Chapter 9! On with it! Stephumz, you totally busted me!
Disclaimer: Yeah, Sailor Moon is not mine. Sad day.
Exchange for Romance, Please?
Serena turned and grinned sheepishly, chuckling awkwardly.
"I said, where do you think you're going?"
Serena frowned. "In case you didn't notice, I'm about to enter my bedroom… And, I'm sorry Mina, whose doorway are you standing in?" she asked, crossing her arms.
Mina blushed. "Th-tha-that's different," she explained, stuttering, "Andrew and I have history. And back to the topic at hand, what are you doing slinking out of Darien's room and creeping over to yours in the wee hours of the morning?"
"I would hardly call 10:30AM 'wee hours'. I'll have you know we were just talking and both ended up falling asleep. Later he woke up, and just a few minutes ago sent me packing once I was awake, that's all. But it doesn't seem you've slept much, hm?" Serena gave Mina a questioning once over.
As she'd been talking, Mina seemed rather tired, even yawning, and her hair looked disheveled, her clothing wrinkled, and her lips swollen. The blush that crept up her face all the way to her hairline spoke volumes.
"Anywho," Serena interrupted with a smile, trying to spare her best friend further embarrassment, "you should get ready. We're going on some kind of sight-seeing together, but Darien's being very secretive about where we're going. It's a surprise," she said.
With that, Serena turned and walked into her room. Once her door was shut, she beamed and clasped her hands together in front of her chest. This morning had started off amazing, and she was hoping the rest of the day would go just as well.
She took a quick shower and threw on her undergarments, a jean mini over sheer leggings with thick pink and white horizontal stripes, a white fitted scoop-neck tee, a grey tweed vest and grey flats. She dusted some loose powder on her face and blush over her cheeks, applied some mascara to her lashes, then slicked on some clear lip gloss.
She opted to brush her hair out straight and loose rather than putting it in her traditional odangoes, did a side part on the left side of her head, then clipped some of her hair behind her left ear with a small grey and pink polka dotted bow. She smiled approvingly at herself in the mirror.
Mina was stepping out of her own room just as Serena was, wearing a black fitted V-neck tee, a few necklaces with gold, yellow and orange beading, skinny jeans, chunky orange and yellow bangles, orange flats, and a black headband with orange gems clustered on the left side of it.
"How do we manage to always look so fabulous and adorable, simultaneously?"
Serena giggled and nodded, agreeing with Mina.
Just then, Andrew and Darien stepped out of their rooms. The four of them stood there in the hallway, looking at each other, and burst out laughing. Darien had thrown on a white T-shirt and jeans, then added a grey vest and grey Vans, and Andrew was wearing a black V-neck tee, jeans, and a black and orange trucker hat with black and orange checkered Vans. Both couples were matching nearly head to toe.
"I can't-"
"Believe this," Darien finished for Serena.
"And it was-"
"Mere coincidence!" Andrew added after Mina.
Then all four shrugged simultaneously and burst into another laughing fit as they made their way to the kitchen.
"So how are we handling transportation today?" Andrew inquired.
"I think yesterday worked fine," Serena suggested, "not to mention that I'm a bit claustrophobic, so I'd rather not be crammed in those microscopic back seats."
Mina's eyes widened. 'Liar!' she thought, 'You hid in a locker for fifteen minutes to avoid Haruna-sensei giving you a lecture on your tardiness and were fine when you stepped out!'
Serena could almost hear her thoughts and smiled snidely.
"I'm fine with it if you all are," Darien said.
And so they split up into pairs of two again. In the car, Serena did what would now be usual, searching through Darien's CDs and settling on Andrea Bochelli.
"Interesting choice," Darien said.
"What can I say? His voice is soothing," Serena replied.
They sat in comfortable silence for a while, until Serena finally spoke up.
"You know, it may be weird to talk to you about this, but I'm sure you're used to hearing these things having a teenage sister and all. Do you feel my bangs are too short? I'm rarely happy with them. I feel they need to be longer, but everyone I ask tells me they're fine."
Darien's eyes turned to saucers, his jaw ajar, stunned into silence. He had never imagined he'd hear something like this from Serena's mouth, certainly not within the first day she was in town. She didn't seem to be that kind of girl.
"Well," she insisted, "do you?"
He blushed. "Serena, honestly I haven't a clue as to how long your bangs are, and it's a bit of an awkward topic for you to strike up."
"Really? You're uncomfortable talking about this? I mean, I understand being well informed on it can come off as a little… feminine… but-"
"Serena!" Darien blushed fully now, his face crimson.
"Darien, don't worry! I don't think you're gay at all, I just want your opinion on my bangs."
"I have no opinion about your bangs, Serena, and I feel uncomfortable with you further prodding me about the question. And clearly there's nothing gay about the topic. Heterosexuals are just as well informed about banging as the homosexual community. I, honestly, have no experience with bangs, so I really can't help, and I'm appalled that you would be familiar with the action."
Serena looked at him questioningly. "Darien, it's clear on my face that I have bangs. You can't miss it. And come on, don't try and fool me. It's obvious you're in control of your bangs. They suit you perfectly!"
"Serena, please!" Darien raised his voice. "Stop! I have no desire to know about your sexual trysts, nor do I intend to take it well when you accuse me of being sexually active after I've directly told you I'm not involved in those types of actions!"
Serena stared at him, mouth agape. They both sat in silence, Serena shocked and Darien brooding, for a few moments.
"I'm sorry, WHAT?"
Darien glanced aside at Serena. "My thoughts exactly," he mumbled bleakly.
"How dare you speak about such inappropriate things in front of me, Darien? We hardly even know each other. I have no curiosities as to your sex life, and think it's highly disrespectful of you to speak about sexual acts when I was merely asking you a question about my hair!" Serena was indignant.
"HAIR?" Darien exclaimed. "I could hardly call asking me about the length of your bangs a common conversation about hair."
"DARIEN!" she yelled, "I was talking about my bangs! My hair! These little hairs RIGHT HERE! ON MY FOREHEAD!"
Darien slammed on the breaks and turned to look at her, red in the face. He took a deep breath as he pulled into a parking space of what Serena guessed was their final destination. He let out a long sigh before speaking.
"I'm sorry," he said, sounding much more calm and civil, "but what do you mean, Serena? I'm not understanding anything right now."
Serena also relaxed a bit, sitting back in her seat. "What I had been asking you originally, Darien, was if you thought these, my bangs," she said, running her fingers through the short chunks of hair framing her face, "suit my face properly, length wise. I think my stylists always cuts them too short, and I figured you might know something about it with a sister who's so on trend and your own expertly styled cut. How we went from me discussing my bangs to you talking about your sex life, I don't understand."
Darien turned beet red. Silence pervaded for a few minutes, until Serena finally burst.
"PLEASE explain your yelling at me about sex, Darien!"
Darien cleared his throat, still blushing. "Serena, I'm afraid this is a massive misunderstanding on my behalf. You see, here in the UK, 'bang' or 'bangs' are words used as slang for sexual trysts… Our equivalent of your 'bangs' would be 'fringe'. I'm so embarrassed to have even thought so little of you, Serena. Please forgive my vulgarity for even thinking that. I'd understand if you're completely offended and angry with me."
Through Darien's rant, Serena went from pink to bright red to maroon. For a moment she thought she'd melt into a puddle from the humiliation, and the next thing she knew, as Darien finished speaking, she'd burst out laughing. It was altogether a far too hysterical misunderstanding.
Darien cracked a smile watching her laughing fit.
She sighed mid-fit as her hysterics began to subside to giggles. "Oh, man," she managed to get out between laughs.
She caught her breath. "You're forgiven, in case you couldn't tell. That was too funny. I mean, I still can't believe you think I'd even talk about or be capable of any of that, but it's far too comical that this just happened to us."
Darien let out a relieved laugh. "Sorry, again, but yes, quite funny. I don't know why, but I get the feeling that things like this may happen to us more often now. I'm a bit afraid."
Serena giggled. "If this is going to happen more often, I'd say I'm looking forward to it more than dreading it."
He grinned that sly grin of his that made Serena want to swoon. "Yes, well, we'll just have to see about that, I suppose."
Darien leaned to his right, inching towards Serena and turning to face her. "And, to answer your question, one, I think your hair looks lovely this way," he said softly as he pushed some hair behind her right ear, "and two, I think your fringe suits you just perfectly. Honestly, I think anything would suit you perfectly."
Serena blushed profusely as she looked up into his eyes. She could feel his breath on her face, and she knew there was no use in trying to hide the redness in her cheeks. He stared right back into her eyes, grin still poised and completely unnerving. Serena had no idea what she was supposed to do in the moment, and gave into the only thing her heart was telling her she could do. Hesitantly, she inched forward, never once breaking her eye contact with him, searching those eyes and that flawless face for any hint of rejection.
He was beside himself with such a mixture of feelings that Darien had no idea what to do. He wanted this more than anything, and he could tell it was what Serena wanted, too; otherwise she wouldn't be initiating this kind of behavior. He smiled despite himself, surprised that she'd take the lead in this situation. But he knew it was wrong. What would his parents think? And… She was so close to him now. His hand lingered at her neck. The peppermint flavor on her breath tickled his nose. Turning away and refusing her was an impossibility.
Nothing could be done. It was what it would be.
A tiny teaser for you, my lovelies! I'm back!
I mean, I never really left, I've just gotten SO terribly busy. I finally got myself a decent job, am working very hard towards my BA in Education… it's so close I can taste it! Junior year of university is proving to be a stressful one, and in the past six months I've been through hell and high water!
Just to give some news to those of you interested in an update from my last post, clearly, I'm no longer on summer vacation. Sad face, I know. To break all the sad news to you at once, my great aunt whom I mentioned in a previous chapter passed away on July the 4th of last year, and another very dear uncle of mine who'd been battling lung cancer also passed away this past December. It's been a tough few months but they've also been sprinkled with tidbits of joy! The very uncle who passed away was able to see one of his only two granddaughters be born, two precious baby cousins of whom I'm incredibly proud and immensely in love with! And some of the best news, Mike Vile who I'd mentioned was battling a Stage IV brain tumor… Ladies and Gents I'm proud to deliver the message that he was miraculously cured! The tumor which had been inoperable shrunk after treatment and MOVED (which doctors confirmed DOES NOT happen) to a place that facilitated its removal. He's still undergoing some treatment to ensure the cancer doesn't reemerge, but I must say my little lemon drops, God is so good!
ANYWAYS, hopefully school and work won't take too much out of me and you'll hear from me again soon!
All my love,
Rose Zen