The Personals
by Selene
As always Darien and Serena are leased...with no further ado...Answers to The Past
Chapter 3- Answers from the Past
Darien's apartment was amazingly neater than Serena's room. At first she thought she would be uncomfortable, but as much as Serena tired to deny it, she naturally relaxed with him. If she stopped between a moment of insults she realized that now. She held the fluffy blue towel as she pulled her hair dry. 'Oh goodness, my dress is drenched.' She called from the bathroom door, "Darien, do you, uh have a dryer?"
Darien's mind was full of emotions he never experienced. He didn't know how to react or if he could even make sense of it all. He closed his eyes momentarily, as he changed into a more comfortable shirt. The white T-shirt framed his shapely body snugly. 'This is so strange. I feel like I'm falling for…"
Serena's question interrupted his thoughts. "Do you have a dryer?"
"What? Oh yes, but why?" Darien thought a moment, "Well, I guess I can give you a shirt and sweatpants. They might be a little big though."
He went through his draw, 'Wow, I never noticed how colorful I am. Black, gray, black, and gray.' Darien touched his face slightly, 'Well these are old, so I guess the smallest.'
Serena slipped out of her dress, and grabbed the clothes Darien squeezed through the crack in the door. She breathed slowly as she put on his clothes.
Darien sat lazily on the chair… his eye caught something, her reflection. He gasped, hating himself for not having the will to move his eyes from the mirror, but longing to look just a moment longer. Darien rose suddenly and raced into the kitchen. "I hope you like sandwiches," he called in an attempt to get his mind off of Serena.
"I eat anything."
Serena said as she emerged from the bathroom looking lost in his clothes. Her blond hair seemed to cascade like waterfalls over her delicate shoulders. Serena looked at Darien widely. 'Oh that shirt fits him so well! He never wears anything like that!' She quickly averted her eyes from him, afraid that Darien could read her thoughts just by looking at her.
Darien clicked on the radio as he set his small wooden table. He heard the rumbling of the dryer as he pulled out a seat for Serena. Darien sat across from her, the table seemed like an eternity away from him. He suddenly missed the closeness of the small boat. Serena stuffed the sandwich into her mouth in one gulp. Darien sat back and crossed his arms, just to look at Serena, her blond hair flopped up as she raised her eyes, to notice Darien watching her. 'I look stupid stuffing my face,' she wondered feeling self-conscious.
With her face flushed with embarrassment she looked squarely at Darien, "Why are you watching me like that?"
Darien almost choked at the directness of her question. He was not used to really telling people what he thought or felt, because he never had anyone to really tell. 'And this girl who I teased so much, has a heart big enough to forgive that'.
"And Darien, why did you put that ad in the newspaper?" ' Because you could get any girl in the world,' she didn't finish her question. She just simply looked at Darien with her full, round eyes. Darien felt his reserve slowly melt. He felt like a boy. He felt like a man. His mind, no, his heart was in turmoil. His mind tried to analyze why this girl, this suddenly beautiful girl, got to him; got inside of him into a place no one has ever touched, and has twisted it all around. "I put the ad in the newspaper because Andrew and I had a bet to see if women were still attracted to romantic words." He answered hastily, feeling as if he stood on uneven ground.
"I see," Serena looked deeply in thought. Curious at Darien's sudden mood change, she could almost feel the air between them shift. "But you avoided my other question, why did you look at me like that?"
"Why do you want to know so badly?" Darien dodged yet another shot at his heart.
Serena sat straighter at this unspoken challenge, "Why are you changing the subject, it is not what I think, but what you think!"
Darien pulled his chair and walked slowly over to her. The soft tones of the piano, hung sweetly in the air. He couldn't restrain himself any longer. He wondered how he had managed not to act on his feelings for her for so long. 'The table was too far a separation,' he thought with every noiseless step closer to Serena.
Her heart fluttered with excitement as Darien walked suavely over to her. She wasn't sure what to expect, but she didn't care, somewhere deep inside herself she knew this was right and exactly what she wanted. Darien bent over and whispered in her ear, "Come with me."
His voice. His breath. They aroused every sense in her body. Serena felt herself being drawn to him. She suddenly wandered why she never felt this pull before. Darien grabbed her hand and led hr to his bay window. The moonlight fell on both of them, as almost a blessing from their unknown past. For moments that seemed like eternity, Darien just looked deep into Serena's eyes, and was lost in them.
"It is what you think," he continued in a tone that sounded strange to him self. He cupped her face slightly tilting it at an angle that suited him best as he kissed the tip of her nose. "When this whole bet thing happened, I wasn't prepared…" he struggled with ways to express his emotions. 'I shouldn't be standing here with you looking like this…I want to kiss you, and hold you, and never let such distances separate us,' he thought as he felt his will giving into her presence, her soul that was so connected to his. It frightened him to realize he felt attracted to her like this. He breathed slowly, "You and me, at least when I tease you, I guess I didn't have to deal with what I really felt." Serena nodded in agreement. "And now that I was able to spend time with you…" he kissed her sweet face, so addicting, so so tempting to him. He hoped his kisses could explain what he could not.
Serena blinked widely. 'I want to kiss him so much, say so much, but he needs to say this. I can sense it.' So she just listened to his words. "There's so much about me you don't know, and over time, I'll be able to tell you everything. But I have to know that you are going to be with me, Serena."
She exhaled slowly as Serena wrapped her arms around his neck. "Shhh- I know I belong with you, it's something about us. I know it so well."
Serena wet her lips slightly as she moved closer to Darien. As their lips met, something in the mood of the moment brought them back to a place they shared so long ago. His lips ached for more of hers as they shared a passionate and loving kiss, so intimate and so deep that no words could do it justice.
~ fin Selene (*
