Title: Perfect Strangers
Author: aquaxeyes
Rating: T for language
Full Description: It's been two years since Serena Moore has heard anything from her old high school crush, Darien Matthews. When he finally makes contact, she is forced to face his version of the truth and her feelings for someone she thought she knew. But will this long overdue confrontation prove they're perfect together or perfect strangers?
Author's Notes: I had finals the week I wanted to finish this, and then a ton of graduations I had to attend, otherwise I would have posted this up sooner, sorry! But since I've made you wait so long, I figured I'd lengthen this chapter for you.
This chapter is dedicated to my mum and sister, who have been great supporters of my stories. Mwah.
Again I promise I'm not a spammer or a hentai, but if you do not have an account and would like to keep up with this story, you can leave your e-mail address on reviews and I will message you when I post an update. If not, that's fine, but please continue to enjoy!
Special thanks to: Sailormoon5645-2, rosebudjamie-2, aznxprincess06-2, serenity11287-2, Kana07, Saigo no Megami, supersaiyanx, Champion of Justice, pheobesapphira, serenity-2, and Crescentangel89. I would send you ladies and gents personal messages but it's quite late and I'm going to go to bed after posting this.
This fic is on 11 favorite lists and 27 alert lists and has had over 1000 hits. Fantastic!
Disclaimer: I own nothing but the story.
Part Three. The Talk.
"Thank you for showing me that nothing has changed."
Serena felt like a rag doll, limbs limp and under the control of a force much greater than herself as Darien nudged at her to keep walking. He hadn't said a word since he threatened to kidnap her and she.. well, she was at a loss for words. 'I suppose that wasn't the smartest thing to do.' She could admit it to herself but never to Darien, not with his face looking so grim and so appealing.
He turned another corner, hoping that on this street he could recollect himself. It proved to be an unbearably hard task, what with that flippant girl under his arm. Her silence, as it did in the café, was wreaking havoc on his self-composure. He watched her blank face with contempt. 'Honestly! All I wanted to do was apologize in person. Did she have to be so damn stubborn?'
Just as he was about to voice his thoughts, she spoke. "I know I deserved that, but don't you think that was a little.. extreme?"
He snorted. "What, like your attempt to publicly humiliate me wasn't?"
'Attempt?' she seethed. 'I had him!' "No," she answered coolly, "I think that was more a reality check for you than anything else. You kissing me on the other hand--"
He stopped so abruptly she almost tripped over herself. "You kissed me back!" he hissed, eyes narrowed in irritation.
She mirrored his face. "As if I had a choice!"
"I didn't, either."
"Yes you did. Oooh," Serena almost shouted, glaring at him and wringing her hands. "That's always been your problem--"
"My problem?"
"Yes, dammit, that's what I said! You just can't stand the idea of sacrificing your ego for the sake of someone else's. You'd push someone into a puddle of mud if it meant you could come out clean. When has life ever been more to you than you, you, you?"
If it weren't for his pride he would have cowered then, but he wasn't able to prevent his jaw from dropping at her outrageously correct comment. 'How dare she speak to me like this! Even if it were true.. how could she?' Though he wanted, again, to say what he was thinking, his conscience wrestled with the startling fact that he couldn't argue with her.
Before she had arrived at the Silver Moon he was drudging up some heartfelt "IwasanegotisticaljerkbackthenandI'mreallyreallysorry"--without making it sound quite like that. And he would have given a suave confession, too, had she chosen not to be so damn difficult! Now apologizing was ten times more of a task to fulfill, all because she wasn't who he remembered her to be; Serena, a big softie, the girl who would never tell anyone how she really felt.
She sure didn't hold back this time, and now, he was without an excuse for his behavior in high school, for she had thrown his 'pompous ass' defense back in his face. 'Why is this turning so terribly sour?' he mentally wailed. Couldn't she see that up until he laid eyes on her he meant what he was planning to say?
Serena didn't get why he didn't rise to her challenge and defend himself. 'I pretty much called him a narcissistic bastard and he has nothing to say? Oh.. no.. What if I was right about him all along?' That thought made her shiver and suddenly, she didn't care what he had to say anymore. 'He is the same guy, only with a different way of trying to hurt me.'
Darien was sifting through proper responses to her questions, trying to find one that wouldn't make him come off as even more of an ass, when she swiftly turned and moved to walk away. Just as quickly his mouth began to move. "Wait, Serena. I'm.. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset you. I just wanted to apologize to you and hope that maybe.. maybe we could be friends." 'That wasn't as hard to say that as I'd visualized it,' he realized, then inwardly cringed. 'Why couldn't I have said that earlier, though?'
She stared at him, long and hard, so much so that he had to fight not to flinch in front of her. With those glossy lips of hers she angelicly replied, "Now I get it." With a smile on her face, she continued. "Darien, you ignored me in high school. And for all my trying, I could never see through your cold exterior. You know why? Because nothing else existed. That's who you were. Thank you for showing me that nothing has changed."
Sunday, 9:52 am
"Serena,
Wednesday didn't turn out as I'd expected. Actually, I don't know what I expected, only that I said things I shouldn't have. You were right, of course. I was only thinking of myself, of how making sure we were on good terms was going to make me feel better about how I treated you in the past.
This may be too soon to ask anything more from you, but please... let me make it up to you.
Darien."
Monday, 3:25 pm
"Darien..
Although you may not have had any expectations for me, I know what I expected from you. I expected you to have grown up. I expected you to have changed.
I don't regret saying what I did. Like you, the truth, no matter how unpleasant it may be, doesn't change. And from what I can see when we met last Wednesday, we are fundamentally incompatible.
It's not terrible that we can't carry on a civil conversation. I just don't think we have much more to say to each other.
Serena."
Monday, 11:55 pm
"Serena,
I can't help but disagree. I think we have a lot more to say to each other. I think that it's because we have so much to say that it was hard for us to figure out where to begin.
Admitting all my faults is the biggest challenge I've ever had, but don't think I am incapable of it. Please give me the benefit of the doubt.
Darien."
Tuesday, 5:02 pm
"Why is this such a big deal? Why can't you let it go?"
Wednesday, 4:17 am
"How can you?"
Darien lay in bed and stared at a corner of the ceiling in his room. As boring a thing to do, he couldn't stop his mind from running through that horrible run-in with Serena. Minute after minute, scene after embarrassing scene, followed by the string of messages they conveyed back and forth. He couldn't have pictured a scenario worse than that.
'It's been a week. A whole damn week. She has no intention of responding, does she?'
In his heart he knew the answer to his question. She had been skeptical, but she at least had agreed to hear him out. And for some reason, when the time came, he lapsed back into that ego-preserving jerk they both hated. 'Why did I have to be such a jackass? Why couldn't I have let go of my pride when I needed to the most?'
He let their banter worsen because she called him out on it, too. In a most unnerving manner Serena spotted his underlying intentions right away. That puzzled him. How could he be that transparent to her and so oblivious of himself? How could her uncertain rants of his character make complete sense of him?
'She said I was cold.'
Serena bounded up the stairs, two steps at a time, a smile on her face. She talked to her professor during his office hours and somehow talked him into dropping the grade of her last exam. Instead, the grade from her next exam would subconsequently replace it. "You know this means that you'll have to do amazing on the next exam, right?" he asked once his decision was made.
"Yes," Serena said, bobbing her head, "Yes I do. Thank you so much, Professor."
With that, she excused herself and left, waiting until she got into her car and home to do a victory dance. 'I should call Haruka, tell her the good news..'
Which left her to the present, shuttling to her room to find her cell phone. She opened the door to her room and fell back almost instantly. "Mom?"
On her bed sat a blue-haired version of Serena and Mina. She was oblivious to her daughter's reaction, too distracted by two pieces of paper in her hand. Serena only had to take a glance at her mother's expression to figure out what they were. One was an advertisement in the newspaper looking for a roommate in an apartment downtown, including a number to call. The other was the address of the apartment, something the blonde had scribbled down after speaking to the owner of the apartment.
Fear pulsed through her for a quick moment. Her mother hadn't known that Serena was looking for a place to move in. Luckily, the blonde had been graced with an understanding of her mother, of whom had been pained to see Mina leave the proverbial nest, and knew that she was upset about the discovery. Cautiously, she stepped back into her room, inching toward her mother.
"I thought you were still at work," she began, knowing it was useless to change the subject. Her mother didn't respond. "I didn't start dinner." Closer, she neared and still, no response. "Would you mind waiting a bit?"
The bluenette looked up then, a kind of sadness washed in her eyes. "Would you mind explaining this?"
Serena licked her lips, aware that all her nervous quirks were showing. "W-well, I know what you're thinking, and I assure you, the apartment is located in the safer area of downtown. And it's right by the bus station that goes out to the university--"
She was cut short by her mother's airy sigh, after which she dared not speak. She waited, and finally her mother said something. "Serena, you've never expressed a want to move out."
"Mom, it's not like that," the blonde argued. "I just wanted to be closer to school and work, so that I wouldn't have to travel as much. It has nothing to do with me wanting to leave you."
"Then why did you keep this from me?" her mother asked, handing her the papers. "Did you think that you could hurt me less by hiding something like this?"
"No," Serena desperately said, the worst kind of feeling hitting her in her gut, "I needed time to figure out what I'd have to say and how."
Her mother stood up and walked past her to the door, pausing at the threshold. "The truth, Serena, will always be the truth, no matter how unpleasant, and no matter how much you try to mask it."
The blonde's eyes widened at the comment, but her mother wasn't looking at her anymore. What ever she said next didn't register and when she was gone, Serena sat in the same spot her mother had occupied for a while. 'The truth.. Didn't I say the same thing to Darien?'
Her brows furrowed at the thought of him. 'Arrogant, annoying.. honest?' She shook her head at that, but her mind traveled the trail of thought. 'Maybe Darien wasn't trying to be a jerk. Maybe he really was trying to tell me something. Maybe he was waiting for the right time..?'
She glanced at her laptop, wondering what she should do. In a split second, she was using it, logging on to Reunion. She exhaled rather quickly when she noticed a new message in her inbox. Eagerly, she opened it and scanned the few lines.
"I don't think I'll ever be able to let it go, not before I've had my say. If you understand this feeling at all, you'll know that all I want to do is say what I mean."
Her heart slammed into her chest as she read the next line.
"I want to see you again."
"I'm sorry, but the answer is no."
Darien sat back in his chair. He was caught between feeling dumbfounded and distraught. 'What else could I have expected? I blew it.'
He figured he'd get a reply like this and yet he couldn't help hoping she would finally open up. He was tempted to throw something but only bit down harder on his jaw. 'Oh for pity's sake, what is it about her?'
He clicked on her profile, his eyes roaming over her attractive smile. 'Why didn't I see this before? Why did I throw our friendship away?' It might have been guilt that corrected him, for he realized that his 'friendship' with Serena was fraudulent. At Andrew's request, he spoke to her again, but only after ignoring her attempts to talk to him until Andrew was around.
He remembered feeling something akin to disgust when hope became evident in her eyes. Yes, he had turned when she spoke to him, responded when she asked how he was doing. But he did those things with a less than honorable inclination.
Could he have been jealous once Andrew popped up behind him and introduced himself, which took the attention off of him? Maybe. The fact remained, however, that he kept convincing himself that Andrew was the only reason he associated with the insufferable girl.
Regret had him thinking, 'She's not insufferable, though. Not at all.'
Serena woke up with a start. She dreamt of a memory, of the day she met Andrew Prince. The summer following freshman year passed, and Serena came back to school determined to befriend Darien. Secretly she hoped that when they got to know one another he'd realize they were perfect for each other.
They had only talked twice since she spoke to him first, but she refused to be intimidated by the single-digit statistic. Whenever she had enough courage collected to approach him, she did so with her head held high, though for all her confidence he seemed insusceptible to her advances. At various times she had to tell herself that it was too crowded in the hallway or that he may have been too busy looking for his soccer buddy to notice.
In what was going to be her last attempt to make contact, he miraculously turned around when she called out to him. She remembered thinking, 'Calmdowncalmdownalthoughthishasneverhappenedbefore--ohcrapwhatdoIdo?!' Despite her conscience's antics, what came out of her mouth was, "How's it going?"
Her heart fluttered with anticipation, and he didn't disappoint. "Good enough. How about you?"
Then again, he could never disappoint her. She wouldn't allow his actions to. For her, anything he said was gold. Anything he did was priceless. And when he was standing there, right in front of her, eyes on her face, she felt she had stumbled on the mother load.
"Hey Darien!"
And just like that, the moment was gone. Serena's eyes averted to the blonde boy at Darien's side. He was cute enough, but in her mind he was no Darien. She appraised him for a moment before catching his question. "Aren't you going to introduce me to your friend?"
Darien hesitated, that she noticed, but she was too shocked to recoil. Instead, she brought up a hand. "Serena Moore." The boy smiled, rather charmingly she might add, before taking her hand and bringing it to his lips. "Andrew Prince. It's nice to meet you, Serena."
From that moment, Andrew had taken the reins and Darien had faded into the background, grunting when Serena said anything to him and saying less to nothing when Andrew tried to involve him in their conversation. Serena gave up, settling with the general happiness of being in his company and being lavished with Andrew's attention. When Serena had to go, Andrew invited her to attend his and Darien's next soccer match the following night. Elated, she agreed.
Now, awake and with a monstrous migraine begininng to form at the base of her temples, Serena continued to chronologically trace through her memories. She went to the soccer game, and after Darien and Andrew's team won, Andrew invited her out for ice cream to celebrate. It was there that Darien opened up for the first time.
Andrew was standing in line, chanting everyone's orders to himself so he wouldn't forget, while Darien and Serena sat in a parlor booth facing each other. Darien had a victorious smirk on his face and Serena was silently praying for strength to stop blushing. So distracted by their own personal thoughts they never noticed they had begun to converse.
"Congratulations," she said out of nowhere.
"Thanks."
"You're welcome."
"No," Darien said, "I meant, thanks for coming to support us. It means a lot."
She wanted to look at him then, show her the warmth swimming in her eyes. "It was nothing. I had fun watching. It gets me as riled up as.. as video games."
Truth be told she was taking a mental check of all the 'cool' things she could have said instead of "video games", but of reading, scrapbooking, watching anime and figure skating, playing video games fit best in what she wanted to say. From the corner of her eye she could see that famous smirk of his widen, which made her think she made a social slip-up by admitting to playing video games, but then he asked, "What kind?"
"RPG's."
"Those are the best." When surprise took over her face, he was quick to add, "What console?"
"I'm old school," Serena said sheepishly, "Super Nintendo and Playstation One."
"Same here. Which RPG is your favorite?"
"Final Fantasy VI."
"Mine, too."
"Who's your favorite character?"
"The blonde one.. I forget her name."
"Celes?" she guessed.
He nodded. "Yeah. She was hot."
'He thinks blondes are hot!' her mind rejoiced. Outwardly, she let out a laugh. "I suppose, for a video game character."
Darien pretended to be miffed. "Well, what about you?"
"Locke."
"He was a thief."
"A thief with a good heart. But I guess you wouldn't like him since he stole your favorite character's heart, huh?"
"Something like that."
Serena beamed at his words, though she couldn't look him in the eye. Instead, she turned her head and stared at the back of Andrew's head. Darien seemed to have followed her line of view because he said, "He's a nice guy."
"I agree."
"I think he likes you."
She chose not to physically react. 'Jealousy? One could only hope.'
The present Serena got out of bed and stretched her arms above her head. 'I was so incredibly stupid back then. I wanted to believe Darien had feelings for me.' Throwing her hair back into a ponytail, she left her room to head downstairs for breakfast. 'I can't face him again. I need to focus on moving on and the apartment I'm going to look at today.'
Her mother was in the kitchen, waiting for her with scrambled eggs and toast. "This is a surprise," Serena said, taking a seat adjacent to her. The smell of butter and eggs wafted up to her nostrils. Without further delay she dug in.
"I figured you'd forget and take off to see that place," came the reply.
Serena eyed her mother, but didn't see any anger. "Thank you."
"You're welcome."
"I'm sorry," she said next, refusing to avoid what they discussed four days ago.
"Serena--"
"No, seriously, Mom," she said, trying to maintain eye contact with her companion, "I should have been more sensitive about my plans, especially since Mina left so randomly. At first, I didn't say anything because I didn't know how to tell you without making it sound like I wanted to leave you. But now I understand.."
The bluenette placed a hand on Serena's free one. "I understand, too. It wasn't terrible news, and I am happy for you. How could I not be?" She smiled then, and said, "I just needed some time."
Serena matched her mother's smile. 'I understand that, too, Mom.'
With a lighter mood in the atmosphere, Serena finished her food and prepared for her departure. An eighteen-minute drive brought her to a fourteen-story building standing along a downtown street. She parked her car in a visitor's spot and entered the building, taking in the area as she walked. 'Nice view, though he didn't mention a fountain in the lobby.'
She took the elevator to the third floor and passed a lovely couple before reaching the door labeled "312". She rapped lightly on the door and waited. It was opened a few seconds later by someone she wasn't ever expecting to see.
"Melvin?"
That's right, Melvin Wright, the geek from high school. Only the man standing in front of her was actually taller than her, with an average build, shorter, styled brown hair and a fashion taste. 'Definitely not the Melvin I remember..' Deciding to move on, she said, "I'm Serena Moore, from high school."
If he was surprised by this, he hid it well. "Oh, yeah. Serena.. How've you been?"
She smiled genuinely and initiated a hug. "Well, and you?"
"Good, good," he said, stepping back. "Come in, please."
She thanked him and entered, looking around the place. 'Hmm, neat, ordered.. Not what I expected, not to mention not me!'
"So you're the one I spoke to over the phone," Melvin said, closing the door after her. "Although we switched names and all, I didn't recognize your voice."
"Likewise," Serena nodded. "Honestly, I didn't recognize you without your glasses."
"Laser surgery," he explained, "I had it done for work."
"Oh? And what is it that you do?"
"I'm a model."
'Holy shit, seriously..' "Ahh.."
Melvin smiled, an indication that he knew what she must have been thinking. "Yes, well that's part of the reason why you're here. You see, I'm looking for a replacement."
She furrowed her brow because that twinkle in his eye made her think he meant something more. "For yourself?"
"For me."
'Oh.' "Oh."
"Yeah."
"So you placed the ad to find someone to take over your rent?"
Melvin nodded. "Yeah. Did you want to take a look around?"
"Sure."
For the next twenty minutes Serena took a tour of the spacious kitchen, the well-furnished living room, the cleanest bathroom she'd ever seen in a bachelor pad and Melvin's room. "This room," he said, letting her look around, "will be the only one empty when I'm gone. The rest of the furniture's my roommate's."
"Ah, well, I suppose I'll have to work to be in his good graces," she half-joked. She peered across the hall to the only room she hadn't seen yet. "That's his room, then?"
"Yeah," Melvin said, stalking to the door and closing it. "I'm not going to bother you by showcasing it. Wouldn't want to piss my roomie off, especially since it isn't very tidy right now."
"Fine by me," she said, returning to the living room.
Later, over a cup of tea, Serena and Melvin had a nice chat. Serena found out that Melvin was dating the redhead Molly Sanders from high school. "That's wonderful," she smiled.
"Thanks. I'm thinking that once I'm done with grad school I'll propose." He sighed, then went on. "So, what have you been up to?"
Serena filled him in on what she was doing with school and about Mina, Haruka and Michiru. She didn't mention hearing from Darien, since she didn't expect in her wildest dreams for him to remember the raven-haired man.
Eventually, Melvin said, "I'm going to have to be truthful here, Serena. I'm in kind of a bind."
She made a concerned face. "What do you mean?"
The man looked like he was choosing his words carefully. "My lease is about to be up, and my agent wants me out of here and booking it to L.A. as soon as it can be arranged. If that's not enough, I've had too much trouble finding someone who gets along with my roommate. But you.. you can solve all of my problems."
"Me?" Serena asked, pointing to herself. "I-I'm not sure how."
"If you sign on today, I'll be able to release myself from the contract and be packed and moving in two days. I'll make it just in time for my first gig in L.A., and I can take Molly with me."
"But.. but--" 'This is moving a little fast..' "--what about your roommate?"
Melvin snorted and casually tossed the question aside. "I've known you since high school, and I know that your personality won't clash with his. I trust you, which is why I've decided that from every other person I've interviewed, you're the one."
Serena wanted to smile at that, but her nerves were splitting. 'Ha, no pressure! What a mess this seems to be. What do I do? I love the place, it's convenient, and I know Melvin would never try to sell a rat-occupied, insect-infested hellhole to me.. Damn, what do I do?!'
An hour later, Serena was handing over a check for a brand new lease to the apartment superintendent. "I'll just need you to sign these papers and I'll grab your receipt," the big, burly man known as Gary explained. Serena did what he instructed, then looked up to Melvin for reassurance.
"Thank you so much," he said, taking a moment to give her an appreciative hug. "You don't know how much this means to me."
"Not a problem," she answered, "I'd already decided in my head that I wanted this place, so all I did was get the paperwork done."
"By the way, how are you going to manage paying rent and all."
"I've been saving since I was seventeen. If I was jobless I'd still survive for a few months."
"I see," he said, "And where do you work?"
Serena grinned. "At a bar."
"No shit. Where?"
"Morgan's Lounge."
"No shit!" Melvin almost shouted. "That's my uncle's bar."
Serena almost choked on air. "Morgan is your uncle?" 'Holy shit, small world.'
"Yeah. He keeps telling me to visit but I never do."
"You should," Serena insisted, "I work tonight. You could bring Molly, too."
Melvin contemplated her suggestion, then nodded. "I'll do that. I've got to say goodbye to my uncle, anyway. Oh, and I could bring my roommate so you could meet him."
She smiled. "That's a perfect idea."
Darien wanted to break a piece of furniture or something, but thought twice about it. After all, everything outside of Melvin's room was his. Plus, he didn't want Melvin's scrutinizing eyes to pick up on just how pissed he was. "You didn't tell me you were looking for a roommate to replace you."
Melvin shifted his weight standing up, then spoke. "You knew I was going to have to leave for L.A. sooner or later. I had to get someone to take over my lease, man."
"You could've asked me," Darien said, trying not to sound like a cornered cat. "I could've signed it and we could've looked for someone together. And now you've gone and given the lease to a total stranger!" 'Temper, temper.. oh shut up!'
"It's chill, man. I went through a ton of interviews, and this girl was the only one that could possibly stand you."
"You chose a girl?"
"Yeah, yeah, what difference does it make? She's stable."
"Right. And where does she work?"
"At my uncle's bar."
"Oh great, half of the rent is dependent on a waitress from a local bar."
Irritation finally broke through Melvin's face. "Well, if you want you can meet her for yourself, you of little faith. We're going there tonight, you, Molly and I."
"Wonderful," he spat sarcastically, throwing a shirt on. 'Little faith, psh. When it comes to a new roommate I'm the anti-Christ of faith!'
End Part Three.
A glimpse at the next chapter. Part Four. The Question.
"Why did you pretend to be my friend?"
"Because Andrew wanted me to."
Hurt flashed through her eyes, but she didn't stop. "Is that why?" She turned her back on him, the truth starting to sink in. "No wonder," she murmured, "You started to ignore me once Andrew asked me out. Because you'd already served your purpose.."
