The heavy rain poured down, landing with a dull tapping noise against the windows. Richard had been working 12 hours straight trying to get through piles and piles of over-due paperwork. His eyelids were heavy and wanted nothing more than to just call it quits for the night, but he was determined to finish. His eyes were slightly red and fuzzy from staring at the computer screen for so long so he decided to take a quick brake and re-fill his coffee mug. But no sooner had he reached the kitchen had he been stopped halfway through the doorway by a very annoyed red head.
"Dick, will you not come to bed? It is far too late to be working."
"Sorry Kori, but…I need to get this work done or else Bruce will have my hide for sure." Said Richard with a bit of a shrug.
"Well, do not work too hard." She said, too tired to argue, turning to leave. Richard watched his girlfriend walk back to the bedroom, and close the door. Then recalled what he had originally had intended on doing. Coffee, and boy did he need it.
The kettle on the stove came to a boil and Richard was about to pour the hot liquid into his cup, when his hand slipped and the kettle fell to the ground, spilling boiling water on his hand and the rest over the counter and floor.
"DAMMIT!" he spat, his hand felt as if it were on fire, red and swollen, the pain pounding under his flesh.
"Are you alright?" A concerned voice came from down the passage.
"Yeah…um…its alright…just…burnt myself," he replied shakily.
He searched through the draws in hope of finding a bandage. No luck.
"You think there would be at least one in this apartment," He mumbled grumpily to himself, but he didn't feel like waking Kori to find him one so he just continued to search, the pain in his hand lessening now.
He managed to find an ice pack in the freezer that helped a bit.
Entering his study once more he remembered a first aid kit in one of his cupboards, but in the state they were in, the chances of finding it weren't good.
Getting a little agitated he just tore through most of the rubbish, resolving that he would pick it up later. Pushing past old boxes and files until he finally found what he had been looking for.
He bandaged his wound lightly so that it was still able to breathe, and so there would be less pressure, when all of a sudden his attention was drawn to a small shiny object lying face down on the floor, one of the objects he must have knocked by accident. He bent down slowly to pick it up with his good hand, turning it around.
It was a photo frame. Its face was totally covered in a thin layer of dust, surrounded by a simple silver frame. Taking the sleeve of his black jersey he wiped away the dust to reveal…
A young girls face, but it wasn't just any girl.
A girl with magical amethyst eyes…
A girl named Raven.
His light aquamarine eyes looked back at hers, and before he realized what he was doing, he had subconsciously lifted a forefinger to stroke the beautiful young girls face framed by shoulder-length violet hair, and light almost grayish skin.
She just sat there, knees tucked under her, and had a very faint, but visible little smile, and a dark, cerulean jersey hanging just slightly off her right shoulder revealing a little more of her delicate skin.
And her smile…something he could never forget. Her lips curved up slightly at each side, in a vague smile. And as he gazed at the girls face, old memories came flying back.
"Richard, get that camera out of my face!" nagged raven, trying to snatch the camera from Richard's clutches.
"Aaw, c'mon Rae-Rae, Just one little picture…?" he pleaded in a playful way, blinking his puppy dog eyes at her.
"The face wont work, I'm not going to fall for it."
"What? This irresistible face?" He said pulling a pout with his lips.
Raven barely managed to sustain a giggle, and Richard, seeing the opportunity, clicked the button.
Flash.
"Hey! Give me that!" she yelled, trying again to wrestle the camera away from him.
"Nu-uh-uh!" he teased. "You're going to have to try harder than that." He said laughing at her trying to tackle him.
"Quite the photogenic one," He said with a grin.
"Your gonna pay for that!"
After about 5 minutes of struggling she managed to steal it away.
"There! Now it's your turn." She smiled evilly. "C'mon, show me some moves." She said while focusing the camera on him.
"Ok, I'll show you how it's done!" Stated Richard as he started running his hands through his hair and pulling a big model's pout.
Raven could barely stop laughing and her cheeks were bright pink.
Richard loved to make his friend laugh, it was very rare to get her to laugh, and he was glad that he was one of those people who could.
It was only a few weeks ago had raven lost her father, after he had been diagnosed with severe lung cancer 6 moths earlier. Richard had never seen his friend so depressed, but he was determined to help her through her suffering just as she had through his. Because Richard also knew what it was like to lose a parent, two in fact, both his mother and father, when he was only eight years old. But was taken into the care of multimillionaire: Bruce Wayne, who had become a sort of, father figure.
Though even with the loss of his parents, Raven was always there, always there for him. And he had known her for so long, she was his best and closest friend, and he was so glad to have her.
A dull thud woke him from his thoughts as a file placed clumsily fell off his desk onto the floor. Then he remembered he still had loads of work to finish, so he went to make a fresh cup of coffee for his extra painful hours of work.
Richard didn't sleep that night; the girl with the hauntingly beautiful amethyst eyes kept drifting into his thoughts. It was like something in his brain just twigged, he just couldn't stop thinking about her.
How long had it been? Two, maybe three years since he last saw her.
Had it really been that long? How was she? Was she ok? Was she happy?
Eventually after thinking about her for so long the exhaustion from working kicked in and sleep finally took over him.
"Dick…Dick! Wake up your going to be late…again!" Kori nudged Richard hard to try and wake him.
"Huh? What? Oh…" He said groggily and slowly dragged himself out of bed and made his way to the bathroom.
By the time he had got out of the shower Kori had already left for work, but had left him breakfast on the counter, he was running slightly late but he thought he would just have a quick bite. He instantly regretted it as soon as he put a fork full of her 'scrambled eggs' into his mouth, which he spat out instantly choking in the process.
"I know she was never much of a cook…but…jeez." he mumbled to himself, and just scraped the rest into the bin, he would get some 'edible' food at the office.
After having to go to meeting after meeting, Richard had to leave his office at Wayne industries for a while, just having the need to get away from the nagging employees and non-stop ringing telephones. Making his way to the only place that helped him forget about his troubles, a little café known as Deshires noon.
Ordering his usual, a cup of plain, strong, black coffee, he always liked it slightly bitter. He just sat there staring into the dark, murky liquid…thinking, but not about work…about…her.
He was lost in his thoughts, when suddenly he heard a familiar voice somewhere behind him, talking on a cell phone, sounding quite irate.
"You can't make it? Jarred this is the second ti-…No don't be sorry, its fine. Ok, bye."
Said the voice, then something hit him, he turned around so fast he almost fell off his chair, sitting a table or two away from him sat a young woman dressed in a long taupe coat, white vest, with long violet locks, light skin and…amethyst eyes.
"Raven?" he asked out loud, getting up from his own table and making his way towards her.
The young woman looked up, stunned for a minute then suddenly smiled happily.
"Richard!" she said getting up to give him a hug, squeezing him tightly.
"I can't believe it! It's you! It's been forever, how are you?" She said drawing away from the embrace and sitting back down, offering him to join her.
He obliged and sat down. "I've been good, been working out…and oh! I took up Bruce's offer to work at Wayne industries to become vice CEO of the company, but now Bruce is wanting me to take full control when he finally decides to retire, he's already organizing everything."
"That's great! I'm glad your doing well." She said giving him one of her gentle smiles, the ones that had always cheered him up no matter what mood he was in.
"Yeah, but now what about you? How have things been?"
Raven was quiet for a moment then replied. "Um…good…I've been good"
But there was something else hidden in her words that she wasn't saying.
Then she changed the subject back to him. "So…um…are you with anyone?" She carried on in her usual monotone voice that Richard remembered so well.
"Yeah, I'm with Kori at the moment."
"Oh." She said a little taken aback. "You guys got together, that's um…great." Her smile fading ever so slightly but Richard didn't seem to notice.
"Yeah, we've been together for about 6 months, what about you?" he asked looking her in the eyes. "You with someone?"
"Me…I…Yeah, I'm staying with my boyfriend at his apartment." She said, not looking at him.
"Oh? What's his name?"
"Jared"
"That was him on the phone."
"Yes…Mr. Eaves dropper"
"Well you were talking pretty loud." He said matter-o-factly.
"So…you guys serious?" he asked questioningly, trying to sound casual.
Raven started to blush now, which brought out a pinkish colour in her cheeks. Raven never really liked talking about her personal life.
"I…I dunno, maybe."
"It's strange, you know, I never really imagined you with anyone." He said honestly.
"And what's that supposed to mean?" she said indignantly.
"No, I just mean…I always thought of you… as… an individual." He tried to explain, smiling back at her.
Then there was a silence, until Richard broke it.
"I missed you Rae." He said taking hold of her hand.
"Richard…?" She replied and still slightly taken aback by his action.
"I missed my best friend."
"Oh…Yeah…I missed you to." She said quietly, slowly taking her hand away from his.
"Rae? Is…is something wrong?" He asked concerned.
She sighed slightly, and then smiled a tiny smile. "No Richard, nothings wrong."
"You always did suck at lying." He countered.
She couldn't help but give a slight giggle. He loved hearing her laugh.
"No…I swear, everything's fine"
"Ok, but if there was, you know where to-." But his beeper going off cut him short.
"Damn! I'm so sorry Rae, but they need over at the office." He looked at her regretfully.
"Its ok, I understand, its business."
He leaned over and gave her another hug. "It's great to see you again Rae."
Then got up slowly, leaving money for the bill on the table, before smiling again at her. And she watched him go.
"You too…" She whispered to herself.
