Disclaimer: Characters are owned and produced by The Disney Channel, That's So Productions, Brookwell-McNamara Entertainment, It's A Laugh Productions and Warren & Rinsler Productions. I am just borrowing them for these stories.


The L Word

Chapter 11

Lasting Impressions

Raven and Chelsea hopped into Chelsea's car on the way to Giuseppe's. They came to appreciate time spent together in their cars. They had their first meaningful discussion about their new relationship in Raven's truck the morning after their first night together. Whenever one of them had to go home for something, the other one made it a point to go. For the last six months they have been inseparable.

Date nights were always fun. Their rule of thumb was that the one who asked the other out had to drive and pay for dinner. Tonight it was Chelsea's turn. She found herself loving Raven more and more each day. She appreciated the way Raven cared for and protected her. She felt completely safe and free around her. She truly felt loved.

Raven found herself wondering why they hadn't gotten together sooner. Then again, she realized that any sooner, and she might not have been able to appreciate what Chelsea had to offer. Raven felt that she was a better person when she was with Chelsea. She also felt more beautiful that at any point in her life.

"You know what I'm getting when I get there." Raven said, showing her hunger.

"Lasagna. What else?" Chelsea replied, knowing Raven's order like the back of her hand.

"Like you're not getting Eggplant Parmesan." Raven shot back.

"What if I decided I wanted… Veal Parmesan instead?" Chelsea asked. Raven rolled her eyes in Chelsea's direction. Chelsea's status as a practicing vegetarian made that order an abject impossibility. "Well it could happen."

"Yeah in an alternate universe." Raven smirked. Chelsea laughed.

"You should call your Dad… see how he's doing." Chelsea changed the subject.

"And say what?" Raven queried.

"How about 'I love you' and 'I know your still adjusting'. You know, stuff like that." Chelsea offered.

"He's probably furious with me right now, the way I stormed out of the house and cursed at him."

"Well there you go. You can start out by apologizing for cursing at him and in front of Cory."

"That wasn't a very good example to set, was it?"

"Not unless you want Cory to star in Def Comedy Jam 2007." Chelsea joked, earning another laugh from her gorgeous girlfriend.

"I'll call him after dinner." Just then Raven's cell phone rang. "Maybe that's him now." Raven checks the caller ID. "Devon? What?"

"Devon?" Raven answered.

"Hey Rae! How's my favorite fashion designer?"

"I'm on top of the world! How you doin'? You still at U-Dub?" Raven said referring to The University of Washington in Seattle.

"Yeah. Go Huskies!" Devon said. "I'm gonna be swinging through there this weekend and wanted to know if you wanna hang out."

"Oh, I wish I could but Chelsea and I are going to her parents house for the weekend."

"The Gruesome Twosome still thick as thieves, huh?"

Raven mentally paused. It had been about eight months since she had seen or talked to Devon. He didn't know about the monumental change in her life since then.

"Spit it out!" Chelsea whisper-yelled. "He's gonna find out sooner or later." Raven looked at Chelsea and nodded.

"Actually, Devon, we are thicker than ever." Raven said.

"You two can't get any thicker than you already are. Y'all are practically joined at the hip."

"And other places." Raven muttered under her breath.

"What?" Devon didn't hear that last sentence.

"As a matter of fact we can." Raven let it rip. "Devon, Chelsea and I are seeing each other."

"Seeing each other. As in dating each other?" Devon's mind was trying to wrap around what Raven just said.

"Yes. Chelsea and I are a couple."

The phone was silent for several seconds. Raven was about to call Devon's name when he spoke. "Whoa! That's… That's thicker all right." Devon said as the idea sank in. "When did all this happen?"

"About six months ago. Actually, six months ago next week." Raven turned to look at Chelsea and stretched her eyes in excitement over realizing they were nearing a milestone in their relationship. Chelsea's excited smile spread from ear-to-ear.

"Uh-huh." Devon said flatly.

"Look, if you're not cool with that then I respect that, I just thought you should know." Raven said. Then considering what might be going through his head, she added something. "And just for the record, this had nothing to do with you and me. What we had was special. You were my first true love and there will always be a special place in my heart for you. Chels and I just had feelings that grew into something else."

"Are you happy?" Devon said.

"Very happy." Raven smiled.

"And I didn't drive you to the other side of the fence?"

Raven laughed. "No, you did not drive me to the other side of the fence. I just chose to walk with the angel I saw on the other side." Raven smiled as she placed her hand on Chelsea's knee.

"Thank God! I thought I'd have to turn in my mack card!" Devon joked.

"So we're cool?" Raven asked.

"We're cool. I just have to resist the urge to try to get with you the next time I see you."

"You don't have to resist the urge. Just know you'll be taking matters into your own hands when you get home, if you catch my drift." Raven verbally but playfully checked him.

"Still nasty I see." Devon said.

"Some things never change." Raven joked. "Now don't wait another eight months to call me."

"You rushing me off the phone?"

"Actually, Chels and I are on our way to dinner."

"You know… if y'all ever decided to add a little spice to your relationship and…" Raven turned on her speakerphone. "Hit a little ménage action, call a brother up."

"Well…" Raven started. "What do you think, Chels?"

"I don't think he can handle both of us. We'd tear him apart." Chelsea replied.

"Oh! Hey Chels! That's a dirty trick Rae." Devon said with a chuckle. "I deserved that I guess."

"No. For that you win the grand prize." Raven said.

"What's that?"

"Gettin' the hell off my phone!" Raven was teasing him.

"I owe you one. You know that."

"I love you Devon!" Raven said in a sing-songy voice.

"I love you too. Knucklehead! I'll talk to you soon. Bye."

Moments later, Chelsea pulled into the parking lot at Giuseppe's.

"You know Rae, a little spice never killed anybody." Chelsea said with a raised eyebrow.

"What are you trying to say Chels? You want to have a three-way?"

"Well, Eddie leaves Saturday and Gina was looking pretty good."

"The girl ain't down with that anymore." Raven said.

"All right." Chelsea said as they got out of the car and started walking toward the restaurant. "What about Katie? She reminds me of the chick that's gonna be on that new show Heroes… Hayden what's-her-name."

"I'm not sharing." Raven stopped in the middle of the parking lot and grabbed Chelsea around the waist yanking the redhead towards her. They were nose-to-nose. "You hear me. I… am… not… sharing." Raven and Chelsea engaged in a slow kiss. When they broke apart, Chelsea was reeling.

"Is it just me or is the earth spinning?" Chelsea said.

"If it wasn't for that heavenly smell coming out of that building we'd be on our way back home right now." Raven said.

"I don't know if I'd make it." Chelsea was feeling very amorous all of a sudden.

"Inside. Let's go." Raven ordered.

Raven and Chelsea went inside and placed their name on the waiting list. The hostess informed them that there would be a twenty-minute wait. They sat in the waiting area, chatting about this and that and passing the time when another voice from the past interrupted their conversation.

"Chelsea?"

Chelsea looked up from her conversation.

"Danny?" Chelsea was in shock. Standing in front of her was her ex-boyfriend Danny Warren. They dated during her senior year in high school and broke up just before college started that fall. She hadn't seen or heard from him since that day three years earlier.

"I thought that was you." Danny said. Chelsea stood up and gave him a hug.

"How are you?" Chelsea asked.

"I'm great." Danny responded.

"Danny, you remember Raven Baxter." Chelsea said as Raven threw up her hand and smiled.

"Yeah. How are you?"

"Good." Raven responded.

"Both of you look great!" Danny offered.

"So where are you now?" Chelsea asked.

"I go to USC. I have a friend that goes to Cal and I'm visiting her."

"We go to Cal too!" Chelsea exclaimed.

"That's awesome! I was just telling somebody the other day that I hadn't seen you since high school. You look better than I remember." Danny said. A slight blush crept across Chelsea's cheeks. "You two look good together."

"What?" Chelsea said, taken aback by his last comment.

"I… saw y'all… in the parking lot when I went back to my car." Danny said. "I don't have to ask you if you're happy. I can see you are."

"We are." Chelsea said with a smile.

"Hey, if y'all are ever in L.A. look me up." Danny said as he scribbled his cell phone number down on a scrap of paper from his pocket.

"Cool!" Chelsea said.

"Danny, our table's ready." A female voice said from behind a wall of people. When she emerged, Raven and Chelsea did a double take.

"Katie?" Chelsea exclaimed.

"Oh, hey girls!" Katie said.

"You three know each other?" Danny questioned.

"We have a mutual friend." Katie said with mild snippiness in her voice. She then turned to Danny. "I'll go get our table. Bye girls. See you around campus." With that Katie walked toward the hostess stand.

"You and Katie Allen, huh?" Chelsea asked with a raised eyebrow.

"No. She's just a friend I met at a lacrosse game." Danny said. Then he leaned in so Chelsea and Raven could hear. "Be careful though. She's sweet at times, but she's a few fries short of a Happy Meal."

"We know Danny." Raven said. "We know."

"Well, I gotta go." Chelsea, it was great seeing you." They embraced. "Take care and keep in touch. Bye Raven." Raven waved and mouthed her goodbye.

"I will. Take care." Chelsea said as Danny walked away. "Rae, I swear every time I see her I want to play my favorite arcade game."

"Wack-A-Mole?" Raven said knowing that's Chelsea's favorite.

"Yeah, but with her I'd rename it 'See-A-Bitch, Smack-A-Bitch'." Chelsea deadpanned.

Raven almost fell off the seat laughing so hard. Chelsea, who delivered the line with deadly seriousness, couldn't help but laugh at Raven's reaction to her line.

"I have got to use that one!" Raven said, still laughing.

The hostess called their name and the headed into the dining area to be seated. They sat down and ordered their usual meal. They started with breaded mozzarella sticks as their appetizer, garden salads for both of them and their usual entrée; lasagna for Raven, eggplant parmesan for Chelsea. Iced tea with lemon finished off the meal.

"Isn't that weird that Devon called me, then less than 10 minutes after I get off the phone with him, we run into Danny?" Raven remarked.

"That was a little weird. But not as weird as the fact that both of them seem to be cool with us being together." Chelsea said.

"Maybe that's because we were not just their girlfriends but we were, and are, their friends." Raven replied. "Good friends are hard to come by these days, I think more and more people are realizing it."

"The best thing that can happen is when you fall in love with your best friend. It's the best of both worlds." Chelsea beamed.

"We are two lucky women, you know that?" Raven said with conviction. "We have our cake and we're eating it too."

"Speaking of which, are we getting dessert?" Chelsea's sweet tooth was calling her.

"Not here. Dessert's at home. Remember?" It might have looked like Raven sitting across the table, but Chelsea heard Peaches respond.

"Right." Chelsea said as the server came by and asked if they needed anything else. "Just the check, please." Chelsea answered. She was about to ask Raven something when Raven's cell phone rang.

"I'm a popular girl tonight." Raven said before answering her phone. "Hello?"

"Hey sweetie, it's Dad."

"Hi Dad." Raven responded as she looked at Chelsea with a pensive look. Chelsea waved to her to talk to her father. "What's going on?" Raven asked as she got up from the table. She put her hand over the mouthpiece. "Chels, I'll meet you outside."

"I just wanted to see how you're doing." Victor said.

Raven made her way out of the restaurant and stood on the sidewalk about thirty feet from the front door.

"I'm ok." Raven bit her bottom lip. "Dad, I want to apologize for this afternoon. I was way out of line. I'm sorry I cursed at you in front of Cory and disrespected you and your house. Can you forgive me, please?"

"I forgive you." Victor said with contrition in his voice. "The Bible tells parents not to provoke their children and I provoked you. I'm sorry."

"You don't have to apologize to me." Raven said.

"Yes I do. I had a long talk with your mother. The last six months I have been walking around so worried about what other people are going to think when they find out that my daughter is a lesbian that I didn't consider the one thing that I should have put first… your feelings." Victor continued. "I have hurt you more in the last six months than I have in your entire life and I swear I didn't mean to."

"I know." Raven felt for her father at that moment.

Victor kept going. "You are my first born and I love you so much. I want you to be happy. And every time I see you with Chelsea I can see that she makes you happy. I have been a hypocrite, telling you I want you to be happy and then not recognizing the happiness you have in your life already."

Raven had tears in her eyes. The feeling of not belonging in the Baxter family that she had earlier in the day was being replaced by the warmth that she remembered growing up.

"I know that its six months too late and you probably don't even want or need to hear it, but you and your girlfriend are welcome home anytime you want to come. And I am proud to tell anyone that will listen that my daughter has found her true love."

When Victor finished, Raven burst into tears. The huge weight that she had felt for the last six months had finally lifted. She had received acceptance from her father. Victor held the phone and allowed his daughter her tears of joy. As he waited for his daughter to speak again, he found himself wiping away the tears that began to flow. In that moment, through her tears, he could hear the unbridled joy of his little Rae Rae again.

"You don't know how much that means to me." Raven choked out. "I love you."

"I love you too." Victor countered. "Why don't you and Chelsea come over for dinner Sunday. We can have a family dinner. Better yet, why don't y'all come Friday. Eddie and his new friend can come too."

"How do you know about Gina?" Raven asked.

"Your mother told me."

"No slipping any fastballs by her, huh?" Raven commented on her mother's need to spread good gossip.

"So how about it?" Victor asked.

"I'll see if I can pull it together." Raven replied.

"I've got to go. William and Larry just got here. They are gonna practice with Cory and I've got to get out of here while I still have eardrums." Victor joked.

"Tell Cockroach I said hi." Raven said.

"Why do you call your brother Cockroach?"

"It's better than Skidmark." Raven reasoned.

"Good point." Victor said with understanding. "Love you Sweetie. I'll call you tomorrow."

"Love you too Dad. Bye-bye." Raven said as she snapped her phone shut.

Seconds later, Chelsea emerged from the restaurant . Raven saw her and started running toward her.

"CATCH ME!" Raven screamed. Chelsea braced herself as Raven leapt toward her and jumped into her arms wrapping her legs around Chelsea's waist and her arms around her neck. Raven started giggling with glee. After a couple of seconds, a startled but smiling Chelsea put Raven down.

"Your conversation went well I take it." Chelsea said.

"Chels! We both apologized for this afternoon and the last couple of months and he accepted us! No conditions! No 'I'm gonna try'! He called you my true love! Can you believe this? And, he invited you, me, Eddie and Gina over for dinner Friday night!"

"I'm so happy for you!" Chelsea exclaimed.

"For us Chels!" Raven shot back. "For us! I've got to tell Eddie!"

Raven and Chelsea headed back to the car and started back to campus. Raven was as giddy as she had been in weeks. She dialed Eddie's cell phone.

"Hey Rae! What's up?"

"Eddie, what are you and Gina doing Friday night?"

"We hadn't planned anything yet, why?"

"My father invited all of us over for dinner!" Raven said. "You, Gina, me and my girlfriend!"

"He said that?"

"Yes! He apologized and accepted me and Chels unconditionally!"

"Rae, that's great!" Eddie said before turning to Gina who was sitting next to him. "Rae wants to know if we want come to her house for dinner Friday night." She couldn't hear Gina's response over the static. "She said only if she can bring something."

"Can she cook?" Raven asked with trepidation.

"Raven said 'Can you cook?'" Eddie said to Gina. Raven heard the phone change hands.

"Girl, Rachael Ray calls me for advice!" Gina said.

"Go 'head Girl!" Raven said. Eddie took back the phone.

"Yeah, you ought to see what she does with her EVOO!" Eddie joked.

"Shut up! Nasty!" Gina could be heard to exclaim in the background.

"We'll be there." Eddie said with a laugh. "I call you later."

Raven looked over at Chelsea whose skirt magically got several inches shorter during Raven's conversation, revealing her creamy white thighs.

"I don't remember seeing those when I got on the phone." Raven said referring to the appearance of Chelsea's thighs.

"There's also something else you didn't see, nor will you tonight." Chelsea reached over and took Raven's left hand and placed it near the top of her right thigh, then slowly brought it down and in between her legs. Raven's hand traveled to where she thought she would feel cotton fabric. What she felt was a small patch of hair and the twitch of Chelsea's body upon first contact.

"No underwear?" Raven's voice dropped into Peaches' seductive range. "Interesting."

"Just interesting?" Chelsea asked.

"You've been simmering for a couple of hours now." Raven observed.

"Ever made out in a car?" Chelsea's question had sultry steam coming off of it.

"What?" Raven's reply was thick with shock.

"Have you ever made out in a car, on a dark night in a lonely spot?" Chelsea restated her question with emphatic, overt sexiness.

"No." Raven's heart began beating faster. Her body was beginning to respond positively to this line of questioning.

"So let's go find that spot." Chelsea turned down a street about 15 minutes from campus and pulled in to the parking lot of a small strip shopping center that closed early. Chelsea's car was the only one in the lot. She pulled into a spot in the corner of the lot near some trees and turned the car off.

"Now that we've found that spot…" Chelsea leaned over to Raven. "We can find your spot." She kissed Raven on the cheek. "And you can find my spot." Chelsea kissed Raven's neck and moaned. "And we can…" She continued to kiss Raven's neck and began sucking on her pulse point. Raven's senses were on maximum overload. Her heart was pounding so hard she thought it was going to explode.

"How big is your back seat?" Raven breathlessly asked. In the year and a half Chelsea has had the car, Raven has never had the occasion to sit back there.

"It's big enough." Chelsea's response was muffled as her face was buried in Raven's neck.

They both scrambled to get out of their seats and into the back seat of the four-door Honda Civic. For Raven and Chelsea, the phrase sex in the city was about to take on a whole different meaning.


Eleven chapters are in the books. I don't know how many are left but I do know that another one is coming soon. PLEASE REVIEW. And please come back. I'll be waiting.