Disclaimer: Characters are owned and produced by The Disney Channel, That's So Productions, Brookwell-McNamara Entertainment, It's A Laugh Productions and Warren & Rinsler Productions. I am just borrowing them for these stories.
Cabin Fever
Chapter 9
The Planning Stage
Like clockwork, Chelsea called Raven around 8 the next morning to coordinate the meeting time for the ski trip conversation. Raven told her about the conversation she had with Devon and about his presence at the planning meeting. Raven then called Eddie and Devon to tell them that they were meeting at her house at 11. Raven's parents went to work that morning. Cory went with his mother to her law office and planned to meet up with William and Larry later on that day. Around 10:15, the doorbell rang.
"Ten-fifteen? Somebody's early." Raven said out loud as she headed for the door. She slowly opened the door to find Chelsea Ophelia Daniels standing in front of her.
"Hey Red." Raven greeted her with a new nickname.
"You've never called me that before." Chelsea commented. "Where'd that come from?"
Raven was leaning against the edge of the open door. She shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know. Just felt… appropriate. Come on in. You're the first one here." Chelsea stepped inside as if she were entering Raven's house for the first time. This was not lost on Raven. "Now why are you acting like you've never been here before? Have a seat. You want something to drink?"
"I was waiting for my greeting." Chelsea said with "that look" on her face.
"Your greeting?" Raven asked, playing the role of the unfamiliar.
"Last time I stood in this spot someone that looked like you overwhelmed me with a special… greeting." Chelsea was revving up her engine and trying to cold start Raven's at the same time.
"What is the standing rule for this week? Huh?" Raven chided. "No kissing until after the ski trip is over."
"So now you believe in following rules to the letter?" Chelsea brought up a valid question. "What's going to happen? Were gonna get suspended from school or the NFL? They gonna fire us from Grey's Anatomy?"
Raven began squirming where she stood. "Chelsea, if I come over there and touch you…" Raven shook her finger at Chelsea and began backpedaling toward the kitchen. "I am going to get us something to drink. Turn on the TV and wait for me. I'll be right back."
Raven was on the edge of losing self-control. Every time she was alone with Chelsea her mind and body were drawn to her. Her psyche was compelling her to act on her impulses. It was taking everything she had inside to fight those urges. And it was beginning to break her down. She didn't know how much more she could take before giving in.
She grabbed four glasses from the cabinet, anticipating Devon and Eddie's arrival, and poured two glasses of orange juice. She placed the pitcher back inside the refrigerator and closed the door. Chelsea was standing behind it.
"Holy shit!" Raven screamed and jumped back, startled by Chelsea's appearance. "You scared the hell out of me! It didn't hear you come in!"
"I'm sorry. I just came to see if you needed some hel…" Chelsea never finished her sentence as Raven quickly covered Chelsea's mouth with her own. They both melted into the electricity of the moment. Their kissing was almost frantic. They were truly on the edge of a meltdown. Their momentum made them spin toward the edge of the counter where Chelsea's arm inadvertently knocked an empty pan to the floor. They were unfazed by the loud noise it made as it hit. They were startled, however, by the knock at the back door.
"Jesus!" Raven exclaimed as someone was rapping loudly on the back door.
"Rae! Open the door!" Eddie yelled from the other side. "I hear you in there!"
"Straighten yourself up!" Raven whisper-yelled to Chelsea, who quickly straightened herself and sat on the barstool at the end of the counter.
"Here I come!" Raven yelled as she did a quick once-over on herself before opening the door. "Hey Ed!"
"You okay?" He said to Raven at the door. "I heard something crash."
"No I'm fine." She said as she closed the back door.
"Hey Chels." Eddie said as he went to the fridge and pulled out a can of soda.
"Sure Eddie, have a soda." Raven said sarcastically.
"Thanks Rae." Eddie said as he turned to her. "By the way, you might want to wipe Chelsea's lip gloss off your lips before Devon gets here."
"What the…" Raven said before she ran down the hall to the bathroom as Chelsea dropped her head on the countertop with a thud in embarrassment.
"Don't be embarrassed Chels. Just be glad I noticed it and not him." Eddie said.
Raven came back into the kitchen and simply pointed her finger in exasperation, first at Chelsea, then Eddie. "Living room." Raven said, pointing to the kitchen door. Chelsea and Eddie took their drinks and went in followed by Raven.
"Are y'all gonna make it?" Eddie asked as he sat down.
"I don't know about her but I'm on edge." Chelsea said.
"Look at me Chels!" Raven raised her voice slightly. "If he wasn't here, I'd jump you where you sit! This is serious!"
"Just ignore me. I'll…"
"Shut up Eddie!" Raven cut him off. Seconds later, the doorbell rings. "Did time go forward and nobody told me?" Raven marched to the front door and opened it.
"Hey babe!" Devon said as he stepped inside and picked Raven up spinning her around. Put me down you lying cheater! Raven said to herself. Put her down you lying piece of shit! Chelsea said to herself. Devon sat her down and kissed her on the lips. Raven returned the kiss as convincingly as she could.
"Hey boy!" Raven said with a smile before spinning around to Chelsea and Eddie with her back to Devon. She rolled her eyes and curled the corner of her upper lip. "Sit down. I'll be right back." Raven headed to the kitchen to get Devon some juice. Devon greeted Chelsea and Eddie.
"Excuse me for a second guys." Chelsea headed for the kitchen. She entered the kitchen announcing herself this time. Raven finished pouring the juice and stood looking at Chelsea.
"I'm sorry Chels. I…"
"Don't." Chelsea assured her. "We're not together yet and he's still your man. Just be cool. Today, I'm just your homegirl, Chels. Okay?"
"All right. My homegirl. My BFF. My homeskillet!" Raven high-fives Chelsea. Chelsea holds on to Raven's hand for a second and looks into her eyes. Raven gazes back for a moment before they let go and head back into the living room.
"Here you go, baby." Raven sat the glass of orange juice on the table in front of Devon. "So how's your uncle doing?"
"My uncle? Oh he's fine. He says hello." Devon said. I know. He said hello when I talked to him last night. Raven said to herself.
"So what did you do over there?" Chelsea asked, knowing from Raven that he lied about his whereabouts.
"I helped him clean his basement out. He's putting in a home theatre down there." Devon said. "As a matter of fact, I have to go back over there tonight." Raven shot a 'yeah, right' look at Chelsea that Devon didn't see but Eddie did. Eddie didn't know about Devon's lie, but he sensed that something wasn't right about Devon's itinerary. The Third Amigo decided to pick up the baton and run with it.
"If you need some help tonight, I'm free. Chantel is visiting her grandmother." Eddie offered. God I love Eddie! Good boy! Raven thought to herself.
"No, thanks, man. I appreciate it but the two of us got it under control." Devon countered.
"Well, lady and gentlemen…" Raven said. Lady, gentleman and liar is more like it. She said in her head. "Let's get down to…" The doorbell rang again. "Business. Excuse me." Raven excused herself to answer the door. The other three looked toward the door as it opened.
"Danny?" Chelsea exclaimed.
"Hey Chelsea." Danny said as Raven waved him in.
"What are you doing here?" Chelsea stood up and made her way over to him as he embraced her.
"I called your house this morning and your mom said you were over here planning the ski trip. I thought I'd swing by. I hope that's okay." Danny said.
"Sure!" Raven said. "The more the merrier! You want some juice, Danny?" Raven asked.
"Thanks Raven." Danny said.
Raven fixed another glass of juice and brought it in to Danny. The five of them began working on the details of the ski trip. They decided to leave on Thursday morning, giving themselves four days of skiing. They worked out the sleeping arrangements. Eddie graciously gave Chelsea and Danny one of the bedrooms, Raven and Devon the other leaving Chantel and himself the pullout sofa. Eddie's uncle assured him that it was comfortable. Eddie made sure to pass that assurance on to Chantel.
Raven and Eddie were the only ones that needed to buy ski equipment since they had never gone before. They decided to go out either that afternoon or Tuesday morning to get some. They agreed to rent the skis.
The planning itself took a little less than an hour, but the five of them sat around for about two hours talking. During the course of the conversation, two interesting dynamics took place at the same time. The first dynamic was the conversation between Raven and Devon and Danny and Chelsea remained at a minimum. There was plenty of cross-conversation however.
The second dynamic was the non-verbal eye contact between Raven and Chelsea. A look of a half-second to a second seemed to speak volumes about how they were feeling at any given moment. They were flirting with each other with their eyes, unbeknownst to the three men sitting right in front of them. They could thank the talk of the upcoming NFL playoffs for lack of perceptive insight on the part of the menfolk.
Around a quarter to one, Danny asked if anyone was hungry and wanted to go out. After flashing a brief apologetic look Raven's way, Chelsea said that she would go. In her mind she was simply keeping up appearances. Devon's mother called to remind him of their lunch date. He invited Raven, but she declined saying that she had to run some errands for her mother. Eddie had no immediate plans and in his mind was planning to call Chantel.
"Well, we'll meet up here Thursday morning. Bye y'all." Raven said to all of them as they began filing out. "Eddie, you got a second."
"Sure Rae." Eddie said turning back toward Raven.
"Rae?" Chelsea turned before walking out the door. "I'll call you." She said with a faint smile.
Raven nodded and smiled before Chelsea disappeared beyond the threshold hand-in-hand with Danny. Eddie closed the door behind them. Raven walked in to the kitchen to pour another glass of juice for herself.
"Eddie, you're a guy. How are they gonna take us breaking up with them?"
"Honestly, Rae… If I were you and Chelsea, I wouldn't tell them you're breaking up with them to be with each other."
"We both have reasons that kind of supercede that." Raven said. "Our relationships were breaking down before this Chelsea-Raven thing happened."
"Good." Eddie said. Raven tilted her head to the side and scrunched her brow. "You know what I mean."
"Yeah, I do." Raven said.
"So what are you going to do today?" Raven asked.
"Call Chantel and see if she wants to hang out. She'll probably want to go to the mall or something. You wanna come?"
"You think we could find some ski stuff?" Raven asked.
"Probably."
"Well, call Chantel and see if she doesn't mind me tagging along."
"Cool." Eddie pulled out his cell phone and dialed. Raven's thoughts drifted once again to her new favorite subject, Chelsea. She was infatuated with her. But what is Chelsea to her now? She's not her girlfriend yet, but she's beyond being called a best friend. Right now she is just Chelsea, the girl that Raven can't take her mind off of, the girl of her waking dreams, the main girl in her life.
"We're all set. Let's go. We pick her up in twenty minutes." Eddie said as they headed for the door.
"I'll drive." Raven said. "You still call her Cookie Lips?"
"No she's my Hershey's Kiss now."
"Why?"
"She melts in my mouth and in my hand."
"You need serious psychological help." Raven said as she opened the front door.
"So do you." Eddie shot back.
"Don't I know it." Raven said as she closed the door.
It's not over yet. They're headed to the mall and you'll be right there with them. Chapter ten is on deck.
