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She Will Be Loved

Chapter 5: Long Distance

By Love Ink

Raj sat back in the chair he was sitting in at Angela's kitchen table and looked at her. She was studying from one of her textbooks, her left finger dragging across the page, lips forming the words as she silently read over the material, her right hand furiously writing out notes. He loved seeing her like this. Nose deep in a book, pen in hand, her brain working a mile a minute. It was that brain of hers that had attracted him at first. He'd run into her in the elevator of their building, her arms stacked high with books. It'd been a meeting straight out of a romantic comedy. He'd run into her, knocked all of her books out of her arms, and they'd met eyes as he helped her picked them up. He'd been shocked to find calculus and physiology books mixed in with some reading books. Books he actually had read and loved. The rest was history. He was head over heels before he could stop himself. "Ang," he called out, catching her attention.

She lifted her head, a shocked look crossing over her face as if she'd forgotten he was there. "Huh?"

"Do you know how stunning you are at this very moment?"

Angela rolled her eyes at him, a soft laugh escaping her lips. "You're crazy. I haven't washed my hair today, I'm wearing no make-up, and I'm pretty sure I have pen somewhere on my face."

He chuckled. She was right; she had a long line of blue pen going down her cheek. "Still stunning."

"You're just into nerdy girls. I should buy some of those non-prescription glasses. Get my librarian on. Bet that'd really turn you on," she teased, winking at him.

The image of her with glasses on made his pants a little tight. He grinned at her and shrugged a shoulder. "Maybe," he said, tapping his pen against his book. "What are you studyin' anyway?"

She frowned, her brows furrowing together. "Organic chemistry," she answered, rubbing at her eyes. "It's fuckin' hard though."

"Why do you need that for mortuary science?"

Angela shrugged a shoulder. "I don't. I'm taking an extra year and extra classes to get a degree in Biology and stretching out my mortuary science programs throughout. Otherwise I woulda been gone last year. That way if this mortuary shit falls through, I have a broader degree to fall back on."

"Smart. How did I not know that?"

"Was Juice's idea," she admitted on a little shrug. "When we first met, I told him I'd probably be around for two years to finish this degree, and he thought it was dumb of me to spend all that money for something so specific."

Raj smirked, shaking his head slowly. He knew why Juice had told her to seek out the four year degree; he hadn't wanted her to leave New York. Raj wasn't blind, he knew the guy had feelings for her, but she either didn't know about them or didn't want to acknowledge them. The only reason he didn't mind Angela and Juice spending so much time together was because at the end of the day, she came home to him. He trusted Angela implicitly and knew loyalty was one of the things she valued most. If she wanted a romantic relationship with Juice, she wouldn't go behind his back with it. She'd told him all about the cheating boyfriend she had in the past and insisted she would never put anyone through that type of pain. "Think he might've just wanted to keep you here longer."

"Maybe. Worked against him now. He's there, and I'm still here," she commented with a small, almost sad smile. There was a distant look in her eyes for a moment, her mind no doubt on her friend. She shook her head, sighing softly. "But I think he's doing well over there."

"I'm sure he's just fine," he assured her, reaching out his hand and setting it over hers. "You talk to him lately?"

"Yesterday. We're both terrible with this time difference shit."

Raj chuckled. "Its only three hours, love."

Angela laughed and shrugged. "I know! But we keep missin' each other. It's ridiculous. I feel like we've had full conversations over voicemail."

"You miss him?"

"A little," she answered, looking back down at his hand on hers. She pushed away from the table walking over to him and letting him pull her into his lap. "But I have you, so I'm okay."

Raj smiled at her, moving a stray hair from her face and giving her a soft kiss. "That's good to hear. Sometimes I wonder if I'm not enough for you," he said, voicing his biggest fear. "Like we worked because you had Juice to give you some excitement."

She rolled her eyes at him, her fingers raking through his dark hair. It was longer than normal, slightly curled at the ends, and a total mess from him playing with it while he studied. It was a nervous habit of his she doubted he even noticed. She loved it. Loved the soft tresses and the clean smell of him. How could he wonder if he wasn't enough for her? "He was just run out of New York. That's a little too much excitement for my taste," she assured him with a smile. "I don't need that kind of excitement. I need safety and security. I need to know my man will come home at night instead of having to stay up worrying."

"I do come home late," he pointed out.

"You come home late from the office. Not from some drug deal. At least I know you'll come home alive. I love that."

Raj smiled, leaning up to kiss her again. "You love that I'm boring," he teased with an amused smirk.

"I do," she answered on a nod. "And you're not always boring. In fact, sometimes you're pretty exciting."

He chuckled, his hand slipping underneath her shirt; he knew exactly what she was getting at. Somehow he managed to keep a hold of her and get to his feet. She squealed in surprised, clinging to him out of fear of falling. He set her down on the table, on top of his books and notes. "I'll show you exciting," he murmured, moving between her legs and capturing her lips with his own in a searing kiss.

"Your notes are going to get smeared," she murmured, making no move to stop him as he unzipped her over-sized hoodie.

He pushed it off her shoulders, going for the little tanktop she was wearing underneath next. "Don't care. We'll ruin them. Re-writing them will just reinforce the material."

She laughed at him, shaking her head as her legs moved around his hips. "Nerd."

"Damn straight." Raj took a minute to look her over. Her eyes were dark with lust, hair a mess, as books and papers surrounded her. He could not love her more. "And a lucky one at that."

Juice had to fight to keep his eyes open as he dragged his feet up the stairs to Angela's old room. His first day at the garage was a relative success as in, they'd worked him to the bone and seemed to tolerate his presence. His mind was spinning with all the information he'd learned from the other mechanics at TM. The Sons didn't come near him. They were all busy with their own cars and interacting with each other, they didn't pay him any mind. The only time they even talked to him was when Gemma introduced them to him. So many new names it made his head spin. Most of them gave him a once over, shook his head, and went on with their business. Clearly, he hadn't impressed them much. They hadn't rejected him, though so that was a plus.

He considered the clean bed for a moment before catching a glimpse of himself in the mirror. He was filthy. Covered in sweat and grease. Grimacing, he headed to the bathroom instead to shower. The hot water felt amazing on his sore muscles, and he found himself staying under it until it ran cold. He was thankful Elena and Graciela were already asleep; otherwise, he'd have felt like a selfish asshole for using all the hot water. Pulling on a fresh pair of boxers, he grabbed his little black burner off his bedside table. He checked the time and frowned; he'd been hoping to call Angela, but he had a feeling she was already asleep.

Sighing, he threw himself onto the bed and stared at the ceiling, exhausted beyond belief yet still unable to sleep. For some reason, all he could think about was Angela. She'd be so proud of the way he'd handled today. He could imagine the way her eyes would light up as she listened to him talk about his day, the smile on her face beautiful and genuine. Closing his eyes, he pictured her face, a sudden warmth taking over him as he felt all of his blood rush to one area as the innocent image of her smile changed into less innocent fantasies of her in his bed, her lips on his, her skin against his. Groaning, he reached a hand down to his boxers and then his phone went off.

"Shit," he grunted, trying to think of something else—anything else—to distract him from the situation happening in his boxers. He reached out for the phone and panicked a little when he saw her name across it. Had she somehow known he was thinking of her? Blushing, he flipped open the phone and put it to his ear. "Hey Angel! Was just thinkin' about you!" he breathed before mentally smacking himself. That was a weird thing to say and definitely hinted at the dirty thoughts that had just been racing through his mind.

"Really? What a coincidence," she replied, and he could hear the smile in her voice. "I was just thinking about you too. How was your first day?"

Juice knew the ways he'd been thinking about him was definitely not the way he'd been thinking about her. "Good, I think. I dunno. Spent most of it with this lady, Gemma, lookin' over my shoulder while I tried to fix the computer. Then I followed around one of the mechanics and kinda started messing with the cars."

"Oh yeah? Heard a few things about Gemma. She sounds real scary."

"Yeah, she's not for the faint of heart, that's for sure. But I think I got on her good side when I fixed her computer. She'd downloaded some malware thinking it was software update."

Angela laughed. "I'm sure she's gonna love you. My cousin and Kozi around?"

"Koz was in the beginning, but he left. Said something about a run of some sort. Not really sure where. He was really nice, though. Talked me up a bit."

"He better. He's a great guy."

"Yeah, you got good family over here," he told her.

Her sad sigh made him frown. "I know. I miss them all," she admitted softly. "I um...I got a 'B' on my O-chem test thanks to that math trick you taught me."

"Learned it from a drug dealer, actually. Well, he made them. One of my Ma's boyfriends, actually. Helped me a lot in chem in high school," he explained. Pablo was the closest thing he'd had to a father while he was in high school, and he'd wished the guy had stayed around longer. "Helped me pass high school Chem with flying colors."

"Are you serious?"

"Yeah. Crazy right?"

"That's awesome," she said on a laugh.

"But a B, huh? That's great, Angel! Not too bad for a drug dealer's trick! Congrats!"

"Thanks. I owe it all to you, dude."

Juice felt a hint of pride at her words and grinned. "Nah. You're smart, Angel. Just need to look at things another way sometimes."

"Guess so," she answered around a yawn.

"Why you up late tonight? More studying?"

Angela was quite for a moment before she sighed. "Actually stayed up late to talk to you. See how your first day went."

Juice felt his heart swell with love for her. "Thanks. I appreciate it." He couldn't stop himself from smiling at her kindness. "What do you got planned for the rest of the week?"

"Got a friend coming in from California. Lino. He just quit college, so he's kinda been lookin' for something else to do. I told him to get his ass over here for some fun."

Lino. Another guy. Angela seemed to be friends with a lot of guys. "Oh yeah? He an old boyfriend of yours?"

"Nah, I've known Lee since I was three years old. He's my brother. We used to take baths together."

For some reason, he felt a little jealous of this Lino guy; he'd gotten so much more time with Angela. "Sounds like fun," he said before quickly backpedaling. "Him coming to visit...not you two taking baths together. 'cause that'd be a weird thing to say."

She laughed loudly. "Goof! We did have fun in the bath though. 'course our Moms made us wear swimsuits so it wasn't weird."

"That's good," he said, fighting against a yawn and failing.

"Go to sleep, Juice," she told him around a yawn of her own. "We can talk tomorrow."

Juice frowned, running a hand through his hair. "But we won't."

"I know. We're bad at this long distance shit, huh?"

"Not that bad. I mean, we're talkin' now, right?" he replied, trying to make light of it. He didn't want to lose these late night phone calls. Hearing her voice made all the hard days worth it. "Don't give up on me, Angel."

She scoffed, and he could picture the scowl on her face. "Never gonna happen. Might fall asleep on ya though."

"That's all right. I'll just listen to you snore."

"I don't snore. You snore," she shot back. "Really loudly too. I can hear it from my room when you sleep over."

"Sorry."

"Don't be. Kinda miss it in a weird way," she admitted softly. Juice felt his heart sputter in his chest; she missed his snoring. She missed him being close. He could go on for days about the little things he missed about her, but he never thought she missed specific things like that about him. He didn't know how to reply to it, leaving a long, strange silence. She cleared her throat. "Shit, that was a weird thing to say. Sorry, I'm just tired and saying stupid things. I should probably go to sleep 'fore I say any more weird things."

Juice snapped out of his head for a moment. "Nah, don't be sorry," he said, feeling a little sad they were ending the end of their conversation. "Get some rest, Angel. I'll talk to you soon."

"Yeah. Night, Juice."

"Night, ba—Angel," he quickly corrected himself. He didn't know where the urge to call her "baby" had come from, but he was glad he stopped himself from saying it. He hung up quickly, not wanting to hear her response to his almost mistake. Holding the phone to his heart, he let out a long breath; he really had to get his feelings for her in check or he was going to royally fuck up their friendship.

Just a quick update! A little filler I guess, but I love writing these two dancing around each other so hopefully it's not too boring for y'all!

Let me know what you think!

~Love Ink