Blueeyeddevil06 thank you for being my beta and making my work readable.
Trigger warning: Mentions someone threatening rape via text. Not explicit, no details beyond mentioning the fact that it happened. Nothing happens beyond that, and the guy is punished.
His whole life, Darien felt like something was missing. Beyond his memories and his family. That was big enough on its own. It just felt like something more was missing.
His best friend Andrew showed up to their study group with the most beautiful girl he had ever seen. She was petite, blond, blue eyed, and stunning. He was glad they were sitting at a table so he could hide his reaction to her. He had never felt this way about a woman before. He tried to remind himself that she came with Andrew. That settled badly in his stomach.
Andrew smiled at him, missing the roiling jealousy in Darien's gut. He felt guilty for wanting his friend's girl so desperately.
Darien noticed that there were two chairs left for the group, but that they weren't next to each other. He got up to move and watched in confusion as the beauty took the chair next to him, and Andrew sat further down the table. Darien sat back down quickly. He wasn't going to pass up the chance to sit near her.
David asked, "Andrew, are you going to tell us why you aren't sitting by your girlfriend?"
Every head turned towards him. Then Darien heard the beauty speak, "She's in Africa. How would you recommend he does that?"
Rick narrowed his eyes and looked at her, "You're okay with the fact that he hasn't broken up with Rita?"
Andrew burst out laughing, "Serena is my childhood friend! She got Rita and me together."
She started laughing, "No offense, but eww. He's like a brother to me. In fact, I have known him since before my actual brother was born." She shook her head and chuckled. "I just came because I am new to the area, and his mother made him bring me along."
Andrew said, "She totally misunderstood why I didn't want to introduce you to my friends!"
Rick chimed in, "Is it because she's hot?"
Andrew scowled at him. "Yes."
"I'm good at saying no. I doubt you would be friends with guys who don't take no for an answer." She said to Andrew. He had to concede her point.
Stephen cursed. "Well, that sucks. Now we can't hit on you. If we do, we look like creeps."
Serena smirked, "I know."
Andrew just laughed.
Darien decided he better say something, or she was going to get the wrong idea about him. "You're safe with us. Are you studying for history too?"
She sighed, "Yes. I'm transferring into your school. I'll need to find out what you're currently studying."
"Do you have a book yet?"
"No."
Darien pulled his out of his bag and handed it to her. "You can borrow mine. I'm ahead in the reading."
"Thanks." she smiled at him brightly. She then took the book and held it to her chest. "So, what are we studying?"
He looked deep into her eyes, and suddenly, Darien didn't feel like there was a gaping hole in his life anymore. And, she wasn't his best friend's girl.
The next day at school, everyone was talking about the new girl. Getting a new classmate part way through Senior year was unusual.
Third hour, she was introduced to the class and then looked directly at him and waved. The teacher noticed, and trusting Darien, he sat her by him. He thought how it was nice to be the teacher's favorite.
After class, she turned to him and said, "I was wondering if I could ask you for a favor. I need help studying for English, and Andrew tells me you're a genius. Would you be willing to help me?"
Hell yes! "Yes. Where do you want to study?"
She shrugged. "Not the Arcade. I get easily distracted. I'm a video game junkie."
He thought, don't say my place, don't say my place. "How about my place?" No! I was not supposed to say that.
"Okay."
He couldn't figure out how she agreed to that so easily. It was later, during his last class, that it dawned on him. She didn't know he lived alone. Shoot. Now he had to tell her.
She popped up next to him at his locker after school, and he sighed. "You don't know I live alone."
"What?"
"You agreed to study at my place, and you don't know I live alone."
She looked confused, "Are you going to do something to me against my will?" He shook his head. "Then, what's the problem?"
"People talk. If they find out you were there, they will assume things."
She visibly shuddered. "So many girls would absolutely hate me." Her eyes were wide. She then thought for a moment. "Oh well. It's not like they've been that welcoming already."
Darien chortled, "That's because you're hotter than all of them." He froze. He couldn't believe he just said that to her.
She smiled at him. "Andrew said you've never called a woman hot."
He noticed she wasn't shrinking away. "That's because I have high standards." Darien was trying to figure out what the hell had gotten into him the last two days.
He tried to calm his racing heart as they stepped into his place. They dropped off their shoes and took their bags into the living room. She sat on his couch and looked up at him. "Thank you for being willing to teach me. You're doing me a huge favor!"
He shrugged. He was afraid his reasons were less altruistic than that. "I'm good at English. It's no trouble."
She stared at him, and he realized he was just standing in the doorway. He walked over to her and asked where she needed help.
One hellish hour later, they stopped. She was catching on, and his teaching seemed to be helping her. The torturous part was that they kept inadvertently touching. He was ready to combust.
When she left, he had to go take care of matters before he was able to concentrate on anything other than her soft skin.
A month later and he was a goner. He not only wanted her, but he was also completely in love with her. She was so kind and loving. She brightened up his whole life. He looked forward to seeing her. It was the highlight of every day.
He was heading to lunch where he would see her and came to a complete stop. Mark was standing in front of her, asking her out. All of the girls around them were gushing about how lucky she was.
He spun on his heels and headed in the opposite direction. He avoided her for the rest of the day. He was devastated. He accidentally snapped his pencil in half during math class.
He was lost for what to do when he saw her standing by his locker after school. She was smiling, and he didn't want to hear her good news. He decided he didn't need his books that were in there. He just headed home. Alone.
Thirty minutes after he got home, he heard pounding on his apartment door. He opened it up and Serena was there. She was crying. Before he knew what happened, she was in his arms weeping on his shoulder.
He shut the door and pulled her into his place. He sat her on the couch and joined her. She then clung to his shirt. She was shaking.
He was beside himself with worry. "What happened?"
"Mark." She managed to choke out.
He held her tighter, "What do you mean?"
He watched as she forced herself to calm down. She looked and pleaded, "Please, just tell me I am safe with you. I need to hear the words."
He shook at her words and said, "You're always safe. Here, with me. You're safe." He rubbed her back.
She nodded, and he watched her start to calm down. It worked. He couldn't believe it. He asked, "Can you tell me what happened?"
She nodded and looked at her feet. "Mark asked me out today."
"I saw."
"You did?"
"Yea."
She shuddered. "He didn't like me saying no."
"You said no?"
She looked at him, and he couldn't figure out why she looked so incredibly hurt. She said, "You thought I would say yes?"
He just shrugged.
She pulled back and looked at him. "Why didn't you go to your locker after school today? I waited for you. Don't lie to me. Not right now."
He looked at the dry tear tracks on her face and couldn't lie to her. "I saw you were waiting for me. I went home to avoid you. I didn't want to talk to you. I had to get away."
He watched her close off to him. She was completely inaccessible. She stood and nodded back. "Now I know. Thank you for being honest with me." She paused and added, "You've never lied to me. That matters."
She then walked out his front door. He was in shock. He hated himself that he didn't go after her.
The next day, Mark was missing from school and the gossip swirled. He noticed that Serena wasn't there either. He walked up to a pissed off looking Andrew. "What is going on?"
Andrew answered. "Mark threatened to rape Serena. He was dumb enough to send a series of threatening texts to her. He was arrested last night. Lucky bastard. There were a bunch of us that would have kicked his ass first if Serena had come to us before talking to the police. Why didn't she come to me?"
Darien felt like an abyss had opened up underneath him, and he was in a free fall. She had come to him crying. He would have been there when it happened if he had gone to his locker. She was still smiling then.
"I don't know." was all Darien was able to say to him.
Andrew scowled. "And, what in the world gave him the idea Serena was even interested? Everyone knows Serena is stuck in the friend zone with you." Andrew sighed. "I wish she had listened when I told her you weren't interested in dating."
"What are you talking about?"
"The friend zone is-"
"I know what the friend zone is!"
Andrew looked puzzled. "I'm lost."
"Serena doesn't like me like that." Darien insisted.
Andrew paled. "Shit. Can you forget I said that? She doesn't want to lose your friendship. She's going through enough. Please don't pull away from her." He looked really upset. "She's going to need you. You make her feel safe."
"What makes you think all of this?"
"Honestly? We talked about it all a week ago. Please don't reject her right now. Please. If not for her, for me."
Darien took a step back. "Punch me."
"What...? No!"
"Serena came to me before she went to the cops. I didn't know what happened. She was hysterical. I thought she had agreed to date Mark, so I had ditched her after school. She waited for me, and I left. I would have been there when she got the texts if I hadn't. She came to me, and I calmed her down. I told her I avoided her because I didn't want to see her. She walked out of my apartment."
Andrew looked pissed. "And, you followed her."
"No."
Darien braced for the punch.
"You would like it if I hit you right now, wouldn't you?" Darien nodded. "Fuck you!" Andrew just walked off. He turned around and shouted, "I bet this hurts more!"
He was right.
Darien stood in the hallway and made his decision. He left school and went straight to her house. Her mother answered the door. She smiled at him and said, "She's not here right now."
"She's not at school."
"I know. She didn't want to go today. That monster is in jail right now. His parents refuse to bail him out." She smirked. "She's safe going around town. She wanted to go shopping and get her mind off of everything."
"Thank you." Apparently her mother didn't know he failed to help her when she was hurting.
He tried to decide what to do. He decided he would go looking for her. He was sure she wouldn't answer if he called. He decided to drop by his apartment and drop off his school bag first.
The moment he stepped into his hall off the elevator, he saw her. She was sitting by his door staring at her feet.
"Serena."
Her head shot up and she looked at him. She stood and fidgeted. "Sorry, I didn't think you'd be here right now. Why aren't you in school?"
"Because you aren't. Why are you here if you didn't think I would be?"
She dropped her head onto her knees. He managed to just hear her say, "I feel safe in your apartment. This was the closest I could get."
He walked over and opened his door. "Come on in." He pulled out his spare key from the table by the door and handed it to her. "Now you can get in whenever you need to."
"Wha…" she was completely startled.
"Now you don't ever have to sit in the hall." He looked at her hand, and it was trembling. He held out his hand and said, "Show me the texts."
"The police downloaded them and deleted them." She didn't look at him.
He sighed, "Fine. I will be more specific. Show me the screenshots you took of the texts."
She pulled them up and handed them to him without a word.
He read them and put his fist through his wall. He pulled back, and his knuckles were bloody.
He looked at her and texted them to himself. Then he deleted the text and the photos from her phone. "You shouldn't have those. I will hold onto a copy for you in case something happens to the evidence." He handed her back her phone.
"You should let me bandage your knuckles and get you to a doctor."
He shook his head. "Let me feel this."
"Why?"
"I know I couldn't have stopped him. That's on him. I could've been there for you though. That, that's on me."
She sat down on his couch. "I ran away. I knew how you… I chose to leave."
"I should have never left you standing at my locker."
"It wouldn't have changed any-"
"I would've been there."
She shook her head. "You didn't know he was going to do that."
"I let you leave my apartment alone. He was still out there."
She trembled. "You didn't know what happened."
"I knew you were upset."
"What do you want me to say?"
"That you hate me for not being there for you."
"I don't hate you. I can't." she looked him in the eye and saw understanding. "Andrew told you I am in love with you. Dammit." Her hand trembled, and she tried to hand back the key.
"You didn't ask me why I didn't want to talk to you after I thought you agreed to date him."
She shook her head.
"Because I thought I was going to have to stand by and watch you date him when you are the only woman in the world that I could ever love. The moment I saw you, my world felt full. When I met you, I thought you were Andrew's new girlfriend, and I was incredibly jealous. I was so happy to find out you were just friends."
She blinked at him, and her face showed complete shock. "You love me?"
He nodded. "I love everything about you."
She looked puzzled, "How were you the only one who didn't know my feelings for you? Well, of our friends?"
"Any smile or look you gave me was too good to be true. I wanted it too much to believe that I wasn't reading into things. That, and I'm an idiot."
"You skipped school to come and find me?" She gave him a gentle smile.
He nodded. "Why aren't you yelling at me? I was horrible."
She scooted over and laid in his arms. "I only have room in my head for one major meltdown. And frankly, I need you to hold me more than I need to scream at you. I'm not okay. I couldn't stay home and pretend to be today, so I left." She sighed. "That's not fair to my mom. She's just so worried about me. It's hard to watch."
He caressed her face. "We'll put a rain delay on the screaming session. You can yell at me whenever you're ready."
She smiled up at him. "Deal." She grew nervous then.
Darien sighed. "No, that won't work at all. You aren't allowed to be nervous to tell me something. I can see it in your face. I love you. Remember that."
She nodded. "I didn't sleep well last night. Can I take a nap in your bed?"
"Of course. Why would you be nervous to ask me that?"
"I would like you to join me." There was a slight tremor in her voice still.
In order to dispel any of her nerves, he was again completely honest with her. "Hell yes, I'll join you." He growled. "I will even behave. No matter how tempting your body is." He kissed the top of her head. "You're safe with me."
And she was. Being held by him made all of the bad feelings go away. She darted her eyes around the room. This was what she wanted. This was what she had been terrified she would never have. The realization of his loving her washed over her. She looked up at him and asked. "Do you have to behave? What if I want to be a little naughty?"
He lifted her up and carried her to his room. "You have to be honest with me too. Is this because you're upset?"
She shrugged. "I don't understand the psychology of all of that. I just know that I have wanted to do naughty things to you for weeks now. You might not have touched me yet, but you have, in my fantasies."
He set her on his bed and looked her in the eyes. "I'm yours to do what you want with. I will love every bit of it. I have wanted you to touch me since the day I met you."
She shimmied out of her shirt and removed her bra. She was starting to remove her shorts and panties when she paused and looked at him. "Get naked!"
He nodded and removed his clothes. He drank her in. "Damn, you're incredible."
She looked him up and down and said. "Let's take a shower first. We can clean up your knuckles."
He had to get a grip. He was painfully hard, and he was already picturing her wet.
They made it into the shower. He loved touching her wet body and licking water off her breasts. They washed each other's hair. He then brought her to orgasm on his fingers.
When they were done, he wrapped her in a towel and dried her off.
He tucked her in bed, climbed in with her and pulled up the covers. "Now, it's time to take a nap."
"What?"
"Nap and then play time. You said you didn't sleep well. Let me take care of you. Please. I need to be here for you this time." He was willing to beg.
She nodded and closed her eyes as he wrapped his arms around her. She slept soundly in his arms.
He stayed awake plotting. He had to protect her. He would never fail her again.
When she woke up, he made love to her tenderly. He kissed her and repeatedly told her he loved her. She told him back every time.
It turns out that when you have a lot of money, you can hire the right lawyers and investors that would ensure that all of the dirt is dug up on someone. Mark went to jail as an adult for a very long time. It was Darien's proudest accomplishment.