*ducks flying objects* you're not still mad at me for part two, are you? *hides in the corner* here's part three, as a peace offering. ^_^

Cut and Paste Usual Disclaimer Here

When You Walked Into My Life
by Elysia [ely_chan@yahoo.com]
rating: PG

Part Three: Good-byes Aren't Forever

The day Serena finished her finals was one of mixed emotions. Finally relieved to have all her tests behind her, she looked forward to graduation and going home, but she couldn't shake off the somber feeling she felt deep down inside.

How could she have been so stupid? That day had been so perfect, so right. And she had to open her big mouth and ruin the moment. Darien hadn't spoken to her since then. She knew he was hurt by her sudden revelation, but she could do nothing about it now. But she had to let Darien know how she felt about him before she left for good.

Mina walked into Serena's room and flopped down on her bed without asking, which was her nature. The perky blonde stared at her roommate for a moment, then spoke up. "In the four months I've lived with you, I've never seen you this depressed. Finals are finally over. You graduate in three days. Aren't you excited, Serena?"

Serena exhaled softly. "He knows."

"Who knows what?"

"Darien knows I'm leaving."

Mina cocked her head and giggled. "Well, of course you're leaving, lucky girl. What does that have to do with anything?"

Serena wanted to scream at her until she was red in the face, but kept her temper in check. "Mina, it has to do with everything! Darien hasn't spoken to me since the day he found out. He's treating me as if I had a contagious disease or something."

The blonde looked at her roommate seriously. "Then why don't you go over there and tell him before it's too late?"

Serena blinked incredulously. It was a rare thing to get a serious comment out of Mina. She must have been on the same wavelength-for once. Smiling back at her roommate, Serena got up from her desk and grabbed her coat. "That's exactly what I was thinking."

******

Walking down the narrow sidewalk, Serena braved the bitter wind as she made her way to Darien's apartment. She shoved her hands deeper into her pockets, trying to warm them up because she had forgotten her gloves. What would Darien say? What would she say to him?

As Serena reached his apartment complex, she ran up to the second floor. She had been here only once before, but as she reached up and knocked once timidly, then again more strongly, she decided it was the right thing to do. She couldn't leave with a guilty conscience.

Just then, the door opened. Serena gulped, and lifted her gaze to face...

"Serena? What are you doing here?" Andrew, Darien's longtime friend and roommate stared back at her. There was a look in his eyes that said he knew everything-from Darien's perspective, anyway. She heaved an inward sigh of relief. Thank goodness it hadn't been him. She wasn't sure if she could face Darien just yet.

"Andrew, is Darien around? I really need to talk to him. I assume you probably know everything."

He nodded mutely. "He's been pretty down the last couple of days. I wish I could help you out, Serena. But you just missed him. He's up on campus, taking his finals."

Her eyes widened. She had just...missed him? Oh, if only she had gone sooner! That was the last time she listened to her conscience. "Do you know when he'll be home?" she asked softly.

Andrew shrugged. "All I know is that he's got two finals tonight, two tomorrow morning, and then he has to go to work at noon."

Serena's heart nearly stopped. It wasn't fair! She was leaving at ten o'clock in the morning with a friend from back home. She would miss him again...and this would be the last time.

She turned around to leave, but stopped. "Andrew if you do see him tonight, and he's not too tired, please tell him I came by to see him."

He nodded and watched her trudge down the stairs and out to the sidewalk. She and Darien would've been so good together—if only...

******

Darien walked into his apartment just before midnight, sick of everything that was school-related. If he saw another textbook or test before he absolutely had to, he was going to scream.

Plodding into his bedroom, he was surprised to find Andrew still up so late reading, but then he remembered that his roommate was already finished with finals and had the rest of the week free. Gen. Ed majors seemed to have it so easy...

"Hey, Darien, how'd your finals go?"

With a grunt, he flopped down on his bed, without bothering to take his shoes off first. He was just too tired to do anything else. "Why do we do this to ourselves, 'Drew? I thought finals in high school were bad enough, but I don't think I can take anymore of this."

Andrew chuckled. "You've got one more semester, Darien. I don't think it could get any worse. But it's harder for you because you've already chosen your major in Physics, and it's automatically more difficult. You've got to get your generals out of the way, and fulfill classes for your major at the same time. Get the required stuff out of the way first, and it'll be much better."

Darien rolled his eyes. "You're just saying that because that's what you're doing. Did you ever decide on a major yet? I know you've gone through at least five already."

There was a laugh. "I think I finally decided on something in business. That way I can take over the family business when my dad retires."

"You want to work at the arcade all your life?"

"Not all my life. I want to do something to expand it into more of a cafe and game center, more than it is right now."

Shaking his head, Darien chuckled at his roommate. "Whatever 'Drew. Just make sure you invite me to the grand re-opening of Crown when you transform it." He got up to leave the room.

"Serena stopped by to see you earlier," Andrew blurted out suddenly. His roommate stopped, and turned around in the doorway. Andrew saw something flicker in Darien's eyes, but it left as fast as it came.

"She did?" he asked quietly. Andrew nodded.

He was silent for a moment. "What did she say?"

"Not much. She obviously wanted to talk to you about something, but all she said to me was to tell you that she had come by."

Darien nodded mutely. "Thanks for the message," was all he said before shutting the door behind him. Andrew stared after his roommate and shook his head. He never could figure that guy out.

******

Darien stepped outside into the brisk night air, feeling the chill of the wind surround him almost immediately as he walked down the sidewalk. Funny how the recent weather seemed to reflect his moods perfectly. He felt as if he had been put into a winter state by a sudden chill. Now he was lying dormant until the warmth returned to bring him back to life.

No one had ever evoked such feelings in him, so why Serena? Why did she have to be so darn special... why did he have to lose everyone in his life that he ever loved?

It was no secret; he knew that he loved her. But it wasn't a full fledged passionate love... not yet, anyway. What he felt for her was more like a close relationship, like for a best friend. In a small way, he wished it were more. Instead he had willingly opened up the door to his heart, and had it shut in his face again.

But as he walked, he decided that wasn't really true. It was his fault he was avoiding Serena. It wasn't that he didn't want to see her; he couldn't see her because he was afraid to face the pain of saying goodbye to her all over again.

As he looked up, he smiled to himself. Ironic that he would end up here. He stood in front of Serena's apartment complex, shifting his gaze to the apartment on the end of the second row. The lights shone in all the windows, and for a moment he thought he could see someone racing frantically from room to room. Darien shook his head, blaming his imagination for playing tricks on him. More than anything, he wanted to go up there and take her in his arms and never let her leave. But he couldn't be impulsive like that, though he wanted to be sometimes.

He sighed, then turned away and headed back to his own apartment, his memories preventing him from thinking clearly.

******

Meanwhile, Serena couldn't sleep a wink. Even though it was well after midnight, too many things were on her mind, and as she looked around her room, there were too many things to pack. How in the world did she acquire so much? And how did it manage to find its way into every room in the apartment?

Blowing some stray hair out of her face, she pulled the last of her dishes from the cupboard, and lugged them back into her room, trying to find a place to pack them in. So many little things took up so much space. Serena hoped that her friend had enough room in the car. If not, she'd be forced to mail most of it home. And for a college student, that was not a happy thing.

She turned her attention back to her room, decidngto tackle the mess formerly known as her desk. In the process of finals ending and all her packing, everything else had been piled on top of it, so now it was a heaping mountain. Serena pulled out the textbooks she didn't sell back from the middle of the pile, relieved that the rest of it didn't come crashing down on her.

Another smaller book fell down on the floor with the rest of the books. Serena picked it up and looked at it curiously. Immediately, tears sprang to her eyes when she realized what it was.

Her dog-eared copy of "Much Ado About Nothing." The same one she used to help Darien with his English project. She clasped it in her hands and let the tears fall freely.

Darien. Just thinking of him made her nearly break down in complete sobs. How had she let one person affect her so much? He was the first one she had completely trusted, but she let him down. If only she didn't have to leave... but now he didn't want to see her.

She got up off the floor and went to her window, thinking that if she stared out it long enough she would see Darien magically appear out on the sidewalk, looking back at her. Of course that was impossible, however real she wanted it to be.

Serena flopped onto her unmade bed, still clutching the book in her left hand. If only there was more time, she would go see him again, try to straighten things out. But no words could really express what she felt right now.

Suddenly Serena shot straight up. If she couldn't say it to him... that was it! Naturally having a way with the written word (she wasn't an English major for nothing), she scooted off the bed and ran to her desk, clearing a small space on it. Serena was no poet, but if she thought about it long enough, she might come up with something decent.

******

Darien stumbled into his small kitchen at six o'clock, bleary-eyed and squinting from the bright fluorescent lights. He had his physics final in an hour and a half, and he had stayed up until two o'clock in the morning trying to prepare for it. That had been a mistake, one that he would never repeat again.

He read through his notes one last time as he scarfed down his breakfast. He couldn't remember the last time he had gone to the store. But that wasn't important now. What mattered right now was getting to his test on time and trying to pass it.

As he got up from the table to grab his backpack, he noticed something had been slipped underneath the front door. It was a small sheet of paper, folded into thirds and taped shut. When he picked it up, he saw there was no name on the front of it, but Darien had a sneaky suspicion it was for him.

Sure enough, as he opened the paper, his name was at the top, and he knew immediately who it was from by the familiar scrawl the poem was written in.

I didn't sleep last night, I guess that's the price
You pay for a soul that's troubled
And curse or blessing I'm here confessing
Some days are better than others.

And even tomorrow is tinged with sorrow
When one fool longs for another
This can't last forever, just like the weather
Some days are better than others.

If you see dark skies in my sad eyes
It just means that I can't find no cover
These ghosts that haunt me
They take me when they want me
And some days are better than others.**

His backpack dropped to the floor and he fell to the couch. No written words could solve the problem, but they could express how one felt, and he was sure this had come from the bottom of Serena's heart.

The heartache wouldn't stop with just a few words. That was what time was for. With time, Darien's heart would mend, and the pain he felt would slowly ease away.

But he would never forget Serena.

******

Shoving the last box into the already stuffed trunk, Serena gave it one final push and lodged it between a laundry basket, and her friend's suitcase. If packing it all away into just a few boxes had been a miracle, then fitting it into Molly's trunk was another. Thank heavens they were the only two in the car, or else it would've never worked.

Molly called out from the driver's seat. "Ready to go, Serena?" The blonde shut the lid of the trunk with a thud, then squeezed into the passenger side amidst all the pillows and blankets. She pushed them out of her face to look out the window once last time at the place she had called home for the last ten months. It hadn't been as bad as she thought it would be, not with all the memories she had to sustain her.

Out of the corner of her eye, Serena caught a glimpse of Darien's apartment complex down the road. If only she had had the chance to see him once more before she left for good, but it just wasn't meant to happen that sunny Saturday morning.

Serena sighed to herself, then whispered under her breath as Molly started the car and pulled out onto the street.

"Goodbyes are only for those people we don't want to see again."





Part four, coming soon....^_~

**lyrics taken from the song "Some Days," sung by Trisha Yearwood, off the Real Live Woman CD. Highly recommended!