ravens currently sitting with the phone in her hand as it rings. its been about ten minutes since saul has spoken with the man and now raven has to do damage control. "hello?"
"hey brandon, its me. listen, i really dont know what or why he said. he took the call before i could make it up to my room, im sorry. what happened?"
she hears him sigh and groan softly before he answers. "i think thats something you should be asking him."
"i tried, he wont tell me," she basically pleads. the action is insanely uncharacteristic of her. "i really am sorry."
"its fine rav, i just...are you sure you two never dated after high school?" the question has raven scoffing in disgust and disbelief. "because thats what it feels like."
her brows furrow in utter confusion. "what? no, we literally hate each other?"
"see, thats really hard for me to believe after all he just said," he says. raven knows by the tone of his voice, that he's trying really hard to keep from getting angry or annoyed with her.
"brandon, we've hated each other since middle school. you were literally there," she deadpans.
"ok well if you two never dated or had some form of relationship, do you have a reason as to why he'd be telling me to back off?"
raven doesnt have an answer. "wait what? what exactly did he say?"
"why do you wanna know so bad?" the irritation is starting to show through in his tone.
she groans. "because i cant explain anything if i dont know and your getting mad at me over it like i knew what he was gonna say."
"whatever raven. and why is it that he cares so damn much if we go out?"
she's grasping at straws to keep him from cutting her off at this point. "okay, hes just being a dick. were in the same friend group and were on tour together, do you really expect just blow them all off?"
"honestly? kinda but only because we've been yknow, talking and seeing if were still good together for two weeks now. your hanging out with somebody that likes neither of us, and we dont like him," he elaborates before she can get mad.
"okay thats fair, im sorry," she genuinely apologizes. "i wanna be with you, i really do, its just hard. even if you were here, its hard because were always moving yknow?"
"yeah," brandon sighs.
"but i cant just blow them all off for you. i do feel like you should trust me," she adds.
he sighs, heavier again. "i do trust you, its him i dont trust."
she feels like shes getting no where, like shes fighting a lost cause. "i really miss you brandon, i wanna be with you again. dont get mad at me over shit that isnt my fault. especially when you wont even tell me what he said thats got you so riled up."
he's quiet for a second. "really?"
"really what?"
"you wanna be with me?"
she laughs softly to herself, twisting the phone cord around her finger. "well i thought i'd made that much obvious."
"well it was you just never flat out said it. i like hearing it," he tells shyly.
"does that mean your not mad anymore?" she asks hopefully.
"no. where are you again?"
she has to think for a second before she can answer because she doesnt remember. "atlanta, we leave tonight though."
"oh, coincidence, so i am i," he tells her. "you should let me pick you up, we can get ice cream or something?"
she doesnt even think twice before she agrees, telling him what hotel she was at and that she'd be waiting by the time he got here.
frantically, she quickly showers and change into a pair of jean shorts and a red striped tank top, slipping on her blazers and dashing down the stairs. when she steps onto the concrete of the swimming pool, she feels way hotter in the blazing sun than she did earlier. flora is talking to steven and duff, lounging in the chairs while ozzy, saul and axl are still where they were except now joined by nikki and tommy. mick had gone up to take a nap and vince had run off with some girl. izzy was sitting off to the side in his chair, probably asleep under those sunglasses.
"your not swimming anymore?" flora asks, pausing her conversation to ask her best friend.
"uhm, no actually," she clasps her hands behind her back with a growing smile and twists from side to side anxiously. "brandon is picking me up for ice cream."
"your seriously gonna go out with him?" saul asks incredulously from where hes sat. ozzy side eyes him, as does axl before the two share a look over the top of his head. duff and steven also share a look of anticipation at the incoming disagreement.
"yes i am, saul," she tells him smartly. "whatever you said to him didnt work."
he rolls his eyes, tying his hair lowly with the hair tie on his wrist as his jaw clenches. when he doesnt say anything else, raven decides shes not in the mood to be very nice to him. so she antagonizes some more. "why do you care?"
his head snaps to her, a taken aback look on his face. he takes a minute to respond. "your fucking mental if you think i care."
"then what are you so mad for?" she asks quickly.
he looks away from her again, shaking his head as he does so. she stares at him in anticipation, still waiting for an answer.
after almost a full two minutes of silence, duff clears his throat. "well! i dont think mad is the grammatically correct term for this exact situation."
"oh? what word would you use duff?" steven asks when raven never verbally responds, just turning to look at them blankly.
"well flo, i think the correct term for the emotion our dear guitarist is feeling would be classified as jeal- HEY! WHO THREW A FUCKING ROCK AT ME?!"
when axl, ozzy, saul and izzy all get into a screaming match about who threw the rock when duff began accusing them, raven rolls her eyes. shes almost positive brandons here by now so she turns on her heel to walk to the front of the hotel but flora and stevens yelling brings her back momentarily.
"BYE RAV!" steven waves with a big smile.
"WE LOVE YOU!" flora yells, waving as well.
she shakes her head with a smile, walking back through the glass door. as she does, she feels a stare burning into her body and she's almost sure she knows who it is. but just to be sure, she checks. when she peers through the patterned glass, she sees saul staring at her with a scowl and a clenched jaw.
she gets an uneasy stir in her stomach but brushes it off, shooting him a fake smile and wave by wiggling her fingers before turning and continuing out the front door.
