~Chapter 13~

I yawned as I walked out of the room. It would've been best if I could've slept in longer. Much longer. But, life just wasn't that fair. Still...I felt like dropping onto the floor and taking a really long nap. My eyes felt like they had anchors attached to them and I struggled to keep them open.

Aren't you worried about those scars?

Nah, they probably weren't important.

You sure? I mean, you did this to yourself for a reason...

I allowed a swift glance at them, my wrists dangling at my sides, turned at an angle where the scars could be seen. They crossed over one another, looking like a spider had dug into my skin and started spinning a web. I had this strange feeling that these scars may have played an important role in my life. Darien told me I'd been depressed, but I doubted I would cut myself over some stupid breakup that had obviously been resolved last night. Or...had it been? I still wasn't sure whether or not I wanted a boyfriend. What happened last night could've had the possibility of being a hormonal thing. It might not have been serious at all.

I walked from the hallway to living room, shocked to find new people sitting at a tea table.

One of them had the craziest and most obnoxious pink hair I'd ever seen. She had my old hairstyle. One other was a man who had brown hair and glasses. The third one was a woman who stayed quiet and patient; she had purple hair. Wow. More people that I didn't know. Oh joy.

I stood still, not really knowing what to do next. These were strangers that had shown up at Darien's apartment. In which, by the way, I had just had sex in. Lovely, I know. So all I could do was stand there staring at them with little interest in who they were. But those pesky girls would make me engage in a conversation with them. Curse those evil pests...

"Serena..." the woman breathed.

Wonder if Darien allowed smoking in his apartment...

"I just...I thought you...but now you're here..." The man sputtered, trying to find the right words.

Mina leaned over and whispered something in the man's ear, glancing at me every now and then. I knew she was talking about me. Maybe she wasn't trying to show it, but she was. All I could do about it was huff and roll my eyes in annoyance. I mean, if you saw someone you didn't even know talking about you like they actually knew you to another person, what else would you do?

I just wanted to get out of here. I mean, I'd slept with Darien while I was drunk, Mina found me naked in his bed, and now there were people here who I didn't know! Why did the world hate me so much? I liked my normal routine, why couldn't those girls just accept that already? I didn't want to change! All I wanted right now was those girls and these people gone. Darien had to go too, I couldn't risk sleeping with him again. Kent was one thing, I'd been friends with him for as long as I could remember, but Darien? Entirely different story.

I felt something warm brush up against the back of my leg and snapped my head around to see what it was. The mystery thing was actually just a black cat with a crescent moon mark on its forehead. Another cat sat behind the black one. This one had the same mark as the black cat but was white. They were both very cute and apparently friendly.

"Hey, kitty kitty..." I whispered calmly as I picked up the black cat. It purred as I gently stroked its back.

I kept petting the cat as I waited impatiently for someone to tell me what was going on here. As tired as I was, I didn't care anyway. But they woke me up after a long night! And for what, this? Of course, what else would I expect from them? Here I was, not wanting to stay here any longer, and now I was the center of attention for a group of people that seemed to keep expanding. Didn't they even have the courtesy to tell me why they were here?

I sighed and tapped my foot, trying to give them a physical clue to hurry up and explain everything. And finally the pink-haired girl spoke up.

"Serena, we're here-"

I cut her off with, "Woah, wait! How do you know my name?"

Lita leaned over just like Mina had and whispered something in her ear. Again, it wasn't that hard to tell it was about me. Her eyes widened as Lita finished. Soon I could see tears forming at the rims of her eyes.

"You don't remember us anymore? Not even me?" she choked out.

I smirked as I stood on my toes to reach Darien's ear, realizing my chance for payback.

"Am I supposed to know these people?" I whispered softly, ensuring that they wouldn't hear me.

He cupped his hands around my ear when I was done and replied, "They're your parents and future daughter."

I laughed. A real laugh, not some fake one. And really, right when I thought he was sane! A future daughter, yeah right. I didn't even want kids. Too much responsibility, and the last thing this world needed was another kid up for adoption. I didn't even have a pet for that reason. I didn't have the time to take care of it. Between being drunk and being in bed with some guy, I didn't have the time for a pet. And if I couldn't take care of a pet, I certainly couldn't take care of a child.

I wiped a tear from my eye and said, "Future daughter? I hate kids, they're so annoying."

I decided it was time for me to get back to Summer. She was probably worried about me. I set the cat down and it meowed. The white cat only watched. Reaching for the doorknob, I said, "I'm going home now." And as I was letting myself out, I heard Mina muttering, "Yeah, you've had a busy night, bet you're tired."

I simply huffed. She was right, but I didn't care. Hopefully this would be the last I saw of her. Her, and her friends. Darien could stick around. He was tolerable. Insane, but tolerable. But what happened in that bedroom would stay in that bedroom. I would personally make sure of that.

I closed the door behind me. Not a single one of them tried to stop me, nor did they come with me. Heck, they didn't even see me off. But you know what? I was glad. Normally people would think it rude. Nope, not me. This person was going back to her normal life, the one she didn't want to leave. ...The one that everyone seemed to try to take away from her.

I heard sobs coming from behind the door. It didn't take long to realize that it was a child crying. The pink-haired girl. I also heard someone talking to her, probably telling her it was going to be okay. Pfft. Future daughter.

First thing I did once I got back to Summer's? Answer questions... Questions about where I was, why I was gone so long, was I drunk, did I sleep with anyone. Stuff of that sort. I didn't have it in me to lie to Summer. Besides, it was just a waste of breath to attempt to lie to her. She just knew. I could fool anyone else, but I could never fool her. She was a human lie detector.

"What!" she yelled. "You slept with Darien?"

I sighed in frustration, still dead tired. "I was drunk, Summer. It's not like I knew what I was doing!" Well, that wasn't a lie. She didn't know I'd slept with him twice in one night.

She furrowed her eyebrows. I knew she was onto something. "Yeah but there was a thunderstorm last night. You hate thunder! Why did you spend the night at his place?"

Whenever there was a thunderstorm, I left wherever I was to come back to Summer. Even drunk, I came back to her. So there was no excuse for this, no way to lie myself out of this mess. I could say I didn't want to talk about it, but it's not like she would relent. I could ask her to stop, but she wouldn't. I could say it didn't matter, but that would probably be the worst thing I ever said to her. I could say I felt uncomfortable telling her, but I knew she would jump to conclusions. There was no way out, it was a dead end.

I groaned. "I...I just did, okay? It was thundering out and I got scared...and I didn't want to leave."

It was her turn to groan now. "Oh, no, Serena... Tell me you didn't sleep with him again."

I blushed, and naturally, Summer didn't miss it. My body betrayed me and answered for me. And unfortunately, it answered the truth. I could only gulp and tell myself it wouldn't last forever.

"Oh, God... Why? You barely know the guy!"

"Well, it was a downpour out there. And he held me when I got scared." I refrained from smiling, but I didn't keep myself from remembering. The perfect mood, perfect situation, perfect everything else. We didn't just make love last night. We made magic. He was the only one who managed to really capture me. He'd accomplished something nothing less than monumental. No other man had been able to do what he'd done. "It just sort of...happened."

"As if I'm falling for that! Serena, nothing 'just sort of happens' with you. What really went on?" she continued.

I frowned. To me at least, it really did just sort of happen. I wasn't drunk the second time, and even then my body began taking over. Sure, I'd consciously urged him into it, but once he kissed me my mind blanked out and everything just started to fall into place. It was mostly my fault, although to be honest I don't regret it. The real question Summer was wanting an answer to is, why did it happen? She was probably already coming up with ideas, some false, others probably true. She was smart, I couldn't out-brain her.

"Well...I guess I kind of started it..." I mumbled.

Summer leaned back into her chair. She was done, she had no more questions. About time, too, after putting her best friend through the wringer. I took a drilling, I deserved to be set free of her wrath. And yes, Summer had wrath. A lot of wrath.

I got up and went to my room, where I would sleep the day away, wake up, and begin my usual routine all over again. Except this time, with no hint or trace of Darien.

A/N

Um...so reviews would be much appreciated. I'm not going to beg, but if you like this story and want me to keep updating it, review. I NEED motivation, and whether you believe it or not, my motivation comes from you and your input. Tell me what you think, give me any ideas you might have and you might see them in the story. I want to finish this, I really do. But this could end real soon and I don't want it to. I just really need the motivation, that's all I'm asking for. Anyway, now that I've said that, I hope you've caught a whiff of Summer's personality...sweet 'n stubborn.