I know I originally said this will be a two part story, but I decide during the second chapter I was going to add more. I just forgot to update the description. Sorry! Thank you so much for reading!
Serena, slowly unlocked the door to what was Darien's apartment. She knew it was not like she moved out months ago, but it still had the most odd feeling to it. Like she did not belong there anymore. She looked around to make sure he was not there.
"God he lives a like a pig..." her jet black hair friend commented making a disgusted look.
"I do not remember this place ever looking like this," Another female with similar build, and blond hair said observing the living space.
"It was never like this before, I am sure he just got busy with work or something." Serena said slipping off her shoes. "Let me grab my things. Rei can you grab me a bag under the sink?"
Rei simply nodded.
"Mina, we will start in the room." She instructed.
The two walked down the hall, the bathroom door was wide opened, and Serena could see clothes all over the floor, and his toothbrush not in the holder. She sighed. "Let me just tidy this up a little, can you grab whatever clothes is left in the closet for me?"
"Sere, are you sure, you are not jumping to conclusions?" Mina asked hesitantly.
"She totally is! But there is no changing her mind," Rei answered on Serena's behalf.
"Guys... please." Serena simply said.
"You shoukd talk to Darien, he loves you!" Rei pleaded.
"So, he used fake movies and cop out? I don't think so." Serena scoffed, picking up his dirty clothes, and throwing them into a basket. She donned on some cleaning gloves. "I am just going to clean this up a little, please help her with things Rei."
"Serena, you love him, just as much as he loves you!"
"But he never said it Rei." Serena spat.
"Then how the hell did you two end up living together?" Mina asked putting one hand on her hip.
Another scoff from Serena, "Honestly, my lease was up, I asked him to come with me to look at few places. He wanted me to be closer...and he asked me to move in."
"He wanted you to be closer, because he loves you." Rei explained again.
"Guys, please, just get my things before he gets home." She signed and put his toothbrush away in the holder, and started to wipe the sink.
Rei looked at Mina helplessly. Mina just nodded, and they were off to the room.
"Maybe we should move slowly..." Rei whispered.
"Because then he might show up...? Hmmmmm." Mina smirked. "I like the way you think."
When Serena was done with the bathroom, she threw a few of Darien's clothes in the washer, and went to her closet. She looked to see Rei modeling one of her tops.
"That is sooooooo cuuuuute!" Mina sang.
"And I wondering why it is not in the bag?" Serena scolded. She looked down at the bag only to see a handful of items in there. "Guys, seriously?! We are never going to get this done, if you guys don't stop messing around." She walked to her clothes and started pulling things off the hangers and throwing them in the bag.
"Ahhh" Mina cried, "You are going to ruin the shoulders doing that!"
"I don't have time to sit her going one by one." Serena continued.
"Serena, we will take care of it, and we will go faster!" Rei said stepping towards Serena, and pushing her hands off the clothes. "I understand you are upset, but please, do not take it out on the clothing."
Serena looked at Rei confused. "You are not serious."
Rei crossed her arms across her chest. "I am dead serious. Step. Away. From. The. Clothes."
"Yeah, maybe go clean the kitchen. It stinks." Mina suggested. "We will take care of it from here."
Frustration building. "Fine, but if I am done and you guys are not, I will just rip every done." She quickly turned and stepped out of the closet.
"Oh my god, you poor shirt!" Mina dived towards the bag to pick up the top and pet it.
Rei watched to make sure Serena was really gone.
"Okay Mina, you can stop with the act." Rei expressed.
"Who was playing? Did you see how harsh she was?" She quickly cuddled the top, before folding it gently.
"How am I friends with you?!" Rei just blurted before turning to take the clothes off the hangers.
"Shut up, what time is it?" Mina asked looking at her watch.
"I don't know, and honestly we have no idea what time Darien gets off, so this could be all for not." Rei huffed.
Back in the kitchen, Serena cleaned away. Her beautiful pot that her mother got her when they moved in together. Burnt food stuck to it. She shook her head. Darien was never a good cook. He could critique foods, but never really cooked.
She told herself not to do it because she would end up going down cleaning rabbit hole. But every part of her wanted to open the fridge to clean it out. She felt like she could smell something rotting in here. She tried to tell her it was all in her head, and that she was just going to wipe down the counter and stop there. But when she finished with the counter, she could not take it. She forcefully opened the fridge to see the mess that was left in there.
"I knew I should have left this closed." She shook her head. Pulled the trash can over. She opened a box and the smell caused her to gag, and one swoop it was in the trash. "I am not doing that again, we are just going to toss it all away." She whispered to herself. "Rei, Mina, I should be done in 15 minutes! You better be done in there!" She called.
"We got all that could fit in these bags." Mina said, causing Serena to turn away from the fridge.
It was finally cleaned, and she was just wiping the handles. "Good, I am done too."
"You did really great with the place, Sere. I am sure Darien will appreciate it." Rei said looking at the clock defeated. All that work, and he still was not back.
Serena washed her hands. "I can't believe he let everything get this bad. I was only gone for three days."
"A lot can happen in three days." Mina answered. "Like in the next three days, maybe you will realize you are overreacting, and we will be back here moving everything back in." She shrugged.
"Don't hold your breath. Let's go." Serena ordered.
A little over two hours later Darien, opened the door to his apartment, wishing that he would open the door to see Serena sitting on the couch. But once the door opened enough, and he did not see any light, disappointment again washed over him.
"Have you called her?" His friend asked from behind him.
"Yes, Malachite, no answer." Darien replied, slapping the light switch to turn the light on.
He looked around to see that his kitchen sink was empty. and the counter tops were spotless.
"Wow, did your cleaning team come?" Malachite asked. "It was really starting to stink in here."
"I don't have a cleaning crew." Darien said observing the place. He walked down the hall, turned on the bathroom light. "The bathroom got cleaned too."
Malachite went to put some things on the counter top.
"Serena was here." Darien finally said walking out towards him, defeated.
"She was? Did she maybe go out? Will she be back?" Malachite asked.
"No." Darien simply answered as he went to his mini bar to make a drink.
"How are you so sure, she cleaned this place spotless, she wou-"
"She came for more of her things." Darien interrupted as he filled a glass with bourbon.
"Did she get it all?"
"No, there are a few things left." Darien took a sip of his drink. "Did you want anything?"
Malachite just nodded.
"So... she will be back?" Malachite insisted.
"Yeah to get the rest." Darien answered.
Malachite sat down on a bar stool, "So don't you think maybe...you should use that as an opportunity to talk to her...maybe win her back?"
Darien looked at Malachite confused and annoyed.
"I am just saying, maybe leave a small gift for her or some flowers?" He suggested.
"Yeah, like that is going to win her back." Darien scoffed. "You should see some of the things those guys do in her movies."
"By the way, I still cannot believe those movies are what made you two... do all this. Aren't they supposed to bring people together?"
"Guess not." Darien said sitting across from Malachite. "There is no way anybody can compete with those movies. The do all these extravagant things, that borderline don't make sense. Like in one movie, middle of winter, Christmas, he had all these flowers everywhere in her house?" Darien gave Malachite a look of confusion. "How is that possible? Aren't certain flowers only in bloom certain times of the year?"
"Okay, first of all, they are movies, they are not 100 percent accurate, but if someone wanted to, they could improvise. Two, a regular guy, like myself, probably could not do that, because my bank would probably go negative."
Darien simply rolled his eyes.
"But someone, who is a doctor, and has trust fund that is probably worth more than lottery mega pot, probably could." He put his finger to his chin, "But do people like that exist? Hmmm."
"Shut up." Darien replied.
"And last, would someone as humble, appreciative, and so in love with love, like Serena, ever have that high of an expectation?"
Darien gave Malachite a death glare.
"I mean you lived with her, so I don't know maybe there is something, that I never saw during these 5-6 years that I have known her. I mean I only dated her best friend for two years before you met her. Maybe this whole time she was putting up a front, so I would hook her up with one if my friends." He shrugged. "Maybe she changed that much moving in with you, I guess I will never really know."
"Again, shut up."
"Look Dare, I don't understand what happened that night, nor do I really want to try. But she will be back."
"What am I supposed to do, just sit here until she is back. I have to work you know." Darien disputed.
"I did not say that, but maybe put in a little effort? I mean have you every bought her flowers?"
"She said she would kill them." Darien answered.
"Not what I asked." Malachite responded. "I still don't understand how you two even became..."
"Well I would hang out with her, while you and Mina would do your thing, and we would talk, then one day she wanted to see a movie, but you two flaked on her, so I went."
"Yeah... I know that part of the damn story." Malachite cut him off.
"Look, we don't have some movie romance okay? I did not come in rescuing her from some dud of an ex. I did not sweep her off her feet." Darien justified. "That is not who I am.
"So then, my question is pretty simple. Do you even love her?"
"How dare you ask me that, Malachite, of course I do. I wanted to marry her."
"And how did you plan to ask exactly, sitting on the couch, watching a movie of someone else getting engaged, and just going 'do you wanna do that?'"
"Psh... it doesn't matter now because she is gone." He inhaled slowly to calm his nerves.
"If you don't make any effort, then yeah, she is gone for sure." Malachite just bobbed his head.
"Tell me what to do, then." Darien pleaded.
"Let's start with Valentine's Day."
"I am working ,"Darien interrupted.
"Are you going to listen to me or not?" Malachite snapped.
"Sorry..." Darien hung his head down.
"So let's begin...you are working, and so are delivery services..."
"What do you have in mind, and why do I feel like she will know it was just me who came up with the idea? Darien questioned.
"Oh she will absolutely know you did not come up with this on your own, but that will just be a minor detail to her." He opened a drawer, to pull out a paper and pen. He started with number 1.