There is Truth, Love is Real
(take 2)
Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I own neither the Teen Titans nor the song "Clark Gable" by The Postal Service, who provided the lyric "there is truth, love is real."

His heart was racing as his fingers entwined with his lovers', pulling her gently across the vacant road, snow falling and coating the earth in a thick blanket. He turned around and smiled at her, watching her carefully form a weak smile in his direction, her eyes focused behind his head. His grin dropped and he abruptly stopped, turning to face her, taking both of her small hands in his.

"Rae…" He started, watching her eyes fill with panic, feeling her pulse quicken beneath his fingers. Amethyst meeting Emerald, tension filled the space between them. "Rae… Well…" Gar gnawed on the inside of his cheek, unsure of how to begin. He had always felt that this would be more natural… "Well, Raven… We've been together for… for a long time now and…"

She dropped her head, black hair falling over her face. He knelt before her, looking up into her eyes, almost missing the crystal clear tears that trailed down one cheek. He reached up, stroking under her eye. "And I really love you…"

"Gar," she cut in, "Please don't."

He pushed his tall form up slightly to reach her lips, only brushing them softly before catching her gaze again. "Raven… I love you, and I want to spend an eternity with you…" He fumbled through his pockets, pulling out a simple ring, holding it up with a hopeful smile.

She pulled her hand out of his so quickly, the friction left a burning sensation in his palm. "I… I can't, Garfield… I'm sorry…" she said as she took a few steps away from him, pulling her hands up to weave themselves in the fabric of her jacket. He shot up, knees soaked, confusing flashing across his features, ring dropping from his fingers as his hands shot forward to gently clasp her upper arm.

"B-but Rae…" he stammered, pulling her closer to him, fighting against her struggle to be released. "Raven, we've been together for six years… Six!" Confusion quickly swam away, anger taking it's place. "What, you're just going to throw them away?" He exclaimed, ignoring the hurt that pierced her gaze.

He glared at her, daring her to bite back.

Her eyes dropped, a whispered "I'm sorry…" slipping through her lips as she turned around, pulling her arm from his grasp. "I… I just don't love you anymore…"

His emerald eyes followed her slumped form vanish in the white sheeted distance. Shoving his hands in his pockets and pivoting on his feet, he proceeded to walk as far away from that spot as he could, leaving the silver band to be lost in the falling snow.

Beep… Beeep… Beeeeeeep

He rolled over, slapping the screeching clock before burying his face back into his pillows, ignoring all responsibility that was set for the day ahead of him. He pulled his knees up to his chest, taking a deep breath before releasing all the air in his lungs with a heavy sigh.

It had been fourteen months; fourteen painful, torturous months with the memories of her haunting his dreams almost every night. Gar had spent this time driving aimlessly and disregarding his responsibilities, living off of his parents unused bank account. He was constantly upset, had become a recluse and ignored his friends when they came pounding on his door.

Her voice would reverberate through his head on a daily basis, jumping from sweet I love yous to the defeated I just don't love you anymore. A frown graced his thick lips, and he rolled over before sitting up in his bed, dropping his head into his hands, and tenderly rubbing his temples.

His eyes darted up to a framed picture on his nightstand and anger flashed through his eyes before his arm shot out, slamming it face down on the surface of the table. He didn't even want to see her face. A sigh slipped through his lips before his train of thought was interrupted by a sharp ring.

Large hands clenched the phone so tightly that his knuckles turned white, as he whimpered out a pathetic "Hello?"

"Gar! Sweetie! How are you?" the ecstatic voice shouted through the receiver, his body tensing at the cheery tone.

He nodded to himself. "Fine..."

"Good!" He heard her shuffling through papers. "I was wondering..."

"Yeah mom?" he pressed two fingers against his temple.

"How about you bring that darlin' of a girlfriend over for the week. I want to see her and you engaged! You did ask her right?" His eyes closed, and he took a deep breath, releasing it slowly.

"Yes mom... bu-"

"Good! Then it's settled. You and Raven can come down and stay with us in the Caribbean beach house for the week."

He put his hands out stammering, "But-"

"Alright! I need to go! See you on Monday! Bye Garfield!"

He heard the click of her hanging up the phone through the receiver and just stared at the phone. Shit, shit, shit! He quickly hung up and redialed the number that he had commit to memory so many years ago. With a few rings, he heard a breath on the other side of the line, before he heard "Hello, Roth residence, Raven speaking." He opened his mouth, but no words could get out. "… Hello?" she asked, her tone quickly changing to annoyance.

"Okay, if you don't say something in-"

"Hey," He blurted out. "H-hey Rae…"

The silence that fell between them was unbearable. Gar's heart was pounding in his chest, and he was searching for words to say. He let out a sigh of relief when she broke the silence.

"Hello Garfield," she said with a calmness she didn't feel. "Can I help you with something?"

He suddenly became livid. She was so… stoic about everything! "Yeah. I need to talk to you about something. But not on the phone, ok? Let's meet at Starbucks in like an hour, like we used to?"

He heard her audibly gulp and felt slightly victorious. "I… I don't know if that's such a good idea, Garfield."

"Please, just come. It's… It's kind of important."

She sensed the pleading in his voice and complied. "Alright. In an hour then. Goodbye, Garfield."

He hung up abruptly, grumbling to himself as he stormed to the shower.

Well isn't this fantastic. I was hoping to never have to see her face again, but what am I about to do? I'm about to ask her to be my pretend fiance for a week. Well la di da.