Chapter 3
Serena's head whipped around to stare at the handsome dark haired man on the other side of the rooftop. A soft breeze blew. But neither she nor he moved. His penetrating blue eyes clahed hers. Serena's breath was caught in her throat. His beautiful face was once again devoid of portraying any emotion.
Damn it, Serena cursed. She pulled her gaze away from his and turned to face the railing once again, looking at the skyline of the city; pretending she never saw his good-looking face staring back at her. She could feel the blood rushing to her cheeks, the heat rising in her neck. Serena felt utterly stunned, and was at a loss of words.
Hoping she did not look like a tomato, she didn't dare glance in his direction.
If she wasn't herself at that moment, she was positive she would have laughed too. Come on, a girl who was shouting, half talking to herself, leaning over the railing on the rooftop spewing insults directed at a group of people whose, one of the more, 'treasured' member of that group was only a few feet away listening to her every word; even Serena had to admit how funny that must seem. If that did not sound like a bad asian soap opera, she didn't know what one would be.
"Why is it that everyone uses me as an excuse to scare little girls to drop out of school? Am I right?" Serena nearly jumped over the railing and off the building at the sound of Chiba's voice.
He had somehow made his way to stand beside her with his elbows resting on the railing. He too watched the passing cars, pulling in and out of the parking lot below. His expression now relaxed. Serena couldn't take her eyes off him. He was beauty and perfection, yet so callous and so cold.
Serena could only nod dumbly as Darien continued to stare at the scenery.
"Wow, I didn't know you knew so much about me either." Serena blushed a deeper hue of crimson red as the man continued to give his insight on her opinions.
"I'm sorry if I offended you, I was just letting out my anger…" Serena blurted out in a rush, "…on…you and um…yeah," she finished lamely.
She was most surprised however when she heard a soft booming sound come from beside her. The man's soft chucking sounded like a gong that had just been struck, but had a magical melody that enthralled her.
"To lie, you would have to be skilled in deceit," Darien said, secretly meaning that he knew she was lying and wasn't very good at it.
"Oh, all right. Fine. I do think that you guys are spoiled, arrogant, and selfish people who think they can get everything you want," Serena admitted, finding the ability to become loud once again. "But don't think you can push me around like you do the rest of the school!"
"Tell me something I didn't overhear," he said quietly, not even paying her the slightest attention.
"Arrogant pig…" Serena muttered under her breath, annoyed that he thought she was too lowly to even give the proper respect to look at her when she was speaking.
"Excuse me?" Her comment finally caught his attention. His head turned to stare at her, astonished at her courage to insult him.
Serena looked down at her hands. She could feel her face become flushed again.
Seconds passed and he still didn't say anything else. Was he still waiting for her to answer him? She could feel his penetrating gaze upon her face. He was analyzing her and it made her feel nervous. But after a minute, her anxiety turned into anger.
'Who did he think he was? His behavior was downright insulting!' she said to herself.
"What are you looking at!" Serena shouted at him as her head snapped up to stare him in the face, and was surprised when she saw him smiling at her. His was mouth opened, showing his white straight teeth.
"Nothing much worth looking at, if that is what you want me to tell you," came his reply. His voice was dripping with sarcasm.
"Why you pompous, son of a--"
"Ever considered wearing something that actually fit?" The man asked her, staring at her baggy clothes.
"I don't even know you and you're already getting on my nerves!" Serena yelled at the top of her lungs.
'What an infuriating man!' Serena thought, her face turning red, not with embarrassment, but with raw anger.
She looked at the handsome man's face and saw surprise. His mouth was slightly open to show he couldn't believe what he heard, and his eyes widened with utter shock.
"Gees, no need to look so surprised. I'm kinda new," Serena tried to assure him.
And with that his grin was back in place again, his lazy boyish grin that made her feel light headed.
"That explains a lot, thank you," he said, staring into her eyes. "My name's Chiba Mamoru. Now may I ask what is yours?" Serena saw how his eyes twinkled with amusement.
" Tsukino Usagi, Mr. Chiba, but everyone calls me Serena." Serena tried to force her voice to sound casual as she stared into the depths of his ocean blue eyes.
"That's an English name," Darien commented as he broke their gaze and turned to watch the parking lot below again.
"No really, and all this time I thought it was Japanese." Serena replied sarcastically.
Chuckling softly again, Darien stared at the girl's enraged face. Ms. Tsukino had wit, and a bite that could hurt too, he noticed. She had a nice enough face, although he couldn't really tell with her golden hair in such a tangling mess that covered most of her face. He noticed her eyes though, they were deep sapphires, and when she was riled like the way she was now, her eyes turned into an indigo.
He couldn't say too much about her figure. Her baggy clothing hid her every curve. That is assuming she had curves.
It was easy to tell that she was not from top of the class, and that pleased him most because it would mean that she wasn't like most women he knew. Which were women who were pampered and conceited. And he was even more surprised at the fact that she did not cower nor submit to him like most did. In fact, she had the gull to stand up to him. She had called him an arrogant pig.
Darien stared down at the sorry excuse of a woman beside him. She barely reached his shoulders, but she was not intimidated. She seemed so innocent.
"Beep, Beep, Beep!" Darien was pulled out of his thoughts as the beeping of Serena's pager went off.
He watched in amusement as her hands patted over every pocket on her clothes until finally she reached into the back pockets of her jeans and pulled out the buzzing electronic device. Darien continued to stare as she mumbled the number on her pager aloud to herself and hitting her forehead with her free hand. She let out a small groan.
"I have to go, no one takes a shit this long," Serena said to Darien as she placed her pager back into her pocket.
Molly had page her, probably as a signal to get her ass back into the classroom before Mr. Yamaguchi came for her himself.
Darien just stared at her in confusion. Serena blushed as she realized what she just said.
"I…um…told Professor Yamaguchi I wanted to…um…shit…you know…so I could…come out here…to…uh…vent my frustration?" Serena tried to explain, blushing all the more, making her face turn rose red. She scratched her head in a conscious action, chuckling nervously like a maniac.
Darien looked at his watch. Serena noticed it for the first time. It was pure silver, with small diamonds encrusted into it. And she came back into reality. Mr. Chiba was a rich man, one whom she should not associate with. But…she had to be polite.
"I should probably go now too," Darien told her as he looked up from his watch.
She noticed how his face had hardened again; it was expressionless, and once again devoid of any emotion.
"Oh…yea…um…a shower and a change of clothes normally don't take more than half an hour," Serena mumbled, remembering the scene in the hallway. It was just another reminder why she despised people like him so much.
Darien raised an eyebrow, "So you saw that too, huh?" He inquired playfully.
"Uh, you can say that. I had a front row line of vision too. I bet many would have killed to have had their precious cargo knocked out of their hands by their psychology teacher as he is knocked down by a volley ball," Serena said sarcastically in reference to the volley ball game she had witnessed this afternoon when she had gotten lost trying to find her math class and ended up in the gym instead.
Darien however, did not find it at all funny. Instead, he turned away, walking towards the door leading to the staircase into the building.
He called over his shoulder, "It was nice meeting you Ms. Tsukino. We shall meet again," and with those last words, he pulled the door opened and disappeared behind the closing door.
Serena continued to look at the door for a minute, listening to the sound of his footsteps descending down the stairs before it became no longer audible.
Strange. This man was so strange to her. And slowly, she made her way to class, putting him away from her thoughts.
"What took you so long?" Molly asked her as they came out of Mr. Yamaguchi's class.
"Um…you know how these things go…" Serena mumbled to her, walking to the exit.
She was going to be late for work if she didn't hurry. She had to close up at the Cup of Tea that night. And to make it worst, she had to write an essay for Mr. Yamaguchi's class, and study for a quiz that Mr. Shimbo assigned for the following day.
"You must have had some lunch, maybe you shouldn't eat tuna again," Molly suggested with light concern. She took out a copy of a text book from her backpack and thumbed though it for a second.
"Yeah…maybe I shouldn't. Um, Molly do you still have class?" Serena agreed, and changed the subject, not wanting to fabricate a story about how much her stomach pained her, due to the tuna and that was why she had to use the restroom so long.
"Yea, I have human anatomy next; it's a pretty tuff course," Molly replied, not taking her gaze off her book.
"Um…ok then, I guess I should be going now. Bye Moll, I'll see you tomorrow," Serena said with feign enthusiasm as she hurried out of the building to her bicycle.
Darien stood by the window, his head rested on the windowpane as he watched Serena ride off on her bike, slightly unbalanced from the weight of her school accessories in her backpack.
He was in the university gym playing basket ball with the guys. His short confrontation with her stuck in his mind. Serena had struck him as someone who would worship him like the rest of the female population. She was poor, not very pretty, and not very liked by most people in the school. He was sure she would have tried to get on his good side, but instead, she had kept her chin up high with pride.
She was very different. And he liked that.
Suddenly he turned around and grasped the basketball that had been thrown at his head.
"Awww man, how can you do that Darien?" James complained.
"Didn't I warn you James?" Andrew laughed, "Darien has eyes in the back of his head!"
"Ha-ha…you are so funny Andrew," Darien scathingly commented.
Darien dribbled the ball for a moment, luring Andrew into his trap. Taking the bait, Andrew went forward to steal the ball from him, but was stopped as the ball smacked him on the head.
Malcom, James, Nathan, and Zachary laughed.
They played for another hour before heading towards the men's room to shower and change out of their sweat drenched clothes.
"Where we going tonight?" Nathan asked while drying his brunette hair with his towel as they sat in the men's room.
"James wants us to go to Club 101, he has another victim to meet," Andrew replied as he slipped a clean white tee over his head.
James punched him in the arm. "Don't be mad that I'm getting some and you aren't," he mockingly replied.
"You didn't need to tell us that. I mean, we already know the girl would have to be a slut if she wanted to go out with y--"
Andrew's remark was stopped as James put him in a headlock. Andrew struggled a bit before James let him go, a smug smile on his face.
"Cut it out, you two pinheads," Malcom said, shaking his head of white hair wildly, flinging water everywhere.
"Ugh…watch it!" Zachary shouted, putting up his hands to shield him from the water flying from Malcom.
"You're quiet," Malcolm said to Darien as he stopped shaking the water out of his hair.
"I have nothing to say," Darien replied as he buckled his belt.
"You're not thinking about Mina are you?" Malcolm insisted, trying to pry into his friends thoughts.
"No, but that reminds me; I need to call her," Darien answered, shutting the red door of his locker.
"I bet you can't wait to see her again, huh? Haven't been laid since she left; being in love must suck," James asked his dark haired friend as he too finished getting dressed.
"Man, is that all you can think about?" Nathan said, shaking his head with disgust.
"You know the way James is; he has a penis for a head," Darien remarked, a trace of a smile on his lips as he tied his shoes; and the others bursted into laughter.
Immediately, Darien's hand shot out to stop James head from ramming into his body.
"I told you Darien had eyes in--"
Andrew ducked just in time to dodge Darien's backpack from hitting him in the face.
"Ha-ha, very funny," Andrew said dryly, as he got up and slung his own backpack over his shoulder and threw Darien his.
Conversation died as they all finished dressing and left the men's room.
It was decided, tonight, they were going to Club 101.
The pounding music filled the room. The club was lit by flashing lights. There was a murmuring amongst the crowds in Club 101 as six men entered, taking seats in an isolated corner.
"I'm going to the billiard room," Zachary announced over the loud music, "who's coming with me?" He looked at his friends.
"I'm coming," Nathan answered, getting up out of his chair, "I don't feel like watching James and his date," Nathan didn't finish his sentence as he saw a pretty blonde waitress walk by in her skimpy uniform, "on second thought, I'll be right back," he said dazedly as he followed the young lady down a dimly lit hall leading to another bar.
Zachary turned to leave to the pool tables in the next room when Andrew shouted, "Wait, I'll come," and he left Darien and Malcom alone at their table.
Darien watched his friends' retreating backs as they disappeared into the crowd.
"James is right, you know?" Malcom quietly said to Darien.
Malcom watched as his friend turned his head to look at him. His dark haired friends' eyebrow's raised, questioningly.
"He's right about what…?" Darien asked, not knowing what his white haired friend was coming from, making such an out-of-place comment.
"Are you serious with Mina, then? Because you haven't touched another girl since she left. James was right. So, are you in love with her?" Malcom interrogated.
"I thought I was," came Darien's reply.
Malcom waited for Darien to continue, but only silence followed his friend's statement.
"Are you gonna explain, or do I have to force you to?" Malcom persisted. He stared intently at his friend's cool and untouchable composure.
Darien didn't answer for a long while. He sat rigidly in his chair, sipping the alcohol beverage he had ordered, observing the dancing bodies on the dance floor. They all swayed and bumped together to the rhythm of the music. The club was filled with loud music and loud people, cheering and singing, and talking all at once.
Finally he said, "What else can I say? I thought I was in love with her, maybe I still am; I don't' know…" Darien's voice trailed off again, as if thinking of what to say next, "We've agreed to pick up where we left off, but I can tell from her letters and phone calls things are going to be different. Her letters are shorter, no longer paragraphs of declarations of love, and her phone calls…well she sounds like a different person," Darien finished with a grim smile on his lips.
"Does that mean you guys are over?" Malcom asked, with a hint of slight concern and something else that Darien couldn't place in his voice.
Darien laughed at his question, "Over?" He laughed sadistically after he said the word. "Nah, I never said that. Things will be different, but I'm willing to make it work."
Mina Aino, also known as Minako, had been Darien's girlfriend for the longest time; and had been his friend for even longer. Maybe for a year or two he might have had fancied her, and yes, he had thought that he was in love. But, the distance between them had grown, and in the light of reality, the breach could only mean the end for them. It's funny too, how he refused to believe it. He was blind not to have seen how easily he had fallen into Mina's clutches.
Those years ago, back in junior high, she seemed so innocent and cheerful, so happy with what life had to offer her. She had spent her days with him in the park, picking flowers and laying in the grass just talking to him about…everything. But he figured time changed people. Was she still the Mina that he fell in love with?
No. But Darien was unwilling to let her go yet, he wanted to see if she still was the one for him, even if it seemed crazy to hold up the unstoppable event that was bound to occur. Love could be so bittersweet.
Darien had been thinking, his face devoid of emotion, until he came out of his stupor and realized too that Malcom had fallen silent. And together the two sat in companionable silence thinking, oblivious of their surroundings.
"Hello, welcome to the Cup of Tea!" Serena said amiably as she went to take orders at a table of four in a far corner of the pub. "Can I offer today's special? It is our famous Mocha Coco Chocolate Lover's Shake. It is a mocha-chocolate shake, with chocolate fudge swirls, crushed Oreo's, and topped with whip cream. Only for today can you buy one and get one free at five dollars…" She continued to take orders as she finished jabbering about different types of beverages and snacks.
Serena walked back up to the counter the give her coworker the orders. Amy smiled at her as she went to fill them. This was Serena's second time she had worked with Amy here at the Cup of Tea. From what she observed of her, Amy Mizuno, was a quiet and nice girl. She rarely spoke, but when she did, it would be to comment on something, or to take orders and greet guests. Most of the time, she stood behind the counter reading a book.
Serena studied her, Amy had short shoulder length hair, with so many blue highlights her black hair almost appeared indigo. Surprisingly, it had the affect of bringing out the color of her cerulean eyes. The girl was tall, well, she was a few inches taller than Serena, but short compared to her friend Lita, and she was also very slim. Her movements were graceful, not clumsy like Serena's, and she had a regal atmosphere about her.
Amy was intriguing to Serena.
"Amy, do you go to a college or perhaps a university?" Serena asked her as she took out a tray and placed the snacks onto it.
"Why yes, I do. I attend Akita University actually. It's my second year," Amy said, as she continued to make the drinks.
Serena's head snapped up, and immediately she regretted doing so, because her head slammed into the top of the inside of the glass display of snacks. She rubbed her throbbing head.
"Oww…," Serena whined as she turned to stare at a baffled Amy.
"I should get you some ice," She mumbled as she went into the back room.
How come she never noticed Amy before? It was such a large university, of course she couldn't have spotted her, Serena said to herself. But she had concluded that Amy was just like her, another poor girl from low society, trying to make her way into the world by serving one customer at a time. She had been shock to find out that Amy, too, went to Akita. It wouldn't be a surprise though if she also was there for a scholarship like Molly, she did strike Serena as the type who was very smart. The world was a small place.
Serena came out of her ponderings as Amy emerged from the door way into the other room with a bag of ice in her hand.
"Here, place it over the back of your head," Amy said softly as she placed it over the aching area on her skull, "You hit it pretty hard Serena, I can see the bump the way your hair seems to be sticking out like that."
"I didn't know you went to Akita, Amy," Serena told her as she held the ice tightly to her aching head.
"Oh yes," Amy said as she went to take the orders to the customers, "I probably don't strike you as one to be conceited and pompous, now do I?" She said humbly, a hint of laughter in her soft voice.
"I go to Akita too; my parents paid a fortune to get me in. How about you Amy? Did you get in through a scholarship?" Serena asked her as she came back with an empty tray. Serena moaned in agony and pleasure at the contact of the cold ice against her head.
"Oh no. Nothing like that. My parents own a small business and its booming really. They too paid for me to get in," she admitted, a faint pink blush visible on her cheeks as she looked at Serena's stunned faces.
She was rich! Serena couldn't believe it. However, it made a lot of sense though. The way Amy carried herself with such regality was not common to people of low class. Serena's mouth that had been opened in shock now closed.
"Oh," she said, not knowing what else to say.
"Yeah… 'Oh'…," Amy said looking away ashamed.
"I'm sorry Amy! I wasn't insulting you or anything. I was just surprised, you know!" Serena babbled out, trying to console Amy. "I mean, here I am thinking that you were in the same financial problems as me, only to find out that you are actually an heiress to a fortune and company. May I ask what you're doing here anyways?"
"Its ok you know? I understand. You probably don't want a rich privileged girl to work with you. Everyone thinks I'm crazy you know? Lowering myself to do common work…"Amy let out a bitter laugh, trying to hide her hurt feelings.
"What are you talking about Amy? I don't care if you…if you are rich," Serena told her as she reached out to put her free hand on her shoulder. She gave Serena the same kind of look Mr. Chiba gave her when she too lied to him. Serena sighed with frustration; she was never going to tell a lie again.
"Oh alright! Maybe it did matter a little bit to me but I don't care now, okay?" She assured her. "But Amy, you aren't the snobbish type of rich people I hate, so it doesn't even matter. No tears, young lady!" Serena scolded her as she choked down sobs that turned into laughter at Serena's surly tone.
The topic of her status in society must really be sensitive to her, Serena thought as she stored the information in her head. She wasn't going to push further until Amy was ready to tell her more. And with that last thought she forced the biggest smile on her face and tried to calm Amy.
"Hey! How about you have lunch with me tomorrow? When's your last class in the afternoon?" Serena chirped cheerfully as she quickly changed the subjects.
Darien knew this would happen. Malcom seemed to be enjoying the attention, but he felt literally disgusted. A group of teenaged girls swarmed the two of them, all trying to vie for his attention.
Apparently, the news that six rich and handsome heirs to large fortunes were in the club spread quickly, because they were now the topic of every woman's gossip session in the room.
Darien brushed away a dark haired girl's arm away that had curled itself around his. He could feel her breasts pressing against him. She gasped, in shock at his rejection. She turned to leave in anger when Darien's hand shot out to grab her wrist and pull her back to him.
He motioned with his index finger for her to bring her head down closer to him, as he sat in his chair. Darien watched as she smiled triumphantly at the rest of the females watching intently. And then her smile changed into a seductive grin as she licked her lips and lean forward, making sure he got a good view of her chest that was scarcely even covered by her tiny tube top.
And suddenly, Darien's hand pulled her harshly onto his lap, surprising her.
"If all you're looking for is a good fuck, I can take you right here, right now," Darien whispered seductively into her ear as she shivered with delight. His hand sliding up her thighs over her stomach to grab hold of her large breasts, rubbing over her nipple, feeling it harden at his touch. The girl moaned in pleasure, closing her eyes to savor his touch.
"But I don't have sex with girls like you so I suggest you leave without causing me any trouble," Darien whispered scathingly into her ear, and threw her off of him.
The girl blinked several times as if she couldn't believe what he had just done to her. She blushed a deep red, noticing the looks she was getting from all the watching females around the table. Immediately she got up, anger in her eyes as she turned to look at Darien, and then pushed her way through the crowd, back onto the dance floor.
Malcom watched with amusement at what his friend just did. He could see how annoyed Darien was when the vivacious dark haired girl kept pushing up against him. The girl must have thought Darien was going to apologize to her, when he pulled her back to him, but Malcom knew better. Nothing pissed Darien off more than bitchy girls who thought they could manipulate him into some kind of a relationship. Malcom had raised his eyebrow questioningly at what Darien had decided to do to the girl that was on his lap, but he soon realized that by sexually stimulating the girl, Darien was degrading her in front of the shocked spectators. Darien had whispered something into her ears, making everyone lean closer to hear, and then pushed the lady off of him. Humiliation; that was what Darien wanted the girl to feel.
Malcom chuckled softly; he was about to remark on Darien's crude sense of humor when there was a loud commotion from the dance floor. Heads turned in the direction of a fight brewing from the center of the club; voices rose from every which way around the room, and people from the billiard room came rushing out to see what was happening.
James had just swung a punch into a black haired skinny man's jaw. Cheering and jeering could be heard from the circle of bystanders observing the fight. Malcom and Darien rose from their seat and went pushing and shoving their way into the center of the brawl.
James had met Trista Hinowa, his date, out on the dance floor earlier on in the night. Everything was going great…until her ex-boyfriend turned up. Her ex, Jay Minimoto, started out by throwing at them petty insults. James did not care though; it took a lot to get him started. So Trista, his beautiful brunette haired date, and he continued to dance, ignoring the little barbs and sarcastic remarks coming from Jay.
But when push comes to shove (Jay actually started pushing and shoving), James was obligated to finish what he started. So he punched him. He punched him hard in the jaw, and was quite satisfied when he heard the audible crack that came from the contact of his knuckles against Jay's face.
James grabbed Trista's hand, ready to leave to fetch the rest of the guys and get out of the club, and was about to turn away from the crowd when Trista let out a terrified shriek. On instinct James threw Trista behind him away from the trouble, but was very surprised to find his offender keeling over in pain as Darien held his hand in an agonizing twist pinning it to his back.
Darien smiled at James, "Rule number one, never turn your back on the enemy."
Suddenly, Darien let go of Jay and caught a punch that was aimed at the side of his face. Jay's friends had decided to also take part in the fight. Malcolm was already dealing with a couple of men, and Zachary, Andrew and Nathan finally made it through the crowd, also jumping in to give a hand. The fight was futile for Jay and his buddies. By the time they knew when to give up, all eight of them were lying on the floor as they were launched over tables.
The six handsome men looked at the glass littered floor and broken pieces of wood lain a strewn, and then looked up at each other, smiling at their victory. Trista grabbed James around his neck and kissed him, the crowd cheered as James continued to kiss her more passionately; oblivious of what had just happened moments before. The euphoria of the rush of excitement the fight gave Darien shattered as the owner of the club pushed his way through the crowd of people; an angry scowl on his face.
"What the fu," the stout man began to shout when Darien cut him off.
"Here's for the damages, we want no trouble," Darien reached into his pant pockets and took out his wallet. He opened it and retrieved all the paper money from within it and stepped forward to stick it in the chest pocket of the owner.
Darien turned around to leave, the rest of the 'gang' following close behind him as they left the club.
Outraged, the middle-aged man said, "Damn right you'll be paying for this mess. I'm calling the cops!"
But he was too late. Someone else already did.
"Mr. Chiba, can you tell us what happened here? I heard you guys were involved in a fight. What was the problem?"
Bright lights flashed as cameramen busily snapped shots of the group of men coming out of the building. The entire front door of the club was completely blocked with club-goers and reporters. Sirens could be heard just above the noisy crowd; the omniscient sound of the police drawing nearer seemed to increase impertinent questions fired by the nosy the media.
"No comment." The chill in Darien's eyes and the calm in his voice were not lost on the reporters. The finality of his statement was obvious. And nobody dared pushed him for answers.
As Serena locked the back door of the Cup of Tea, she could here the loud music emanating from Cub 101, from across the street. She groaned; the music as making her head hurt even more. She walked down the alley into the light of the street lamp upon the sidewalk. Amy had left an hour ago, at eleven; leaving her to stay and clean up and lock up the pub.
Tomorrow she had promised to have lunch with Amy at 12:30 at the Floating Sushi Bar. Then Amy had another class to go to, and Serena had to get back to Cup of Tea, because she was working the afternoon shift, but luckily she wasn't closing again.
Voices broke through Serena's train of thoughts. She looked up, across the street at Club 101. Six familiar looking men were talking very loudly about a fight that had just happened between them and another group of men.
The police cars pulling out of the parking lot were not lost to her either, and she lowered her eyes wondering just what the men had done.
'Oh shit!' Serena cursed to herself, jumping behind a dumpster to hide herself from the view of the group of men.
"Fuck!" Serena whispered in frustration as she stepped into something sticky that had fallen from the garbage bin. It was moldy looking too. She tried scraping her shoe against to dumpster only to have a scratchy sound radiate from the contact, carrying to the other side of the street.
Darien heard a weird sound come from across the street from behind a dumpster in the alley. He looked suspiciously over his shoulder to try and see through the faint light of the street lamp to see who it was, or what it was. It was too dark though, the sky was pitch black, not a single star was in the sky, and the moon was also covered by the thick cloud that lay lowly on the city.
"What is it Darien? Did you hear something?" Andrew asked quirking up an eyebrow curious to Darien's strange action.
"Yeah, I'm gonna go check it out," Darien whispered as he walked away from the group. Darien could hear the guys groan, and Andrew say something about him always being paranoid.
As Darien got closer to the dumpster, he could hear muffled breathing, as if someone was holding a hand over their mouth to stop them from being detected but was unsuccessful. His body became tense, ready for an attack. He slowly peered behind the garbage bin…
Serena could hear footsteps getting closer to her hiding spot. She held a hand to her mouth to stop her rapid breathing, due to the cold air of the night. Her heart pounded in her ears in anticipation for the discovery of her. She closed her eyes and waited…and waited…and waited…
Serena's eyes flew open. And what she saw made her regret doing so, it made her want to close her eyes again and wish she had not seen what she saw.
When Darien saw Serena there, her hand covering her mouth and her eyes closed looking absolutely terrified, he grinned. His lips quirked up into one of his boyish and lazy grins, as he watched and waited for her to open her eyes.
Her eyes flew open, and when she saw him, her eyes closed once again, but the hand covering her mouth dropped to her side now. Darien just continued to watch her in amusement. Her pretty face was white with shock and relief. Who was she expecting to find her?
"Darien, what is it?" Darien heard Malcom call from across the street.
Serena finally opened her eyes to stare at him at Malcom's question. Her cheeks were pink and flush. She was cute, Darien realized as he stared into her crystal sapphire blue eyes.
"Nothing!" Darien called over his shoulder to his friends. "Just a little white bunny." He said as he continued to look into Serena's eyes.
And then he turned away from the pale Serena and walked across the street to join his friends.
'Yep,' Serena thought to herself, 'the world was very, very small."