A/N Thanks to all my reviewers. Also, phrases in single quotations are telepathic discussion.
Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Titans. If I did, it wouldn't have been canceled.
Chapter Four
"Italian or Mexican?"
I looked up from my book for the fifth time in as many minutes.
"Greek."
Shawn grinned.
"Mary, Mary, quite contrary..."
I had no clue what he was talking about.
"It's a nursery rhyme, a poem poem for children, about a contrary gardener."
"Friend Raven is not a gardener."
Starfire stood in the kitchen with a delicate frown chiseling the tawny skin of her forehead.
"No Star, but she is contrary," Robin murmured as he wrapped an arm around her slender waist.
I turned back to the book. Shawn collapsed next to me on the couch, jostling the book from my hands. Before I could pick it up, he had swept it from the floor and tossed it gently to the other end of the couch. It drifted back to my hand.
"We're not that good of friends."
Shawn was unrepentant.
"Not yet."
"Not ever if you don't cut it out."
His eyes turned liquid.
"Puppy dog stares don't work. Ask Beast Boy."
He ran his fingers across his lips in a zipping motion. I raised an eyebrow.
"You expect me to believe you?"
He shrugged.
"Not really, no. but I thought I might as well try."
The message light blinked and the screen lit up with Garth's face.
His midnight eyes grew to the size of saucers as his eyebrows rose toward his hairline. Joey's lips twitched. From the corner of my eye, I sensed more than saw Robin and Starfire jump apart, blushing.
"Now what?" I hissed.
"Well, we, that is Joey, wanted to know if you'd like to have dinner with us."
"She has a-"
"That would be nice, actually. I'm bringing a friend though."
Garth's gaze swept Shawn's face.
"If you must."
He started to sign out. Joey elbowed him.
"Oh, right, we'll see you in a hour, at that restaurant you like."
The screen went blank.
"I thought we had a date."
Shawn's tone was mild, but he wasn't pleased.
"We do."
"A date alone."
"Sorry to disappoint."
Robin snickered. Shawn's eyes narrowed. I rose.
"I need to get ready."
"How long does it take to get to this restaurant?"
"Ten minutes, going as the crow flies. Longer on the ground."
"Why can't we fly then?"
"Do I look like a chauffeur to you?"
Shawn was cute, but he was already getting on my nerves, and the rose that had been a thief's gift refused to be forgotten.
CrimsonRosesAmberEyesCrimsonRosesAmberEyesCrimsonRosesAmber
Aqualad chattered through dinner. Joey, as always was silent, the scar on his throat hidden by the high collar of his black shirt, his expression mildly disapproving. Shawn sat sullen beside me, though his food disappeared quickly enough.
'Garth...'
He stopped talking, the guilt in his eyes not quite hidden by determination.
'I don't find this amusing.'
'Neither do I.'
He was dead serious.
'Something's wrong about him, Rae.'
'I would know if that was true.'
''Telepath' doesn't mean all-seeing.'
'And 'Male' does?'
'Male? Robin doesn't like him either? Rae this should tell you something.'
'I'm not an idiot, Garth.'
'You're intelligent, Rae. But you're still a woman.'
I didn't deign to reply.
'Raven,'
Joey's gentle pleading reached me past Garth's frustration and Shawn's darkening anger.
'He doesn't mean it like that. He's just trying to protect you. Sometimes, emotions can impair even the sharpest of vision.'
I watched the shadows play across Shawn's face.
CrimsonRosesAmberEyesCrimsonRosesAmberEyesCrimsonRosesAmber
Joey and Garth left us outside the little Greek restaurant at nearly eleven. I felt Shawn relax as they disappeared around the corner, though some part of him was still angry at the Atlantian. He grinned at me.
"Now can we have our date?"
"Depends."
"On?"
"Where exactly do you plan on taking me?"
"Dancing."
