Sweet Surrender
Part 9/?
By Elisabeth James
liz221@ameritech.net
~* Part 9: Ghosts of the Past *~
4 years later...
"Serena, come look!" Mehg squealed excitedly
while pointing to her computer screen. Serena pulled the
covers up over her head and tried to tune her friend out.
She hadn't expected rooming with Mehg would be so
much different then it was when she spent the night over
at her house but at least then she could go home to escape
from the perkiness that seemed to flow through her best
friend's veins.
"Go to bed Mehg! It's almost two in the morning,
why are you checking your e-mail now?" Mehg jumped
out of her computer chair and stalked over to her friend's
bed. In a flash the covers were off and in a lumpy pile
upon the carpeted floor. "MEHG! Leave me alone, I was
sleeping!"
Mehg dragged Serena's almost lifeless body
across the room and held her face up to the glowing
monitor. "Guess who's coming to visit us?" Before
Serena could even wager a guess, the answer spilled out
of Mehg's mouth "Darien!"
The sleepy haze left Serena immediately as her
mouth dropped open with surprise. She skimmed the
e-mail in front of her, it was short and sweet and did
indeed say that he was coming at the end of next week
for a three day visit.
"Isn't this just great? You two can finally hook
back up!" she wrapped her arms around Serena in a fierce
hug, "I'm SO happy!"
Serena slowly untangled Mehg's arms from
around her and stood back up. "That's wonderful, I guess
I'll just crash in someone else's room for a few nights
and make myself scarce." she crawled back into bed and
fished her covers up off the ground.
"You don't want to see him? Serena..."
Serena closed her eyes and tried to sound as firm
as possible, "No Mehg, I don't want to see him. I never
really want to see him again."
Mehg plopped down on Serena's bed, "So he
hasn't really bothered to keep in touch these last couple
of years. He was named vice-president of Harrison
Industries, he's been working like a madman for the last
year and a half. Hell, I'm his sister and I haven't spoken
to him since last Thanksgiving. That's almost six months
ago!" Serena buried her face in her pillow in response.
"I'll talk to you about this in the morning. Please,
will you let me get some sleep now?" Mehg nodded
and sat back down at her computer to quietly write
a response.
The next afternoon when Serena was much more
awake, Mehg was again seated at her computer, happily
typing away. Suddenly, she sprang up from her desk
chair, "It's all set Serena! He'll be here on Thursday!"
Serena had seen Mehg in a lot of states but never in one
of such outward elation. She grinned as her best friend
bounced around the dorm room, almost running into her
bedpost.
"I know you're excited and all that but I hope
you're not getting your hopes up about me and him
getting back together." she glanced up from the book she
was reading as Mehg stopped doing some twisted form of
the chicken dance.
"Oh I know." Mehg replied, abruptly much more
subdued, "But wouldn't it just be great if something did
happen between you two again? You have no idea how
perfect you two were for one another. Not to mention,
when you guys broke up I lost my title as 'World's Best
Matchmaker'." she took the book out of Serena's hands,
"Will you promise me that you'll at least entertain the
thought if it looks like a possibility?"
Serena grabbed the book back from her, "If he shows up
here on Thursday and it still looks like there's
something between us then yes. But who knows what might
happen, he could have someone else by now." Mehg franticly
began to shake her head, "It's been four years Mehg!
That's a long time to wait for someone. If all the
guys here didn't pale in comparison to your brother
I might have found someone else too."
"So you do still have feelings for him!"
"I didn't say that. It's just hard not to compare
every guy I've dated to Darien. If I hadn't been so young
or so confused, we could have been engaged by now, who
knows. I really loved him and looking back at everything
now, I still wonder if I did the right thing."
Mehg decided to drop her overly enthusiastic
attitude for a moment and cut straight to the chase, "Well
now is your opportunity to make amends. You're a
grown woman now, you know what you want out of life
and what you want out of a partner. Fix your mistakes,
talk to him, tell him how you feel."
Serena rolled her eyes and looked back down at
her book, "I feel nothing except regret for what
happened. I will talk to him though, I still miss his
friendship and the way I could tell him anything. If
anything more happens it will be a pleasant surprise."
Mehg grinned, "Yes it will."
Classes for the rest of the week seemed to fly by,
even though Serena was quietly wishing that time would
just stand still. As Mehg grew more and more excited
about her brother's impending visit, Serena grew more
and more apprehensive about seeing the only man she
had ever loved again. She had no clue what to expect
from of him and was terrified at the thought of something
happening between them again. She might have been
able to walk away from him when she was young and
naive but faced with him now when she knew he was
exactly what she was looking for, it would be almost
impossible.
Finally when the day arrived Serena thought she
was going to be sick. She had skipped her classes that
day, something she never did, and stayed in bed. It
wasn't until Mehg came back to the room and made her
shower and make herself look as lovely as possible that
she actually left the warm, safe haven.
"He's taking us out to dinner, you had better be at
least a little social tonight. If he were to walk in right
now, he would be getting all the wrong signals from
you." Mehg told her while she was putting in a pair of
earrings.
"I'll try Mehg but I guarantee nothing." she
looked down and smoothed out her skirt, "But remember,
he came here to see you, not me." A sudden, sharp rap at
the door caused the both of them to stop what they were
doing. An uneasy feeling of dread seemed to start doing
a dance in her stomach and Serena had to sit down.
Mehg ran across the room and threw open the
door, "Darien!" Serena watched as her best friend
launched herself at her older brother. "It's been so long,
how are you?"
She heard Darien's deep chuckle resonate through
the small room and fought off her nausea to stand up and
greet him like an old friend should.
Serena never expected him to still look so
wonderful. If she hadn't known better, she would have
thought time had frozen him when she had last laid eyes
on him. His shoulders were broader, his physic was trim
and toned. He looked dead sexy in his black leather
jacket, charcoal gray sweater and tight blue jeans. She
slid what she hoped to be a warm smile into place and
stepped forward to say hello.
"Hello Darien." his eyes snapped to hers and for a
moment Serena felt the world tilt around her. Mehg
pulled her brother into the room and watched the sparks
seem to fly around her.
He firmly clasped her hand in his, "Serena, how
great to finally see you again. It seems like an eternity
ago since that night in the park." she nodded slightly, still
unable to form a fully coherent thought. "You are even
more beautiful than I remember you to be."
She felt a blush sweep across her cheeks, "You
look wonderful too." she stammered. It dawned on her
then that she was behaving as if she was still 17 and that
caused her to remove her hand from his and attempt to
take a more mature approach.
He seemed to notice her abrupt change in attitude
and reeled in his own tumbling emotions. Clearing his
throat, he grinned and motioned to someone outside the
door, "I have someone I wanted introduce to you both,
well it's really more of a reintroduction." both girls
gasped as the tall, gorgeous brunette entered the room, "I
trust you both remember Rachael."
Mehg opened her mouth to comment but Serena
stepped in, "Of course I remember Rachael, it's so nice to
see you again." Mehg carefully reached over and poked
her best friend hard in the back but Serena's smile
remained.
Rachael smiled icily back, "Serena right?" Serena
nodded slightly, "You're the one who dumped Darien a
few years back?" Without waiting for a reply she
forged onwards, "It really is a shame that things didn't
work out between you. But it's for the best I guess." she
ran her right hand up and down Darien's arm, showing
off a large sparkling diamond ring. Serena's eyes
were immediately drawn to it and Rachael took notice.
A cold, calculating grin lit up her face, "Isn't it breathtaking,
Darien just proposed yesterday. Of course, I wasn't
about make the same mistake as Serena and let him
go."
Mehg let out a soft moan and didn't bother with
civilities, "You asked HER to marry you?! What the hell
is wrong with you?"
Serena shot Mehg a look that plainly said shut up.
"Well, I'm very happy for the both of you. I'm sure that
you'll both have many wonderful years together." Not
meeting Darien's eyes she turned to him, "Will Rachael
be joining us for dinner tonight?"
Rachael answered for him, "Oh no, I must be
getting back home. I don't want to interrupt Mehg and
Darien's reunion after all. You might consider doing the
same thing Serena, just to be courteous." She gave
Darien a long lingering kiss and turned to leave, "See you
girls later."
Before Mehg could say anything, Darien cut her
off, "I made reservations at a restaurant downtown, we
need to get going before they give our table away. We
can discuss this later."
"You two go and enjoy you time together, I think
I'm just going to stay here for the evening." Serena
plopped down on her bed and tried to ignore Mehg's
heated looks in her direction.
"Serena, you haven't eaten a thing all day, so I
know you're probably starving. And it's been such a long
time since you've seen Darien, I'm sure he would love
get to know you again." Mehg mumbled under breath,
"Come or I will kill you myself when I get back here."
Darien remained silent through the entire
exchange, unable to grasp how different Serena was from
the girl he remembered. She spoke with more
confidence, moved with a refined grace that she must
have picked up somewhere in their four years apart. Is
this the type of person she had wanted to become for
him? She had grown up, matured, and become the most
beautiful woman he had ever seen.
With a sigh Serena rose from the bed and
followed Mehg and Darien down to the car.
The car ride was eerily quiet, with no one having
the courage to bring up a topic of conversation. Mehg
had insisted that Serena ride shot gun next to Darien, so
she had to endure a 45 minute car ride with his arm
brushing up against hers. She felt sick to her stomach,
the nearness of him was having a nasty effect on her
senses.
He gently touched her arm, "Are you all right?"
he finally spoke and her eyes met his. For a moment, she
felt like she was drowning but quickly jerked her gaze
away.
"Fine, just fine." she mumbled in reply.
They rode the rest of the way in absolute silence.
The restaurant that Darien had selected was more
casual than formal and Serena immediately felt a little
more at ease now that she didn't have to worry about a
formal dining situation.
Mehg slid into one side of the booth while Darien
sat on the other side. Serena motioned for Mehg to move
down and watched as her best friend firmly shook her
head, "I've got all the jackets over here, sit by Darien."
Hating the fact that Mehg was deliberately doing
this to her and vowing to get even once they got back to
the room, Serena sat down next to Darien and opened her
menu.
"I won't bite you know, you don't have to sit on
the very edge of the seat." Darien watched as a hint of
blush colored her cheeks and she scooted in closer to
him.
"It's so weird seeing the two of you together
again, just like old times." Serena barely nodded,
studying the menu with great interest. Maybe if she just
ignored him, he would go away.
Mehg sighed inwardly; Serena had just shut down
at the sight of Rachael. She had given up before the
battle had even begun. "So Serena, why don't you tell us
about your upcoming trip to Chicago?"
Serena narrowed her eyes for a moment and then
she realized that Mehg was talking about the art show she
had been entered in. "Why would anyone want to know
about that?"
Mehg shrugged and grinned, "Why not, it'll give
you a chance to brag about your fantastic talent. You
never show off."
"That's because I don't like to show off Mehg.
It's just an art show, no big deal." Serena went back to
the menu, praying that Mehg would give up whatever
stupid plan she had come up with and let her eat in peace.
Mehg wasn't deterred so easily, if Serena wasn't
going to brag herself, then she would brag for her,
"Serena is a major up and coming artist Darien. She's
been interviewed by 20 newspapers and magazines this
month alone. She's flying to Chicago in a few days for
a huge presentation of all her work. Some of her work
sells for almost $10,000 and that's just her early stuff."
His sister didn't need to know that he had saved
all of the articles that had featured his talented
ex-girlfriend or that he had purchased several pieces of
her artwork. "That's fantastic Serena, I always knew that
you could do it." he told her softly, she couldn't help the
smile that came naturally at that remark.
"Well I'm not there yet, but I'm finally beginning
to live out my dream."
The waiter came then and interrupted the
conversation to take their orders.
"I'll have a beer." Mehg ignored her brother's
dark look, "What? I'm 21, I can order a beer if I want
one."
"I'll have an iced tea."
"She'll have a beer too." Mehg grinned sweetly at
her friend, maybe a little alcohol would cause Serena to
calm down and start acting like herself again.
The waiter waited for Serena's confirmation of
this and too tired to fight her friend anymore she nodded
her okay.
"Make that three beers." Darien added.
The waiter disappeared again and the tense air
once again fell over the table.
"Soooooo," Mehg drew out the first word, "What
made you propose to Rachael the day before you came
here?"
Serena saw Darien's jaw tighten out of the corner
of her eye and was surprised when he answered, "We've
been seeing one another for the past year and a half, it
seemed like the right thing to do."
"You never mentioned her at Thanksgiving. Do
mom and dad know?" Mehg pushed onward, unwilling to
give up for Serena's sake. She knew deep down that her
friend still loved Darien or at least felt something for
him. If she would just say something who knows what
might happen between them.
"Of course mom and dad know. They love
Rachael, they've always loved her." Serena flinched and
Darien saw a crack in her armor before the mask of
indifference slid back over her features.
"Serena don't you have anything to say?" Mehg
pleaded.
Still stinging from the last Rachael remark,
Serena snapped. "No, I don't! Now drop it Mehg!" she
moved away from the table and stood up, "I'm not
feeling very well. I'll just call a cab and go back to the
dorm." As if it were an afterthought she turned to Darien,
"It was nice seeing you again." As they watched her retreating
back, Darien fought back the urge to immeditely run after
her. He had to speak to his sister first.
Mehg recoiled as Darien glared at her. "What?"
Darien sighed and ran his hand through his
already tousled hair, "Why did you do that? Did you
need to push her like that? She obviously was
uncomfortable, yet you just kept going and going." he
shook his head, "One of us should go and talk to her."
"I volunteer you big brother." Mehg said
gleefully, she would get those two alone if it killed her.
"I should make you do it since it was your fault
she left." he watched as his sister's face fell, "However, I
will go out there. Someone needs to fix the mess you
made." she stuck her tongue out at him and he reached
over and rumpled her hair, "I guess some things never
change."
He slid out of the booth and walked outside. The
night air was surprisingly chilly for it being the beginning
of March and he wished that he had remembered his jacket.
All thoughts of how he was cold soon disappeared after
he saw Serena sitting on the curb, drenched in amber
light from the lanterns that lit the pathway of the
restaurant. He hung back for a moment, finally able to
drink her in like he had wanted to when he had first seen
her earlier that afternoon. Of all of her expressions he
had catalogued in his memory, he couldn't remember one
that looked as sad as she did at that moment.
She drew her knees up to her chin and rested her
arms on them. She could feel him staring at her, his navy
eyes looking straight into her soul. She wanted him to
say something, if fact she was silently daring him to, so
that she could snap on him.
It had been stupid to think that he would wait for
her, just because she had been waiting for him. She
didn't harbor many regrets in her life but one of them was
breaking up with him. Looking back on the whole
relationship now just made her bitter and angry. It should
be her with him now, planning a wedding and a future
life together, not Rachael. She harshly brushed away the
tears streaming from her eyes, damning herself over and
over for losing her hard-won composure over him.
"What do you want Darien?" the question came
out more severe than she had intended but she saw no
remnants of shock in his beautiful blue eyes when he sat
down next to her.
"I'm sorry." he couldn't think of anything else to
say and she turned to him, a look of confusion gracing
her features.
"For what? I'm the one who should be sorry, I
was the one who messed everything up."
He snaked an arm around her shoulder and pulled
her closer to him, "I'm sorry for ever making you feel
inadequate, you were always good enough for me. I'm
sorry that I didn't listen when you told me numerous
times that you were uncomfortable with my world, I
would have taken you away with me, distanced you from
the glamour and glitz. I'm sorry that you had to live with
the same regrets I've had to live with all these years
because I know how they've eaten away at me every time
Mehg mentioned your name." he gently brushed away
one of her tears with his thumb, his soft caress numbing
her slowly from head to toe.
He always managed to do this to her, bring out
feelings of warmth and comfort. She could feel her heart
speeding up, sending the blood zinging through her veins,
awaking her passion. Fighting every shout from her
conscience and the guilty feelings that were starting to
make her sick before she had even committed the act, she
boldly brought his lips down to hers and kissed him.
TBC...
Please please please send feedback, Liz needs some love!
Liz-chan
Part 9/?
By Elisabeth James
liz221@ameritech.net
~* Part 9: Ghosts of the Past *~
4 years later...
"Serena, come look!" Mehg squealed excitedly
while pointing to her computer screen. Serena pulled the
covers up over her head and tried to tune her friend out.
She hadn't expected rooming with Mehg would be so
much different then it was when she spent the night over
at her house but at least then she could go home to escape
from the perkiness that seemed to flow through her best
friend's veins.
"Go to bed Mehg! It's almost two in the morning,
why are you checking your e-mail now?" Mehg jumped
out of her computer chair and stalked over to her friend's
bed. In a flash the covers were off and in a lumpy pile
upon the carpeted floor. "MEHG! Leave me alone, I was
sleeping!"
Mehg dragged Serena's almost lifeless body
across the room and held her face up to the glowing
monitor. "Guess who's coming to visit us?" Before
Serena could even wager a guess, the answer spilled out
of Mehg's mouth "Darien!"
The sleepy haze left Serena immediately as her
mouth dropped open with surprise. She skimmed the
e-mail in front of her, it was short and sweet and did
indeed say that he was coming at the end of next week
for a three day visit.
"Isn't this just great? You two can finally hook
back up!" she wrapped her arms around Serena in a fierce
hug, "I'm SO happy!"
Serena slowly untangled Mehg's arms from
around her and stood back up. "That's wonderful, I guess
I'll just crash in someone else's room for a few nights
and make myself scarce." she crawled back into bed and
fished her covers up off the ground.
"You don't want to see him? Serena..."
Serena closed her eyes and tried to sound as firm
as possible, "No Mehg, I don't want to see him. I never
really want to see him again."
Mehg plopped down on Serena's bed, "So he
hasn't really bothered to keep in touch these last couple
of years. He was named vice-president of Harrison
Industries, he's been working like a madman for the last
year and a half. Hell, I'm his sister and I haven't spoken
to him since last Thanksgiving. That's almost six months
ago!" Serena buried her face in her pillow in response.
"I'll talk to you about this in the morning. Please,
will you let me get some sleep now?" Mehg nodded
and sat back down at her computer to quietly write
a response.
The next afternoon when Serena was much more
awake, Mehg was again seated at her computer, happily
typing away. Suddenly, she sprang up from her desk
chair, "It's all set Serena! He'll be here on Thursday!"
Serena had seen Mehg in a lot of states but never in one
of such outward elation. She grinned as her best friend
bounced around the dorm room, almost running into her
bedpost.
"I know you're excited and all that but I hope
you're not getting your hopes up about me and him
getting back together." she glanced up from the book she
was reading as Mehg stopped doing some twisted form of
the chicken dance.
"Oh I know." Mehg replied, abruptly much more
subdued, "But wouldn't it just be great if something did
happen between you two again? You have no idea how
perfect you two were for one another. Not to mention,
when you guys broke up I lost my title as 'World's Best
Matchmaker'." she took the book out of Serena's hands,
"Will you promise me that you'll at least entertain the
thought if it looks like a possibility?"
Serena grabbed the book back from her, "If he shows up
here on Thursday and it still looks like there's
something between us then yes. But who knows what might
happen, he could have someone else by now." Mehg franticly
began to shake her head, "It's been four years Mehg!
That's a long time to wait for someone. If all the
guys here didn't pale in comparison to your brother
I might have found someone else too."
"So you do still have feelings for him!"
"I didn't say that. It's just hard not to compare
every guy I've dated to Darien. If I hadn't been so young
or so confused, we could have been engaged by now, who
knows. I really loved him and looking back at everything
now, I still wonder if I did the right thing."
Mehg decided to drop her overly enthusiastic
attitude for a moment and cut straight to the chase, "Well
now is your opportunity to make amends. You're a
grown woman now, you know what you want out of life
and what you want out of a partner. Fix your mistakes,
talk to him, tell him how you feel."
Serena rolled her eyes and looked back down at
her book, "I feel nothing except regret for what
happened. I will talk to him though, I still miss his
friendship and the way I could tell him anything. If
anything more happens it will be a pleasant surprise."
Mehg grinned, "Yes it will."
Classes for the rest of the week seemed to fly by,
even though Serena was quietly wishing that time would
just stand still. As Mehg grew more and more excited
about her brother's impending visit, Serena grew more
and more apprehensive about seeing the only man she
had ever loved again. She had no clue what to expect
from of him and was terrified at the thought of something
happening between them again. She might have been
able to walk away from him when she was young and
naive but faced with him now when she knew he was
exactly what she was looking for, it would be almost
impossible.
Finally when the day arrived Serena thought she
was going to be sick. She had skipped her classes that
day, something she never did, and stayed in bed. It
wasn't until Mehg came back to the room and made her
shower and make herself look as lovely as possible that
she actually left the warm, safe haven.
"He's taking us out to dinner, you had better be at
least a little social tonight. If he were to walk in right
now, he would be getting all the wrong signals from
you." Mehg told her while she was putting in a pair of
earrings.
"I'll try Mehg but I guarantee nothing." she
looked down and smoothed out her skirt, "But remember,
he came here to see you, not me." A sudden, sharp rap at
the door caused the both of them to stop what they were
doing. An uneasy feeling of dread seemed to start doing
a dance in her stomach and Serena had to sit down.
Mehg ran across the room and threw open the
door, "Darien!" Serena watched as her best friend
launched herself at her older brother. "It's been so long,
how are you?"
She heard Darien's deep chuckle resonate through
the small room and fought off her nausea to stand up and
greet him like an old friend should.
Serena never expected him to still look so
wonderful. If she hadn't known better, she would have
thought time had frozen him when she had last laid eyes
on him. His shoulders were broader, his physic was trim
and toned. He looked dead sexy in his black leather
jacket, charcoal gray sweater and tight blue jeans. She
slid what she hoped to be a warm smile into place and
stepped forward to say hello.
"Hello Darien." his eyes snapped to hers and for a
moment Serena felt the world tilt around her. Mehg
pulled her brother into the room and watched the sparks
seem to fly around her.
He firmly clasped her hand in his, "Serena, how
great to finally see you again. It seems like an eternity
ago since that night in the park." she nodded slightly, still
unable to form a fully coherent thought. "You are even
more beautiful than I remember you to be."
She felt a blush sweep across her cheeks, "You
look wonderful too." she stammered. It dawned on her
then that she was behaving as if she was still 17 and that
caused her to remove her hand from his and attempt to
take a more mature approach.
He seemed to notice her abrupt change in attitude
and reeled in his own tumbling emotions. Clearing his
throat, he grinned and motioned to someone outside the
door, "I have someone I wanted introduce to you both,
well it's really more of a reintroduction." both girls
gasped as the tall, gorgeous brunette entered the room, "I
trust you both remember Rachael."
Mehg opened her mouth to comment but Serena
stepped in, "Of course I remember Rachael, it's so nice to
see you again." Mehg carefully reached over and poked
her best friend hard in the back but Serena's smile
remained.
Rachael smiled icily back, "Serena right?" Serena
nodded slightly, "You're the one who dumped Darien a
few years back?" Without waiting for a reply she
forged onwards, "It really is a shame that things didn't
work out between you. But it's for the best I guess." she
ran her right hand up and down Darien's arm, showing
off a large sparkling diamond ring. Serena's eyes
were immediately drawn to it and Rachael took notice.
A cold, calculating grin lit up her face, "Isn't it breathtaking,
Darien just proposed yesterday. Of course, I wasn't
about make the same mistake as Serena and let him
go."
Mehg let out a soft moan and didn't bother with
civilities, "You asked HER to marry you?! What the hell
is wrong with you?"
Serena shot Mehg a look that plainly said shut up.
"Well, I'm very happy for the both of you. I'm sure that
you'll both have many wonderful years together." Not
meeting Darien's eyes she turned to him, "Will Rachael
be joining us for dinner tonight?"
Rachael answered for him, "Oh no, I must be
getting back home. I don't want to interrupt Mehg and
Darien's reunion after all. You might consider doing the
same thing Serena, just to be courteous." She gave
Darien a long lingering kiss and turned to leave, "See you
girls later."
Before Mehg could say anything, Darien cut her
off, "I made reservations at a restaurant downtown, we
need to get going before they give our table away. We
can discuss this later."
"You two go and enjoy you time together, I think
I'm just going to stay here for the evening." Serena
plopped down on her bed and tried to ignore Mehg's
heated looks in her direction.
"Serena, you haven't eaten a thing all day, so I
know you're probably starving. And it's been such a long
time since you've seen Darien, I'm sure he would love
get to know you again." Mehg mumbled under breath,
"Come or I will kill you myself when I get back here."
Darien remained silent through the entire
exchange, unable to grasp how different Serena was from
the girl he remembered. She spoke with more
confidence, moved with a refined grace that she must
have picked up somewhere in their four years apart. Is
this the type of person she had wanted to become for
him? She had grown up, matured, and become the most
beautiful woman he had ever seen.
With a sigh Serena rose from the bed and
followed Mehg and Darien down to the car.
The car ride was eerily quiet, with no one having
the courage to bring up a topic of conversation. Mehg
had insisted that Serena ride shot gun next to Darien, so
she had to endure a 45 minute car ride with his arm
brushing up against hers. She felt sick to her stomach,
the nearness of him was having a nasty effect on her
senses.
He gently touched her arm, "Are you all right?"
he finally spoke and her eyes met his. For a moment, she
felt like she was drowning but quickly jerked her gaze
away.
"Fine, just fine." she mumbled in reply.
They rode the rest of the way in absolute silence.
The restaurant that Darien had selected was more
casual than formal and Serena immediately felt a little
more at ease now that she didn't have to worry about a
formal dining situation.
Mehg slid into one side of the booth while Darien
sat on the other side. Serena motioned for Mehg to move
down and watched as her best friend firmly shook her
head, "I've got all the jackets over here, sit by Darien."
Hating the fact that Mehg was deliberately doing
this to her and vowing to get even once they got back to
the room, Serena sat down next to Darien and opened her
menu.
"I won't bite you know, you don't have to sit on
the very edge of the seat." Darien watched as a hint of
blush colored her cheeks and she scooted in closer to
him.
"It's so weird seeing the two of you together
again, just like old times." Serena barely nodded,
studying the menu with great interest. Maybe if she just
ignored him, he would go away.
Mehg sighed inwardly; Serena had just shut down
at the sight of Rachael. She had given up before the
battle had even begun. "So Serena, why don't you tell us
about your upcoming trip to Chicago?"
Serena narrowed her eyes for a moment and then
she realized that Mehg was talking about the art show she
had been entered in. "Why would anyone want to know
about that?"
Mehg shrugged and grinned, "Why not, it'll give
you a chance to brag about your fantastic talent. You
never show off."
"That's because I don't like to show off Mehg.
It's just an art show, no big deal." Serena went back to
the menu, praying that Mehg would give up whatever
stupid plan she had come up with and let her eat in peace.
Mehg wasn't deterred so easily, if Serena wasn't
going to brag herself, then she would brag for her,
"Serena is a major up and coming artist Darien. She's
been interviewed by 20 newspapers and magazines this
month alone. She's flying to Chicago in a few days for
a huge presentation of all her work. Some of her work
sells for almost $10,000 and that's just her early stuff."
His sister didn't need to know that he had saved
all of the articles that had featured his talented
ex-girlfriend or that he had purchased several pieces of
her artwork. "That's fantastic Serena, I always knew that
you could do it." he told her softly, she couldn't help the
smile that came naturally at that remark.
"Well I'm not there yet, but I'm finally beginning
to live out my dream."
The waiter came then and interrupted the
conversation to take their orders.
"I'll have a beer." Mehg ignored her brother's
dark look, "What? I'm 21, I can order a beer if I want
one."
"I'll have an iced tea."
"She'll have a beer too." Mehg grinned sweetly at
her friend, maybe a little alcohol would cause Serena to
calm down and start acting like herself again.
The waiter waited for Serena's confirmation of
this and too tired to fight her friend anymore she nodded
her okay.
"Make that three beers." Darien added.
The waiter disappeared again and the tense air
once again fell over the table.
"Soooooo," Mehg drew out the first word, "What
made you propose to Rachael the day before you came
here?"
Serena saw Darien's jaw tighten out of the corner
of her eye and was surprised when he answered, "We've
been seeing one another for the past year and a half, it
seemed like the right thing to do."
"You never mentioned her at Thanksgiving. Do
mom and dad know?" Mehg pushed onward, unwilling to
give up for Serena's sake. She knew deep down that her
friend still loved Darien or at least felt something for
him. If she would just say something who knows what
might happen between them.
"Of course mom and dad know. They love
Rachael, they've always loved her." Serena flinched and
Darien saw a crack in her armor before the mask of
indifference slid back over her features.
"Serena don't you have anything to say?" Mehg
pleaded.
Still stinging from the last Rachael remark,
Serena snapped. "No, I don't! Now drop it Mehg!" she
moved away from the table and stood up, "I'm not
feeling very well. I'll just call a cab and go back to the
dorm." As if it were an afterthought she turned to Darien,
"It was nice seeing you again." As they watched her retreating
back, Darien fought back the urge to immeditely run after
her. He had to speak to his sister first.
Mehg recoiled as Darien glared at her. "What?"
Darien sighed and ran his hand through his
already tousled hair, "Why did you do that? Did you
need to push her like that? She obviously was
uncomfortable, yet you just kept going and going." he
shook his head, "One of us should go and talk to her."
"I volunteer you big brother." Mehg said
gleefully, she would get those two alone if it killed her.
"I should make you do it since it was your fault
she left." he watched as his sister's face fell, "However, I
will go out there. Someone needs to fix the mess you
made." she stuck her tongue out at him and he reached
over and rumpled her hair, "I guess some things never
change."
He slid out of the booth and walked outside. The
night air was surprisingly chilly for it being the beginning
of March and he wished that he had remembered his jacket.
All thoughts of how he was cold soon disappeared after
he saw Serena sitting on the curb, drenched in amber
light from the lanterns that lit the pathway of the
restaurant. He hung back for a moment, finally able to
drink her in like he had wanted to when he had first seen
her earlier that afternoon. Of all of her expressions he
had catalogued in his memory, he couldn't remember one
that looked as sad as she did at that moment.
She drew her knees up to her chin and rested her
arms on them. She could feel him staring at her, his navy
eyes looking straight into her soul. She wanted him to
say something, if fact she was silently daring him to, so
that she could snap on him.
It had been stupid to think that he would wait for
her, just because she had been waiting for him. She
didn't harbor many regrets in her life but one of them was
breaking up with him. Looking back on the whole
relationship now just made her bitter and angry. It should
be her with him now, planning a wedding and a future
life together, not Rachael. She harshly brushed away the
tears streaming from her eyes, damning herself over and
over for losing her hard-won composure over him.
"What do you want Darien?" the question came
out more severe than she had intended but she saw no
remnants of shock in his beautiful blue eyes when he sat
down next to her.
"I'm sorry." he couldn't think of anything else to
say and she turned to him, a look of confusion gracing
her features.
"For what? I'm the one who should be sorry, I
was the one who messed everything up."
He snaked an arm around her shoulder and pulled
her closer to him, "I'm sorry for ever making you feel
inadequate, you were always good enough for me. I'm
sorry that I didn't listen when you told me numerous
times that you were uncomfortable with my world, I
would have taken you away with me, distanced you from
the glamour and glitz. I'm sorry that you had to live with
the same regrets I've had to live with all these years
because I know how they've eaten away at me every time
Mehg mentioned your name." he gently brushed away
one of her tears with his thumb, his soft caress numbing
her slowly from head to toe.
He always managed to do this to her, bring out
feelings of warmth and comfort. She could feel her heart
speeding up, sending the blood zinging through her veins,
awaking her passion. Fighting every shout from her
conscience and the guilty feelings that were starting to
make her sick before she had even committed the act, she
boldly brought his lips down to hers and kissed him.
TBC...
Please please please send feedback, Liz needs some love!
Liz-chan