Saturday, August 31st
8:00AM
Raven walks into the kitchen and fills her kettle with water. She puts it on the stove to heat up the water for her tea. She looks over to the living room and sees the TV on, a video game paused on the screen. She walks into the living room and sees Logan asleep on the couch, controller still in his hands. Raven turns off the game and TV then takes the controller from Logan and puts it on the coffee table. She kisses his forehead and he sleepily opens his eyes.
"Raven?" he murmurs, still partially asleep.
"Hey," Raven replies. "When did you go to sleep?"
"I think it was around 4," Logan says, sitting up. "What time is it?"
"Just after 8," Raven says. "You can go back to sleep."
"I'll eat breakfast with you since I'm awake," Logan says. He gets up and goes to the kitchen with Raven. Raven grabs her mug and a tea bag then pours the hot water from her kettle into the mug. As she waits on her tea, she puts a blueberry bagel into the toaster and grabs the strawberry cream cheese from the refrigerator. Logan grabs a box of cereal and pours it into a bowl then adds milk. He pours himself a glass of orange juice then sits at the kitchen island. Raven spreads cream cheese onto her toasted bagel, grabs her tea, then sits next to Logan. When they finish eating and put their dishes in the dishwasher, they go into the living room. Raven grabs her book from the end table and sits on the couch. Logan turns on the TV to a soccer game and turns the volume down low. He then lies on the couch with his head on Raven's lap. He falls asleep after 20 minutes. Around 10:00, the door to the living room opens and Raven turns around at the sound. Jenny walks in and sees Raven on the couch.
"Hi Raven," Jenny says, walking to the couch.
"Hi," Raven replies. "What are you doing here?" Jenny sits on the other end of the couch and Raven closes her book, setting it to the side.
"Wally and I had a fight," Jenny says. "Everyone else still asleep?"
"Logan and I are the only ones here," Raven replies. "Vic and Bee went on a long weekend trip up north and Kori and Dick are visiting Bruce."
"Did you tire him out last night?" Jenny asks, indicating Logan still asleep on her lap.
"No," Raven says. "We didn't sleep together last night. I went to bed early because I had a headache and he got a new video game so he was up all night playing it. He fell asleep around 4. He woke up around 8 when I turned off the TV that was still on."
"When did you last sleep together?"
"We haven't had sex yet, if that's what you're asking. Why were you and Wally fighting?"
"We were talking about you, not me."
"You're the one who showed up here unannounced. So we're talking about you."
Jenny looks at Logan who is still asleep. "Can we talk somewhere else? I don't want him waking up while we're talking."
"I can try to move without waking him up." Raven tries to slip out from underneath Logan but as she starts to lift his head and move, he wraps his arms around her waist.
"No," Logan moans, still asleep.
"Logan, it's okay," Raven says, running her hand through his hair. She continues trying to get up but Logan tightens his arms around her and buries his head against her stomach.
"Don't leave me," Logan says. "Please don't leave me."
"Okay, okay," Raven says softly. She sits back on the couch, rubbing one hand along his shoulders while the other is still in his hair. "I'm not going anywhere. I'm staying here. I'm not leaving." She continues to whisper reassurances to him to calm him down. After a few minutes, he loosens his arms but still leaves them around her. His breathing evens out as he returns to a peaceful sleep. Raven removes her hand from his hair but continues to lightly trail her other hand against his shoulders. She looks up to see Jenny staring at them.
"What was that?" Jenny asks.
"I'm not going to be able to move for awhile," Raven says, not answering the question.
"Obviously," Jenny says. "Care to explain what happened?"
"He occasionally has nightmares, though usually not when we're together," Raven replies. "I'm guessing that happened because we haven't slept in the same bed for the past few nights."
"Why not?"
"Different reasons. He's stayed up late playing video games or watching TV. I've worked on homework late."
"Why does he have nightmares?"
"His past wasn't the best. You know he lost his parents when he was younger."
"As we all did, one way or another."
"It was traumatic for him so he sometimes has nightmares about it. But you can't tell anyone I've told you that."
"I promise I won't."
"So what were you and Wally fighting about?" Seeing Jenny hesitate and glance at Logan, Raven continues. "Don't worry about him waking up. He's a fairly heavy sleeper."
"You know a lot about his sleeping habits."
"Stop avoiding the question."
Jenny sighs. "Fine. He wants to take a vacation somewhere for about a week but I told him we can't afford it right now. We both have jobs to pay our bills and save some money, but I'm going to start going to school part time at the community college so any extra money I make is going toward that."
"Where does he want to go?"
"I don't know. We never got that far. But his paychecks mostly cover our rent and utilities for the month while mine go towards groceries and other expenses. We save some money each month but not a lot."
"Well it's not like you guys do things like this often. From what you've told me, even dates you go on aren't very expensive. I think you should at least find out where he wants to go before saying no."
"So you're taking his side?"
"I'm not taking sides. I'm just saying that I'm sure he knows your financial situation and won't do anything that will make things hard to recover from. Maybe you can compromise. Maybe instead of going somewhere, you have a stay-cation and just do things here. Maybe even stay in a hotel a couple days just for different scenery."
"Maybe."
"How long have you two been together?"
"Off and on for 5 years. But we haven't broken up in 3 years."
"How many vacations have you gone on together?"
"We've done a couple weekend trips but never a weeklong vacation."
"I'm not telling you what to do, but I think you should go on vacation. But talk to Wally first. Make sure you're both comfortable financially and compromise if needed."
"I guess you're right. I'll talk to him. Now enough about me. You said that you and Logan haven't had sex yet? I thought he went down on you a couple months ago."
"He did. And we've fooled around since then. We just haven't gone all the way yet."
"Why not?"
"I don't know. I guess I kinda get scared whenever we get close to doing it."
"That's understandable, especially with your past experiences. But, and this is just my opinion, I think that if you are comfortable with fooling around with Logan, you can go all the way with him. You know he will do whatever he can to make it good for you."
"That is true. He's always made sure I'm okay with whatever we do."
"You trust him, don't you?"
"Of course I do. I trust him more than anyone else."
"Then you can trust him with this too."
Raven doesn't say anything for a little bit, just looks at Logan sleeping and brushes some hair from his forehead. She then looks back up at Jenny. "Thank you."
"Anytime. Now I have another question."
"What?"
"Have you told him that you love him yet?" Raven freezes and stares wide-eyed at Jenny.
"No. I don't know if I know what love is."
"Raven, I can tell: you love him."
"How do you know?"
"I see how you look at him and how you talk about him. You trust him more than anyone else. Everything you've told me about him shows that he cares deeply about you and will do anything he can to keep you safe and make you happy. He loves you too, even if he hasn't said it either."
"If you're sure he loves me, why hasn't he said it to me?"
"Maybe he doesn't want to scare you. When you two started dating, you told him you wanted to take things slow because of what happened with Malcolm. He's waited for you to tell him when you're ready to move forward. I think he's waiting for you to say it first because he doesn't want to pressure you."
"Who said it first: you or Wally?"
"Technically Wally, but he said it right after we got back together and had make-up sex so it seemed more of a heat-of-the-moment thing to me than true feelings. I told him I loved him on our 3rd year anniversary. The first two years we were dating, we broke up and got back together several times. By the time our 3rd anniversary came around, we had been back together for 4 months and we haven't broken up since then."
"Logan and I have only been together for 8 months."
"So? It doesn't always take years to fall in love with someone. I can see that you're in love with Logan, even if you're not ready to say it yet." Before Raven can reply, Logan shifts on her lap. He turns onto his back and opens his eyes, looking up at Raven.
"Hey Rae," Logan says.
"Hey," she replies. "Did you sleep well?"
"Yeah," says Logan. "Those extra hours helped."
"Maybe you shouldn't stay up so late playing video games," Jenny says. Logan lifts his head and sees Jenny sitting on the other end of the couch. He then sits up.
"When did you get here?" Logan asks. "Why are you here?"
"I got here around 10," Jenny answers. "And Wally and I had a fight so I left and came here."
"What was the fight about?" Logan asks.
"Doesn't matter," Jenny says. "Raven and I talked about it and I'll talk to Wally when I go home. Were you asleep the whole time?"
"Yes?" Logan says, confused. "I didn't even know you were here. You think I was faking?"
"Just wanted to make sure," Jenny replies.
"Okay," Logan says. "Well I'm going to go workout." He briefly kisses Raven then gets up and leaves the room. Jenny and Raven continue talking. They make lunch around noon and Logan joins them. As they are cleaning up their dishes, the door opens and Wally storms in.
"Jennifer!" Wally yells. "I've been looking everywhere for you."
"I was about to come back home," Jenny says.
"You left before we could even talk about it," Wally says angrily.
"I know," Jenny says. "I'm sorry. I was just—"
"Do you think I don't pay attention to our finances?" Wally asks. "That I would just want to go some place we can't afford?"
"No, I—" Jenny starts but gets cut off.
"I wanted to do something special for you since I was working on your birthday and our anniversary."
"Wally—"
"I took those extra shifts for you. So we could have some extra money. I wanted to take you somewhere nice since we've never gone on a vacation more than a weekend and our dates usually aren't much."
"Wally—"
"But you wouldn't listen to me. You just got mad and left."
"Maybe we should leave," Logan whispers to Raven. She nods and they slowly start walking out of the room.
"I'm sorry," Jenny says. "I—"
"Sorry?" Wally asks incredulously. "I wanted to take this trip to propose to you and make it special but you wouldn't let me talk. You just stormed out." Logan and Raven freeze before they leave the room.
Jenny looks at Wally, shocked. "What? You were…what?"
Wally sighs, anger leaving him. "I wanted to go on a romantic vacation and propose to you." He pulls a small box from his pocket. "I've been taking extra shifts for a while so I could buy you this ring and take you on vacation. I wanted to do something romantic to make it memorable and special. But I guess now is as good a time as any since you know now." He gets down on one knee and opens the box, revealing the ring. "I love you, Jenny. And I know we fight sometimes and don't agree on everything. And I know you don't think I listen to what you say when it seems like I'm not paying attention, but I am listening. I know we're young but I know that you're the only one for me. Will you marry me?" Jenny is staring at him, shocked, one hand covering her mouth and tears forming in her eyes.
"Yes," Jenny whispers. She clears her throat. "Yes, of course I'll marry you." Wally takes her hand and slips the ring on her finger then stands up. Jenny immediately wraps her arms around his neck and kisses him. Wally returns the kiss as his arms go around her waist. Jenny breaks the kiss and leans her forehead against Wally's. "I love you. And I'm sorry about earlier. I should've stayed and talked about it instead of getting mad."
"Well why don't we go home and talk about it? But maybe after we celebrate?"
"I think a celebration would be good." Before they kiss again, Logan clears his throat. They both turn and see Logan and Raven still in the room.
"Not that we aren't happy for you two, but I don't need to hear what you're going to do when you leave," Raven says. Wally and Jenny let go of each other, blushing.
"Congratulations," Logan says, moving over to Wally. They shake hands and pull each other into a hug then Logan hugs Jenny as well.
"I'm happy for you two," Raven says, hugging Wally. She turns to Jenny and hugs her. "I'm guessing you had no idea he was going to propose?"
"Not at all," Jenny confirms when they pull away from the hug. "I assumed the extra shifts were just so we would have some extra money saved up. We never really talked about marriage."
"Are you upset that he proposed now instead of how he planned?" Raven asks.
"Not really," Jenny says. "I'm sure it would've been romantic but this honestly seemed more like us. How we were fighting and things just get said unintentionally. It seems like that happens when our emotions are high."
"Like when I first told you I loved you and you didn't believe me?" Wally asks Jenny.
"We had just had sex," Jenny says. "You could've just been saying that because you loved what I did to you that night in bed."
"I always love what you do in bed," Wally says. "But I really did mean it when I said it."
"I know that now," Jenny says. "And I love what you do in bed too."
"Okay," Raven says. "I think that's your cue to leave before you start things here. Congratulations again. And Jenny, thanks for our talk earlier."
"Anytime Raven," Jenny replies. "Thank you too." They say their goodbyes then Jenny and Wally leave, leaving Logan and Raven alone.
"Well that was eventful," Logan says, moving over to the couch.
"It definitely was," Raven agrees, sitting next to Logan.
"What did you talk about with Jenny earlier that you were thanking her for?" Logan asks. Raven blushes and looks down.
"It's nothing," Raven says. "Girl stuff." Seeing as she won't answer his question any more, Logan changes the subject.
"Do you want to do anything today?" Logan asks.
"I'm fine with just a lazy day," Raven says. They decide to watch some movies, cuddling together on the couch. They order pizza for dinner then move to Raven's room after eating to continue their movie marathon. Partway through a movie, Raven falls asleep in Logan's arms, a content smile on her face.