Hello Everyone!
I will not bullishit you by hurling out the "Good things come to those who wait" line. Randomly taking a 7 month hiatus is unforgivable! I aplogize, and shall endeavour to do better. But I have beeing doing a really tough job that took over my life for the past 6 months and then I needed a well deserved 1 month vacation. I have appreciated your reviews, they are actually what drives me to be inspired to write more! But without further ado, I present you Chapter 6 (tell me what you think!):
Divorce As We Know It- Chapter 6
After work Darien drove to his apartment to pick up some of his things. On the way to Serena's place he had a small flashback of her kitchenette. By the look of it she didn't seem like the type who cooked. Thus, he made the correct deduction that there would be no dinner awaiting him when he got there. So he made a detour to his favorite restaurant to buy some take out.
Serena had been on his mind the whole day. He couldn't understand himself, her personality was completely different now and yet he didn't feel betrayed or even turned off by her deception. Quite the contrary, he found her antics that morning adorable, and he felt the urge to get to know her better. A strange idea kept popping up in his head the whole day: he got the feeling that getting involved with her would make his life more interesting…
He was now outside her door again, waiting for her to open it. She seemed to be taking her time, and he was about to right the bell again when he saw the door open half-heartedly. He let himself in across the threshold. He spotted her sauntering off in a dower mood, and felt his heart tug. He dropped his duffel bag and set down the bag of goodies that he brought with him. He grabbed her wrist before she could escape from his reach, and drew her to his chest. He hugged her close, feeling her pleasantly smelling hair brush against his face. He automatically bent down and kissed the nape of her neck.
She moaned involuntarily. She tried to push herself out of his embrace, and looked up. She was blushing.
"What the hell are you doing?" she spat out annoyed, "This is not what we agreed!"
"I didn't do anything indecent! And I've been working hard all day so it's nice to be greeted warmly when I arrive," he slackened his hold of her. "If you don't like it then give me a key, so I may let myself in."
She let herself out of his embrace and started heading toward her room.
"I'll get the spare key," she said without humor.
Darien picked up the paper bag with the food and made his way to the kitchenette. He started with the mountain of dishes that were left on the sink. While he washed them he could hear Serena on the other side of the wall violently push and pull drawers. She probably couldn't remember where she placed the keys. He figured that she was one of those people who put things in "safe places", which they later can't remember. He smiled at himself, and shouted amused:
"You know, it will be in the last place you look!"
"Shut up!" was her muffled reply.
He observed the dishes he'd just washed: glasses, breakfast bowls, small plates— not to mention the wine glasses which lay a bit everywhere. He got a tour of the whole apartment while he was picking them up… It didn't seem as if she dined at home, or at least she had not dined at home since she started pilling the dirty dishes he'd just washed (he estimated it was four days ago).
He had just put a bowl of the pasta dish he bought earlier in the microwave, when Serena emerged out of her room. She looked at him triumphantly, holding out the spare keys in one hand and a cigarette in the other.
Anger quickly washed over him. Why was she like this? How could she?
"I know that you hate me for accidentally getting you pregnant," he started coldly, walking over to her. "But I'm doing what I can to mitigate your inconvenience. I didn't think you'd be as heartless as to seek revenge by harming the baby!"
He stood right in front of her, towering over her, looking down with anger and disdain in his eyes. He grabbed her left hand, and snatched the cigarette out of her finger, crushing it against her sofa, burning it slightly. He turned to throw away the offending cigarette, while Serena remained where she was, paralyzed with fear.
"This is the last cigarette you smoke! I don't want you to harm my baby's health."
"I'm sorry," she stammered, sounding small, "I didn't know… I mean I— Sorry… the—"
The microwave peeped. He looked at her, and upon seeing her apologetic expression, he softened and sighed.
"Dinner is ready," he said, mollified.
"Really, I didn't know," Serena said coming about. "All I know about pregnancy is that it takes 9 months and that my stomach will get incredibly big! I would never want to harm an innocent baby— I won't smoke again…"
"Good," he nodded, setting the pasta bowl on the kitchen table, which he had laid earlier. A small smile involuntarily crept to his lips. "Come, let's eat."
"It smells really good," she said in a quiet voice.
"Doesn't it? It's from my favorite restaurant, Il Gato, do you know it?"
"Nope," she answered, and continued to after a short pause, "You haven't taken me there… do you not bring your dates to your favorite restaurants?"
Darien chuckled. "It's been years since I've gone on personal dates, and my ex-wife doesn't like it. So I figured, I'd wait a while before it got bashed by another female."
"Oh."
"You know, I felt bad about depriving you of your wine," he started, showing her the wine bottle that was on the table. "It's non-alcoholic… so it's probably a cold comfort for my little alcoholic here."
"Hey, I'm not an alcoholic!" she frowned.
"However, the wine glasses I washed earlier tell another story," he teased, and watched her frown at him cutely. "Funny how you didn't object to being called mine…" he added.
Serena huffed and started to eat. Darien followed her example, after having opened the white wine bottle and poured her and himself a glass. Serena reached for the glass, after inspecting it skeptically.
"It's not bad at all," she admitted when she set it down.
"Good," Darien concluded with an amused glint in his eyes, looking up, "I don't have to worry about you sneak-drinking alcoholic beverages, then?"
She looked as if about to retort, but seemed to change her mind. They dined quietly, and after that Darien succeeded in persuading the reluctant Serena to do the dishes. He then proceeded with watching the news. As he sat on the couch, he thought that this lifestyle wasn't half bad. And Serena seemed to be thawing, their dinner although quiet was amicable, and their differences of opinion seemed to him to be friendly banter. So, when she was done washing up, he questioned her about where to put his belongings, and she looked at him confused.
"I'm staying here for a while, remember?" he pointed out.
"Yes, I know that…" she said going into her room, probably looking for a space for his things. After a while she yelled from her room, "I've found a space!"
He brought his duffel bag over, she had pushed some of her clothes aside to make space for his.
"Do you want a drawer too?"
"Yep!"
She sighed comically and reached for a drawer with T-shirts, took them out and stuffed them in the drawer right above it. She left the room and left him to unpack, only to come back with masking tape and a marker. When he'd put all his things into the drawer, she labeled it with his name.
"Now you won't get it wrong!"
"What? Do you have things in the other drawers that you don't want me to see?" he questioned suggestively, raising an eyebrow.
She looked at him hard, crossing her arms on her chest. "Obviously. I wouldn't want you going through my clothes."
"Tomorrow I'm going to book a check up for you," Darien stated.
"Ok…"
"You can go anytime, right?"
"Basically."
"Good," he nodded. Having hung up his suits, he took his toiletries to the bathroom. Then he came back, and leaned against the door frame, watching Serena standing where he'd left her, with her back towards him mumbling to herself.
"Crazy woman says what?"
She looked his way, radiating utter indifference, sucking the warmth out off the mood. She walked past him, out of the room. She sat by her desk and started her laptop.
"I was just kidding," Darien pleaded following her. She kept on ignoring him. "There is a Woody Allen movie on TV now, let's watch it," he continued helplessly.
"I can't," she responded apathetically, "I have to read up on how to take care of your spawn now."
"Come on, don't spoil the mood like that," he almost begged as he leaned again the back on the sofa.
She turned around to face him. "Spoiling your mood makes me happy, so please look forward to more of it in the future," she said before turning to face her screen again.
Darien sighed, seated himself on the sofa and reached for the remote to put on the movie. It had already started, and was about ten minutes in. On the following commercial break he glanced over his shoulder to check on Serena. He noticed that instead of reading about pregnancy, she was on YouTube. He decided not to comment, he didn't know what he did to annoy her, but he was not about to add fuel to the fire. So finished watching the movie, and proceeded with watching the late night show that followed it.
Suddenly, he heard a loud, annoying beeping sound. It came from the alarm clock on the shelf above the TV, it was 23.00 o'clock. He figured that it was ringing by mistake, and got up to switch it off.
"Don't touch it!" Serena ordered, as she switched off her computer. She then walked over to it and turned it off, and then she turned off the TV. She walked off to the bathroom where she spent a few minutes, before emerging again and switching off the living-room lights and disappearing into her bedroom, closing the door behind her. For some time he saw a beam of light escape from space between the door and the floor. And suddenly it was all dark.
Darien stood there, surprised. The new Serena seemed to be more of a bohemian, and not the kind to follow routines; she was an actress who drank a lot of wine and seldom did the dishes… but what he'd just witnessed was like clockwork. And then it occurred to him that he'd been completely forgotten. He didn't even have a blanket to sleep with! He stripped off to his underwear, the apartment was pretty warm and he didn't need his soft pants. He brushed his teeth, and unabashedly proceeded with entering Serena's room and then ruthlessly turning on the lights.
"What the fuck?!" was Serena's annoyed response, as she automatically sat up accurately scoping out his general direction.
"I need a pillow and a blanket," he stated.
Her stare lingered a couple of seconds longer, and then he saw her color brightly. She looked cute with her strange buns disheveled, like an annoyed puppy. She then quickly disappeared under her sheets, bringing them over her head.
"Get it yourself!" she said in a muffled voice.
He obeyed and started looking for the necessities. He opened and closed several doors of the wall to wall wardrobe.
"Third door from the left, top shelf," she helped, as she peeked from her sheets.
Darien grabbed a pillow and a rather thin blanket, before going to her side of the bed and planting a kiss on her temple.
"Good night," he whispered, and headed out, turning off the offending light and closing the door behind him.
He settled himself as comfortably as he could on the sofa, and lay for a while observing the pale, dead moonlight illuminating the lower part of the bookshelf. Knowing that Serena was asleep in the next room warmed his heart. He was falling in love, and it worried him that she was so determined to dislike him. I'll changed her mind, was the thought that lingered on his mind before he fell asleep.