How About a Cup of Coffee?
Chapter 10
*
The room was a mess. Clothing, toiletries, hangers, shoes, makeup and bags littered the floor. If you followed the trail out to the living room, Serena Cohen was sacked out uncomfortably on her sea-green couch, breathing deeply.
Last night, after getting in around 11:30, she'd started to pack. Around 2:30 this morning, she had finally collapsed on the couch of exhaustion and slept for what was left of the night. The phone next to her ear rang shrilly; once, twice, three times, but no answer. The answering machine picked up and the caller left a message.Still, Serena slept on.
***
The coffee was set down on the counter and a blonde couple smiled thankfully at their waitress.
"But I didn't get an answer—I hope she didn't fall asleep. Rei will kill her if she makes them late."
Andrew laughed and poured some sugar into his coffee. "Mina—I'm sure she'll be fine. Even Serena knows the importance of this trip. Maybe she's not home." At that comment, Mina's eyes raised from her fashion magazine. "Maybe she slept over Darien's…"
"ANDREW!"
***
With a sudden start, Serena jerked awake. Disorientated, she slid her legs off the couch and threw the chenille blanket aside.
"Meens?" No answer. "Mina?"
She painfully made her way to Mina's room, frowning when she saw her cousin's neatly made bed and semi-uncluttered room.
Serena walked back out to the living room and was about to check the kitchen when she noticed the light blinking on the answering machine.
"Hey—it's me! I stayed over Andrew's last night. (Serena smirked) Rei's coming to pick you up around 7:30," the blonde in the room looked at the clock and yelped in surprise, "see you on the plane!"
"I'm gonna be late!"
Like the whirlwind that had taken over her room, she was showered, finished packing, and ready to go at 7:29, with 13 seconds to spare.
There was a knock on the door and she opened it swiftly, defusing Rei's prepared bellow. The raven-haired woman blinked, grabbed one of the bags and they rose in the elevator to the car in silence.
***
"Flight 1652; Nonstop service from Newark, to Milan, is boarding now. Would all Elite class flyers and Business First passengers come to board at this time." (AN: For anyone who doesn't know, Business First is like First class on a plane—but better. *sighs dreamily* How can I explain this? It has a big screen TV, personal TV's and LOTS of food. On the really bug planes, there are two compartments of business first, the forward cabin, the middle cabin and then the backward cabin is plain old coach. Gotta love Continental.)
Like a robot, Serena stood up, stretched her aching body and yawned as she made her way over to the ticket checker's booth. She barely noticed when they waved her through, didn't answer when they asked her what she wanted to drink, didn't care that she was sitting with someone who had yet to arrive.
All that mattered was sleep.
***
Darien walked to the forward cabin and took his seat with a sigh, deeply troubled. Andrew and Mina weren't on the plane. They hadn't answered their pages in the airport. They were nowhere to be found.
He wanted to ask Serena if she'd heard anything, but he didn't know where she was, either. Rei assured him that she was on the plane and that she was definitely with them.
A weight settled on his right shoulder and he looked over to see a blonde woman's head there. "Uh…Miss?"
Then the scent of roses and cherries assailed him and he knew he'd found Serena. She looked like she was dead asleep, and he just didn't have the heart to wake her.
***
"You sure you don't want anything, Leets?"
The brunette looked up from her romance novel. "Positive. Plane food equals death. That's why I brought my food with me." She reached into a bag next to her and drew out some bagged cookies. "Yum."
Rei laughed and walked to the forward cabin (AN: They're in the middle, still business first.). She made her way to the snack counter and grabbed a bag of Ritz Bitz crackers and a root beer. The plane hit some air turbulence and the soda, slick from condensation, slipped out of her hand and rolled away.
"Oh damn."
So that was how Rei Kensington came to be crawling on her hands and knees, looking for her soda. There were a few startled yelps of surprise, and hasty apologies from the soda-searching woman; she was all giving up when she saw the glint of silver in the next row.
"Aha!"
She saw the outstretched set of male legs—right next to her soda. Standing up, she opened her mouth to ask the man for her soda and nearly lost her footing at what she saw.
Serena's head was on Darien's shoulder—Darien—who since his parents' death, had shunned most human contact—and their hands were… clasped??!
Her legs had a mind of their own as they crouched down to that her hand could automatically retrieve the soda. A wisp of her long black hair fell on Darien's nose as she unbent herself from leaning across him and she held her breath, hoping against hope that he wouldn't wake up.
The slumbering man made no move as she straightened further, but to shift close to Serena; this time wrapping an arm around her shoulders for added warmth.
'God, that girl moves fast.'
A devious smile crossed her full lips and she ever so gently shook the root beer. While she was lifting the tab on the can, Serena's leg slid out—and Rei slipped—spraying the soda all over her. Her loud thud jerked Darien awake, which, in turn, awoke Serena.
He leaned over the armrest, "Rei?"
She glared up from her position on the cabin floor, flaming violet eyes simply daring him to ask.
Then, as if she had pushed a button, they both fell back into their respective positions and went back to sleep.
***
On wobbly legs that had nothing to do with altitude, Rei made her way back to her seat, relying heavily on the plane walls for support.
Gratefully, she sank into her plush chair and breathed a sigh of relief.
Lita looked up from her book, taking in the sopping strands of hair and wet spots on her clothes. "Everything okay?"
Rei's eyebrows rose to dangerously skeptical heights. "Yeah."
Then she opened her second soda—and it exploded all over her.
***
He woke up first—having lost all feeling in his right arm—which was, he mused, as he followed the course—wrapped around SERENA??!
So as not to wake her, he removed his arm as gently as possible, flinching when she moaned slightly and tried to burrow into his shoulder. He cast a look outside, and nearly jumped with shock when he saw them kissing the land.
"Serena," he shook her should, feeling yet another sense of déjà vu, "wake up—we're here."
No response.
There was a rather large bump as they hit ground and that's when Serena woke, bolting up from her sleep.
Blue eyes cloudy and bewildered, she asked, "We're here?"
"We're here," he confirmed, watching the light dawn in her eyes.
***
The ride to the airport in the company stretch had been quiet. But now, as they sat in the grand lobby of the 'W' hotel on huge, soft chairs, the conversation poured out.
"Can you believe we're finally here?"
"I can. That flight took forever—it's about damn time."
"Did you guys see that statue I think it's a—"
"AMES! Get over the artwork!"
"Jeez guys, I was just saying…"
"WE KNOW!"
(Elsewhere…)
Darien stood at the front desk, arguing with the perky receptionist. She was a pretty redhead with slate-green eyes.
"I'm sorry sir—but we have no reservation for Ms. Cohen. We're simply overbooked—your company drew a lot of attention—we can't simply boot someone out of their suite for her. She'll have too room with someone else."
He ran a hand through his hair, barely restraining his temper. "Look," he glanced at her nametag, "Sam. This girl has never been to Milan before—this is her first time. Rooming with model's who are in a show she's not—isn't exactly going to make the moment special."
Before she could reply, Maura tugged on Darien's sleeve. "Mr. Shields… no word from Ms. Fuentes or Mr. Tel. They weren't on the flight—and I don't believe they were on the ticket list, either."
All the anger that had been radiating in him unexpectedly dissolved. "What?"
The older woman put her hand on his shoulder and motherly brushed the lint off his sweater. "They're not coming, dear. They've turned off their cell-phones and no one—no one—can contact them or has heard from them."
And then, all Hell broke loose.
***
A short man walking with Mr. Dior approached Darien, who was sitting with his head in his hands.
"Sir," the shorter man tapped on his shoulder. "My name's Jack Cornell. I'm the head manager at the convention center where the modeling show is to take place."
Darien looked up. He had a nasty feeling he knew what was coming next.
"You should know… if Ms. Fuentes isn't here… we're going to cancel the show."
He shot up out of his seat; having a sinking suspicion was nothing on knowing the truth. "What? You can't cancel this show! We've been waiting months for this."
Mr. Cornell looked a little scared. "With all due respect, sir, I'm sorry, but—"
Darien grabbed him harshly by the collar. "You know what? I'm tired of everyone telling me they're sorry. I'm so tired of hearing it. If you're so sorry, fix it."
Mr. Dior nudged Darien. "Isn't that Miss Mina over there, Darien?"
The ebony-haired man followed his gaze, sparing the convention-center man a withering look. "No." A tired look crossed his face. "That's Seren—UH! Yeah! That is her. She must be going with her disguise… good one this time, huh?" He laughed weakly, surreptitiously clutching his side where Mr. Dior had elbowed him rather harshly.
"Splendid. The show can go on. "He turned to Mr. Cornell. "See? Ms. Fuentes is here after all."
The convention hall manager looked at them suspiciously and nodded slowly. "Just as long as she's there and in her clothes—you can keep your show."
He walked away and Darien rubbed his side, groaning. "Jeez, Frank. What'd you that for?"
Frank Dior ignored him. "You have your 'Mina,' Darien. Now go find out if she's willing to do it."
***
The sound of heavy footsteps interrupted their conversation and Ami looked up from her book to se Darien hovering over their group.
"Hello Darien. Are the rooms ready?"
At the mention of rooms, he winced. Serena still didn't have a room—no, that wasn't true. Now she had Mina's room; if this went well.
"Darien?" Rei questioned, her sharper tone drawing him out of his thoughts.
His stormy blue eyes skimmed though the group, pausing to rest—and softening—on the only blonde in their group. "I need to speak to Serena."
A look of surprise covered her face, but she unfolded herself gracefully from her chair and stood next to him. A ripple of… something passed through Rei as she saw them standing together; Serena's face upturned in concern.
Darien unconsciously put his hand on the small of her back, drawing her away from the group and into a private room at the back of the hallway. He closed the door, and leaned his head against it despairingly.
Serena smoothed some hair off her face, grimacing as she noticed how travel-worn it looked. "Darien, what's wrong? I hear a rumor the show's going to be cancelled; is that true?"
"Serena," he turned, taking her hands in his and rubbing them distractedly.
Startled she tried to jerk back, but thought better of it, and her eyes were a haze of indefinable blue emotion. "Darien—I—?"
Realizing the effect he was having on her, he stopped rubbing her hands and dropped them harshly. "You have to be Mina."
***
AUTHOR'S NOTES:
BWA HAA HAA HAA HA!
You have to sit on that for a WHOLE MONTH! *sticks out tongue* So there.
Now I should probably explain what I mean.
I'm taking the month of February off.
This message is going out on all the latest fan fics that I'm updating, like "Crystal," and "Ashes."
But if you were on the mailing list, you would already know that.
My reasons are simply this:
This is a short month—and I've been putting out chapters a lot faster than I ever dreamed possible. I'm going down the road to burnout, my readers, and if I don't stop, a lot more than my grades are going to suffer.
I have a *ton* of vacation this month, as well, so I wouldn't have a good posting situation anyway.
It would basically consist of me freaking out, trying to post, going more insane than I already am.
Which would be bad.
And, on a lighter note: Would you believe someone called me "Too mature?" This coming from my friend, you realize. So I stormed over to Fleur's locker (we go to school together) and I told her what she (the other girl, my *friend*) and we agreed that when you have characters like Serena throwing up and Rei spraying her soda everywhere—there is definitely some immaturity there.
*sighs*
You know you guys, not everyone can be perfect like us.
We should pray for them.
So. *ahem* I want lots of emails in my inbox and lots of reviews before and during I'm away. I officially leave tomorrow (Friday) so however many reviews I get will REALLY make my day because I have to sit in school ALL DAY LONG while I wait for the bell to ring at 2:02—so I can go home and GO ON VACAY!!! (lol.) Has anyone seen Legally Blonde? Do you remember that line? I do…
Okay. So you know what you have to do, this is a really long set of Author's Notes… the usual goes for all of you:
* REVIEW!
* Read Fleur's stuff and review it
* Email me if you're so inclined.
* Pray for the lost souls who aren't us.
* Countdown the days until I come back online and post a new chapter.
* Join the mailing list if you haven't already done so.
HAVE A GREAT FEBRUARY WITHOUT ME!!!!