I Think I Love You [boyxboy]

Chapter Fourteen

Jesse:

Raven didn't mention his dad again for the whole evening. We didn't do much Maths after tea; we just watched some films. 

Raven made me put on some horror film that he insisted was 'dead good'. I thought it was a little unhinged, to be perfectly honest. But he seemed to be loving it. He laughed at me when  I visibly jumped. 

"You're not scared?" he teased. 

 "N-No," I shook my head, trying to recompose myself. 

"You so are," he grinned. "C'mere, I'll protect you from psycho ladies with power tools." 

He slung an arm around me casually, and I thought he was joking. But when he didn't move, I kind of realised he wasn't and snuggled into him a bit. His arm was skinny but strong and his skin was warm on my shoulders. He was quiet for a minute. Then he turned to me. 

"Can we lie down? My back's killing," he said, softly. 

"Um... sure, go ahead," I told him. He lay down on his back, pulling me down with him. His arm was around my waist now, holding me on his side. After a couple of awkward minutes, I put my arms around his stomach. He wriggled a bit then grinned at me. 

"You okay?" he asked, his voice adopting this soft tone I'd never heard from him before. 

"Yeah," I looked up at him. There was something alluring about the soft, flickering light of the television screen on the pale skin of the exposed side of his face. His soft ebony hair gleamed in the light and I caught myself wondering for the first time how it was so soft for so many split ends. He met my eye and smiled a little bit, as if he didn't really know what to do or say to me. The smile was enough for me. 

I swung myself up so, rather than lying beside Raven, I was sitting astride his midriff. He giggled nervously and looked up at me. 

"Jesse, what're you doing?" he asked. 

"Why d'you keep calling me Jesse?" I said. "Call me Jess, it's what all my friends call me." 

"Okay then... Jess," he said. "Does this mean we're friends?" 

"Maybe," I sighed heavily, taking his hands into mine. "If you want to be." 

I was flirting with him big style, and he obviously noticed, but he wasn't playing along. 

"Will your other friends not be mad at you?" he asked. I shrugged. 

"So what if they are?" I said. "They'll get over it." 

"Skylar won't," he sighed. I peered at him, head on one side. 

"What exactly happened between the two of you?" I wanted to know. He sighed. 

"It's... it's long and complicated," he told me. "And I know what he tells people - that I got all psycho possessive of him and then beat him up when he wanted me to stop. I'm not daft, I've heard him saying it to people. But that's not how it happened, really. I'm not like that." 

"I didn't believe him when he said it," I confessed. "He wouldn't look me in the eye when he said it. What did happen, then?" 

"I..." he swallowed and shook his head. "I'd rather not talk about it, if that's okay. I kinda don't like to remember." 

"Mm?" I raised one eyebrow. "Well. How's about I help you forget?" 

Before I knew what I was doing, I leaned down and pressed my lips onto Raven's. For a split second, he was frozen, shocked. Then he was ravenous for it. He wound his arms around my waist, pulling me down so I was lying ontop of him properly. His legs seperated a bit so we were lying with our legs intertwined. I felt him smile into the kiss as I parted my lips and slipped my tongue into his mouth. He took my hands and guided them to his hair. I tugged gently and he gave a little whimper of pleasure. 

I pulled away a little, wanting to see him breathless and flushed. Half of his face was; the other half, the half that had been covered with his hair, was a different story. He had a black eye and his perfect looks were marred with bruises and cuts. 

"Oh, Raven," I whispered, stroking the bruised half of his face. He seemed to remember himself and jerked away quickly, combing his hair back over his face with his fingers. 

"Um," he pushed me off gently and stood up. "I should go home now." 

"Did your dad do that to you?" I asked, quietly. 

"Um. No," it was the most unconvincing 'no' I'd ever heard. He bit his lip. "D-don't tell anyone, will you?" 

"Raven you need to..." I began. 

"No. He'll kill me if anyone finds out," he said. "Please." 

There was a kind of sincerity in his eyes that made me want to cuddle him and never let go. I swallowed. 

"Okay," I said. "I won't tell anyone." 

"Thanks," he smiled and hugged me. 

Poor Raven.