Happy last day of January :)
This chapter is a little on the shorter scale - I'm really sorry about that! Regardless, I hope you enjoy.
Hope all is well!
Love, MU
Serena yawned into her mug, the green tea in her favorite neko mug doing nothing to help keep her awake. She glanced over to the clock in the upper right hand corner of her desktop to see that it was only 8:30. Pathetic, she mentally chastised as she dug at her eyes. The last few days were wearing thin on her; between her regular workload and recent layoffs at the magazine, her workload picked up dramatically. No longer was she just reviewing restaurants, but she was now responsible for reviewing attractions in the area.
She knew she was one of the lucky ones to not lose her job, especially being one of the newer staff members, but she would be a damn liar if she said it wasn't difficult. Tokyo has many attractions, new ones constantly popping up, and her mission was to grab those that were only around for only a fleeting period. Tapping her fingers against the keyboard, she added "Mexican Food Truck Rodeo" to the list of items to attend in August. That one maybe she could double-dip.
A red notification caught her eye as she stared blankly at her screen. Clicking on the iMessaging icon, she frowned when she noticed a message from Darien asking her to call him. She checked the timestamp; crap, two hours ago! She picked up her phone and dialed his number, then slapped her head when she realized he probably was on the flight back home. She was about to press the 'end' button until a ring startled her. Did he forget to turn off hi–
"Hey," his deep voice transmitted over the receiver.
"Hey… aren't you supposed to be on a flight home?" she inquired.
"That's why I wanted you to call me. Can you hold on one moment?" Before she could answer, she heard a shuffle of the phone followed by what sounded like Chinese dialect exchanged between the parties. "Ok, I'm back."
"Am I interrupting something?" Serena asked, still confused.
"No, don't worry. Listen, I had to extend my trip. The Board of Directors unanimously agreed upon our contract conditions, so we have a follow-up meeting to video conference with the client."
"Oh," Serena said dejected. "Congratulations."
"Thank you. Listen, I know you have your reunion tomorrow," he trailed.
"You can't make it," she finished knowingly. She sighed.
"I'm sorry. Unfortunately, I have to be here. It's a video conference with a company in the States, so we're conferencing at 11:00 tonight and it's going to last a good couple of hours. Then we have additional meetings the following day."
"Sounds tiring," she replied, disappointment still evident.
"It is. But, it means I did my job right," he said with pride. The corners of her mouth twitched into a half smile, but it didn't nurse the dissatisfaction very well.
"I'm glad," she responded simply.
"I know you're disappointed," he sighed into the phone.
"Yeah, I am, but it's fine. It's your job. I get it. Sometimes I have to work late, too, cuz, well, life," she responded flatter than she had hoped. She cringed when she heard him sigh.
"Listen, if you're going to just sigh and groan over the fact that I have to work, I'll talk to you some other time. I really don't have time for this," he grumbled over the phone.
"Sorry, didn't realize I wasn't allowed to be disappointed." After a brief pause, Darien's voice shifted into a dismissive one.
"I'm not doing this," he informed her before hanging up on her. She scoffed when she realized the call had ended; did he seriously hang up on her?
"Who the fuck hangs up on people?!" Serena exclaimed to the empty apartment, throwing her phone into the decorative pillow on the couch. Her anger only intensified when the phone opted to bounce in the wrong direction, landing face down on her hardwood floors. "Fuck!" Scooping it up, she was greeted by a nice, long diagonal crack on the bottom right, causing her insides to begin to boil.
"FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK!"
#
After a fitful night sleep and a serious dose of a much-needed girl's afternoon, Serena tried to ignore the nagging disappointment that continued to stir in her as she sat at the group's table. She had done well prior to this point of the evening ignoring the fact she was here alone, but after concluding her conversation with Molly and Melvin and seeing them still so much in love, she found herself saddened yet again that Darien couldn't be here. After calling Mina and practically wailing to her about her predicament, Mina helped calm her down and come back to Earth about the reality of the situation. In the end, Serena felt pretty embarrassed by her actions; they were adults with responsibilities. It would be completely unprofessional if he blew off his meetings for his girlfriend's high school reunion. She had apologized to him via text and he responded with a brief acknowledgement, but otherwise he had been silent. Pulling her phone out again, glanced at the screen briefly, only to replace it when she saw that no messages were waiting for her.
Redirecting her thoughts, Serena smiled and waved over to her group of friends as they danced with their significant others. The gym looked exactly like it did back when they had their senior prom, putting nostalgia in full throttle. Silver and white balloon arches and pillars were all over the gym, navy blue and silver lights swirling on the dance floor as an epic jam of 2000's pop hits blared over the loudspeaker. The crowd was in fine form tonight – although there were no couples grinding on one another like ten years ago, the floor was filled with smiling faces. Serena had spent some time out there along Lita, Mina, and Raye, but quickly felt out-of-place as they began to pay more attention to their dates.
Sighing, Serena shifted away from the table and over to something that they certainly did not have at prom: the bar. After ordering a beer from the bartender, she perched herself at a high-top table sheathed in blue. She took a slow sip of her beer, enjoying the hoppy flavor, when someone startled her.
"Serena?"
Serena whirled around to the familiar voice calling her, only to question the individual in front of her. "Sapphire?" she asked slightly hesitantly, the man before her a complete different person than she remembered. Long gone was the punk rocker with navy blue tipped hair, Tripp jeans and punk rock shirts; his hair was back to its natural black, cut and neatly parted, his outfit was a pair of black slacks and a gingham-checkered button down with a simply slim tie. Had it not been for his voice, she easily would not have recognized him. "Holy shit, Sapphire, you look, wow!" She stood up to embrace him, the two of them exchanging a brief sway before separating.
"Sit down, sit down!" she urged as she stared at him. "Wow, you look so…"
"Adult?" he smirked.
She laughed. "Well, yeah, I guess for lack of a better word. Do you have your Misfits shirt underneath that button down?"
"Hey, that t-shirt has been through some amazing times, let me tell you," he defended with a playful smile.
She exchanged a smile back. "How the hell have you been? You're not still with Esmeraude by chance, are you?" She giggled as his face scrunched up, clearly indicating their separation.
"God, no, not for years," he informed her. "Esmeraude wound up moving to Hokkaido for veterinarian school. We tried long distance, but it didn't work. She's actually married now."
"Really?" Serena asked. He nodded.
"Yup, a few years ago. We're still friends on Facebook, but we lost touch right around the time she got engaged."
"I'm sorry," Serena sympathized. He shook his head.
"No, don't be sorry. It's the way it's supposed to be."
She shrugged. "But, still." Seeing Sapphire in slacks was weird enough, but without Esmeraude was even stranger. "I definitely thought you guys were endgame."
"Nah," he said as he sipped his beer. "What about you?"
"Me? Oh, I'm seeing someone," she replied nonchaulantly, still feeling slightly bitter from their argument earlier.
"Is he here?" Sapphire asked as he began to gaze the gymnasium. He stopped when she shook her head no.
"He's on a business trip," she said flatly.
"Ah," he replied. "I can tell that you're annoyed by that." She raised her eyebrow. "When you used to get annoyed by Diamond, your forehead makes this distinguished 'v' right in between your eyebrows. That's how we all knew you were really pissed off."
"Really?"
"Yup."
"So, when I would say I'm not mad, you'd-?"
"Already knew you were livid," he answered. She laughed.
"Damn, I guess some things never change."
"Yes and no," Sapphire mused.
Their conversation flowed comfortably, two friends reconnecting and catching up on the details of their lives. She learned that he wound up buckling down at community college and actually made his way to University to study marketing. It lead him to discover and excel in the world of advertising. He still lived in Tokyo and worked at a television station, but still loved to occasionally game when he had the time. Once the second round of drinks came and went, they found themselves at an awkward corner.
"You know, after Diamond did that to you, Es and I put some distance between him and us," Sapphire somberly admitted.
"O-oh," Serena responded softly to his revelation.
He continued. "Between his shitty treatment of you and the drugs, he was becoming toxic. Eventually we just stopped hanging out altogether. He'd message me on occasion online, but it was pretty much jibberish."
"I had hear rumors," she said disheartening, "that he fell pretty hard into drugs."
He nodded. "Yeah."
"You'd think his daughter would be a reason to stay away from the stuff," she judged as she finished off the last of her drink.
"Last I heard, he doesn't even have visitation rights."
She shook her head. "Unbelievable."
"Not like it matters coming from me, but, I'm sorry for what he did to you all those years," he said as he placed his hand over hers.
"Thank you," she replied warmly. Just as she was about to pull her hand away, Mina suddenly jumped in between the two former friends, dressed to kill in a sunny yellow strapless dress. She wrapped her tanned arm around Serena's shoulders and let out a tipsy squeal.
"Sereeeeeena!" she shrieked as she pulled her encased hand away and tried to yank her up. "You'll NEVER believe who is here!"
"Who?" Serena asked in curiosity. Was it an old flame? An old boyfriend of Mina's? The teacher Lita had a huge crush on that was borderline obsessive? "Is it Derek?" she tried to deduce, going the route of one of Mina's ex's.
"Who? Oh, Derek. No, not him," she dismissed with a wave before pointing a manicured finger at the doorway. Serena's eyes widened in surprise, her grin stretching wide upon her face in complete and total surprise.
"Excuse me, Sapphire, sorry!" Serena said rushed as she untangled herself from Mina's grasp and made her way to the door. With each step she took to the wide doorframe, her heart was beating faster and faster in total shock and awe.
He held her gaze as she approached him, his arms opening as she began to feel her feet pick up speed and throw herself into him. She buried herself into his chest as he enclosed his arms around her.
He came.
#
Mina watched in satisfaction as Serena redirected herself from the table and into Darien's arms. It took some margaritas and an epic heart-to-heart on the couch of her apartment, but Serena finally understood why she angered Darien enough to hang up on her. Mina even helped coach the perfect apology text to Darien. Clearly, it had worked perfectly.
It had taken many, many years, but Serena finally seemed to be in a good place in her life, both career wise and romantically. Nothing was harder for Mina than watching her best friend suffer at the arms of a pig-headed, under-achieving, masochistic dickhead, and sitting beside said best friend for the better of 45 minutes was his partner-in-crime, Sapphire Laboue.
Sure, Sapphire looked way different than he did in high school. Had his wretched personality from years ago not tainted his overall image, she would even say he looked somewhat cute. It had taken Mina the better of thirty minutes to determine who he was while she watched them on the dance floor, and when she did, she found herself feeling pretty fucking pissed. It brought her back to a time where she found herself taking a backseat in the best friend department, back to when she would be jealous and heartbroken that Serena's time was heavily monopolized by Diamond, Sapphire and Esmeraude. Sure, at 17 she overanalyzed things, but regardless, it brought up old feelings of distain.
After Diamond cheated on Serena, Serena shut down. It was borderline frightening, in fact. Serena warped from a cheerful, trusting girl to a hollow shell, mechanically going from class to class, focusing only on her studies. Having attending the same University, Mina worked damn hard to try and revive her best friend, but she had been scarred badly. Even when Serena began to act more like her normal self, the love-struck side of her was gone.
"So, Mina, how have you been?" Sapphire asked hesitantly, causing Mina to roll her eyes at the formality of it.
"Peachy," she replied. "Listen to me good, Sapphire. Stay away from her."
"What?"
"Stay the hell away from Serena, got it?" she informed him, her baby blues shooting sparks to his widened navy irises.
"First off, what gives you the right to say that to me, and second—"
"No, no," she interrupted with a wave of her index finger. "I have every damn right in the world to keep you and your motives away from her. Do you have any idea how long it took to pick up the pieces of her heart that your buddy carelessly broke? How you guys tried to lure her into that pathetic, underachieving world of yours, pushing her to cut class and not show up to work so you could play fucking video games? That's my right. That's my God damn right, right there," she replied harshly.
"I know Diamond treated her like shit, but-"
"You could be an anointed fucking Saint and I'd still tell you to back the hell off," Mina snapped. She watched with an unwavering glare as he stood up from his seat, their eyes never breaking contact.
"Jesus, you're still the same bitch you were back in high school," he replied dangerously low as he snatched his empty beer bottle off the table. "Seems some things never change."
She profiled him mockingly, her expression impassive as she lifted a hand to tuck a stray hair behind her ears. "And you're still painfully obvious. Still pining after Serena, even though she wants nothing to do with you." Her heart thumped in satisfaction as she watched Sapphire falter. "You really think none of us noticed? God, you're oblivious."
"You don't know shit, Mina," Sapphire countered.
"Don't I?" she inquired, watching Sapphire with hooded eyes. "Why do you think Esmeraude was so clingy when it was the four of you hanging out?"
"You're delusional."
"No, you are. And you're a fool if you think I'm going to let you ruin what she's worked so hard to achieve," Mina snapped. "Now make like an epilogue and end this story, now." Tossing her hair over her shoulder, Mina turned around and crossed the gymnasium dance floor and over to the table where Serena was happily introducing Darien to the guys. A smile of success stretched across Mina's features as Serena sat next to Darien, obviously happy that he had showed up to the reunion, Sapphire completely forgotten. Her eyes darted between the lovely couple and the lone man across the gymnasium, pleased when she watched as he dropped his bottle off at the bar and redirect his attention to other classmates.
"Everything okay, Min?" Mina smiled at the delicious, cool voice belonging to her fiancé.
Giving him a dazzling smile, she nodded vigorously.
"Absolutely. Now, let's dance."
So, when I said 'who will Serena run into at the reunion?' did anyone think Sapphire, or did everyone think Diamond was going to come and cause some havoc XD Hahaha. I thoroughly enjoyed throwing in Mina's POV as well on the situation and her loyalty to her best friend. I hope you guys did, too!
I have another romantic chapter in the works and I'm hoping to get it out on Valentine's Day. What's next for our feisty lovebirds? After all, it is now June, and we all know what important date is at the end of June! Hehe. Stay tuned!