With a big plastic bag in hand Serena walked around the house collecting dead rose petals off the ground and tossing her dead bouquets. It had been 5 day since she had received a new batch, and though she expected it, a little part of her still hoped. She didn't float as much around the apartment as she had the week before, but she put on a fake smile as best she could.
Work was just as awkward. She avoided Seiya by locking herself in her class room, or just taking everything home to work on. At meetings she would come try to get a seat as far away from him as possible.
Work and home, were the only places she would go too, thanks to online deliveries.
"Serena...please come to dinner. It will just be the girls." Raye pleaded from the kitchen. "Like old times."
"This town isn't big enough for both of us Raye, the last thing I want is to bump into him and get into a screaming match in public." She sighed, shook her head, and stopped the sentence there.
"You don't even know that he is going to be out. He could be working or-"
"Having a giant rager at his condo?" Serena interrupted.
"I never said that." Raye said calmly coming out of the kitchen. "But he would never have one of those?"
"PShhhhh." Serena rolled her eyes.
"Serena, Dare is not the kind of guy to throw 'ragers', as you call them?"
"I vaguely remember Pluto telling me otherwise." Serena argued dumping another vase.
"BEFORE HE MET YOU!" Raye started to laugh.
"Why are you laughing?" Serena turned to Raye with an open stance.
"Serena, even if he was, that is no reason to just stay at home and sulk. You need to get out here! And we all miss you."
"You guys can come here, we can order in?"
"No." Raye shook her head. "Sere, we want to get dressed go out, have drinks, laugh and not have to worry about the clean up later. We all work long days and we need a break." She took a few steps towards Serena, who had not moved from her spot, "And you need a mental break too. I know you are hurting from what happened. You can lie to everyone else, but I know you." Raye pointed. "Getting those roses from him, all the effort he put forward."
"Only to step back."
"Serena... put yourself in his shoes."
"I am tired of people saying that!" Serena threw her hands up in the air swinging the trash bag in hand.
"Because Sere, it was probably already a hard pill to swallow when he found out you two were working together, and then to find out that you went behind his back, to Seiya to get a job?! Sere he didn't even know you were on the verge of leaving!"
"And how did he not know Raye? How did he not know I was that unhappy?!" She bursted into tears, pulled her hands to face to cover it.
"Serena...please..." Raye walked over to wrap her in her arms.
Across town, Darien sat on his couch, legs shaking, phone in one hand and biting on the nails of the other. Every day had been the same. Get up, go to work, check his phone for her call, come home check the messages and sit there contemplating if he should call. Every night he would dial her number, but never bring himself to hit dial. He didn't know what to say, he didn't know if she would even answer. She could be out with her friends, or worse she could be out with him.
He clasped his hands together, with the phone in between his hands, he dropped his hands between his legs and just continued to contemplate what to do.
"You're going to have to call her and apologize eventually." Jed finally had enough of what he was seeing. "You messed up and said somethings you didn't mean."
"I told you, you didn't mean any of it." Malachite added.
"So apologize!" Jed yelled in frustration.
"And soon because I am getting hungry and we can go grab dinner."
"You guys go ahead... I am not hungry." He threw himself back in the coach. Moved his hand to his and started pounded the phone against his forehead.
"I vote you stop doing that because no phone can withstand you thick skull."
"Shut it Jed!" Darien spat out as he continued.
"Dude for the millionth time, just call her, text her we don't care, just tell her you were stupid and that you are sorry." Jed pleaded.
"You keep prolonging this, and it is only going to get harder for you guys, you were making progress."
"Pffft some progress, this whole time she is working with a man who would have done anything to rip us apart. I bet you guys they sat in her classroom laughing about how desperate I looked sending her those flowers." He slammed his hand into the couch, "On top of the fact that she ran to him while she was planning on leaving. I wonder how much that idiot knows!" He started to nibble on his lip.
"Why the hell does it matter?!" Jed ask rubbing his temples. "You are getting caught up in a tiny detail."
"Tiny detail? She may have cheated on me with this guy, and you call it a tiny detail?" Darien stood up.
"It is a tiny detail." Malachite interrupted. "Because you know damn well Serena never slept with him. You only want to believe that she did."
"Why the hell would I want to believe that the love of my life cheated on me?"
"So you aren't the bad guy in anyone's eyes." Malachite explained. "You spend all your time wondering how to make yourself look like you did nothing wrong, you don't even realize you are doing anything wrong."
"Look." Jed interrupted. "We aren't going to call her for you, and we can spend all night talking about how, though we respect you as our prince and future king, you kind of stupid, or we can go to dinner and chill out."
"I am not hungry."
"Well too bad you are coming." Jed demanded.
"The end." Malachite added.
Darien rolled his eyes, for some reason he got a flashback of those guys hold him up and carrying him down a hallway kicking and screaming. And it dawned on him, they could both probably take him. He sighed and reluctantly got up.
"Guys we couldn't go somewhere different, or maybe in another city?" Serena asked nervously looking around.
"Sere, there are a hundreds of restaurants in this area, you are not going to bump into Darien would you just calm down?" Raye scolded.
"Hundred would not be enough, we need countries apart." Serena argued.
"Look you bring him up one more time. You take shot." Mina instructed. "We are going to have a nice dinner, and avoiding him will not be the topic of discussion all night."
Before Serena could say anything, the other four girls agreed to Mina's suggestion.
"Fine! I am going to go wash my hands, please order me a soda water with lime." Serena huffed and got up from her seat.
They watched as she walked down the hall.
"Let's be honest here, you guys don't think he would-?" Lita asked nervously.
"They are drawn together, even in the weirdest situations." Ami added with some concern in her voice.
Mina and Raye let out a deep sigh.
"Let's just hope we can get through tonight."
Serena returned to the table and the girls put in their orders. What was once a conversation about what the other person was having and what was good turned into a conversation about work and fashion.
"God I feel so out of the loop. I love my pencil skirts and stilettos." Serena mentioned.
"And those are classic, but low wedges with a high/low maxi dress would work just as good." Mina explained. "You know change it up a little."
"Yeah Sere, it shows just enough leg, and you don't have to worry about your ass slipping out." Raye teased.
The girls all started laughing, catching the attention of 5 men sitting at a bar.
"Fuck." Nephrite whispered.
"This town really isn't big enough for those two." Malachite added.
"What's the problem, she is obviously having a great time, not worried about me? Why should we worry about her?" He watched as she wiped a tear of joy from her pretty blue eyes. No matter how far he was from her, that was the first thing he would notice. "We could even say hi to them if you guys want, let's go."
"Or we could not." Jed recommended. "You may have had too many already, on an empty stomach, and a screaming match in one our favorite places just does not sound like a good time if you ask me." He turned to the other guys for support.
"I knew I should have just stayed home-"
"And what?" A female voice came from behind the guys. "Plan a party, bring all the women that would destroy galaxies to be with you?"
"L-Lita." Neph stuttered.
"Didn't think we saw you?" She asked with a smirk. "Maybe Raye and Serena didn't see you, but the rest of us did."
"Lita, we are just sitting here having a drink, we had no idea you guys were here." Nephrite tried to explain.
"Blah blah blah, that may be, but you guys better watch him." Lita warned. "Serena has been locked up since your little fiasco at her school, and we finally got her out t relax and clear her mind."
"Don't worry I won't bother her, not now, no ever. Considering she is able to go about her day, like nothing happened. Working with that scum, like it wouldn't be a big deal."
"You obviously didn't hear what I just said, so I am not going to repeat it." She tried to keep her self calm and as quiet as possible, she didn't want Serena looking over and seeing Darien here. "But let me tell you, Serena working with Seiya isn't a big deal. You know why?"
"Do enlighten me?" Darien demanded.
"Because we all know she has only loved one man in her entire life, and for some God forsaken reason it had to be you. If she was going to do anything with Seiya she would have done it enough, I know I told her to give him a chance."
"Lita that is enough." Malachite interrupted.
"You know what Malachite, fine, I am done anyways." She started to walk away. "And for the record, you highness, Serena would never sleep with a man she didn't love. God knows when you left her alone men threw themselves at her, and she may have flirted a little, but not once did the idea cross her mind to sleep with them, because there was only one guy she wanted." Mina shrugged. "Too bad it had to be you. Go call those whores you have lined up. See how that plays out."
With that she walked away back to the table. Sat in her seat and took a sip of water to calm her down.
"Are you okay?" Serena asked.
"Yeah tried to get a drink at the bar, but the bartender is a dud and couldn't get it together. I am fine though."
"God she can be scary, Neph how do you...?" Jed asked back at the bar, trying to lighten the mood.
"I kinda just let her have whatever she wants and right now she chooses me, so I am fine with that."
"You know what guys, that is my que to call a cab and head out." Darien got up from his stool, finished his drink, and turned to leave.
"Come on man you haven't eaten anything."
He just shrugged. "Can't say I have much of an appetite." He threw on his jacket. "Days like this I just wish we can draw a line through the city." He said defeated. "Can't explain it, seeing her just messes me up." He waved all his generals bye and patted Neph on the shoulder and headed out. He tried to take the most discrete way because he knew she needed this night out with her friends and he didn't want to ruin it even though he wanted to stand there and admire her smile, her beauty, her grace, or lack of grace. He just wanted her.