Between Love And Hate

Chapter Twenty-two

Janelle

I stood outside Raven's hospital room, mentally preparing myself to walk in. I couldn't pretend nothing had happened last night, but everytime I would remember, it scared me.

Raven wasn't just a part of my life that would come and go, she was here to stay. I was a forest and Raven had come to set camp in my heart, except she wasn't leaving this time.

Brit was the last one to leave Raven's room. Her green eyes filled with happiness. I could tell from how it looked like someone left stray glitter in her eyes. She threw her arms around me and bubbled with laughter.

"Mum said something funny about you and Raven. But I'm not telling you. Plus, Rave is okay now. But she looks the opposite. She told me she'd take me to the fun zone when she gets better and that she'd take me to see a movie too and then get me ice cream."

I watched with glee as my kid sister ranted on and on. My parents stood by the door, watching us both. Mum had a smile on and dad held her hand.

"Will you go see Raven now?" Bri asked. I looked at my parents and their eyes seemed to ask the same thing.

I nodded. "I have to, right? Rave is my hero. But you know the best part? She wasn't wearing a cape."

Brit smiled, tightening her arm around me. "She's my hero too."

Few minutes later, satisfied with nagging me about the fun zone, I made my parents leave with Brit. After they had left, I got up as fast as I could and found myself in front of Raven's hospital room. I was nervous, what if she blamed me for everything? Shit.

I opened the door and stepped in. I probably wasn't quiet enough, because Raven jerked up in utter surprise.

She tried to sit up, wincing slightly with every move. "You shouldn't do that, you know. You're hurt on your left shoulder and arm. Don't try to sit up."

Raven stared at me, "No shit, Sherlock. You sound like both our mums now." she said with quiet chuckle. I shrugged.

After she had managed to sit down, I sat down on the empty space on her bed. My hands happened to move on their own and it wasn't long until I was tracing the bruises on her face with my finger.

She winced when my finger brushed the cut on her eyebrow. It would leave a scar, but it would be a cute one. I inched closer to her, brushing my lips against her bruised cheek.

"I'm the reason why you're here. This is all my fault."
She shook her head. "You didn't do anything. And I had to save you. Imagine if I never had. I can't bring myself to think of it. It's horrible. Yeah, I know we had a bad start, but right now, I can't say I want to live in the past anymore. Thinking about it now, I want to live in the present and you're a big part of this present."

I swallowed the lump in my throat, I didn't even know it was there. I placed my hand under her chin, pulled her forward and placed a ghost like kiss on her lips. I watched as her cheeks turned red from blushing.

The butterflies that swarmed my stomach came with double force. My lips tingled from the kiss and I knew for a fact that no matter how small our kisses were, I would crave them for a long time.

She tucked a stray hair behind my ear and stared into my eyes. Her eyes were the most blue I'd seen, apart from mine. And I felt like her gaze seemed to be sipping through me and deep into my soul.

"I owe you..." I said, pausing a bit when she took her hands off my face. I thought she'd place it somewhere else, but instead she laced our fingers together. "You don't owe me anything." she responded, still looking me deep in the eyes.

"But of course I do. I owe you alot. It's not like I can do much about this, you got in trouble for me."

"Nope. That's not true." She answered, her fingers traced invincible patterns on my open palm.

"But, if you do owe me anything, it's a date."

My heart beat ten times more than the normal rate. Shit! She could be pulling my legs for all I knew. But her eyes seemed so sincere, like she was being honest. And she had this smile on.

Raven's smile were always a rare thing to behold. Her lips would curve into perfection everytime she would smile. I used to think she was a very bitter person because she was always grumpy at school and she seemed to wear a scowl for the seven hours we spent at school. I wondered how Katie had coped with her for all the years they'd known each other.

"I don't know... I mean, urhm... why would you go out on a date with me?"
She didn't say anything, she just tucked another strand of stray hair behind my ear and smiled again. She shrugged with her right shoulder.

"Cause obviously, no one gets me like you do. Mum told me something when she was here this morning. I don't know, I can't tell you though. I'll tell you if you go on the date with me."

"This is blackmail." I said, laughing at how she made it sound.
"No it's not. It's not blackmail at all. I'm just saying, I can't tell you unless you go on a date with me."

"Alright, I'll go on a date with you."

She stared at me for a few seconds before grinning wider than the smiley emoji. She was adorable and the best part was her smile wasn't fake.
"You look like a Cheshire cat." She chuckled, "I know."
We stayed in comfortable silence for a while before she started talking again.

"I used to keep cleaning agents in the girls restroom every time I spilled stuff on you. And sometimes, I even kept a change of clothing. Sometimes a t-shirt and sometimes a button up. If you doubt me, my clothes always have my name on them. If you still have them, you can go check."

I was going to say something when a nurse came in. She needed to change Raven's bandages that had blood stains, she took a few seconds to scold Raven for trying to sit up for too long. And Raven seemed more amused than sorry.

I said goodbye and gave her a peck on her forehead before leaving.

Raven was a crazy girl. Hard and grumpy on the outside and soft as a rose petal on the inside. It's crazy how fast we became friends or maybe something more.
I could count how many times she'd spilled things on me, there was ketchup, coffee, slushy and green tea. And everytime, there was cleaning agent waiting for me in the school's restroom and a pair of clean t-shirts. It was all her, there was no need to doubt that, Raven was an honest person. There was no way she'd lie.

Who spoilt people's clothing and still went on to be their secret good Samaritan?