Gosh, guys, maybe I need to put a disclaimer of 'I'm gonna be busy!' up more often because it was quiet the last two days! YAY!

And in my exhausted state of mind while putting my youngest to bed, I was able to lay out the next three, yes - THREE - chapters and the direction I want this story to head. Never in my mind did I think I'd see this story have as many chapters as I'm somehow pooling together. So, if the trend of a quiet continues, maybe I'll be able to get these chapters posted more continuously.

Oh, crap. I think I jinxed myself, because I find when I say 'I'll post real soon!' suddenly I'm swamped with life.

Ugh.

In any event, I hope you enjoy this next chapter. Thank you all again for your continued support!

Love,

MU

There was an obvious extra bounce in her step as she made her way up the small walkway to the front porch. In her right hand swung a plastic bag with a yellow smiley face, the contents inside being their favorite Chinese food. They always got the exact same meal: sesame chicken, white rice, wonton soup. It was their thing ever since they discovered the small restaurant: they'd sit across from one another, the waiter would come up, and she would order for both of them. In fact, they had been doing it for so many years on a biweekly basis that the moment they walked in, the owner's son knew exactly what they were going to order.

"The usual, Shin!" she would happily exclaim while he gazed lovingly at her.

Lately, however, he had been absent. Even though University was nearby, she was slammed with her course load this past semester. She knew that it was putting a strain on them, but they had been together for almost five years. It didn't help that he was working 40 hours in the stock room of the grocery, but she was determined to make up for lost time tonight. In her other hand, she merrily swung a duffel bag of her pajamas and lazy Sunday clothing, her intentions clear.

His Mom was out of town this weekend from what she recalled, so she decided to surprise him with a sleepover. Not like his Mom would really care; they had been together since they were 15. So long as Serena respected the rules of the house, she had permission to spend the occasional night.

But when the Mom's away, the kids can play. And Serena really, really wanted to play.

She knocked at the door, a smile stretched on her face when she saw lights illuminating through the frosted windows, indicating he was home. Deciding against formalities to wait, she turned the unlocked doorknob and entered. After all, she was practically family; his Mom even had pictures of them hung in frames throughout the walls of the house. Slipping off her shoes and placing them on the tray, she snapped her head to the left when she heard voices murmuring upstairs.

Who else is here?

Quietly shuffling upstairs, the voices grew louder. She recognized the one voice as Sapphire, his best friend, and Esmeraude, his girlfriend. Back in Senior year of high school and whenever she could on the weekends, the four of them would hang out, playing video games, walking across the bridge to their favorite pizza joint, or cozying on the couch watching movies, so she was slightly surprised she had not been invited over. Shaking her head, she was about to throw the door open and join in the conversation when she heard a sentence that suspended her.

"Dude, you have to tell her," she could hear Sapphire urge behind the closed door.

"Di, this isn't right. She deserves to know," Esmeraude agreed, sounding like she was in tears.

Serena could feel her chest rising and falling heavily, her throat constricting as she listened further. Clearly they were having a conversation she was not meant to hear. Closing her eyes, she could feel the tears pooling, but she continued to listen. Maybe it wasn't what it sounded like. Maybe…

"She won't know if you guys don't tell her," he replied sharply, causing both friends to gasp.

"Jesus, Diamond, do you even care about her anymore?" Esmeraude accused, clearly upset. "All those times she's stood by you!"

"Shut up, Es," she heard Diamond sneer.

"No! I'm not going to shut up! You cheated on Serena and you don't even have the decency to come clean about it! The only reason we're here is because Sapph and I saw you!" Esmeraude practically shouted at him.

She could feel her body convulsing, her nerves shaking as she dropped the bags at her feet. She wanted to yelp, scream out in pain, drop down and sob. However, her legs took on a power of their own and managed to carry her forward, her hand mechanically pushing open the door with a giant thrust, slamming it across the wall of his bedroom.

The three of them gasped as they looked at her, clearly shocked by Serena's burst into the bedroom. Her eyes were wide and glossy as she stared at Diamond, casually propped against his wall on the side of his bed. His pale blue eyes, a shade so beautiful they almost looked lavender, stared at her in both shock and irritation. Brushing his once-blonde-now-dyed-silver bangs back, he let out a deep sigh as he continued to look at her. Clearly, he was caught.

"It's not true," she whispered. "Please, tell me it's not true!" Tears began to slide down her face as she felt her heart clench. His mouth remained unmoving, only a firm line etched against his pale skin. Instead of saying anything, he stood up and breezed by her, exiting the bedroom and leaving her with their, his, two friends.

"Serena, I'm so sorry," Esmeraude finally said after a few awkward moments.

"What happened? With who? I want to know. Please! Tell me anything!" she cried as she looked between the two friends, who were exchanging conflicted looks between one another. "Please, I need to know!" she bit out with a sob.

Sapphire sighed as he ran his fingers through his navy-tipped hair. "You don't know her," he replied sadly.

"What's her name? I need to know!" she pleaded with him. He shook his head.

"No, you don't. Don't torture yourself looking for her, Serena."

"What did they do? Kiss? Make out? What?"

"Uhm," Esmeraude trailed, unsure. "Sapphire?"

Sapphire shook his head. "You need to talk to him, Serena."

"But!"

"He needs to tell you. We're behind you with this. Come on," he said as he stood up, looking at his girlfriend to follow.

Nodding, she shakily left the bedroom and descended downstairs, where he was sitting on the couch, his x-box controller in hand while he started a game of Halo. Wide eyed, she looked between the television and the man who was completely unaffected by the discovery of his infidelity.

Clearly, he didn't even care.

Her fingertips twitched with anger. Weren't cheaters supposed to at LEAST say sorry? Instead, she picked the lousiest, careless, self-absorbed bastard who couldn't even show one ounce of remorse?

And so she walked over and slapped the controller out of his hand, drinking in satisfaction as it nosily bounced against the hardwood floors away from them.

"Tell me. Now," she ordered. He remained silent, staring at her with dark, challenging eyes, so cold and uncaring she could feel ice running through her veins.

"NOW!" she screamed as she slapped him against the face, the force causing his head to turn to the left and bounce softly in the couch cushion. He looked back at her once more, anger flickering momentarily, before finally saying something.

"I'm going to be a Dad. Happy?" he finally said before standing up and walking back up the stairwell. She listened as his feet shuffled up the creaky steps, then a brief moment of silence before the door slammed. She stared into the couch, her body unresponsive, as she felt her world begin to crumble around her.

All the years together suddenly shattered, the illusion of spending forever with her first love instantly destroyed as she fell to her knees and screamed. Esmeraude immediately scooped her into a hug, Serena screaming and sobbing into the woman's shoulder in total heartbreak. Diamond was supposed to be her forever. He was her first love in every sense of the word. She stood by him when he dropped out of public school in favor of trade classes. She was constantly giving him money since he didn't make much at his job and wanted to have nicer things. She watched his little sister, went on his family vacations, housesat for his parents. She was family. And now, he was about to have a family with someone else.

"I need to get out of here," she finally cried. "Can you get my stuff? Please?" she implored Esmeraude, who quietly nodded and shuffled off.

"Serena, I'm so sorry," Sapphire said. "What he did… it's not right. It's not."

She gave him a shaky nod of appreciation. It was nice knowing that even he did not stand behind Diamond's actions, despite being his best friend. Esmeraude whisked down the stairs and handed her the duffle bag, her eyes also brimming with tears.

It was the end of an era.

Her lips quivered, but she couldn't bear to say any words. Rushing past them, she threw open the door and ran out, her tears trailing behind her as she ran as fast as she could to the nearest bus stop. Once she reached it, she slipped down the pole and buried her head in her knees. How could he do that to her? Why? Was she not good enough, not pretty enough? He always told her that he would be with her forever? What happened to forever?

What happened to forever?

#

"Can we leave?" Serena hissed to Lita, who was on pace to finish her cheeseburger in the slowest record time.

"Why? What's wrong?" Lita asked, noticing Serena's sudden change in demeanor. Lita watched as Serena tossed a sharp glance over to the arcade area and then back at her, wiggling her eyebrows in Morse code. Lita looked over to see a tall, lanky man with pale blonde hair hovering over the pinball machine, overly animated in his moves, before looking back at Serena.

"Oh, shit," she responded before shoving the remains of the burger in her mouth. Serena quickly tossed a handful of yen on the table, more than enough to cover their meals and tip, and tried to hide behind Lita's taller frame as they made their way to the exit of the Crowne.

Unfortunately, even Lita's towering height couldn't shield her from her yesteryears.

"Serena?" the painfully familiar voice called out, causing her to cringe. "Lita?"

Lita was the first to speak, much to Serena's gratitude. "Diamond," she replied coolly.

"Wow, it's been years. How have you been?" he asked as he shoved his hands into his pocket.

"Busy," she answered noncommittally. "In fact, we're about to head out. Shall we?" she said to Serena, who simply nodded in haste.

"Woah, wait, Serena, how have you been?" he quickly asked as he jumped in front of the two women. Serena frowned as she profiled him, but absolutely refused to make eye contact with him. She didn't know if it was the pure hatred for him or it was just plain obvious, but he looked absolutely awful. His face was shrunken, his eyes hollow, his body more slender than she could recall.

"Like Lita said, busy," she responded flatly. "If you'll excuse us." She attempted to barge past him, Lita behind her, but he shuffled in front of them once more.

"Serena, come on," he urged, causing her to feel a familiar hatred surge through her.

She caught his gaze, startling him slightly as she looked at him with a cold stare. "How's your daughter?" she bit. She felt a slight sense of satisfaction as she watched him frown and back away.

"She's good," he responded while looking away from her. With that, Serena pushed opened the glass door and walked out into the warm early June weather, a welcome change of scenery as she hurried down the sidewalk and away from the parlor.

"Gross, it's been at least five years since I've last run into him," Serena seethed as Lita walked alongside her. "Is it just my absolute hatred for him, or did he look like complete and total shit?"

Lita laughed. "He looked like shit, but then again, he has always looked like it."

"Ugh, I know. I don't know what I saw in him," Serena said while rolling her eyes. "Even now when I come across a photo of him from back in high school, I look at it and ask myself 'what the fuck was I thinking?'"

"Rose colored glasses, sweetie," Lita replied with a shrug.

"More like hypnosis," Serena countered.

"You saw something in him that none of us did," Lita continued. "That's all."

"Yeah, well, I wish I never had," she spat as she tried to put him out of her mind. Four years of wasted time. Four years of putting up with his mood swings, his flightiness, his abandonment, his possessiveness, and it was all for naught.

"Let's change the subject," Serena hastily replied as they turned the corner. "I'd rather not waste any more precious oxygen on that buffoon."

Lita was more than compliant. "Agreed. So, are you bringing Darien next week?"

"Next week?" Serena asked with a puzzled look on her face.

"The reunion, dumbass!" Lita reminded her. Serena mentally slapped her head to her forehead; of course! Lita was on the committee for throwing their ten-year high school reunion, which was next set for Saturday evening. She had done one hell of a job recruiting attendees; about 90% of their class was coming, including one of her oldest friends, Molly, who lived in Hiroshima with her husband, Melvin. Both of them married right out of high school and set off for Hiroshima for college, jobs, life, and children. They kept in touch via Facebook, but Molly had made a point to tell her that she was coming down for the weekend with Melvin and the kids specifically to attend the reunion.

"Oh, shit, I forgot all about that!" Serena exclaimed while attempting to avoid the daggers Lita's eyes were throwing at her.

"Forget?! How did you forget?!" Lita cried out in mock hurt as they turned onto another street.

"I'm sorry! I have it written down! It's just been a crazy couple of weeks is all. "

"Yuh huh. 'Crazy.' Did your planner get lost down Darien's pants or something?"

"Hey, leave Darien's pants out of this."

"Speaking of which, he's coming, yes?"

Serena let out a thoughtful sigh. "I mean, I'll ask him, but I doubt he will."

"Why not?"

"I don't know, it doesn't seem like his scene, ya know?"

"So? If he's dating you, and you have an event that has a plus-one, he should be there with you, shouldn't he?"

"Well, I mean, I don't really know if we're, 'dating,' ya know?" Serena admitted with a shrug. "We've never really had that talk." The two girls veered off to a small market with generous fruit stands stretched against the brick walls, their conversation continuing as they picked up small baskets and began to fill them with various items.

"He bought you diamond earrings. You're dating," Lita said straightforwardly.

"You think?"

"I don't think, I know," Lita confirmed.

"Crap, if it's anything like my past relationships, now that we're defined as 'dating' it's going to implode in the next few weeks," Serena whined as she placed a handful of peaches into her basket. Lita laughed as she grabbed a clamshell of kale and placed it into her basket, followed by a pint of strawberries.

"So, then it's settled?"

"What?"

"You're bringing him, yes?" Lita asked with a twinkle in her eye. "I bet you he'd get along great with Nate and Kunz."

"Fine! I'll ask, okay?"

Lita smiled a grin of victory. "I'll set aside an extra ticket for him."

#

As Serena sat at the glass dining room table tapping away on her keyboard, she occasionally would look up from her screen to look at Darien. He was magnificent behind his mahogany desk, his thin, wire rimmed glasses on the bridge of his nose as he reviewed what appeared to be a thick, wordy contract. In his hand was a red gel pen that was moving so fast, it looked like it was about to explode from overuse. She frowned; there hadn't been a single opportunity to present the invitation to him.

Bowing her head back down, she stared at the Word document of her unfinished article and pursed her lips. Why couldn't she wrap up the conclusion of this article? All she needed was a good four, five sentence paragraph, but the words weren't flowing out right. El Agave was a delicious, quaint Mexican restaurant, and she did enjoy her meal. So, what was the problem?

"Everything okay over there?" Serena poked her head back over her computer to look at Darien, whose eyes were peering over the tops of his glasses at her. He looks like Mister Rogers, or a librarian when he does that.

"Yeah, just writer's block," she replied. He nodded and turned his head back to his papers. She was about to let him continue, but decided since he had interrupted himself, it was now or never.

"Actually," she began, "I was wondering if I could ask you something?"

He put down his papers. "Sure."

"Next Saturday is my high school reunion."

"Okay?"

She sighed. "I"d like you to come with me."

The slight jerk of his head gave away his surprise of the invitation. She continued. "It's my ten year reunion. My best friend Lita practically planned all of it, and they're all bringing their fiancé's, so, I was hoping, maybe, you'd come with me?"

"Ten year reunion? God, you're young," he teased as he smiled at her. She responded by bouncing a pen off of his head from across the room.

"So?"

"'So' what?"

"Will you come with me?"

"Where is it?"

"In the gym."

"The gym? Of the high school?"

"Yeah? What other gym do you think I mean? The YMCA?"

"It's not at a restaurant or a banquet hall or something?"

"What the hell kind of reunion did you attend? No, it's at the gym at Juuban High."

"Ah, that explains it."

"Explains what?!"

"Public school."

She snorted. "And?"

"Nothing."

She tilted her neck back in irritation. "Are you seriously judging me for attending public school?"

"No."

"Yes, you are."

"No, I'm not. I'm judging that your reunion is in your high school gymnasium."

"So!?"

"It's tacky."

"You know what, invitation rescinded," she huffed as she closed her monitor. "And I'm out of here."

"Okay," he said as he leaned back into his office chair, watching her as she stuffed her computer into her backpack. She growled at him.

"You're so infuriating!" Her eyebrows snapped together further when he gave her that stupid smile of his.

"Am I?"

"Yes!"

He laughed, causing the fire in her chest to flicker brighter. "I'm just teasing you."

"Yeah, well, right now I don't want to be teased!" she said angrily. "I was being serious." She watched with mistrusting eyes as stood up from his chair and made his way to the front of the desk, placing his palms on top of it and leaning against it.

"Next Saturday?" he asked.

"Forget it."

"I fly home from Hong Kong on Friday, so yes, I'll be there."

"I said forget it," she challenged.

"You don't want me there?"

"No." Yes.

He smiled. "Yes, you do."

"No, I don't." Yes, I do.

"Okay, fine, I won't come." She gulped.

"I mean, Lita already set aside the ticket for you," she said in a rushed breath.

"Alright then."

"Okay."

"What time?"

"7:00."

"I'll put it in my calendar."

She sighed as she slung her bag over her shoulder, only to have him pull her against him. "What, still you're leaving?" he asked as he wrapped his arms around her waist.

"You're exhausting," she responded, still irritated from their conversation. "You couldn't just give me a simple answer?"

"I'm a complex man, baby," he grinned as he brushed his lips over her. At first she tried to ignore his kiss, but she knew it was useless. He kissed her once, twice, three times more before the bag finally slipped down her arm, her resistance forgotten as he lifted her on to his desk.

"You're. So. Infuriating." she panted as Darien assaulted her neck, causing her to whimper as he descended lower.

"Isn't that the basis of our relationship?" he said huskily as he ran his fingers down her abdomen. She moaned in response.

"Yes," she said breathless, her mind swirling from the feelings he provoked in her.

"For the next thirty minutes that's the only word I want to hear from you," he whispered.

She could feel the mocking of the generous amount of time on the tip of her tongue, but before she could even let it out, a surge of pleasure washed over her, their bickering, bantering, and teasing forgotten.

Author's Note!

So, fun fact... the discovery of Diamond's infidelity is taken from my own real-life experience, minus a few tweeks: he wasn't my first love, he didn't impregnate someone.. that's really it, actually lol. Everything else is pretty much exactly the same... only my ex was wearing overalls when I slapped him. Who the hell wore overalls in 2004? Anywho, even all these years later it's so easy to visualize the moment I found out and the unreal feelings I experienced. The only difference between the Serena I'm writing and my personal experience is that I was a fool and took him back. Serena closed herself off to relationships (which is why she mentions they never last longer than a few weeks) until now.

And that's why we're going to now explore how Serena deals with a real adult relationship after having her first one end so disastrously. The high school reunion is next! Who will Serena run in to? Stay tuned!