Title: Cliché
Author: Alse
Part 3: First Dance 
Rating: PG-13
E-mail: alsepang@hotmail.com
Disclaimer: It is a widely known and indisputable fact that 
Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon belongs only to Naoko Takeuchi 
And whichever companies and their franchises she has assigned
whatever copyrights of merchandise, television, film, etc. to. 
This story was not written for profit on the writer's part and 
was never intended to be used for any such gain.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

      It was my college friend, Sean. He's like 
my big brother and he's adopted me as 
his little sister. No, he's not interested in
me. We did date a few times, but agreed 
that it felt a lot more like going out with 
a brother or sister. There was no 
chemistry between us and we decided 
that we were better off as friends. 

     I flung myself at him and he twirled me 
round in a hug as I nearly cried with joy. 
"Sean! Where did you come from?"

    "Whoa, easy there, Champion. I 
dropped by your house and your mother 
told me you'd be here. You look 
beautiful as always. And what an outfit! 
Talk about a knockout!" He whistled very 
appreciatively and I blushed hotly. 

     "Why do you call her 'Champion'?" 
asked Lizzie, looking a little subdued as 
she glanced from me to Sean.

     " 'Cause she's one," answered Sean, 
smiling charmingly at Lizzie, who 
blushed. "She's one of the greatest 
people I know. If she isn't a champion, I 
don't know who is."

     I made the introductions. "Sean, this is 
Lizzie, the hostess. She's one of my 
closest friends. Lizzie, this is Sean."

      Sean shook Lizzie's hand. "Hi. Sorry for 
crashing in like this. I hope you don't 
mind. I just had to see Champion here 
after blowing a wad on the airfare. It's 
cruel, the way prices are going."

      "Oh, it's all right. I hope you enjoy 
yourself," answered Lizzie, all starry-
eyed.

       I chanced at that moment to catch 
Darien's eye. He was standing by one of 
the tables, a paper cup of some drink 
halfway to his lips. He was watching me 
and there was an intense look in the 
dark blue eyes I knew so well. His black 
hair kept falling into his eyes and I 
itched to brush it out.  He looked 
incredibly hot and damnably sexy in that 
shirt, which was open a little at the neck 
to reveal a glimpse of smooth, tanned 
and muscular chest. Of course, the shirt 
also accentuated his beautiful eyes, deep 
and turbulent as the ocean, blue as the 
rarest, most precious dark blue 
sapphires...
     
       For a moment, it was as if time had 
stood still, and he and I were the only 
two people in the room as we held each 
other's gaze. The smouldering intensity 
behind that unwavering gaze was so 
strong that I faltered and looked away, 
feeling a flush heat my cheeks and my 
lips tremble. Was it my imagination, or 
had the temperature in the room gone 
up more than a few degrees?

      "Who's that guy who's looking at you as 
if you're the only woman in the world-
his woman?" Sean's whisper interrupted 
my reverie.

      "Huh?" I stared up at Sean 
uncomprehendingly. What was he 
talking about?

       "That guy in the dark blue shirt. Now he 
looks like he wants to kill me. Hoo, boy. 
Is he your boyfriend or something?"

       Darien was the only guy in the room 
wearing a shirt of that colour. "No, he's 
not and your imagination is running 
wild," I said, a little bitterly. "By the way, 
that's his girlfriend next to him."

       Sean's eyes were sympathetic. "You have 
feelings for him, huh? Oh, man."

       I said nothing, but clenched my teeth 
and looked away.

       "Poor Champion." He patted my hand
 comfortingly.  

       I took a deep breath. I did not want
 anybody's pity. "Can we talk about
 something else?"

       "Sure. Sorry. D'you want to dance? You 
still have those smooth moves, don't 
you?"

       "In case you've forgotten, you're talking 
to the dance champion of Northwestern 
University!" I pretended to put my nose 
in the air.

       We hit the dance floor and danced up a 
storm. In moments, we'd more or less 
danced everyone off the floor. They 
gathered around, cheering, whooping 
and whistling shrilly as Sean and I 
dipped, twirled and twisted our bodies 
to the music. 

       When the music stopped for Andrew to 
put on another CD, Sean and I took the 
opportunity to catch our breaths.

       "Haven't-danced-like-that-for-
ages," I gasped, downing a cup of 
orange juice. "Felt good..." My blond
hair was coming loose and I took out 
the silver-and-blue pins, letting it ripple 
to my waist.  

       "Where did you learn to dance like 
that?" asked Kayla curiously, eyes agog.
"You were totally wild!"

      I smiled mysteriously. "That's a secret. 
But I can tell you it's hard work!"

     "Now we know the price 
Northwestern's dancing queen has to 
pay," teased Sean.

     "I wish I could dance like that," 
commented a soft voice. It was 
Alexandra and she was smiling at me, 
but I looked away. I didn't dislike her,
but I couldn't bear to see either her or
Darien that night. I bent down and 
pretended to fiddle with the strap of my 
high-heeled but sturdy dancing sandals.  

    "Darien here was known as the dance 
king back at Stanford," Alexandra went 
on. "Hmmm." She looked at me 
speculatively, and then glanced at Darien, 
who was standing near her with an 
unreadable expression on his handsome 
face.

     He started to back off. "I don't think I 
like the look on your face..."

     Lizzie, who had popped up from 
nowhere, suddenly announced, "I have 
an idea! If Darien's the dance king-"

      "And Serena's the dance queen! Let's 
have a dance match!" Alexandra 
interrupted, shooting out a hand very 
swiftly and latching on to a horrified-
looking Darien's wrist.

      "Alex-" He glared at her.

      She whispered something in his ear and
he ran a hand through his dark hair, 
sighing. 

       "Anything for you, Alex."

      She smiled sweetly. "Yeah, I'll hold you 
to that, Dare." She touched his cheek 
affectionately.

      They even had pet names for each other. 
There was another jealous twist of the 
knife buried hilt-deep somewhere in my 
terminally wounded heart.

       Then Darien turned abruptly to me and 
held out a hand, eyes blazing with 
something I could not identify.

      "Sere, may I have this dance?" His voice 
was deep, warm and outrageously 
sensual, sending warm, delicious shivers 
down my spine. I fought hard to ignore 
them.

      In truth, I was flabbergasted by his 
words and stared in open-mouthed 
astonishment. Darien Chesner had never
called me 'Sere' in all the time we had 
known each other. He had called me 
many other names, none of them 
flattering. He had condescended to 
address me as Serena in our parents' 
presence, but never once had he called 
me 'Sere'...and not in that caressing 
tone either. 

      The others in the room were similarly
struck.

      "The world's coming to an end!" gasped
Andrew, pointing dramatically to
Darien. "My best friend just called his 
lifelong enemy by her pet name! 
Wonders will never cease-"

      "Oh, shut up," growled Darien. "I'm 
trying to undermine the competition
 here, see?"

       Andrew waggled a finger. "Trying to
 soften her, eh? Naughty, naughty." 

       I lowered my head and chewed 
thoughtfully at my lip, undecided. 
Should I or should I not? Would I be 
able to disguise my fierce attraction 
towards him? I felt a hand on my 
shoulder and heard Sean's whisper in my 
ear.

       "Take it from me, girl-show him the 
hot piece of goods you really are! Go 
on!"

       I love that boy. I turned to look at him 
and gave him my very best, patented 
Serena smile, the one that has been 
known to dazzle and befuddle legions of 
males-even the remotely intelligent 
ones. "Okay. I'll do it."

      "That's my girl." Sean winked cheekily at 
me. "And use that smile too..."

      I laughed and turned to face Darien, 
steeling my heart and swearing that I 
would be strong. I lifted my eyes to his 
face and saw that he was watching me 
again. Was that hurt-and jealousy-I 
saw in his eyes? If it was, I felt oddly 
triumphant at it. At least now he was 
feeling a little of the pain I was going 
through. Although...what did he have 
to be hurt for, anyway?

       He swept his eyes appraisingly over me 
and I noticed that they lingered on the 
admittedly tantalizing hint of cleavage 
that the neckline afforded. He didn't 
miss the fact that my skirt offered a 
good view of my legs. Huh. Typical male 
reaction. When he raised his eyes to my 
face again, they were darker than usual 
and gleamed.

       "Are you ready?" A slow, seductive 
smile curved his lips.

       I heard loud dreamy sighs from the girls 
around and my lips twitched in 
amusement even as I held tightly in 
check the response of my body to that 
very suggestive smile. Then I gave him a 
smile a male friend once told me had the 
very desirable effect of melting men into
mush. I watched in satisfaction as his 
eyes flickered and darkened perceptibly 
in response.

     "Oh, Darien, Serena..." sang Alexandra 
from behind us.

      I flushed and turned in the direction of 
the sound system, mentally bashing 
myself. I had been flirting shamelessly 
with another girl's boyfriend! So what if 
I was in love with him or that he had 
started the flirting and had actually 
checked me out?  I was so ashamed that 
I started having doubts about this dance 
thing.

      "You're doing just great, Champion!"
I looked up to see Sean standing with 
Alexandra by the sound system. He gave 
me a thumbs up and I knew he meant 
my little flirtatious display out there. I 
could hardly meet Alexandra's eyes for 
shame, but she appeared wholly 
indifferent. Perhaps she hadn't noticed. 
On the other hand, perhaps she was 
used to girls doing that to Darien all the 
time. I was doing a lot of blushing 
tonight. Possibly I would be scarred for 
life, forced to wear red cheeks for the 
rest of my life... 

       "I think I'm going to enjoy this a lot," 
mused Alexandra thoughtfully. "Oh, 
yeah..." She grinned broadly and 
maliciously. 

       I had the oddest feeling that I had
overlooked something but I couldn't 
figure out what it was. I just couldn't put 
my finger on it, but I had little time to 
ponder, because the sound system was 
on and it pounded out a rhythm I 
recognized all too well. I smiled happily.
Oh, but I could beat him anytime, 
anywhere, on this tune. Hey, I won my 
last dancing champion title on that song!

       "I like that song!" called Kayla. "Can we 
join Darien and Sere on the floor?"

        "Yeah! Grab a partner, people, and hit 
the floor!" Alexandra shouted back.

        Darien's eyes were smoky blue under 
heavily-lashed, lowered eyelids as I took 
his proffered hand, inwardly cursing at 
the warmth and the electric jolts I was 
getting. Then we began dancing and I 
was lost. I was lost in the music, in the 
rhythm, lost in his arms, lost in his eyes, 
which burned into mine...

    I met him step for step, twirl for twirl.
He was my equal in everything, pushing 
me every part of the way. He dipped me 
all the way back, so far that my back 
protested and he bent forward as I was 
forced to tilt my head back, dazedly 
meeting that dark blue gaze. There was 
something devastatingly intimate about 
the way he pulled me close to his body. 
The tempo of the song was ridiculously 
fast and our bodies brushed together in 
the most intimate of places. It was all I 
could do to hold in feelings and heady 
sensations that threatened to spiral out 
of control as my smooth thigh brushed 
softly against his hard, muscular one, 
and I connected with him, chest to chest. 
I swear the room temperature 
skyrocketed as I felt the heat between 
our bodies.

    We spun and twisted smoothly with the 
beat and I found myself oblivious to 
everything but the man who held me so 
tenderly and intimately, who kept me 
from falling as the world tilted on its 
axis, who had taken me up into the stars 
and drawn me into a safe, protective 
embrace, where I could never be hurt or 
harmed again...

    The music stopped and reality smashed 
headfirst into me as I tore myself from 
him, stepping back and glancing about 
wildly for support I badly needed before 
I broke. I took no notice of the 
enthusiastic clapping and words of 
praise. They were no balm to a soul in 
torment. I needed to get out of here 
before my emotions got the better of me. 
I sent Sean a pleading look.

   He was beside me in an instant. "Need 
some air, right? That sure was sapping. 
What a dance! C'mon, Champion, let's 
get you some fresh air."

    In a moment, we were out in the night 
and I was taking deep, shuddering 
breaths, gradually forcing back the tears 
that had threatened to spill out and 
overwhelm me. I had been so close to 
him, held as if-as if I were his lover, as 
if he and I were in love. The irony of it! 

   "Thanks," I whispered in Sean's general 
direction as I tried to smile, but failed 
miserably.

   "Anytime, sister o' mine," he said 
cheerfully. "If you want me to pound 
him into next week, just tell me, okay?"

   I managed a shaky giggle. 

    Sean grinned at me. "Yeah! I made you 
laugh! Hey-it isn't just pure lust on 
your part, is it?"

   I stared at him in disbelief. "Excuse 
me?"

   He held up his hands. "Okay, okay. I 
can see you're head over heels for the 
guy. It's just that almost every girl there 
looked like they wanted to touch him 
that way. Except that Alexandra girl, 
who's pretty cool with him. Say, you are 
attracted to him in that way too, aren't 
you? I think I caught that look in your 
eyes a couple of times-"

   "Sean!" My face was scarlet with 
mortification.

    He laughed. "Okay, I was just teasing. 
Couldn't resist it. Forgive me?"

    "Forgiven." I reached forward and
hugged him. I wished he were my real
big brother. There are advantages to 
having siblings sometimes.

   We stayed there in companionable 
silence for some time before Sean 
suggested that we should go in.

   "They're all going to get certain ideas if 
we stay out too long," he observed.

    I shrugged my shoulders and grimaced. "Yuck."

    "Ever mature," he retorted.

     A sudden thought struck me. "Where 
are you staying?"

     He made a face. "In a hotel not far from 
here. It's one of those five-star 
monstrosities with amenities of every 
kind and prices through the skylight."

    I raised an eyebrow. "So why stay 
there?"

     "My parents are in town to visit some 
solicitor regarding the will of an ancient 
and unbeloved relative of ours who 
appears to have left us some equally 
ancient and unwanted items. Hence the 
beautiful luxury I am now residing in."

     When we went in, the party was still in 
full swing. I glanced around and noticed 
that Darien was no longer there.

     "Hello, where's the dance king?" 
enquired Sean with lively interest.

     "Darien? He left with Alex about half an
 hour ago," answered Andrew, looking 
up from the salsa dip. He glanced at me. 
"Yo, Sere. You and Dare looked 
awesome out there. Way to go." He 
smiled, watching me closely, but I was 
past noticing it.   

       I hurriedly turned away. He had left 
early, with her. With a fierce 
determination, I shoved all thoughts of 
Darien Chesner out of my mind. Even if 
he had left, I would still enjoy the party, 
which was what I had come for. I had 
no choice, I reasoned. It was either play 
the game or reveal to all and sundry that 
I was harbouring certain feelings for an 
old enemy. 

     Nevertheless, I had little sleep that night, 
and it wasn't due to the fact that I only 
reached home at three in the morning, 
under Sean's watchful eye. No, I was still 
agonizing over Darien and the fact that 
he had left early with her.

      "Well, what did you expect?" I sneered 
bitterly at myself even as I tossed and 
turned unhappily.