The Apartment
By: Emilie Trig
Editor: Midnight rose (AN:Always a special thanks to my busy editor!)
Chapter 4 Part 2
The conductor of the bumper cars went around for a check of seat
belts. He came by my way to check on my own seat belt and I felt him
eyeing me. He wasn't checking me out, but he was giving me the kind of
look that asked why I was on this kiddy ride in the first place. He must
have thought I was a little too old for this ride, too. I wish he wouldn't
stare at me like I was insane, but he did and it made me really uncomfortable.
Yeah well, you go eye at the guy in the back of me, buster. I wanted to tell off the
guy, but decided to keep my mouth shut. It wasn't my idea to ride in
this ridiculously childish car in the first place.
The guy quickly passed me and moved around to finish the
necessary seat belt check. I turned my head back to take a glance at
Darien, who sat a few cars behind me. He'd chosen a green car and I could
see Darien had a real hard time of fitting into the small bumper car. His legs
were too long to fit. His legs were so bent and stuck out that it made me giggle inside.
Turning back to my own car, my fingers gripped tight onto the
wheels and I smiled evilly. I had a scheming idea in mind. I wanted to
get back at Darien and get him good. The only problem was that he was
in the back of me. Now how I was even supposed to take a hit at him?
Good thinking, I scolded myself. Yeah, hit him while he's driving behind me.
Like that was going to happen. The bumper cars weren't set in reverse.
Our engines started soon enough and all the cars began to drive
steadily. Keeping the thought in mind, I pushed the engine petal as far
as I could.
My car moved along. I looked over my shoulder again to find
where Darien was. It was then that I spotted Darien's car at a very
close range. He smiled deviously and took a forceful hit at my car.
"Take that, Serena!" he laughed lightly as my car swung into
another. Darien drove past and I could see a laughing smile on his
face.
So much for my plan, I thought wryly. He'd taken the first hit.
The rest of the ride was somewhat bumpy. Darien had hit me
throughout the whole ride and I'd only gotten one lousy hit at him. How
was that for my scheming plan? I thought. Pretty bad I should say, but
my revenge had ended in good humor. This was good because I wasn't
growling anymore, at least.
At first, it was troublesome getting hit so many times by Darien
when I should be slamming into his car instead. But anyways, he was
supposed to be my 'thoughtful' roommate, not evil Darien sprung to
life! Then it was me getting yelled at by rather rude kids because I
blocked their cars from moving. I guess they wanted to hit their
friend's car and I was always in their way. Well, how can I help that?
Darien kept making my car turn to the side to block people's way. But
can you imagine a twenty-four year old female like me getting yelled at
by some tiny, scrawny little kid? It was very discomforting, I had to
admit, but I was already prepared to humiliate myself since I'd
followed Darien to this carnival. Then there were the adults, people my
age, who were taking their little ones to this bumper car ride. They
were actually glaring. Can you believe that? I'd thought
they would be more sensible than little kids, but I guess I did block
their bumper cars a little more than often.
But after ignoring all the stares and rude remarks, I'd really
enjoyed this whole ride. It was actually fun. I'd laughed a lot and
smiled more than often, too.
"You're such a loser, Darien." I said later when we got out of
the ride. I was laughing and smiling all the way.
"And you're such a sore loser." Darien grinned playfully.
I giggled at his words and Darien smiled all the more. It wasn't
a hilarious comment, I had to admit, but I was in one of those sappy,
happy moods.
And as I was laughing, my eyes suddenly wandered toward Darien's
face. His eyes had lit up and his lips were curved into an alluring
smile. Darien didn't often smile and now that he did, I found myself
attracted to his smile. Though I'd only known him for two weeks, I
found Darien to be a valuable friend; a person I can truly depend on.
I'd suddenly found Darien staring back at me and I looked away
hoping he hadn't caught my embarrassment.
"You were staring," he murmured to me. His eyes looked
thoughtfully into mine.
"I was just thinking," I told him truthfully.
"About what?"
"Nothing really." I said absently and kept walking to the next
ride I had in mind: The roller coaster.
*********************************
After the tragedy at the roller coaster ride, let me not repeat
what happened there, I'd decided to go on lighter rides. We went to
the mirror maze after the roller coaster ride and had the toughest time
getting out. I swear, I was going to go stark-raving mad if Darien hadn't
found the exit in time.
Afterward, we went to eat hot dogs and then came across a pie
eating contest. Darien had persuaded me to try and so I entered in. All
hands were tied back and we were only allowed to eat using our mouth. I
was the sloppiest of eaters and in the end I won victoriously.
"Can you hand me that towel you're holding?" I said to Darien
after I'd washed pie off from my face. We stood outside in the
daylight. The water dripped from my face and onto the dirt floor.
"You're the dirtiest pie eater I've ever seen." He chuckled and
then handed me the towel. In his arm, he held my prize bear.
I snatched the towel from his hand and wiped my face. "Ha ha
ha." I put on a pretend laugh.
"Hand me back my bear," I said and then grabbed it, snuggling it
to my face. I had won this bear and was proud of it. "Where are we
going, now?"
"Anywhere you like."
"How about we go get some cotton candy?"
He agreed and we both went to look for the cotton candy man. My
eyes wandered from side to side and suddenly drifted on a lone figure
before me. Her eyes were downcast. Her steps seemed slow and forlorn. I
froze within my steps and my heart twitched.
It was Lita. The best friend I used to have and the woman who'd
succeeded in stealing Ken away from me. She was here and wasn't a
figment of my imagination. I wished she wasn't standing there, but she was. The
night I'd made the call to Ken's hotel room suddenly came rushing back.
I felt the pain again and my heart throbbed in an unrelenting
ache. My breathing became labored and I found my chest heaving in a
harsh effort.
Ken had left me for her. He'd chosen her over me and she'd let
him. Lita was supposed to be my friend. I'd thought that meant
something, but I guess not because she'd stolen Ken away. She knew I
loved him and knew I'd given my heart to him.
Darien stopped and suddenly noticed I stilled a few steps behind him.
"What's the matter?" I heard him ask. Darien sounded utternly confused
and deeply worried, but I wasn't too sure of it. I wasn't at all nothing
what I was hearing. My ears only heard an almost deafening silence.
Lita gradually lifted her eyes from the ground and unexpectedly
became aware that I was standing a few feet away from her. She stopped
dead in her tracks and the color drained from her face.
I stared scornfully at her. I hated her. I hated the sight of
her, I hated knowing her, I hated for ever befriending her, but most of
all I hated her for stealing Ken.
The fire in my heart burned brighter and I was disgusted with
her. Though I could see an apologetic look in Lita's eyes as she stood from afar, I
turned to leave. She didn't deserve forgiveness. Especially not from
me!
I took Darien's hand in mine and pulled him abruptly to wherever
my feet was directing me to. In one hand, I lugged my prize winning bear and the
other, dragged Darien quickly behind me. He didn't say anything, but
kept his silence. My steps were taken in quick strides. Each step was
pounding with anger. I wanted to get far away, as far as I could from
Lita.
"Wait, Serena!" I heard Lita from close behind. "I didn't mean
to. I'm sorry!"
I didn't wait for her or slow down my steps. Instead I picked up
a faster pace. I'm sorry, she'd just said. I scoffed at the words. How
could she expect me to forgive her in the first place! She'd betrayed
me, and friends don't betray friends. Friends don't steal friends'
boyfriends either!
"Would you just listen to me, Serena?" Lita begged helplessly.
Her pace matched mine. "I didn't mean to have feelings for Ken or steal
him away from you. But I had feelings for him ever since we were young.
I didn't mean to hurt you! I would never. It was just that when Ken
accidentally blurted out to me that he loved me too, I couldn't hide my
feelings for him any longer."
Her words sank into my mind like a sponge near water. Did she
really love him since she was young? My pace slowed a bit and my grip
on Darien had also loosened. Why hadn't she told me sooner?
"I'm sorry, Serena." Lita apologized again and this time I
didn't find the words so hateful. "I didn't mean to love Ken and he
didn't mean to love me."
And then I apprehended the hateful truth. I stopped in my tracks
and dropped my grip on Darien. They loved each other, I repeated the cutting
words in my head. Her words caught me without warning. If they loved each other
then that meant there was absolutely no room for me in Ken's heart anymore.
The realization hit me harder than a fist. It hurt to know that I wasn't
wanted, wasn't loved anymore. The hateful truth stung me like poison, and I tried
my best to hold it in.
My eyes studied hers as Lita continued to speak.
"Serena let's forget what had happened. Forget about the past
week, and forget about Ken. Lets just be the way we were before. Okay?"
Lita pleaded. She took my free arm in an earnest shake.
I thought about her words for a second. Friends, she had said.
She wanted us to be friends again. I thought of the simple word. It
would seem easy if we were to become friends again, but what about Ken?
What about the event that happened between the three of us? How can
I ignore all of it and go on with life as it was before?
My arms shook hers away and she stumbled a few steps back. "You
want to be friends?" I said sarcastically. "Lita, we can never be
friends again because I can't forget. I can't forget your betrayal and
I can't forget about Ken! I can't forget about what has happened and I
can't forget the fact that you've taken Ken away!"
The prize winning bear dropped to the dusty floor and I ran away
from it all. Our friendship was over. It was never going to mend.
I ran blindly to my feet's own accord. A tear drop fell out
through my half closed eyes and I wiped it sloppily away. How could
she? Why did she? If Lita had stayed far away from Ken, nothing would
have happened. Our friendship wouldn't have broken in two pieces and
Ken would still be in love with me right now. Everyone could have been happy.
Everything could have been okay.
It was probably selfish of me to think of only myself. I knew
I'd trampled over Lita's feelings also, but didn't care. I wanted to
hurt her in the way that she hurt me.
"Serena!" I heard someone call out, but didn't stop. I ran
through the crowd of people, not caring who I had pushed aside.
"Serena!" I heard again.
I didn't reply to the person's third or fourth call. Instead, I
kept running, not exactly knowing where I was going to.
A large hand suddenly shot out and took hold of one of my
arms. It pulled me back and I stopped for the moment. The tears dropped
hastily from my face. The person took hold of my other arm and turned
me fully around.
The tears blurred my vision, but I still recognized the person to
be Darien. His face looked anxious and mildly worried.
"Where are you going?" Darien asked me, his voice as gentle as
ever.
I didn't reply, didn't even look at him. My chest heaved hard
while the tears fell slowly to the ground. My heart felt like it had
just broken all over again.
Darien bough me closer to him and put his arms around me. I
hugged him back and knew he had understood what I was going through.
There were people staring oddly at us, but I was too deep in the
hurt to care. I pulled myself closer to Darien.
When I finally calmed down and my crying eased, Darien lifted me
lightly away.
"Listen," Darien said and then tenderly lifted my crying face.
He held my face in the palm of his hand. His eyes looked deeply into
mine. "We're going somewhere quiet, okay?"
I nodded my head numbly. I didn't care where I was going anymore.
I just wanted the thought of Lita and Ken to go away and never come back.
************************************
Darien and I sat on top of a giant Ferris wheel. The light
breeze blew gently, rocking our seats. It was calm and quiet from way
up here. The sun had begun to set and had already begun spreading its
vibrant hue.
We sat silently on the Ferris wheel and not a word had passed
between us since we sat up here. Darien still hadn't asked any
questions, yet. Instead, he pretended that he hadn't seen or heard any
words that were passed between Lita and me. I knew he chose not to
probe in my business because he didn't want his questions to upset me again.
"No questions?" I asked giving him a frail smile. I wasn't
crying anymore. My crying eyes had dried a few seconds after our seats
had ascended toward the sky.
Darien shook his head and smiled lightheartedly. "None."
I looked down at my folded hands. I felt guilty about not
telling him anything. Darien was such a good friend and I took it for
granted.
"You know, you're allowed to ask questions. I won't yell at
you."
"Really?" he grinned playfully then took a second to think,
"Okay, what's your favorite food?"
I laughed. It was a wonder that I was laughing now when I was
crying moments before. "Not those questions! But it's a good question.
Hmm…I'm not sure. Pizza is good, but then pasta, doughnuts, and pie are
good too."
"I should've guessed. You're a genuine pig." He said playfully
and I laughed again.
"I don't exactly have a favorite food, but when I was young, the
cook at the orphanage used to make me these special cupcakes. It was
probably the tastiest cupcakes I'd ever tasted!" My eyes shined bright,
but then quickly lost its glow. I've forgotten about her so many years
ago. It was strange talking about her now, especially to Darien.
"But then one day, she suddenly stopped making me cupcakes."
"What happened to her?"
"She passed away." I said solemnly and then shrugged my shoulder
in a careless motion, as if I didn't care about her at all. But the
truth was, I cared all too much about her. "The grown ups used to tell
us she'd quit her job, but I knew she died. I'd overheard them talking
of her fatal heart attack a few days after her death."
"I'm sorry to bring it up." He remorsefully apologized and
placed his large hand over mine.
His warm fingers rubbed against mine; and somehow, I found it very
soothing. It felt like he was encouraging me to let it out.
I pulled my hand back and continue. "I'm sorry, too. She was the
nicest person on earth, too bad she had to die so soon. I used to call
her cook because her name was so hard to pronounce. The name was so
unusual to the tongue that I got tongue tied every time I'd try to
pronounce it." I smiled at the happy thoughts from back then. No
one ever called Cook by her real name. It was always 'can you help me
with this, Cook?' or 'Cook, can I have some more of that?' Even the
head mistress of the homes for the orphans called her Cook.
Thinking back now about her, I couldn't say that I remember much
about Cook or what her face looked like. She was but a long forgotten
memory in the back of my head. The only vague memory of Cook was long curvy
hair she used to have that was always tied in a long pony tail and a
warm, tender smile always etched on her face.
"When I was young," I started, "we were only allowed to have one
cupcake every Sunday dinner, but she'd always saved one and gave it to
me when the other kids weren't looking. Cook was someone special and in
return she made me feel special as well."
"Cook does sound like someone special, even if I didn't know
her."
"She was," I agreed with Darien. Cook was someone special and
she'll always stay special in my heart. "But that's all in the past
now. What about you? Did you have anyone you thought was special back
at the orphanage?"
Darien took a deep breath and looked out onto the horizon. His
eyes flashed uncertainty about something. If it was doubts in telling
me about his past or that he couldn't remember, I couldn't tell.
"I don't have much memory about my times at the orphanage. It
seems so long ago." Darien told me.
And as it turned out, Darien stayed no longer than a few months
at the orphanage. His foster parents had taken a delight in him the
first time they'd seen him and had quickly wanted to take him home.
I was envious at Darien for the fact that he hadn't stayed very
long at the orphanage, but at the same time, I was very much happy for
him. I knew living at the orphanage was lonesome, especially by
yourself. I had Andrew by my side, so even in the time of sadness, I wasn't
too lonesome. But even if I did have someone to comfort me, I still
longed for a family.
"You were lucky to get adopted, Darien. Andrew and I weren't as
lucky." I pursed my lip and smiled sadly. "I always wanted to feel a
sense of belonging and thought it could only be found in a family which
consisted of a mom and a dad. But the thing was, no one wanted to adopt
me."
My face was cast downward in a sad expression and suddenly, an
embarrassing laugh burst through my depressing barrier. "I'm sorry. You
probably don't want to hear of my crappy life at the orphanage."
"No," he shook his head, "It's not as boring as you think."
I looked into his warm cobalt eyes, a smile slowly working its
way to my mouth. Darien was so understanding, always so understanding.
"You know," I whispered, my eyes were suddenly drawn into his.
"You're so easy to talk to. You never pressured me into telling you
what I didn't want to say."
A loving smile etched across his face and a sudden sensation
washed over me. My heart beat a rhythm faster and out of no where, an
unexpected breath caught in my throat.
To be continue....
AN: That was chapter 4 part 2. I finally got it done! I hope it
meets everyone's expectation. Sorry it took an extra week to get it out!
SORRY I lied to those that I said was going to be out the sunday before! And for those
of you who thought this story is 'very' predictable then you guys have another
thing coming. I'm going to throw my curve ball in next chapter. I hope you
guys can catch it! ^_- Finally, I like to thank everyone for all the mails and
all the reviews. I was astounded...and actually touched at what some of you wrote.
But I'm sure what most of you wrote was just to get me to continue....and guess what?
it really worked! Keep up the mails and reviews! The more, the better! email: roses2small@yahoo.com
Oh and someone asked me about how old Serena and Darien is. I'd managed to put Serena's age
in the story, but couldn't get Darien's age in. He's around 27 or 28? He's suppose to be
a little older, but I don't like old guys. :P
By: Emilie Trig
Editor: Midnight rose (AN:Always a special thanks to my busy editor!)
Chapter 4 Part 2
The conductor of the bumper cars went around for a check of seat
belts. He came by my way to check on my own seat belt and I felt him
eyeing me. He wasn't checking me out, but he was giving me the kind of
look that asked why I was on this kiddy ride in the first place. He must
have thought I was a little too old for this ride, too. I wish he wouldn't
stare at me like I was insane, but he did and it made me really uncomfortable.
Yeah well, you go eye at the guy in the back of me, buster. I wanted to tell off the
guy, but decided to keep my mouth shut. It wasn't my idea to ride in
this ridiculously childish car in the first place.
The guy quickly passed me and moved around to finish the
necessary seat belt check. I turned my head back to take a glance at
Darien, who sat a few cars behind me. He'd chosen a green car and I could
see Darien had a real hard time of fitting into the small bumper car. His legs
were too long to fit. His legs were so bent and stuck out that it made me giggle inside.
Turning back to my own car, my fingers gripped tight onto the
wheels and I smiled evilly. I had a scheming idea in mind. I wanted to
get back at Darien and get him good. The only problem was that he was
in the back of me. Now how I was even supposed to take a hit at him?
Good thinking, I scolded myself. Yeah, hit him while he's driving behind me.
Like that was going to happen. The bumper cars weren't set in reverse.
Our engines started soon enough and all the cars began to drive
steadily. Keeping the thought in mind, I pushed the engine petal as far
as I could.
My car moved along. I looked over my shoulder again to find
where Darien was. It was then that I spotted Darien's car at a very
close range. He smiled deviously and took a forceful hit at my car.
"Take that, Serena!" he laughed lightly as my car swung into
another. Darien drove past and I could see a laughing smile on his
face.
So much for my plan, I thought wryly. He'd taken the first hit.
The rest of the ride was somewhat bumpy. Darien had hit me
throughout the whole ride and I'd only gotten one lousy hit at him. How
was that for my scheming plan? I thought. Pretty bad I should say, but
my revenge had ended in good humor. This was good because I wasn't
growling anymore, at least.
At first, it was troublesome getting hit so many times by Darien
when I should be slamming into his car instead. But anyways, he was
supposed to be my 'thoughtful' roommate, not evil Darien sprung to
life! Then it was me getting yelled at by rather rude kids because I
blocked their cars from moving. I guess they wanted to hit their
friend's car and I was always in their way. Well, how can I help that?
Darien kept making my car turn to the side to block people's way. But
can you imagine a twenty-four year old female like me getting yelled at
by some tiny, scrawny little kid? It was very discomforting, I had to
admit, but I was already prepared to humiliate myself since I'd
followed Darien to this carnival. Then there were the adults, people my
age, who were taking their little ones to this bumper car ride. They
were actually glaring. Can you believe that? I'd thought
they would be more sensible than little kids, but I guess I did block
their bumper cars a little more than often.
But after ignoring all the stares and rude remarks, I'd really
enjoyed this whole ride. It was actually fun. I'd laughed a lot and
smiled more than often, too.
"You're such a loser, Darien." I said later when we got out of
the ride. I was laughing and smiling all the way.
"And you're such a sore loser." Darien grinned playfully.
I giggled at his words and Darien smiled all the more. It wasn't
a hilarious comment, I had to admit, but I was in one of those sappy,
happy moods.
And as I was laughing, my eyes suddenly wandered toward Darien's
face. His eyes had lit up and his lips were curved into an alluring
smile. Darien didn't often smile and now that he did, I found myself
attracted to his smile. Though I'd only known him for two weeks, I
found Darien to be a valuable friend; a person I can truly depend on.
I'd suddenly found Darien staring back at me and I looked away
hoping he hadn't caught my embarrassment.
"You were staring," he murmured to me. His eyes looked
thoughtfully into mine.
"I was just thinking," I told him truthfully.
"About what?"
"Nothing really." I said absently and kept walking to the next
ride I had in mind: The roller coaster.
*********************************
After the tragedy at the roller coaster ride, let me not repeat
what happened there, I'd decided to go on lighter rides. We went to
the mirror maze after the roller coaster ride and had the toughest time
getting out. I swear, I was going to go stark-raving mad if Darien hadn't
found the exit in time.
Afterward, we went to eat hot dogs and then came across a pie
eating contest. Darien had persuaded me to try and so I entered in. All
hands were tied back and we were only allowed to eat using our mouth. I
was the sloppiest of eaters and in the end I won victoriously.
"Can you hand me that towel you're holding?" I said to Darien
after I'd washed pie off from my face. We stood outside in the
daylight. The water dripped from my face and onto the dirt floor.
"You're the dirtiest pie eater I've ever seen." He chuckled and
then handed me the towel. In his arm, he held my prize bear.
I snatched the towel from his hand and wiped my face. "Ha ha
ha." I put on a pretend laugh.
"Hand me back my bear," I said and then grabbed it, snuggling it
to my face. I had won this bear and was proud of it. "Where are we
going, now?"
"Anywhere you like."
"How about we go get some cotton candy?"
He agreed and we both went to look for the cotton candy man. My
eyes wandered from side to side and suddenly drifted on a lone figure
before me. Her eyes were downcast. Her steps seemed slow and forlorn. I
froze within my steps and my heart twitched.
It was Lita. The best friend I used to have and the woman who'd
succeeded in stealing Ken away from me. She was here and wasn't a
figment of my imagination. I wished she wasn't standing there, but she was. The
night I'd made the call to Ken's hotel room suddenly came rushing back.
I felt the pain again and my heart throbbed in an unrelenting
ache. My breathing became labored and I found my chest heaving in a
harsh effort.
Ken had left me for her. He'd chosen her over me and she'd let
him. Lita was supposed to be my friend. I'd thought that meant
something, but I guess not because she'd stolen Ken away. She knew I
loved him and knew I'd given my heart to him.
Darien stopped and suddenly noticed I stilled a few steps behind him.
"What's the matter?" I heard him ask. Darien sounded utternly confused
and deeply worried, but I wasn't too sure of it. I wasn't at all nothing
what I was hearing. My ears only heard an almost deafening silence.
Lita gradually lifted her eyes from the ground and unexpectedly
became aware that I was standing a few feet away from her. She stopped
dead in her tracks and the color drained from her face.
I stared scornfully at her. I hated her. I hated the sight of
her, I hated knowing her, I hated for ever befriending her, but most of
all I hated her for stealing Ken.
The fire in my heart burned brighter and I was disgusted with
her. Though I could see an apologetic look in Lita's eyes as she stood from afar, I
turned to leave. She didn't deserve forgiveness. Especially not from
me!
I took Darien's hand in mine and pulled him abruptly to wherever
my feet was directing me to. In one hand, I lugged my prize winning bear and the
other, dragged Darien quickly behind me. He didn't say anything, but
kept his silence. My steps were taken in quick strides. Each step was
pounding with anger. I wanted to get far away, as far as I could from
Lita.
"Wait, Serena!" I heard Lita from close behind. "I didn't mean
to. I'm sorry!"
I didn't wait for her or slow down my steps. Instead I picked up
a faster pace. I'm sorry, she'd just said. I scoffed at the words. How
could she expect me to forgive her in the first place! She'd betrayed
me, and friends don't betray friends. Friends don't steal friends'
boyfriends either!
"Would you just listen to me, Serena?" Lita begged helplessly.
Her pace matched mine. "I didn't mean to have feelings for Ken or steal
him away from you. But I had feelings for him ever since we were young.
I didn't mean to hurt you! I would never. It was just that when Ken
accidentally blurted out to me that he loved me too, I couldn't hide my
feelings for him any longer."
Her words sank into my mind like a sponge near water. Did she
really love him since she was young? My pace slowed a bit and my grip
on Darien had also loosened. Why hadn't she told me sooner?
"I'm sorry, Serena." Lita apologized again and this time I
didn't find the words so hateful. "I didn't mean to love Ken and he
didn't mean to love me."
And then I apprehended the hateful truth. I stopped in my tracks
and dropped my grip on Darien. They loved each other, I repeated the cutting
words in my head. Her words caught me without warning. If they loved each other
then that meant there was absolutely no room for me in Ken's heart anymore.
The realization hit me harder than a fist. It hurt to know that I wasn't
wanted, wasn't loved anymore. The hateful truth stung me like poison, and I tried
my best to hold it in.
My eyes studied hers as Lita continued to speak.
"Serena let's forget what had happened. Forget about the past
week, and forget about Ken. Lets just be the way we were before. Okay?"
Lita pleaded. She took my free arm in an earnest shake.
I thought about her words for a second. Friends, she had said.
She wanted us to be friends again. I thought of the simple word. It
would seem easy if we were to become friends again, but what about Ken?
What about the event that happened between the three of us? How can
I ignore all of it and go on with life as it was before?
My arms shook hers away and she stumbled a few steps back. "You
want to be friends?" I said sarcastically. "Lita, we can never be
friends again because I can't forget. I can't forget your betrayal and
I can't forget about Ken! I can't forget about what has happened and I
can't forget the fact that you've taken Ken away!"
The prize winning bear dropped to the dusty floor and I ran away
from it all. Our friendship was over. It was never going to mend.
I ran blindly to my feet's own accord. A tear drop fell out
through my half closed eyes and I wiped it sloppily away. How could
she? Why did she? If Lita had stayed far away from Ken, nothing would
have happened. Our friendship wouldn't have broken in two pieces and
Ken would still be in love with me right now. Everyone could have been happy.
Everything could have been okay.
It was probably selfish of me to think of only myself. I knew
I'd trampled over Lita's feelings also, but didn't care. I wanted to
hurt her in the way that she hurt me.
"Serena!" I heard someone call out, but didn't stop. I ran
through the crowd of people, not caring who I had pushed aside.
"Serena!" I heard again.
I didn't reply to the person's third or fourth call. Instead, I
kept running, not exactly knowing where I was going to.
A large hand suddenly shot out and took hold of one of my
arms. It pulled me back and I stopped for the moment. The tears dropped
hastily from my face. The person took hold of my other arm and turned
me fully around.
The tears blurred my vision, but I still recognized the person to
be Darien. His face looked anxious and mildly worried.
"Where are you going?" Darien asked me, his voice as gentle as
ever.
I didn't reply, didn't even look at him. My chest heaved hard
while the tears fell slowly to the ground. My heart felt like it had
just broken all over again.
Darien bough me closer to him and put his arms around me. I
hugged him back and knew he had understood what I was going through.
There were people staring oddly at us, but I was too deep in the
hurt to care. I pulled myself closer to Darien.
When I finally calmed down and my crying eased, Darien lifted me
lightly away.
"Listen," Darien said and then tenderly lifted my crying face.
He held my face in the palm of his hand. His eyes looked deeply into
mine. "We're going somewhere quiet, okay?"
I nodded my head numbly. I didn't care where I was going anymore.
I just wanted the thought of Lita and Ken to go away and never come back.
************************************
Darien and I sat on top of a giant Ferris wheel. The light
breeze blew gently, rocking our seats. It was calm and quiet from way
up here. The sun had begun to set and had already begun spreading its
vibrant hue.
We sat silently on the Ferris wheel and not a word had passed
between us since we sat up here. Darien still hadn't asked any
questions, yet. Instead, he pretended that he hadn't seen or heard any
words that were passed between Lita and me. I knew he chose not to
probe in my business because he didn't want his questions to upset me again.
"No questions?" I asked giving him a frail smile. I wasn't
crying anymore. My crying eyes had dried a few seconds after our seats
had ascended toward the sky.
Darien shook his head and smiled lightheartedly. "None."
I looked down at my folded hands. I felt guilty about not
telling him anything. Darien was such a good friend and I took it for
granted.
"You know, you're allowed to ask questions. I won't yell at
you."
"Really?" he grinned playfully then took a second to think,
"Okay, what's your favorite food?"
I laughed. It was a wonder that I was laughing now when I was
crying moments before. "Not those questions! But it's a good question.
Hmm…I'm not sure. Pizza is good, but then pasta, doughnuts, and pie are
good too."
"I should've guessed. You're a genuine pig." He said playfully
and I laughed again.
"I don't exactly have a favorite food, but when I was young, the
cook at the orphanage used to make me these special cupcakes. It was
probably the tastiest cupcakes I'd ever tasted!" My eyes shined bright,
but then quickly lost its glow. I've forgotten about her so many years
ago. It was strange talking about her now, especially to Darien.
"But then one day, she suddenly stopped making me cupcakes."
"What happened to her?"
"She passed away." I said solemnly and then shrugged my shoulder
in a careless motion, as if I didn't care about her at all. But the
truth was, I cared all too much about her. "The grown ups used to tell
us she'd quit her job, but I knew she died. I'd overheard them talking
of her fatal heart attack a few days after her death."
"I'm sorry to bring it up." He remorsefully apologized and
placed his large hand over mine.
His warm fingers rubbed against mine; and somehow, I found it very
soothing. It felt like he was encouraging me to let it out.
I pulled my hand back and continue. "I'm sorry, too. She was the
nicest person on earth, too bad she had to die so soon. I used to call
her cook because her name was so hard to pronounce. The name was so
unusual to the tongue that I got tongue tied every time I'd try to
pronounce it." I smiled at the happy thoughts from back then. No
one ever called Cook by her real name. It was always 'can you help me
with this, Cook?' or 'Cook, can I have some more of that?' Even the
head mistress of the homes for the orphans called her Cook.
Thinking back now about her, I couldn't say that I remember much
about Cook or what her face looked like. She was but a long forgotten
memory in the back of my head. The only vague memory of Cook was long curvy
hair she used to have that was always tied in a long pony tail and a
warm, tender smile always etched on her face.
"When I was young," I started, "we were only allowed to have one
cupcake every Sunday dinner, but she'd always saved one and gave it to
me when the other kids weren't looking. Cook was someone special and in
return she made me feel special as well."
"Cook does sound like someone special, even if I didn't know
her."
"She was," I agreed with Darien. Cook was someone special and
she'll always stay special in my heart. "But that's all in the past
now. What about you? Did you have anyone you thought was special back
at the orphanage?"
Darien took a deep breath and looked out onto the horizon. His
eyes flashed uncertainty about something. If it was doubts in telling
me about his past or that he couldn't remember, I couldn't tell.
"I don't have much memory about my times at the orphanage. It
seems so long ago." Darien told me.
And as it turned out, Darien stayed no longer than a few months
at the orphanage. His foster parents had taken a delight in him the
first time they'd seen him and had quickly wanted to take him home.
I was envious at Darien for the fact that he hadn't stayed very
long at the orphanage, but at the same time, I was very much happy for
him. I knew living at the orphanage was lonesome, especially by
yourself. I had Andrew by my side, so even in the time of sadness, I wasn't
too lonesome. But even if I did have someone to comfort me, I still
longed for a family.
"You were lucky to get adopted, Darien. Andrew and I weren't as
lucky." I pursed my lip and smiled sadly. "I always wanted to feel a
sense of belonging and thought it could only be found in a family which
consisted of a mom and a dad. But the thing was, no one wanted to adopt
me."
My face was cast downward in a sad expression and suddenly, an
embarrassing laugh burst through my depressing barrier. "I'm sorry. You
probably don't want to hear of my crappy life at the orphanage."
"No," he shook his head, "It's not as boring as you think."
I looked into his warm cobalt eyes, a smile slowly working its
way to my mouth. Darien was so understanding, always so understanding.
"You know," I whispered, my eyes were suddenly drawn into his.
"You're so easy to talk to. You never pressured me into telling you
what I didn't want to say."
A loving smile etched across his face and a sudden sensation
washed over me. My heart beat a rhythm faster and out of no where, an
unexpected breath caught in my throat.
To be continue....
AN: That was chapter 4 part 2. I finally got it done! I hope it
meets everyone's expectation. Sorry it took an extra week to get it out!
SORRY I lied to those that I said was going to be out the sunday before! And for those
of you who thought this story is 'very' predictable then you guys have another
thing coming. I'm going to throw my curve ball in next chapter. I hope you
guys can catch it! ^_- Finally, I like to thank everyone for all the mails and
all the reviews. I was astounded...and actually touched at what some of you wrote.
But I'm sure what most of you wrote was just to get me to continue....and guess what?
it really worked! Keep up the mails and reviews! The more, the better! email: roses2small@yahoo.com
Oh and someone asked me about how old Serena and Darien is. I'd managed to put Serena's age
in the story, but couldn't get Darien's age in. He's around 27 or 28? He's suppose to be
a little older, but I don't like old guys. :P