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.
Author's Note: The field in the document editor is not big enough for the full title of the chapter, Life, Liberty and The Pursuit of Happiness. So it's just listed as Life, Liberty and... I know y'all are smart and could have easily figured it out, but it's a perfect excuse for me to stick an author's note in here. I love doing that! LOL! Here is Chapter 13.
The L Word
Chapter 13
Life, Liberty and The Pursuit of Happiness
Chelsea and Raven were basking in the afterglow of their latest lovemaking session. They both had lots of thoughts racing through their heads at that moment. They were thinking about their encounters with their ex-boyfriends and the irony of contacting both of them on the same night. They were thinking about Gina and how they were completely wrong about her. They were thinking about Eddie and how heads over heels he was for Gina.
But a majority of their thoughts were of each other; where they are, where they're going, how they're going to get there.
"Am I heavy?" Chelsea asked, still draped over Raven like a warm blanket.
"Even if you were, I wouldn't ask you to move a muscle." Raven replied with a warm smile.
"You know Gina knew what we were about to do." Chelsea said.
"And she played it off perfectly." Raven answered and then paused. "Eddie is going to tell her he loves her on Friday."
"Seriously?" Chelsea asked incredulously.
"And he's going to ask her to be his exclusive girlfriend." Raven said.
"Wow! Takin' it to the next level. That's some serious feelings right there." Chelsea surmised.
"I've been… thinking about us a lot lately too." Raven said.
"Me too." Chelsea said. "What's on your mind?"
"What would you say about us getting an apartment next semester?" Raven asked.
"Really? Me and you? Together? Alone?" Chelsea exclaimed. "How about hell to the yes!" She squealed as she hugged Raven. Then her mood changed. "What about our parents?"
"What about them?"
"Well, Rae, don't you think they would have a problem with that given that we are dating?"
"They know that we're roommates here. Our grades are good, actually, better than before we started dating. I don't see the problem here." Raven said with determination.
"Wow! You want to get me alone in an apartment that bad, huh?" Chelsea joked.
"I want to get on with the rest of our lives that bad. We graduate next year. I want all of our ducks in order. I intend on spending the rest of my life with you." Raven replied.
Chelsea looked at Raven and paused. This was the first time either one of them had really mentioned the future beyond college. In the back of her mind she wondered just how long this relationship with Raven would last. She wanted it to continue for as long as possible but wondered if Raven felt the same way. Raven's declaration answered that lingering question.
"You do?" Chelsea softly asked.
"Of course I do." Raven said. "I told you that I couldn't imagine being without you. And I meant that. I want you in my life just like this until the day I die."
"I do too." Chelsea said as she mentally breathed a sigh of relief. "It's gonna be hard in the next couple of years with graduate school."
"We'll work it out. You are my Biscuithead, my Strawberry, my Chelsea and I will move Heaven, Earth and any other planetary body I have to in order to be with you."
Chelsea was moved to tears. "You do that on purpose." Chelsea said, referring to Raven's knack for touching her heart.
"I can't help it that you're all wrapped up in this." Raven said, waving her hands up and down over her body. That drew an instant laugh from Chelsea, who was still wiping her tears away.
"I am." Chelsea said chuckling.
"So what if I asked you to marry me?" Raven said with a serious look on her face. Chelsea nearly choked in mid-laugh.
"Excuse me?" Chelsea blurted out.
"Hypothetically, what if we were doing whatever one day and I dropped down on one knee with a ring and asked you to marry me?" Raven asked.
"Be… fore or after I said yes?" Chelsea said before laughing.
"Chels, I'm serious!" Raven raised her voice, slightly irritated with Chelsea's playful handling of her question.
Chelsea stopped laughing and looked Raven directly in the eye. "Raven, don't take my laughter to mean that I thought you were joking. I know you weren't." Chelsea said with deadly seriousness. "Hypothetically, I would shake and cry and scream and run around and giggle and kiss you. Then I would say 'Yes!'. Then I would get slightly pissed at you for asking because that would mean I would have to wear the dress. And I really want to see you in a wedding dress. You know the rule, whoever gets proposed to has to wear the dress."
"Where did you get that rule from? Lesbian Marriage Proposals for Dummies?" Raven asked.
"No. It just makes sense."
Raven was about to counter that statement when she paused. It did actually make a little sense to her. I am beginning to rationalize like her. I have been her friend for WAY too long! She thought.
"So we'll flip a coin for it." Raven said.
"Why couldn't we both wear dresses?" Chelsea countered. "I always lose coin flips to you anyway."
"I have a confession Chels." Raven said. "All those coin flips you lost…"
"Yeah?"
"I borrowed Cory's two-headed coin."
"Raven Lydia Baxter! You cheated your best friend?" Chelsea playfully but scornfully asked. "How do I go down on someone that cheats at coin flipping?"
"Come on, I know that there is something that you have held back even after all these years. You don't tell me everything." Raven reasoned.
After stopping for a moment and thinking about Raven's statement, Chelsea responded. "Well… there is one thing that I've thought about over the years but I never told you." Chelsea said. "But since we're dating, there's no harm in telling you now."
"What is it?" Raven asked.
"Remember when we went to visit your cousins out in the country?" Chelsea said.
"Yeah. They blamed Dad for losing that damned gravy boat that me and Betty Jane buried when we were small." Raven not so fondly recalled.
"Remember the night that we thought the scarecrow came alive and was going to kill us?"
"Yeah. I remember."
"Well Rae, you were standing at the window and you screamed and flopped on the bed where I was sitting and hugged me." Chelsea said. "You turned to say something to me just as I turned to listen to you and your face was so close to mine. I could swear that you were going to kiss me."
"Wow!" Raven replied in disbelief. "I remember that happening, but I didn't… Have you been thinking about me like that all this time?"
"Every now and then. Usually when we would see a scary movie, I would have a mental flashback of that night."
"Chels, I don't know what to say." Raven was speechless.
"You don't have to say anything." Chelsea assured her. "When I came to terms with my feelings for you, it actually made things a little easier. Not much, but just a little."
Should I tell her about… Raven started a thought but was cut off.
"So do you have any moments like that?" Chelsea asked.
Raven looked at Chelsea with a far away look in her eyes. "One. Our Junior Prom. I know Devon showed up at the last minute and I had a great time, but I did check you out in your prom dress. You were gorgeous that night." Raven said. Chelsea smiled and blushed. "I told myself that night that I'm not a lesbian or anything, but if we got drunk and something happened with me and Chelsea, I wouldn't be disappointed. And I wouldn't have."
"You would have tried to hook up with me at our junior prom?" Chelsea asked with a playful smirk.
"Only if we were alone and tipsy." Raven said before pondering another thought. "You really think you could stand being my wife?"
"You think you could stand being mine?" Chelsea shot back.
"As long as you don't make me eat tofu. I can do the veggie lasagna and even Eggplant Parmesan, but you can keep that tofu crap to yourself." Raven spat.
"It's a deal." Chelsea said before extending her hand. "Shake on it?"
Raven rolled over, pinning Chelsea beneath her. "I can do you one better than that." Raven lowered her head and kissed Chelsea.
Chelsea and Raven both grinned before Chelsea spoke. "I like the way you seal deals." They both laughed just before they continued sealing their deal.
Friday, August 25
Thursday came and went. The campus was reacquiring its familiar buzz as more and more students returned to campus. Raven and Chelsea were readying themselves for Day One of the fall semester.
Raven had driven downtown early that morning to fill out employment paperwork at Donna Cabonna's office. She was surprised to discover that Tiffany, Donna's assistant, had offered to bury the hatchet, inviting Raven out for coffee, which Raven graciously accepted.
Chelsea had an appointment with the counselor in the school of criminal justice about what she needed to do to apply for law school. After that she called Raven's mother Tonya and had a long conversation about life, law school and Raven.
Eddie had spent all day Thursday as well as Friday morning with his mother, catching up on everything he had missed. He even took out a few minutes and called his father. They had a nice conversation about life. Eddie told his father about Gina and his plans for her, to which his father gave him a verbal thumbs-up and wishes of good luck.
It was decided earlier in the day that the four of them would all ride over to the Baxter's house together for dinner. With Chelsea's car being the smallest of the bunch, they quickly ruled hers out. Raven's Rav4 was the next smallest and therefore next on the list to be eliminated. The vote came down to the two black Pathfinders. By a vote of three to one, using overall cleanliness as the deciding factor, Gina's truck won.
They piled into the truck with Gina under the wheel and Raven in the front seat with Chelsea and Eddie in the back.
"No funny stuff back there y'all." Raven said as she looked at them in the rear view mirror. She turned to Gina. "You know they were trying to make out in front of me the other day?"
"I wondered what all that screaming and giggling was the other day." Gina said. "Chelsea, you gonna make me catch another case? Cause you know I can roll!" Gina teased. All four of them cracked up.
"That's all right Miss. G! I am scared of you! You can have him!" Chelsea said.
"Too bad girl!" Eddie said to Chelsea. "I was gonna lay the whammy on ya!"
"Well when you get it Chels, let me know cause I'd like to see it!" Gina joked.
"DAAAAAAAMN!" Raven and Chelsea exclaimed in unison. "You gonna let her cut you like that?" Raven said. Eddie was about to speak when Gina reminded him of what he'd miss if he decided to come back on her.
"Let me see ya Tootsie Roll, Tootsie Roll." Gina softly recited the hook to the song of the same name.
Chelsea leaned forward to Raven. "She got him on lockdown. CLINK-CLINK!" Chelsea said as she brought her wrists together like she was in handcuffs.
"See that Gina! She looks like she knows something about handcuffs." Eddie said.
Gina glanced over at Raven. "Eddie, Raven is up here blushing! Chelsea does know something about handcuffs. And so does Raven!"
"Shut up Gina!" Raven said with a nervous smile as she turned her face toward the window. Raven's remembrance of their one-month anniversary, with Chelsea handcuffing her to the chair for Chelsea's performance was the source of Raven's blush.
"Yeah! Chelsea is beet red back here too!" Eddie teased. "Y'all nasty heifers!"
"I don't know what y'all are talking about." Chelsea deadpanned. Inside she was cursing her parents for passing down such fair skin to her.
"Y'all just wait." Raven warned. "You two are going to have some blush-inducing moments in the future. Just wait."
"Are we Alejandra?" Eddie said, using his new pet name for her.
"If I have anything to say about we will, Eduardo." Gina purred.
"Oooooh, shit!" Chelsea said. "Look at them Rae! Eduardo and Alejandra! Those are sweatin' in a tropical cabana, white sheet, ceiling fan, canopy bed, breathlessly whisper your name nicknames! Damn! Getting' me hot thinkin' about it!"
"You have been hangin' around Rae too long! That is something she would have said!" Eddie said as the three women were howling with laughter.
Forty-five minutes later, Gina's black SUV pulled into the Baxter's driveway. The four of them got out and headed to the front door.
"Gina, I just want to warn you that my little brother is a nutcase so just ignore him." Raven warned.
"The apple doesn't fall far from the nutbush." Eddie smirked. Raven shot him the dirtiest of dirty looks.
Chelsea started singing. "They call it Nutbush… Oh Nutbush!" She was recalling a song Angela Bassett sang as Tina Turner in What's Love Got To Do With It.
Gina joined in. Gina and Chelsea were now singing together. Eddie started playing the air guitar. "They call it Nutbush, city limits! A church house, gin house, a school house, outhouse…"
"DON'T… make me go Ike Turner out here!" Raven exclaimed, ending the impromptu concert. Gina and Chelsea dropped their heads and began giggling like they were passing notes in class. Eddie lifted his head as if he were gazing at the stars. Raven hauled off and punched him in the arm.
"OWWW!" Eddie screamed.
"Jackass." Raven said as she reached for her keys.
"They started it!" Eddie said, looking back at Gina and Chelsea who were still snickering.
Raven opened the door. The four of them were met by Cory bounding down the stairs.
"Dut-duh-da, da, da ,da! Dut-duh-da, da, da ,da! Dut-duh-da, da, da ,da! Dut-duh-da, da, da ,da!" Cory sang.
"Told you he was a nutcase." Raven deadpanned.
"That's Hail to the Chief, Rae." Chelsea said.
"I know that's Hail to the…" Raven stopped in mid-sentence. "Did he? Did he? DAD!"
Victor came in to the room. Raven ran over to him and grabbed his shirt before he could say a word.
"Did you get it?" Raven frantically asked.
"I got it!" Victor said.
Raven squealed in delight and hugged her father. Chelsea threw her arms around Eddie's neck and then Gina's.
"What's everybody so happy about? I want to celebrate too!" Gina said.
Raven wheeled around. "Oh, first things first. Gina this is my father Victor Baxter and our resident cockroach otherwise known as my brother Cory. This is Eddie's friend Gina Melendez.
"It's nice to meet you Gina." Victor said shaking her hand.
"Hello, hello, hello!" Cory said. "The pleasure is all mine." Cory took Gina's hand and kissed it.
"I've got some cootie cream in my room if you need it." Raven said.
"Raven, your brother and father are very charming." Gina said. "I see where you and Cory got your good looks from, Raven."
Victor and Cory stood next to each other grinning as Gina's compliment sank in. Raven simply rolled her eyes.
"So, what was all the excitement about?" Gina asked.
"Well, Governor Martinez wants my father to become Executive Chef at the White House if he gets elected!" Raven proudly announced.
"That's wonderful!" Gina said. "Congratulations, Mr. Baxter!"
"Thank you Gina." Victor said. "Melendez. Are you by chance related to Antonio Melendez, the restaurant supplier?"
"Yes! That's my father!" Gina said with surprise. Raven, Chelsea and Eddie looked at Victor.
"Don't tell me you're little Alejandra!" Victor exclaimed.
"That's me!" Gina said.
"Wait, Mr. B, you know her?" Eddie asked.
"Well, I've never met her. Her father was one of my suppliers a couple of years ago and he showed me pictures of his girls. He never stopped talking about his Alejandra." Victor said. "What a small world we live in! How is your father?"
"He's fine. He's still working. I'll tell him you said hi." Gina replied.
"Well, dinner is just about ready." Victor announced. "Rae, would you mind helping your brother set the table?"
"Cory, you catch up with Eddie." Chelsea said. "I'll help Rae, Mr. B."
"Thanks Chels. You know where everything is." Victor said before turning to head back into the kitchen.
"So Chelsea…" Cory said as he walked over and put his arm around her. "Are you doing right by my sister? Are you making her happy?"
"Cory! Will you shut up and leave her alone?" Raven snapped.
"It's okay Rae." Chelsea said. "Yes, Cory. I am doing right by your sister and I am making her VERY happy." Chelsea said with a smirk and a raised eyebrow.
"Chels!" Raven said incredulously. Chelsea gave her a quick wink.
"O-kay!" Cory said as he eased away from Chelsea. "I think I'll go see if Dad needs any help in the kitchen. DAD!" Cory briskly disappeared into the kitchen.
Eddie and Gina were laughing hysterically. Raven shook her head with her mouth open.
"I don't think he'll be asking about us anytime soon." Chelsea said as she turned her fingers into imaginary guns, blew on them and stuck them in her imaginary side holsters.
"Brava!" Raven said as she began applauding. "That was magnificent! I've never seen that boy backpedal that fast in my life! This is truly a night to remember!"
"I hope so." Eddie muttered under his breath. He was excited, yet nervous about his planned conversation with Gina later.
"Alright, dinner is ready!" Victor proclaimed as he walked into the living room. "But the table…"
"Is being set right now! C'mon Chels." Raven said grabbing Chelsea's hand as they brushed past her father into the kitchen.
"The more things change, the more they stay the same around here." Victor lamented before walking back into the kitchen just in time to see Raven sneaking a kiss from Chelsea. "Well… that just shot my theory to hell."
I know. A weird place to end a chapter? Perhaps. But you know me. I always want to end a chapter with a good "go home" line and I thought that was pretty good. The rest of the dinner is next. Come back. But don't forget to review!
