from the ashes (she will rise) ➸ octaven

chapter 24

If there's one thing Raven likes about living on her own, it's the privacy. It's nine o'clock at night and she's eating a bowl of cereal on the couch, in nothing but her underwear. She's watching some documentary about astrophysics, nearly falling asleep, when a knock at the door startles her back awake.

Deep down, she knows who it is, which is why she doesn't bother looking through the peephole. But she's still confused, because Octavia wasn't supposed to be home until tomorrow afternoon. She makes her way over to the door, unsure if she's hearing things.

However, it all hits her when she opens the door and there stands Octavia, a small smile on her face. She's tan, considerably more than before, and the sun has brought out faint freckles, scattering them across the bridge of her nose and under her eyes. Her hair is thrown up into some half up, half down style that she hasn't given much regard to. Raven's eyes scan her up and down -- flip flops, white shorts, and a mustard yellow camp t-shirt, covered in sharpie signatures and crudely drawn smiley faces. There's a beach ball tucked under her arm, and the faded colors of a temporary tattoo on her cheek.

"Hey, stranger," Octavia speaks up when Raven doesn't say anything. She balances her duffel bag on her hip, a smile tugging at her lips. "You gonna let me in or are you just gonna keep staring?"

Snapping out of her daze, Raven quickly steps aside and holds open the door. "I thought you were..." she stumbles over her words, gesturing vaguely to fill in the gaps. "Tomorrow?"

"Drove through the night," Octavia shrugs, standing in the middle of the living room and taking it all in. The apartment looks completely different than it had when she left. For starters, the living room walls are now a muted green, no longer plain white. There's a few new pieces of furniture, two small lamps and a beanbag chair tossed in front of the television -- Clarke's doing. A smile tugs at Octavia's lips when she notices a few of the pictures she'd send from camp, now taped in a row on the bookshelf.

"I wasn't expecting you," Raven shakes her head, flustered. She grabs two dirty glasses from the table beside the couch and hurries to put them away. But Octavia stops her, suddenly at her side and placing a hand on her arm.

"Hey, it's been three weeks," the girl quirks an eyebrow. "Don't I at least get a hello?" There's a smile on her face, but she grows uneasy at Raven's odd behavior.

"You do... it's just," Raven shakes her head. "I'm..." she motions vaguely. Octavia's eyes scan her up and down.

"In your underwear?" Octavia furrows her eyebrows together, but she just shrugs. "Nothing I haven't seen before."

"That's not it," Raven shakes her head, swallowing hard. "All those times were in the dark."

"Yeah, so?" Octavia looks to her in utter confusion.

"My leg."

"What about it?"

"It's... it."

"And?"

"It's... scarred."

Octavia tilts her head to the side.

"Like, really fucking ugly."

"No it's not," Octavia quips back, but Raven's too flustered to think rationally. She starts to move back toward the kitchen but Octavia snatches the glasses from her hands before she can even take a step, setting them back down on the table. Her eyes never leave Raven's.

"You're complicating this more than you need to," Octavia steps in front of her, blocking the pathway to the kitchen. "You really think I care what your leg looks like?"