=Ok, so I'm pretty much freaking out about Tuesday night's episode, so I made sure to add some extra sauce to this RaviOli. I was legit up till like two am crying myself to sleep. I just read another RaviOli fanfic, which gave me the idea to maybe do a lemon later on. Like, a lot later on where it would actually make sense. Also, for the sake of my fanfic, I'm changing the kiss at the end (spoiler alert)! The kiss between Liv and Lowell didn't really do it for me. It feels like their relationship was too rushed, whereas if Liv and Ravi were to kiss, it would make a little more sense since their relationship has had more development. So yeah. Huehuehue...


Chapter 5: We All Fall Dead

"Please tell me he wasn't murdered!" I pleaded.

"Welp, there's evidence to suggest-" I cut Clive off. "Son of a bitch!"

I desperately did not want to eat, or drink considering its current state, this guy's brains. They were all mush by now and starting to rot. It even grossed Ravi out.

Ravi giggled at my little outburst. "He was one of the most hated men on the internet. He's ruined lives; hacking into their social media and banking accounts. He had a lot of people mad at him." I looked down as I felt the side of Ravi's hand against the side of mine. I knew I was blushing slightly. "He had websites dedicated to him."

Ravi began walking over to the computer. "Well, let's take a look-see, shall we?" He brought up the page. "This" Clive said, pointing to a music player on the side of the page. "is the only known recording of his voice."

We listened to it. You could practically hear the twinkies in his esophagus as he spoke. He was going off on a doughnut girl. To be honest, if it were me, I would have lost my cool and shot back at him. "Pleasant." I said when the recording ended.

...

I did not like these brains one bit. Mush. Ew.

"To be honest, I'm surprised it went down at all." Ravi said standing in the doorway as I laid on the couch disgusted with myself. "Nyeh, I have my first zombie-date tonight! Me throwing up on him will make for a great first date."

"You should eat a little something else, like some saltines or something." I got up and passed Ravi on my way out. I noticed the doughnuts on the break room table. "Doughnuts?"

"Yeah, the Clive had some extras." Ravi said. Jeezus. He saw and opportunity and ran with it. "Cop loves doughnut jokes? Really?" I asked giggling. Ravi admitted he actually bought them. "I would've offered you one, but you're not much of a doughnut person." Ironically, I had a craving for one right now.

I strolled over to the table and hastily grabbed one off the top. I took one bite . . . and began choking. That's when it hit me. A vision, I mean. I was suddenly Simon Cutler, who was choking in his bathroom. He reached out to the cupboard and pulled out an epi-pen, and stabbed it into his forearm. I was still choking when I came out of my vision. Ravi was holding me from behind on my hips, a concerned look on his face. "Liv. LIV! Are you okay."

I swallowed the little piece of pastry. "He had an allergy." I said. Ravi raised his eyebrow. "I had a vision. Cutler, he was reaching for an epi-pen during a choking fit. Food allergy?"

"There was no food in his stomach."

"Damn. . . and suddenly I'm nauseous." I said grabbing my forehead. "And you're still going out?" Ravi asked, his hands still at my hips.

"Ugnh."

...

For some reason, holding Liv like that felt sort of natural. All Ravi knew was that he wanted keep her like that for a while, screw the date with Lowell. Ravi realized what this was. He had a little elementary school crush on Liv. As the thought crossed my mind, he mentally slapped himself. This was the most embarrassed he had been in a long time.

...

Ravi's hands lingered on my hips. Weirdly, it didn't bother me. I actually . . . kind of liked it? I mean, I hadn't been held by someone in a long time. But was this feeling really just from my lack of romantic interaction?

I drove home that night feeling kind of nervous. Not only could I hurl at any minute, but I was going on my first date since I've been a zombie. For the first time in a long time I was anxious about my outfit, a feeling I hadn't felt since I was with Major. When I didn't question if he was the one or if I'd get bored of spending year after year with the same person. Those thoughts never crossed my mind. But then life (or unlife, really) hit me right in the face and I had a decision to make. And now here I was about to go on a date with someone else. The difference was that I thought about these questions. They were actual concerns of mine.

I took one step outside and went right back inside. My head was spinning. I couldn't do it. I just couldn't. I decided to blame it on the brains of a shut-in that I'd eaten. I called him and left a message before changing back into my sweats. I called Ravi out of habit. I needed some therapy.

The next day went by slowly. Ravi came over to spend the day with me. With him, he brought one of Cutler's laptops to see if I could get into it. "Oh, come on, there's no wa-" I said as I typed the password in correctly. It seemed as though I'd memorized his muscle movements. I brought up his most recently viewed webpage. All of a sudden there were bright colors and horrifyingly animated humanoids dancing across the screen. I had seen this before, I was pretty sure Evan played this. "So, is this like one of those roleplaying games grown-ass men play so they can pretend they're fairies and knights and stuff?" I asked, looking back at Ravi.

He looked almost legitimately offended. "Um, try 'game where highly-trained professionals test themselves in a battle of wit, strength, strategy, and teamwork to achieve a common goal.'"

"So, what I said?" Ravi rolled his eyes. I got a notification at the top of the page. "Tree Palace has been seized." I read aloud. Ravi's eyes went wide. "This guy was the head of Tree Palace?" He came up right behind me, resting his chin on my shoulder. "You have to take back Tree Palace." I gave him a look. "I am not."

"You must." Jeezus, if his dramaticism wasn't so adorable . . . "Plus, playing as him might give us some clues as to who his killer is."

"Fine."

Ravi then proceeded to squeal like a little girl, which I also found quite cute. "Alright, you get it rolling, I'm gonna go help you in game."

We must've played for at least twelve hours, and I had eaten everything in my pantry. We did end up getting a group of allies to help us reclaim the so-called palace of trees. I thought it was incredibly stupid, but at the same time I was really into it. My mom came to check up on me because Peyton had mentioned I'd been sick. She brought a whole stash of soup with her, which was good because I couldn't be bothered to get up and go get groceries for myself. But in the end, we didn't really get anywhere. All I'd managed to do was nearly scare a fourteen year old kid to death for claiming that he killed Simon Cutler. Yeah, not my best moment.

On Monday, Clive and I (me, through skype because I still had social anxiety) interrogated the owners of a doughnut shop this guy apparently ran out of business. We didn't get much of anywhere with them either. They admitted they hated the guy, but I didn't get the feeling that they killed them just because of how open they were about everything. Afterwards I tried to explain to Clive my feelings on the situation. Turns out he just wasn't in the damn room when I was talking, so I was just monologuing to myself. We soon realized, however, that the bad experience with the doughnut shop apparently didn't keep Cutler from ordering doughnuts. At least we had a little bit of a lead.

That night I was talking to Ravi through skype, just random stuff, when I heard my doorbell ring. "One sec." I stood up and unlocked the door. There standing in front of me in the poorly-lit hallway was Lowell. Let me give you some background information here: I had stains from the damn cheetos I'd been eating earlier all over the front of my tank top, my hair was a greasy mess from me not taking a shower today, and my apartment looked like a garbage bag exploded in there.

"Hey."

"Hey. . . I figured your sick self could use a little company."

"Uh, okay." I let him in and made a signal to Ravi telling him to hang up. "Sorry I'm such a mess, I didn't plan on having any visitors." He snickered in his adorable British dialect. "Have you ever heard of a napkin?" he teased. We talked for a while on the floor. I told him about my past, he told me his. He was a musician. Cute.

"I'm surprised you even care." He told me when he finished.

"What do you mean?" I scooted a little closer to him. "What we're going through is incredibly hard to deal with; it's pretty much ruined our lives. It's not fair, and you feel pretty alone. At least you have a zombie-buddy to talk to now." Maybe I should've been an inspirational speaker. That's when it happened. He brought his face close to mine, and continued gradually coming closer. He met my eyes and leaned it.

. . . I couldn't do it. Just as he was about to meet my lips, I quickly turned my head. He pulled back in surprise. "That's right. I'm so sorry. I-I."

"It's fine." I felt like I was about to cry. There was an awkward silence.

"I think I'll take my leave." Lowell said as he stood up and walked out the door. I didn't say anything, I just watched him go.

I sat upside down on my couch; my legs against the back and my head hanging off the seat cushion. It was cringe-worthy. I sat there pretending I was a bat with all the candles on, blasting Taylor Swift through my headphones for almost half an hour before Ravi finally showed up; I'd called him over so I could complain about my life to him. He'd kind of taken on that role since Peyton couldn't, me being a zombie and all. Ravi was more or less, one of my best girlfriend.

My music was so loud, I didn't even hear him knocking. He let himself in. He knew where the spare key was. "You're too depressed to get up and open the door?" He asked half mockingly, half legitimately concerned.

"He tried to kiss me." I cried out. I felt the slight sting of embarrassment-tears in my eyes.

...

Ravi REALLY did not like Lowell. It was actually quite interesting, and Ravi suspected he actually was jealous of him. But why would that be?

It was almost two in the morning, and Ravi was still half asleep, but hearing that Lowell tried to kiss Liv filled Ravi with a sense of . . . anger? All he knew what that he wanted to punch Lowell in the face right now. Liv interrupted his thoughts.

"I turned away." She cringed again just thinking about it. Ravi also felt bad for her. He sat down on the couch and Liv rolled over, now laying, with her head resting on his lap. He petted her head lightly as she clenched her eyes shut, trying not to reLIVe (heh) that awful moment.

"Would a shitty movie make you feel better?" He asked, genuinely concerned. Liv just shrugged. That was the second time Liv and Ravi slept on that couch together.

...

The rest of the week was much better: we found the killer, one Sean Posie whose sister had her life ruined by Cutler armed with his incredible hacking skills. He was arrested.

Late that night I was sitting in the break room with Ravi watching MST3K's riff of The Dead Talk Back, when Ravi asked me the question. "So, how does zombie sex work?" I turned my head to him slowly with the most disgusted look on my face. Ravi asked weird questions like that all the time, but never anything that intimate. "I guess I really wouldn't know?" Yes, I said it like a question.

That should've been a sign to him to shut up, but apparently he wasn't getting the message. "Also, human-zombie sex?"

"I don't know. I haven't had any sexual relations since I've been a zombie. Jeez, what's with the weird new obsession?" I asked.

"The knowledge could be useful in my research."