The next week was what science majors called "hell week". So Raven barely saw Chelsea, which was actually a relief for her, because at least if she didn't see her, she didn't have to admit the truth to herself, a truth that she'd been denying since that fateful night. That Chelsea did like women. She just didn't like her. She closed her eyes as the reality washed over her causing her so much pain she almost doubled over.
To make matters worse, Chelsea was spending a lot of her free time with Ronnie. Chelsea hadn't come out and said that they were seeing each other, but Raven had seen the kiss, hell, she'd dreamed of kissing Chelsea that way for nearly four years. Raven didn't think that she'd be able to pretend to be happy when her dreams were slowly dying.
As it was, Raven knew she couldn't continue the way she had been. She wasn't eating. She wasn't sleeping. In fact, every time she closed her eyes, she saw the kiss. Even Eddie was worried about her. She was thankful that Thanksgiving break was coming up next week. All she had to do was make it through this one. It shouldn't be hard. Chelsea was going on a ski trip this weekend with her Women in Science club.
So all she had to do was avoid Chelsea until then and everything would be all right. The sound of her instant messenger going off distracted her for a moment.
DJEddieT: Rae, Rae are
you there?
4Everstylin: Yeah…
DJEddieT: I'm heading
over to the dining hall for dinner. Wanna come along?
4Everstylin: No, not
really. I'm not all that hungry.
DJEddieT: Rae, you have
to stop this. You need to eat.
4Everstylin: Don't
tell me that, tell my stomach.
DJEddieT: Well you
don't come with me to dinner then I'm going to bring dinner to
you. Do you really trust me to pick out something for you to eat?
4Everstylin: Good
point. I'll meet you up there in five.
Raven walked up to the dinning hall, and met Eddie at the door. The dinner rush was over, and the crowd had thinned out. Raven wasn't really interested in any of the things on the buffet, so she made a sandwich and grabbed a juice.
"Is that all you're going to eat?" Eddie asked her sternly.
"Nothing else interested me." Raven replied nonchalantly.
"Raven, you're going to make yourself sick." Eddie said concerned. "Chelsea wouldn't want you to do what you're doing, and if she found out she'd be pretty pissed."
"Yeah well Chelsea doesn't know, now does she?" Raven challenged him.
"I don't know what?" Chelsea asked sitting at the table.
"Girl, how good this sandwich is." Raven answered, quickly taking a big bite of her bland sandwich.
"Well, I'm glad to see you making healthier eating choices." Chelsea said smiling at Raven.
Raven had really missed that smile, and for the first time Raven allowed herself to feel how much she'd missed Chelsea over the past couple of days, which was a lot more than she'd ever thought possible. She missed Chelsea so much, that even though the girl was sitting right next to her, she still felt the lost of their close connection from weeks before.
"I hope you guys don't mind, but I told Ronnie she could eat with us." Chelsea said looking over at Raven expectantly.
"Oh no, it's cool." Raven said shredding her sandwich into little pieces.
"Hey all," Ronnie said as she walked over and sat down.
"Hey Ronnie, nice jacket," Eddie said admiring the older girl's leather racing jacket.
"Thanks, it was a birthday present from my father."
"The best part is it was made from synthetic fabrics. So no little animals were harmed in making it." Chelsea gushed.
"Yeah, my parents are big environmentalists…so." Ronnie added with a shrug.
"They're even sending her this really cool gear for the ski trip this weekend."
"Wait, wait, wait, you're going on the ski trip?" Raven interrupted.
"Yeah, is there a problem?" Ronnie asked looking over at Raven.
"No there's no problem."
Except now all weekend I'll keep picturing you two together.
