CHAPTER 5

Serena stormed into her apartment. It was unnerving the way that this man could still affect her emotions so. With just a few words she went from hot, to cold, to-heated in a span of thirty seconds. Damn the man. She walked into her bedroom and proceeded to discard the pink blouse and the jeans she had been wearing and changing into her "in-house" shorts, but opting to stay in the comfortable undershirt that she had been wearing.

Belatedly she recalled that she'd heard a phone ring in Darien's apartment and checked her cell phone- Mina had called. Pressing re-dial, she dreaded the inquisition that was sure to come after Mina saw her and Darien essentially leaving the café together.

"Hi Mina, what's up?" As she answered the phone, she heard a rushed knock on the door. She opened the door without giving it a second thought, thinking it was Mina. She was taken aback when instead of Mina's friendly face she saw a broad chest that pushed past her without a moment's notice.

"Meatball Head, you can't just leave in the middle of civilized conversation".

"Serena, are you there? Is that DARIEN I hear on the other end?! ANSWER ME!"

She cringed at the shouted words in her ear, having forgotten about her friend on the other line the moment that Darien breezed through her door. "Sorry Mina, I have to let you go. I promise I'll fill you in. Sorry!" She hung up without giving the other blonde a chance to respond.

"Well, why don't you come on in and make yourself at home?" The sarcasm in her voice was pointed. "And we were certainly not having a civilized conversation, which in case you missed, is now over. Please enlighten me as to what you're doing in my apartment." She turned towards him and thought for a moment that he was staring a little too far south, but it must have been her imagination; the moment she blinked he was looking her square in the eye. Whether she imagined it or not, she was suddenly conscious of her current outfit: a form-fitting tank-top that left little to the imagination when it came to her generous upper-curves and shorts that bordered on the indecent, showing off her thighs for the world to see. Despite herself, she began to feel self-conscious, wondering if there was stubble on her legs or if her figure wasn't as flat as he would prefer…not that she cared about his preferences…

She went around to her couch, hoping that sitting in her domain would help her gain a bit more confidence and hide her insecurities, what she wasn't expecting was for Darien to sit down directly next her. She was not prepared for his closeness, though she was sure that he sat close to intimidate her. He certainly was not accounting for the plush cushions on her couch to slightly give way and bring him even closer, effectively wrapping the two in a rather intimate and unintentional tête-à-tête.

In a hushed tone that under different circumstances and with a different person Serena would have qualified as rather husky and seductive, he whispered to her "Serena, you positively infuriate me." As he said this, he leaned in even closer and reached out a hand to place against her cheek.

She was about to return an indignant remark despite the tender touch, but he continued "however, I am sorry if I was harsh earlier. I know that I can be somewhat…"

"Rude? Impatient? Uncivil?"

He broke their contact as he stood, turning away toward the sliding-glass doors of her balcony, and effectively putting some distance between them. "Right, I deserved that."

She immediately missed his warmth, and stood to walk towards him as if on autopilot , stopping only a few feet from him and leaning against the wall, pausing to allow him to continue with his thought.

He finally faced her after a few moments, and in turn leaned against the glass, mirroring her stance.

-'- -'- -'- -'- -'- -'- -'- -'- -'- -'- -'- -'- -'- -'-

He REALLY needed to stop looking down her shirt. But by Jove this woman must be deliberately trying to tempt him! Never mind that she'd had no idea that he was going to barge into her home, the kind of outfit she was wearing must have been put on this earth for the sole purpose of torturing the male species; it revealed just enough to tease without being indecent. The top of her milky breasts were displayed just so, giving him a tantalizing view of her cleavage, and those shorts revealed those smooth long legs that seemed to go on for miles. He found himself having to concentrate on NOT staring at her.

Attempting to clear his head, he moved from the couch to get some distance from her, but she followed after him; did she have no idea what she was doing to him? She's the girl that he was supposed to love to tease and here he was unable to get impure thoughts out of his head. He needed to get his hormones in check and bring them back to their teasing atmosphere; this was dangerous territory he was wondering into.

To clear the air (and his unwarranted thoughts), he turned to her and reverted back to her usual nickname: "Meatball Head," hoping that she would respond accordingly and begin their usual banter.

She only looked back up at him, seemingly in a daze and responded with a rather weak "jerk." Not the full-fledged Meatball-Headed insults he was expecting, but a start.

Suddenly there was a flash of lightning, followed by a rather loud and ominous clap of thunder, and the next thing he knew he was being tackled by a heap of long legs and blonde hair. The unexpected impact bought them both crashing to the ground. She landed in a rather compromising position, lying on top of him with her head on his chest. Those cerulean blues blinked up at him as though disoriented for a moment, wide and startled. His hands moved on their own volition, grabbing her about the waist and effectively bringing her closer to him, if that were possible.

This seemed to bring her out of her trance, and she blinked a few more times as if to clear her head. "I'm sorry; I don't know what came over me. I used to be terrified of storms as a child, but they don't bother me anymore. I must have been startled, please don't tease me about his, too."

Feeling a sudden wave of tenderness and glad to see a glimpse of the clumsy Meatball Head that he was used to, he held onto her and pulled her even closer for the briefest of moments, then suddenly as if realizing what he was doing, he let her go.

Serena immediately stood up and offered him a hand. At his lack of response she continued: "I am sorry…"

"Well, my little outburst earlier was nothing to be proud of. We'll just call this even, Meatball Head."

"Would you quit calling me that? I have a name you jerk, learn to use it!"

"Now that's the Meatball Head I know and love to tease." He could still recall the feel of her lying on top of him, and the images that conjured sent his libido into overdrive; Serena was no longer a child, and the realization was doing things to his head. He had to keep reminding himself that this was Meatball Head, and that she was still his clumsy little underclassman. For good measure, he smiled and patted her on the head as one would a small child. This might prove to be an interesting arrangement after all.

-'- -'- -'- -'- -'- -'- -'- -'- -'- -'- -'- -'- -'- -'-

A/N- Not much to say really, just thank you for reading my story and thank you so very much to those of you who have taken some time to review; I truly appreciate it. Hope you enjoy this chapter!

TropicalRemix- refer to the beginning of chapter 4 for his reasoning; your other question will be answered shortly ;)

-'- -'- -'- -'- -'- -'- -'- -'- -'- -'- -'- -'- -'- -'-