"Oh, no, and everybody's got to live their life
And God knows I've got to live mine
God knows I've got to live mine
William, William it was really nothing
William, William it was really nothing
It was your life ...

How can you stay with a fat girl who'll say :
"Oh ! Would you like to marry me?
"And if you like you can buy the ring"
She doesn't care about anything
Would you like to marry me?
And if you like you can buy the ring"

Disclaimer: I don't own the characters and the song "William, It Was Really Nothing" belongs to The Smiths. Oh well…

Author's Note: You might say how does this piece of the song relate to the story? Well to me the song seems to be about simply just settling for anybody to have a relationship with and it not really ending up so well, but then again that's just my interpretation of the song.

Iuz the Old: yeah the last story didn't end quite the way I wanted to, but I'm glad you enjoyed it.

RobinlovesStar: yeah I have no idea why I thought Raven would be a bad driver, but I just get that vibe from her character. Thanks for the review!

WickedWitchoftheSE: Thanks for the love!

Lady Pyrefly: Thanks as always.

Ravenmasteroftele: Not sure if this counts as soon, but I tried to be for what that's worth, hope you like it.

RoseMage: Thanks so much as always.

SxStrngSamurai13: thanks, I really do want to write BB and Raven outside of their normal situations and their typical conversations. Hopefully this one worked as well. Thanks so much for your honesty and your in depth review.

Now on with the story…

"She's the one," Garfield said while staring at a young petite volleyball player, who was currently oblivious not only to the boy's attentions, but oblivious to him as well.

"Really," his friend said dryly, unsurprised by his comment as it was one he often made when they were out together.

"Definitely, I mean she's got a killer personality, looks hot in a bathing suit. What more could I ask for?"

"Substance," Raven said after taking a sip. At some point in their friendship it had become her job to keep him grounded, while his was to drag her kicking and screaming into experiences and relationships she most likely would never have had otherwise. This particular outing was an example of the latter, while what she knew would soon become a quick criticism on the subject of her friend's staring, if not a full blown argument, would be an example of the former. It was a symbiotic relationship, though she believed he enjoyed his job more than she did hers.

"She's got plenty of…substance," he said, trying not to drool all over himself as he watched the girl go up to spike the ball and then totally miss.

Seeing the glazed look come over her friend Raven decided to change her tactics on quickly killing her friend's potentially destructive, not to mention humiliating fantasy. "According to most relationship experts there are close to ten thousand women or men that a person could meet and have a successful relationship with."

That one had apparently been enough for Gar to at least lose his focus on the girl for a few seconds. "Maybe, but what's the chance I'd actually meet any of those ten thousand women. Now this one," he said with a point towards the volleyball court, "I see and will now meet." He got up and gave his friend a casual wink before making his way down towards the beach.

Raven simply let him go, knowing full well that her younger friend often felt the need to learn things the hard way.

Two minutes later the waiter arrived with their food and watched as a green young man in his twenties began to make his way off the beach.

"How was I supposed to know the guy holding her stuff was her boyfriend," he said sheepishly as he walked back to their table.

"Yes well, kissing somebody doesn't always mean anything now does it," she said, laying on the sarcasm.

"Oh come on some brothers kiss their sisters."

She stared at him for a moment before saying, "Don't play dumb."

"You know you like it Rae," he said with quick wink and a smirk.

His ability to bounce back from disappointment had always been a wonder to Raven and at the same time something she was extremely envious of. "Hardly. You know you'd probably have an easier time meeting women if you were more realistic about it."

"What do you mean," Gar said as he began to squirt ketchup over his fries and Veggie Burger.

"Perhaps you should allow more than two minutes of staring at a girl to help you make your final decision on a girl's character and what she might or might not be in your life."

"Think three minutes would do it," he said, happily popping a French fry into his mouth.

Raven for her part, ignored his comment and continued on, "Take for example the girl you were staring at earlier. What do you see in her?"

"Sub-" a quirk of his friend's eyebrow let him know she was serious, "blonde hair, tan skin, an OK smile, nice bathing suit."

"An OK smile?"

"Yeah it's not great, but…"

"Why would you be interested in somebody who only has an OK smile?"

"Well not everyone can have a great smile Rae."

"Do you want a great smile?"

"Well…yeah I guess."

"What else do you want," she said, sipping from her tea again before cutting into her quiche and watching the steam rise ever so slowly. Small things like this made her happy.

"Physically," he asked, enjoying the conversation as it did focus on him after all.

"All of it, personality, physically, mentally," Raven said, as she took a bite of her quiche, letting the taste roll over her tongue then swallowing.

"I want…a great smile and great eyes-"

"How do you define that?"

"I dunno…"

"Well you must have some basis for what great eyes and a great smile look like."

"Yeah, I guess," he said as he tried not to look too hard at Raven's eyes or her lips.

"So…"

"I'd want her to be fit," he mumbled with a mouthful of food, then swallowed. "I'd want her to be smart because I'm not, but not so smart we can't talk. I'd want to be able to have fun with her, not like that Rae," he finished with a smirk, causing his friend to blush ever so slightly. "I'd want to be able to hang out with her, but she needs to be independent because I don't want to be suffocated and also…if I die I'd want her to be able to make it on her own."

She'd never heard her friend even admit that death was a possibility for him. To tell the truth she hadn't even seen it at as an option for Garfield. The two just didn't go together. She had always believed he would continue to stay the same age, making the same dumb jokes, dragging her out of her room, making sure she had a birthday party whether or not she wanted one…till the end of time. She looked at him closely for a moment and saw that he had changed since they were children, his face less round. His smile was less goofy; more purposeful than before. "OK let's take some of the attributes you just listed and apply them to the girl you just hit on. You've already said she doesn't have a great smile. How about her eyes?"

"They're ok," he said. Now that he thought about it the girl's eyes had been a simple shade of brown, nothing really special about them.

"From what I've read of her emotions she's rather needy. What about her intelligence?"

"I don't really know her so…"

"That brings me to my second point. You might want to actually know a girl before you go around calling her 'the one'. You don't want to just waste your time on any girl do you?"

"But it's been so long since I've had a date. I'm going crazy here, Rae."

"You dated a hot dog vendor last week," she said.

"Yeah I did, didn't I? Can you do me a favor and not tell anyone else about that?"

"If you promise to take your time more when choosing a potential date then I promise that the hot dog vendor stays a secret."

"OK," he said. "What about you?"

"What about me?"

"What are you looking for in a guy?"

Raven leaned back in her chair, not particularly enjoying the role reversal, but believing it to be a fair one. Briefly she mused on the few relationships she'd had and the occasional date and then finally, "Someone who…I want someone mature, but not arrogant. I want someone who's," she paused briefly to keep the word 'fun' from escaping from her mouth, "-who has a jovial demeanor. They need to have-"

"Substance?"

"Yes."

"You didn't say they had to read a lot."

"No I suppose I didn't."

"Why?"

"I…the last few men I've dated were well-read, but they…the relationships weren't balanced. I don't want to have everything in common with my boyfriend. I used to think that I wanted to talk about books all the time, but now that I've actually had the opportunity it's not as much fun as I thought it would be."

"Oh…so what about looks? Don't tell me you're not lookin' for a hot bod."

She rolled her eyes, but chewed thoughtfully on a bite of quiche before answering. "I like skinny guys with a little bit of muscle, but not a lot. I like dark hair and soulful eyes."

"Goths?"

"No."

"You just said skinny guys with black hair."

"No, I said skinny guys with dark hair. Dark and black isn't necessarily the same thing. Besides a person can be skinny, have dark hair and still not be Goth."

"What's the difference between dark and black?"

"Dark isn't a color it's a description of a color. You can have dark blonde hair or dark brown hair," or even dark green hair she admitted to herself.

"Oh, so anything else?"

"Well, as long as the guy can put up with me, and has the other attributes I listed then I'd be perfectly happy."

"Psshh like putting up with you is some great challenge."

"You think it's easy?"

"Sure, just throw a couple copies of Dostoevsky's latest-"

"He's been dead for quite a while now."

"Fine, throw a couple copies of The Idiot at you, a little bit of TLC, maybe a few romantic gestures without seeming too creepy and you'd be like putty in any man's hands."

"Oh, really? You think I'm that simple?"

"No, the TLC bit is kind of hard to come by. They probably have to caress your face at just the right speed, gaze into your eyes just long enough. You're complex like that. You'd have to let them hold you too, which means they would have had to have gained your trust, which isn't the easiest thing in the world to do."

"And yet you managed it," she said, not meaning to have let the words slip out. There was nothing awkward in its phrasing though, or even in the way she looked away ever so slightly.

"And yet I managed it," he agreed as he took a sip from his glass and briefly wondered how they'd gotten where they were at. He smiled, making eye contact with her for the first time that evening. She allowed herself a brief smirk and enjoyed the silence between them.