Disclaimer: I do not own any part of Teen Titans.
Kori's POV
Kori had surprised her favorite girls by taking them to Crimson Black, their favorite hangout after school. She had finally mustered enough courage to confess her true feelings for Richard to her closest friends, her confidantes.
"Here's what you're going to do girl, you're gonna give that hot man of yours a little something to show that you love him. A gift or a card, anything. Hell write him a letter and tell him your feelings, if you too scared to face him." Bee's sincerity was one of a kind even if she was a bit feisty, though Vic wouldn't want her any other way.
But Kori felt a pang of queasiness at the revelation of having to proclaim her love to Richard. She wasn't quite sure how he would take the news, would he embrace it with open arms or would she receive a cold reception. This was the first serious relationship she had ever tangled in. Yet not completely satisfied with Bee's quintessential advice she offered, "Any other suggestions? Anyone…at all?"
"How about sending him a love-o-gram. You know the ones that dress up and go to their house and sing it to them." Terra nodded smacking her gum around smiling to all the girls as if she had given the best advice in the world.
"Terra it didn't work when you told me to do it for Vic and it ain't gonna work now." the ebony beauty seethed clearly remembering how that idea wasn't the smartest thing she'd ever done.
"I thought you said Vic liked the love bee love-o-gram." Terra pouted.
"Because of that stupid love-o-gram he made me swear I wasn't on drugs, Terra!" Bee glared at her. Kori shook her head at the dysfunctional sisters before her.
"Anyways moving on, Rachel what do you think? I mean you know Richard really well. How should I tell him that I…you know…"
"Kori if you can't even say the words to yourself, how can you expect to tell him?"
"Wow…she's deep." said Terra with a surprised tone pointing to the dark vixen.
"Just confront your damn fears already. You both deserve to be happy. It took me months before I came clean to Vic, and we've been happy ever since." Bee admitted smothering honey on her biscuit but let out a scathing cry when her phone began playing her newly downloaded ringer, 'Spread My Wingz and Soar'. "Damn, this man never leaves me alone!" she cried out.
"Yeah baby?" she switched to a faux loving accent. "Man you're going all out ain't you. This is supposed to be Richard's party not yours, Sparks." she teased with a smirk. "Aah…hell no! How did you get him to play? Wait why didn't you get him to play for mine!" she continued her with argument unmindful to the stares…
"Well I guess Bee's plan doesn't sound so bad when you think about it." she nodded to herself. "Then it's settled. I'll give him his gift at the party when we're alone and then we'll…"
"Hi girls!" boomed a shrieking voice. The now platinum blonde Kitten dangled over their table smiling widely.
"Kitten." they greeted with a wail of disgust.
"Well Kori I can't wait for Richie's party this weekend. I hear it's going to be huge. I take it you two will be there together."
"Of course they will." derided Rachel. Kitten looked at her up and down in repulsion at the sight of her.
"Nice shirt Retch…oops I mean Rachel." she laughed. Rachel looked down to her shirt which had the words 'Dark's Soul Mate' in big bold red letters. Approaching footsteps were heard from behind…
"Move it, you human mattress!" Kolette yelled from behind the blonde brat trying to make her way to Kori's table. She went to kiss her friends on the cheek greeting them as they stood not including Rachel, it wasn't something she was accustomed to. Kitten scoffed muttering 'teen freak' at their display of friendship and went on her way, laughing inside her mind at Kori's soon misfortune.
"So what'd I miss?" Kolette sat waving the waitress down.
Conner's POV
"I just didn't expect to feel this way again when I saw her. Shit it's been four years. How do you not get over someone in four years?"
"Conner, what did you feel exactly?" Donna asked.
"Like we were thirteen again. But she's changed so much, she sure grew up."
"As did you sweetie." she ragged.
"And she's even more beautiful than I remember." Conner sighed heavily looking out the window of Donna's kitchen.
"And you're forgetting she's in love." Donna added.
"With him, huh? Yeah she called me last night. We had a…good talk. He just better treat her right, or else…" he said more to himself.
"Or else what?" she breathed softly. "Look I know that you might feel something for her, but the best thing for you to do is let her be happy. And lets face it, Richard is the epitome of happiness to her."
"You're right…but then again you're always right." he was always enlightened by her wisdom.
"So are you going to go to Richard's party?" she said taking a sip of her coffee.
"Yeah, you?" he said after playing with the rim of his mug.
"Kinda have to. She keeps telling me some guy named Roy is dying to meet me." she rolled her eyes at the idea while Conner shrugged his shoulders.
Richard's POV
"No bro, I'm telling you this guy is the best mixer around. This party is gonna blow the roof off your castle." Vic shrieked in excitement rubbing his palms together.
"Let's not get too carried away alright. Bruce doesn't even know I'm having it." Richard stuttered nervously after seeing the tears of joy making its way from Vic's eyes.
"Don't worry we always hire a clean-up crew after every party we throw. This place is gonna look as good as the day he bought it." Vic waved off the problem.
"Uh Gar, don't you think that's enough green in your hair?" Garth questioned. Gar had just finished coloring the tips of his blonde hair in green dye. He looked at himself in the mirror of Richard's room running his hands through his wet hair blowing kisses at himself.
"Hey don't diss the do' Rachel loves it." he said pointing to his hair.
"Think again, Gar." Richard remarked jokingly.
"So did Kori make sure to invite this Donna chick?" Roy said from his position on the bed trying his best not to fall asleep. He was weary due to his archery lesson, something his father adamantly instructed he take.
"For the last time Roy, yes she invited her." Richard said impatiently as his head throbbed with pain as he changed the current song on his mp3 player.
Kori's POV
After taking Bee's advice she decided to special order Richard's gift days earlier. She had it custom made to her liking, therefore she was told it would take a couple of days before it came in. She only hoped he would like it when she would present it to him later on tonight.
Kori had entered the grand jewelry store hoping the order she had placed had arrived. A older woman garbed in conservative wear stood behind the counter and automatically recognized Kori. Once she reached the counter she handed the saleswoman her invoice receipt proving she had paid for it prior to today.
"Yes Ms. Anders it came in this afternoon. It looks exquisite if I may say so. And Fabergie is famous for its elegant style." she said before retreating to the back of the store. After about five minutes she returned with a small burgundy velvet box. She handed it over to Kori who smiled greatly at her. Kori slowly opened the box and grinned contently after examining it. This is so beautiful.
"Thank you Mrs. Leslie. I hope he likes it." she bit her lip nervously. Butterflies flew around in her tiny stomach anticipating his reaction once he saw it. It was nothing really but an aid in expressing what she felt for him. There was a lot of promise in this gift, a promise she hoped he'd return.
"Oh before I forget, here is the card you had ordered along with it. We had the lettering made in the font you chose, free of charge." she smiled.
"Thank you." She grabbed her card and headed out of the store. Reaching her car she carefully placed the gift in the passenger side. She glanced at the time on her car radio and gasped. She had not realized how late it was getting. She still had to get ready and pick up Donna and Conner, who was already with her at her home. She groaned inwardly knowing she would already be arriving late.
Richard's POV
With the bass of the music, the party-goers, and chanting of the drunken idiots, the noise was so loud Richard barely had a chance to hear the loud ringing coming from his phone. The orange lit screen informed him it was Kori calling him.
"Hey! Where are you, everyone and I mean everyone is here." he yelled out trying to escape the madness of people inside his home. Using his hand he covered his left ear hoping to make their conversation more audible.
"I'm sorry but I have to stop and pick up Donna and Conner first. We'll be there in about thirty minutes." she explained over the phone though he had trouble hearing her. He retreated outside only to find a noisy ruckus of people already occupying the pool area. He drew back to the garden area where it was surprisingly quiet and its peacefulness delayed.
"No don't rush just be careful. I'll see you when you get here." Richard hung up his phone and joined the guys who were separated all over the room. Trying to reach Gar he bumped into Terra.
"Where the heck is Kori?" she shouted over the loud music, her skye668bottle never leaving her hand. "She should have been here by now!"
"She's running late, she said she'd be here soon with Donna and Conner!" he shouted matching her tone. She nodded and decided to dance with Miggy who was hanging around next to his twin and his date, Kolette. Seeing how Gar was far within reach he changed course and traveled in Roy and Garth's direction, who were closer. He looked around and saw people he didn't even recoginze but kept a flat smile at them. He turned around swiftly after feeling a random party girl pinch his butt and found her grinning sexily at him. Argh, where are you Kori?
"It's chaos in here!" shouted Garth who had his black long haired horsemane up in a ponytail trying to shake off the clearly inebriated females off him.
"Son of a bitch! Someone just spilled their damn drink on me!" yelled out Roy. After hearing the echo of familiar voices, Richard found his way to his friends and knuckle punched each other.
"Hey guys, this shit is crazy. I didn't think there would be this many people." Richard said still eyeing around for any sight of ruby red hair.
"Hey where's Kori? I haven't seen her yet. I wanted to ask her to dance." Richard gave Roy an aggravating glance but shrugged it off. "She's on her way and yes with Donna." he answered before Roy could say anything else.
"Well Donna better get here soon, I'm losing out on all the available action here. So tell me is she hot?" Roy asked the host of the party.
"Who Donna? Yeah she's hot, just keep your pants on."
"That's exactly what I'm trying to avoid." Roy laughed shoving his friend jokingly. Richard rolled his eyes at his perverted friend.
"You know one day you're going to meet your match, then you'll be…"
"Hi Richard!" he heard behind him. At the shrill of her voice, his eye began its nervous twitch. He turned and came face to face with Kitten in a rather provocative pink dress.
"Hey Kitten." he said moodily, she being the last person he wanted to see right now.
"Wow you sure know how to throw a party." she winked constantly through the bulky mascara.
"Actually thank Vic, it was all his idea." he said not looking at her. At the moment the only thing he wanted was to be out of her range. "Well I'll check you later, have fun." he sidestepped to leave but felt Kitten grab his arm roughly stopping him.
"Actually I really needed to talk to you. Please!" she whined.
"Can it wait, I need to look for someone right now." he asked releasing his arm softly from her tight grasp.
"It'll take two minutes, I promise." she pleaded holding up two fingers signifying the minutes.
"About what?" he said growing flustered.
She motioned to the outside of the room and began walking. She looked back only to see Richard had remained in the exact same spot. "Come on Richard. It won't take long I promise." Richard shook his head knowing he shouldn't do this, but then Kitten probably wouldn't leave him alone the rest of the night until she spoke with him. He aversely followed her outside to the pool area. Richard was about to speak but…
"Before you say anything I just wanted to tell you I'm sorry." she made a sad face.
"You're sorry?…Sorry for what?" he was confused.
"All these years I've acted like I didn't like you, but now that I know you…you're a really cool guy. And I'm so glad Kori found someone as nice and as decent as you. She's really lucky." she added with forged kindness.
"Uh…thanks. I think." he uttered looking bewildered.
"And since Kori is a good friend of mine I want us to get along for her sake."
From the time that Richard and Kori started spending time together, her friends never liked Kitten and he couldn't blame them. But her sudden friendliness towards him was doubting or maybe she was really sorry. Besides Kori was probably one of the only people he knew that was civil to Kitten. In fact if it wasn't for her, Kitten wouldn't even be at this party.
"Look I even got us a drink to celebrate our new friendship." she brought two plastic drink cups up to view and handed one over to him. "So what do you say…to friendship?" she toasted.
Richard remained silent. The last thing he wanted to do was toast their nonexistent amity. After no response, Kitten began getting impatient.
"Look Richard I'm trying to be nice here. The least you could do is meet me halfway." she scolded.
Richard sighed and took his cup from her hand and raised it into the thick air cynically. "To friendship." he mocked and guzzled down the booze whole. Kitten smiled like a chesire cat and went on to sip her drink slowly.
Xavier's POV
Xavier had just gotten out of the shower drying off the beads of water befalling his muscular body. After receiving a call from a female he met at a bar days earlier, he was planning on meeting her, again. She was no one special but he had needs that needed tending to.
After their get together he would be meeting up with some friends later that evening. The sound of his phone resonated through the room. He wrapped the towel around his taut waist and went to answer the phone.
"Yeah?" he said while staring at the picture of the beauty that haunted his dreams every night.
"Honey, I can't believe I finally reached you." the surprise in her voice evident.
"What do you want?" his attitude along with his anger rose.
"I wanted to talk to you. It's been so long since our last conversation. I started to worry." she said her voice breaking down a little.
"You? Worry? About me? That'll be the fucking day and besides you know you're not supposed to call me. And quite frankly I don't give a damn about talking to you. So take the hint!" he slammed down the phone forcefully. Why should he care. She gave up on him long ago, so as far as he was concerned her feelings didn't matter.
He continued to dress himself choosing a classic black dress shirt with deep gray slacks. Being his favorite color, it had always brought out the lightness of his gray eyes. Looking one last time at the picture frame he grabbed his keys and headed toward his door. Once again his phone rang, he was pretty popular today. Not bothering to answer the phone this time he let the machine pick it up.
"Xavier…I know you're there. Pick up the damn phone! You think you can ignore me…well you can't! Pick up the phone!" the fieriness of her voice made Xavier laugh wildly. "I'm not going to let you treat me like this you as…." was all X heard before heading out the door and closing it behind him. Koma, hell will freeze over before I touch you again.
Xavier traveled down the end of the stairs when he ran into Edison. "Edison I'll be out for awhile. If father asks tell him I'll be back late."
"Yes Mister Xavier." Edison, the butler, said kindly. X reached the grand hallway that led to the front door. He passed a nearby mirror and did a quick check not expecting to hear a someone at the front door. It better not be for me, I'm already late. After the second knock he went to get the door.
Richard's POV
"Richard are you alright? You don't look so hot." Kitten asked staring straight at him.
It had been about twenty minutes since their discussion outside. He felt anything but alright. The room seemed as if it had began swerving in his mind while every word Kitten uttered was ignored. Her lips moved but little sound was heard. The ringing in his head increased and showed no signs of dying down.
"Kit..kat..kate…is the room spin…ning?" Richard began losing his balance quickly. He searched to find his friends for help but the only thing he saw was a blur of faces, unacknowledgable. He could hear Kitten ranting behind him following closely behind.
"Richard let me take you to your room. I think you're drunk." she offered.
"No I need to wait for Kori. Guh, I don't feel so good." he grunted woozily.
"Just let me just take you to you're room Ok? I'll tell Kori to come check on you when she gets here." she took ahold of his arm and placed it around her neck and shoulder. She started leading him out of the room and they ascended the stairs.
"I'm sleepy. I think I'm going to pass out." he said with his eyes fluttering to close. He would try to keep them open but it was becoming harder to do. They had finally attained to the top of the stairs, which was hard to do since Kitten had to support Richard's full weight by herself.
"Ok, which one is your room?" she huffed tired from all the exertion she used.
"That one." he slowly pointed to his door.
She continued to walk with him to their domain. With pleasure she opened the door and guided him in. Once inside she brought him to his bed and he plunged himself on it dazed and jaded, finally giving in to a deep, dark sleep. Kitten looked down at him in all his glory. He looked so tranquil as he slept yet tough as if the nightmare he was about have was anything but horrid to him. How she had longed for him. She grabbed her dress and pulled it over herself leaving her in her undergarments. She then climbed on top of the sleeping teen she adored. She kissed his warm lips forcefully. "You're mine tonight. The way it should be." she said quietly knowing he couldn't hear her anyways. After placing kisses on his neck, she then went to unbuckle his belt tugging it off. She grinned as she undid his zipper…I'm sooo going to love this!
Kori's POV
"Kori, I hope Richard won't be mad. We're forty-five minutes late!" Donna shouted with Conner following close behind. Kori, who decided to wear a stylish light blue strapless three tiered short dress, simply smiled holding on to her gift.
"Donna, Richard already knows. Don't worry." The threesome traveled up the crowded entranceway making their way around all the cars parked there. If the lights and music weren't sign enough, the blasting sound of cheering and ruckus could be heard.
"Well the party sure started." Conner commented fixing the collar from his polo shirt.
Once inside Kori heard 'hey' and 'hi's here and there. After introducing Donna and Conner to some of her school acquaintances, she went to find her close friends.
"Rachel, Gar! I want you to meet some friends of mine." she yelled introducing her old longtime friends to her recent good friends. The introductions were short but they enjoyed each other's company.
"Has anyone seen Richard? I've been looking all around for him?" Kori shouted trying to drown out the noise still glancing in the crowd. But no still no indication of her boyfriend anywhere.
"I saw him earlier but I lost him." Rachel stated then saw her move around a package in her hands.
"Hey is that the uh…" Kori nodded in response to her question. "Maybe you should put it up before you lose it or before one of these jerks break it." she motioned to the mass of people around.
"Good idea. I'll leave it in his room. I'll be back." she hollered once more before heading up the stairs.
She reached his door but knocked lightly before entering. "Richard? Hey you in there?" she called but there was no answer. She entered his dark quarters and already knowing how things were placed in his room, she went up to his computer desk and placed it down with care. Although there was little light, she hadn't bothered to look around since it seemed she'd be violating his privacy. She turned to head out the door until she heard a lustful moan.
"I love you Richard." a voice said softly. Kori stopped dead in her tracks with widened eyes and ears. She remained frozen for several seconds forcing herself to turn in the direction of the voice. And she knew exactly who that voice belonged to, the shrill… the echo. She walked near his bed and saw the two huddled underneath his sheets. Richard layed underneath her while her naked body touched his, sending kisses to his well-developed chest.
Kori was in total shock. Her jaw dropped to the ground as her lungs found it hard to breathe. She felt as she was about to hyperventilate at any moment now though she couldn't yell, she couldn't mutter any sound…just stare. Her eyes became filled with tears at the image before her. She cherished him, she adored him, she loved him for Christ's sake. I should have known…he made me happy, of course I should have known. Her heart panged with hurt and betrayal. Her pain cut through her like a knife. And like that she was out of there like a bat out of hell, just as quietly as she had entered. She ran out of the door, down the stairs and was about to run out of the party. She felt someone grab at her trying to stop…
"Kori what's wrong?" Rachel asked desperately noticing the girl in a stream of tears. Kori only looked up to Richard's room and back to Rachel. As a never ending sea of emotions coursing itself through her body, she couldn't bring herself to tell her.
"I have to get out of here!" she released her grip from her and ran out the door.
"Kori wait!" she shouted again, but to no avail. She had exited the manor and finally reached her car and started it up. She was desperate to leave and peeled out of the driveway and drove. In truth she had no idea where she was going, anywhere but here. Her drive continued for about half an hour, her nonstop tears were making it hard to focus. She came upon a familiar home and not thinking clearly, she made a sharp right turn. She entered the known driveway but why she'd never know. All she knew was that she needed to speak with someone, anyone. She got out of her car and hurried up to the front door and banged on the door. Then as it opened she heard…
"Kori?" the voice full of surprise and worry.
"Xavier…he lied to me…he broke his promise."
Ok, ok I'll give you five seconds, 1...2...3...4...5... Are you done yelling at me yet? And some of you might think that I'm making Kori too soft but trust me like a lot of people who reach their breaking point, she will too. But who will she vent out her fury on…you'll find out soon. And if some of you are wondering what really happened with Richard and Kitten, it will be explained in later chapters. Oh and thanks for voting about what to do with Conner…you'll see what won (I got a lot of PMs on that one).
I decided to have a little fun with this chapter and some of my loyal reviewers might happen to see their names hidden in this story…just a little way of saying I appreciate your reviews. If your name isn't found its prob because I couldn't find a way to fit it into the story…but don't fret there will be the next chapters for me to squeeze it in somehow. And my new reviewers: Skyler-A-Teloiv, tvdramamaster…thanks! Until next chapter…
On a side note, I don't know why but listening to Depeche Mode's Enjoy the Silence gave me some inspiration on this chapter…weird huh?