Author's note: Yay! Now that my other story's done, I can now get a move on with this one. Hope this was worth the wait!

Chapter 4

A day with the... jerk?

Darien hurried inside the girls' bathroom and found her in front of the mirror, her face swollen like she was stung by a hundred bees. Tears were falling over her cheeks and her breathing was shallow. A look of terror was contained in her eyes.

"Oh my God, Serena!" Darien said, dropping everything to help her.

"I... can't... breathe..." Serena said weakly, grabbing onto the counter for support. Serena thought about how her epinephrine injectors were in her stolen car. What luck.

Darien quickly pulled out his cell phone and called an ambulance. "I need an ambulance! My friend's allergic to peanuts and she accidentally ate some. She can barely breathe," Darien said rapidly, holding on to Serena. He gave them their location and hung up.

"Don't worry. The ambulance'll be here soon. Just hold on." Darien looked at Serena. He was incredibly worried, but he told himself to remain calm. Serena closed her eyes, trying to concentrate on breathing normally. She was struggling from the lack of oxygen. Darien wished he could do something.

Darien looked anxiously around him. He noticed two pairs of feet in one of the stalls. He frowned and his insides boiled with rage. 'Andrea...'

--

The ambulance took Serena to the nearest hospital. She was fine now. It could've been worse if they had waited longer to call for help. Serena's face was still swollen, but at least she was breathing easier.

"I look hideous," Serena said, putting away her compact mirror.

"Better alive and hideous than beautiful and dead," Darien replied.

"I'm not so sure about that..."

Darien chuckled.

"I wonder how the peanuts got into my sundae. I clearly remember you telling the guy not to put any," Serena said, brows furrowing.

Darien pondered if he should answer the question. He didn't want her to worry, but he couldn't lie to her. "It was... Andrea," Darien said seriously.

"Andrea? What?" Serena asked incredulous.

Darien told her what the employee had told him. "She probably overheard you talking about your allergies."

"Why would she do that to me?"

"I guess she's still sore about you living at my place."

"She's sore?! I think she's pretty pissed off! If she's going to keep doing things like this to me, I don't think I want to stay in your apartment anymore!" Serena cried out. She was kind of scared. Who knew what else Andrea could do?

"Calm down, Serena. Where would you go anyway? Let me talk to her first. I can't just let you leave to wander the streets of New York alone. I'll make sure she gets nowhere near you."

Serena looked at how serious he looked. She felt the need to lighten the situation up. "You promise?"

"Cross my heart, hope to die." Darien smirked.

Serena smiled. "I really appreciate everything you've done for me, Darien."

"You don't have to say that. That's what friends are for."

"You still wanna be my friend even if I look like a really huge red potato?" Serena asked morosely.

"Of course Potato head!" Darien said chuckling.

"Jerk!" Serena scowled, trying to swat him with her hand and failing. She decided to just stick out her slightly swollen tongue out at him. Darien simply laughed.

--

"The swelling seems to have calmed down," the doctor noted. "Alright, Miss Lawrence, you're free to go. Next time, just make sure you carry at least one injector with you. You never know if the next one's fatal," the doctor warned.

"Yes doctor," Serena replied, rolling her eyes. It wasn't her fault her car got stolen before she could slip one into her purse.

"I'm serious," the doctor continued. "You don't wanna cause your boyfriend here pain do you?"

Serena's eyes widened. Darien smiled. "He's not my boyfriend," Serena scoffed, blushing slightly. Did they look like a couple or something?

"You coulda fooled me..." the doctor said, before turning away.

Serena turned to Darien.

"You like that thought, don't you?" Darien asked her smugly.

"What thought?" Serena asked. She knew exactly what he was talking about. She blushed more at the idea.

"Like you don't know. The thought of me being your boyfriend," Darien chuckled.

"Don't be so full of yourself. You're not my type," Serena said walking away quickly, glowing redder by the second.

Darien smiled. He loved teasing her. Although, somewhere deep down inside, he wanted it to be true.

--

"You're going to have to take a cab home Serena. I have to go and get my bike," Darien said, waving for a cab.

Serena saddened at the thought of going home alone. "Do you have to?" she asked in a small voice.

"I don't want my bike to suffer the same fate as your car." A taxi pulled up beside them.

"Right."

"Here. Just take my keys and when I get there, I'll call you so you can let me in."

Serena nodded as she got into the car with the bags and the extra helmet. Darien told the man his address.

"Be careful," Serena told him.

"I always am," Darien replied before the car sped away. He felt slightly empty as he watched Serena's head go further and further away.

--

BAM! BAM! BAM!

"Andrea, open up! It's Darien!" he shouted from the hall.

"Darien! I knew you'd come back to me!" she said, swinging the door open.

Darien pushed her aside as he walked in angrily. "Why?" he asked facing her as she closed the door behind him.

"What do you mean?" she asked sweetly.

"Don't play innocent with me! You know exactly what I mean!" Darien roared.

Andrea backed away. She had never seen Darien so angry.

"Andrea! Tell me why you poisoned Serena's sundae!"

"I-I-It was just a little joke..."

"She's allergic to them god damnit!"

"I know but-"

"You knew and you still did it?! She could've died, Andrea! What kind of sick twisted game are you playing? I know your mad at me, but take it out on me! Not on some innocent girl who has nothing to do with you!"

"I was just mad that you had taken her side!"

"Mad enough to kill someone? Have you gone insane?!" Darien asked incredulous.

Andrea remained silent.

"You know what? We're through."

Andrea looked up. "Excuse me?"

"You heard me. We're through! For good!" Darien said, moving to the door.

"But, Darien!"

"I've been wanting to do this for a while now, Andrea. I just never realized it until now," he finished before leaving.

Andrea watched him go, but instead of having hurt in her eyes, she had revenge.

--

Serena walked into the apartment and poured herself a glass of water. She went back to the mirror in the hall. Her face was almost back to its normal size. She decided it was time to call her parents and Molly.

"Hi, you've reached Molly Baker. Leave a message and I'll call you back as soon as I can!"

"Hey Molly. It's Serena! Call me back because I've had the shittiest two days in my entire life! You won't believe what happened. Just call me!"

Serena dialled her home. "Hello?"

"Hi mom!"

"Serena dear! We were getting worried! Hold on let me get your dad on the phone too."

"Serena honey! How's New York?" her dad said, picking up another phone.

"It's... fine," Serena said uneasily.

"Serena... we know that tone. Tell us what happened."

Serena took a deep breath. She had to tell her parents. "I-don't-have-a-dorm-room-, my-car-got-stolen-and-now-I'm-living-in-Darien's-apartment," she said rapidly. She decided to omit that little peanut accident; this was enough drama for one day.

"What?!" they both shouted at the same time, followed by a lot of questions demanding the details of everything. They both calmed down, knowing that it wasn't Serena's fault, but they did invest a great deal into that car.

"This Darien guy..." her dad started.

"Dad, please! He's just a friend!" Serena said.

"Serena, he's older and more experienced. He has needs you know," her dad said.

"Ew dad! Please tell me we're not having this conversation!"

"I'm just saying that you should be careful around him. I don't think I entirely trust him around you."

"Don't worry. Nothing like that's gonna happen..." 'Not in a million years...'

"Ken, I think our daughter's old enough to take care of herself. Look at how she's handled her situation. She's acted like a responsible adult," Serena's mom told him over the phone.

"I know, honey, I'm just watching out for our daughter. I don't want anyone to take advantage of her," Ken continued.

"Guys, I'm still here you know," Serena said, frustrated.

"Right," her mom laughed.

"Just be careful, Serena. We love you."

"I know. I love you too. Say hi to Sammy for me," Serena said.

"Of course. Call us regularly and study hard."

"Yes mom," Serena sighed.

"Alright, bye dear," her parents said at the same time.

"Bye!" Serena said, hanging up. She realized that she missed home so much. She wanted to be with her friends and family again. Her first days in New York didn't exactly help the moving process; it just made her feel more homesick.

Serena jumped as the telephone rang. "Hello?"

"Hey Meatball Head! You can buzz me up now," said Darien loudly.

"You don't have to scream!"

Darien chuckled.

She hurried and pressed the buzzer to let him in. She waited at the doorstep. She saw him coming up the stairs a ton of bags in hand. Her eyes widened. "What the hell's all that?"

"Nice to see you too," Darien said, hurrying inside his apartment.

Serena got a big breeze of... Chinese food! She hurried to the kitchen to help him open up the bags. "Are you trying to tell me I eat too much?" Serena asked insulted, as she realized that there was about enough food to feed a small third world country.

"No, Meatball Head! Do you have to take everything so personally?" Darien inquired with a raised eyebrow.

Serena just pursed her lips. "With you, I have to."

"I just didn't know what you wanted and I tried calling here, but it was busy, so I took the liberty of ordering a small portion of everything they had on the menu. Minus the nuts."

Serena blushed. He bought all this food for her. That had to mean something, right?

"I only have water left. If you don't mind, could you run down to the corner store and get us something to drink? Anything you want. I'll finish setting up here," Darien said, handing her some money.

Serena nodded complacently and hurried out to the store.

--

Serena went to the refrigerators in the back to get a 2 litre Crush. He did say anything she wanted. She quickly grabbed it and hurried to the cash. Some other guy was in front of her, about to pay. As he took out his cash from his back pocket, a folded paper slipped out and fell to the floor. He was about to walk out.

"Hey!" Serena called out. "You dropped this!"

Serena turned red as the guy faced her. He was gorgeous. He looked like a model: clear grey eyes, strong build, fancy clothes, silky hair... She quickly handed him the paper.

The man didn't fail to notice her features as well. She was very pretty, not hot, pretty. A natural beauty, as some might call it. "Thanks," he said, taking it from her hands. Serena smiled.

'Pretty smile...' "I've never seen you around here before. You new in town?" he asked.

"Yeah actually, I am. How'd you know?" Serena asked.

"We don't have ladies as pretty as you here in New York," he said suavely. Serena blushed even more. "I'm Diamond Gray by the way. People just call me D, though."

"Serena Lawrence. People just call me Serena," she said blushing. 'Oh my God. Did I just say that?!'

Diamond chuckled. "Pleased to meet you Serena."

There was a slight pause as Serena stared at him intently. The most gorgeous guy was talking to her. Her! Diamond licked his lips. "You know what?" he said, taking out the paper that had fallen earlier. "Keep this. There's a party on Friday night. It's a huge bash that NYU does every year before the semester starts."

Serena took the paper.

"I gotta get going. Maybe I'll see you there?" He turned to get out. "Actually, I hope to see you there," he said, flashing her one of the most beautiful smiles she had ever seen.

Serena blushed. What just happened?

--

Serena walked back into Darien's apartment, a smile on her face.

"What took you so long, Meatball head? You get lost or something?" Darien said from the kitchen. Serena stayed silent as she made her way to the kitchen. Darien looked at her curiously, but continued. "The cops called. They found your car," he told her, waiting for her to scream ecstatically.

She didn't. She just sat in a chair, looking dreamily at the General Tao. 'He called me pretty...'

"Huh? That's great, Darien!" Serena said, before resuming looking at the Tao.

"You can start eating you know..."

"Yeah, I know," Serena said nonchalantly.

Darien looked at her confused. What had gotten into her? He decided to shrug it off. "Anyways, there's good news and bad news. Good news is: it doesn't seem like anything's missing from your things except maybe anything valuable. So, all your clothes are still there." Darien waited for her to look up jump up and down, but she didn't. He resumed scooping fried rice into her plate as he continued. "The bad news is: a few parts from the car are missing. Guess they got what they needed and left."

Still no reaction. It was really starting to bug Darien. "Okay, Meatball Head. What's wrong? And don't tell me that nothing's wrong because you're awfully quiet for someone who got their car back."

Serena looked up at him as if she finally realized that he was talking to her. "Nothing's wrong."

Darien looked back at her with a look that said 'Really.'.

"I'm serious, Darien!"

"Then tell me why you're not stuffing your face right about now."

Serena glowered at him but realized he wanted an answer. She blushed. This was usually the sort of thing that you'd speak to your girlfriends about. But, seeing as they were so far away right now, Darien was the only one available. "There was this guy... at the store..."

"A guy? What. Did he hurt you?" Suddenly, Darien's protective side came out. She didn't seem like she was hurt though. It quickly faded as the thought that a guy approached Serena sunk in. Darien clenched his fork a little tighter.

"No! Of course not! He was nice to me... He invited me to this party on Friday night. Some NYU thing," Serena said, handing him the flyer.

Darien shook his head, not taking the flyer. "I already know all about that party. Andrea organized it this year. It was the only thing she talked about."

Serena's head snapped up. "A-Andrea?"

--

Author's note: My oh my! Andrea's going to be at the party then... I wonder what she'll do when she finds out Serena's going. IF Serena's going that is...

Hope this wasn't too short! I'll try to get another update soon, but I'm not promising anything! Review please!