Title: What a new beginning really means
Author: PrettyVchan
.:: Hey guys, this is my second fanfic. I hope you guys enjoy. It's fairly different from the first one since this one is A/U. Please make sure check out my fic "In Joy and Sorrow".
Serena and Darien fell asleep in the living room floor, their faces turned to each other, their bodies going in different directions. For the first time in his life Darien had a good, nightmare free night.
…
He woke up feeling like he was about to freeze. It took him a while to realize where he was. Looking at the girl by his side, sleeping with a light smile in her face he couldn't help but smiled too. He noticed that a window was wide opened so he quickly closed it. The sun was starting to shine so he thought it would be a good time to leave. After the night he spent with Serena just talking, he didn't feel like he had the strength to face her and say goodbye even if they would see each other later that day. He had also promised to Lita he would be at the apartment early so she could organize everything for the party.
Even thought Serena looked comfortable enough he took her in his arms and walked her upstairs, to her bed. He lied her down and observed her for a little while, not being able to look away. She was the most beautiful girl he had even seen and she seemed to become more attractive each time. He sighted and decided it was time to leave but looking at her made him forget about anything. He slowly leaned to her and kissed her forehead lightly.
"It's our secret, Meatball Head. Don't tell anyone." He whispered and finally left.
…
Lita got to Andrew's apartment at 2 p.m. as she had promised. She seemed anxious and agitated when she greeted Darien.
"Does he know we're throwing a party?" She asked nervously while waiting for the cake to be done.
"He hasn't acted any different so I think he doesn't have a clue." He smiled assuring it would be a great party.
"Thanks for the support Darien, it means a lot to me. I hope that the girls won't be too late. Raye and Amy are coming soon, Mina is the one in charged to bring Andrew, and Serena…you know her, she's probably still asleep." He sighted.
"Maybe not, she went to bed really early last night because of the thunderstorm and the lack of electricity at her place." He said without realizing what he was saying.
Lita looked at him puzzled.
"How do you know what time she went to bed?" She frowned.
"I…I…kept her company because of the storm." He wouldn't lie to Lita. It would be worse if she found out by herself. For some reason he felt guilty of staying with Serena.
"Look, I like you. You're Andrew's friend. But if you ever hurt any of my friends…" Lita was dangerously close to him, her eyes shimmering with some anger.
Luckily, the doorbell rang and Darien went straight to the door not daring to look back. Angry girls were something he wasn't eager to deal with. Amy and Raye were both on the door. Raye smiled timidly when she saw Darien, but hugged him affectionately. He felt his her shrinking with guilt and he hadn't done anything wrong.
"I missed you, Darien, I wish we had gone to our date last night." She whispered to him. He smiled but didn't respond. He pushed her gently away and smiled to Amy.
"Good to see you, Ames."
"Good to see you, Darien. How did you survive the storm last night, huh?" She asked casually. Again, guilt. What was wrong with him? He glared at Raye who was casually talking to Lita but the brown haired girl didn't miss Amy question, she was observing Darien.
"You…you know…I don't really care about storms and, what's that in your hands? It looks heavy, let me help you." He got the groceries she was bringing and placed them on the counter, feeling Lita's glare on his back.
They organized the whole thing and about an hour before the party's time, Serena got at the apartment. She was looking great. Her hair was down and wavy, she wore a light summer blue dress with some flowers on it and light jacket over it. He felt like he had to stop looking at her and made himself busy with the cake.
"Hey!" She looked happier than she had been in a while. He wondered if that had anything to do with him, his heart wishing he did.
"Hey girls! Darien!" She smiled beautifully. "Man, I am so hungry! I woke up early today and I even went jogging." Amy giggled. Lita was serious and Raye not interested. Their last argument was kind of ugly so they were not speaking to each other unless strictly necessary. "I swear! But then I went back home and I felt tired so I took a nap." She smiled gently.
"You look rather happy today, Sere. I haven't seen you like that in a while." Lita commented, looking from Darien to Serena. The blonde blushed and the man ignored her look.
"I got a phone call from Seiya today. He apologized and told me he loves me and that he'll make up for the bad things when he comes back." She said, smiling lightly. Darien felt his stomach suddenly hurting and felt extremely uncomfortable. 'Why did I think she was happy because of me?'
…
Serena smiled and told the girls about Seiya but deep down, the reason she was so happy was right there in that living room, looking at her with a serious expression. She hadn't had a good talk like they had last night in months! She hadn't felt this close to anyone in ages! She wouldn't dare to say it out loud because 1) she knew Raye would be angry. 2) It would sound like she liked him, which she didn't. 'Right? I don't!' she thought.
Seiya's phone call did made her feel a little excited but something inside of her said that wasn't going to last.
"So, Seiya called you and said that, huh? Do you believe him?" Raye asked, seriously.
"Why wouldn't why? Just because you don't believe him doesn't mean I have to doubt him too." Serena responded, eyes narrowing.
"Just checking… whatever, you're the one who have to deal with it, so I don't really care." Raye looked away, sad.
Serena ignored her, her eyes stopping at Darien, who had a sad expression in his eyes. He was looking at her and as soon as their eyes met, he looked away.
She wondered if she did something to upset her since he wasn't really talking to her. Soon after that the other guests started to appear and everyone put a smile on their faces and try to act normal for once.
…
Andrew got at the apartment with Mina and everyone yelled "surprise" and boy, was he surprised! He laughed and hugged Mina thanking her for the surprise. She was embarrassed.
"I'm sorry Andy, I wasn't the one who threw the party, my job was just to bring you here." She said, quietly.
"Huh…then who organized it?" He asked. She pointed to Lita who was smiling – still, evidently hurt – near the cake. He approached her and hugged her for a long time.
"That means a lot to me, Lita… you're such an amazing friend. I love you!" He kissed her cheek making the girl blush.
Darien, drinking his scotch, observed the scene from a distance. He was alone, sitting on a chair, not feeling like socializing. Mina and Raye were dancing happily and Amy talked with someone he didn't know.
Serena came by his side and he didn't even noticed until she said something.
"Whaaat are you looking at?" She smiled largely; she was determent to make sure he wasn't mad at her or something like that. He jumped from his sit.
"You scared me, Meatball Head!" She looked at him confused and he smiled to her "But that's okay…you're too small to cause me any harm."
"Hey! I am so not small! I can easily hurt you if I want to, I just choose not to." She challenged making him laugh.
"Right, right!" He patted her head and even with this dismissive touch, he felt connected to her. They engaged in a long conversation about trivialities. They commented on Lita and Andrew who were talking a lot and they both really hoped he would realize she was the one for him. They changed subjects to more serious matters and Serena decided to ask why he was so serious today, more than he usually was.
"I know you told me you have a hard time making friends but you've been doing well with hanging out with the girls and Andrew so far, but today you seemed so caught in your own world…"
He thought a little about that. She was right. And it wasn't just because he felt guilty about spending the night with her, or that Lita was making him unsure of how to behave, or that Raye could get angry with him if she found out about him staying with Serena… he knew, in the back of his mind he had something other than Serena bugging him. He hadn't told her that next Tuesday he would have to go to his parent's mansion and that was driving him apprehensive and nervous. After he explained it to her Serena thought for a little bit and then smiled largely.
"I've got it! I'll go with you! I owe you big time! That way if you feel like crying I will be there to help you out and put you in bed." She made him blush hard and smirk.
"I won't cry, don't you worry about that, I never cry." He winked.
"Oooh, I'm sorry Mr. Macho Man" And they laughed together.
"I'm sorry to interrupt the new best friends in town" Raye's voice came from behind "but I would like to at least talk to Darien for five minutes today, you don't mind Serena."
Serena just looked at her shocked with her friend's behavior. She stood up and left before anything could be said.
"Why did you do this, Raye? I don't appreciate it." Darien said harshly.
"Oh my, excuse me if I want to spend time with you. I had this wild idea we were dating and I haven't spent time with you in a while." She was clearly offended. Darien sighted.
"You don't need to be rude with anyone. If you want my attention you can ask me to give it to you, there's no need to talk to Serena or anyone else like that." He was angry. Raye embraced his neck with her arms and looked at him.
"I'm sorry. It won't happen again. I just wanted to spend some quality time with you, that's all." She smiled seductively. He held her by her waist.
"That's fine." He said.
She brought him close to her and started to dance with him. He looked around to see if anyone could see them – he hated to dance and felt terribly embarrassed whenever he had to dance. Fortunately, no one was paying attention.
They started to kiss, softly at first but she got fierce. He felt rather uncomfortable to kiss her like that in front of everyone but since no one seemed to care, he continued, partially because he felt guilty about spending the night admiring Serena.
They heard loud voices and noticed some movement at the door. He realized someone had just gotten to the party. They stopped kissing and he saw Serena running to the door and hugging someone.
He could recognize the long black hair and tall and thin frame in the door from the picture Mina had shown him. He also recognized the two other guys by his side.
'I thought that this Seiya was out of the country…'
…
Serena was dancing with Mina when her blonde friend screamed "YATEN!" and ran off to the door. She then saw Seiya standing there and smiling at her and ran too. She hugged Seiya as tight as she could.
"Serena!" He smiled largely "I missed you so much!"
"Oh my God! What are you doing here? You called me today and said you were coming back in a week!"
"I am really smart. I wanted you to be surprise, my little girl!" He winked at her. "Mina told Yaten about this party so we decided to come here and surprise you guys. We just waited until it was already late because we didn't want to accidentally run into Andrew and ruin the surprise for him. Where is him by the way?"
Serena looked around. She didn't see Andrew anywhere. And Lita wasn't anywhere to be found.
"That's odd! They were just here." Se thought out loud.
"Well, it doesn't matter, you're here and that's what I want." He held his girlfriend tight and his eyes met dark, beautiful ones who observed his every move.
…
When they saw Seiya, Darien could notice Raye's body tense up. She observed the whole scene without saying a world, but he saw something different in her eyes. Some sort of melancholia coming from them.
He started to observe Seiya. He really wanted to dislike him because he was causing pain in Serena but all he could think was 'He seems to be just a boy.'
He could see genuine happiness as Seiya and Serena talked and he could see he really missed her. That made his heart tight for some unknown reason. And then he saw Seiya's gaze meeting Raye's. They didn't say anything for a long time but their eyes were having an intense conversation.
After what felt really long time Raye broke the silence between them, as Seiya approached her, holding hands with Serena.
"So you're back…" She said.
"Yeah, happy to see me?" He smirked.
"Not even slightly." The girl proclaimed.
Seiya brought her close to him, to an embrace.
"Come on, Raye, stop acting like that. I know you missed me, I missed you too!" He smiled. She blushed and pushed him away. He laughed and noticed Darien. He looked confused and unsure, but suddenly shifted to a rather challenging and cocky expression.
"I'm Seiya." He introduced himself.
"I'm Darien. It's nice to meet you." Darien responded sounding serious. 'So, you're the jerk who's breaking Serena's heart' he thought.
"Oh, so you're Darien. Heard a lot about you. Like the fact you used to make fun of my girlfriend." He said, his arms tight around Serena's waist. Darien felt some anger, he didn't like the way he said that. And if someone was hurting Meatball head, that person was Seiya himself.
"He's been really nice to me, Seiya! He's tutoring me and everything." Serena interfered.
"Good." Seiya smiled. That was something weird about that smile. Darien forced himself to smile back to him.
"He and Raye are dating." She said not very loud.
"Really?" Seiya looked at Raye, a mysterious expression on his face. Raye blushed.
"Well, it's not official or anything, we just started going out and…"
"Yeah, we've been dating." Darien interrupted, curious about Seiya's facial expression.
"She's like a sister to me. So take care of her, because if you don't I'll take care of you." There was something non-fraternal in the way he looked at Raye. He smirked. "But as long as you treat her well, I don't see a problem with that."
"I'm so glad you guys are back!" Mina's voice interrupted the tension. She smiled, holding hands with a silver haired guys he knew was from the band. Along with them, Amy and Taiki approached the group. "See Darien, they are the Threelights I told you about. This one is Yaten and the tall one is Taiki. And you obviously already know Seiya."
Darien nodded to the other guys who nodded back, none of them really interested in starting a conversation. Darien didn't talk much, since everyone seemed to be catching up on what was going on in each other's lives. He noticed Raye and Seiya didn't talk much either. That was an awkward night.
Lita and Andrew came out of the balcony looking flushed and as soon as they saw their friends they came to talk to them and Darien felt like leaving. He didn't have anywhere else to go so he thought maybe he should take a walk.
He separated from the group and noticed Serena, a sincere smile on her face, holding hands with Seiya. That thought broke his heart for some reason and he wished to believe it was because he didn't like Seiya very much. He got himself some scotch and found himself a little tipsy. A warm, long but delicate hand touch him and he saw Raye sitting by him.
"Want to get away from here?" She asked. He agreed. He didn't want to stay there longer.
They went to his car.
"Where do you want to go?" He asked, his mind somewhere else.
"How about my apartment?" She suggested. He automatically drove there, not even glancing at her. His mind was a mess and his heart full of angst and confusion.
They got to her apartment and she told him to wait for her in her room, she would grab them some drinks and be back soon. He obeyed, thoughtlessly.
Getting at her room he found it was very beautiful, one of the walls painted bright red.
Right by the bed she had three pictures in three different frames. One of her and the girls, one of her and Seiya and one of her and Serena. He got that one and looked at Serena. God, she was beautiful. She was radiant in that picture. Her smile, her eyes, everything about her was so wonderful.
"Since when do you love her?" Raye's voice brought him back to the moment. He didn't even notice her coming back and observing him for a few minutes. Her eyes were filled with tears but she smiled. Her voice was soft when she asked again. "Darien, since when do you love her?"
Darien looked at her feeling deeply ashamed. He had no idea of what to say. He placed the picture back to it's place and looked down, not knowing what to say.
"It's okay Darien… I've noticed you really like her I didn't know you love her…" She sat down by his side, after gently placing the two glasses on top of her nightstand. "She loves Seiya though…even if he doesn't deserve her love."
"I don't love her. Not like this. I love her as a friend. She's special to me. I don't want you to think anything bad, Raye."
"I am not thinking anything bad, Darien. I know how it feels to like someone you can't have." She smiled lightly. "I hope things won't change between you and I. I still like hanging out with you and I know we could go somewhere if we tried."
Darien closed his eyes for a while trying to think. He was a little intoxicated, so it was hard to think. He knew he wanted Serena, but she was madly in love with Seiya from what he had understood. There was no way he could compete with that. In the end, he knew he wasn't made for love. He opened his eyes and saw Raye looking at him. He thought of how she had looked at Seiya and noticed that she knew how he felt. His arm went around her shoulders and he brought her closer to him. He leaned down and kissed her gently.
She kissed him back eagerly. Not because she was dying to kiss him but because she was longing to be kissed with love and passion. She knew Darien couldn't give her much but she didn't care. She was tired of being alone.
She pushed him closer to her, lying in her bed, he lying on top of her. They both had their eyes closed as if they were imagining a whole different situation. They had sex imagining they were with someone completely different.
…
Serena, Seiya, Mina and Yaten got to the girls apartment really late at night. Mina and Yaten stayed in the living room, chatting, while Mina tried really hard to seduce him a little unsuccessfully, since he was really tired, wanting to go to bed.
Serena and Seiya went upstairs to her bedroom. He closed the door behind him and started kissing his girlfriend passionately.
"Wait, wait, hold on!" She said, pushing him away gently. "Not like this, we haven't talked, we had alcohol… and we haven't talked" she repeated herself.
"Babe, I miss you. I don't want to talk right now. There are so many things we could be doing…" He smiled, holding her by her tiny waist.
"Seiya, you've hurt me pretty bad… we need to fix our relationship and…"
"Look, Sere… we are not going to be able to fix anything just now…it's late…" he kissed her "we're tired." He kissed her again "We missed each other." He kissed her once again.
She let herself being kissed and they lied together in the bed, holding each other. He looked at her with desire in his eyes. Still her thoughts navigated to somewhere she had no idea was just next-door.
"I missed every inch of your awesome body, babe. Did you miss me?" She nodded, her mind still caught in Darien.
Seiya was a good lover, she knew, but that night she wasn't into having sex with him. She wasn't feeling the same around him and she thought it could be because they didn't have the talk they needed but she also knew it was because she couldn't keep her mind of Darien.
Seiya fell asleep in her arms and Serena tried her best to fall asleep to. Eventually she did, but as soon as the sun shone again, she woke up.
Feeling thirsty, she headed downstairs to the kitchen.
…
Darien woke up with a mild headache and really thirsty. He looked at Raye, sleeping by his side and hated his guts for having had sex with her. Sure it was good but he knew he could give her what she needed and she wouldn't give him what only Serena could. He put on his pants and walked to the kitchen and got himself some water. When he was closing the refrigerator he heard someone walking in.
Their eyes met and stayed connected for a while. Both wanting to say something but lacking words. The worst part: she looked tempting. It wasn't the time to be thinking about that but he was. She was wearing a big pink t-shirt and really short shorts. Her hair was tight in a messy bun, some locks danced free around her face. He felt like holding her. They stood there, looking at each other, not noticing how close they were.
…
She couldn't help to look at his bare chest. He was muscular, mainly. She had never dated anyone with his body type before – Seiya was slim. She felt like running her hands in his chest, so she could feel if his body was as warm as hers.
She felt her heart beating faster. They could hear each other breathing and she sighted loudly, dreamily.
…
His hands started moving without him even noticing. One had touched her waist, gently. The other hand fixed one of her locks that insisted in being between their gaze. They never stopped looking at each other and whenever they looked into each other's eyes, she would sight without realizing it.
The hand that fixed her hair started to caress her soft face and tracing the details. He narrowed his eyes as if paying attention to what he was doing, as if he was memorizing every detail in her face.
He then jerked away from her, as if realizing what was going on and how dangerous and weird the situation was. She seemed to have realized the same thing. He sight deeply and looked away from her. She did the same and went to get herself a glass of water.
"I'm sorry…I don't know what's going on, I think I'm still drunk." He said after an awkward silence. "I didn't mean to touch you inappropriately." He said.
"You didn't touch me inappropriately, did you?" She smiled, blushing. "You were just fixing my hair, right?"
"Right." He nodded. "So…Seiya's back, huh? That's exciting." He smiled. It was the least sincere smile ever.
"Yeah, really exciting." She said, in a low voice. "I'm happy he's back."
"Of course…" He said, annoyed.
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing. I'm just worried about you… you were in pain because of him…"
"I know, but we can fix things up. No need to worry about me, I'm a big girl, Darien."
He didn't bother looking at her - his thoughts lost somewhere else.
"Look…I hope you will still let me go with you to your parent's house. I want to be there for you. It's not only because Seiya is back that we cannot still support each other and…"
Darien smiled lightly and hugged her. It was a brief but tight hug.
"Don't worry, Meatball head, I wouldn't dream of going without you. I'll need your support." It amazed him how freely he could admit he needed her support. He wasn't the kind of person who would ask for help. He smiled at her and went back upstairs just to get his stuff. He knew he wouldn't be able to sleep in the same bed as other woman now that he fully understood he could not love anyone else. With a sad smile he got fully dressed and left to Andrew's apartment.
.:: A/N: PLEASE, don't kill me! I swear everything will work out well. But I am a dramatic person. I like things to go REALLY BAD before they can go REALLY WELL. Next chapter will be full of love and Serena and Darien. Don't hate me. I'll update it soon! And by soon I mean, SOON.
Pretty V Chan (who's scared of being murdered! XD)::.