A couple hours later...
As expected, the hurricane just kept going with no sign of stopping. Just like the last time that a storm came to Simport, both the neighborhood and the town were completely vacant of people. Nobody was walking on the streets, nor were there anyone in any of their cars driving along it. It was almost haunting how fast the streets became empty when the storm finally arrived...the fact that it was nighttime made it even more eerie to look at. Thankfully, all the townspeople were inside their homes or buildings, safe and sound from this dangerous storm.
It was already an hour passed midnight, and Victoria was unable to get any sort of sleep. About two hours prior to this moment, she and her friend decided to finally go to bed. Ray offered her to take his bed while he slept on the couch tonight, however, considering that he did so much for her already, Victoria insisted otherwise. Unfortunately, regardless of which one she would've choose, she doubts that she would've been able to sleep thanks to how loud the rain, thunder, lightning and wind were outside. It was completely impossible for her to try to get a wink of sleep tonight.
Victoria was starting to get more and more impatient with every passing minute. She could only stare up at the ceiling wondering if morning was at least around the corner, but whenever she checked the time on her phone, finds that morning wasn't even close. The night felt like it was endless. Fate just doesn't seem to be on her side today whatsoever.
Now that she was thinking about it, the British girl wondered if Ray was still awake or not. Considering the fact that the rain was making her unable to sleep, it was doubtful that he would be able to sleep through all of this. Curious, Victoria decided to check on him anyway, just to make sure. She stood up from the couch and made her way over to the stairs.
Once she was upstairs, Victoria went over to Ray's door and knocked on it. "Ray...dear...art thou awake?" She spoke in a whisper.
"W-What the?" Ray's voice said inside his bedroom. "Was that you, Victoria?"
"Um...yes..." The girl slowly opened the door, peeking her head into the bedroom to see the goth sitting on the side of his head wearing his pajamas. "Thou unable to sleep either?"
"Nope...I can't sleep at all..." Ray turned his head towards his window while his friend entered his bedroom. "For the past few hours I've been up here just...thinking to myself, you know?"
Victoria sat down next to the goth on his bed, causing him to turn his head to look at her. "What art thou thinking about, dearest Ray?"
"Oh, just a lot of things about today...like where my other friends are right now and if they're all safe...how they are going to feel when they figure out I fought Derek earlier this afternoon...I was also wondering if Derek was..." He immediately paused, suddenly realizing something. "Oh shit! I can't believe that I forgotten about it!"
"What? What is it?"
"The bear that I got for you this morning! I completely forgot about it when we were leaving the fairground!" The goth leans forward onto his own knees, placing a hand on his forehead. "Damn it! How could've I been so stupid to forgot about that!" He sighed in a depressed manner, before lowering the arm holding his forehead and looking at the drama girl to his right. "I'm sorry, Victoria...I should've picked it on when we were leaving...it's probably soaked out there now thanks to all this God damn rain..."
Victoria gave her goth friend a light smile. "Oh, come now...it truly isn't that bad." The goth raises an eyebrow at her a bit confused, before the drama girl reaches behind herself and pulling out the stuffed-animal that he was referring to. "I actually was able to grab it right before we left."
"Oh, I was so worried for a second there...I thought that your gift would've been lost for good..." Ray was then handed the stuffed-animal. "Doesn't look like it's been damaged back there during the fight, not even a speck of dirt on it either."
"I must say, I was quite surprised to discover that too. But...at least it's better than Derek outright destroying it, yes?"
"Agreed." Ray then hands the bear back over to Victoria who hugs it with a smile, which in turn causes him to smile too.
"Well, I am most grateful that thou was able to recover the gift thou hath given to me."
"Oh, your welcome, Victoria."
It was at this moment, the both of them began staring at each other in complete utter silence, with the only noise that they could hear being the rain hitting the rain up above. Neither of them said anything as a minute passed them by. All that they really could do was just sit there and smile at each other, until eventually...both of them felt each other's hand touching each other. Their eyes peered down at their hands for a second, until the unthinkable ended up happening for the both of them.
Right then and there, Ray and Victoria leaned into each other and then kissed. Neither of thought twice about this, nor did either of them relented when it was happening. It didn't seem like either one of them wanted this to stop whatsoever. Eventually, they did stop for a second, now leaning their foreheads against each other as they silently spoke to one another.
"I'm guessing Raven was right all along, huh?" Ray asked the drama girl in a whisper. "You really do have feelings for me this whole time."
"It's true, Ray..." Victoria said, also whispering her words. "Ever since we had lunch in the courtyard together two years ago, I hath always had a crush on thee...but I never could tell thee, since thou was already Raven..."
"Oh..."
"Dost thou truly love me?"
"I...love Raven...I really love her, but..." He sighed, before his eyes met his British friend's eyes. "I guess after me and you reunited, and started hanging out with each other more...I guess apart of me had feelings for you too. You're probably one of the most nicest and most beautiful girl that I have ever met in this town."
"Well..." Victoria blushes while chuckling to herself. "I don't believe that I have met any other man like you, Ray...you're probably the only boy who I know whom truly understands me and always is willing to listen to me whenever I need someone to talk to..." She giggled again. "You truly are a gentleman in every way, dear."
Ray smiled, before whispering once again. "I love you, Victoria."
"I love you too, Ray." The two proceeded to kiss once again, until the next thing they knew moments after, the both of them ended up getting lucky. For them, this was a day that they'd never forget...and for Ray, one that he might as well regret...
Meanwhile...
Back with Katie...
Considering that it was passed midnight already, it was obvious that everyone was laying down at this time. All three people in the house were upstairs in their rooms, however, not all of them were asleep right now. Only two of them were sleeping right now, while one of them was still fully awake.
It was pretty obvious that the person who was still awake out of the three was Sapphire. Despite the fact that she wasn't able to head off to Club Candy tonight, the party girl was usually up this late anyway just do that she can either talk with Candy or to anyone of her friends. Tonight was no exception, as she was texting her girlfriend about wishing that this hurricane would just hurry up and end already so that she can stop by her house. She was seriously wishing that morning could come fast so that she can finally leave this house.
It wasn't until after she was done texting with her girlfriend for the night that she finally decided to go over to Katie's bedroom so that she can talk to her about Chaz...
Upon entering the young dentist's bedroom, Sapphire silently enters...only to see that Katie was already fast asleep. She was prepared to walk over to the bed to wake her up, only to immediately stop in her tracks upon seeing the wall to her right, seeing the many posters that Katie has on her wall. Most of the posters the tomboy has were mainly ones that have bands that she likes on them, while others were dentistry related. All Sapphire could do was just cringe at the sight of this with a disgusted look on her face.
"Wow...Simple Plan? Good Charlotte? The All-American Rejecte? Hmm...even Three Days Grace?" Sapphire said to herself as she continued to stare at Katie's wall. "I swear...this girl has like, totally got a horrible taste in music."
"What the?" Katie mutters, appearing to be waking up thanks to the party girl talking to herself. "W-What are you doing in my room, Sapphire?"
"Oh, great! You're awake! That means we can finally talk to each other." She then pulled the chair out from the desk, then sat down on it. "Anyways, Katie...I bet you're wondering what I was wanting to talk to you about, right?"
"Can't this wait until morning?" Katie asked, clearly tired and annoyed. "I'm trying to sleep, dude."
"I hate to break to you, but I like, totally can't wait until morning. I have to like, meet my girlfriend at her house for breakfast in the morning." Hearing this causes the tomboy to sit up on her bed while letting out an irritated groan. "Anyways...I'm going to like, cut to the chase here...so quite recently, one of your friends had came to Club Candy yesterday, and..."
"I had a feeling you were going to talk to me about this." The tomboy interrupted. "Look, I like Chaz, I really do...but he already told me his feelings for me, and I just...turned him down."
"You turned him down?" Sapphire asked raising an eyebrow at the dentist's decision.
"Yes, I turned him down. There was just...so many problems that could come out of us being together."
"Oh, no need to assume such a thing. If this is about you being worried that your dad wouldn't approve of you and Chaz being together, I have a solution..."
"Look, even if my dad happily accepts Chaz being my friend, I still don't think I really want to date him." Katie sighed before leaning forward onto her own knees. "Like I said, I like Chaz...but I don't think I'm actually into him dating-wise. I mean, yeah, he's a lot nicer than he was back in high school...Crystal was right when she constantly said how cool he is...I'll even admit that he's pretty handsome, too..." She blushed after saying that last part. "But despite that...I don't really think I actually feel like I'm..." The tomboy suddenly fell silent, not really sure what else to say.
"Well...do you have feelings for him?" Sapphire simply asked. "Just be honest."
Katie just remained silent after that was asked. All she could really do in response was just sit there and glare directly at the party girl sitting a few inches away from her. At first, from the looks of it, the tomboy seemed serious when she was saying the words she was saying, however, Sapphire didn't buy this one bit. The party girl raises an eyebrow at the tomboy, signaling her to be completely honest with her. Katie immediately caught wind of this, causing her to groan in frustration at what the partier was trying to do.
"All I can really tell you is that I was never into bad boys, Chaz is no exception. When I first met him, he was a complete asshole...and don't get me started on him getting on my nerves by constantly calling me 'Princess'..." Katie told the partier in an annoyed tone of voice. Sapphire cringed as she started to believe that this entire plan backfired on her, but that was when the tomboy lost her angry expression and then continued. "Yet...compared to the other boys that I've hung out with before, there's just something about him that makes me feel like...I really just can't get enough of having him around me. I always thought that after Crystal introduced me to him, I thought that I would've ended up hating him, but...as our friendship continued, I found myself enjoying him around more and more each day. Sure, he was still arrogant at times, but...at the same exact time...he's willing to listen to me whenever I have to say something or whenever I berate him..."
Sapphire just smiled. "I take it that you are in love with him then?" She asked.
Katie stared at the partier a few inches ahead of her, before nodding her head with a sigh. "I guess in hindsight...yeah, I guess I really am in love with him."
"Yeah...that's exactly what I thought..." The partier turned her head towards the bedroom door for a second, before facing the dentist in front of her again. "Anyways...what I was trying to say before is that I have a bit of a solution when it comes to your dad..."
"Should I be worried what this solution of yours is going to be?" Katie asked, interrupting the partier once again. "Because something tells me that the solution is going to end up being 'move out and live with Chaz', and if it's that, I'm going to instantly decline." She then looked saddened when she said the next part. "Besides...after what happened to us earlier this year...we need each other more than ever..."
"Well, I wasn't going to suggest that at all, but...I really only would've suggested it if your dad was an absolute jerk, but..." Sapphire then fell silent, before deciding to question the tomboy some more. "You really look up to your dad, do you?"
Katie chuckles a bit. "What can I say? Without him, I probably would've ended up like either Brandi or Derek if he never taught me obedience back when I was younger. Thanks to him, I only gotten grounded once in my entire life, and one detention back when I was still in school." She then cringed, now rubbing her chin as she sat there realizing this. "I can only imagine the disappointed look on his face when he discovers that despite all of that, I've been keeping Chaz secret from him this entire week."
"Yeah...this really could be a problem..."
Sapphire remained silent for the next two minutes, just so that she can think to herself. She had already had an idea on how the three could work things out, but now that she was starting to think about it, especially after everything Katie had said, it seems like her idea might cause more farm than good. She gave it a few more seconds, before finally breaking the silence once again.
"You know...what I was going to suggest you to do was to invite Chaz over here so that he can meet your dad and try to talk things out..." Sapphire started off saying. "But...as much as it might be a horrible idea to you, I feel like it's best that you tell the truth to your dad about all of this."
"Excuse me?" Katie asked, clearly uneasy with this idea. "That's a terrible idea. My dad's going to be furious when he discovers that I've been lying to him for an entire week."
"I only said this idea because you and your dad seem quite close, but if you're going to turn down my advice...that's on you." The party girl said, before walking over to the bedroom door. Right before she could leave, she glanced behind her shoulder to look at the dentist once more. "Just keep my advice in mind though. With all the obedience your dad had taught you growing up, you owe it to him to be honest with him about this." She then faces forward and then exits the bedroom.
'Me...tell my dad I've been friends with Chaz without him knowing about it? Sapphire doesn't know what she's even talking about.' Katie said in her thoughts, before laying down to go back to bed. Her glare then turned into a face of restrained guilt as she thought about it some more. 'Although...I seriously hate it that I have to keep this secret from my dad for so long...' She glanced at the bedroom door for a second, before closing her eyes so that she can finally sleep now. 'That Sapphire girl is an enigma, I'll give her that much.'