"For Argument's Sake."
By: Isis @}->--
isis@moonkingdom.com
Rating: G
Disclaimers: Don't sue and don't copy!
AN: All right, is anyone still out there? Mad at me are
you? Well too bad! The goddess is having a great time of this.
Enter a new boyfriend, and an even dearer friendship.
Chapter 10
*@}->--*
"It's just not fair," Serena mumbled to herself. She was clad in a
cute little black dress and gold heart-charm jewelry. But she was
bent over on hands and knees inside of her closet. "Why is it that I
never seem to have enough shoes when I go shopping, but I have
twenty different pairs when I'm trying to find the ones I want?"
She threw boxes and other shoes out of the way and continued
digging. "Hey!" she said spotting something in the back. "I didn't
know I still had these!" She held up a pair of white flats that she
hadn't worn in years. She wondered idly if they still fit. "Oh,
well, I can try them on later." She tossed them aside before she
finally laid hold of the pair she wanted.
Only to discover that it wasn't a pair. One of the black heels that
she had wanted lay in her hand but the other was a totally different
kind of black heel. "OK, which ever of the mates I find first gets
to be worn!"
After a few more minutes of scrounging, she came up with a pair.
Slipping them on she stood in front of her mirror and admired the
outfit. *Oh, I hope this looks right! Maybe I should have added
some hose. Am I too underdressed? Could it be too much? OK,
breathe… in… out… in… out. I'll be fine. It's just a date; I'll be
fine! Then why is my heart beating a mile a minute and my knees
are going weak?*
She fiercely told herself to calm down and relax. He would be
here any second and she wanted to make a good impression. As
long as she didn't totally klutz out in front of him she'd be just
fine. *I hope!*
There was a knock at the door and she jumped in spite of herself.
Quickly recomposing she forced herself to walk to the door at a
normal rate and paused just a second or two before opening it.
Neil stood before her dressed in brown slacks and a brown striped
shirt. OK so his fashion sense needed a little help, but what guy's
didn't?
"Hi, Neil!" she said enthusiastically.
"Hello, Serena," he said in the same way. He pulled out a bouquet
of flowers from behind his back and held them out to her
nervously. "Uh, these are for you."
She gasped at the unexpected present. No one had given her
flowers before on their first date. How sweet! She snapped back
to reality and opened the door wider. "I'm sorry, come in come
in." She took the flowers from him and stood back to let him.
Sticking her nose in them she giggled at herself. "Their beautiful,
thank you so much! But, really you didn't have to."
"I wanted to. Besides, you look especially beautiful yourself
tonight."
She blushed slightly and lowered her eyes for a moment before
walking towards the kitchen. "Thank you," she said again as she
fumbled through her cabinets for a glass tall enough to serve as a
vase until she found a real one.
"You really have a view from up here," he commented from
behind her as he moved to look out of her balcony doors.
"Yeah, it's great. I really love this place." She filled the glass
with water and unwrapped the bouquet. She removed the paper
and stuck them in only to find that they looked really stupid in a
glass three times too big around for them. She sighed and told
herself that tomorrow she would go out and buy a real vase.
Walking back into the living room she smiled at her visitor again.
"Thank you again, Neil."
"No problem. Are you ready?" he asked crossing back to her.
"Yeah! I even managed to find my shoes."
Four hours later the couple made their way back to her apartment
door. Aside from trying to use her spoon to cut her meat at dinner
she had managed to avoid falling on her face or spilling something
on him. All in all, it had been a good night, even if it was turning
out to be a little less than magical.
It wasn't Neil's fault. He had done everything right and it had
been fun, but there was just something missing, or wrong, or…
maybe she was just being too picky.
"I had a good time tonight, Serena," he said as they stopped in
front of her door. He slowly released her arm that he had taken,
but stopped before letting go in order to hold her hand.
"Me too," she said honestly enough. He was a nice person to be
around, and he was easy to talk to. It shouldn't be hard to really
like the guy.
"Well," he looked at her door as if trying to come up with
something else to say. "I guess I'll see you on Monday, right?"
"Yeah, back to the grind already," she said trying to make the
conversation a little lighter. He was certainly a focused type of
person. Small talk really wasn't his thing she imagined.
"Yeah." He paused a bit longer. "Well, I'll see you."
"Yeah," that seemed to be their favorite word tonight. On the
impulse of getting this over with she bounced up and hugged him
lightly. "Thank you again, Neil."
"Don't thank me. I had a great date." She pulled away enough to
look at him with a slight blush growing on her checks.
Without preamble he brought a hand up to her check and bent
down to place a kiss on her lips. She softly returned it closing her
eyes to savor it. His touch was gentle but without any real passion
behind it. She waited for the lightheadedness and the quickened
pulse rate that usually accompanied a kiss like this.
But it never came.
He pulled back and she looked up at him. His green eyes looked
back at her with a warm nature behind them, but no true feelings.
"Goodnight," he whispered. She mumbled something and he
released her and walked back down the hallway as she let herself
into her apartment.
She closed the door and leaned against it. So that was it. No
lightning, no thunder, no heart flutters, no nothing! What was
wrong with her? A wonderful date like this and she didn't feel a
thing for the man!
She had been nit picking all night long about everything he did or
said. Constantly comparing him and examining him like he was a
test subject or something. What was she doing? It was like she
was trying to find a reason not to like the guy. And that kiss…
*Maybe I'm just not attracted to him the way I thought I was. But
he's cute and he's smart and he has a great personality. What's
wrong with him? Maybe I'm forcing myself too hard. It's just our
first date, what was I expecting? Most guys don't come along and
totally knock you off your feet with one kiss! I don't think.*
With a frustrated sigh she flipped on the light and threw her purse
on the coffee table. *So maybe he's not my Prince Charming. But
he is charming.* She smiled to herself and walked into the kitchen
to examine the flowers he had given her. A cluster of carnations
and wild flowers looked back at her. Yes, tomorrow she would
find a vase for them. But tonight she'd go to bed and wonder if
she was being too hard on him and not truthful enough with
herself.
Ring… Ring… Ring… Rin-. Darien knocked the phone off of
the bedside stand. He slowly brought it up to his ear. "'Ello?"
"Darien? Did I wake you?"
He rolled over with the phone still in hand. "Yes."
"Oh, gee, I'm sorry." There was a pause before the perky little
voice came back. "You're suppose to be home from your morning
jog by now, what are you doing in bed?"
"I was sleeping," he muttered still refusing to open his eyes. "It's
Sunday, I don't go out jogging until the afternoon, if I go at all."
"Oh! Well, learn something new everyday."
"Most people do, but you have certainly given it a good shot to
never learn anything." He repositioned his pillow under his head.
"Boy, you are a grump in the mornings aren't you?"
"Yes. What time is it?" he asked not willing to roll over and look
at the clock.
"It's, uh, seven-thirty."
"And what exactly are you doing calling me at seven-thirty in the
morning Miss 'If I don't get twelve hours sleep, you just don't
want to know me.'"
"Very funny. But I just called to chat. I'll call later, you may go
back to bed sleepy head."
"I haven't gotten out of bad, and you didn't call to chat."
"How do you know?"
He laughed into the phone. "Because nothing short of a hypnotic
suggestion would make you get out of bed before noon on a day
that you didn't have to. I take it something happened last night
with Mr. Right."
"Actually, no, nothing happened."
"What?" He finally opened his eyes.
"It's kind of hard to explain."
He rolled onto his back and stared up at the ceiling. "Give it a
try."
"Well, he was really, really sweet. He even brought me flowers,
and we went to the Rose Garden, which I assumed is because of
something you said so please remind me to interrogate you later
about what else you told him."
"Sure, so you had a good time?"
"Yeah, it was fun. I mean we got a long and everything."
"So what's the problem?"
"…He kissed me."
Darien propped himself up on one elbow. "So? What, you don't
kiss on the first date?"
"No."
"So what's wrong with him kissing you?"
"I didn't feel anything…"
He gave up and flopped back down in bed and snuggled the covers
up around him again. "Define not feeling anything."
"I don't know. It was like there should have been a spark, or a…
something! But there just wasn't. There was just no attraction
between us. I don't really understand. Aren't you suppose to feel
something?"
He chuckled lightly. "Do you remember after your first kiss you
asked me if it always felt the same?"
"Yes,"
"I told you then that you were talking to a man that has very little
experience in the matter. I haven't gotten any better lately."
"Darien! I'm trying to be serious here!"
He held the phone away from his ear in order to save his hearing.
"So am I. I can't tell you what to feel or not to feel. But listen, so
maybe you really aren't attracted to the guy. So what? It's
happened a million times before throughout history, you're not the
first don't worry."
"But, I've never just not felt anything for someone I go out with.
It's totally weird."
"Serena, you've had a crush on almost every guy that you've dated
that I can remember. It was different with them because you
already had feelings for them. So maybe he didn't knock your
shoes off. I don't think many relationships are ever based on
whether they fall in love at first kiss. Now stop worrying and get
off your couch and out of your pajamas."
"How did you know I was still in my pajamas and on the couch?"
He smiled into his pillow. "Because your phone sits in your living
room and I'm sure you're stretched out on the couch trying to
avoid the killer spring. You also never get up before noon most
days, and if you aren't going anywhere or are upset about
something you never bother to change into normal clothes."
"Whoa, totally freaky! What do I need a boyfriend for when I
have someone that knows me inside out anyway?"
"Yes, and I still love ya. But getting back to Neil, what do you
think he thought?"
"I don't know. He said he had a good time, but so did I. He's a
great person to be around, he really is."
"You just don't like him kissing you."
"Do have to make it sound so cold."
"Isn't that what you said it felt like?"
"No, I said I didn't feel anything. I didn't say I didn't like it."
He again switched positions and rubbed his eyes. "You know
what?"
"What?"
"I think you have a lot more experience with this subject than me."
"I can't help it if you have a pathetic excuse for a love-life."
"Gee, thanks."
There was a laugh from the other end of the phone line. "I'm
sorry, but what am I going to do about this?"
"It's funny. The one man on Earth who has the most 'pathetic
excuse for a love-life' is the one who always seems to get the
romance questions."
"You have better advice than everyone else."
"How?"
"If I knew, I wouldn't ask you."
"Oh. OK, well, you have two choices my dear." He finally sat up
with a yawn. "You can either end it now and go on your merry
little way, or you can stick with it and see where you end up."
"So dump him, or see if I can turn the frog into a prince."
"You got it."
"What if he really likes me and I never like him back? What if I
hurt him?"
"Someone gets hurt in every relationship. That's just how they
work. The question is how bad the damage will be."
There was a long pause from the other end. "Do you really believe
that?"
"Believe what?" he asked innocently.
"I think I just found out why you have no experience with
relationships."
He sighed and flopped back in bed again. "Maybe you did."
"Come on Darien. The reason for dating is so you can find that
one person in life that you can't be without. The one person that
you'll always be with."
"I thought we were talking about your problems."
"We just switched."
He stared up at the ceiling again not really seeing anything.
"Darien, I know you have always pushed people away from you.
You're afraid to be close to someone, and afraid to lose them. But
surly this is different. I mean, we're talking about love here! You
can't tell me that you never want to fall in love with someone."
He remained quiet taking in her words. Love. Probably the most
overrated word in existence. But it was the one word that he
would never hear. He didn't mean to be so pessimistic, but he
couldn't open himself up that much. It was hard enough to know
how vulnerable he was to Serena let alone with someone he openly
loved. The fear of losing them would be more than he could take.
"Darien? You still there?"
"Yes, just thinking."
"Listen, I know you too well to think that you haven't thought this
through a thousand times before. But think about this again will
you? There has to be something worth living for, and I know that
something is a lot better than just your stubborn will."
He smiled unconsciously at her while she continued. "You have
friends Darien. Friends that care about you. And you have me!
And this is me talking some sense into you. You can't live in the
past and don't need to. Everyone on the face of this planet has the
same fears of losing those close to them as you do! They don't
realize it nearly as much because they haven't lost anyone yet. But
don't believe for one minute that no one else lies awake at night
afraid that the people they love won't be with them in the
morning."
He closed his eyes, the truth of her words rang much too clear in
his mind. He'd heard them before of course, but Serena always
had a way of putting things into terms that his heart understood,
even if his brain didn't. "So get off my butt and do something with
myself, is that it?"
"No, just don't hide from something that you don't know."
That was the phrase he didn't want to hear. He didn't want to
admit he was afraid, scared to death of that pain ever happening
again. But he was.
"Darien, loving someone and losing them is a lot easier than never
loving them at all. You should know that."
"I know." He couldn't think of anything else to say. He knew
very well that Serena knew him better than he did sometimes and
this was one of them. She could always see through him when it
counted.
"Good!" she said triumphantly. "So what are we going to do about
me?"
"So now, tell me about this Cora chick."
Once again Darien was unprepared for one of her questions.
Funny, she should have run out of things to surprise him with
about three years ago. "Who?" he muttered instead.
"You know who! I had a lovely conversation with Neil about your
supposed infatuation with some girl you've never seen before. I
found it a very amusing story to listen to."
"You know, I really do think you should dump the guy," he
grumbled.
Serena laughed at him as they continued their walk around the
park. The rose gardens were out in full force once again before the
coming winter, and they were more beautiful than she
remembered. "Too bad. Now spill."
"What's to say?"
"Well, you can start with the description of why the only man I
know that wouldn't find a beauty pageant winner pretty would be
knocked off his feet by some astronomer-type whatever."
"Astrophysicist."
"Right, Whatever."
He chuckled a bit at her before opening up. "I don't really know
what it was. She just seemed different."
"Different as in the most beautiful woman you've ever seen or
different as in she had two heads?"
"I think I would have noticed an extra appendage." He gave her a
sour look and continued his walk.
"Oh, come on Darien! Tell me would you? I'm curious as to what
type of woman finally manages to turn your head." She stopped
him with a hand on his arm and guided him towards a park bench.
"You're totally set on this aren't you?"
She swore he was dragging his feet. "Yes! You make me tell you
every detail of my life but you won't tell me a single thing about
yours. Now sit down!" She practically threw him at the bench.
"I don't force you to tell me anything."
"Sure you do! Every time something goes wrong you
automatically pop into my head and this little voice says 'tell
Darien, he'll know what to do.' So I do."
"And this is my fault how?"
"You're always in my head," she mumbled sitting down beside
him.
"Oh Kay."
"So come on, tell me about her."
He leaned back to get a little more comfortable on the cement
bench before responding. "She's engaged. How's that for
information."
She looked at him shocked for a moment. Neil hadn't told her
that. Of course maybe he didn't know either. "I didn't know that."
"Yeah, neither did I until I caught sight of the ring, which was of
course after I made an idiot out of myself."
"Uh-oh," she said to herself.
"Yeah, and guess what, she's marrying Mr. Blimber's son."
"Mr. Blimber?"
"The primary astrophysicist at the Observatory, they work
together."
"Oh." It was all she could think to say. She had wanted to find
someone that could be a suitable match for Darien, and by Neil's
descriptions she would have been perfect. *Why are the good ones
always taken?* "So what was it about her?"
"I don't know." He looked over to her with an odd expression.
"Why?"
"Just wondering," she shrugged, "I have to know what I'm looking
for right?"
He popped off the bench like he'd been shot. "No! N. O. NO!
The last thing I need is someone else constantly on my case about
this girl or that. Andrew still hasn't given up and he's bad enough
for both of you so just get that idea out of that pretty little head of
yours!"
She laughed uncontrollably at him. It didn't seem to help maters
any.
"Serena, I'm serious! You were the one griping at me just this
morning about finding someone. I do not need help! At least in
this mater." He grudgingly sat down again. "I still think I should
have my head examined for having you two as friends. I must
have psychological damage after all these years," he muttered.
She was still laughing but instead of hitting him for the comment
she hugged him. He almost unwillingly hugged her back. "OK,
I'm sorry. I promise no blind dates. But still, I want to know
about the one and only person I've ever heard of actually getting
under your skin." She looked up at him with a knowing smile on
her face.
He didn't argue. "I'm not really sure what it was. She was
beautiful. Quiet, or reserved maybe, but she was also comfortable
with people. Does that make sense?" He didn't wait for a
response. "She seemed very sweet and open. She just had this
little magical air about her; I can't explain it. Otherwise she
was…"
Serena looked up at him as he trailed off. There was something
that he wasn't telling her. "Was what?"
"I don't know. It's really odd, but the whole time I kept
comparing her to you."
She didn't find it all that odd. "That's kind of like me. I kept
comparing Neil to you the whole night. No mater how much I told
myself to cut it out I couldn't help it."
He looked at her a little amused. "So does that mean if I asked you
out you won't like me anymore either?"
"I don't know." She leaned her head back on his shoulder. "You
know, the two of you are a lot alike. But there's also a lot of
differences."
"No two people are made alike."
"Maybe." She thought. She'd spent most of last night thinking
about this too. Could that be why she liked Neil to start with,
because he reminded her of Darien? It was possible; she would
have to admit that she wouldn't mind dating someone like him.
But maybe she didn't notice how different they were until she got
to know Neil better. Could that be it?
"Yeah, Meatball Head, you still in there?"
"Hum? Oh, yeah. Do you think there's just something wrong with
us for thinking like that?"
"Oh yeah, there's something wrong with us, I just haven't figured
out what yet. But on this, no, I don't thing we should commit
ourselves quiet yet. I mean we've known each other for forever.
We have a, well, good relationship, so when someone else walks
into our lives comparisons are normal. We like finding something
that we're familiar with in the people we meet."
She took in his words then looked up at him. "You really do sound
like a text book, you know that?"
"Thanks."
"Your welcome." She paused again. "So this is just like when I
met Romola and thought she sounded like Mina right?"
"Right."
"So when you met Cora she reminded you of me?"
He paused a moment. "Yeah, she did."
"So does that mean if I asked you out you'd think I was some
gorgeous babe too?" She smiled up at him.
"I didn't say that."
She giggled to herself merrily. "Oh well."
They sat together enjoying the remainder of the warm sunset
quietly. The days were shortening and the winds, and storms, were
picking up once more as the summer wore itself out. Somehow,
she was sort of glad to see autumn come in. Usually summer was
her favorite season, but this year the summer had brought on too
many changes for her liking. Some quiet time was just what she
needed now.
"Darien?"
"Hum?"
"What's your favorite season?"
He looked down at her for a moment, probably trying to figure out
what had brought on that question. "Well, I don't know, I like
things about all of them."
"Oh, come on. You have to have a favorite."
He paused to think, "I guess maybe spring or fall. I don't like
winter and summer is too long and boring. But, I guess fall. I like
the colors, and the atmosphere."
"Oh, yeah, the 'death and dying king' strikes again."
"That wasn't the atmosphere I was talking about."
She laughed at him. Yes, fall would be fitting to Darien's style.
Still warm at times but the wind always held a chill to it. Not like
winter where everything is dead and long buried. The colors fit,
drab but vibrant as well. And the mood, like everything knew that
the winter was coming and was preparing. Hiding themselves
away so that they would be safe and protected until they somehow
knew when it was safe to reemerge.
Yes, that would fit.
"So let me guess, you like summer right?"
She smiled. How did one person manage to know her so well?
"Yes, I like summer."
"It fits."
*@}->--*
"Hi Neil, come on in. I'm not quite ready yet." Serena let him in
and closed the door behind him. After some serious thought, and a
lot of late night phone calls to the girls, she had decided to give the
guy another shot. That was last week and she had to admit that he
was growing on her. Date number three was on tap for today and
'meet the father' night had come a little too soon.
Her father had popped in fifteen minutes ago for a nice chat with
his little girl. And he was just in time to find out about her plans
for the evening. Ken Tsukino wasn't about to let her out of his
sight until he had personally met and critiqued her date for the
evening. Something neither one of them was prepared for.
"Uh, Neil, this is my father, Ken Tsukino. He just popped in for a
visit a few minutes ago." She ushered him over to the chair her
father had taken up residence in. "Daddy, this is Neil Arden." For
the moment both seemed very calm. Both held smiles as they
shook hands and exchanged pleasantries. *So far so good.*
"Let me grab my purse and I'll be ready," she said quickly ducking
into her bedroom. She was afraid of leaving the two alone for any
amount of time. Her father had a history of being able to scare the
living daylights out of men in less than a second flat. *Come on
Dad, just chill out this time will you? I didn't even get to warn the
guy!*
She rushed back into the living room to find it was too late already.
They both stood where she had left them. Only now her father was
smiling but Neil held that nervous fake smile that replaced the
features of every man she had ever dated.
She smiled brightly at her father with a look in her eyes that told
him she'd have a private word with him later. She pronounced a
"Ready!" and guided them both towards the door. They walked
out and rode the elevator to the ground floor before parting
company. Her father made a production out of giving her a kiss on
the cheek goodbye and saying goodnight to Neil as well. Of
course he used the same tone and expression that he'd used with
Darien when they had moved her in. Neil wasn't quiet as steel
willed as Darien though and quickly said goodbye and nearly ran
for the door.
She giggled silently to herself. "Tell mom hi for me when you get
home!" she said as the couple walked away. *Maybe he'll get the
point in that one!*
As distance stretched out between them she turned to her date.
"Let me guess, he gave you the 'one wrong glance at my daughter
and I'll skin you alive' look right?"
The other laughed a little nervously. "Yeah, I guess you could say
that would describe it."
She laughed at him. "Don't worry about Dad. He's always like
that. Once he gets to know you he's a push over though. It's just
that first impression. I'm sorry I didn't get to warn you before you
had to meet him. I could have saved you some of the pain."
"That's all right. I've run into overprotective fathers before.
Although none like that!" He looked back over his shoulder to
make sure they weren't being followed out to his car. "No wonder
someone like you didn't have a boyfriend already!"
"Yeah, Dad's pretty hard on the social life."
"I can imagine."
"But as long as you're not going to suddenly fake sick and dump
me for the night I think we'll be fine." She took his arm as he led
her the rest of the way to his car.
"This is me not faking sick," he said looking down at her.
It was really a pretty night. The moon was up and almost full, and
the stars that could still be seen under Tokyo's lights were
twinkling merrily. "I should really take you up to the observatory
some night so you can actually see the starlight," Neil said as they
walked along. They had run out of movies they wanted to see so
Serena had suggested a walk through the Sunset Park. It wasn't far
from their restaurant and she seemed to know it like the back of
her hand.
"Can't I see the stars from here?" she asked.
"About of third of them. There's too much light in town to see
anything very clearly."
"Oh."
He looked over at her. The park had a few lights scattered here
and there along the paths, but they were walking seemingly
aimlessly through the different flower gardens and along the river
edge. In the uncertain light he could make out her features mostly
by memory and by the dim glow of moonlight. She was beautiful,
no denying it.
Her long blond hair swirled around them in the cool wind as they
walked along, arm in arm. Her features were soft and smooth; her
lips were blushed a light pink with gloss. And her eyes. Those
crowning jewels that had fascinated him the first time he'd seen
her. Crystal blue and sparkling, they could not be ignored.
She was beautiful. But she was also so easy to be with, so easy to
talk to. No mater what, she seemed so comfortable to be around.
He hoped that also meant that she was comfortable with him.
They got along so well when they were together, but it was more
of a friendly type of atmosphere. This was their third date and
he'd managed a kiss from her exactly once. That first night when
he had dropped her off.
Maybe he was trying to move this too fast. Or maybe she really
just wanted to be friends. She always steered the conversations
towards something light and kept her distance even though she was
right next to him. Something just seemed off for the fact that they
were dating. But he really like her and if it came to a 'let's just be
friends' conversation he wasn't going to ruin it.
Although he truly hoped it didn't come to that. This angel beside
him was too good to let go of without trying to hold on to her. But
the question was if he could hold on.
"It's a beautiful night."
Her words shook him out of his daydreaming. "Yeah, it really is.
Do you come out here very often? You seem to know this park
really well."
"Yes, I do. This park isn't very far from my house. It sits right in
the middle of my old stomping grounds, and my apartment still
isn't too far away from it. Darien's apartment building is right
over there." She pointed up to her right.
"Oh? Which one?" he asked with mock enthusiasm. Did he have
to come up every ten minutes?
"The shorter one in front. You can just see the top floors from
here."
"I see." He really didn't and he really didn't care to either.
"Lots of happy memories here. I really love this place." She
quieted again and just kept walking along. Neil began to silently
wonder if he was anywhere in her head at all. He was starting to
think of himself as a walking stick instead of a date. But he
remained quiet with her, just enjoying the company anyway.
At a quarter till twelve they found themselves in front of her door
again. "It was really a great night," he said not knowing what else
to say.
"Yeah it was," she agreed. "Thanks Neil." She turned toward him
after she unlocked her door. He was about to turn and leave when
she spontaneously jumped up and hugged him. He smiled to
himself once he found her in his arms. He hugged her back
happily.
"Gee, I have to take you walking around a park more often," he
said into her hair.
She giggled and looked up at him with those sparking eyes. He
couldn't resist the temptation set before him. So sue him if he was
moving too fast, he couldn't resist this woman.
He bent down to meet his lips with hers before she could somehow
manage to slip away like she usually did. He kissed her softly but
he held it as long as absolutely possible. He slowly pulled away
trying to commit every detail to memory. Her feel, the smell of
her perfume, the way her lip-gloss tasted. Everything he could he
stole in order to keep locked away with him.
He wanted this to last, and he didn't want to leave.
She looked up at him carefully as if measuring something. Maybe
he shouldn't have been so forceful. But the look in her eyes
changed a bit as she used the arms she had wrapped around his
neck to bring him closer to her again. He was slightly surprised by
the move but no less thrilled by it. She pressed her lips to his a
little more passionately; and he wasn't struggling any.
He kissed her back with equal force and pressed her closer to him.
She seemed so small wrapped next to him. So sweet, so…
His brain shut down before the thought did.
She pulled away slowly. And moved back towards her door. But
to his dismay she said goodnight and slipped into her apartment
before he could protest. He didn't want to leave now!
Serena slipped back into her apartment and locked the door behind
her. She kicked off her shoes and threw her purse to the side
before she sat down in her chair and let herself focus back into
reality. What did she just do?
She'd kissed him. Not only did she kiss him; she kissed him like
she was on some bad soap opera! And then she walked away and
left him standing there on her doorstep! What was she thinking!!
She hadn't been thinking. Now she had a full-fledged war between
emotion and hormone going on in her head! How could she kiss
him like that when she didn't know what she felt for the man? If
she felt anything for him at all! What had she done? How was she
going to call this off now if she finally realized that she cared
nothing for him? How could she do this to herself and to him?
Of course he wasn't exactly resisting much.
How could she base something like this on such a physical
instinct? How could she not consult her feelings before doing
something like that? How could she…
Serena let the questions slip out of her mind. She got up and
walked out onto her balcony. The midnight wind was cold and
lonely without the summer warmth. She stood staring out at the
city lights wondering if there was anyone else staring back in her
direction. She looked up at the few bright stars twinkling above
and forgot to feel the cold anymore.
_____________
@}->-- "Your friend is the man who knows all about you,
and still likes you" –Elbert Hubbard.
@}->-- "The loneliest place in the world is the human heart
when love is absent" –E. C. McKenzie.
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