Coffee 14
***If you haven't already downloaded the Alicia Keys song (Goodbye) for the last chapter, I suggest you do so now. It's used more extensively in this chapter. Sorry for the not-so-long-wait for this chapter. At least it's not like six months later. You know, some of those authors do that and. . .***
* ~ *
37,000 feet above the ground, safely encased in the arms of reinforced steel and soft leather recliner seats, rested our stressed out Serena Cohen.
Being one of few passengers in the Business First cabin, the trip from Milan, Italy to Newark, New Jersey appeared to be a rather uneventful one. It was early, the pocket right before commuter traffic - and, incidentally, the bulk of the company from which she was trying to run - and so it was for nearly the first half of the flight that our spitfire blonde slept with her headphones on.
When she finally opened her eyes about five hours later, she recognized the song on her CD player and wished she was still blissfully dead to the world. Mina must have borrowed her Discman and forgotten to take her CD out, because 'Goodbye' was on and hitting *way* too close to home.
But how do I let go when I've Loved him for so long and I've Given him all that I could Was it something wrong that we did Because others infiltrated What went wrong with something once so good.
Is this the end? are you sure? How should you know when you've never been here before It's so hard to just let go When this is the one and only love I've ever known.
"Excuse me, Miss." Someone put a hand on her shoulder and she wiped away a stray tear to look up at the flight attendant.
Vaguely, Serena remembered the woman giving her name but now that she'd conked out for such a solid amount of time, it was pretty much mush. She must have smiled or something because the next thing she knew, a glass of champagne was set before her.
Too dazed to comprehend what exactly was going on, she mumbled her thanks and the ever-smiling flight attendant whispered conspiratorially, "It's from the gentleman in 4B, Ms. Cohen." She giggled, "I'd go for him myself if he hadn't been watching you since you sat down."
'Well that was sort of creepy.' Serena managed a weak smile and looked over to her right. A man with closely cropped brown hair and hazel eyes was smiling at her. She lifted raised the hand with the glass in return and took a small sip.
Almost immediately, she was slammed with memories of last night. Champagne had been, after all, the drink of choice. Even in her emotional stupor, she didn't want to make the nice - if somewhat weird - man upset by making faces at the drink, so she turned her head back to the window and let a few more tears slip by.
Glassy, lifeless eyes stared back at her and she would have flinched if she hadn't been so busy remembering how she'd gotten in her seat in the first place.
* * *
The only thing running through her head as she ran from the elevators was home. She had to get home. Once she got home, everything would be okay, because everything was always better once you were in your own bed, on the right side of the Atlantic, not facing many wrong hours of jet lag.
Of course, getting there was another thing entirely.
Leaving the hotel as she had, in a literal whirlwind, she'd hailed a taxi and headed to the airport, placing a full-price ticket on her credit card. The soonest flight was in 15 minutes, but she didn't have luggage or a carry-on, just her purse, and her dawning publicity made it able for them to hold the plane until she got on.
Then she put on headphones, collapsed into her seat, and blacked out.
* * *
"I couldn't help but notice, you're all alone, and looking quite sad." It was Mr. Champagne. She looked up at him, taking in the dark brown hair and hazel eyes that, for some reason, reminded her of Lita. "My name is Nick and I was wondering. are you okay?"
How easy it would be to tell this man all her problems, to dump it off her shoulders and throw it on his broad, infinitely stronger ones. But she was a willful blonde with an ungodly amount of pride and refused to let herself spill her guts to a total stranger many feet above the ground.
"Let's just say I'd had the week from Hell," she replied weakly. "And I want to get home and disappear for a few weeks."
He gave her a sympathetic look. "I've been there. My old boss was a bitch. She practically brainwashed us to do her dirty work for her. I just got a new job last week and I feel like a new man already."
Serena summoned a smile. "Career change is always a good thing." She thought of how easy it would be to disappear like she'd said and change her career, change her name, change everything.
"Look, I hope this doesn't seem too forward to you, but I'm going to give you my card. It has my home and cell numbers on it, and I'd like for you to give me a call if you feel like pulling a disappearing act." He handed her a crisp, light green square. At her admiring look he said, "I didn't want it to be like everyone else's card. We live in New York, right? There's no reason why we can't be as outrageous as our city's occupants."
With that, and a heartbreaking grin, Nick Reynolds left Serena alone for the rest of the flight. He seemed to vanish before she even left the plane and a corner of her brain wondered where he'd gone. Then the stewardess was handing her Rei's hat and before she knew it, she was in a cab, on her way to her apartment.
* * *
When they'd leveled off around 30-thousand feet, Rei broke the silence.
"This feels weird."
"Weird?" Lita turned her gaze from the clouds outside. "It feels more than weird. It feels. *wrong*. Extremely wrong. It's just not right. She should be with us."
They watched as Ami's fingers flew over a sky-blue clam-shaped iBook and answered, without looking up, "The data concludes that this is because our flight to Milan was with her, and that not having her on the return flight seems mis-matched." She met their dull eyes with a sad look. "Of course, the computer," she closed the lid firmly, "does not have feelings, or all the answers. Serena not being with us feels like something is amiss."
"Like we're missing part of our group," Rei answered for her, closing her eyes in defeat. "I just feel like we should have protected her, or something. We knew. We all knew, from the beginning, at least that something was off, and Mina wasn't herself. I blame myself for not noticing sooner. Maybe we could have covered her tracks better."
"Boy, I'd like to punch that skank in the face for what she did to Serena. You know she had to get the information out of two people: Darien or the convention manager. Now, Darien. enough said. How far do you think she went with that scrawny looking guy?"
"-Not far at all," Madison answered calmly, looking dangerously ready to spring. "I guess some women have it." she looked at Lita disparagingly, "and some. don't."
Green fire banked in Lita's eyes and she unthinkingly reached out, not even noticing when a small spark jumped from her hand onto Madison's wrist.
"Ouch!" She nearly flew back into the aisle. "That hurt!"
The tall woman gave her a strange look. "I barely touched you."
"No, that really *hurt*! Steward! Stewardess!" Madison looked especially annoyed when no one came her to aid.
Ami grinned cheekily. "They prefer the term 'Flight Attendant,' I believe."
Realizing her dramatics in the aisle were doing nothing for her side of the story and generally annoying the rest of the passengers, she shot them one last evil look and headed back to her seat.
'We're *not* finished.' They all thought quietly, stunned by the depth of their fury, against this individual woman and what she'd done to their closest friend.
Lita took a deep breath and rubbed her face tiredly. "I don't know what got into me, guys. But I swear--you saw--I didn't even grab her."
The petite blue woman stared closely at Lita's hand and then up to her friend's eyes. "Of course not. She was just overreacting, as usual."
They sat back in their silence, wanting to do something, not knowing what.
Inspiration struck as Rei moved from her seat and into the aisle. They moved their legs to let her pass through and looked questioningly at her.
"Let me handle this one, guys. I'm a pro." Rei smirked evilly, taking two sodas and shaking them up before placing them comically on either side of her belt, like an old western movie.
The two shared grins and hastened to grab something to do so that they didn't look so guilty. When they heard the scream about 20 seconds later- Ami timed it-Lita was glad she hadn't stuck cookies in her bag.
Because they were laughing so hard their sides felt like they were on fire.
* * *
Getting clearance to land and deboard was easy. Almost painfully so. Baggage claim and meeting the driver felt like a walk in the park. Not only had they done so a thousand of times, but the suit-clad man that held a sign with their name was the same driver as usual and as a joke to them, had written their name in big, screaming letters.
"Hey, Frank." Rei said, drawing up a smile for him and ruthlessly dragging her carry on behind her. The overloaded suitcase rolled over a few tourists' feet and they yelped in protest. "Get over it," she muttered, dragging it more firmly. "Stupid speed bumps."
When she walked ahead a safe distance, Frank looked at Ami. "Something wrong?"
"A *lot* of somethings," Lita chimed in over his shoulder, pulling the strap on her backpack tighter. "Rei didn't sleep well on the flight home and there's something she's not telling us."
"One of *those* things again?" Frank referred to the all-too-eerie situations when the girls knew when something was up, even though they hadn't actually spoken about it. The older man was something of a grandfather to them, and they confided in him as much as they could. It was nice to have someone like Frank who was removed from the business, but not so far that he wouldn't understand what was going on.
"Yep," Ami sighed. "And I'm starting to get an clue of why she's so agitated right now."
"Why?" Lita and Frank chimed.
She stopped, pausing to look at the two carefully. "No one told Mina what's going on."
* * *
Speeding through four traffic lights, running five stop signs, going 65 in a 20, and putting on her best act for not one--but *two*--police officers aside, she *still* hadn't made it home in time. The lights were off when she reached the apartment and Serena's suitcase was nowhere to be seen. Whether or not that had to do with if she'd even taken a suitcase was another thing entirely.
But Mina was fairly certain that, knowing her cousin as well as she did, Serena had bolted and left the girls to pick up the pieces. She hadn't left many, that was for sure. Most of the conflict was going to be kept in-house (meaning, inside the company) but it was unreasonable to consider that the media wouldn't have a field day once they got a hold of it.
Being in a high-profile job for as long as she had prepared Mina for the onslaught of questions she was barraged with by a few lucky reporters that had camped outside the apartment's entrance. She waved them aside and somehow just knew that she was too late.
Getting inside and seeing the darkness only confirmed it for her.
Serena loved sunlight. She was, as some of her friends joked, sunlight personified. When she smiled, it lit up the space she was in. But when she was depressed. it was like a permanent cloud had overshadowed their lives. There were only a few times when this happened, but they were enough for Mina to know that she didn't want it to happen again.
Hesitantly, Mina gently pushed open the door to her cousin's room and allowed herself a minute to adjust to the shadows. The curtains were pulled closed and if not for a sliver of moonlight that illuminated Serena's face, Mina would have never known she was home, much less in her room. She didn't have the heart to turn on the glaring lights and wake her up. Even in the pale light, Serena looked completely exhausted, and her eyes had caught the dried tears on her cheek.
Sighing heavily, she pulled the door closed behind her and reached for the phone. "Yeah. She's home." Mina leaned her head against the wall and listened to the person on the other line. "Sleeping. I couldn't wake her up. If she feels up to explaining tomorrow, we'll talk about it. If not. then I'll wait." A rueful smile touched her lips briefly. "I know. Thanks, Rei. Goodnight."
If Mina had taken a closer look in the room, if she had spared it more than the cursory glance, she would have seen the crumpled card in her cousin's hand. It was all but hidden from view, but the same sliver of moonlight that had once illuminated Serena's face, had a mind of it's own and moved to glow on the simple font on the card.
Once the door had closed, the card slipped out of her hand and fell to the floor.
Right next to the cordless phone.
* * *
It is ironic to note that the two people trying to put the most amount of distance between them, were the two who arrived back home first. They didn't give their best friends any notice or regard, just headed for their beds and crashed for the next 24 hours.
Because after that, the real hell would begin. And god save us all, for a shattered blonde and equally stubborn boss were going to send their company into a tailspin.
* * *
I know this chapter was kind of short, but it's crucial to the plot and the little things will eventually come back to haunt us all in very strange ways.
As always, the update list is here, waiting for more members: groups.yahoo.com/serenity_sea_updatelist
***If you haven't already downloaded the Alicia Keys song (Goodbye) for the last chapter, I suggest you do so now. It's used more extensively in this chapter. Sorry for the not-so-long-wait for this chapter. At least it's not like six months later. You know, some of those authors do that and. . .***
* ~ *
37,000 feet above the ground, safely encased in the arms of reinforced steel and soft leather recliner seats, rested our stressed out Serena Cohen.
Being one of few passengers in the Business First cabin, the trip from Milan, Italy to Newark, New Jersey appeared to be a rather uneventful one. It was early, the pocket right before commuter traffic - and, incidentally, the bulk of the company from which she was trying to run - and so it was for nearly the first half of the flight that our spitfire blonde slept with her headphones on.
When she finally opened her eyes about five hours later, she recognized the song on her CD player and wished she was still blissfully dead to the world. Mina must have borrowed her Discman and forgotten to take her CD out, because 'Goodbye' was on and hitting *way* too close to home.
But how do I let go when I've Loved him for so long and I've Given him all that I could Was it something wrong that we did Because others infiltrated What went wrong with something once so good.
Is this the end? are you sure? How should you know when you've never been here before It's so hard to just let go When this is the one and only love I've ever known.
"Excuse me, Miss." Someone put a hand on her shoulder and she wiped away a stray tear to look up at the flight attendant.
Vaguely, Serena remembered the woman giving her name but now that she'd conked out for such a solid amount of time, it was pretty much mush. She must have smiled or something because the next thing she knew, a glass of champagne was set before her.
Too dazed to comprehend what exactly was going on, she mumbled her thanks and the ever-smiling flight attendant whispered conspiratorially, "It's from the gentleman in 4B, Ms. Cohen." She giggled, "I'd go for him myself if he hadn't been watching you since you sat down."
'Well that was sort of creepy.' Serena managed a weak smile and looked over to her right. A man with closely cropped brown hair and hazel eyes was smiling at her. She lifted raised the hand with the glass in return and took a small sip.
Almost immediately, she was slammed with memories of last night. Champagne had been, after all, the drink of choice. Even in her emotional stupor, she didn't want to make the nice - if somewhat weird - man upset by making faces at the drink, so she turned her head back to the window and let a few more tears slip by.
Glassy, lifeless eyes stared back at her and she would have flinched if she hadn't been so busy remembering how she'd gotten in her seat in the first place.
* * *
The only thing running through her head as she ran from the elevators was home. She had to get home. Once she got home, everything would be okay, because everything was always better once you were in your own bed, on the right side of the Atlantic, not facing many wrong hours of jet lag.
Of course, getting there was another thing entirely.
Leaving the hotel as she had, in a literal whirlwind, she'd hailed a taxi and headed to the airport, placing a full-price ticket on her credit card. The soonest flight was in 15 minutes, but she didn't have luggage or a carry-on, just her purse, and her dawning publicity made it able for them to hold the plane until she got on.
Then she put on headphones, collapsed into her seat, and blacked out.
* * *
"I couldn't help but notice, you're all alone, and looking quite sad." It was Mr. Champagne. She looked up at him, taking in the dark brown hair and hazel eyes that, for some reason, reminded her of Lita. "My name is Nick and I was wondering. are you okay?"
How easy it would be to tell this man all her problems, to dump it off her shoulders and throw it on his broad, infinitely stronger ones. But she was a willful blonde with an ungodly amount of pride and refused to let herself spill her guts to a total stranger many feet above the ground.
"Let's just say I'd had the week from Hell," she replied weakly. "And I want to get home and disappear for a few weeks."
He gave her a sympathetic look. "I've been there. My old boss was a bitch. She practically brainwashed us to do her dirty work for her. I just got a new job last week and I feel like a new man already."
Serena summoned a smile. "Career change is always a good thing." She thought of how easy it would be to disappear like she'd said and change her career, change her name, change everything.
"Look, I hope this doesn't seem too forward to you, but I'm going to give you my card. It has my home and cell numbers on it, and I'd like for you to give me a call if you feel like pulling a disappearing act." He handed her a crisp, light green square. At her admiring look he said, "I didn't want it to be like everyone else's card. We live in New York, right? There's no reason why we can't be as outrageous as our city's occupants."
With that, and a heartbreaking grin, Nick Reynolds left Serena alone for the rest of the flight. He seemed to vanish before she even left the plane and a corner of her brain wondered where he'd gone. Then the stewardess was handing her Rei's hat and before she knew it, she was in a cab, on her way to her apartment.
* * *
When they'd leveled off around 30-thousand feet, Rei broke the silence.
"This feels weird."
"Weird?" Lita turned her gaze from the clouds outside. "It feels more than weird. It feels. *wrong*. Extremely wrong. It's just not right. She should be with us."
They watched as Ami's fingers flew over a sky-blue clam-shaped iBook and answered, without looking up, "The data concludes that this is because our flight to Milan was with her, and that not having her on the return flight seems mis-matched." She met their dull eyes with a sad look. "Of course, the computer," she closed the lid firmly, "does not have feelings, or all the answers. Serena not being with us feels like something is amiss."
"Like we're missing part of our group," Rei answered for her, closing her eyes in defeat. "I just feel like we should have protected her, or something. We knew. We all knew, from the beginning, at least that something was off, and Mina wasn't herself. I blame myself for not noticing sooner. Maybe we could have covered her tracks better."
"Boy, I'd like to punch that skank in the face for what she did to Serena. You know she had to get the information out of two people: Darien or the convention manager. Now, Darien. enough said. How far do you think she went with that scrawny looking guy?"
"-Not far at all," Madison answered calmly, looking dangerously ready to spring. "I guess some women have it." she looked at Lita disparagingly, "and some. don't."
Green fire banked in Lita's eyes and she unthinkingly reached out, not even noticing when a small spark jumped from her hand onto Madison's wrist.
"Ouch!" She nearly flew back into the aisle. "That hurt!"
The tall woman gave her a strange look. "I barely touched you."
"No, that really *hurt*! Steward! Stewardess!" Madison looked especially annoyed when no one came her to aid.
Ami grinned cheekily. "They prefer the term 'Flight Attendant,' I believe."
Realizing her dramatics in the aisle were doing nothing for her side of the story and generally annoying the rest of the passengers, she shot them one last evil look and headed back to her seat.
'We're *not* finished.' They all thought quietly, stunned by the depth of their fury, against this individual woman and what she'd done to their closest friend.
Lita took a deep breath and rubbed her face tiredly. "I don't know what got into me, guys. But I swear--you saw--I didn't even grab her."
The petite blue woman stared closely at Lita's hand and then up to her friend's eyes. "Of course not. She was just overreacting, as usual."
They sat back in their silence, wanting to do something, not knowing what.
Inspiration struck as Rei moved from her seat and into the aisle. They moved their legs to let her pass through and looked questioningly at her.
"Let me handle this one, guys. I'm a pro." Rei smirked evilly, taking two sodas and shaking them up before placing them comically on either side of her belt, like an old western movie.
The two shared grins and hastened to grab something to do so that they didn't look so guilty. When they heard the scream about 20 seconds later- Ami timed it-Lita was glad she hadn't stuck cookies in her bag.
Because they were laughing so hard their sides felt like they were on fire.
* * *
Getting clearance to land and deboard was easy. Almost painfully so. Baggage claim and meeting the driver felt like a walk in the park. Not only had they done so a thousand of times, but the suit-clad man that held a sign with their name was the same driver as usual and as a joke to them, had written their name in big, screaming letters.
"Hey, Frank." Rei said, drawing up a smile for him and ruthlessly dragging her carry on behind her. The overloaded suitcase rolled over a few tourists' feet and they yelped in protest. "Get over it," she muttered, dragging it more firmly. "Stupid speed bumps."
When she walked ahead a safe distance, Frank looked at Ami. "Something wrong?"
"A *lot* of somethings," Lita chimed in over his shoulder, pulling the strap on her backpack tighter. "Rei didn't sleep well on the flight home and there's something she's not telling us."
"One of *those* things again?" Frank referred to the all-too-eerie situations when the girls knew when something was up, even though they hadn't actually spoken about it. The older man was something of a grandfather to them, and they confided in him as much as they could. It was nice to have someone like Frank who was removed from the business, but not so far that he wouldn't understand what was going on.
"Yep," Ami sighed. "And I'm starting to get an clue of why she's so agitated right now."
"Why?" Lita and Frank chimed.
She stopped, pausing to look at the two carefully. "No one told Mina what's going on."
* * *
Speeding through four traffic lights, running five stop signs, going 65 in a 20, and putting on her best act for not one--but *two*--police officers aside, she *still* hadn't made it home in time. The lights were off when she reached the apartment and Serena's suitcase was nowhere to be seen. Whether or not that had to do with if she'd even taken a suitcase was another thing entirely.
But Mina was fairly certain that, knowing her cousin as well as she did, Serena had bolted and left the girls to pick up the pieces. She hadn't left many, that was for sure. Most of the conflict was going to be kept in-house (meaning, inside the company) but it was unreasonable to consider that the media wouldn't have a field day once they got a hold of it.
Being in a high-profile job for as long as she had prepared Mina for the onslaught of questions she was barraged with by a few lucky reporters that had camped outside the apartment's entrance. She waved them aside and somehow just knew that she was too late.
Getting inside and seeing the darkness only confirmed it for her.
Serena loved sunlight. She was, as some of her friends joked, sunlight personified. When she smiled, it lit up the space she was in. But when she was depressed. it was like a permanent cloud had overshadowed their lives. There were only a few times when this happened, but they were enough for Mina to know that she didn't want it to happen again.
Hesitantly, Mina gently pushed open the door to her cousin's room and allowed herself a minute to adjust to the shadows. The curtains were pulled closed and if not for a sliver of moonlight that illuminated Serena's face, Mina would have never known she was home, much less in her room. She didn't have the heart to turn on the glaring lights and wake her up. Even in the pale light, Serena looked completely exhausted, and her eyes had caught the dried tears on her cheek.
Sighing heavily, she pulled the door closed behind her and reached for the phone. "Yeah. She's home." Mina leaned her head against the wall and listened to the person on the other line. "Sleeping. I couldn't wake her up. If she feels up to explaining tomorrow, we'll talk about it. If not. then I'll wait." A rueful smile touched her lips briefly. "I know. Thanks, Rei. Goodnight."
If Mina had taken a closer look in the room, if she had spared it more than the cursory glance, she would have seen the crumpled card in her cousin's hand. It was all but hidden from view, but the same sliver of moonlight that had once illuminated Serena's face, had a mind of it's own and moved to glow on the simple font on the card.
Once the door had closed, the card slipped out of her hand and fell to the floor.
Right next to the cordless phone.
* * *
It is ironic to note that the two people trying to put the most amount of distance between them, were the two who arrived back home first. They didn't give their best friends any notice or regard, just headed for their beds and crashed for the next 24 hours.
Because after that, the real hell would begin. And god save us all, for a shattered blonde and equally stubborn boss were going to send their company into a tailspin.
* * *
I know this chapter was kind of short, but it's crucial to the plot and the little things will eventually come back to haunt us all in very strange ways.
As always, the update list is here, waiting for more members: groups.yahoo.com/serenity_sea_updatelist