Chapter 3! Sorry for the pause between uploads, I've been kind of busy and I'm trying to make these chapters good. Thank for favoriting/following/reviewing! Enjoy!


Have you ever noticed that when you admit something to yourself, for example that you like a certain boy, you start to notice every little goddamn thing about it (in this case, him)?

My heart really made sure I noticed.

When I talked to him over the phone I listened to the sound of his voice, velvety and smooth. When I looked at him, I stared at his eyes, mouth, hair, and cheeks. When I touched him, I felt more than warmth. I noticed that he had a habit scratching the back of his head when he was flustered, and that he was always playing music in his head because why else would he constantly tap his foot in class? I wondered if Terra noticed these things too.

Despite their relationship, Garfield kept talk about Terra to a minimum. It was like he could sense my heart sinking slightly whenever he mentioned her regardless of my smiling facade. Our silly conversations and adventures didn't change, and I thanked God everyday for it. In fact, he called me more often to ask for advice in his relationship, which I readily gave him. One time, about two month after Garfield and Terra started dating, he called me up late one night. I picked up the phone immediately and greeted him with a hushed "Hello?"

"Raven," He breathed.

"... Is there something wrong?" I inquired when he said nothing else. Garfield sighed.

"Well, yeah."

"What happened?"

"No, it's just," there was a pause. "Terra and I kind of got into a fight." I pressed my mouth together as I rose from my desk chair, walking over to my bed and flopping down with my phone still pressed to my ear.

"About?" I could feel him waving his hand around dismissively.

"Nothing big." he said. "She says that I don't focus enough on her, or some bullshit."

"Garfield, you literally spend every weekend with her."

"Yeah, I know, but she says that when we're together I'm not in the moment. Her words, not mine." He sounded heavily annoyed.

"Oh," I replied. "That's odd."

"I have no idea how to fucking fix that. I act how I act regularly."

"I can imagine so. I'm sure it's just something else she's stressed about and she's taking it out on you." I tried.

"Regardless if it's my fault or not, it's frustrating and I don't want to talk to her right now. Can we go somewhere?" he asked suddenly.
"Excuse me?" I responded, sitting up.

"Can we go somewhere?"

"Gar, it's 11:15 at night." I reasoned.

"I shouldn't have asked you the question anyways, I'm outside already. Come on," he said. Groaning slightly, I swung my legs off the bed and headed towards the door, pausing in the mirror to pat my hair down a bit. I tip toed down the stairs, nabbing a piece of paper and scribbling a note to my parents, before pulling on my pair of boots hurriedly and stumbling out the door. Sure enough, there he was in his car, idling in the middle of the street. I rolled my eyes and walked over to the passenger seat, letting myself in.

"How were you so sure I wouldn't have plans?" I questioned, raising an eyebrow. He smiled.

"It's 11:15 at night." Garfield mocked me, before throwing the engine into reverse, turning around, and driving down the empty street into the waiting night.

We ended up at a beach. Neither of us thought to bring a blanket so we sat in the sand and stared up at the moon. The world seemed quiet, save for the gentle rhythm of the waves as they rocked on and off the shore. We sat there for 10 minutes, enjoying the atmosphere and each other's company. Finally, I broke the silence and spoke.

"Feeling better?" he turned to me.

"Much." he responded, closing his eyes and tipping his head back. "I guess I just needed some air."

"Of course, the company of your greatest friend surely helps too, right?" I quipped. He searched his head around.

"Wait but... Victor isn't here?" he said, turning to me with a confused look on his face. I narrowed my eyes and punched him in the shoulder but by this point he was laughing.

"Asshole." I grumbled.

"You know you love me." he stated.

"Yeah, you simply have so many redeeming qualities." I said sarcastically. "You're annoying, you smell, you drag me out on these late night adventures, you insult me, you hit me... what's not to like?"

"I guess that explains why you're single and I'm not." Garfield joked.

"Hey man-whore, I could totally get a boyfriend if I tried." I shot back, waving a finger in his face.

"Oooh, yeah, because you have abundant redeeming qualities too, I'm guessing." He quipped.

"I sure as hell make better jokes than you do."

"My jokes are funny!" he whined.

"Are you serious?" I inquired, raising my eyebrow. "The Roberto joke?"

"That's quality material!" he exclaimed, waving his arms about.

"To who?"

"...Someone."

"Well, statistically someone has to think so." He glanced over at me.

"You're so mean."

"One of my redeeming qualities." I said, smiling slightly. Garfield continued to look at me, a curious look on his face. I held his gaze for a bit before blushing and squirming. "What?" something in his eyes changed, and he shook his head before answering.
"Sorry, zoning out." he said. We lapsed into silence, simply staring into the sky again. 10 minutes of comfortable, lazy silence later, Garfield stood up and turned to face me.

"Thanks, Rae," He said with a smile, outstretching his hand towards me. "This really helped." I gave him a small one in return, accepting his offer and hoisting myself off. I turned to brush the sand off the back of my sweats when suddenly I felt him moving towards me and I was engulfed in a warm hug. Slowly, I moved my arms around him too and we established a tight embrace. I could feel his heart beat near my own, his chest moving up and down rhythmically as seconds passed. We were perfectly still as the world was perfectly busy around us. After a little bit, I felt him shift and moved my head away from his chest to look at him. His gaze was intense, as usual, but there was some softness in the way he regarded me as we broke apart.

"Okay."

"Okay."

As we walked back to his car, something deep in me thanked whatever was out there that things like this happened in the dark. By the time he started the ignition, my blush had faded.