We don't own anything…except the idea

The Truth Behind Closed Doors

Mina stood outside the chilly hallway, contemplating whether or not to knock on the door. Before she could decide, the door opened revealing a very pissed off Darien. His expression changed to a much softer look, when he saw the girl he had been longing for in front of him.

"I can't do this anymore. I'm dying, Mina. She's killing me! I can't take it anymore!"

The pain was evident in Darien's voice, Mina couldn't bear to see him in such a devastated state, but she knew she had no choice.

"Let's talk about this inside."

She followed Darien into the apartment, taking in everything around her. It seemed strangely new to her. It wasn't the first time she had been in his apartment, but it was the first time since she broke his heart.

Mina sat on a stool beside his counter in the kitchen, while he sat at the table watching her.

"What exactly happened?" Mina asked with concern in her voice.

"She's at it again. She asks the same question ever week. The more I see her, the angrier I get!"

"What exactly is she asking you?"

Darien looked down at the table, and mumbled a few incoherent words.

"The sex thing?" Mina asked, now wishing he had never called.

"Yeah…that."

"Just talk to her. She'll come to her senses, and she's only asking because she's really attracted to you. Not to mention she's in love with you." Mina reasoned, mentally cringing at the thought of Darien and Serena.

She looked down at the tile floor. Once she looked back at Darien, she knew she had to help him. She couldn't be selfish when it came to his life.

"Do you want me to come with you when you go talk to her?"

Darien nodded, as hard as it would be having Mina there; he was staying with Serena for her.

"Kay let's go then." She hopped off the stool, walked over to Darien, and took his hand to get him off his chair.

The moment their hands met a shock went through both bodies. They both felt memories they fought to forget, flood back to them. Within seconds, Mina rapidly let go of his hand.

She refused to look at him, but he couldn't stop looking at her. She quickly walked to the door, and walked out. The two walked in silence to Serena's house. A new awkward tension built between them, keeping them at a small distance form each other.

The silence was interrupted by Mina's phone ringing, "Hello? Hey, I'll tell you later…um okay. See you then."

She looked up at Darien, "It was Raye. She wants me to come over after." Darien nodded.

Minutes later, they arrived at Serena's house. Mina looked up at it, "So, do you know what you're going to say?"

"Not a clue, but I'll figure it out as we go along."

The pair walked to the door, and knocked on the door. After two more knocks, they were still waiting at the door. Moments of more waiting passed. "How about the back door?" Mina suggested.

They walked to the back of the house. Darien knocked on the door. When he knocked the door creaked open.

"Isn't this door always locked?" Mina asked, concerned for her friend.

"Yeah, it's supposed to be. What if someone broke in while she was here?" Darien was surprised with his concern in this situation.

They quickly and quietly walked inside, looking around. No one was on the first floor. "Stay here," Darien instructed to Mina.

She nodded, staying in one spot, looking around ever so often making sure no one was trying to sneak up on her.

Darien slowly made his way up the stairs. He looked through various rooms, finding nothing. Before he knew it, he was at Serena's door. Expecting to see no one other than Serena, with no hesitation he opened the door. Instead, he saw Serena in bed with someone else.

He felt betrayal overcome him.

"Darien!? When did you get here?" Serena shot up, hiding the face on the man in bed with her.

"I don't know. Sometime between when you started and finished having sex." He spat bitterly.

"This is nothing, I swear it's nothing. You know I'd never hurt you."

"Of course you'd never hurt me. You're too busy fucking other guys!"

After continuous waiting, Mina began wondering what happening upstairs. As she ran upstairs she began to hear faint voices. They got louder and she followed them to Serena's room. "What's going…" She looked at Serena, her blood began boiling. "SLUT! WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU!?"

"How the fuck could you do that to me Serena!? I put up with all your shit, and just because I won't screw you-" Before he could finish speaking, Mina took his arm. Although she was filled with rage as well, seeing Serena just made the anger build up faster. She pulled Darien's shirt whispering in his ear, "Come on, it's best if we leave the whore alone." At first Darien wouldn't budge until Mina said, "Please, Darien. Let's go."

Darien turned away walking alongside Mina.

She looked back at Serena with nothing but disgust on her face, then promptly turned away when she saw that Serena was about to say something. In minutes they were outside, walking away from the house, and leaving Serena with the white-haired man.

"Who does she think she is?! What a skank!" Mina exclaimed while rubbing Darien's back soothingly

"Yeah, she was physically cheating on me, but I'm no better. I've been with her when my heart was with you. I said I loved her, but I'd always be thinking about how I love you, Mina."

Mina looked at Darien, his eyes pleading with her, telling her to just let them be together. She looked back down, "Go home, I'm going to go to Raye's for an hour, then I'll come over. Kay?" He nodded, and they took off in separate directions.

--With Raye and Mina--

Mina walked over to Raye's room when she heard Raye shout, "What the hell do I wear!?"

She walked in and saw Raye's entire wardrobe scattered around the room. Raye's mess brought Mina to a giggle, "Wardrobe malfunction?"

Raye glared at her best friend, "Shut up! I need help! Desperately!"

Mina laughed, "Okay, but while we do that, you're telling me about Sapphire."

"Fine, but you're telling me what Darien wanted."

Mina froze, she was not going to ruin Raye's mood, not today at least.

"I'll tell you later," Mina said. "It's your turn to go in girl mode. So, what's he like?"

Raye sighed, "He is sigh worthy!"

Mina smiled, not even Alan had this type of an affect on Raye, and they had only met today.

"So, I take it he's hot?"

"Hot? Hot? Are fricking kidding me? He's not hot, he is god-like! Angels made his face, and he has a body of a Greek God"

Seven outfits later, and a lot of gushing about Sapphire, Raye was finally ready. She was wearing a pair of dark blue skinny jeans, a white wife beater, a red necklace, with matching red flats. Her hair was in beautiful waves, going down to her hips, and her bangs were falling above her eyes.

"I'll see you tomorrow. Let me know how it goes."

"I promise I will. Oh, thanks so much." Raye replied while grabbing her red purse.

Mina smiled, she was relieved. Raye had forgotten that she didn't tell her about Darien.

As Mina left the house, she noticed a blue-haired boy coming towards her. She knew right away it was Sapphire, he lived up to what Raye had said.

"You must be Sapphire."

"Um, yeah, you know Raye?"

"Yeah, she is one of my best friends; I'm Mina by the way. I have heard a lot about you."

"Good things I hope?"

"Of course. If it were bad things you would've already have a fist imprinted on your face," Mina smirked. "I doubt that'll happen, though. So, you have nothing to worry about."

"Good to know. Is Raye ready?" He asked nodding towards the temple.

"Yeah, she's good to go. You will be pleased." Mina looked at him, studying him until she remembered she had to see Darien. "Shoot, I've gotta go. Hopefully we can see each other again. Have fun with Raye," Mina said, running off.

"Wait, Mina?"

"Yeah?"

"What are Raye's favorite foods?"

She smiled, she was glad Raye had found him, "Dumplings, sushi and chocolate."

"Thanks, I owe you one."

She smiled, "Just treat her right."

He nodded, and she took off.

Sapphire felt the nerves kicking in. He had never been nervous, especially when it came to girls. The closer he got to the temple, the more his stomach turned.

Then his heart almost stopped beating. Raye stepped out with a smile appearing on her face at the sight of him.

She looked at him. He was wearing a black polo, with jeans, and a pair of converse.

Sapphire couldn't stop staring at the raven-haired girl in front of him. She was breathtaking.

He stopped walking, waiting for her to walk over to him, taking in her beauty as she did so. Once she was next to him, she grabbed his arm, warmth spreading through both bodies, causing their hearts to feel motionless.

After a few moments of just being next to each other Raye asked, "So where are we off to?"

He grinned, "You'll see. Oh and by they way, you look amazing." He said huskily.

Raye blushed, but quickly recovered, "You're looking pretty sharp yourself."

He laughed and grabbed her hand, enjoying the warmth she made him feel, and lead her to his car.

"Not too shabby." Raye complimented the car. Currently she was sitting in his Acura Advance, while he played with the radio. Finally he settled on a station, when 'Iris' by the Goo Goo Dolls began playing.

Raye leaned her head back on the seat, singing the song without realizing. He stared at her in amazement. Never had he heard a voice so beautiful. Raye slowly opened her eyes, realizing she had been singing. She almost choked on her words, but quickly tried changing the subject. "So, when did you get your car?"

He smirked, "I just got it." She nodded; glad he didn't mention her singing.

A moment had passes so he spoke, "So, less than 24 hours and I'm already famous?" She looked at him puzzled. "I met Mina."

Her blush returned, "Just a little," she smiled.

He took a hand off the steering wheel, and took her hand in his.

She smiled up at him, but his eyes were still on the road. "How long is this car ride?" She asked.

"Not much longer. We'll be there in about a minute or less."

Raye began looking around. There were neon lights all around her and a lake very close by.

Sapphire pulled over across a dim-lit restaurant. No one inside was dressed very fancy. They were all dressed casually but with class.

After unbuckling his seatbelt, Sapphire saw that Raye was about to do the same thing, "Don't," he said.

"Why not?"

"You're not going in. We're not eating here."

Raye looked at him curiously but did not ask questions. She just let her eyes follow him as he walked into the restaurant.

It didn't take long for him to return with bags filled with delicious smelling food in his hands.

Raye looked at him, "What is going on?" She hated being out of the loop.

He grinned, "You'll see Pretty Girl."

She looked down, her cheeks now crimson, butterflies taking residence in her stomach.

Sapphire finally parked his car by the shore of the lake and got out, walking over to Raye to open the door for her. His gracious actions were not missed by her. As she stepped out, he began to unload the food, taking a blanket with him.

"Are we having a picnic by the lake?"

He smiled, "Yatzee."

They sat down on the blanket. Raye put her hand out to help unload the food, but Sapphire rejected her gesture. He gently pushed her hand away, letting her enjoy the scenery.

She looked up at the stars in the sky, breathing heavily to let the fresh air into her body. She looked back at Sapphire who had finished setting up and was now watching her with a smile on his face.

"Well what are you waiting for?" He said to her. "Dig in" His smile had not faded.

Raye looked at the food before, "These are my favorites! How did you know?"

He laughed, "I'm psychic."

She playfully swatted his arm, "Okay, okay, like I said, I talked to Mina."

For the next two hours, they joked around and learned more about each other. They felt like they knew each other inside and out, but they both knew there a lot more to the other than what was said.

"Raye?"

"Mhm?"

"Today, in the café, what were you thinking about when you spaced out?"

She looked over at him, for the first time he seemed shy.

"I was just thinking about how I felt like I wasn't needed by anyone, and no one cared, but then you came along, and I didn't even know you, but you made that feeling go away, and it scared me."

"It scared you? Why?"

"I've never let my guard down that quickly, and I've never felt that comfortable around anyone that quickly before either. I was scared if you made me feel this way already, then maybe you'd be able to hurt me that easily too."

Sapphire looked at the vulnerable girl, and without hesitating he wrapped his arms around her.

"I'll promise you this. I'll never hurt you. For as long as we're alive and even after, I won't even think of hurting you. I need you to believe that because that's truth."

After a few more moments, he spoke again, "One last thing. Why would you think I'd hurt you?"

She looked up at him. "Because it's happened to me time and time again. Every time I get close to someone, they hurt me. Especially if I get very close to them. In fact, Mina's my only true friend because she's the only person I completely trust now."

"Now?"

She paused for a second, "Yeah, now. A couple months ago I was dating this guy. I was pretty crazy about him, and I thought he felt the same way, but he didn't. I think I was just naive because he never made me feel the way you do."

"What did he do to you?"

She looked down, she didn't want him to see her cry.

He brought his hand to her chin, and made her look at him. As soon as he saw the tears he felt anger towards this guy. He wiped away her tears and held her close.

"He hit me"

He thought he had heard wrong since her face was in his chest. He hoped he had heard wrong, because if not he would find this guy and beat the leaving shit out of him.

"He what?"

She pulled away and looked at him.

"When we began dating he was great, he would treat me like a Queen. He made it so easy to love him. After we were dating for about three months, he started to get really jealous, and more aggressive. For our anniversary, he came over, and started get really...touchy...but in an aggressive way, and I pushed him off, and he got mad and left. The next day he saw me talking to this other guy Darien, who I've known for a pretty long time, and we think of each other as brother and sister. He got really mad and accused me of cheating on him with Darien, and I tried to tell him Darien was like a brother to me but he wouldn't buy it. He told me to stop talking to Darien, and I refused, he got really angry and punched a wall, which was right by my face. So I started yelling at him, and then...he...slapped me. He just started attacking me." She couldn't finish, sobs were escaping her.

Sapphire tried pushing away his anger so he could help the broken girl. He held her close and began rubbing her back whispering soothing words into her ear.

"I'd never lay a hand on you," he reassured.

"It's not even that. It's just...I was scared you'd break my heart too," she admitted.

"Well you have nothing to worry about, because I will never break your heart. Hurting you would hurt me, why inflict pain on myself, right?"

She laughed, "That's why I said thank you."

He looked at her confusion written on his face.

"When you walked me home, I said thanks, and you wanted to know why I said that. It's because you made everything negative inside me disappear. You made me feel good enough, and happy. Happier than I've been in a long time," she looked into his eyes. In a whisper she said, "You made me feel alive again."

He grinned, "Well you better get used to feeling alive and happy, that's how you're going to be feeling from now."

Sapphire came closer to Raye, his breath on her neck, causing her to inhale sharply, "You make me feel alive too."

Raye looked up him, smiling. "So, what about you? What's your story, pretty boy?"

"I have had one serious girlfriend, but we just drifted, nothing too serious, no love. Nothing quite like you."

"Well of course," Raye replied. "No one's like me. I'm the greatest." She laughed a bit.

"You are."

The faint sounds from the restaurant above had now turned into music. To the couple's surprise, it was 'Iris'. "Looks like this is our song, eh Pretty Girl?"

Sapphire stood up and extended his hand to Raye who gladly took it. They wrapped their arms around each other, and began to sway to the music. Raye rested her head on his shoulder, feeling a new security form around her. She could feel Sapphire breathing softly on her neck.

Everything felt as though it was exactly the way it should've been for a long time. It seemed like seconds past when the song ended. Neither let go, they stood wrapped around each other for a few more minutes.

Sapphire slowly pulled away, "It's getting late, I should really take you home."

She looked at his watch, "Shit! You're right," she said, wishing she could just stay with him.

They packed up and headed towards the car.

As they drove back to Raye's house, they both kept replaying the night's events in their minds. Sapphire looked over at Raye, who was looking out the window and grabbed her hand. She looked back at him and smiled.

The rest of the car ride was a comfortable silence.

When the car stopped, both felt their hearts drop. Slowly, Sapphire got out, and made his way over to Raye, helping her out. They walked to the door in the same satisfying silence.

When they reached the door, both were unsure of what to do.

"I had a great time Sapphire."

"Likewise."

Both stood their awkwardly, Sapphire not wanting to leave Raye, and Raye not wanting him to go.

Slowly Sapphire came closer to Raye. She looked in his eyes for a few moments longer. "Oh, this is taking too long," she said smiling slyly. She quickly leaned in, closing the gap between them, with a sweet, passionate kiss. Sapphire held her, not wanting to let her go. Finally, he let his arms go, and rested his forehead on hers. "I'll see you tomorrow, Raye. I think we should continue our date at the café, say around 10?"

She laughed, "Sounds good."

Sapphire leaned in for one more quick, yet passionate kiss. He pulled away, looking at her one more time then turned around. He began walking to his car, but suddenly came to a halt. He looked over at a very confused looking Raye, "I know I give you butterflies Pretty Girl." He smirked, and walked away, leaving Raye with even more butterflies.

Damn, she was in love.

Read and Review