Garfield entered the coffee shop just as he had yesterday, and the day before. He Held the book Raven let him borrow tight in his arm, and smiled at Kori. Then he noticed Raven, and stopped in his steps. An idea seamed to be brewing over him and a large smile escaped his lips. He barley noticed Kori talking to him.

"So are you going to take a seat or not?" That was the only question that Garfield actually heard. He turned and looked at her.

"Huh? Oh, Sorry." He began, with out looking away. "No, I think I'm going to sit somewhere else."

"Um…Okay." Kori looked confused the only other people in the store was an old guy, a single woman with a sleeping baby, and…Raven. Kori smiled when she finally understood.

Garfield stood behind Raven, not exactly sure where to begin. What was he going to say? Hey can I sit with you? That sounded dorky to Garfield. Maybe he could start with a cool joke and strike up a conversation then he would just sit down and talk to her, or something like that…

"You know, I know your standing behind me." Garfield heard Raven's voice and jumped.

"uh, Sorry. I just…Uh…I" Garfield babbled.

"Are you going to stand there and waste my time?" Raven said to her book.

"No…Can I sit down?" Raven turned her head slightly to Garfield to see out of the corner of her eye that he was smiling and rubbing the back of his neck.

"Whatever." After Raven finished her one word sentence she realized she had said that a lot since she met Garfield.

Garfield smiled and quickly made his way over to the black chair that sat patiently waiting for someone to sit in it. He smiled brightly and she didn't even look up from her book.

----

Kori, being her usually eavesdropper self, leaned on the counter to try to hear what they were saying. Apparently she leaned to far, and she ran out of counter. Kori slipped and was about to fall right on her butt, if a certain someone didn't catch her.

Kori looked up into Richards blue eyes. She could feel herself flushing up. She could feel her throat close up. She could feel her face turned beat read.

Then he smiled.

Kori eyes widened and she began coughing. She wasn't exactly sure why though.

"Are you okay?"

"What? I…uh…yea…" Kori could feel herself shaking. She knew he could feel it too, because she was still in his arms. She quickly jumped out of his arms and rubbed the back of her neck.

"So you want some coffee right? Or do you want some hot coca like the other day when we had coca together? That was nice. I mean the coca was nice…yea that's it! So which one do you want? If you want to ask for my opinion like you did last time you came, but you don't want my opinion do you? You know, opinion is a funny word…" She stopped. Her face was still red, and Richard was still standing there smiling.

"Your so cute." Richard said before taking a seat. Kori giggled. "I want to have some hot coca like before, and I would like you to join me to, would you?"

"Sure!!" Kori jumped, and nearly tripped. "Hold on!" She scrambled of to the kitchen.

Garfield just sat there and smiled one of the largest smiled on the planet at Raven. Raven looked at him over the top of her book. "Okay, what to you want?" She asked placing her book on the table.

"Um…well…nothing I guess. I just wanted to talk to you!" He smiled. Raven stared at him, and he couldn't possibly tell anything about her. Garfield stared at her, trying to figure out what she was thinking. She was a brick wall, impossible to get through. "So…What's up?"

Raven rolled her eyes. "I should of never let you in my house…"

"What? Why not?"

"Because then I wouldn't know anything about you and you would still be a stranger." Raven answered coldly before she stood up, gathering her things and exiting the coffee shop.

"Wait!" Garfield yelled, following after her.

When Kori exited the kitchen, holing a silver tray with two mugs overflowing with whipped cream, she was greeted with an unpleasant voice. Victor sat next to Richard. not again…

"Well hey, Little lady. How are you today?" Victor asked. Richard looked up at Kori with sympathetic eyes.

Kori forced a smile on her face. "Fine…" Kori dropped the tray on the counter and sighed.

"I think I'm going to hit the bathroom."

"Okay!" Kori said as Victor exited.

"I'm sorry…" Richard smiled.

"It's okay…"

"You know…We really should get him a girlfriend." Richard said, looking over in his direction. Kori then smiled.

"Yea! And I think I know who…"

-------

"Wait!" Garfield pleaded and grabbed Raven shoulder. "Why do you want me to be a stranger? Why can't you just let me be your friend? Why Raven?"

Raven turned around. "Because, It's better for people not to know me. Strangers are better than friends in my book. Friends act like they care about you. It seems like you can trust them, but you never really can. So just leave me alone."

"What? I am the most trustworthy person you will ever meet! I want to be your friend!" Garfield smiled.

Raven stood there and stared at Garfield. "No, You don't Garfield. Your just a stranger." Raven turned and walked away, leaving Garfield on the sidewalk.