Heya ppelz!
I know I've been gone a while but I've been working on the next chappy over my spring break and I really hope you life it!!! If you guyz have any suggestions as to what you want to happen next please let me know.
~*~* *~*~
^Serena's POV^ 'God, where did I fall asleep? I should make this my bed more often.' Serena thinks to herself as she starts to stir in her spot and slowly crack open her eyes against the harsh early morning sun.
Suddenly she realized where she fell asleep, in the arms of a still sleeping Darien. 'Damn, shit, damn, fuck, goddamn'it! What did I do to deserve this? In the arms of my...what is he? More than just Raye's brother and I certainly can't see just a friend...hmm; I'll save that for a later thought.' She thinks to herself as she turns her head every which way slowly to see if she can get out of this without waking Darien up. 'I'm stuck until he wakes up, unless I'm willing to wake him up now but for some reason I feel...comfortable just lying here in his arms. I think I'll let him sleep a little while longer, plus he looks cute-wait! Where in the hell did that come from? No way am I letting my thoughts wonder over to...that kind of...thoughts!' Serena tells herself as she lays her head back down slowly on the soft material that covers the over sized beanbag and without realizing it, turns her head towards Darien.
'Maybe I can sleep for just a while longer, I've got to go shopping, anyways-wait! Shit what time is it?' she asks herself as she raises her head up a little to look at the stereo system and sees that it says 7:40. I better go on and get up so I don't have to hear Mina whining about me making us late and Lita saying she told me so.
"Darien" she says and realizes that her voice sounds like a frog's, she clears it and then tries again. "Darien" she says a little louder and shakes him a little to get him up.
Darien lets out a small noise that comes from his throat as he hugs Serena closer, almost like a big teddy bear.
'Uggg! What have I gotten myself into?' Serena asks herself as she smacks her forehead with her hand, since Darien as her by her waist. 'I got it!' she tells herself excitedly as she starts to tickle Darien in his ribs, hoping this would do some good and not just piss him off.
Suddenly he lets go of Serena and starts to twitch in his sleep and Serena soon realizes that he's awake and has also let go of her, "Ha! That got him to let go." She tells herself a loud as she stands up a little shakily and starts to stretch all of the kinks out of her body from lying down their.
"Where am I?" she hears Darien mummer as he starts to wake up a little more and she watches him look around the room. "We're in my den." She tells him as she after she watches him for a few minutes.
'What am I doing watching him? I thought I didn't like him.' She asks herself, ~No, you only thought you didn't like him. Remember what you told Ms. Morlang? You go with the flow of your feelings.~, that annoyingly always right voice tells herself as she starts to leave the room.
"I've got to go take a shower and get dressed, but yea know. If you want to come with us to the main land then I suggest the same." Serena tells him, without actually looking at what she can get her mind to grasp. "Um, thanks. I'll think about it." He tells her as she walks right out the room.
^Darien's POV^
'What happened last night? How did I end up falling asleep with Serena? Shouldn't she be ranting and raving at me for doing such a thing or maybe she doesn't dislike....er...hate me as much as I thought she did. But why did she invite me to go to the main land and go shopping with her? None of this makes any sense, yesterday made sense but not this morning. It's like hell!' he tells himself as he rubs his eyes with one hand in absolute tiredness.
"I'm going to end up driving myself insane." He mutters to no one in particular.
"You will, if you don't get that mind of yours in order!" says an amused reply from the doorway.
Darien looks up and sees his stepmother standing their looking like the cat that got away with the cream as she smirks at him.
"What are you so damn happy about this early? It's not even 9 o'clock yet." He tells her as he gets up and pops his back.
"Do you have to do that?" he hears his stepmother ask him.
"No, but I prefer to." He tells her simply as he stands back up from doing that and looks at her, still in her nightclothes.
"I'm going to take a shower." He informs her as he walks out right past her.
"I hope you plane on going with Serena." His stepmother tells him just as he starts to make his way up the stairs.
"I'll think about it." He tells her as he continues up them.
'Why in the world is she so damn eager to get me out of the house? It sounds as if she's planning, I should probably talk to Raye about this.' Darien tells himself as he walks right past his room and goes to see if Raye's up yet.
Darien stops at the door Lita told him yesterday was hers and knocks quietly on her door. After waiting in silence for a few minutes Darien just shrugged his shoulders and turned around and went to his to take a shower and think over going with Serena or not.
He went into his Japanese themed bathroom with a white wife-beater and black slacks in his hand as he closes his bathroom door.
'I guess I'll go to get out of the house and to do some last minute shopping but not to give my step-mother the satisfaction of getting me to do something.' He tells himself with a nod as he turns on the shower and lets the room steam up as he strips and brushes his teeth.
^Raye's POV^
'What the-' Raye says to herself as she's stirred from her dead sleep by someone tapping softly on her door, "Maybe they'll go away." She mumbles to herself as she covers her head with a pillow and tries to burrow herself further under the covers and back to sleep.
........... "Damnit!" she tells herself after a few moments of complete silence has passed along with the person that woke her up from her wonderful dead sleep. 'Might as well go ahead and get up for a day of shopping.' She tells herself as she gets up bonelessly from her 'to-die-for-bed' and into the wonderfully decorated bathroom for a wake up shower.
~*~* *~*~
"What should I wear?" she asks herself as she's picking her way through her suit case and trying to decide on what to wear shopping wit Serena and Mina. "Maybe this will be okay" she mumbles to herself off-handedly as she looks at a black crinkle gauze skirt and a dark red silk halter camisole that has a sharp V-neckline that ended just above her bra and tied behind her neck. "Hmm....now which shoes?" she asks herself as she slips on her halter and skirt. "Not enough to choice from, I think I shoulder probably buy a few new pair." She thinks to herself, after finally deciding on a pair of Black Pewter Leather flower trimmed toe-ring sandals that has a 2" heal. 'I haven't worn these in a while' she thinks to herself as she brushes her hair out a little bit, grabs her purse and walks out her bedroom.
'What I should buy Darien for Christmas.' She muses to herself as she walks down the stairs to see Ami seating in the 'study' as everybody calls it with books scattered around her opened to some page or another and tons of paper and I pens/pencils littering the surfaces of the books. "Ami what are you doing?" she asks as she pokes her head in to see a weary Ami with blood shot eyes looking up at her. "Studying for my finals that I have to take when I go back to school." She hears Ami's meek reply along with the sound of pen scratching against paper. "Girl, you need to go get some sleep." Raye scowls her as she glares at the books lying in front of her. "I can't I still have to finish studying!" Ami tells her in weak defense. "I don't care, now go upstairs and go.to.SLEEP!" Raye tells her as she punctuates her last three words clearly and gives her the glare that would make anyone follow her command in a heartbeat. "Fine, fine but if I fail my final exams for my medical degree then it's on your head!" Ami tells her simply in a deadly calm voice as she gets up from her spot on top of the polished wooden desk and trudges past Raye, looking like she was being sent to the principles office.
"What's up with Ames? She looks like her pet just died." says Serena's voice behind her and Raye turns around to see her dressed in a white Square- neck halter that tied behind her neck along with a pair of light pink- cropped pants that had a drawstring at her waist along with a pair of white flip-flop sandal with metal grommet accents on the thong straps. "I just told her to go get some sleep; it looked like she stayed up all night studying for her test." Raye tells her as she looks at Serena. "God, again! She always does it and we can rarely get her away to even close her eyes. Thank you for finally putting some sense in her head." Serena tells her quietly and then a few endless minutes follow making them both feel uncomfortable.
"So, we going or what?" says Mina's happily bubble voice as she prances down the stairs wearing a mid-thigh dark blue denim skirt that ruffles along the hem, a daisy yellow keyhole halter that had strings that tied behind her neck and strings that tied between her breasts along with dark blue jelly sandals that came and tied all the way up her ankles. "Yea we're going, let me go and snag some breakfast first and tell Lita we're going." Serena tells her as she sees Hotaru coming down in a pair of simple low-raider black jeans and a black sheer fishnet long sleeve top over a black tank top and a pair of tennis shoes. "Aren't you going to be hot in that?" Mina asks as Serena disappears in the kitchen where Lita's probably at.
'How come Hotaru is the less dressed up or loudly dressed out of us?' Raye asks herself in wonderment as she wonders over to the back porch while she waits for everybody to do their last minute things so they could go.
^Serena's POV^
"Lits, what are you making for breakfast?" Serena asks her as she wonders up behind her. "Hash browns, cut-up fruit and orange juice." Lita tells her as she flips over a potato patty that she just flopped down into the virgin olive oil. "Yummy! Do you have some hash browns already made?" Serena asks hopefully as she snags a few pieces of cut-up fruit and starts chewing on them. "Yea, here's a plate I already made for you since I figured you'd wanna eat something before you left." Lita tells her as she hands over a plate with has browns stacked on it.
"Lits, will you keep an eye on Ami today? Make sure you don't let her back into the study at all costs, if you have to lock her out the house. I don't want her studying anymore this whole vacation. She stayed up all night studying for those damn tests that aren't for another 2 or 3 months!!!" Serena tells her in anger that's just a mask for her worry. "I will and I know. I caught her last night and I begged her to go to bed but she just ignored me and went on burying her nose in those be damned books. Don't get me wrong, I approve of furthering your education but come on, not to the point of burning yourself out over nothing." Lita tells her as she looks at Serena with true concern and worry in her eyes.
'Damnit! Doesn't Ami see? See that she's over stressing herself over nothing and causing us to worry in the process?' Serena asks herself as she sips her orange juice, lost in thought.
"Serena, tomorrow let's have a day out at the beach. Yea know with a picnic basket and just lounging on the beach and reading." Lita tells her as she turns back around and finishes cooking the patties. "I like that, we should do that tomorrow. I'll tell everyone and I'll buy a new bathing suit while we're out since mine has gotten just a tad small." Serena tells her sheepishly as she slides down from the stool she had propped herself on to eat her breakfast and walks out the kitchen, leaving Lita to her own devices.
~*~* *~*~
"Lits!!! We're back!!!!" Mina yells into the house as she bounds into the house with her 5 shopping bags and up the stairs to her room.
"Remind me not to do that again." Serena mumbles to herself as she rubs her eyes and takes out the 4 shopping bags and helps Hotaru with her's while trying not to bump into Darien, which was virtually impossible since they only took 2 cars and Mina and Raye where in the second one.
'What possessed me to ask him to come again? Sleepiness probably.' Serena tells herself in a groan as she trudges up the stairs with Hotaru following and Darien still taking his bags out of the car.
"How'd the shopping trip go?" Lita asks her with a smile as she comes out of the 'seating room' with a broad grin on her face like she knew something none of them did. "Don't ask. I'm going upstairs, taking a nice long bath and then going to sunbath in my new bathing suit." Serena tells her tiredly as she leaves Hotaru with Lita and goes up to her room.
'Hmm...sleep sounds good right now.' Serena tells herself as she looks at her bed forlornly but shakes that thought out of her head, grabs her tiny white bikini and walks into her bathroom.
'I can't believe I invited HIM along with us! What was I thinking?' she rants to herself as she steps into the blissfully lukewarm water and just stands their.
~Maybe you weren't thinking.~ says the o-mighty-voice. 'Go the fuck away. I'm busy brooding and being stressed out.' She snaps at the voice as she begins to wash her hair, slowly. ~You're only stressed out because you wont accept which you know is true.~ comes the slightly cryptic reply in an annoying snickering tone as Serena begins to twist her hair up in to a funky half-bun and begins to scrub her back. *I don't know what your talking, nothing you say does make sense.* Serena replies with a snort as she washes her body off under the spray, lets her hair down and turns off the water. ~Denial is something other than just a Nile in Egypt.~ says the mocking voice, that just keeps grating on Serena's nerves as she wraps a towel around her hair. *I'm perfectly aware of that, and I still don't know what you're talking about.* Serena tells her voice in an ignorant voice as she puts on her white tie-back triangle top and side-tie bottom with bead trim bathing suit.
~*~* *~*~
Serena lies down on a plastic lounge chair trying to get comfortable with her portable c.d. player next to her with Joss Stone's 'The Soul Sessions' in it.
"What the hell is that?" says Lita's voice from the French doors Serena left open.
"My new c.d. that I bought today, what's it to you?" Serena asks defensively as she glares at Lita.
"Nothing, just that it sounds a little funky that's all." Lita replies with a shrug of her shoulders as she gets comfortable on leaning against the door frame.
"Oh well, what is it that you wanted?" Serena asks still a little defensive.
"Just that Jade and Micheal are coming in about a week and Nick is coming in about 2 or 3 days and he'd call us when his private jet plane landed." Lita tells her with a smirk on her face.
"Great! Whose gonna go pick him up?" Serena asks with a wide smile on her face.
"Whoever, he didn't name anyone in particular but I was thinking about going to get him." Lita tells her with a slight shrug as she goes back into the house.
'What the hell is with everyone getting crushes with my friends suddenly? Damn, I wanna hook up with someone!' Serena rants to herself as she sulks into her plastic lounge chair and just turns up 'I've Fallen In Love With You' that has just started playing.
'Damn this song is just to true.' Serena grumbles to herself as she closes her eyes and starts swaying her head back and forth.
^Raye's POV^
'I wonder what everybody is up to?' Raye asks herself as she finishes putting everything the she bought today in her closet.
'How did Darien get invited to come?....Mina probably invited him for some unknown reason but for some reason the air between Serena and Darien just felt differently. I wonder what happened between them?' Raye asks herself as she leaves her bedroom and goes down stairs.
"Raye!" says her mother's voice from behind her as she goes to step into the 'seating room' or the den.
"Yes?" Raye replies as she turns around and sees her mother wearing a pair of red silk pants that look like pajamas and a Chinese style black and red silk shirt. "Why did Darien go with you three?" her mother asks in a neutral-tone as she looks everywhere but into Raye's eyes or face for that matter.
"To go shopping, out of this house, sight-seeing? I don't know nor am I going to ask. I know you're up to something but don't you dare make me play any kind of part in it!" Raye tells her, glaringly.
'Damnit! My mother always has to put her nose into everything and then drag me into it kicking and screaming.' Raye thinks to herself as she turns away from her mother and instead of going into the 'seating room' goes out of the French doors to see Serena laying back, facing the sun with her white sunglasses on, and c.d. player blaring music that she can just catch the lyrics to.
'Hmm, that new bathing suit looks good on her. I'm guessing White and Pink are her two favorite colors if not, they look really good on her.' Raye tells herself as she walks back into the house.
'What do I wanna do?' Raye asks herself as she wanders into the kitchen where Lita was seating down on at the island, drinking a fruity frozen drink and reading a book called 'Cooking a Picnic Extravaganza!'
"What you drinking?" Raye asks as she walks to the refrigerator and pulled out a bottle of water to at least occupy her hands with.
"A apple fruitacion." Lita tells her off-handedly with a wave of her hand without her eyes leaving the words that she's reading.
"Interesting, something you made?" Raye asks truly curious at the drink that looks reddish and not a hint of green liquid.
"Just a little this and that, mostly vodka and a little bit of ginger ale." Lita tells her in the same tone as before.
"Unusual, well I'll let you get back to reading." Raye tells her as she walks out of the kitchen and off to find Darien.
'There is nothing to fucking do around her but read, sunbath, swim, and study it seems.' She mumbles to herself as she climbs the stairs with the unopened bottle of water in her hand. j ^Darien's POV^
'Umm, that was certainly a different shopping then what I was expecting. I'm just stunned that Serena didn't get huffy at me or aggravated once!' Darien exclaims to himself as she changes into a pair of new black linen pants that pool around his feet and hangs off his hips but leaves his white wife-beater on.
"I like these." He mumbles to himself as he bends down and starts hiding all of the presents he bought earlier under his bed just as he hears his bedroom door opened.
"Yea?" he asks without looking at who it was or if that even entered his room.
"What you doing Darien?" comes his sister's voice from what he was guessing his doorway.
"Just putting some presents up." Darien answers as he slides one of the presents he bought for Raye under the bed.
"Oh, do you have anything planned for today?" Raye asks in a bored tone as he hears her move further into the room and plops on the bed.
"Not really, Nicks coming in 2 days or so. He's flying his jet over and will be staying here, I'm guessing Serena invited him." Darien tells her with a small shrug of his shoulders.
"Really? Anybody else coming?" Raye asks with curiosity.
"Don't know. It seems that Serena literally runs the whole show." Darien tells her, mumbling the last bit off-handedly as his mind wonders to what other things just as his cellphone rings.
As he looks up to see where he last put it, Raye throws the damn thing.
"Thanks" Darien tell her as he presses 'yes' and puts it up to his ear only to be yelled at.
"Stop!" he yells at them and instantly the line is totally silent.
"What's wrong?" he asks after he got his bearings.
"The new car is pummeling." His advisor tells him in a rush of breath.
"What do you mean?" he asks as he grabs his palm pilot off the coffee table and then leaves the room to head outside,
"Well in the last week the prophets have down a swan dive from over 1oo mill to a little of 100 grand and that's only in the U.S. the foreign prophets have gotten worst." Replies the horrified advisor as he walks out onto the back porch and sets up a small office on the railing of the banister that over looks the private beach.
"Okay, so we've lost quiet a bit. How bad are the foreign?" Darien asks, voice in full business mode and losing himself in the business at hand.
"You don't want to know, believe me!" the advisor tells him as he hears papers ruffling and voices talking back and forth behind him.
"Tell me or....I'll...fire you!" Darien tells him a little uncertain at the small threat on the guys job.
"The Chinese has gone down at least 50,000, Japanese is 80,000 yin, Europe is 347,000 Euro. I can't get really any more specific or blunter than that." The advisor that he's thinking named Leon, Leo or something along those lines.
"Okay, we need to get some more advertisement done on it. Like a huge racing done with a modified version in it, more television ads, newspapers, magazines, internet, posters, everything and anything you can think of. This is the biggest investment our company is going to make this year and if it doesn't do good we'll all be out of a job including me!" Darien tells him in a calm tone the he talks in when he's to scared to know how to react or to anything.
"Gotcha sir, do want me to start looking for some models now for the magazines and a driver for the race?" Leon asks, a little nervous at his tone of voice.
"No, I'll look for those since the last one was horrible and looked like she had everything medically done to her that's possible." Darien tells him in disgust as he punched away on the pilot as he hunts down a dealer in Europe that he only messes with when he really needs he's help, like this.
"Gotcha, we'll be right on everything and I'll call you when we've got everything finalized." Leon replies and then hangs up.
"Damnit!" Darien mumbles to himself as he removes it from he's ear and pushes 6.
"Hello" comes a snooty voice immediately, not even letting it ring once.
"Chad, Darien." He tells him as he makes a memo in his pilot and continues clicking away.
"What can I do for yea, I'm kind of busy at the moment." Chad tells him as he hears girls giggling in the background.
"You getting laid can wait for later, I need help now!" Darien tells him, annoyed at how he's still living.
"It had better be a hell of a deal!" Chad tells him angrily.
"Yea, I'll give you 50 grand now if you can get my latest car to sell over their and I'll give you 100 grand later once it's done and I'm satisfied with the prophet of the sale.
"Only 150? I should get at least 400 for a job this big." Says Chad's snooty and haggling voice.
"I wont go any higher than 260" Darien says annoyingly as he looks out angrily and annoyed on to the beach to see Sammy and his little girlfriend walking hand-in-hand along the beach.
"340" Chad replies.
"270" Darien answers.
"300 or I wont do it" Chad tells him in a 'high-than-you' tone.
"That's okay, I'll just get somebody to do this." Darien tells him with small shrug that carried over the phone.
"Fine, 270 but I want 200 up front!" Chad answers in a voice that reminds him of a child that didn't get the stuff animal they wanted.
"No problem, I'll wire it to you within 24 hrs. I want to see my new car on the top 5 list of this year over in Europe of I'll take back my 200 and you want see the 70." Darien tells him in all seriousness.
"Sure sure. I'll call you in a week and give you an update." Chad tells him and then hangs up,
"That no good little rat. I don't even know why I even do business with him, he'll probably wait until the last minute before he does anything and then use the money I give him for more women." Darien grumbles to himself as he seats down in the closest seat with his palm pilot in one hand and the cell phone in the other.
"What's wrong?" comes a voice that he doesn't need to hear right now.
Darien looks up and sees Serena seating up, earphones around her neck, sunglasses parched up on top of her head and she in the most innocent but seductive bathing suit he's ever seen a woman in before.
"Just my newest car is now losing me and my company money instead of making us money like originally planned." Darien replies in a defeated tone.
"Oh that's all, just your ego being bruised." Serena replies with a shrug of her shoulders as she lays back down and goes to put her headphones back on.
"My ego is not bruised, I'm about to possibly become broke. As in, I have no money to my name. My whole financial future along with my families is at stake here." Darien tells her as it all finally sinks in, what's happing.
"Shit" he mutters to himself as his cell phone starts ringing.
"Really? So going broke is a bad thing?" Serena asks quizzically as she turns off her c.d. player (to reserve the batteries is her excuse) and seats up and looks at him.
"Hell yes, especially when I'll have my sister and step-mother breathing down my necks and let me just say that having two upset fire-breathing women biting at your ass is NOT fun!" Darien tells her as he glances at the caller ID of the phone and sees that it's just he;s office.
"Darien, I feel sorry for you and your sheltered rose colored life." Serena tells him with true pity in her voice as she gets up from the chair she was laying in and walks down to the beach with c.d. player in hand.
'What the? She feels sorry for me and what was that rose colored comment about? Does she think I'm gay suddenly? My life just keeps getting more complicated at every turns.' He thinks to himself as he trudges up to his room and sets up a small office.
~*~* *~*~
Okay, here it is! Was it good? Did yea like it? Please let me know your opinions, I don't even care if it's flames or you totally criticizing me!!!
R&R!!!!! R&R!!!!! R&R!!!!!
Ja ne!
Princess
I know I've been gone a while but I've been working on the next chappy over my spring break and I really hope you life it!!! If you guyz have any suggestions as to what you want to happen next please let me know.
~*~* *~*~
^Serena's POV^ 'God, where did I fall asleep? I should make this my bed more often.' Serena thinks to herself as she starts to stir in her spot and slowly crack open her eyes against the harsh early morning sun.
Suddenly she realized where she fell asleep, in the arms of a still sleeping Darien. 'Damn, shit, damn, fuck, goddamn'it! What did I do to deserve this? In the arms of my...what is he? More than just Raye's brother and I certainly can't see just a friend...hmm; I'll save that for a later thought.' She thinks to herself as she turns her head every which way slowly to see if she can get out of this without waking Darien up. 'I'm stuck until he wakes up, unless I'm willing to wake him up now but for some reason I feel...comfortable just lying here in his arms. I think I'll let him sleep a little while longer, plus he looks cute-wait! Where in the hell did that come from? No way am I letting my thoughts wonder over to...that kind of...thoughts!' Serena tells herself as she lays her head back down slowly on the soft material that covers the over sized beanbag and without realizing it, turns her head towards Darien.
'Maybe I can sleep for just a while longer, I've got to go shopping, anyways-wait! Shit what time is it?' she asks herself as she raises her head up a little to look at the stereo system and sees that it says 7:40. I better go on and get up so I don't have to hear Mina whining about me making us late and Lita saying she told me so.
"Darien" she says and realizes that her voice sounds like a frog's, she clears it and then tries again. "Darien" she says a little louder and shakes him a little to get him up.
Darien lets out a small noise that comes from his throat as he hugs Serena closer, almost like a big teddy bear.
'Uggg! What have I gotten myself into?' Serena asks herself as she smacks her forehead with her hand, since Darien as her by her waist. 'I got it!' she tells herself excitedly as she starts to tickle Darien in his ribs, hoping this would do some good and not just piss him off.
Suddenly he lets go of Serena and starts to twitch in his sleep and Serena soon realizes that he's awake and has also let go of her, "Ha! That got him to let go." She tells herself a loud as she stands up a little shakily and starts to stretch all of the kinks out of her body from lying down their.
"Where am I?" she hears Darien mummer as he starts to wake up a little more and she watches him look around the room. "We're in my den." She tells him as she after she watches him for a few minutes.
'What am I doing watching him? I thought I didn't like him.' She asks herself, ~No, you only thought you didn't like him. Remember what you told Ms. Morlang? You go with the flow of your feelings.~, that annoyingly always right voice tells herself as she starts to leave the room.
"I've got to go take a shower and get dressed, but yea know. If you want to come with us to the main land then I suggest the same." Serena tells him, without actually looking at what she can get her mind to grasp. "Um, thanks. I'll think about it." He tells her as she walks right out the room.
^Darien's POV^
'What happened last night? How did I end up falling asleep with Serena? Shouldn't she be ranting and raving at me for doing such a thing or maybe she doesn't dislike....er...hate me as much as I thought she did. But why did she invite me to go to the main land and go shopping with her? None of this makes any sense, yesterday made sense but not this morning. It's like hell!' he tells himself as he rubs his eyes with one hand in absolute tiredness.
"I'm going to end up driving myself insane." He mutters to no one in particular.
"You will, if you don't get that mind of yours in order!" says an amused reply from the doorway.
Darien looks up and sees his stepmother standing their looking like the cat that got away with the cream as she smirks at him.
"What are you so damn happy about this early? It's not even 9 o'clock yet." He tells her as he gets up and pops his back.
"Do you have to do that?" he hears his stepmother ask him.
"No, but I prefer to." He tells her simply as he stands back up from doing that and looks at her, still in her nightclothes.
"I'm going to take a shower." He informs her as he walks out right past her.
"I hope you plane on going with Serena." His stepmother tells him just as he starts to make his way up the stairs.
"I'll think about it." He tells her as he continues up them.
'Why in the world is she so damn eager to get me out of the house? It sounds as if she's planning, I should probably talk to Raye about this.' Darien tells himself as he walks right past his room and goes to see if Raye's up yet.
Darien stops at the door Lita told him yesterday was hers and knocks quietly on her door. After waiting in silence for a few minutes Darien just shrugged his shoulders and turned around and went to his to take a shower and think over going with Serena or not.
He went into his Japanese themed bathroom with a white wife-beater and black slacks in his hand as he closes his bathroom door.
'I guess I'll go to get out of the house and to do some last minute shopping but not to give my step-mother the satisfaction of getting me to do something.' He tells himself with a nod as he turns on the shower and lets the room steam up as he strips and brushes his teeth.
^Raye's POV^
'What the-' Raye says to herself as she's stirred from her dead sleep by someone tapping softly on her door, "Maybe they'll go away." She mumbles to herself as she covers her head with a pillow and tries to burrow herself further under the covers and back to sleep.
........... "Damnit!" she tells herself after a few moments of complete silence has passed along with the person that woke her up from her wonderful dead sleep. 'Might as well go ahead and get up for a day of shopping.' She tells herself as she gets up bonelessly from her 'to-die-for-bed' and into the wonderfully decorated bathroom for a wake up shower.
~*~* *~*~
"What should I wear?" she asks herself as she's picking her way through her suit case and trying to decide on what to wear shopping wit Serena and Mina. "Maybe this will be okay" she mumbles to herself off-handedly as she looks at a black crinkle gauze skirt and a dark red silk halter camisole that has a sharp V-neckline that ended just above her bra and tied behind her neck. "Hmm....now which shoes?" she asks herself as she slips on her halter and skirt. "Not enough to choice from, I think I shoulder probably buy a few new pair." She thinks to herself, after finally deciding on a pair of Black Pewter Leather flower trimmed toe-ring sandals that has a 2" heal. 'I haven't worn these in a while' she thinks to herself as she brushes her hair out a little bit, grabs her purse and walks out her bedroom.
'What I should buy Darien for Christmas.' She muses to herself as she walks down the stairs to see Ami seating in the 'study' as everybody calls it with books scattered around her opened to some page or another and tons of paper and I pens/pencils littering the surfaces of the books. "Ami what are you doing?" she asks as she pokes her head in to see a weary Ami with blood shot eyes looking up at her. "Studying for my finals that I have to take when I go back to school." She hears Ami's meek reply along with the sound of pen scratching against paper. "Girl, you need to go get some sleep." Raye scowls her as she glares at the books lying in front of her. "I can't I still have to finish studying!" Ami tells her in weak defense. "I don't care, now go upstairs and go.to.SLEEP!" Raye tells her as she punctuates her last three words clearly and gives her the glare that would make anyone follow her command in a heartbeat. "Fine, fine but if I fail my final exams for my medical degree then it's on your head!" Ami tells her simply in a deadly calm voice as she gets up from her spot on top of the polished wooden desk and trudges past Raye, looking like she was being sent to the principles office.
"What's up with Ames? She looks like her pet just died." says Serena's voice behind her and Raye turns around to see her dressed in a white Square- neck halter that tied behind her neck along with a pair of light pink- cropped pants that had a drawstring at her waist along with a pair of white flip-flop sandal with metal grommet accents on the thong straps. "I just told her to go get some sleep; it looked like she stayed up all night studying for her test." Raye tells her as she looks at Serena. "God, again! She always does it and we can rarely get her away to even close her eyes. Thank you for finally putting some sense in her head." Serena tells her quietly and then a few endless minutes follow making them both feel uncomfortable.
"So, we going or what?" says Mina's happily bubble voice as she prances down the stairs wearing a mid-thigh dark blue denim skirt that ruffles along the hem, a daisy yellow keyhole halter that had strings that tied behind her neck and strings that tied between her breasts along with dark blue jelly sandals that came and tied all the way up her ankles. "Yea we're going, let me go and snag some breakfast first and tell Lita we're going." Serena tells her as she sees Hotaru coming down in a pair of simple low-raider black jeans and a black sheer fishnet long sleeve top over a black tank top and a pair of tennis shoes. "Aren't you going to be hot in that?" Mina asks as Serena disappears in the kitchen where Lita's probably at.
'How come Hotaru is the less dressed up or loudly dressed out of us?' Raye asks herself in wonderment as she wonders over to the back porch while she waits for everybody to do their last minute things so they could go.
^Serena's POV^
"Lits, what are you making for breakfast?" Serena asks her as she wonders up behind her. "Hash browns, cut-up fruit and orange juice." Lita tells her as she flips over a potato patty that she just flopped down into the virgin olive oil. "Yummy! Do you have some hash browns already made?" Serena asks hopefully as she snags a few pieces of cut-up fruit and starts chewing on them. "Yea, here's a plate I already made for you since I figured you'd wanna eat something before you left." Lita tells her as she hands over a plate with has browns stacked on it.
"Lits, will you keep an eye on Ami today? Make sure you don't let her back into the study at all costs, if you have to lock her out the house. I don't want her studying anymore this whole vacation. She stayed up all night studying for those damn tests that aren't for another 2 or 3 months!!!" Serena tells her in anger that's just a mask for her worry. "I will and I know. I caught her last night and I begged her to go to bed but she just ignored me and went on burying her nose in those be damned books. Don't get me wrong, I approve of furthering your education but come on, not to the point of burning yourself out over nothing." Lita tells her as she looks at Serena with true concern and worry in her eyes.
'Damnit! Doesn't Ami see? See that she's over stressing herself over nothing and causing us to worry in the process?' Serena asks herself as she sips her orange juice, lost in thought.
"Serena, tomorrow let's have a day out at the beach. Yea know with a picnic basket and just lounging on the beach and reading." Lita tells her as she turns back around and finishes cooking the patties. "I like that, we should do that tomorrow. I'll tell everyone and I'll buy a new bathing suit while we're out since mine has gotten just a tad small." Serena tells her sheepishly as she slides down from the stool she had propped herself on to eat her breakfast and walks out the kitchen, leaving Lita to her own devices.
~*~* *~*~
"Lits!!! We're back!!!!" Mina yells into the house as she bounds into the house with her 5 shopping bags and up the stairs to her room.
"Remind me not to do that again." Serena mumbles to herself as she rubs her eyes and takes out the 4 shopping bags and helps Hotaru with her's while trying not to bump into Darien, which was virtually impossible since they only took 2 cars and Mina and Raye where in the second one.
'What possessed me to ask him to come again? Sleepiness probably.' Serena tells herself in a groan as she trudges up the stairs with Hotaru following and Darien still taking his bags out of the car.
"How'd the shopping trip go?" Lita asks her with a smile as she comes out of the 'seating room' with a broad grin on her face like she knew something none of them did. "Don't ask. I'm going upstairs, taking a nice long bath and then going to sunbath in my new bathing suit." Serena tells her tiredly as she leaves Hotaru with Lita and goes up to her room.
'Hmm...sleep sounds good right now.' Serena tells herself as she looks at her bed forlornly but shakes that thought out of her head, grabs her tiny white bikini and walks into her bathroom.
'I can't believe I invited HIM along with us! What was I thinking?' she rants to herself as she steps into the blissfully lukewarm water and just stands their.
~Maybe you weren't thinking.~ says the o-mighty-voice. 'Go the fuck away. I'm busy brooding and being stressed out.' She snaps at the voice as she begins to wash her hair, slowly. ~You're only stressed out because you wont accept which you know is true.~ comes the slightly cryptic reply in an annoying snickering tone as Serena begins to twist her hair up in to a funky half-bun and begins to scrub her back. *I don't know what your talking, nothing you say does make sense.* Serena replies with a snort as she washes her body off under the spray, lets her hair down and turns off the water. ~Denial is something other than just a Nile in Egypt.~ says the mocking voice, that just keeps grating on Serena's nerves as she wraps a towel around her hair. *I'm perfectly aware of that, and I still don't know what you're talking about.* Serena tells her voice in an ignorant voice as she puts on her white tie-back triangle top and side-tie bottom with bead trim bathing suit.
~*~* *~*~
Serena lies down on a plastic lounge chair trying to get comfortable with her portable c.d. player next to her with Joss Stone's 'The Soul Sessions' in it.
"What the hell is that?" says Lita's voice from the French doors Serena left open.
"My new c.d. that I bought today, what's it to you?" Serena asks defensively as she glares at Lita.
"Nothing, just that it sounds a little funky that's all." Lita replies with a shrug of her shoulders as she gets comfortable on leaning against the door frame.
"Oh well, what is it that you wanted?" Serena asks still a little defensive.
"Just that Jade and Micheal are coming in about a week and Nick is coming in about 2 or 3 days and he'd call us when his private jet plane landed." Lita tells her with a smirk on her face.
"Great! Whose gonna go pick him up?" Serena asks with a wide smile on her face.
"Whoever, he didn't name anyone in particular but I was thinking about going to get him." Lita tells her with a slight shrug as she goes back into the house.
'What the hell is with everyone getting crushes with my friends suddenly? Damn, I wanna hook up with someone!' Serena rants to herself as she sulks into her plastic lounge chair and just turns up 'I've Fallen In Love With You' that has just started playing.
'Damn this song is just to true.' Serena grumbles to herself as she closes her eyes and starts swaying her head back and forth.
^Raye's POV^
'I wonder what everybody is up to?' Raye asks herself as she finishes putting everything the she bought today in her closet.
'How did Darien get invited to come?....Mina probably invited him for some unknown reason but for some reason the air between Serena and Darien just felt differently. I wonder what happened between them?' Raye asks herself as she leaves her bedroom and goes down stairs.
"Raye!" says her mother's voice from behind her as she goes to step into the 'seating room' or the den.
"Yes?" Raye replies as she turns around and sees her mother wearing a pair of red silk pants that look like pajamas and a Chinese style black and red silk shirt. "Why did Darien go with you three?" her mother asks in a neutral-tone as she looks everywhere but into Raye's eyes or face for that matter.
"To go shopping, out of this house, sight-seeing? I don't know nor am I going to ask. I know you're up to something but don't you dare make me play any kind of part in it!" Raye tells her, glaringly.
'Damnit! My mother always has to put her nose into everything and then drag me into it kicking and screaming.' Raye thinks to herself as she turns away from her mother and instead of going into the 'seating room' goes out of the French doors to see Serena laying back, facing the sun with her white sunglasses on, and c.d. player blaring music that she can just catch the lyrics to.
'Hmm, that new bathing suit looks good on her. I'm guessing White and Pink are her two favorite colors if not, they look really good on her.' Raye tells herself as she walks back into the house.
'What do I wanna do?' Raye asks herself as she wanders into the kitchen where Lita was seating down on at the island, drinking a fruity frozen drink and reading a book called 'Cooking a Picnic Extravaganza!'
"What you drinking?" Raye asks as she walks to the refrigerator and pulled out a bottle of water to at least occupy her hands with.
"A apple fruitacion." Lita tells her off-handedly with a wave of her hand without her eyes leaving the words that she's reading.
"Interesting, something you made?" Raye asks truly curious at the drink that looks reddish and not a hint of green liquid.
"Just a little this and that, mostly vodka and a little bit of ginger ale." Lita tells her in the same tone as before.
"Unusual, well I'll let you get back to reading." Raye tells her as she walks out of the kitchen and off to find Darien.
'There is nothing to fucking do around her but read, sunbath, swim, and study it seems.' She mumbles to herself as she climbs the stairs with the unopened bottle of water in her hand. j ^Darien's POV^
'Umm, that was certainly a different shopping then what I was expecting. I'm just stunned that Serena didn't get huffy at me or aggravated once!' Darien exclaims to himself as she changes into a pair of new black linen pants that pool around his feet and hangs off his hips but leaves his white wife-beater on.
"I like these." He mumbles to himself as he bends down and starts hiding all of the presents he bought earlier under his bed just as he hears his bedroom door opened.
"Yea?" he asks without looking at who it was or if that even entered his room.
"What you doing Darien?" comes his sister's voice from what he was guessing his doorway.
"Just putting some presents up." Darien answers as he slides one of the presents he bought for Raye under the bed.
"Oh, do you have anything planned for today?" Raye asks in a bored tone as he hears her move further into the room and plops on the bed.
"Not really, Nicks coming in 2 days or so. He's flying his jet over and will be staying here, I'm guessing Serena invited him." Darien tells her with a small shrug of his shoulders.
"Really? Anybody else coming?" Raye asks with curiosity.
"Don't know. It seems that Serena literally runs the whole show." Darien tells her, mumbling the last bit off-handedly as his mind wonders to what other things just as his cellphone rings.
As he looks up to see where he last put it, Raye throws the damn thing.
"Thanks" Darien tell her as he presses 'yes' and puts it up to his ear only to be yelled at.
"Stop!" he yells at them and instantly the line is totally silent.
"What's wrong?" he asks after he got his bearings.
"The new car is pummeling." His advisor tells him in a rush of breath.
"What do you mean?" he asks as he grabs his palm pilot off the coffee table and then leaves the room to head outside,
"Well in the last week the prophets have down a swan dive from over 1oo mill to a little of 100 grand and that's only in the U.S. the foreign prophets have gotten worst." Replies the horrified advisor as he walks out onto the back porch and sets up a small office on the railing of the banister that over looks the private beach.
"Okay, so we've lost quiet a bit. How bad are the foreign?" Darien asks, voice in full business mode and losing himself in the business at hand.
"You don't want to know, believe me!" the advisor tells him as he hears papers ruffling and voices talking back and forth behind him.
"Tell me or....I'll...fire you!" Darien tells him a little uncertain at the small threat on the guys job.
"The Chinese has gone down at least 50,000, Japanese is 80,000 yin, Europe is 347,000 Euro. I can't get really any more specific or blunter than that." The advisor that he's thinking named Leon, Leo or something along those lines.
"Okay, we need to get some more advertisement done on it. Like a huge racing done with a modified version in it, more television ads, newspapers, magazines, internet, posters, everything and anything you can think of. This is the biggest investment our company is going to make this year and if it doesn't do good we'll all be out of a job including me!" Darien tells him in a calm tone the he talks in when he's to scared to know how to react or to anything.
"Gotcha sir, do want me to start looking for some models now for the magazines and a driver for the race?" Leon asks, a little nervous at his tone of voice.
"No, I'll look for those since the last one was horrible and looked like she had everything medically done to her that's possible." Darien tells him in disgust as he punched away on the pilot as he hunts down a dealer in Europe that he only messes with when he really needs he's help, like this.
"Gotcha, we'll be right on everything and I'll call you when we've got everything finalized." Leon replies and then hangs up.
"Damnit!" Darien mumbles to himself as he removes it from he's ear and pushes 6.
"Hello" comes a snooty voice immediately, not even letting it ring once.
"Chad, Darien." He tells him as he makes a memo in his pilot and continues clicking away.
"What can I do for yea, I'm kind of busy at the moment." Chad tells him as he hears girls giggling in the background.
"You getting laid can wait for later, I need help now!" Darien tells him, annoyed at how he's still living.
"It had better be a hell of a deal!" Chad tells him angrily.
"Yea, I'll give you 50 grand now if you can get my latest car to sell over their and I'll give you 100 grand later once it's done and I'm satisfied with the prophet of the sale.
"Only 150? I should get at least 400 for a job this big." Says Chad's snooty and haggling voice.
"I wont go any higher than 260" Darien says annoyingly as he looks out angrily and annoyed on to the beach to see Sammy and his little girlfriend walking hand-in-hand along the beach.
"340" Chad replies.
"270" Darien answers.
"300 or I wont do it" Chad tells him in a 'high-than-you' tone.
"That's okay, I'll just get somebody to do this." Darien tells him with small shrug that carried over the phone.
"Fine, 270 but I want 200 up front!" Chad answers in a voice that reminds him of a child that didn't get the stuff animal they wanted.
"No problem, I'll wire it to you within 24 hrs. I want to see my new car on the top 5 list of this year over in Europe of I'll take back my 200 and you want see the 70." Darien tells him in all seriousness.
"Sure sure. I'll call you in a week and give you an update." Chad tells him and then hangs up,
"That no good little rat. I don't even know why I even do business with him, he'll probably wait until the last minute before he does anything and then use the money I give him for more women." Darien grumbles to himself as he seats down in the closest seat with his palm pilot in one hand and the cell phone in the other.
"What's wrong?" comes a voice that he doesn't need to hear right now.
Darien looks up and sees Serena seating up, earphones around her neck, sunglasses parched up on top of her head and she in the most innocent but seductive bathing suit he's ever seen a woman in before.
"Just my newest car is now losing me and my company money instead of making us money like originally planned." Darien replies in a defeated tone.
"Oh that's all, just your ego being bruised." Serena replies with a shrug of her shoulders as she lays back down and goes to put her headphones back on.
"My ego is not bruised, I'm about to possibly become broke. As in, I have no money to my name. My whole financial future along with my families is at stake here." Darien tells her as it all finally sinks in, what's happing.
"Shit" he mutters to himself as his cell phone starts ringing.
"Really? So going broke is a bad thing?" Serena asks quizzically as she turns off her c.d. player (to reserve the batteries is her excuse) and seats up and looks at him.
"Hell yes, especially when I'll have my sister and step-mother breathing down my necks and let me just say that having two upset fire-breathing women biting at your ass is NOT fun!" Darien tells her as he glances at the caller ID of the phone and sees that it's just he;s office.
"Darien, I feel sorry for you and your sheltered rose colored life." Serena tells him with true pity in her voice as she gets up from the chair she was laying in and walks down to the beach with c.d. player in hand.
'What the? She feels sorry for me and what was that rose colored comment about? Does she think I'm gay suddenly? My life just keeps getting more complicated at every turns.' He thinks to himself as he trudges up to his room and sets up a small office.
~*~* *~*~
Okay, here it is! Was it good? Did yea like it? Please let me know your opinions, I don't even care if it's flames or you totally criticizing me!!!
R&R!!!!! R&R!!!!! R&R!!!!!
Ja ne!
Princess