Oh goddess, I just realised that I started posting this a month ago and I'm still only on Chapter Four … and nothing's happened! I feel horrible, I really do. Well, you can all thank Crystal for this update (although I promised the girl an update on Sunday – been busy, have no excuse). I was stuck at an impasse on this one – i.e., had no freaking idea what was going to happen next. The characters kinda took over and wrote themselves a cute little exchange. I promise next time it won't take forever to update (on this, I swear on Jensen Ackles).
This is for Amy and Heliya cause they asked so nicely :P and for CrystalShards for asking about the next chapter – love ya hon.
Cupid Must Be Crazy
Chapter Four Phone Calls … and a revelation
"This is utterly ridiculous!" Serena gesticulated wildly at the television, rolling her eyes in disbelief. "Why the hell hasn't she pounced on him yet?"
Amy raised one eyebrow in silent question. "Maybe cause the movie's just started?"
Serena flicked a stray blond hair out of her face, smiling mischievously. "What's your point?"
Lita, who had disappeared into the kitchen almost as soon as dinner was over, came out carrying a huge bowl of fruit salad and ice cream. Between the vast crystal bowl and ice cream tub, she somehow managed to place three bowls and spoons on the coffee table without dropping a thing.
"Mmm, yummy," Serena immediately reached into the bowl and picked out a strawberry, deciding to forgo the ice cream, the bowl and the spoon. For her efforts, she received a 'don't you dare' look from Lita and a whack across the wrist with a spoon from Amy.
The girls had decided that, while Mina and Andrew were out for the night, they'd hole themselves in the apartment watching old movies and pigging out. Lita had suggested they whip up a quick fruit salad; then she'd promptly thrown the other two girls out of the kitchen, insisting that she preferred to work on her art alone.
Serena and Amy had no arguments to that and had instantaneously made a beeline for the best position on the couch, tussling over the remote before their butts even touched their seats.
Finally, they'd settled on a video and waited rather impatiently for Lita to stop her incessant humming of Brahm's Lullaby and bring the dessert into the living room. Afterwards, they planned on raiding the pantry; Doritos, chocolate, popcorn, jelly and lollies had been the jointly approved menu for the next few hours.
All was well and they'd all settled down to watch Simply Irresistible, commenting the entire way through the opening credits, when the shrill ring of a mobile phone interrupted their mindless vegetative state.
"It's mine," Serena said, eyes intent on the television. She made no move to get up.
Being as she was the closest to the phone, Lita immediately grabbed the offending contraption.
"Serena's phone," Lita said in a frazzled tone. She listened for a moment, nodding her head. "Yeah sure. Who's speaking?" she waited for a while, attention half focused on the movie. Then her eyes widened considerably, and she looked up at Serena, startled. The movie was forgotten; Lita opened her mouth a few times as though to say something, but she didn't appear able to utter a word.
Serena shook her head in silent question. Lita's behaviour was somewhat unsettling. "What?"
Lita's eyes only widened more as she almost reverently handed the phone to Serena. "It's for you," she said simply.
"Well duh," Serena muttered, holding the phone up to her ear. "Hello?"
"Serena Halliday?" The voice at the other end of the line caught her immediate attention. It was soft and deep, slightly husky. Just the tone alone almost caused her knees to turn to the proverbial jelly; distant alarm bells rang in the deep recesses of her mind. She knew that voice …
"Darien Radcliffe?" It was more a statement than a question, and she didn't really say it. If anything, it sort of came out in a breathy puff of air. Beside her, Amy nearly toppled off the couch in shock and Lita just nodded her head. When Serena spoke again, it was a squeaky, "Hi."
Darien listened to the sharp intake of breath and then silence as the phone was passed from one person to another. He berated himself for the momentary weakness and for picking up the phone, not the mention the dialling of her number. Maybe he could pretend it was a wrong number?
He quickly discarded that idea – after all, he'd just asked for Serena Halliday, so that really wasn't a viable option. He could just hang up … but something inside told him to stay on the line. You're thinking with your pants again, Darien argued inwardly. Then that dratted inner voice replied, Who cares?
The internal battle was lost soon after that comment.
"Hello," her voice floated over the line, interrupting his musings.
A sharp intake of breath later, he spoke. "Serena Halliday?" At that, he mentally slapped himself. Well duh. It was her phone – whom else could he possibly be talking to!
"Darien Radcliffe?" He caught the hesitation and the surprise evident in her voice. "Hi."
Darien cleared his throat, wondering at the sudden bout of inarticulation that he happened to be experiencing at that moment. "I know you probably weren't expecting this call," he said. Hell, neither was I … "But as it happens, I had your number by the phone and it seemed like the right time to call." He said this in a rush, which left him wondering if she'd actually managed to understand a single word he'd said.
Apparently she had, because the next moment she spoke again, clearer this time. She sounded more sure of herself. "Actually, I'm glad you did."
"Really?" he couldn't stop the surprise that filtered through his voice at that.
"Mm hmm," she murmured. There were sounds of a slight scuffle in the background, and he thought he detected the sound of muffled laughter. Followed shortly by the sounds of uproarious laughter and a harsh voice loudly whispering 'shush'.
The next thing he heard was the slamming of a door.
"Sorry bout that," Serena said loudly. "Insane friends, high on sugar."
"Right," Darien nodded in acquiescence. If they were the ones he'd seen at the arcade, insane didn't quite describe them. He cleared his throat again. Hmm, he appeared to be doing a lot of that lately. "Well."
There was a pause at the other end of the line. "Well," Serena repeated in the ensuing silence.
"Anyway," Darien said hurriedly. "I was thinking maybe we could get together for coffee or something at some point in time."
Again with the rushed speech.
Apparently though, Serena was an expert in the art of rushed speaking and understood it rather well. "I'd like that," she said. "Very much."
Darien released the inevitable breath he hadn't even realised he'd been holding. "Alright then," he racked his brains, both for a suitable response and a way to end this conversation quickly. For some reason unbeknownst to him, he appeared to be moments from hyperventilating. "I'll call you sometime and we'll discuss details."
"Details," Serena repeated. "So it's a date."
"It's a date."
Oh god, it's a date.
The words ran through her head as she clicked off the phone and placed it on the sink.
She had a date with Darien Radcliffe.
"Cool," she murmured aloud to the empty bathroom. Then she remembered the reason she was in the bathroom in the first place, and her eyes narrowed. "I'm gonna kill you guys!" She yelled loudly through the locked door.
During the course of her conversation, she'd had to barricade herself in the bathroom. Apparently the entire situation had been too much for Lita to handle and an attack of the giggles had befallen the tall girl rather quickly. It had gotten to the point where Lita was sprawled on the couch laughing her ass off with Amy nearby telling her to be quiet – it hadn't worked all that well considering the fact that she too was so close to laughter.
Giving up, Serena had hauled ass to the bathroom and locked the door behind her.
As she opened the door, she saw that they were still giggling giddily.
"So gonna kill you," she repeated murderously as she advanced on the two cackling girls.
The movie was forgotten as Amy's sniggers subsided into muffled hiccups and Lita sank down into the couch cushions, hand pressed over her mouth to stop the escaping giggles.
"So," Amy hiccuped loudly from the love seat. "What did he want?"
"Coffee."
Amy and Lita replied to that with a less than articulate, "Huh?"
"He wants to go out for coffee," Serena explained, sinking down beside Lita. Her homicidal rage had subsided somewhat, and now she was just … feeling fine. It was a strange thing; it was that gurgly kind of happiness that starts in your tummy and works its way outwards, warming your insides and turning you into a proverbial puddle of gooey mush.
The other two 'oohed' in unison.
Serena threw a cushion at Lita and turned back to the movie, intent on her own thoughts.
It was three o'clock in the morning and she couldn't sleep.
After restless padding around the empty apartment and a quick rummage through the pantry, she flopped down on the couch and switched on the television. And endless stream of channels paraded across the screen as she flicked idly through all 317 channels. Typically, there was nothing on. It appeared that all concept of quality programming became null and void after the midnight hour.
Settling more comfortably into the couch, she became aware that something was digging into her side. Reaching between the cushions, she pulled out a wad of paper. After a quick inspection, she realized it was the Rune Oracle, quite possibly the sleaziest tabloid in the city. She vaguely remembered Andrew bringing it by last night. He must have left it there.
When she caught the headline, she smiled. Mina and Andrew's disagreement from a few days ago had made it into the tabloids after all; the cover photo showed a very pissed off Mina with her hand firmly around Andrew's neck. She flipped to the page in question and proceeded to read the latest development in her friend's personal life.
The journalist – she scoffed at that loose term, in her opinion this one was certainly no journalist – led a colourful account of the events that had transpired at the studio. Private 'discussion' aside, they had happened in a public place, and so naturally it was witnessed rather extensively. She fought the urge to pick up her laptop and write a cutting letter to the editor about the conduct of this reporter.
The by-line suddenly caught her eye. Holy shit.
She read the name again, thinking that maybe she was seeing things. It was late, she was tired, it was possible … she read it again, then blinked a couple of times for good measure.
Darien Radcliffe.
Oh my god.
Three years ago at the beginning of Mina's career, a certain indiscretion happened to cross the path of an aspiring young journalist. He'd snapped the story up and, within seconds, it had been blazing over the front pages of various newspapers. Luckily, there was little damage done to Mina's reputation, thanks in large part to Serena's covering of the story.
She'd interviewed the aspirant actress, getting the 'hidden truth' of the matter. The story had been the one to rocket Serena into the reporting business and she'd promptly been offered a traineeship at the Times. The affair had blown over soon after that – but not without a fair share of animosity between Serena and the perpetrator of the initial story. Scathing articles had been presented in newspapers all over the city. Serena had actively added her two cents in a special letter published through the Times and of course, the other reporter had responded in kind.
There was no love lost between the two.
The exchanges had just fallen short of a full-fledged court battle. Or the untimely occurrence of World War Three.
She briefly wondered whatever had happened to … what was his name? It had completely slipped her mind – it had been four years ago, after all. She hadn't given the guy a second thought since then. She had the sudden inexplicable urge to find out. Asking Mina was out of the question. She didn't understand why, but the need to remember bugged the hell out of her.
Darien Radcliffe.
The name popped into her head in the two seconds that it took her to locate her laptop. Brushing aside the residual annoyance at the untimely thoughts, she pushed all thoughts of the raven-haired young man out of her mind. This was not the time to be fantasising.
The other thought was promptly stopped by her denial meter. It couldn't have been him.
She booted up her laptop, tapping her fingernails impatiently on the coffee table.
Something niggled at the back of her mind; she couldn't for the life of her imagine why. Finally, the screen flickered and she proceeded to log onto the Internet. Aol buzzed irritatingly. The fingernails continued tapping.
Why was everything so slow?
Finally, the Aol welcome screen flashed onto the computer and she hurriedly brought up a search. For a mind numbing moment, she had no idea what to search for. Then she tentatively brought up back issues of the Rune Oracle, skimming through the dates and headlines. She backtracked three years and searched diligently through the archives.
When the familiar headline caught her eye, she held back the enthusiastic 'whoo hoo' that threatened to topple off the tip of her tongue. Her eyes focused on the by-line. A sharp intake of breath later, and she vaulted off the couch and raced for the phone.
Holy fuck.
Well, is it getting interesting enough for ya all?
The next part will be out within the next few days. Again, I swear on Alec's shirtless torso (if you saw it, you'd know what I'm talking about!) that I will update well within that time frame. If it didn't make any sense, bear with me cause it'll start to make more sense in later chapters. I promise more (lengthy) S/D moments – it is a romance after all.
Oh, and I added some more to Chapter 3 cause I felt I hadn't fully made my point – just at the end.
I'll make this next part brief cause I need to start on the next chapter.
Thanks to all those that reviewed – luv ya all lots – you're an inspiration, you're fabulous, you're a gift from the gods and all that mushy stuff. I agree with ya Michi, it is a bit slow at the moment, but I'm just getting into my stride, it will get better. And stuff will eventually happen, Kismet:) Alyssa, I've never smutted before (is that even a word?) but I'll try my hardest to make is as graphical as possible without actually being graphic.
Sorry for the ramblings, but I've just gotten through two bottles of coke and am therefore on something of a sugar high. Plus I've been watching Dark Angel reruns … hmm, Alec … anyway, review and tell me what you think. At the moment, I need inspiration – does anyone know of a good name for a tabloid? The Rune Oracle was merely a result of too much Dark Angel and Buffy.
Well, enough from me. Toodles.