Disclaimer: Characters are owned and produced by The Disney Channel, That's So Productions, Brookwell-McNamara Entertainment, Warren-Rinsler Productions, NBC Universal Television and Tailwind Productions. I am just borrowing them for these stories.
Continental Divide
Chapter 6
The Heart of the Matter
Raven was on her way to see Chelsea. She left her apartment 15 minutes earlier. There were conflicting emotions running through her. She loved Claire. She was in love with Chelsea. She wanted Claire. She had to have Chelsea. It was hard for her to see herself without Claire. She couldn't breathe without Chelsea. There was a part of her that wanted to throw her arms around Chelsea, kiss her and never let go as soon as she gets there. There was another part of her that knows that's not a good idea. She was in a relationship. Claire had done nothing wrong to her. Claire's only fault was that she was not Chelsea.
Questions began to pop up in her head on the way over. What if Chelsea didn't feel the same way? What if Chelsea invited her over as just a friend to calmly finish the conversation they had the night before? What if the tears of hurt that she saw weren't mixed with jealousy? Why the kiss on the lips before she left? It was then that Raven decided that if she just shot straight with Chelsea, all questions would be answered.
Two blocks from the hotel, Raven did a once-over on herself to make sure she was looking right. She told herself that she would do it again in the bathroom of the hotel lobby. Black button-down blouse, denim Venezia jeans. This was one of two pair of these jeans that she calls her "headturner" jeans, because when she wears them, heads turn. All the usual Raven accessories are also in place.
The one thing that she knows she has and will use to suit her purpose is her eyes. She believes that she can get what she wants from man, woman or child when she fixates her color-changing hazel brown eyes on her prey. She was going to put that to the test today to see if Chelsea would fall victim or if all the years as her friend would make her immune to Raven's gaze.
She strode into the Washington Square Hotel with purpose. She headed straight to the lobby bathroom for her final preparations. She checked her watch. Five minutes to spare. She took one last look in the mirror… and it was there. She looked at her reflection in the mirror and saw a fire in her eyes that sent a wave of warmth through her body. It was almost as if she was having an out-of-body experience. She knew it was time. She was focused. She turned to leave the bathroom but not without one last look in the mirror. She flashed a sly smile that would melt the coldest iceberg. It was go time.
Chelsea stood in the mirror and looked at herself. Brown turtleneck, tweed brown flare skirt, high-heeled chocolate brown boots that came up to just below the knee. The new haircut made her look and feel sexier than she ever had. So did the woman that was on her way up to see her. Raven would know in just a few minutes exactly what is in her heart.
It was then that she had an odd passing thought… Claire. She remembered the look on Claire's face when she walked over to them at the coffee shop earlier. She was the last person on earth Claire wanted to see. It was then that she realized for the first time that in seeking after her true love, she was hurting another person. She didn't dislike Claire. She didn't know Claire. She disliked what Claire represented. Claire was an obstacle to her happiness and if she had to choose between her happiness and Claire's, then she would win six days out of the week and twice on Sunday.
She also knew that Teri would be there to cushion Claire's fall… that is, if this meeting with Raven is successful. Chelsea was never one to be cocky about anything, but she had a feeling this meeting would end better than their last encounter.
There was a knock at the door. Act as if you've been there before Daniels. Chelsea giving herself a final mental pep talk. There was a second knock. Raven, calm down. It's just Biscuithead on the other side of the door. Raven said to herself as she awaited the opening of the door. The door to room 521 opens.
"Hey." Chelsea greets her guest. She takes a look at Raven. "Wow!"
"Wow, yourself! You look good." Raven says as she nods her head. "Really good." She adds.
"Come on in. Make yourself comfortable." Chelsea said, playing the good hostess.
Raven stopped in the middle of the room. "Before I make myself comfortable, I just want you to know how sorry I am for last night and how this weekend is turning out. I wanted this to be a great weekend for us and I've managed to screw it up."
"Stop right there." Chelsea was determined to end Raven's self-sacrifice. "We'll talk about last night and everything surrounding it, and issue all apologies and whatnot. But the weekend hasn't officially begun. So it could still turn out great… for both of us." Chelsea was being coy. Raven could swear she caught a hint of devilment in Chelsea's eyes and decided to press.
"How could it possibly turn out great?" Raven probed.
"Sit down. First, we talk." Chelsea felt the need to move things along. She knew that sometimes the two of them can get off-track. "I want to start by apologizing for being so hard on you. I wasn't the only one that was in an awkward position. I was just thinking about myself and how I felt. I didn't account for your feelings and for that I'm sorry."
"The thing that really hurt was that you said that you are just a long-distance friend." Raven said. "You are so much more to me than that. And when you walked out that door last night, I realized that. I'm sorry I made you say that. I'm sorry that you felt like you were on the outside looking in. That is the last thing I want to do to you."
"I'm sorry that I made you cry. I hate seeing you like that. All I want to do is make you happy." Chelsea said.
"You do Chels. Every second you are in my life. And that is what I need to talk to you about."
"No. Wait. My hotel room so I get to say what's on my mind first." Chelsea was detemined to start first.
"But I sent you the CWT text, so I get first dibs." Raven countered.
"But I flew 3,000 miles to see you, so I get first dibs." Chelsea counter-countered.
"All right. But do me a favor… make it good." Raven was now being perhaps coy, definitely optimistic.
"Okay, you asked for it, so here goes." Chelsea decided to swing for the fences on the first pitch. "I came to New York to look you in the eye and tell you that over the last year, I have fallen in love with you." She decided to pause and let her words hang in the air and then sink in.
Raven wasted little time with her first response. "Damn! You believe in getting right to the point, huh?"
"Not the initial response I expected but I am not stopping there." Chelsea was going to say her peace. Raven sat quietly and attentively, hanging on Chelsea's every word. "After you came back to New York, I started getting depressed. I was missing you like crazy. Not like that, just missing my best friend. I would call Eddie, I'd go out on dates, I'd get into my school work, anything to take my mind off of you."
Raven sat stone-faced. Chelsea saw this, secretly hoping for a smile, but no matter. She was not going to stop until she was done.
"As time went by, I started thinking about all the times we shared, the jokes, the laughs, the sleepovers, the hugs and I discovered that I missed hugging you. I missed the smell of your shampoo, your perfume. I missed the way you would squeal when you got happy. The way you would say 'Oh, snap!' when you were upset." Chelsea kept going. "I missed the frequent text messages and the late night phone calls. I missed everything about you that we had. And I made up in my mind that I wanted all that and more."
"Wow!" Replied a shell-shocked Raven. "I don't know what…"
"I'm not done yet." Chelsea cut off Raven. Raven promptly resumed her listening position. "When I saw Claire kiss you… I got very jealous, very upset and very hurt, not because I found out that you were dating a woman... it's that the woman wasn't me. All of the breath left my body when she touched her lips to yours, because those…" Chelsea reached out and touched Raven's lips with her fingertip. Raven was totally unprepared for that and she shuddered in unexpected arousal. "… are supposed to belong to me."
Holy shit! Is she trying to seduce me? Cause if she is, that shit is working! Raven said to herself.
"I left your apartment knowing that you did not decide to date and live with someone without having serious feelings about that person and that I would probably go back to California heartbroken and without you as my best friend or my lover." Chelsea was hitting her stride. Hre words were slow and deliberate. "But I made up in my mind last night and this morning that I was not going down without a fight. I was going to look you dead in your face, into the most beautiful eyes I have ever seen and tell you that I want you. I want you as my best friend, I want you as my companion, I want you as my lover."
Raven's insides were on fire. She was being given the sales pitch of a lifetime and it wasn't done yet. Chelsea was coming down the homestretch. Raven was on overload.
"I want to feel what it's like to hug you and know that I don't have to let go. I want to touch and taste every inch of your body. I want to know if your lips are as soft as I think they are. I want to know if your hands are as gentle on my body as they are on your sketchbook. I want to know if you talk dirty in bed. I want to know everything about you that I don't already know. I am head over heels in love with you, Raven Lydia Baxter." Chelsea leaned in a little closer. "I'm in love with you Rae."
With that, Chelsea moved away from Raven and went over to the mini-bar for a bottle of water. She was drained. She poured her whole heart out to Raven and now she was finished. An almost eerie sense of calm came over her. She was truly at peace. Even if Raven said that she was flattered but she was staying with Claire, she was at peace with herself for being totally honest.
Raven might have been sitting perfectly still, but every fiber of her inner being was jumping off the charts. Chelsea laid it on the line more than Raven thought she would. Her admission was succinct, without hesitation, without nervousness. This was a woman that saw what she wanted and made her feelings known.
Raven went into Chelsea's room knowing that she loved her and that she was going to tell Chelsea that she was in love with her. She did not know that Chelsea was going to make her feel an almost painful feeling of unbridled lust for her. The only reason she had not pounced on Chelsea was because she dating Claire. Had Chelsea's monologue gone any longer, however, even that wouldn't have mattered.
Chelsea pulled up the desk chair and sat directly in front of Raven as she began her response.
"I came up here to apologize to you for not telling you about Claire and me and for hurting you. And I came up here to tell you that despite being in a great relationship, with a wonderful girl, all I have been able to think about in the last month is you coming here. I really didn't want you to come at first, because I didn't want to have to choose. But the more I thought about it, it wasn't that I wanted to see you… I needed to see you." Raven began her roll.
"The last time I came home, I started feeling differently about you. It started out as an I-miss-you type of thing and it just started growing. Then when I started seeing Claire, I thought I was over it. My roommate moved out, Claire moved in and I was in a big domestic thing. It was great. Then you said your would come to visit. All the feelings that I thought were dead and buried bubbled back to the surface. Then I saw you at the airport and it was like seeing you for the first time. Then I saw how well you got along with Teri and I got jealous. And that's when it was confirmed." Chelsea started getting a warm feeling inside. "But then you just told me how you felt about me and my feelings about you changed again." Chelsea shifted in her seat and the warm feeling started to fade.
Raven continued. "I came in here to tell you that I had fallen in love with you too."
For the first time, Chelsea got nervous. "And now?" Chelsea asked.
"I want to tell you this." Raven leaned closer to Chelsea. "Not only am I in love with you Chels... but your speech turned me on so much that I want to fuck you 'til neither one of us can walk in the morning." Chelsea was sitting down but she felt her knees buckle. Raven's face was inches from hers. This was the moment she had waited for.
"Stand up." Raven was startled. This was not a request from Chelsea. It was a command. Raven did as she was told.
They remained almost nose-to-nose. "You don't know how good it felt to here you say that." Chelsea said with a sexy iciness. Raven leaned in to kiss Chelsea, but the redhead suddenly leaned out of range. "But I can't." Raven was surprised and disappointed. Chelsea explained herself. "You are still dating Claire. It wouldn't be right for me to sleep with you. I love you too much to make you cheat on her. And as a woman, I respect her too much to do that to her." Raven dropped her head in disappointment, but understood where Chelsea was coming from.
Chelsea lifted Raven's head by the chin with one finger. "But I don't respect her so much that I can't do this." Chelsea said as she pressed her lips to Raven's sending a jolt through both of them. They embraced each other as the kiss became more intense. Raven parted her lips inviting Chelsea's tongue. Chelsea accepted the invitation as her tongue dueled with Raven's for control.
They were both lost in the delirious fog of their first kiss. It was better than either of them could have possibly imagined. They broke several times to taste each other's lips. The last time, Raven found Chelsea's neck and began kissing it. Chelsea leaned her head back and began to lose herself in the sensation when she found herself.
"Whoa, we better stop and I mean right now!" Chelsea breathlessly said.
"Are you sure? Cause I'm not." Raven said as she got two more hungry lip kisses in before Chelsea's next response.
"I'm… sure. We've got to get out of here and go some place public so that this doesn't flare up again. We're going to breakfast. Fix yourself up in the bathroom." Chelsea had to get out of Dodge.
"Order room service." Raven said with fire in her eyes. Just then her cell phone rang. She broke the embrace and pulled the phone out of her jean pocket. "Shit! It's Claire." Raven spit out.
"Take it." Chelsea said as she waved her hand.
Raven answered. "Hey."
"Hey. I thought you were gonna sleep in. Where are you?"
"I went for a walk to clear my head. Then I came to see Chelsea... to clear things up from last night." Raven said.
There was a measured silence from the end of the phone. The tension on the line was thick.
"So did you two make peace with each other?" Claire asked. Her voice had a flat, biting tone to it.
Raven looked at Chelsea. "Yes. We made peace with each other. We are about to go to breakfast. Do you want to come?"
After a pause, "No... thanks. You two have some catching up to do. I'll ... see you later today. I need to ask you about something."
"What is it?"
"It'll keep till later. Have fun." Claire was still flat in her delivery.
"Okay, I'll talk..." (CLICK) She hears the phone hang up in the middle of her sentence. "... to you... later."
Chelsea looked at Raven, who was staring at her cell phone. "Rae, what's wrong? What did she say?"
"Nothing... It's what she didn't say." Claire always ended her phone conversations with Raven by saying, "Luv ya, girl!". Raven snapped her phone shut and shook herself. "But I will deal with that when I get home. Right now..." Raven walked over to Chelsea and put her hands around Chelsea's waist. "... it's all about you and me." She kissed Chelsea once more.
"Bathroom." Chelsea said.
"Right." Raven said as she broke the embrace and walked to the bathroom threshhold. "Chels?" Raven turned around.
"Yeah?"
"I love you."
Chelsea closed her eyes, drinking in Raven's words. "I love you too."
The End of Chapter 6. What do you think? I'm dying to know. Please review. Chapter 7 is next.
