The sound of the bell alerted Andrew that a customer had entered the building. He took a sip of coffee turned around and the sight in front of him caused him choke what little fluids he had left in his mouth. His face started to turn red.
"Are you okay?" Darien asked. "Because I am not in the mood to save you."
Andrew put his thumb up as he kept coughing. He was trying to take a deep breath in between coughs. Darien rolled his eyes and looked at the bruising around his nose.
Andrew took another breath. Sipped his cough to regain himself. " . Hell. Happened. To. You?" He forced out.
"Well good morning to you too."
He gave Andrew another couple minutes for him to get himself together.
"Are you good now?" Darien lightly rubbed the bruise on his nose.
Andrew took in one more deep breath. "Sorry." He grabbed a cup. Coughed into his sleeve. "What happened?"
"Long story short, I wasn't thinking and as a result I look like this." Darien tried to explain.
"Nope." Andrew started to pour him a cup of coffee. "I need to details."
"Fine." Darien picked up his cup, took a sip and rolled his eyes. "Earlier I bumped into Serena at Ma's and afterwards, she and I talked. Well, actually she did most the talking."
"What did she say?" Andrew leaned over the counter.
"She said she wanted a baby, and she lashed out because..."
"Because?"Andrew questioned.
"She and I have not been intimate." Darien's voice dropped.
"In a long a time?"
"In ever."
Andrew's eyes widened. "Are you serious?"
Darien took a sip of his coffee and shot him a glare.
"What? How?" Andrew was so confused. "You two live together." He looked up trying to understand. "I mean I get when she was younger, then you went off to college." He looked at Darien confused again. "But when you two moved in together? I mean?" He was so flabbergasted that he could not bring out the right questions.
"Look at first it was because she was younger. She wasn't even legal! Her dad would have shot me. Then like you said I went away for college. Then we grew up and moved in together and then for some reason I had it in my head that maybe she wasn't ready, or maybe she's the type to wait for marriage. I don't know!" He threw his hands up.
"Did you ever try?" Andrew asked.
He didn't answer.
"Did she?" Andrew wasn't really sure if he wanted to know the answer of this question. He had known Serena forever and she was like his sister.
'Yes. A handful of times. But in my defense, at first I wasn't sure if it was the girls pressuring her, because many times it would be after their outings. Then it was just other things, or we didn't have protection." Darien's voice went up just a little.
"So you rejected her because of stupid excuses." Andrew nodded. "I got it."
"They aren't stupid. I wanted to make sure she was ready, and then I said things kept getting in the way. Me working late. Her sleeping by the time I got home."
"Do you ever not overanalyze things to the 't'? Just asking."
Darien threw his hand over his face, forgetting his bruises. "Ouch."
"So please explain how your face ended up looking like that."
Darien sighed. "She lashed out and tried to walk away."
"Okay... did she beat you up with her mind?"
"Can you let me finish the story?" Darien snapped.
"Sorry."
"So she was walking away, and what did I decide to do, I ran after her and tried to stop her by picking up." Darien let out a sigh. "Now that I think about it someone could have thought that I was trying to kidnap her and I could have been in deep shit."
"But nobody so..."
"I threw her over my shoulder, and I don't even know where I was really going to take her, but I started walking. She wouldn't stop moving. She was kind of slipping. She must have slipped just enough to where she found a perfect spot to bite me."
Andrew tried so hard not to laugh. "She bit you?"
"Yes. And I dropped her on her head."
"This is almost too unreal." He tried to cover his face so Darien could not see how badly he wanted to laugh. "You dropped her."
"Yeah. And that is not the end of it." He took a sip of his coffee.
"Obviously because it still doesn't explain your lovely face." He smirked.
"Well she was out of it. I took her to my hotel, because I was closer." He rested his arms on the counter. "She just looked so beautiful laying there, resting. I used to love watching her sleep. I don't know what it is. I got caught in the moment leaned into kiss her, she must have woken up and freaked out, because next thing I know her tiny little hand smashed into my nose. I got to grab my nose, not even thinking about where my head or body was, I turned and took the corner of the table. Hence this scratch." He pointed to his forehead.
Andrew couldn't hold it in anymore. He just started laughing.
"I am so glad you find humor in my misery."
"I am so sorry man I tried." He was still laughing."This is something you would see in RomCom, I never knew it could really happen." He started to tear up he was laughing so hard.
"I hate you."
"No you don't." His laugh started to settle. "You would be laughing too if the tables were turned." He wiped his eyes. Turned around and collected himself. Then turned back around. "So then what happened?"
"Well she freaked out. Asked if I was okay? Then kind of left."
"She just left? Lie that?
"Yup. Grabbed her bag and she was out the door. And me having to tend to now battle wounds, I couldn't go after her. I called out to her and nothing"
"That does not sound like Serena. She must have been out of it still." He picked up the pot. "She wouldn't leave someone who was hurting. That is out of her character. More coffee?"
Darien nod ded, then shrugged. "Either way, I am sitting here, bruised nose and head. Who knows how her bump is doing?" He hung his head down as he stirred his coffee.
"So what are you going to do?"
"How do I fix this? It is already such a mess! I look like this. Maybe I should just wait until we get home, try to sleep this stupid day away."
"Well first of all, you are already like three cups of coffee in. And it's close to dinner time, so you know you aren't going to sleep, so you might as well figure out something." Andrew instructed. "And get the hell out of your head. Serena is simple. She told you what she wanted, so give her what she wants?"
"You expect me to just pounce her and try to make a baby? It doesn't work like that! Especially when she doesn't want me around!"
"First of all I don't ever want you to repeat that first sentence around me again, especially when it has to do with my 'little sister." He put his index finger up. "Second, it is not that she does not want you around. She just does not want you around if you are going to make her feel unwanted. Big difference."
"This is sooo complicated." He ran his hand over his face and flinched at the pain sensation on his nose.
"Would you stop doing that, you are going to make your face worse." Andrew scolded.
"Okay mom." Darien replied.
"It is only complicated because you are making it complicated. Go check on her. Knowing Serena, she will see your face and feel bad for the bruises and she will not be so guarded. Then you make your move."
"Make my move? You sound like we are playing chess. It is not that easy. It is never going to be that easy!"
"Wanna bet on it?"
Darien squared his body up.
"I want to take Rita out when the baby is three months. I feel like that is a good time to do a first date after a baby, and you'll be my sitter."
"I am not taking that bet." He shook his head.
"Because you know I am right. It is so easy and you want over think it all and scare yourself."
"This is not some game that you can bet on and hope. This is Serena and me."
"No this is not Serena, she knows what she wants. She told you what she wants." Andrew paused. "Is it even what you want?"
"What kind of question of that? If course I want what she wants, I want all of it."
"So then go for it and see what happens. Sitting here isn't going to get you what you want." Andrew explained frustratedly. "Serena wants you to want her. She wants you to want to have a baby with her. She wants you to want a family with her. Show her that you want that too."
"I hate you."
"Nah you don't." Andrew started wiping down the counter.
After another 45 minutes of sipping his stale coffee, than 30 minutes sitting in his car deciding which way he should go, to her house our back to the hotel, then 30 more minutes sitting in his car down the street from her house, he finally did it. He turned off his car. Looked around. It was dark enough. He turned into his alter ego. He hopped over a few houses, on to the tree branch outside her window, then stepped on her balcony. He could see that the light on was in her room, and so was the light downstairs. She would either be in her room getting ready for bed or helping her mom.
He took one deep breath and knocked on the window.