Oct 2000

Disclaimer: I don't own these characters, I'm just borrowing them. The story,
however, is mine.

It Matters To Me.

Chapter 3

A blonde head looked up from something on the counter as the doors to
Crown Arcade slid open and a smile split the man's face as he saw who it was,
"Hey Darien, how's it going?"

Darien paused in the doorway, looking around the arcade and felt his
heart hammer painfully in his chest. Keeping his face a mask covering his
emotions he walked towards the counter and then smiled a forced smile at his
friend, "Hey Andrew." He slid onto a stool and then turned slightly so he
could watch the door and his friend at the same time.

Andrew looked at him, his eyes narrowing slightly as he turned and got
Darien his coffee. For a Saturday he was in awful late. "What happened to
your hand?"

"Hmm? What?"

"You hand?" he slid the cup towards him and watched as Darien lifted the
cup with his bandaged hand, seeming to favor the one that wasn't wrapped for
some reason.

"Oh, it had a bad run in with a door. Hey, Andrew, have you seen the
girls today?"

"Nope, not since yesterday. I was just wondering about them myself.
Mina is usually in here scooping out the guys around noon, but it's," he
checked the clock, "just after two and no sign of any of them. Yet. Think
something is wrong?"

Darien sighed, taking his eyes off the door and turning his back to it.
For two in the afternoon on a weekend the arcade was empty save for himself
and his friend. "I think it's my fault," he admitted, staring into his
coffee cup. The black liquid that offered him his usual energy in the
mornings and afternoons just didn't seem appealing but he sipped it anyway,
grimacing as he remembered Serena's face when she'd taken the cup from him
once and tried it. He had to suppress a groan as he thought about her, her
beautiful face twisted with pain as she stared up at him from the ground.
"Actually, I know it's my fault."

"How do you figure that one?"

Darien sighed, rubbing the tips of his fingers across his forehead,
"I've been awful mean to Serena of late, Drew."

Andrew wiped the counter with his cloth, "You want to talk about it,
Dare?"

"Not really, but if I don't it's going to kill me," he raised his head,
curling his bandaged hand back around the cup and lying the other, palm up,
on the top of the counter next to it.

Andrew looked at the deep red burn markings and streaks on the palm of
the un-bandaged hand and gasped, "Dare, what did you do? That should be
looked at!"

Darien glanced at his palm and then closed his fingers gingerly, pulling
the hand back into his lap, "Nothing, Drew. Believe it or not I woke up and
it was like that."

Andrew eyed him and then sighed, "Alright, Dare, you don't have to tell
me. You going to be alright?"

"Not until I see Serena," he mumbled without thinking.

Andrew's head whipped around, "Excuse me?!"

Darien sighed, "I said, not until I see Serena. I hurt her way worse
than before, Drew, I don't know if she'll forgive me for this one."

"What'd you do?"

"Broke her heart."

Andrew sat down hard on the stool behind the counter, staring at his
friend as he put two and two together, "And you didn't tell me about Serena
and you... why?"

"Society would have frowned on it."

"But, you and Serena?! How long had this been going on?"

Darien smiled ruefully, his eyes sparkling with dark humor, "Ages, Drew.
You have no idea."

"You're right, and you're confusing me, just let me ask one more
question, alright?"

"Sure, quiz me all you want, I have nothing better to do."

"What did you do to break her heart?" Drew watched Darien's face
closely and caught the pain that flickered across it and echoed in his eyes
until he dropped his face to look into his cup.

"I told her to stay away from me."

"Sure, like that broke her heart, she couldn't stay far enough away from
you a couple of months back."

Darien sighed, trailing one finger into his coffee and stirring the top
absently, "I told you, Drew, society would have looked down on us. She's too
young for me and until she's 18 I can't do anything about it."

"Since when have you cared what other people think, Dare? Last time I
checked you were walking around in an ugly green jacket that should have the
fashion police on your backside six ways from Sunday, live on your own and do
you classes your own way not to mention you're a loner and don't date. Well,
didn't date, anyway. You're hardly conventional so why would you choose some
girl who's well suited to you. I hate to say it, buddy, but whatever it is
that's bugging you it's not Serena's age. The two of you are so well matched
I should be buying you a ring to propose to her, though why I didn't see it
sooner I don't know."

"You probably did, just choose to either ignore it or had your mind
occupied on something else."

Andrew grinned, "Well, maybe. Still, it's not her age, so what's really
bugging you?"

"Dreams."

"Dreams?"

"Yeah, I keep having this one nightmare where she ends up dead and this
voice keeps telling me to stay away from her," Darien shuddered, downing his
coffee in one giant swallow, "You have no idea what it's like seeing her die
night after night without being able to help her and knowing some day it
might become reality. So I stay away from her."

"You love her," it was a statement, not a question.

Darien nodded anyway, miserably, "More than life. I would do anything
for her, Drew and I have to hurt her to prove it. It's tearing me up inside
thinking, knowing, she's got to be feeling so much worse than I do. She
doesn't even know why I broke up with her."

"Darien! How could you do that to her?"

The reproachful tone in Andrew's voice shot straight through him and he
stood up, tossing a bill on the counter, "I don't know," he replied softly,
"but I have to find her. Thanks for listening Drew, I'll keep you posted."

"Anytime. Take care, Darien."

Darien walked out of the arcade, the doors sliding shut behind him. He
raised his face to the sky and closed his eyes. It was well beyond time
Serena heard his explanation, now, if only he could find her!