By Chance

ch 9

Knock, knock, knock. I rush down the stairs, and open the door. Gabriel stands in the doorway. "Hey." I say opening the door wider so he can come in. "Hey." He says stepping past me. I close the door and look at him. "So what do you-" I start but am cut off by my mom's voice. "Raven! Get up here now! I want more beer! And whoever is here, tell them to go away!" My mom yells. She's been disfunctional ever since Bethany went missing. I wince. "Um, we should go." I say opening the door again. Gabriel nods frowning. We get in his car. "Does she always yell at you like that?" He asks. I nod. "She didn't handle Bethany's dissearance to well." I say looking out the window. "She seemed nice when I first meet her." He says. "Yeah, well she had a interview so she was sober and dressed well. It was a rare occasion." I say. He nods. "You want to go out for lunch, I'm hungry." He asks. "Yeah, sure." I say. He pulls out the drive way.

Gabriel's P.O.V.

I feel sorry for her. She's probably had to take of herself for the past year. That would suck. A lot. "Where do you want to eat?" I ask. She bites her lip. "Um, how about that Chinese place?" She asks. "Yeah, sure." I say. I don't really like Chinese but if she wants it I might as well be polite.

I look in the mirror and see that she's staring at me. "What?" I ask. "How old are you?" She asks. I laugh. "I already told you that."I say. "When?" She asks. "When we first met." I say. "Well tell me again because I obviously forgot." She says. "Seventeen." I say. She raises her eyebrows. "What?" I asks trying to still focus on the road. "You seem older like 18 or 19." She says. "Why?" I ask. "Because your practically a giant!" She says. "I'm only a foot taller than you and your like what, 15?" I say. She frowns. "What?" I say. "I'm 16, you dofus." She says. Oh. Opps. "Sorry." I say. "Mmhum." She mubbles. I smile.

When we get to the restaurant it around 12:00 so it's packed. The waiter sets us down at a booth, and hands us our menus. It's more of a Ruby Tuesdays that's sells seafood but ,what the heck, might as well try it. "What do you want?" I ask. She shrugs and leans against one hand. "Well don't you normally come here?" I ask. "No, I just wanted to try it." She says. I nod. I look up. Oh, crap. I look down again, trying to hide my face. Raven notices, I can tell by the questioning look in her eye but she doesn't say anything. Thankfully.

"Oh, hey Gabe!" He shouts from across the room. Dang it. I look up. Cole slides into the seat next to Raven. His triple pierced lip, backwards black cap, and multiple tattoos make him stand out. A lot. As in he just got more than half of the restaurant looking at this on table. Raven uncomfortably scoots closer to me and away from Cole. She keeps her head down and eyes trained on the floor. "What you want Cole?" I say trying to get this over with and away from Raven and me. "Hey, no need to be mean. I mean it's been so long since I've seen you." He says slowly with his words slurring together. "There's a reason." I say coldly. He laughs like it's funny. He eyes wander to Raven. He smiles harshly. "Well, well, well. Looks like you've got a girl again." He says leaning back. "We're not dating. She just a friend." I say. "Oh, well then can I have her?" He says squeezing her waist. She jerks away quickly and huddles against me. I put a protective arm around her. "You can't have anyone. Now back off, and leave us alone." I growl. He puts his hands in the air in a fake surrender. "Yeah, fine, whatever." He says leaving.

It takes a few seconds for Raven to say anything. "Is he gone." She says. "Yeah." I say. Slowly she uncurls from my side. "I'm sorry about that." I say. She nods. "Its fine." She says. "No its not I'm going to talk to him about that." I say. "Who was he?" She asks. "That was my brother." I say. Her eyes grow wide with shock. "Why are you so different?" She asks. "Because he grew up with my dad, and he's not a very good person." I say. "Yeah, well at least one of you came out alright." She says smiling. I blush even though it was meant as a complement but I don't take those very well. She laughs noticing. Well at least she's feeling better.