In the weeks that followed, Katie found herself at war with own mind. She'd catch herself thinking how Raven looked extremely beautiful, especially with her pretty pink lips pouted out when she was pretending to be upset by something Eddie said. She'd notice her eyes lingering a little too long on Raven's graceful features as she moved about the room when they were doing homework. She'd feel the tingling through her body and her lips whenever they touched, finding herself battling against a sudden urge to move in even closer.

It was driving her insane. It couldn't mean anything. It just couldn't. Especially not that she liked Raven. And yet when they went out (Katie always resolving to find some fit lad to wander off with), she found herself extremely reluctant to actually leave the girl's side. It didn't help that Raven had a tendency to look ridiculously hot on those nights. Always.

It was all starting to be a bit much. She couldn't stay away, but it was getting harder and harder for her to stay near the girl. Especially because she knew that Raven didn't like her like that. That fact was only reinforced when almost every time she came back from the loo at a club she'd find Raven's attention occupied by some attractive female or another.

"Jealous are we?" a familiar voice sent a chill down her spine.

She turned to find Effy's piercing blue eyes boring into her skull. It was the closest she'd been to the girl since Gobbler's End, and she wasn't enjoying it at all. "Of who?" she demanded, wishing that her voice wouldn't come out quite as shaky as it had.

Effy nodded past Katie in Raven's direction.

"Don't be ridiculous," Katie scowled.

Effy smirked. "Whatever you say, Katie."

Katie turned to leave Effy behind. The girl still bothered her unnaturally. How she'd ever thought that she and Effy had been best friends she had no idea.

"Although," Effy's voice stopped her in her tracks and she glanced over her shoulder.

Effy was grinning a little wider. She took a step towards Katie, placing her mouth right by her ear. "I could always help you make her jealous right back," Effy suggested, and Katie shivered as the girl's hot breath hit her ear.

She swivelled around. "What are you even talking about?"

Before she realised what was going on, Effy had taken a last step towards her, and reached out and pulled her in close, ghosting a kiss onto her cheek and swaying her hips against her own so that she had no choice but to move with them. Katie swallowed hard, trying to process the situation, trying to get control back over her own body.

She pushed Effy away. "I don't need to make anyone jealous, Stonem."

Effy shrugged, and smiled smugly. "Shame that. It worked."

Raven slapped her hard. "Stay away from her," she growled. She'd seen them from across the club, but hadn't been able to get there fast enough. Apparently Effy hadn't understood that she wasn't welcome anywhere near Katie.

Effy picked her head back up and ran her tongue over her lower lip, finding the new split there and tasting her own blood. She grimaced, but shrugged. "Whatever you say." She turned to Katie. "See you around, Katie."

Raven turned her back on Effy as the girl disappeared into the crowd. "You ok?" she asked softly.

Katie nodded. She was still in a bit of a state of shock. She'd heard the force with which Raven's hand had connected with Effy's face. She looked up into the girl's green eyes, and felt herself finally calming. Raven put a soothing hand on her shoulder, and she relaxed into the touch. "Yeah. She didn't hurt me or anything. No rocks around here," she managed to joke.

Raven didn't smile. She glared over her shoulder in the direction that Effy had disappeared in, then turned quickly back to Katie. "You wanna get out of here?"

"Sure," Katie agreed. It felt stupid having Effy chase her out of there, but she had to admit she was a bit shaken. What had Effy been up to? Why had she done that? Surely she didn't care about making Raven jealous (as if that really would've worked anyway...Raven had only come over because she was a good friend). Then again it'd seemed like there was an extra layer of hostility between her friend and the slender brunette.

Raven guided Katie quickly out of the club. She didn't like giving in to Effy and leaving because of her, but she wanted to put Katie first, and it had been obvious that Katie had found the encounter unsettling to say the least. Raven had practically felt like exploding when she'd seen the way that Effy had touched Katie. She'd known that logically she had nothing to be jealous of...Hell, she had no right to be jealous. Katie wasn't hers. Not like that. Still, she'd felt it flare up inside of her. She really needed to work on keeping her affections for her friend in check. With all of the time they'd been spending together, she'd felt herself falling for her harder. If she wasn't careful she was going to get herself hurt. She thinks she's straight. You're her best friend, she reminded herself.

"So," Raven began as they strolled along, both of them relaxing a bit as they got further and further from the club despite the chill in the air. "I've actually been meaning to ask you something."

"Oh yeah? What?" Katie inquired, her curiosity piqued.

"Well Eddie, my dad, and I are heading up to see my aunt in Glasgow in a few weeks, and we're going to be gone for a week and a half, and I know things with your mum have been a little tense at home of late, so I was wondering if you wanted to come. It would be cool to have you there. My aunt's awesome and everything, but I don't really know a lot of people my age up there." Besides, I'd miss you like crazy if I didn't get to see you for that long, she added to herself.

Katie's breath caught in her throat at the thought of being away from Raven for a week and a half. The longest they'd gone in the past few months was a day. That fact in itself, however struck her as a little scary. Surely that wasn't normal in a friendship. Other best friends she'd thought she'd had she'd been fine without seeing for a week at a time. In fact with some of them, she'd found it relieving. Then again, she'd never had a best friend like Raven. Not a true one. Raven linked her arm through her own, and Katie felt the cold bare skin of her arm suddenly light on fire at the touch. That of course was the biggest problem with Raven's offer. She was having a harder and harder time controlling herself. "It's probably a bad idea," she muttered to herself.

"What? Why?" Raven inquired, brows furrowing as she stopped in her tracks and faced Katie.

Katie hadn't even realised that she'd said it allowed, and she realised how it must sound strange, and possibly a little hurtful. She didn't want to hurt Raven. Besides, Raven was right, home had been a bit hellish of late. Katie had taken to going home as little as possible, and she knew that Emily took refuge at Naomi's house whenever she could. Her lie to her mother to get her off of Emily's back had simply gotten her on both of their cases even more. Her mum barely looked at them these days without disappointment (and a bit of disgust) evident on her face. Her dad was trying to make up for it, but it just wasn't enough to make being home fun. "Sorry, nothing. It sounds fun. I'd like that. Are you sure your aunt won't mind though?"

Raven blushed slightly. "Um, no. I've actually already asked her if it's alright if you come, and she said it would be lovely." In truth, her aunt had stopped her halfway through her response to the simple question of "how's life these days?" and said, "So when do I get to meet this Katie you keep going on about?" but Raven could hardly have told her that without giving herself away.

Katie smiled then, though her stomach was tied in knots. "Cool. Can't wait." She wasn't sure why, but she was rather apprehensive about the idea of getting away from everyone with Raven. She wasn't sure she trusted herself enough.

The week approaching their departure, Katie found herself growing even more apprehensive. Every touch shared between her and Raven felt even more electric. The urge to lean in and kiss her grew even more intense. It was wrong, she knew. They were just friends. She was just having a harder and harder time convincing herself that that was all she wanted. The thought that she wanted more terrified her though. Not just because it was with a girl, but also because it felt different somehow than any feelings like this she'd ever had before with any of her boyfriends. With Raven everything felt so much more intense, even as they continued to act playful and friendly. She knew that Raven wasn't reading the same intensity into everything as she was. She knew it needed to stop. She didn't know how if she was going to be away in Glasgow with Raven for ten days.

Nonetheless, the day of the trip rolled around, and Katie found herself a little excited on top of everything. The emotions and thoughts swirling around inside her body were going to drive her insane if she wasn't careful.

Raven grinned widely at her as they boarded the plane, and Katie had to grin back at her. The girl's excitement was contagious.

The flight went smoothly, and before she knew it she was stepping off the plane in Glasgow.

Raven dragged Katie eagerly along, leaving her father to deal with Eddie, until she let out an excited squeal and bounded towards a woman who greeted her with open arms. Raven's aunt looked remarkably like her. Same long, brown hair, same piercing green eyes, same high cheek bones, and same dazzling smile. The only differences were the streaks of grey in her hair and the wrinkles around her eyes.

"Katie, I want you to meet my aunt, Caroline," Raven presented the woman.

"Nice to meet you, dear. I've heard a lot about you," Caroline wrapped her in a warm hug.

Katie shot Raven a curious look over Caroline's shoulder and Raven blushed, and shifted uncomfortably.

"Auntie Caroline!" a small voice squeaked from behind Katie. Katie stepped back and let Eddie tackle his aunt.

The pleasantries were quickly exchanged and the baggage claimed, and before Katie knew it they were whisked away to Caroline's flat.

"I hope you don't mind sharing a room, girls. At least you'll have the first floor all to yourselves at night. You know, in case you want to go out or something," Caroline winked. "Don't tell your dad."

Raven grinned back at her aunt as Caroline opened the door and showed them into their room.

"Just the one bed, I'm afraid. There's always the couch in the living room, I suppose, but I can't vouch for how comfortable it is. Anyway, I'll leave you to get settled in," Caroline smiled at them before leaving, closing the door behind her.

Katie stood nervously at the end of the bed. This was a bad idea. She'd known it was a bad idea. She shook her head and closed her eyes, trying to calm herself down, trying to convince herself that she could control herself in such close quarters with Raven for a week and a half. It wasn't working.

"What's wrong?" Raven inquired, sensing the tension in her friend and moving towards her, putting what she hoped would be a calming hand on the girl's arm.

Katie pulled away. "This was a bad idea."

Raven felt a pang of pain shoot through her chest. Katie was starting to freak about sharing a bed with a gay girl. That must be it. In all honesty she'd expected it to happen sooner, but Katie had seemed to still want to spend time with her, to come over a lot, to sleep over a lot even. She'd gotten her hopes up that maybe Katie would just continue to be alright with it, not start to worry that they were getting too close, that it might mean she wasn't straight somehow. "What?" she asked softly, brows furrowing in hurt, but she needed to hear Katie confirm her fears.

Katie closed her eyes again and took a deep breath. Fuck it. There was no way she could lie her way out of this without hurting Raven's feelings, and that was the last thing she wanted to do. Maybe it was time to tell the truth. Sure she'd probably lose her best friend in the process, but may as well get that out of the way now, rather than after ten days of torture and internal battles. "This. Me coming here with you."

Raven felt the pain in her chest grow more acute. "Why?" she asked, voice low and shaky.

"Because whenever I'm near you...Whenever we're close-" Katie took another deep breath. Fuck it, she reminded herself, taking a small step back towards Raven. "Whenever I'm with you all I fucking want to do is this." She took the last small step that would bring her body in contact with Raven's and she reached her right hand up, cupping it behind Raven's head and pulling the girl's lips down to meet her own. Her stomach flipped and heat shot through her body to her core as their lips touched forcefully. Katie had dreamed about doing this ever since their last kiss, and she'd been able to push the dream away less and less. Now that it was finally happening again it was so much better than she'd remembered or dreamt. She couldn't enjoy it though, because she knew that Raven was about to freak, was about to pull away and explain how she didn't like her like that.

Except it didn't happen. Instead, after a second Raven began to kiss her back.

Katie kissed harder, more eagerly. As Raven's lips parted she didn't hesitate to deepen the kiss, to flick her tongue into the brunette's waiting mouth.

Raven took a few seconds to process what was going on, and before she came to terms with it, she was already kissing back. Was Katie serious? Had she really wanted to do this every time they were close? It sounded too good to be true, and yet Katie was there, kissing her like she meant it. Raven wrapped her arms tightly around Katie's waist, pulling her in even closer as Katie slid her other arm around Raven's neck.

Katie pushed up on her tiptoes to be able to kiss her more fully, and she shivered excitedly as Raven's hands flattened on her back, then rubbed lower.

Raven hesitated for a second before giving in to her desire to get closer to the girl before her. She'd wanted to for ages, it felt like. She slid her hands down over Katie's ass, grabbing just beneath and lifting her up, using her height to her advantage.

Katie willingly clung to Raven's neck, and wrapped her legs around the girl's torso, as Raven carried her to the side of the bed and sat her down, leaning against her between her legs and kissing her passionately.

They broke apart a few moments later, both panting for breath.

"Oh," Raven breathed against Katie's lips before capturing them once more in her own. She couldn't get enough. She couldn't taste enough. She tasted so fucking sweet, like cherries and vanilla and Katie all wrapped into one.

Katie hungrily pulled Raven in closer. She never wanted this to end. If it ended she might have to deal with what it meant. If she kept kissing Raven, then everything would just be okay. All she had to do was focus on those sweet, soft lips currently pressed to her own, and that deliciously smooth tongue currently rubbing against her own.

Raven had been right. This wasn't something that you could describe, it was something you had to experience.

She wrapped her legs tightly around Raven, holding her close, feeling the fire burning within her increase as Raven fuelled it on, tangling her hands in her hair.

If you're not careful, you're going to get lost in this and push her too far, Raven reminded herself, but she found herself reluctant to pull away, and Katie's apparent want for this made it that much harder.

Katie moaned into her mouth and she felt and excited shiver run through her to her core. She nipped one last time at Katie's lips, then rolled off of her, panting heavily.

Katie felt cold at the sudden absence of Raven from on top of her. Her stomach twisted in knots instantly.

Raven took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Wow," she murmured as she stared at the ceiling. She knew that if she looked at Katie she wouldn't be able to control herself.

Katie glanced sideways at Raven uncertainly. "Good wow?" she inquired softly.

Raven had to look at her then. Katie just sounded so incredibly vulnerable, and as she looked into her deep brown eyes, she saw the nervousness there that she'd heard in the girl's voice. "Definitely," she assured her, leaning in for a tender kiss. "Do you have any idea how long I've wanted you to do that?"

"So you like me?"

"Was that not apparent?" Raven shot back with a soft smile.

Katie blushed. "I just thought…You were still getting over Grace, and then…You never showed any interest!" she accused.

Raven grinned. "Did it ever occur to you that I just didn't want to seem like I had the hots for my straight best friend and scare her off?"

Katie blushed an even deeper shade of red. "No," she admitted. A pang of anxiety hit her as the words sunk in. "Not so straight apparently," she frowned. "Fuck! Rae, I can't-"

"It's ok, Katie. We don't have to…You don't have to decide anything. Not yet. Let's just…Just try not to freak out okay? Let's just try to enjoy the trip, and see what happens while we're here," she suggested hopefully. She really didn't want Katie to freak out and then not want anything to do with her. She couldn't go back, not now that she'd tasted the want that Katie had for her.

Katie felt her heart racing in her chest, pounding so hard she was sure that Raven must be able to hear it. She took a deep breath, trying to calm herself. She wanted to cling to Raven's words. (Part of her just wanted to cling to Raven.) "Just see what happens," she repeated.

"Yeah," Raven encouraged. "And if you're up for it, maybe do some more of this," she kissed her again, lingering after their lips parted, relishing the feeling of just being close to her. "Since you want to do it all the time," she added teasingly.

Katie slapped her arm playfully and groaned. "Shut up!"

Raven giggled. "Sorry. Couldn't resist. It's just, I've dreamt about you actually wanting to kiss me back, and hearing you admit that you actually do…It was so fucking hot."

"Really?" Katie bit her lower lip as her gaze dropped to Raven's lips, then raised back to her piercing green eyes.

Raven kissed her again. She couldn't stop. She didn't want to stop. "So hot," she reiterated.

Katie took a deep breath, breathing Raven in. "I don't understand any of this. What you do to me. How you can make me feel-" Katie cut herself off, afraid she was revealing too much.

"Trust me. The feelings mutual," Raven assured her. "I know you know the effect you have on men, but I don't think you fully understand the effect you have on me. I had to constantly tell myself that all I could be was your friend."

"And now?" Katie asked quietly.

"Now I wish I didn't know that my dad or Eddie is apt to barge through the door and tell us that we have to do something silly like eat lunch, because I'd like nothing better than to kiss you for the rest of the day."

Katie felt a shiver run through her at Raven's words. Her lips tingled at the very idea of it, and she felt heat flushing through her. Raven wanted her. Raven enjoyed kissing her. Raven wanted to do it again. That knowledge partially terrified her, but at the same time it turned her on and made her want the girl even more. The latter part won out and she kissed her hard.

Raven pulled away a moment later. "My dad? Eddie?"

"Right," Katie replied. "But later?"

"Oh, we're definitely doing more of this," Raven assured her. As long as you don't freak out. She added in her head. Please don't freak out!