How About a Cup of Coffee?
PG-13
Chapter 4DISCLAIMER: I own only the characters that you've never heard of. Danyelle and Alison belong to me. The obvious people do not. I don't own Starbucks or any of the drinks, but if anyone wants to give me a lifetime supply of Frap's, I'd be more than willing to accept.
DISTRIBUTION: I would be more than happy (and willing) to let anyone who wants to put this on their site. Just send me a quick email to let me know where it's going, and then post away. Because of the interesting situation I'm in at home, I cannot send you the chapters. Just do a cut and paste thing—hopefully everything that's formatted the way it is will stay that way.
Keep up the reviews and hang in there!
FINALLY!! THE Serena AND Darien INTERACTION WE'VE ALL BEEN DYING FOR!!
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Serena reached blindly for her Frappachino. She took a sip and swallowed it, letting it soothe her raw nerves.
"Hello, you insufferable jerk." (AN: Go Serena!)
Darien's blue eyes twinkled and he smiled. "Now is that any way to greet an old friend?"
She snorted. "Yeah, Darien—you were really my friend—you teased and tortured me more than all the bullies in the world combined. Excuse me, but I don't exactly categorize you as a friend—or even REMOTELY close!"
For some reason, having the beautiful girl—no, woman—before him, trading insults with him better than she ever had before, Darien was overwhelmed with the strangest feeling.
Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, his turned his attention to the situation at present. The blonde was sitting down now, had whipped out her cellular, and was in the process of dialing a number rapidly. There was a pause while she waited for who ever it was on the other end to pick up and when they did, and unknown expression of relief covered her face. (He wondered who it was that she put such faith in to get her out of the mess she'd made now.)
"Hello—Meens? Yeah—it's me…no, no, I got my coffee…Oh, I sound upset? Gee, maybe it's because I found out the 'boss' turned out to be—NO! Would you just shush up and listen, for the love of god?!!"
Serena was ignoring Darien and gritting her teeth. She grabbed a hand and ran it up the front of her 'bun.' "Fine…fine…ok, ok…6? Yeah, I got it. Ok. Parkside at 6…see you then…ok…I'll try…bye."
Serena pressed her fingers to her temples and sighed. As if remembering she had and audience, she opened her eyes to see Darien staring amusedly at her.
"Trouble with the underlings, Ms. Cohen?'
So now we're back to last names, huh? She glared. "That was actually, Mina Fuentes, one of your models and Andrew's girlfriend."
"Oh yes—Mina. Andrew' head over heels for her."
Well at least something's going right.
"Look, about that paper Ms. Hino had me sign—"
"—Rei," he interrupted smoothly.
She glared at him again. "Yes—Rei—is there any way we can dissolve that? Because you must know how unpleasant this is going to be for both of us."
Darien gave her a contemplative look and Serena thought that he was actually considering her suggestion.
But he had to go open his mouth.
Grinning widely, "absolutely," she held her breath; "Not. That's a heinous idea, Ms. Cohen."
The man was infuriating! He was pretending that the past several moments between them had never happened!
Serena gritted her teeth, grabbed her handbag and drink, and spun on her heel so fast that the modest slit on the side of her thigh tripled to that of VERY dangerous territory.
Darien gripped the underside of his desk suddenly and forced his eyes to avert—something that didn't escape Serena.
She must have been possessed by the devil himself, because there was no way she would have done what she did next. Serena turned to him with a wicked smile on her face and said, "What's a matter, Mr. Shields? Can't deal with the sight of a little leg? Tsk, tsk. What kind of a CEO are you?"
She picked up shifted her bag and drink to her left hand, blew him a kiss, and walked out of his office.
***
When she heard the sound of stalking stilettos, she knew.
Rei quickly jumped up from her desk and walked to intercept the woman. She was totally prepared for her to be angry. About what, she didn't currently know, but sensed some sort of dangerous aura around her.
(AN: Just b/c she's not Sailormars doesn't mean she can't have increased senses.)
But what she wasn't prepared for was to see Serena Cohen flying out of Darien's office with a scowl on her face that would have made Queen Beryl scared.
Queen Beryl? Where did that come from?
Nor was she prepared to see the new slit—er—alteration in her skirt, or to see strands of her shining blond hair escaping the confining bun.
Truth be told, she was rather intimidating, even to Rei, and she was this close to leaving the company forever. It would be Rei's job to save her.
Rei sidled up to Serena and matched her pace without difficulty—walking in high heels had never been a problem for her, for some reason—but before she could speak, Serena held up a hand and stopped so short that Rei had to jog back to her.
"Ms. Hino—Rei. I am going to get in that elevator, and walk out those impressive double doors below, and try to forget that this meeting ever happened. This entire morning, in fact." She took a breath and looked Rei in the eye.
"Darien Shields is a chauvinistic, male-egotistical, jerk of a man. And he's your boss. And I feel sorry for you."
Rei prudently refrained from pointing out to her that, as of 35 minutes ago, he was her boss, too.
"So I'll tell you what I'm going to do. I am going to take a piece of paper and grab that pen behind your ear," she reached for the pen, "and write down my address and phone number. I want you to come there tonight. We are going to have a party and you are going to dish to me everything you know about that man and his company."
When she finished speaking, she handed Rei the paper she'd jotted down her numbers on and the other woman realized that Serena was flushed. Over what—she didn't know—but flushed—and her eyes were snapping with blue fire. The only other person who she'd seen do that before was…Darien. …anyway…
"Right. Um, could you just stand there for a minute?"
Serena stood impatiently, tapping her foot against the plush carpeting and waited for Rei to do whatever she was going to do.
Rei whipped a camera out from her desk drawer and snapped 3 pictures.
"What was that for?" Serena asked.
She made an airy gesture. "Oh—some shots for your ID. Nothing special."
"7 o clock, Rei. Don't be late—or you'll be sorry."
***
End chapter 4
Author's notes:
Better? Are you happy now? I just don't know what's with me and these chapters. REVIEW, REVIEW, REVIEW! Reviewing makes me proud and makes me want to put out more chapters.
NOBODY ANSWERED MY QUESTION ABOUT THE SONG IN THE STORY!!! ANSWER IT OR NO MORE CHAPTERS FOR 3 MONTHS!