"I'm glad that's over with!" Raph stands up and stretches his hands in the air cracking his knuckles at the same time. You subconsciously bite your bottom lip as his muscles flex in the dimly light room.
"Me too.." you nervously chuckle averting your eyes away from him. "I was certain Leo didn't like me. I still kind of get the sense he's not certain about me"
"Ah, he can be hard at times but I can't blame him. He does his best to look out for us" He tilts his head pouting. "As far as you go, don't sweat it. I'm sure he'll warm up to you." He takes Mikeys seat next to you and leans his head back with a yawn.
"Tired already?" You tease him.
"Well it is almost noon, I haven't eaten and I did have to carry you all the way here" he Grins
"Who's fault is that?, if you hadn't snuck up on me I wouldn't have twisted my ankle." You proclaimed feeling righteous.
"Ahw is my face that scary?" He scrunched his lips like a child who just ate something sour. "How's your ankle doing by the way, is the ice helping at all?"
You examine your ankle thoroughly. You slowly roll it to test wether it hurt or not. "I can move it, and it looks like the swellings gone down a bit."
"Let's try walking then" he gets up from the couch and stands in front of you. He stretches his hand out to help you up.
You place your hand in his. His fingers felt rough against your palm, they tickled as he gently closed them around yours. Your heart started to race from the simple contact of your skin as he helped pull you forward and off the couch. You now stood with your right leg lifted from the ground as Raph helped balance you. He reassures you with a slight nod that his grip was firm. You slowly lower your right foot to the ground and begin to apply pressure to it. It still felt sore but you attempt to take a step. You wobble clumsily at first until your able to walk normally. Feeling confident Raph lets go of your hand and watches you walk in a circle.
"Good as new" He puts his hands in his hips feeling pleased.
"Sweet!!" You exclaim as you leap in the air. Your feet hit the ground and you feel the pain return. You stumble forward.
"Easy!" Raph hissed as he quickly caught you. You feel your palm against his Carpas as his hands hold onto your shoulders. Your legs go weak as you look up to see his face twisted in frustration.
You felt perplexed as you found his expression to be attractive, causing your stomach to flutter with butterflies. You were close enough to feel his breath on your face and the gap between your bodies seem almost non existent.
"Sorry" you mumble up at him averting your eyes so he couldn't read your feelings that were plain as day. His face relaxes and he unhooks his grip from you letting out a sigh of relief.
"Honestly, how many times do I need to come to your rescue" He rolls his eyes in a playful manner.
"Ah, one day I'll be the one to rescue you!, so don't hold it against me." You bark back
"Ha!, we'll see about that. I'm just messin with ya though."
Your face bubbles with happiness as Raph laughed. It felt nice to have someone to joke around with. You couldn't remember the last time you felt so at ease with someone. Mostly because you refused to hold friendships for very long with the constant moving. The thought hadn't crossed your mind yet until just now. Moving... You had moved to the city only a few weeks ago, but any day your dad could just decide it was time to go. With no reason other than his work. The thought made you sad. You really liked Raphael and the other turtles seemed just as engaging. Not to mention making friends with Mutant creatures was not something that happened everyday.
"You Alright?" Raph frowns noticing your change in expression.
You quickly decide that you weren't going to fret over it. What was the point in moping around?. You decided you would try to make the best of what limited time you had with your new friends, but deep down you prepared yourself for the worst. It would hurt when you eventually had to say goodbye, that is if you even got the chance to say goodbye.
"Yeah!, I'm fine!" You perk up and Raph accepts it without question. "I noticed you like comic books!" You divert the conversation.
"Yeah." He scratches the back of his head embarrassed. "I just recently got the newest issue of Tales from the Cosmos, if you want to check it out; if you fancy that kind of stuff"
"Hell Yeah!" You shouted with more enthusiasm than intended. You didn't want him to think you were a giant nerd.
"Aha, Alright come on. I'll show you my room... errr well I know you've already seen it and all,... because of last night... but aw whatever you know what I mean" he grumbles at himself.
You follow him over the doorway of his room. It felt a little odd being back here after what happened last night. You hadn't realized it was Raphael's bed you had woken up in until just now. Your can't stop your cheeks from growing hot from the thought. Just the fact that it was his bed, his blankets your body was tangled up in made you feel incredibly shy. You notice him shift uncomfortably in front of you and wondered if his thoughts were parallel to yours. You shake your head trying to shake loose of this growing attraction.
He presses the door open and you follow him in.
A light turned on overhead as Raph flicked the switch on the side of the wall. It was dim but better than the candle that was your only source of light the first time you were here.
Raph shuffles through some loose comics on the floor until he found the one he was looking for. "Ahah!, here it is!" He boasts as he turns to you and holds it up. "Tales of the Cosmos issue 10. The tale of the giant space slug!"
Truthfully you loved comics and had an extensive collection of your own at home. They were one of the only few things you could easily pack up on short notice. You spent hours in your room re-reading issues and knew half of them inside and out. Tales of the Cosmos was fairly new and you only owned two issues so far, but you found them to be intriguing.
"Wow!, have you read it yet?" You take the comic from his hands and flip through the pages admiring the art style. "It looks intense!"
"Oh it was!" His eyes widen. "Those space slugs are uglier than the Krang!"
"Huh, I've only heard about them but haven't actually seen a picture... so that whole invasion was real? Alien creatures really tried to take over earth?" You take a seat on the bed, removing your bag and the skateboard from your back and placing them on the floor next to you.
Raph flops down next to you with a slight frown. "Yeah." He grimaces. "They weren't so much aliens, than they were from a different dimension though. Honestly I don't know what would be worse."
"Let's hope we never have to find out!" You look at him nervously.
"Ah, even if we do. My brothers and I can take on anything." He pounds his first against his palm with a smug look. You admire his confidence. You wish you could say the same for yourself, that you had all the confidence In the world; but the reality set in and you remember you couldn't even handle a few thugs.
"I wish I could be strong like you" You make a fist and clumsily punch the air in front of you. "Your strength seems unreal."
"Woah are you kidding me!" He jumps up. "I've still got chills from that kick last night!!"
"Seriously?" You look up at him dumbfounded
He scratches the back of his head his cheeks flushing red. "I don't usually get caught with my guard down, so you got lucky.. but still there was some serious power in your step" He averts his eyes from looking directly at you. His stomach growls loudly.
"Pfffttt.. you weren't kidding when you said you were hungry!" You try to suppress your laugh. "I've got some ah granola bars in my bag if you want one,... or five" You pick up your bag and place it in your lap. Unzipping the first pocket you find the granola bars and pull the box out. The weight change causes your bag to fall on the floor with a Thunk. The next thing you know a clear glass bottle is rolling across the floor loud as can be and your eyes grow wide... The Voldka!
"Whats this?" Raph picks it up and stares at it curiously. "V..vo...vod..ka?"
"Uh... have you never heard of Alcohol?" You look at him baffled as he tried to pronounce the name. Suddenly an idea pops into your head and you bite your bottom lip with a smile.
"What?" He looks at your slightly embarrassed yet generally confused.
"Dare you to take a sip." You part your teeth sticking your tongue out a little.
"Why is it gross?" He frowns at you.
"Acquired taste" you cross your arms with a smug expression waiting for him to go for it. "I'll just give you one warning, you're going to want to take it slow"
"Huh...Alright.. Whatever you say.." He rolls his eyes as his hands grip the cap. He twists it open with a pop and you can see the smell hits him hard but he shakes it off. "Here goes nothing..." The bottle presses to his lips and he takes a big swig. "Aahhhh... what the hell is this?, my mouth is on fire!!" He spits into the air wiping his mouth with his arm..
"Pfffftttahahahah!" You laugh as you stand up from the bed and take the bottle from his hands. "Relax Raph, it's suppose to make you feel really good.. just give it a few." You take a sip of your own and react the same, coughing dryly at the taste and desperately trying to figure out why grownups fancied a drink that felt like a campfire in your mouth. "Woah!" A few seconds pass and you feel your stomach start to tingle warmly. It was much stronger than beer that was for sure. "Here" you pass the bottle back to Raph. "Take another sip"
"Are you sure?" He questions you. "Wow,.. I feel kind of fuzzy and warm..."
"Yeah, me too.." You nod at him and he takes another swig of the bottle this time with more ease. He burps and hands it back to you.
One,... two... three more swings and you both start feeling the full affects of the content in your stomach. Raphs face was bright red and he had a giant ear to ear grin as he passed the bottle once more to you.
"Oh my god what!?" You snicker at him.. "why are you looking at me like that!?"
"I... I just feeeeeeel really... like real good right now!" He Goes to take a step and stumbles forward almost knocking into you. "What's wrong with the feeeeet!" His grin was still intact.
You burst out laughing and place your hand on his shoulder to steady yourself,.. or at least you tried. Raph loses his balance at your added weight and you both tumble over on to the floor in a fit a laughter. He lands on his butt sitting up right as your back falls flat against his chest...
Next Chapter - Do Turtles Dream
