Eclipse {Ravi Singh}

15

disclaimers: i dont own agggtm and not that you care but my bunnys name is thumper.

ravi and amaris stood oitside of the train station waiting for pip, who had taken the train after school. amaris hadnt gone back to schoold instead she tagged along with ravi when he went to work, she didnt want to go back to school and have the possibility of seeing elliot again. ravi was more than happy for her to tag along with him, that way when it was slow or he was on break she was right there, someone to sit with and talk to.
"so," ravi says dragging out the 'o' as he nugdes amaris.
"so?" she asks glancing up at him.
"does pip know why you left school?"
amaris shakes her head and turns to him, "please dont tell her about the park. she'll just worry and she doesn't need to."
"well wouldnt you worry if the rolls were reversed."
"wh- that doesnt matter. she doesnt need to worry. and neither do you, im fine." amaris says but the way she spoke the last two words it was as if she was trying to convince herself.
"mari," his voice was barely above a whisper and his hand had moved to her arm. "you dont have to always be fine."
"i know. but i am. im fine, i promise." she says with a gulp.
ravis eyes dance over amaris's face, his own held a sorrowful expression. "amaris."
amaris's shifts and and her gaze moves to her feet, ravis eyes were burning holes into her face.
"ravi, please-" amaris is cut off by her sister who had just gotten of the train.
"hi." pip says. amaris moves away from ravi, who lets his hand drop from her arm. his fingers trail lightly down her arm before falling to his side.
"sarge i was just coming up with our crime-fighting theme tune. so far, I’ve got chilled strings and a pan flute when it’s me, and then you come on with some heavy, darth vader-ish trumpets, while maris got those lo-fi tunes playing softly."
"why am I the trumpets?" pip asks.
"because you stomp when you walk, sorry to be the one to tell you." ravi says suppressing a laugh.
pip rolls her eyes and pulls out her phone typing in the address of the hotel they needed to go to.
"mari." ravi whispers to amaris as pip begins walking.
"please stop calling me that ravi." she pleads, a part of her regretted going to him but the other --bigger-- part of her was glad that he cared enough to be worried about her.
"okay. moon then-" ravi says looking down at here.
"look, ravi, im greatfull that you care about me or whatever but im fine. at least for right now. ill let you know if im not fine, okay?"
"promise?" amaris was taken back by this she really didnt know why ravi cared so much but it brought a smile to her face.
"pinky promise." she mumbles and hooks their pinkies.

---

amaris and ravi were debating whether disney or Nickelodeon is better when pip rang the doorbell to the ivy house hotel. they didnt stop their debate, that was filled with petty and sarcastic remarks, until the door swung open and an old lady ushered them inside saying.
"hello, dears i didn’t realize we were expecting someone. what name did you make the booking under?"
"oh, sorry," Pip says as amaris pokes ravis side making him jumps some and swat at her hand, she lets out a chuckle. "we haven’t actually got a booking."
"I see, well, lucky for you three we aren’t booked up so---" the woman is cut off by pip, who sends amaris and ravi an awkward glance.
"Sorry. I mean, we’re not looking to stay here. We’re looking for...."
"we have some questions for the owners of the hotel. Are you....?" amaris cuts in when pip trails off.
"Yes, I own the hotel, Ran it for twenty years with my David; he was in charge of most things, though. It’s been hard since my David passed a couple of years ago. But my grandsons are always here, helping me get by, driving me around. My grandson Henry is just upstairs cleaning the rooms."
"So five years ago, you and your husband were running the hotel?" ravi asks and the woman nods, looking at ravi.
"very handsome, lucky girl." she mumbles the last part to amaris, whos eyes widen and blush creeps onto her face.
"uh, we arent..." amaris trails off as she looks at ravi, he was shimming his shoulders as he pointed at his face mouthing 'very handsome'. amaris narrows her eyes at him and runs her tongue over her teeth.
"would you like to sit down? i know i would." the woman says gesturing to the couch, pip follows her first. amaris following after she sends a feble punch into ravis side.
"Um, so, do you keep records of people who have stayed here?" pip asks once amaris and ravi sit down.
"it’s all done on the, err . . . that, um . . . the computer now, isn’t it sometimes by the telephone. David always sorted all the bookings; now Henry does it for me." the women says.
"so how did you keep track of the reservations you had?" Pip asks
"my david did it. had a spreadsheet printed out for the week." the
woman shrugs.
"would you still have your reservation spreadsheets from five years ago?" Ravi asks, hopeful.
"no, no. The whole place would be flooded in paper."
"but do you have the documents saved on a computer?" Pip questions.
"oh no. we threw david’s computer out after he passed. it was a very slow little thing, like me. my henry does all the bookings for me now."
"can I ask you something?" Pip asks, unzipping her backpack and
pulling out a picture of andie bell, "do you recognize this girl? has she ever
stayed here?"
"yes, i know her. she’s been here."
"You remember that this girl stayed with you five years ago?" pip asks.
"Do you remember the man she was with? What he looked like?" amaris adds.
"no, no, it wasn’t five years ago. i saw this girl. she’s been here." the womans voice was shaky.
"in 2012?" Pip asks .
"no, no. it was just a few weeks ago. She was here, I remember."
"That’s not possible, that girl has been dead for five years."
"but, I – but I remember. She was here. She’s been here."
"Five years ago?" Ravi suggests softly.
"No," anger had began to slowly creep into her voice. "I remember, don’t I? I don’t –"
"grandma?" a mans voice cuts her off from up the stairs, steps could be heard before someone came into view. "hello? I’m Henry Hill." the man came over and stuck his hand out.
ravi stood, grabbing the hand and shaking it, "im ravi, this is pip and mari."
"can we help you with something?" henry asks glancing at his grandmother.
"we were just asking your grandma a couple of questions about someone who stayed here five years ago," ravi says.
amaris's gaze shifted to the woman and she noticed she was now crying. henry mustve noticed aswell because he waljed over and helped his grandma up.
"grandma, why don’t you pop the kettle on and make us apot of tea? i’ll help out these people here, don’t worry." henry guided his grandma to the hall before turning back to the three teens.
"sorry, she gets upset when she gets
confused. the Alzheimer’s . . . it’s starting to get quite bad. I’m actually just cleaning up to put the place on the market. she keeps forgetting that." he says quietly.
"shit, im so sorry, we shouldve realized. we disnt mean to upset her." amaris says standing and making her way to ravi.
"no, i know, course you didn’t, can I help with whatever it is?’
"we were asking about this girl." Pip held up the photo of andie. "whether she stayed here five years ago."
"And what did my grandma say?"
"she thought she’d seen her recently, just weeks ago," amaris pauses, " but thats not possible..... this girl died in 2012."
"she does that quite often now, gets confused about times and when things happened. Sometimes still thinks my grandad is alive. She’s probably just recognizing your girl from five years ago, if that’s when you think she was here." henrys gaze moved from each of the three teens and back as amaris shifts, it was odly cold and her cardigan was doing nothing for her.
"yeah, i guess." pip says
"sorry I can’t be of more help. i can’t tell you who stayed here five years ago; we haven’t kept the old records. But if she recognized her, i guess that gives you your answer?"
"it does. sorry for upsetting her." pip nods.
"will she be ok?" ravi asks draping his arm around amaris's shoulders pulling her closer, he had noticed her slight shivering.
"she’ll be fine, cup of tea will do the trick." henry lets out a small chuckle.
after exchanging small 'thank yous' and 'goodbyes' the three treens made theyre way to the train station. ravis arms still wrapped around amaris's shoulders, keeping both her and him-- even if he wasnt cold before-- warm.
their bodyheat swirled together creating a warmth that they didnt even realize they liked more than any other warmth they could get from physical things.

a/n
ugh okay so im writing this inthe car with no wifi so it didnt save it and i had to rewrite half the chapter but i didnt even notice until i had fuly written the next chapter so the ending paragraph was beter in the original version but i cant remember everything i wrote