How About A Cup of Coffee?
Chapter 13A
(You might want to
download Dido's "Resting Here with Me" for this chapter.)
*
The ivory card lay heavily in her hand like an anvil. She stared down at the black ink like it was written in human blood.
Serena-
Come with me to the dance tonight? Pick you up at 7.
-Darien
After the show was over, she and Lita had hugged for about two seconds and then parted, to rest and shower. So Serena had headed up to her room and made a beeline for the closet while thinking of what she was going to wear for the celebratory after-party. There was one dress…
She helped herself to one of the robes and blushed when she noticed that the robe from Darien's room was still in there. Then she went over to sit on her bed and rest her eyes. Except, in mid-recline, she'd encountered something stiff. She rolled over and that was when she found the card that was now sitting in her hand.
He really hadn't left room for argument about what time to pick her up. And it almost annoyed her that he assumed she'd go. Well, of course she'd go with him, it was just now she had to change her entire outfit.
And that was a chore in itself.
A smile formed on her lips as a thought came to her mind. There were advantages of being one of the most beautiful women in the world…
Still smiling, she sat down on the edge of the bed and picked up her phone, waiting for the person on the other line to answer. When they did, she had a brief conversation and hung up the phone with a wide grin on her face.
Then she made her second call, and her smile slowly fell. She nodded, and resolutely made a promise. Then she went to go unlock the door and hopped in the shower.
***
(15 minutes later, outside the bathroom…)
"Rei, I don't see why we're here when Mina's showering. It's not like she hasn't done this before." Lita glared at her.
Ami nodded reluctantly. "Yes, and we all know how capable she is of applying her makeup…"
"GUYS!" Rei shouted, cutting off further protests. "She needs us. She needs us because it's not Mina in there!" She quieted. "It's Serena."
Lita leaned on the glass table of the sitting room off Serena's bedroom. "Are you serious?"
Rei sat back in her chair heavily. "Yes. Darien told me a few days ago."
"Wow." Ami blinked. "What does this mean?"
The dark-haired beauty reached over and put a hand on her forehead. "You know, for being someone who I consider exceedingly sharp, you certainly are thick when it comes to something like this."
Ami bristled. "Rei, I know what it means, I just…" The implication of what Rei was saying sunk in. "This is unreal. Unbelievable. That's why she—"
Rei nodded.
Ami was floored. When Rei had called them 20 minutes ago, telling them to meet her at Mina's suite, she had expected something less… earth-shattering. This was definitely one for the records. "Wow. Just… wow."
That being said, they looked over to Lita to see how she was taking it. Other than her initial comment, they really didn't know how she felt.
Lita was sitting there dumbly, watching something. They turned to see what she was staring at.
Serena had stepped out of the shower, her hair wet and down, wrapped in a thick blue robe. She looked exactly like Mina.
"You told them?" She asked Rei, walking over to where were and taking a seat.
"Yep."
The blonde sighed and let her glance linger on each of her friends sitting at the round table. "Look, you guys. I did this as a favor for Darien. Mina's staying with Andrew, nothing's wrong, and so far, I've managed to clean up her rep pretty well. All that's left tonight is that dinner party – then we head home and Mina will once again resume her position as principal model for the company. I would just like to get through tonight without any problems. And I'd like to have someone on my side for once… and not Mina's. That is why I told you."
Lita stared at her in silence. Ami looked like she wanted to say something, but didn't know what, and opened her mouth a couple of times before closing it for good. Rei looked at them, looked at Serena, shook her head, and put a hand over her eyes.
"Guys?" Serena questioned, standing up and walking over to them. Lita tackled her quite suddenly. "EEP! HELP!" Her arms wrapped around her tightly and then Ami ran around the side of them and got into the hug, too. "Oh… okay… group hug… I got it." They were swaying back and forth and then they fell over, onto the bed.
The fingers spread on Rei's hand and she gazed them wistfully when Ami's hand rose out of the pile and waved her over. With a grin on her face, she got ready to jump on top of Lita, started to walk over.
Serena popped her head up for a second and saw the evil look in her eyes. "No, Rei… NO! I need air! Help!"
No one heard her cry of help… for she was suddenly muffled by an onslaught of pillows.
***
Darien made sure he knocked promptly at seven. Of course, she didn't answer the door right away, and judging from the colorful phrases he heard from within, he guessed some things would never change. Serena being late would be one of them.
He listened carefully for the padding of her feet to the doorway and held the bouquet of roses in his hands straighter. Suddenly, as if he hadn't waited any time at all, the door swung open…
Revealing Rei, Lita and Ami.
The building smile on his face fell.
Rei, in a thin, purple silk dress, smirked. "Jeez, Darien. Tell us how you really feel."
Darien flushed, "I'm sorry Rei. I was expecting…"
"—we know who you were expecting," Lita saved him from further speech by cutting in. "And she'll be right out. A few last minute changes, you know how it is." Lita herself was looking magnificent in a floor-length green dress that was accented by green rhinestones of various shades.
He smiled easily. "Well then. May I just say that you ladies are looking wonderful tonight."
Rei and Lita rolled their eyes and Ami giggled. "Thank you, Darien. I'm sure Greg would appreciate the sentiment."
Darien shrugged but thought that Greg would appreciate Ami's ice-blue mini-dress. "Why don't you go make your way down while I wait for Serena?"
Lita, none too subtlety, elbowed Rei. She shot her a glare, but collected her things and grabbed Ami's arm, dragging her out of the room. The brunette grinned at him and followed them at an amazingly fast pace. He walked in the room and settled down to wait.
Except he didn't have to wait long.
The rustle of a full dress sounded from behind him and he turned to see Serena. Well, at least he thought it was Serena, but he wasn't sure because she looked so incredibly beautiful in her dress.
Darien, somewhat slack-jawed, rose and robotically handed her the flowers. "You look… amazing."
And she did. Her gown – because full and floor length, that's what it was – was pure white that colored to a pale ice blue at the bottom of her full skirt. The fitted bodice of her dress was held up by two thin straps of what appeared to be crystals and she had a small drop necklace and matching bracelet to complete the effect. Her hair, completely down, cascaded in waves and curls like a mermaid's and crystals were intermittently woven throughout.
Crystal seemed to be the theme of the evening because she was pretty much covered with them.
But what really made her incredible that evening was her smile. It was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. It lit up the room with wattage to spare. And it was directed at him.
"We should probably go," she started, and he nodded slowly.
"Yes. We probably should." He gave her his elbow and she took it with a smile.
They headed down the hallway and entered the elevator, both of them unable to keep their eyes off each other.
***
The hotel staff had spared a few of their doormen to stand in as guards and generally rope off the area. They opened the doors and it was all she could do not to gasp. Serena had to give Darien credit – when he wanted an after-party for his models, he went all out.
The ballroom was beautiful. There were lights hanging everywhere, and candles covered all the tables. In the center of the room was a marble dance floor, but no one was dancing at this time. There was a big white table at the head of the room and Serena instinctively knew that was where they were headed.
As the spotlights hit them and people saw who had just walked in, cheers went up in the room and people stood up in respect for their boss and most successful model. Darien was careful not to stand too close to Serena or guide her over to the table, since she was supposed to know how these things were done already.
Amidst more cries of success and wild applause, they finally took their seats. Serena blushed and he leaned down to kiss her on the cheek and pulled out her chair for her to sit down in. Stunned, she reached a hand up to touch her cheek where she'd finally felt his lips on her skin. Darien winked at her roguishly and then held a hand for silence.
"I would like to thank all of you for your constant support during these last few days. Our company saw some hard times but I'm pleased to say we've more than picked up slack and are now the biggest modeling company in the WORLD."
Pandemonium erupted. All Hell broke loose. Serena glanced at Darien apologetically before breaking into a whoop and little dance that was completely out of character for her. Several minutes later, after Darien had held his hand up for the duration and it was feeling like it was going to fall off, near-silence had regained the upper-hand in the ballroom and he cleared his throat to begin again.
"As I was saying. So you all deserve this. Enjoy your night people. I'll see you back home."
A live band, in front of their banquet table, started to play some jazz and waiters appeared to start serving them food.
After all had eaten, and the band was starting to play more upbeat tunes, Darien turned to Serena.
"Do you want to dance?"
A swing song came on that she knew and so she nodded.
"Let's go." He reached out his hand to her and after a moment's hesitation, she took it. Within seconds, they were on the floor, and dancing to their colleagues' amusement.
Not to be outdone, Rei grabbed the arm of a blonde-haired, green-eyed intern from accounting – by the name of Jed – and dragged him onto the floor to start dancing.
Serena threw her head back and laughed; it was so like Rei to be that way. "She's crazy."
Darien watched with a tender smile on his face. "Yeah, but we started it."
She looked up at him, smiling, with a sparkle to her blue eyes. "Good thing."
Minutes later, nearly everyone was on the floor, and a Brian Setzer song started to blare from the band.
***
"Darien…" Serena breathed, trying not to lean on him too heavily, in case anyone was watching. "I have… to get something… to drink… before I… collapse."
He chuckled. "You know, for a model, you need to work on your stamina." She thought he was going to let it go at that, but then saw the twinkle in his blue eyes and steeled herself for the zinger she knew was coming up. "But go ahead. We wouldn't want you to faint or anything," he finished with a devilish grin.
She whacked him on the arm before a smile escaped from her lips as she finally made her way over to their seats to get some champagne.
Heaving sigh, she slumped down in her chair gratefully and drank her entire glass of the bubbling liquid, her nose tickling during the short gulps. When that was gone, she reached for Darien's, but since her thirst was quenched, she drank it in smaller sips.
"Well, well, look who we have here." A sugary-sweet voice said from behind.
Serena automatically looked up and pasted a smile on her face. "Hello, Madison."
"Hello, Mina." Maybe if Madison hadn't been quite so drunk she would have noticed the weary tone to her opponent's voice. But she didn't, and would probably be kicking herself for not exploiting that when she had the chance. "You looked like you were having a really good time dancing with Mr. Shields a few minutes ago. In fact, if I didn't know any better, I'd say you were in love."
She nearly spilt the glass of champagne all over her dress. Glaring, she stood up and met Madison's eyes. "You must be mistaken. Everyone knows who I love." A slight twinge pulled at her conscience as she realized she'd not spoken Andrew's name, but she pulled back to focus on what Madison was saying.
The showily clad model shrugged. "Just as long as you know who you love." Leaving that cryptic phrase in her mind, she walked until she was out of Serena's line of sight.
She went to lean back against the wall for some rest, and encountered something a bit more giving than she'd expected. Her body tensed and she began to turn around, when someone put a hand on her bare shoulder.
"Relax. I just came over to see how you were doing. You had a pretty dangerous look in your eyes when Madison left." Serena managed to turn around and give him a skeptical look. "Serena," he whispered, and she shivered slightly, "if looks could kill, you would have just leveled Europe."
Her eyes widened so much he could see the silver flecks in them.
He smiled gently and took her by the hand to pull her out on the balcony.
Once there, in relative privacy, she broke free of his grip and started pacing. "Darien, what if someone finds out? What if someone already knows and is going to make an announcement at midnight? What if somewhat asks for my autograph and I start to sign 'Serena'? This has gone too well for too long and something's bound to go wrong before we get back home. I can't believe that destiny will be that kind to us."
He rolled his eyes. "Yeah, and what if you fell on your face and die of embarrassment? What if the sun crashes into the moon? Calm down, Meatball Head. Breathe, okay?"
Somewhere, in the back of her mind, was a voice reasoning, 'the sun wouldn't dare crash into the moon because the moon is too important' but she blamed it on all the alcohol she'd drunk so far that evening.
"Okay." Then another situation came to mind. "What if—"
Darien abruptly cut her off the only way he knew how. He kissed her. Long, deep, and in a way that made her want to melt onto the cobblestone terrace they were standing on.
When he pulled back a few moments later, looking into her eyes and brushing the pads of his thumbs under her eyes, he grinned boyishly at the stunned expression on her face. "It was the only way I could make you stop ranting. You really were on a roll there, Serena."
She blinked a few times. Then she stuck her chin in the air and started to walk away. Darien caught up with her and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "Not so fast." He leaned down and kissed her a few more times, after that, placing gentle kisses on her bared neck and shoulders.
When he was satisfied that she was completely kissed, his arm fell from around her to rest on her back and he guided her back into the ballroom.
Because they were so preoccupied with each other, they failed to hear the 'click' of a camera. Nor did they see the flash of blonde hair dart behind the bushes, or the clack of stilettos hightailing it out of there.
***
Rei's long violet hair swirled about her as Jed twirled her out again, holding onto her hand and bringing her flush against him. Her eyes flashed dangerously, but he blithely ignored her, going so far as to kiss her on the top of her perfectly-formed nose.
Out of her peripheral vision, she saw Ami frantically waving her over. Idly, she thought it must have been pretty important if Ami was doing something so blatant in public, and if it had come to that, then where the hell was Lit—
"'Scuse me." Someone tapped Jed's shoulder and they both looked to see Lita standing there, fuming. Rei gulped. "Mind if I cut in?"
Jed's eyebrows rose. "I didn't know you swung that way, Rei."
The raven-haired beauty closed her eyes in humiliation and turned three shades of red. She could hear Jed chuckling as he walked away. When she was sure he'd gone, she clamped onto Lita's arm.
"And just what was so important that you had my dancing partner question my sexual preferences?"
At the word 'sexual' the entire ballroom froze, the flute player in the band hit a sour note and stopped completely, and everyone was silent.
"Hey!" She threw her arms up. "Mind your own business!"
Rapidly, the crowd went back to dancing and Rei brushed a hand over her face tiredly. "I hate when that happens. Where's Ami?"
Lita scowled. "Waiting for you to get your butt up there." She grabbed Rei by the wrist and dragged her up a flight of stairs where Ami was waiting, arms folded, leaning against a set of glass doors indolently.
"Well?" Rei asked.
Ami stood up and unceremoniously shoved her on the upper balcony. Rei stopped herself from flying over the edge just in time—and saw Serena and Darien engaged in quite the kiss.
"Oh my god." A hand went to her mouth and she paled 10 shades whiter.
"What?" They asked simultaneously.
Wordlessly, she beckoned them over.
They arrived to see what Rei had seen and were shocked into speechlessness.
There was a faint click and though Darien and Serena didn't hear it, they looked over in the direction to see Madison looking up at them, grinning.
"Just wanted to get a group shot, girls." She called up to them after the couple had gone inside. She waggled her fingers and disappeared into the dark night, which suddenly felt much colder.
Angrily, Lita punched the balcony railing, "Dammit! Why can't anything ever go right for them!" Causing Ami to jump in surprise, while Rei merely watched with detachment. "They deserve this." She finished quietly.
Silently, Rei put her hand on the Amazon-like woman's shoulder and walked her towards the doors. "Come on. Let's take a breather."
Which left Ami out there to think about what she'd just witnessed. She the ran the past few days' events through her mind, leading up to tonight's, as of five minutes ago. Her deep blue eyes widened and her mouth formed an 'O' as she stood up from leaning over the balcony railing in realization.
"She knew." Her body stiffened. "I've got to go warn them."
Fluidly, she turned from the rail and raced back inside, hoping to catch them before the evening's end.
***
A passing waiter offered glasses of champagne and Serena twirled away from Darien to grab two, before twirling back into his arms. He plucked his glass from her hand and downed it, while she gaped at him. Then, her eyebrow rose and she tossed hers back just as impressively.
A strange light came into his eyes and he shook his head. Then he reached for her hand and they continued dancing.
The band paused to drink some water, and then the drummer started a slow beat. Slowly, the cymbal was twanged, until the song melted into Dido's "Here With Me." As the song blared into existence, Darien swung Serena out to the middle of the floor and they slowly began the last dance of the evening.
I didn't hear you leave
I wonder how am I still here
And I don't want to move a thing
It might change my memory
Oh I am what I am
I'll do what I want
But I can't hide
I won't go
I won't sleep
I can't breathe
Until you're resting here with me
I won't leave
I can't hide
I cannot be
Until you're resting here with me
I don't want to call my friends
They might wake me from this dream
And I can't leave this bed
Risk forgetting all that's been
Oh I am what I am
I'll do what I want
But I can't hide
I won't go
I won't sleep
I can't breathe
Until you're resting here with me
I won't leave
I can't hide
I cannot be
Until you're resting here with me
The lights blacked out for a second and he dipped briefly to kiss her. By the time the lighting was back, they were out of the room and no one could find them.
***
"Darien!" Serena yanked on his arm and made him stop. "Just where are we going? We shouldn't have left that party, you know. You're the president of the company. You have to make a parting sp—"
"Speech" was the word she was trying to say, but – yep, you guessed it – Darien had kissed her again, and was effectively keeping her from the action of speaking.
She pushed him back after a while and gave him a dirty look. "You can't keep doing this every time I try to talk."
"Why not?" he sounded amused. "It's fun. You never remember what you're going to say after."
Sparks flared in her eyes and she glared at him. "Darien. Stop. This is ser—"
*kiss*
"We have to—"
*kiss*
"Come on, we need to—"
*kiss*
"Oh, just forget—"
*kiss*
*kiss*
*kiss*
Somehow – though, don't ask them, because they'll never be able to tell you with a straight face – they made it to Darien's room.
He paused from kissing her long enough to stare down into her eyes. She nodded indiscernibly, and whatever he saw in her eyes must have been answer enough for him, because the next thing she knew, he was opening the door and kissing her with all the power of a molten rush.
If their previous kisses had been sweet and tender, then this one was filled with danger and promises. He drew her inside the room and the door closed with a resounding 'click' that they failed to notice since they were *ahem* preoccupied with other matters.
As the last bits of light filtered in from the closing door, Serena found herself thinking that this was the second time she'd been in Darien's bed.
And then she wasn't really thinking at all.
Until you're resting here… with me.
***
End 13A
SEE! I TOLD YOU!!!
And, KISSES! SO THERE! HAH! Now you might just have to wait an eternity for 13B. Or at least until I get 25 or more reviews. You know, to feel loved and stuff.
I dedicate this chapter to the creators of "Superstar" with Molly Shannon.
"You want a goodbye WHAT?"
*is rolling on the floor laughing*
That is… just great. Really lightens the moment.
And no, I don't have a Dido obsession, I was just listening to the song when I typed it up and wanted to put it in the story because it sounded really nice.