Hello fellow sm fanfic readers. CeReS here. Thank you to those who emailed me about my prologue, I really enjoyed them. Arigato and eNjOy! StAnDaRd DiScLaImEr Email: CeReS@starmail.com 'Til the Real Thing Comes Along- Part 1 rated PG-13 by CeReS ^-^v^-^v^-^v^-^v^-^v^-^v^-^v^-^v^-^v^-^v^-^v^-^v^-^v^-^v^-^v^-^v^-^v^-^ "SURPRISE!" The loud burst of cheers made Serena stumble back in shock and bewilderment. "Happy Birthday girl!" a willowy brunet pulled the perplexed Serena into her near capacity apartment. "Lita..." Serena struggled through a counterfeit smile, "What is this?" "It's a birthday party Serena," an extremely nervous Lita lead her friend into the buzzing living room. "WHAT!?!" Serena howled, breaking her false face. "Hey ba...by," a lanky figure stalked towards the exhausted doctor interrupting her shock, "wa...ho... Lita does you no justice when she talks about you baby." Lifting her delicate hand, the grotesque man brushed his skin damaging lips across the softness of her hand. "I'd watch out if I were you hon, 'cause Tony the tiger has just found his new target, you." "That's so nice," Serena clung to the smile that kept her from screaming. "Could you excuse us for just a moment," Serena inched away ever so slowly, dragging Lita along with bruising fingers digging into the bunet's elegant arm. At a very safe distance, Serena released her friend from the steel trap grip, "Have you gone completely insane! Of all the people to let me met, you know I would never go out with some nauseating man like him, much less a sugar rushed cartoon jungle cat." Lita let out one of the most obviously fake scoffs in the world. "Don't look at me," the tense woman paused for a long second, "he's... he's... he's Mina's friend." Releasing a much needed growl, Serena turned around in the opposite direction of her friend and retreated to the living room, disappearing into the crowd of mind blowing music and out of control people. *~* 'Three in the morning!?!' Darien thought wildly as he frantically scrambled to the wall the separated him from the apartment next door. He had just gotten back from a grueling day of work and the least he could ask was for a serene night's sleep. Practically beating the wall into a solid mush, he screamed with an empowering rage, "It's three in the freakin' morning!" ~*~ A muffled shriek was heard through the outcry of music and people that Serena knew all too well. Striding up to the vibrating wall, Serena hammered the plaster with both fists happily dancing across the surface. 'At least I'll have some fun out of this party' she though triumphantly as she wail through the thin wall, "It's my freakin' birthday ya moron!" suddenly noticing the room had become eerily silent. Gradually spinning on her heels, Serena was met by thousands of eyes gazing her down with those stares that could make someone feel two feet tall. Managing a uneasy chuckle, Serena glided to the safety of her room, and closing the door behind her once again to hearing the clattering sounds of the numerous people. "Let me guess. You didn't have a good time," the weary Mina sat next to her demobilized friend. "No Mina," Serena retorted sarcastically, holding a cold compress to her forehead, "All hostess hide in their rooms until the people are chased off by the police." A realization finally hit Serena. Jerking her head in the up right position she glared at her close friends, "Why did you guys even do this anyway?' "We want you to be happy," Lita replied with a frustrated sigh, "We want you to fall in love, have kids, get a life!" "I have a life," Serena spoke back to her friend matter-of- factly. "You know what we mean," Mina spoke gently with a slight hint of worry. "What are you really looking for in a man Serena? Please, give us some hint, because we are drawing one big blank," Lita gestured, motioning towards her friend. "What do I want in a man? Let's see...I want a guy that goes to a gym seventeen hours a day, but doesn't hug me when he gets home. And he has to call me baby, but only when people aren't around. He has to be fine, but not nasty muscular, and he has to be sensitive but not girly sensitive," she continued to joke, but stopped short when both her friends glared at her with that look that could kill. Serena sighed, "What does any woman want in a man? Someone that can make them laugh, feel special, but treats them like a person. Is that too much to ask?" "Maybe..." Lita whispered to herself more than to her friends. "Hey how about that guy next door. You seem to be very cozy with him," Mina jabbed Serena with her elbow. "How desperate do I look?" Serena jumped out of the bed glaring at her friend in utter disbelief, "I don't even know if the guy is some kind of psychotic computer nerd or something." "You're saying that of all you five years of living here, you have never even met your own neighbor?," Lita inquired with a dazed expression. "What reason do I have to met him?" Serena answered back incredulously, "I mean right in the comforts of my very own living room I can tell that he is a self-centered, egotistical brainiac, who has nothing to do but complain, complain, complain about everything that happens wrong in his so called life!" Unexpectedly, a high pitched vibrating of a cell phone could be heard in the sudden pin drop silent room. "Hello?" Lita questioned through the miniature phone staring at the two blondes before her. "HONEY!" she said more than just over excitedly. Quickly covering her phone, she motioned towards Mina to move, "Serena we really have to go, but that doesn't mean your off the hook. I'll be back to discuss this with you." "Me too!" Mina waved as she was forcefully pushed out the door into the echoing hallway. "Ahhh," Serena collapsed once again onto the reassuring bed, "Peace and quiet at last." *~* "Hey Dari...oh you don't look so good man," Andrew glared up at his droopy friend, and the larger than life bags that crept under his eyes. "Don't you ever wish that you could just place all the psychotic people on one huge island where they all just live on top of one another. If we were ever that lucky, my neighbor would be the grand hooha of them all and would live at the very top," Darien's breath was irregular from all the pent up frustration. "Uh," Andrew sighed uneasily, and was about to continue when he caught a glimmer of something out of the corner of his eye. "Well, this will brighten your day," taking his fatigued companion by the shoulders, he twisted Darien around, "The angel has entered the building." "What?" Darien asked not very enthusiastic. "Where have you been?" Andrew interrogated his clueless friend incredulously, "The angel of the day shift?" "That's a really dumb name," Darien sigh out, struggling to hold his head up right. Andrew sighed in anger, and roughly directed Darien's facing in the direction of the door. Droopy eyes stared towards the opening of the hospital cafeteria. Ever so gracefully, an elegant figure flowed through the double doors. Her long, sweeping strands following her to the line of people. However, as Darien stared at this "angel" he got this odd feeling that he was not the only one checking her out. Looking around he knew he was right. Every guy that wasn't looking at his lunch was staring her down, which gave Darien the oddest sensation of jealousy. "Earth to Darien..." a voice broke through Darien's very cloudy thoughts. "Yeah...uh...work...I'll see ya Andrew," Darien stuttered as he stiffly stumbled off the stool and blindly exited the cafeteria. "Man has got it bad," Andrew spoke lamely as he took another sip of his drink. ~*~ "What a day!" Serena sigh, collapsing head on into her couch. Today was one of the worst days that she could possibly go through. After being ogled by all the guys in hospital yet again, she drove home only to be stuck behind one of the sluggish, most irritating drivers she could ever get stuck behind. What she really needed was a..."A shower," Serena jerked off the warmth of her living room couch, and head towards the gently lavish tiled room, "That's what I need, a pleasant, relaxing, shower." Tired, Serena twisted the knob to the glass stall and prepared for a greatly desired shower. *~* "Isn't life suppose to get easier when you grow up?" Darien asked to himself as he buried his head into the wintry refrigerator to dull his pounding headache. Today, to put it lightly, was hell. Everything went down hill after lunch, not mentioning the loads of paper work he had waiting for him at his office. Then, just when he believed he was off the hook, and was driving home, this insane woman was honking at him from behind. What a day to be in traffic. Afterwards, much to his despair, he was greeted by a total onslaught of messages from Ivy. "I wonder if they let you off on vacation for date related stress," Darien pondered as he staggered into his bathroom to arranged to for a long nights sleep, tossing away the superintendent's note about a problem with the pipes. ~*~ Serena was in heaven as she allowed the intoxicating water drown away her stress and problems. Only one thing could make this moment any better...music. Carefully Serena reached over to the radio inches away from her resting area in the shower, and cautiously switched the device on. "I love this song," Serena sighed as she listen intently ever so slowly feeling her eyes become quite heavy. Oh..... I just want you to know... It doesn't matter 'cause you're stealing my heart Stealing my heart... *~* "What the..." Darien stared towards the walls as he heard the melodious sound of the radio on the other end, plus the pattering sound of a shower running. Gradually, his perplexed look turned into a mischievous grin, as his mind hatched a prankish plan. "This outta be good," he chuckled playfully as he strode to the glass stall found in the corner of the slippery room. Casually, he turned the knob to the shower, and seconds later was greeted with a glorious shriek from the other side. Darien happily stepped into the running water and leisurely hummed above the music coming from the bathroom adjacent to his. ~*~ *COLD* *VERY EXTREMELY COLD* Serena jerked out of her peaceful slumber as the first drop of severely icy water contacted with her skin. She released an instinctive howl while she push her way out of the glacial trap. She finally got her bearings, when a pleasingly hummed tune found its way to her burning ears. "That guy is gonna get it now," her eyes scorched with rage. At the same time, Serena beated towards her porcelain toilet. With a triumphant satisfaction, she pushed the gleaming, silver lever down. Moments later, Serena was soothed with the harmonious wail of her ever so "friendly" neighbor. Breathing heavily, Serena pulled on her fluffy, cotton bath rob and stalked out of her apartment a few feet to the next door. Infuriated, she hammered on the smoothness of the slightly reflective door. "Apparently you heard me taking a bath! The neighborly thing to do would be to wait until I finished," Serena fumed through the door, and with that stormed back into her apartment. *~* "HA! If I waited for you to finish taking a bath I'd be celebrating Christmas by then!" Darien yelled back out the hallway, rubbing the burn from the searing water, then ducking his head back into his apartment. ~*~ "That's a mature thing to say!" Serena roared sarcastically from her living room as she turned on her fireplace. "Oh shut up!" a loud response seeped through the wall that divided their two apartments. "Why don't you!?!" Serena retorted harshly, as she cranked up the radio speakers to drown out the rather migrating sound of her less than polite neighbor. *~* "What an irritating woman," Darien snarled angrily, when he remembered he had work tomorrow and let the matter rest, falling asleep with a picture of a tortured neighbor dancing in his head. ~*~ 'Someday I'm gonna find out who that guy is and rip his hair out,' Serena thought lamely while she changed into her snug pajamas. Abruptly, the phone rang with an urgent jerk. Serena stared at it for a while wishing she could toss it out the window, but thought better of it and picked up the blaring receiver. "Hello?" Serena uttered rather aggravated. "Sis?" a chipper voice flowed out the other end. "Sammy?" Serena altered her less than cherry deposition to sound somewhat friendly, "Hey little bro, how things going in the real world, now that you got a job?" "Well...uh...I got some news for you," Sammy's voice wavered slightly with uneasiness, "Are you sitting down?" -^v^-^v^-^v^-^v^-^v^-^v^-^v^-^v^-^v^-^v^-^v^-^v^-^v^-^v^-^v^-^v^-^v^-^v EnD oF pArT 1 -^v^-^v^-^v^-^v^-^v^-^v^-^v^-^v^-^v^-^v^-^v^-^v^-^v^-^v^-^v^-^v^-^v^-^v well what do you think? Is it any good? I'm not very sure since I didn't feel right when I wrote it. Ah well I guess you'll tell me right? PLEASE email me! I need email to see if I'm any good. Besides, I like email. CeReS@starmail.com. Well until next time... jA nE =)