Raven's POV
First day of class. First day of being near actual people and having to make people believe I am totally normal. No pressure. I try my best to blend in, wearing a black tank top and a dark blue flannel over the top, the flannel is a little too big but, I don't mind it. I get to my first class of the day, keeping an eyes out for anyone on the list. I do see Xander again, this time instead of heading towards the library he was headed towards his first class. Looking over his shoulder once again. What is he trying to look out for? I ignore it entering my first class. No one seems to notice me in the back. The teacher doesn't announce it. I keep up with the notes easy enough. As soon as I get out of class I am stretching, my back aches from those chairs.
I look around for anyone else on my list it takes me a good hour of walking around looking before I and Daniel Wyatt. He is standing at the coffee cart only a couple feet from me. I walk over, I need a tea anyway. Upon approaching he is smiling at the girl behind the cart and she is smiling back. I seem to be interrupting a moment. She makes his drink while in the middle of their conversation and I wait patiently. She makes eye contact with me.
"What can I get you?" She asks, I politely smile
"Earl Grey?" I ask,
"Cream? Sugar?" She asks I shake my head and she returns the gesture with a thumbs up while she continues to make Daniel's drink.
"FUCK" Daniel shouts, I flinch but the girl doesn't react. "FUCK YOU"
His body seems to jerk slightly and then he shouts again. He turns around to me his mouth in the same smile.
"I am sorry, I have Tourette's" He tells me, I put up a hand and shake my head.
"Oh, don't worry about me." I say, he turns back around grabbing the drink that is now ready, he twitches and shouts another profanity but again she doesn't react. He waves at her goodbye and she waves back to him. She turns her attention back to me with a smile and begins working in my drink. I don't say anything just make a mental note.
"He's always going to apologize, even if you were raised with him" She says, I furrow my brows in confusion.
"Oh? Were you?" I ask she nods
"I'm his older sister, he's a sweet guy but he's been picked on for it." She says, I smile softly
"I don't know why anyone would. It's not a problem. He shouldn't have to apologize" I reply, she grins handing me my cup. "Thank you have a good day"
Sipping on the tea I walk away towards my next class which is my only class until later tonight. I take out my phone texting Robin that I have more information for tonight. He sends me a thumbs up and winky face. I roll my eyes hard before shoving my phone back in my pocket. This class was similar to the last no one really noticing there is a new person in the room and the Professor doesn't seem to mind much. He teaches in such a boring way that even I have trouble paying attention. I look between him and my notes and draw little doodles on the side to keep me from completely checking out of the lesson. Not that I need to pay attention. I won't be here long enough to really get a degree. I hope. A couple minutes after class is supposed to be over he finally looks at the clock.
"My bad guys! Have a good evening. Be safe." He says, everyone packs up and filters out of the room. I am still packing up when a hand leans in my desk. I look up facing the brown eyes of someone from my list. I suck in a breath. Timothy Greene. He doesn't have this class. At least he isn't supposed to. He has a free period right now.
"You're new" He observes, he is trying to make eye contact but I look away and continue packing up.
"Yeah, I am, transferred from online" I tell him, he smiles and walks out with me.
"You have any other classes after this?" He asks, I walk slow and he keeps pace. He is the right build and height for Red X.
"Not until later. For now I gotta get back to my dorm. I have a lot of catching up to do" I admit. He nods clenching his jaw.
"I can walk you there" He offers. I shake my head and create some distance between us. "Come on, I don't bite"
"It's okay, I am not headed straight there. I need to go meet my study group, but thank you for the offer" I lie, he just smiles at me and turns on the balls of his feet.
I wait until he is a good distance before I head to my dorm. I write down notes on everyone, their files leave so much out it's hard to know if we even got the good final 8. I can't help but wonder if there is someone that isn't on this list that is who I am looking for. I have a bad feeling about Timothy, which means he could be Red X. I sip the rest of my tea while I go over everything new about each person. There is a knock on my dorm room door and I freeze. Hardly anyone knows I am here. I walk to the door and swing it open and Xander stands beside a beautiful woman. Upon seeing me he goes ghost white. She smiles brightly at me holding a plastic container.
"Hi! My name is Liz, this is my husband Xander, I was told we got a new neighbor and wanted to welcome you! We don't have an oven so this is storebought but I hope you love pumpkin bread!" She says holding it out to me. I reach out for it looking between the two.
"Thank you so much! It's actually my favorite so that is funny" I say, she looks excited by that news "It's really nice to meet you! My name is Rachel!"
"Is your partner not home?" Xander asks, he looks me up and down again and his eyes are widened, he is trying to tell me something without saying it. Which is...don't tell my wife I hit on you.
"Oh, I don't have one. I transferred from online and they are out of other dorms so they gave me this one. It's pretty nice to have all that room to myself" I say, it is weird trying to talk like a normal person instead of my short replies I am so used to when talking to people I don't really know. Liz smiles brightly again and extends a hand. I grab it.
"Well it is so great to meet you! I am excited to be neighbors! If you need anything please ask" She says, I nod
"I will thank you, and thank you for the pumpkin bread." I say, they walk away and Xander looks behind me as he does so and I roll my eyes at him going back into my dorm room. He's fucking married? He is going around flirting with other girls even though he is married. I open the package and take a bite of the pumpkin bread. I almost moan at it's taste. It's so good. I have to force myself not to eat the whole container right now.
My evening class is a big lecture room, with more than a hundred students in one room. I am overwhelmed by the amount of people in here but I still gravitate towards the back as to not have to be picked on by the teacher or really seen by anyone. I find out soon enough that this teacher doesn't do that.
"Everyone we have someone new, Rachel Roth welcome, please if you need any catching up ask me during my office hours" The professor says without even looking up from his paper, everyone looks around but no one settles on me, Which I enjoy. I also fine out this mans lecture style is more how I prefer to be taught. He prefers to talk and talk and talk. No one really had time to even ask questions and I think I like it that way as well. I pay attention the easiest in this class. Though by the end my hand aches from all the notes I had to take. Over ten pages fill my once blank notebook for this class. I also didn't notice how warm that classroom was until my face hits the cold air of the outside. I make my way to my dorm slowly, enjoying the cold air. It is going to be weird sleeping here every night I already know it. As soon as I get into my dorm room I have to remind myself that for the time being, this is home.
Opening all the files to get ready for Robin's arrival I go over the notes I have made throughout the day. The information from the day before included. If I keep this pace of progress I might be able to come home in less than two months. I hear the window open before I am actually turning to see him enter the window. He hugs me from behind tightly. I hold his hand in place for a moment. I miss him being close.
"I've missed you" he says
"Me too"
"Show me what you got" He says, I stand aside to allow him to see the files.
"It can't be Daniel Wyatt. He has Tourette's and Red X has never shown signs of it. He doesn't twitch or have the verbal tics that Daniel has. I met his sister at the same time and confirmed he has it." I explain, he grabs the folder and looks over it before tossing it onto the bed. "Xander is built similarly but he's married and works at the library when he isn't in class. He would have no time to be Red X"
"I agree, Red X wouldn't be married." Robin replies "Anyone else?"
"I met Timothy Greene today, he is his build and is kind of...strange but overall he didn't do anything to make him higher on the list or lower." I admit. Robin nods grabbing Xander's file and putting it beside Daniel's.
"Wow, two suspects crossed off in the first two days. I knew it was a good idea to send you here. I knew you wouldn't let me down." He says kissing me on the cheek. I smile proudly at him. He rubs my shoulders and pulls me close to his body. He moves my hair to the side and kisses up and down my neck. He moans into it. "I have needed this"
I feel like telling him no, that I am not in the mood right now or I want to go to bed but I don't. This has been the first time in a while that I feel like I am doing something right. He reaches around and unbuttons my pants, his gloves have already been taken off and he is feeling his way into my pants. He grabs the back of neck and lightly guides me to the bed where he takes off my jeans. He stops to look at me and he snickers.
"You wear thongs even with Jeans?" He asks, I laugh
"They are comfortable" I defend, he goes to move onto me when I stop him. "Can you turn off the lights?"
The room falls into darkness and I feel him get onto the bed taking off my thong and I have already removed my tank top and bra for him. He kisses up my body and I feel his member pressing against my entrance. I can hear a condom wrapper open and when I feel his member again it is covered with the condom. He slides the tip in and out and waits. I roll my eyes releasing a fake moan but it isn't one he catches. He pushes in and a real moan escapes my lips. He pushes farther into me and picks up a pace for himself. The condom begins to cause friction that hurts a little but I don't say anything. He pounds faster and harder and his hands wander my body. He is gasping and I can tell he is close to his climax by his breathing. Finally I can feel his member twitch inside me and he lets a small groan escape his throat.
"Fuck Rae, I could be in you all night" He whispers. He gets up and takes the condom off placing it in the bathroom's trashcan. "Lock this window when I leave"
Getting dressed doesn't take long for him. Then he's gone and I follow his instructions locking the window behind him. I get into bed and fall asleep within a matter of minutes. I still miss when he would sleep next to me. When I would wake up to smell of coffee I wouldn't drink and waffles to smother in syrup. It is all I can think about and it turns out to be what I dream about as well.
It's been a week and I still have yet to see three of the people on my list. Conner, Jason, and Hank all have been hard to spot. I did run into two of the guys. First being Jeremy Roller who knocked his own coffee over and then fell into the cart spilling their straws onto the floor. He introduced himself to me with a weak and embarrassed look on his face. When he was walking away he tripped on his own shoe and fell spilling his re-made coffee. I kind of feel bad for the dude but I don't cross him off my list. The next guy I came across was Mark Schmitt. He was the right height but wrong build. He is so skinny he is basically a skeleton in skin. He cannot be Red X. I wrote it down somewhere in my notes to be sure that I can tell Robin.
Speaking of Robin each night he comes over he has wanted to have sex. We do, but it has reminded me about why we stopped. Well why I stopped. He stopped caring about my pleasure. It has been about what gets him going and then he leaves. We also never used to use condoms until recently. They hurt. I could tell he is closer to me because of us having sex again though so I allow it. It's what I think about as I follow not far behind Jeremy Roller. He is on the phone with someone and until now I couldn't get close enough to hear it.
"Yeah dude I don't know, it's been bad." He says into the phone, there is a pause before he continues. "Nah man, I was about to ask out the coffee cart girl but I made a fool of myself. I am such a mess. The anxiety has been so bad that I can't see too do anything right"
I can't hear what is on the other side of the line but he looks like the conversation is helping him. Until he trips again and falls hard onto the ground. I suck in air sharply through gritted teeth. He sighs
"Man I am so fucking sick of being me" He says, he paused while the other person on the phone talks and then he shakes his head. "I won't kill myself or anything but...I just want to not fall on my ass at least for one day" he says before he hangs up. He gets up and dusts himself off carefully walking to his next class. I look at the time and decide to head back to my dorm room knowing Robin would be there soon.
Part of me wants to miss our meeting so that I don't have to try to find it in me to reject him tonight. I don't though, I do walk very slowly and make it just in time for him to be climbing in through the window. He looks excited to see me, a look I have not seen on his face in a long time. All of my plans of denying him anything tonight seem to vanish out the same window that he came in.
"Jeremy can't be X. The man can't even walk without falling let alone do half of the shit that Red X can do" I say he looks excited to know I have crossed another name off the list. He grabs the file from me and sets it aside for him to take with him. "As far as Mark, he is far too skinny to be Red X. We would feel it when we hit Red X if it was Mark because we would hit bone"
"Ouch really?" He asks
"Yeah, I looked through his medical chart through the Dean. Who might need you to give him some encouragement for doing so, and he had cancer up until last year, he is only now allowed to be around everyone. It can't be him for multiple reasons but that is the main one" I explain, Robin looks impressed grabbing the folder from me.
"We are down to four names?" He asks
"yeah I guess so, Hank Hanks, Jason Garrett, Timothy Greene, and Conner-"
"Yeah, you are doing amazing with all of this" He says cutting me off. He doesn't even allow me to finish before he begins taking off his gloves and undoing his suit. I suck in a breath and turn off the lights.
He leaves soon after like every other night. Taking the files with him. sleep has been coming to me much easier since I am getting used to being here. No longer do I toss and turn trying to find someone to cuddle with or hold. Now I spread out as far as I can letting sleep take over and letting myself dream of a world where I am not in college and a world where Robin and I are effortlessly happy. It'll happen once we finish some of these cases. He is just stressed right now.
