AN: Well hello again! Took a bit longer for this 3rd chapter to get finished. I could give you excuses, but then that'd be lame. It's just going to start taking me a little while longer to finish chapter because of classes and such, that's all I'll say. Also, I'll be heading to Spain for 5 weeks between May and June, I know it's a little ways off still, but this is just so I don't have to mention or forget to mention my longer absence from the fic in the future. But it definitely won't be forgotten!!! Anyway, enjoy the update!!!

"Darien Shields? That name sounds a bit familiar…." Serena began to think of where she could have possibly heard the name before.

Darien gave her a moment. She continued to look at him.

"Well, this should be interesting."

He felt his mouth fell open. He didn't expect that from her.

"What does that mean?"

"You know exactly what I mean. I know about your reputation with women and your supposed arrogant ways."

"Does everyone believe everything they read in those crappy magazines? And you don't know me. You've only heard things….things that aren't true by the way."

She observed him for a moment. 'I can give him a chance I guess….especially if he's going to buy me a much needed frappachino…..'

"The least you can do is give me a chance to prove my innocence."

She grinned at him. "Ok!" She grabbed the hand of the dumbfounded man and pulled him to the doors of the coffee shop and stood in the line with him. Five minutes later the two were seated at a small table discussing random things; Serena, enjoying her venti caramel frappachino, Darien, sipping the strongest coffee available.

"So the thing with the model….?"

"We went on a couple of dates and she threw a fit when I told her I didn't want to lead her on and that we should just leave it on friendly terms. Photographers had a field day while she threw said fit on the very public sidewalk outside of my apartment building."

"You told her on the sidewalk?!"

"No. Sheesh, give me some credit. She stormed out of my apartment and I, like an idiot, followed her out to try and calm her down."

"Ah….sorry." She laughed nervously. It seemed to her that he had just about as much luck with love as she did. Although, she hadn't seen anyone in a long time.

"So Serena. Find me as repulsive now?"

She laughed. "Not as repulsive. There are still the outbursts and being an arrogant, rich bastard to people."

"So I have bad moments. I'm just like everyone else, except a majority of people don't have cameras following them around. And most of the bad moments were from my younger years. I've matured a lot, I believe."

"Right…" She looked at him skeptically.

"What?! People change. It just took me a little too long to realize the errors of my ways in acting like a typical spoiled brat. Believe it or not, it was a quote from a movie that I saw with a friend a couple of years ago that got me thinking."

"Oh really? What movie?"

He mumbled something Serena couldn't make out.

"What was that? Speak up."

"Ever After."

She giggled. "Hehe! So, what was the famous quote Mr. Romance?"

"With great power comes great responsibility."

Serena nodded. "That's a good one. Can't believe you hadn't heard it before."

"Well, I never really watched movies or paid any attention to other people much. And I'm on the verge of telling you my life story. So, I'm going to stop." He chuckled to himself.

"It's ok. I'm used to complete strangers revealing their most intimate details to me." She winked at him.

Her personality was infecting him already and he couldn't suppress the grin that automatically formed. "Well, you might secretly be an undercover reporter and have a microphone hidden on you somewhere. It'll take dinner for me to get to trust you more. And I might require a full body search, done by myself of course."

Serena's smile faltered. "I can't. I'm sorry."

"What's the matter? Do you have a boyfriend who would become jealous and kick my ass?"

"No, it's not that. It's that I uh…..just got out of a bad relationship and I don't feel like doing anything remotely related to dating and….oh shit!"

"What? What is it?" Darien became worried at her sudden outburst.

"Melvin!"

"Who?"

"Melvin! I'm supposed to be giving the real Melvin a job interview. Damn…I told Molly I'd only be a few minutes and I've already been down here for twenty. Shit, shit, shit, shit…" She stood up and gathered her garbage and rushed out of the coffee shop's door, leaving a speechless Darien behind.

After a few minutes of confusion, Darien realized he hadn't had a chance to ask for her number or anything. 'Well….at least I know where she works.' He silently sat at the table for a few more minutes reading the city's newspaper and finishing his coffee. Then he too left the coffee shop and returned to work.

/////5:00 p.m. the same day///////

"Hey Molly? You wanna join me and the girls for dinner tonight?" asked Serena as she was finishing putting away all of her matierals.

"Are you buying?"

"What? No? Since when have I ever bought food for other people? You know how I am."

"Yeah…but since you left myself and poor Melvin waiting upstairs for you for no telling how long, felt like hours, while you were downstairs flirting with Mr. Hottie…I figured you'd want to make up for it by buying me dinner."

Serena stared at Molly, mouth agape. "Geez Mol….I was only gone 20 minutes and you know how sidetracked I get…..and…..he offered me a frappachino….how could I resist? You know I love them…." She tried the pouty face again, making it extra pouty this time.

The fiery haired woman just rolled her eyes at the sad face directed toward her. "Serena? Give it up already. You're saved from having to buy me dinner, cause I've actually got other plans."

Serena's ears perked up at this. "So what is that you're going to pass up a girl's night for?" She wiggled her eyebrows.

"It's nothing. Just catching up with Melvin."

"Uh-huh…sure…."

Molly rolled her eyes once again at her dear friend and gritted her teeth. "Goodnight Serena. Don't stay out too late or get whisked away by Mr. Hottie."

"I'm not the one you need to worry about." The wiggling of the eyebrows commenced yet again. Molly just sighed and left Serena to finish cleaning.

Once everything was put in its right place and the paint brushes used for gluing were thoroughly washed and left in water to soak, Serena grabbed her purse and headed to the elevators.

Waiting only a few minutes, the chime rang, and the doors to the elevator parted to allow her entrance. What she didn't count on was who she would be sharing the metal box with on her ride down.

He was shocked for a minute, but the doors began to close causing him to move to aciton. He held the door for her and gave her a grin "Going down?"

She nodded and quickly joined him.

"So how was work? No one was too mad about the interview, were they?" He asked politely.

"Work was fine. And Molly was a bit peeved, but everything's fine. Melvin got the job and I got a nice helper." She smiled at him. "How about you? How was the corporate man's day of work?"

He chuckled at her question "Things went surprisingly well. There're a few more kinks to work out on the project I'm currently involved in, but nothing big." There was a chime and the elevator doors opened once again, signaling the end of their little ride. They exited and walked toward the main entrance of the library together in silence.

Serena couldn't stand it. Here she was, walking with one of the most gorgeous men she'd ever met and she was ten feet away from leaving him behind and leaving him out of her life. She suddenly felt sick of all her insecurities and of all the things she worried about when it came to meeting anyone. She suddenly felt a jolt of bravery and stopped in her steps, causing the man walking beside her to stop as well.

"Can I use your cell phone?" she asked.

"Yeah, sure." He pulled the sleek and expensive looking device out of a suit pocket and handed it to her. She fooled around with it a bit and handed it back to him.

"Well…you have my number now….and if you ever need anything…Shit, I sound like an idiot…" She felt herself blush and she quickly found the spot on her shoes quite interesting.

"But I thought you didn't want anything to do with anything remotely related to dating" He grinned at her all cocky-like. Something she noticed and felt herself get a little annoyed at.

"Well I've decided to be a bit more open and try something new. And besides, it's just a number and not to be used for a booty call or I'll have my brother beat the crap out of you. Famous or not, he does not discriminate. Comprende? "

He couldn't help but laugh at her long winded explanation. "I understand one hundred percent. And I will be calling you Serena, trust me. Have a nice night." With that, he walked in the opposite direction and to a waiting limo.

Serena turned around abruptly and smacked herself on the forehead. 'Oh God, what am I doing?! No, no. Calm down. It was innocent enough, not like you jumped him in the elevator even though you wanted to….' She smacked herself again. 'I am still in so much trouble.' She sighed and began walking to meet up with her friends for dinner.

Fifteen minutes later, she found herself at Los Sombreros, a cheesy Mexican style restaurant that her friends loved to go to. 'It might look cheesy outside, but within the building they hold the best damn Mexican food you'll ever eat.' She found her friends at a booth in the corner, sipping margaritas.

"I can't believe you guys can even think about alcohol after last night. Makes me sick to even think about it." She said as she took her place at the table.

"Oh please Serena, you're such a light weight. You had only finished your second drink and you were about ready to take your top off and dance on top of our table." Rei replied, always the one ready and willing to start an argument.

"I was not." Serena replied ever so eloquently.

"Ha! Right. I've got the pictures to prove it."

Serena couldn't believe it. "You better burn those."

"And get rid of the perfect blackmail material? I think not."

And so it began, the ritual argument between the most stubborn girls of the group. A small woman with short blue-black hair, reading a rather large text book looked up for a moment, sighed, and returned to her reading.

"Can't you guys ever be around each other without arguing?" asked Ami.

Rei stopped and looked at the woman. "Can't you ever go out with us without bringing along a library of medical textbooks? Seriously Ami, you're out of college now and you're a genius. Why must you still constantly study?"

Serena giggled. Ami's cheeks flushed a light shade of red. "For your information Rei, the medical world is constantly changing, so I have to keep up with things going on or I'll be left behind. It's my job."

"Yeah, but Ames…all the time? Even when you're supposed to be having a good time with friends?" asked the brunette, Lita, sitting next to Ami, who had been watching and listening to the conversation.

Ami, giving up, just sighed and put away her overly large book. The other three girls grinned in satisfaction.

"Hey, where's Mina?" asked Serena.

"She called me before you got here and said she'd be a little late and to go ahead and order," answered Lita

Serena drew her eyebrows together. "Hm…that's not strange at all. Mina? Late?" She was interrupted by her cell phone going off. She dug through her purse, finally locating it and answered it.

"Hello?"

"So I was paranoid over nothing." Spoke the voice on the other end.

Serena recognized the voice immediately and grinned. She didn't notice the other girls watching her.

"What were you paranoid about?" she asked.

"Just thought you might've played an evil joke on me by giving me a number to a take-out restaurant or something."

Serena giggled and began playing with a piece of paper lying on the table. The girls looked at one another, each had an eyebrow raised in question.

"Nah, I'd never do that to someone….well, I might. But, I deemed you worthy of the real thing. Happy?"

"Extremely." He chuckled and Serena shivered, hating and yet loving the reaction he gave her just by his voice. "Well, I'll leave you to whatever it was you were doing. Goodnight again, Serena."

She smiled. "Goodnight Darien." She'd realized her mistake as soon as she closed her phone, disconnecting the line. She'd had the conversation in front of her friends and had said his name, confirming that she was, indeed, speaking to a guy. She watched as her friends leaned in closer, making her feel like running away at full speed.

Rei was the first to speak. "Alright Serena. Spill."