The Smiths I Started Something I couldn't Finish

Disclaimer: As usual I don't own the characters and the song belongs to The Smith's… ah well.

OK so this was kind of an experiment as well. I had a very small snippet of an idea and I just wanted to sit down and let it flow, whereas the past few were a bit harder to write and seemed to come in sections. The idea for this one was harder to come by than the other ones though… Oh and I have no idea why they would be going on a road trip or where they're headed.

WickedWitchoftheSE heh great, glad you liked it. I like Catcher, but people do react rather oddly to it. (one of the members of school district made it his goal to get that book out of our libraries, which is rather odd as we had worse books, but oh well)

RavenMasteroftheTele: Thanks for all your reviews

Iuz the Old: Thanks, I'm glad you see that because it's what I'm going for.

Lady Pyrefly: thanks so much. I liked the dog joke too 

RoseMage: yeah sometimes I take a while and other times it doesn't take me much at all.

Jin Flows: Thanks I definitely work to be different from other writers, to have my own style. Thanks.

The lanes were silent
with nothing or no one around for miles
I doused our friendly venture
with a hard-faced
three-word gesture
I started something
I forced you into a zone
and you were clearly
never meant to go
hair brushed and parted
typical me, typical me
typical me
I started something
...and now I'm not too sure
I grabbed you by the gilded beams
that's what Tradition means
and now eighteen months' hard-labour
seems..fair enough

and I doused another venture
with a gesture
that was...absolutely vile

At the ripe old age of twenty-two Garfield Logan was able to form a new dislike. He had once thought that one of the worst things in the world he could ever have to do was to take a long road trip by himself. The silence would have killed him, of this he was certain. Today had proven him wrong though. The worst thing ever was to be sentenced to a long road trip with a very angry Raven, who was currently driving a rented Dodge Neon. The car's size only seemed to make the silence echo and reverberate throughout the car. He had tried to break it earlier by humming, but quickly stopped when he felt the car shake and watched as a black aura started to slowly close in around him.

He wasn't really sure, well, ok, fine, he was sure how it had started. It had begun when Raven had nearly gotten them killed by speeding through a very red light and a tanker truck had just missed striking Beast Boy's side of the car. As the truck had not hit them and they had not been pulled over for reckless driving, he would have normally shrugged it off, but today was different. Since today was different he found himself saying, "Your driving sucks." Actually he had shouted it and then began to go into the various reasons her driving was horrible, recounting each mistake she had ever made and each accident she had ever been in. He then finished with a reminder that it had taken her four years to get her driver's license and that perhaps another four years might aid her in her endeavor to become a better driver.

She had in turn retaliated by simply going silent. That had been nearly two hundred miles ago and they still had another three hundred left to drive. For the first fifty he had amused himself by trying to imitate the sounds of various animals he saw on the side of the road. This soon became boring though and so he simply twiddled his thumbs, while simultaneously arguing with his conscience. The argument went as follows:

'Don't you feel kind of bad for yelling at her?"

'No.'

'It's not like you've never made a mistake before.'

'Yeah, and she always yells at me, so why shouldn't I do it to her?'

'You're better than that.'

'Well I don't want to be better than that right now. I hate having to apologize to her all the time.'

'So you're not going to apologize?'

'Maybe later.'

After the argument he had tried calling one of the other Titans, but they had all been busy. He looked over at her and saw that a scowl had settled onto her face. He decided that this was not a good sign and that perhaps an apology of some sort was in order. He sucked in his breath thinking over what an apology to Raven would actually mean.

A few years ago he and Victor had been sitting by the pool looking out at the setting of the sun. This was not because they wanted to, but rather because they had played a joke on Raven that hadn't gone too well and as a result they had been thrown outside and the doors to the Tower had been sealed shut with… "Magic. Man, I hate magic," Vic said as he simply sat there, his brain computing all of his available options, all of which turned up negative.

Garfield simply nodded his head, too tired to be really mad. "We've gotta apologize," Vic sighed, giving up on anyway of getting through Raven's defenses.

"Yeah."

"I hate apologizing to her though, man. Apologizing to her is like…dragging yourself through broken glass. First you have to say I'm sorry."

"Then she makes you tell her what you did that was wrong," Gar said.

"Why it was wrong."

"Then, finally, why you were wrong for having done what you did in the first place."

"And you still get the cold shoulder for the next two hours," they echoed.

"It's like crawling on broken glass," Vic said, still looking at the sunset.

Gar nodded and after a minute turned to his friend and said, "You ready?"

"Yeah," Vic sighed again and pulled himself up, hoping they were ready for whatever Raven had for them.

That was the question though, was he ready? Yes, he had shouted at her because he had been scared and angry. Yes, he had hurt her feelings because he had let his emotions get a hold of him. Yes, he had been in the wrong. So maybe he deserved whatever Raven dished out. He took a deep breath and, "Raven?"

She merely glared at him and then turned back to the road. He had briefly forgotten she was the queen of grudge holding, which meant the apology was going to have to be even bigger.

"I'm sorry for um shouting at you."

She looked at him, lips tight, eyes clearly glaring daggers, then turned away. Slowly the car began to accelerate as Garfield began to gulp just a little. "I'm sorry for calling you a bad driver and for making fun of you and humiliating you and um...," he racked his brain for anything else he had done recently that he was sorry for, but couldn't come up with anything so he went on to the next phase. "I know it hurt your feelings and I shouldn't do that because you're my friend and I'm really, really sorry." Definitely not his best apology, but it seemed to calm her just a little. The scowl became a frown, but there was still silence in the car. He hadn't expected anything less though, so he simply let his chair back and stared at the ceiling of the car.

After ten miles she spoke. "You don't know why I'm mad do you?" It was a calm, clear question, something he hadn't expected at all.

"Uh no, I guess not," he said, easing his chair back up.

"I'm not mad because you yelled at me about my driving record. I'm mad because you didn't trust me."

"What? I trust you!"

"You didn't."

"I do too Raven!"

"Then why did you freak out when the truck almost hit you?"

"Because I…," he couldn't really come up with an answer. If he could trust Raven to put up a shield around him in battle, why not while they were driving?

"If I'm your friend then you shouldn't have to worry so much around me. It hurt that you thought I would let you get hit by a truck, that I would let you die."

"Raven," he said slowly, trying to make sure he would say the right words for once in his life, "I know you would never hurt me on purpose, but accidents happen right? I mean I'm not saying you wouldn't do everything in your power to make sure I was ok, but there are things outside of our control…and also you ran through a red light, which freaked me out, ya know?"

"I suppose," she said stiffly, looking somewhat uncomfortable and no longer attempting any sort of eye contact with him.

"I…I'm not even sure what to say. Raven you know I consider you one of my best friends, right?" He wasn't sure if he'd ever told her that or if he'd even said it aloud, but there it was for all to hear.

"Well it isn't like you have many options," she said after a moment, a small smirk on her face. "I'm still mad at you though."

"I know. I just thought you would want to know that you're…and that I…"

"I know," followed by silence, both letting it just hang there between them, neither exactly sure how to communicate feeling or even self for that matter, so they sat there till it faded.

After another fifteen miles, she looked over at him again. "Maybe I can allow you some slack on the silent treatment since we do still have a few hundred miles ahead of us."

"Yeah? How much," he asked, trying his best to keep the neediness out of his voice.

She paused and squinted her eyes, still focused on the road. "Another ten miles?"

"Sure, wouldn't want to damage your rep or anything." He used every muscle in his face to keep his mouth from erupting into a grin.

"Thanks."

"No problem."