," Serena agreed, noncommittally. Her eyes caught Mina's in the mirror. She glanced away.
"Well?" Mina spun around, hands on her hips again. This time it was Serena's turn to avoid her eyes.
"Well?" she repeated as she gazed at her reflection. She knew the tricks it would take to make her talk, being a journalist. She knew them all. But she wouldn't let Mina play matchmaker – if that was even what Mina was trying to do. She made the mistake of looking up at Mina's hopeful face.
Mina opened her mouth excitedly, when the door swung open and someone else entered. The overpowering scent of the woman's perfume instantly alerted Serena to the mystery person's identity.
"Well, it is a small world, no?" Ann Moreau asked as she strode to the sink. Mina rolled her eyes in the mirror, and Serena stifled a giggle. It was obvious Mina didn't like Ann.
"Oh, hi Ann!" Mina said cheerfully, turning and smiling at the newcomer. Ann grimaced in return.
"Meena," her accent and reproachful tone combined.
Mina tossed her hair over her shoulder and smiled to Serena.
"Well, I'm about done in here, so let's go, my BFF!" She linked arms with Serena and marched them out of the bathroom. The minute the door swung shut behind them, and the loud volume of the party –well into full swing- enveloped them, Mina leaned to Serena and whispered, "My god she's such a snoop!"
Serena cast a bewildered look at Mina, but Mina wasn't looking. Beaming, Mina began walking again, with Serena stumbling to keep pace, their arms still linked. And that's how they returned to the party, with Serena's clutch still in the bathroom.
That green button is real fun to press I hear. Give it a try, and tell me what you think! ^_^
xx C
