Author: goddessalthena

Enjoy!

Chapter 2

After the Cavanaughs had safely departed with Darien in tow, Serena said goodnight to her parents and beat a hasty retreat upstairs to the safe haven that was her bedroom. Her mind was still reeling from the night's events and she greatly desired some much needed privacy. Perhaps having a few moments alone would allow her some clarity in the fog of confusion that had steadily enveloped her.

Where had the night gone wrong? What had caused the shift? Things had been fine; she and Holden had been having a pleasant evening… A knock at the door interrupted Serena's thoughts. The peace was not to be.

"Who is it?" she called out softly.

"It's Lily."

Serena breathed a sigh of relief at it not being her parents and called for her sister to come in as she took a seat at the end of her bed. Lily came into the room quietly, already in her pyjamas and curled up in the oversized armchair that sat next to Serena's bed. It was her favourite place to sit while she and Serena had their nightly chats.

Lily looked nothing like her older sister, having taken after their father and Serena after their mother. She was slight of frame, but taller with a darker complexion. Her hair was a deep chestnut brown that softly framed her face. Her eyes were deep pools of jade; her best feature by far.

Serena was quite the opposite, also slight of frame, but a full 4 inches shorter. She was fair of complexion, blue-eyed and her hair was a brilliant shade of spun white-gold. At seventeen, Serena was two years Lily's senior, but was commonly confused for the younger sister by those who weren't already acquainted with them.

The differences between Serena and Lily didn't end at the physical, but it didn't stop them from being close. Although they had little in common, they still shared that universal sisterly bond that would always connect them.

Serena began to remove her stockings while she waited for Lily to start talking. She was hoping to avoid their chat tonight, but didn't have the heart to shoo her sister away.

"Mother and Father had the Cavanaughs over for dinner this evening."

As Serena pulled off the first stocking she replied lightly, "Yes, I know. They were leaving as I came in."

"I wasn't feeling well through cocktails, so I skipped dinner and came upstairs early," Lily said as she pulled a quilt over her lap.

"Oh, I just figured that you had decided to wear your pyjamas to dinner; a new fashion trend to keep things casual," Serena quipped. Her remark was answered with a pillow to the head. She laughed and shook her head at Lily, but sobered and asked, "Are you feeling better?"

Lily smiled briefly but then put on a pout, "Yes, of course I am now, but I missed dinner."

"Was it a particularly special meal?"

"It's not the meal that I'm sad I missed, it's the company."

Serena turned to Lily with a questioning look and raised an eyebrow. "You were sad to miss Mr. & Mrs. Cavanaugh? Nothing against them, but since when have you found their company so appealing?"

Lily grinned devilishly. "No, not them, they brought someone with them. Someone you haven't seen in a long time."

Lily's delight at having a chance to play the guessing game was vanquished as Serena sighed, finishing with her second stocking and muttered, "Oh yes, the prodigal son returns. I saw him too Lily."

Lily's smile drooped in disappointment "Oh," she muttered. "Oh well, I suppose it wouldn't have been a secret for long. I should have known he'd find you right away, he always does, doesn't he?"

Serena ignored the remark, and instead asked, "Why exactly would missing Darien Cavanaugh's company at dinner be a negative thing? Were I you, I'd be congratulating myself on the narrow escape."

"Yes, well you're not me, now are you? As much as you might not find Darien to be good company, I personally feel that he provides a very positive element to any event," Lily stated primly.

Serena rolled her eyes and responded dryly, "And what positive element, pray tell, does the gentleman provide."

"Well, besides being pleasantly entertaining and having a remarkable talent for putting my big sister in her place," she paused at the predicted glare, "he is simply and unmistakably incredibly pleasing to look at."

Serena turned away and priggishly retorted, "I believe I should remind you of the old adage, ‘A wolf in sheep's clothing'."

Lily waved dismissively at Serena. "Yes, yes, big sister; I know how you feel on this particular subject, no need to remind me. You've made it very clear in the past. Although…" she trailed off.

"Although what, Lily?"

"Well, I don't know, I suppose I just always wondered…"

This trailing off habit was evidently intended to provoke. Serena humoured her, "Wondered what, Lily?"

"Well, I just always wondered what might have happened between you two if Darien hadn't gone to Yale."

"Wonder no more little sister, you might hurt yourself."

"I'll hurt myself, or you'll hurt me?"

"Do you really want me to answer that?"

Lily laughed and conceded, "Fair enough, fair enough. But you and I both know – whether or not you want to admit it – that I have a point."

"If you don't change the subject it may be the last point you make," Serena threatened.

"Fine, fine, you're no fun." Then the inevitable question came, "How was your night with Holden?"

For a moment Serena regretted her request for a change of subject …but only for a moment. She entertained the thought of lying and saying nothing out of the ordinary had happened. But perhaps Lily would have some unique insight, and so she decided to be honest. "It started out all right; we had dinner and saw a film, but… Well then Holden decided to get fresh and the evening's mood deteriorated from there."

Lily's eyebrows lifted in surprise. "He tried that again? Even after your last talk? I thought you had made it clear."

"Well, apparently not clear enough." Serena paused as she put her stockings away and began to change into her own pyjamas.

Lily frowned in confusion. "Why would he do that again after you had told him no? That doesn't seem like Holden."

Serena finished changing and crawled into the comfort of her bed. "Well, it seems he had his own logic this time."

"What does that mean?"

"He didn't feel that it was a big deal, that it made no difference, or something like that; I wasn't very receptive at the time."

"But Holden should know better than that," Lily protested. "He knows how we've been raised; how he's been raised, he should know to wait. It's just not gentlemanly."

Serena raised a sardonic eyebrow at her sister and chuckled at her comment. Enough stalling, she had to tell Lily the clincher. "Well, apparently he felt that it made no difference whether or not we waited until after the wedding or not." Serena waited for Lily's shocked response.

Apparently Serena was the one to be shocked…again. Lily pulled a quilt over her lap and pondered the comment for a moment, then responded with, "Well, I suppose he has a point there. You two have been going together for 3 years now. What would the difference be between now and a little while from now? Surely you'll be married soon, you're almost finished school."

Serena stared blankly at Lily for a few moments; a look similar to the one she had given Holden earlier that evening. Then she closed her eyes and shook her head to clear her thoughts. "You too?"

Lily's mouth curved in a small, puzzled frown. "Me too, what?"

"Why is it that you think that Holden and I are getting married?"

Lily's frown remained. "I think the question is more along the lines of, ‘Why wouldn't I think that?' I mean, come on Rena."

"Come on what, Lily? Holden and I are just dating; no ring, no proposal. This is all a little ‘cart before the horse' for me." Her agitation rising, Serena grabbed a small stuffed rabbit that was next to her and fiddled with its ears.

Lily shifted her position in the chair so she could better face her sister. "Well, it's just the next step isn't it? It's natural; you'll be finished school soon enough and Holden won't be going to college, he's taking over his father's business. I know nothing's official yet, but if Holden said what you say he did then he must be getting ready to propose."

Lily's eyes suddenly became dreamy, causing her to fail to notice Serena's rising discomfort. "Oooh, I wonder how he'll do it; oh, and what the ring will look like, can you imagine? It'll be –"

"Lily stop! No rings, no proposals! Why do you just assume that I want to get married right away? What if I want to go to college, huh?" Serena's grip on the rabbit had tightened immensely.

Lily snapped out of her daydreams and quirked an eyebrow at Serena, "Go to college? Whyever would you want to do that?" Lily was not an avid fan of the classroom, her grimace making her dislike quite apparent. "You're almost finished school, why sign up for more? Besides, you already have a boyfriend, or should I say fiancé?"

Serena rolled her eyes at her sister's distaste for all things academic. "Not all of us feel higher education is a thing to be avoided at all costs, little sister. And what does having a boyfriend have to do with going to college?"

Lily snorted in a most unladylike fashion at Serena. "Tut-tut, big sister. Everyone knows that girls only go to college to meet suitable boys. Well, that and the ugly girls who'll end up as spinsters anyhow."

Serena fought hard to bite back the angry retort just begging to be unleashed upon Lily. She and her sister had differed in opinion more than once before on similar subjects, and had only ever ended up in shouting matches. As much as she detested Lily's incredibly old-fashioned logic – which incidentally made their parents proud – Serena had already had an overly dramatic night. Why end it in a never-ending debate with Lily?

"Let's just agree to disagree on this one, shall we? You know how I feel about that, Lil."

Lily, who had been ready to push her opinion if need be, silently consented to drop that particular topic. As those thoughts left the front lines of her mind, ones more concurrent to the matter at hand swiftly took their place. Her eyes narrowed in question at Serena. "Do you not want to marry Holden, is that it?"

Serena's apparent interest in the stuffed rabbit and hesitation to respond only served to fuel Lily's questioning. "You've never even mentioned wanting to go to college before now."

"Well, that's because you never asked me if I wanted to go." Serena's words lacked conviction, though.

Lily strained to see her sister's face, but Serena refused to make eye contact. The fight in Lily drained away as she realized Serena's distressed behaviour. She moved to sit next to her on the bed and asked gently, "Serena, I thought you loved Holden. Don't you want to marry him?"

Still focused on the rabbit, not because of any particular interest in it, but rather as an impartial focal point, Serena pondered her sister's words. It seemed as though she and Holden had been together for such a long time. Compared to her parents' 25, her own three years seemed hardly awe-inspiring, but she had been with Holden ever since she was 14. Basically since they had left behind frogs and mud and discovered puberty and hormones. Now it was three years later and she could hardly remember a time when they hadn't been together. She could hardly imagine a future that didn't include Holden.

But get married? Lily had said that it was natural, just the next step. But if it was supposed to be natural, why was she hesitating? She loved Holden, right? Was there a doubt about it? Perhaps it was only because she had nothing to compare it to.

She and Holden always had fun together. They made each other laugh; they could talk about nearly anything, but… But wasn't it supposed to be more than that? Where was the connection, the butterflies, the longing to just…be with him?

"It's not there, Lil, it's just not there."

"What's not there Rena? What do you mean?"

Serena finally discarded the rabbit and faced her little sister, a small tear running down her cheek. "I'm not in love with Holden. I can't marry him, I just…I don't love him."

Lily was unable to hide her initial shock, but quickly pulled it together and put an arm around her older sister. "It's alright Rena, don't cry. These things…happen, I guess."

They sat in companionable silence for a few moments; Serena facing the inevitable truth; Lily still stunned at her sister's revelation.

"What are you going to do Rena?"

Serena paused for a moment, before firmly responding, "I have to end it."