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"There are wounds that never show on the body that are deeper and more hurtful than anything that bleeds."
Laurell K. Hamilton
"Just…" Raven placed a hand over her forehead and sighed. "Please leave. I can't deal with you right now."
"You used to love spending time with me, Raven. What happened?" he asked, taking a step forward and causing her to stumble back, hand slipping off the door handle.
"Malchior, I don't know how many times I have to tell you that we're over," she muttered through gritted teeth.
Malchior continued walking forward, practically cornering Raven in her own apartment. "I've asked you to forgive me countless times, Raven. What more do I have to do?"
"Leave," she narrowed her eyes and froze in her spot, fists clenched.
Malchior pushed her back on the couch and stared down at her, "Why won't you forgive me?"
"Just go away!" Raven jumped up and tried to push him back, but he snatched her wrists and held her in place.
"Leave her alone!" someone exclaimed from behind them and in the span of a second, Malchior was on the ground next to her. Dick held him down with an elbow to make sure he didn't move.
"Oh, Raven! Are you alright?" Kory hurriedly placed her arms around her, though Raven seemingly froze in place, silently staring forward. She felt nothing. No fear. No anger. No sadness. Nothing.
"Yes, this is Dick Grayson. I need an officer at ***** right away. I have a report on an intrusion and domestic abuse," she heard Dick talking in the background. "Yes, I have him contained."
"Friend?" Kory pulled her away and examined her. "Did he do something?"
"No," she finally responded by shaking her head. "No, Kory. I'm alright."
"Wakey wakey, eggs and bakey!" Garfield awoke to Victor's blaring voice. He groaned into his pillow and turned to his side. "Go away," he murmured.
"No can do, soldier. I'm here to stay," Vic replied, and Garfield felt him sit next to him on the bed. "You brought on quite a show yesterday, Gar. And you wouldn't tell me why."
Garfield groaned again and buried his head deeper into the pillow, "I don't want to talk about it."
"On other occasions, I wouldn't insist with you Gar but considering the condition I found you in yesterday, I really do want to know what triggered it," he continued.
Garfield removed his face from the pillow and turned to look at him, "I really don't want to talk about it, Vic."
"Was it something involving you parents? Or Tara? Or Jillian?"
"It had nothing to do with them," he sat up and knocked the back of his head on the bed frame.
"Then?" Victor asked again.
Garfield remained silent for a second before answering, "I ran into Raven after the party."
"Raven…" Victor furrowed his eyebrows, seemingly attempting to recall the name. "Oh, the elevator girl?"
Garfield nodded, "She was walking alone in the rain, I gave her a ride home but turns out she didn't have any keys so I brought her over to help…" he sighed. "I made a stupid mistake, slept with her, next morning we fought because she didn't want to talk about what happened or the fact that she was just using me to feel better."
"And then..?" Victor pushed on.
"And then," Garfield took a deep breath and closed his eyes. "She told me I was a hypocrite because I'm still caught up with Tara when I told her she couldn't deal with her feelings … which is true."
Victor nodded as he spoke. "And it caused you to spiral into an episode?" he asked.
Garfield remained quiet considering he already knew the answer to that statement. He shrugged, "I thought Raven was different. I guess there really isn't anyone perfect out there for me. Not after Tara…"
Victor sighed and rubbed the top of his head as he paced around the room. He hated seeing his best friend like this. It worried him to even leave him in the apartment by himself. Not after what happened last time.
"I'll tell you what. You need to get out of this place."
"And go where?"
"We need a guy's night out. No alcohol. No girls. Just our buddies and us hanging out, having some fun."
Garfield huffed, "And what do you expect to do?"
"We can head to a club with Roy and Wally or something. Just have a fun night out."
"You realize that's the opposite of no alcohol and no girls?" he groaned as he slumped back down. "Can't I just stay here?"
"Fine, how about we go out to eat, then? Better idea that way? We can just hang out, maybe go to a Bee's place after to see what she's got going."
"Bee always has something going on, and there's almost always girls and alcohol."
"I won't let you get near them though," Victor pointed out. He clutched Garfield's shoulder and forced him to sit up. "Come on. It'll be fun. I promise."
Dick accompanied the cops to take Malchior in after they arrived, and Kory stayed back to make sure Raven was okay because she clearly wasn't. Even after dozens of questions, Raven had barely spoken a word. Kory had already gone through all the motions, making her tea, sitting her on the bed, bringing her a comfy blanket and a pillow, yet Raven still wasn't talking to her.
"Could you at least tell me what happened?" Kory asked her yet again.
She knew her friend was worried, but she couldn't bring herself to talk at all. She was exhausted. All she wanted to do was lie down and never wake up. She was tired of faking her way through everything. After Malchior, everything had gotten more difficult, and she could barely stand her repetitive schedule. Even when the girls had attempted to take her out, it proved to be a bad idea.
"When I went to pick up those files for Dick, my phone was dead, and it started to rain. There was no way for me to contact anyone at all, and by chance," she took a deep breath. "This guy I met a few weeks ago showed up in his car."
"A guy?" She could hear the hope behind Kory's tone, and strangely enough, she could feel a tinge of it too, but she preferred to dismiss the feeling. She couldn't spiral into that hole. Not again. Not after she slept with him.
"His name is Gar. We met in an elevator…"
"Oh how romantic!" Kory squealed.
Raven sent her a glare, and she instantly shut her mouth.
"Sorry," she squeaked. "Go on."
"Much to say, he's an annoying doofus…" she breathed out and looked down at her hands, guilt overwhelming her yet again. She hated the feeling—like something was eating her out from the inside, reminding her that it was her fault, that it wasn't supposed to happen that way, that Gar was correct in saying she couldn't deal with her emotions. She had never been able to fully conquer them, not her. And then she had pinned it all on Gar, even after he'd refused to sleep with her after he told her she wasn't in the right mindset. But she had insisted because deep down, she knew she did it to forget about him for just a moment. A moment in which, dangerously enough, she had uncovered some other disturbing feeling she'd rather not acknowledge, a puzzling sentiment toward Gar himself. She didn't like it one bit. "But he's nice. He gave me a ride home, but I realize I didn't have my keys, and he didn't have his phone. There was no way to contact anyone, and it was too late to find the landlord to open the door for me. So he took me to his place."
Kory's expression shifted from hope to concern, "Did he..?"
"He didn't do anything bad if that's what you mean," she shook her head before looking up at her, eyes as vulnerable as they could get. She hated when she got like this, especially around other people, even if that person was Kory. She preferred to have her moments alone, locked in her apartment to break down by herself, without concerning anyone. Despite faking that perfect image, Raven was not perfect at all. She was a mess inside. "It was me who did something."
"What did you do?" Kory stared at her with furrowed eyebrows.
"I slept with him even after he told me not to, even after he told me about his dead girlfriend and after I told him about Malchior. I was hurting. I was somewhat dazed from the alcohol. I was tired," tears started streaming down her cheeks, and she turned away to prevent Kory from seeing her like that. Kory placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Tired of feeling so conflicted. My head is a mess. I don't even know what to think or what to do. I just wanted a break from my thoughts, and I saw the opportunity with him."
"And you regret it?"
It took Raven a moment to answer. Did she regret it? For sure, she regretted the way she had treated him the morning after. But did she really regret their moments together? After all, he'd been so caring, so gentle with the way he grazed her skin, ran his fingers through her locks, kissed her in such a passionate way, always asking her if something was okay. He was so loving in the way he had handled her. Surely, it didn't feel like just another fling. She'd had casual hookups before and never before had she felt so adored with any of them. It felt like…
Raven bit her lip, hard enough to draw blood. Kory noticed, and she was quick to bring her a towel. She gently patted the spot to clean her up as if Raven wasn't in the condition to do it herself. She really wasn't.
"I don't," she confessed after Kory put the towel down. "But I treated him really badly afterward. I went as far as to bring up his girlfriend. And I could tell he was really hurt. He told me to never come back to him."
"And you'll do what he told you to?"
After a second, she nodded. "I respect his wishes. I acted like an asshole. Besides, I don't deserve someone like him."
Kory breathed in and grasped her hand ever-so-gently. She sent her friend, her sister by heart, a faint smile, "I think someone like him might be exactly what you need, Raven, but I'm not one to tell you what to do. Only you know what's best for you, and only you know if you're ready to get out of this hole of despair you've trapped yourself in."
Raven simply stared at her, unsure of what to say. She was right. Kory was always right when it came to situations like that.
A knock on the door startled them both, and Kory got up to answer. When she opened the door, Karen practically paraded into the living room with a wide smile. "Ready for a girl's night out?"
Kory glanced at Raven before saying, "I don't think it's the right time for a night out, Bee."
"No, it's okay," Raven surprised them and herself by uttering that. But she smiled. Perhaps she was ready to take Kory's advice. "I'm sure it'll be fun."
"So are we contacting Bee after this to see if she has a party going on or what?" Roy questioned as he popped another fry into his mouth.
Garfield admitted it, the place was nice. They'd never been to this particular dinner to eat out. The food was pretty good, the music was great, and the ambient of people chatting was a nice change of scenery from his lonely apartment. But there were a lot of hot waitresses carrying beers around, and every time Garfield caught one in sight, he hurriedly turned away to resist the temptation.
"That's the plan," Vic nodded.
"Your plates will be out in just a few more minutes," the waitress who was attending them told them, sending a flirty smile toward Garfield before walking away.
"You see how she looked at you?" Wally laughed. "Lucky son of a bitch. You always get so much attention when we go out. I wish I had that many girls chasing after me."
"Not sure if Jinx would like that," Vic arched an eyebrow.
"Pfft," Wally dismissed him. "Jinx and I are off again. She found herself some bad influence boyfriend."
"I'm sure she'll come back to you. She always does," Roy added as he glimpsed at Gar. "I'm pretty sure they just get that casual hook-up vibe from Gar, probably why they're always swooning."
Vic elbowed him with a killer glare.
"Sorry, that was cold," Roy admitted and sheepishly scratched the back of his head.
"Don't worry about it," Garfield smiled and took a drink of his coke. "It's probably true. At least you guys get the committed ones."
"Don't say that, Gar. There's a girl out there for you. Just you wait," Vic patted his back.
Garfield sighed and stood up. "I'm heading to the restroom," he announced before walking away, but not before hearing a not so subtle, "Way to go Harper. That was messed up."
Admittedly, Garfield wasn't walking away just because of that. He just wasn't feeling up for a guy talk.
"Excuse me. Where's the restroom?" he asked the woman at the counter.
"Down to your left," she pointed to the hallway, eyes not glancing up from her notebook.
Garfield followed her directions, and when he spotted the door to the guy's restroom in front of the girl's, his eyes brightened. He just needed a little splash on the face, just to wake him up from his daze.
Faith is a funny concept, but at the moment, it derived no form of amusement for Garfield. He would've taken anything, running into a biker dude, one of his casual one night stand partners, even that one elderly lady he had accidentally stolen a seat from in the bus and had been too sheepish to stand up because it'd be awkward to offer it after minutes of sitting there like a dumbass, anything. However, what he didn't want to deal with was running into the current problematic person in his life.
"Raven," he stammered as she ran into him after exiting the girl's room.
She gaped at him, probably as unsure about the situation as he was. They had two options here, completely ignore each other and pretend it never happened or actually talk things through.
Considering Garfield had already acknowledged her, he had kind of already unintentionally chosen the latter.
"Gar," she nodded.
"What a coincidence," he muttered, standing there awkwardly on his heels holding his hands like a grounded child, avoiding her hypnotizing indigo eyes at all cost as if she were Medusa herself.
"What a coincidence indeed," she didn't take her eyes off of him.
Faith—Garfield had never been sure if he believed in it, but at the moment, life was doing nothing but convincing him that for whatever reason, Raven was meant to be in his life. Or perhaps it was just another messed up butterfly effect moment.
But he doubted that.
I mean, how many coincidences does it take for the butterfly effect to turn into destiny itself?
Date: Tuesday, July 30, 2019
A/N: I'll say what I said in the Glass note. I've been working on a novel for Camp NaNo this month which is why I haven't updated. It's been going great! I'm pretty sure I might finish it in a few months, and it'll take a few more to revise. I'm hoping to release it as a free e-book. It has a very similar style to my fanfictions, though it's completely original. It's a Mystery/Romance novel, my first one. I really hope I can gain your support on this. I'm very excited to share it! I hope you guys liked this chapter. It was a little hard to get into this particular mood. I feel like this story is a little more emotional than my other's. Thanks for reading!
Sanzojoe: Thank you! Fictional characters are practically what drive most of my motivation for anything, as sad as that is, and I get very attached to them! I'm glad you're liking the story! Thanks for reviewing :)
victoriagp2222: Thanks too! I have a passion for BBRae so that also helps the situation. Thank you for your support!
EvilGirl24: I am continuing it! Don't you worry! I hope you keep reading! Thanks for the review! :)
calisalex: Thanks for reviewing! I do try my best to smooth out my transitions. Sometimes it's a little difficult, and I have to get into the mood, but angst is practically my expertise lol
nyanya711477: I did not think that through, hah! I'm glad you mentioned it. The landlord let her in. I acknowledge it here during Kory's conversation to fix the plot hole. Thanks for the review!