"Hello?" Eli said into the phone, sounding somewhat surprised. "Hey, Eli, it's Raven," Raven replied, trying to sound casual. "Oh, hi. What's up?" "Well, actually, I was just wondering what you were doing tonight, you know, if maybe you wanted to come hang out or something," she said, trying to disguise the pleading in her voice. "No, no. I mean, no, I'm not doing anything. I can hang out, sure," Eli said quickly, trying to disguise the excitement in his voice. "Great!" Raven said, bouncing on her tiptoes. She was ecstatic that she wouldn't have to be alone, feeling like this. "So did you want to come over, or go out someplace?" Eli said, trying not to sound too eager. Just casual, friendly. "Actually, I was sort of hoping you could come over here," Raven said slowly. Gosh, I hope I'm not leading him on or anything!, she thought. "Yeah, okay. I can do that. But, what about Danny? I mean, why did you call him, or Christina? To what do I owe this pleasure?" Eli asked curiously. Raven sighed and began to twirl a strand of her blonde hair around her finger. "Well, Danny had this thing with his Mom, and Christina's been kinda sick lately," she said testily. "Oh, I see, so uh, I'm like, third on your list?" Eli crooned suavely, teasing. "No! No, not at all! I-" Raven exclaimed, panicked that she'd hurt Eli's feelings. "Relax, Rave! I'm just kidding, I'm sorry! Calm down!" Eli laughed. "I'll be over in a few minutes," he said, and hung up. As soon as she'd gotten off the phone, Raven rushed around the living room, trying to de-romanticize it as much as she possibly could. It was a tough mission, considering Alison's ravishing decorating job. The living room of the small condo was draped in deep purples and creamy ivories, complete with plenty of candles and floral adornments, as well as tons of black and white photographs strategically located at various places. There were pictures of Raven, of course, ranging from birth to last month, pictures of Alison herself, pictures of Jamal, pictures of Jamal and Ali together, pictures of the three of them together, pictures of Kevin, Lucy, and Christina, pictures of Danny and Raven, pictures of Livvie, Jack, and Eli, even a Glamour Shot of old Amanda Barrington, who'd passed on nine years before. Raven's favorite picture of she and Danny was displayed in a silver frame above the fireplace. It was of the two of them on their one year anniversary, which had been five and a half months ago. It was a close-up shot, that showed only their ribcages up, but it was adorable. Danny was laying his stomach on the ground in Alison's garden, surrounded by pink and white roses, and Raven was laying on her stomach on top of his back, her head resting gently on his, her arms wrapped around his shoulders, and their hands were entwined. They both had the most genuine smiles on their faces, and looked as completely and totally in love as they were in real life. The reason it was Raven's favorite was because right next to it hung an identical photo of her parents, Alison and Rafe Kovich. They were in the exact same spot, the exact same position, with the exact same euphoric expressions. The only difference was that they were facing the opposite direction, so it looked as if the two young couples were looking at one another. Raven had spent countless minutes staring at that photo. After stopping to gaze at the photograph of her parents for a moment, Raven resumed her mission to platonicize the living room. She wondered if she should change her outfit: was a yellow sequined tube top paired with black capris too..sexy? She decided it would be fine. She then called Eli back to ask him to bring a movie. A comedy, not a romance. At 8:30, Eli showed up with pizza, pop, and the movie 40 Days and 40 Nights. Raven briefly panicked because of the movie's sexual nature, but it would be fine. Eli would be cool. And he was. For awhile.