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I cry sometimes walking around my own place
Wondering why she cries sometimes
Talking about her own place
Somewhere around the mountains
No one could dry her fountain
Till she got tired to complain
That's when I fly to the wildland, to your land
- To All Of You by Syd Matters
Chapter Ten - Hidden
Raven sighed as he pulled back from the car he was working on, and wiped his oily hands onto his jeans. He checked the time on the wall inside the garage, and was relieved to see that it was almost time for him to leave. He needed to talk to Willow; make sure everything was really okay with her. Raven heard the sound of a car pulling up slowly just outside the garage, but was busy in fixing up the engine of the car.
"Um... excuse me?" A quiet voice said. Though Raven clearly didn't hear them as he continued to work. The person cleared their throat, "Excuse me!"
Raven jumped at the raised voice, and looked up immediately. A young woman was standing a few feet away from him, beside a blue Ford KA. She was slender and tall, looking to be 5'5" or possibly taller. The sunlight shone on her from behind her, allowing her dark hair to show some brown. She had mocha coloured skin, with large, dark brown eyes and full lips. Raven thought that she was beautiful. He smiled at her and stepped towards her, "I'm sorry, I was working and I didn't hear you. Is there anything I can help you with?"
The girl nodded her head. "It's alright." She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "I was just wondering if you could figure out what's wrong with my car." She gestured to it beside her.
Raven nodded, "Yeah, sure. What's the problem you've been having?"
She sighed, sounding resigned. She rubbed her forehead tiredly. On closer inspection Raven could see that she had bags under her eyes. "It's been making this loud knocking sound when I drive, and it gets worse when I turn. I'm worried that it might be something that could cause me to crash."
"Yeah, I gotcha. Alright, I can check it over, see what the problem is and have it fixed for you."
She let out a breath of relief, "Thank you." She rubbed her hand down her face, "Hopefully, it's not too bad. This is not what I need right now."
Raven frowned, "Everything alright?"
She shrugged her shoulders, "Yeah, just college."
"Hm." Raven mumbled. "You go to college? What one?"
"Whitmore." She answered him. "It had the best medical program."
Raven smiled knowingly, "Ah, hoping to become a doctor or something?"
"Or something."
It was silent between the two, Raven wanted to ask more about her. He hadn't had a girlfriend in almost two years, not being able to commit to them due to his constant worry for Willow.
"Um, so should I give you my number?" She asked.
Raven blinked, "Oh! Yeah. I'll give you the company number too, encase you have any questions." They both wrote their names and numbers down and handed it to the other. Raven had written the company's name and number on there, not feeling bold enough to write down his name and number with it.
She was just about to leave, but stopped and asked almost shyly, "Uh... what's your name, by the way?" Raven raised an eyebrow at her. She blushed. "Just so I know who I should ask for if I call."
Raven chuckled and nodded his head, "Raven Anderson." She nodded and walked briskly away.
Raven realised when she was gone that he hadn't asked for her name and opened his mouth to call out to her, but looked down at the slip of paper in his hands. He smiled.
"Kayla Matthews."
"So, are you going to the comet festival?" Willow asked Stefan as the two of them walked down the street together.
"Yeah, I think so." Stefan answered. "You're working, right?"
Willow nodded her head begrudgingly, "Sadly, yes. It's gonna be packed in the Grill tomorrow." She stuffed her hands in her denim vest pocket. "So not in the mood to be serving all those people."
"Hey, at least you get paid." Stefan pointed out.
Willow scoffed, "Pfft! In pennies. My boss is a cheapskate. He only has me and Vicki for waitresses and these two other guys working behind the bar, and a couple of chefs." She shook her head in annoyance. "He's an asshole."
Stefan frowned sympathetically, "Can't you get another job?"
"Yeah, where?" Willow questioned. "This is a ghost town; hardly anyone is hiring. There's no way I'd risk leaving. I need the money, and a job is a job."
Concern etched onto Stefan's face. He knew that she lived in an apartment with her brother; he had taken her there the night of the party, so he knew that she needed money to pay bills and buy food. Although, Stefan also knew that Willow had a drug habit. She must be paying someone to get the stuff that she wanted. This just made Stefan determined to help her curb her drug problem.
Willow pointed a finger at him and told him firmly, "Don't look at me like that."
"Like what?"
"Like you feel sorry for me. Well, you know what? You don't have to. I'm fine." Her tone was defensive, and she began to speed up. Stefan realised that he'd have to start walking on egg shells around her. Anything could tip her attitude. It was obvious that she didn't like divulging in her own problems too much. It was frustrating to Stefan. He wanted to help her, but everytime he came a step closer she took ten steps back.
"I don't feel sorry for you, Willow." Stefan told her when he had caught up with her. "I just care about you."
Willow didn't know why she flew off the handle at him. It was just second nature to her to push people away when they showed an inkling of care or kindness towards her. Plus, she had problems that she needed to deal with on her own that she didn't want Stefan to know about. It could end up getting him hurt, or worse. "Well, don't worry about."
Just as she said that, a boy who was walking with his mother in front of Stefan and Willow, tripped and fell. A cry immediately came from the child, and his mother panicked and moved her hands to his leg, pulling up the leg of the jean to reveal a small cut that was dripping a tiny amount of blood.
Willow cringed at the screeching child, and looked back to Stefan. Willow frowned in confusion when she saw something weird happen to his eyes; strange markings appearing below his eyes and it seemed that his eyes almost darkened in colour. Willow blinked her eyes, thinking that she was just imagining it. But no, it was still there.
"What the hell?" Willow breathed, horrified.
Her words caused Stefan to snap back to his senses, turning his head away from her and everyone else. He calmed himself down enough to allow his face to return to normal. When he turned back he saw that Willow was looking at him with wide, brown eyes, eyes that were almost fearful. His heart sped up; she had seen. She saw what happened to his face at the sight of blood.
"What... what the hell just happened to your face?" She demanded.
Stefan knew that it was risky, but he had to deny it. "Nothing. What are you talking about?"
Willow shook her head, "No, okay, I saw it. Don't say that nothing happened."
"Nothing did happen, Willow."
Willow didn't like this. She didn't like being told that what she just saw wasn't real. She'd already dealt with something like this before, and the fact that Stefan was telling her it never happened was worrying her more than the possible fact that his face just changed to something demonic. "Don't say that to me, okay? Please don't. I saw."
Stefan could see her actually getting upset over his denial of what she had seen. She sounded panicked and upset, and Stefan was starting to think that it went deeper than what she had just seen. "Willow, calm down, okay? You were just seeing things, it's alright."
That, apparently, was the wrong thing to say. "No!" She pointed a finger at him. "Don't say that! Don't say that to me!"
Stefan was becoming severely worried over her behaviour. He quickly took a hold of her lower arms and forced her to look at him, "Hey, hey, look at me. Look at my face, okay?" He didn't know what to do. He couldn't tell her what she had seen was real, her knowing about vampires would put her in serious danger. But it seemed that telling her that she was just seeing things was getting her into hysterics. "Willow, everything is fine, okay? I won't say that ever again."
People were starting to stare at them, Stefan could see them out of the corner of his eye. He swallowed, and began to lead her off somewhere secluded and away from prying eyes. He turned into an alley. It was dark and difficult for Willow to see, but it was obvious that she didn't care because she was still hung up on what Stefan had said and what had happened. Stefan focused on her once they had no audience. "Willow, I promise I won't say that to you again, okay?"
She shook her head, "Don't say that to me. Don't say that to me." She mumbled to herself, almost swaying from side to side. Her legs suddenly felt like jelly.
"I won't, Willow." Stefan told her adamantly.
She took a deep breath and her eyes met his. "Then tell me what just happened."
Stefan floundered; she was still insistent that something had happened to his face. He blinked his eyes a few times and sighed in resignation. "I can't tell you."
Willow raised an eyebrow, "Huh? So I wasn't seeing things? That did happen to your face?"
Stefan hung his head and turned away from her, "I can't tell you, Willow."
Willow gasped and swallowed. Stefan pushed himself away from her, eyes meeting hers. An understanding being made between them; she had her own secrets, and he had his.
It was just a matter of uncovering them.
One day I will finish this episode...