I know I only updated yesterday, but I've had writer's block for the past couple of weeks, and just in case it comes back, I thought I'd get this over and done with.
After All This Time
Chapter 11 - No Promises
Serena didn't say anything else. She simply lowered the phone from her ear slowly and hung up. Darien couldn't possibly know. Surely not. How could he have found out within ten seconds of Raye getting off the phone to Seiya? It was impossible. That's what Serena believed...until she saw an uncomfortable looking Andrew sneak back behind the counter from the back door. Furiously, Serena stood up and marched over.
"Andrew?" Serena demanded angrily, making Andrew jump and look up. He smiled nervously at Serena.
"Hey, Serena, what can I get you?" he asked sheepishly.
"An explanation would be nice," Serena said, her anger not relenting.
"I don't know what you're talking about," Andrew said unconvincingly.
Serena stared at him, her eyes burning into his, until he couldn't take it anymore and cracked under the pressure.
"OK, look, I'm sorry," Andrew said pathetically. "But you know that you're loud and I could hear every word you were saying!"
"It's not the fact that you overheard, Andrew," Serena said bitterly. "It's the fact that you betrayed my trust and went behind my back!"
"Darien had a right to know," Andrew said coldly.
"Why?" Serena challenged.
"Because he loves you."
"Well, excuse me, but since when did he appoint you to make me fall in love with him?" Serena cried.
"He didn't, I just wanted to see him happy," Andrew said defensively.
"Well, now he's not, thanks to...oh, yeah, that's right...you," Serena snapped. "Meddling in other people's business only causes more problems. You should remember that."
And Serena stormed off.
"I think I will now," Andrew muttered to himself.
Serena only stopped on her way out to say bye to Raye, and then she was off again.
Andrew watched her as she slammed the door of the cafe on her way out.
"Women."
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Ten minutes after Serena had left the cafe, she arrived outside Darien's apartment. She was still fuming, but decided to breathe it off a bit before she lashed out at Darien. So, she took a few deep, no, incredibly deep breaths and then knocked on the door.
Within ten seconds Darien had opened the door and she was on her way in.
He didn't even look at her as he sat down, while she shut the door behind her. She came in and sat down on the chair on Darien's right side. Before she could open her mouth to speak, he started talking.
"Why do you want a date with another guy?" Darien asked her, still avoiding eye contact.
"Maybe because I like him," Serena answered stubbornly.
"But I thought we were -" Darien started, but he got cut off by an extremely pissed off Serena, who stood up and began yelling.
"No, Darien!" she screamed. She was shaking. Her eyes were watering and she knew that she was going to start crying.
Darien chose this moment to turn and look at Serena, as if he were looking at her for the very first time. She looked nice on the outside; her make-up was subtle but attractive and her hair was a fresh kind of curl. But he knew that inside this woman was a mess. She had been torn in two and carelessly thrown back together. He couldn't put it into words how much it pained him to know that he was the one who had done that to her. It was heart-wrenching, and he could barely speak with such a complicated emotion thundering through him.
"No, what?" he asked quietly. He almost didn't want the answer. He knew it would be unbearable.
"No, you can't reason your way into the right, and leave me feeling guilty! I haven't done anything wrong, and you know it!" Serena bellowed, tears now making clear tracks down her face.
"I just thought that there was some hope..." Darien muttered miserably.
"Hope of what?" Serena asked softly, calming down slightly but still crying inconsolably.
"That there was a chance we could work past all this," Darien told her, standing up, placing his hands on her shoulders as she looked deep into his blue eyes. "That we could give this a chance."
"There isn't a 'chance', there isn't a 'we', and there isn't a 'this'," Serena said bitterly.
"Why can't there be?" Darien asked.
"Because as long as it's right for you to see someone else while we're together, but it's wrong for me to want a date with another guy when we aren't even going out," Serena explained, "then this can't work."
"Not even going out?" Darien repeated, "I thought we were heading along those lines."
Serena shook her head, making her blonde hair shimmer in the light. "No, we weren't. I was foolish to even stick around last night. The champagne we were drinking must have gone to my head..."
"Or maybe you were following your heart," Darien said calmly. He caressed her cheek and rubbed her tears away. "Promise me something..."
Serena shook her head again. This time more persistently. Darien looked down at the floor. "The last promise I made to you ended up with my heart in a million tiny pieces. I swore to myself then that I would never make anymore promises to you again. Hear that, Darien?"
Darien looked back into her baby blue eyes.
"No promises," Serena whispered. "It's time for you to let me go."
"I don't want to forget last night, with the kissing in the rain and...the thought of a future together...I just don't want to forget..." Darien pleaded.
"I'm sorry, Darien, but...I do," Serena said quietly. She turned and walked out of Darien's apartment door, and looked at him one last time before she shut the door.
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Darien didn't venture outside his apartment for four days straight. He was heartbroken. He wondered whether this was how Serena felt after their initial break-up. Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday all passed as quickly as they possibly could.
Then, it was Saturday.
The lines, "I don't want to forget," and "I'm sorry, but I do," are from Disney's Finding Nemo. I don't own them.
Well, next chapter's the date! What could possibly happen? I'll leave your imaginations to ponder until the next update...
QueenSerenity818 out.
