The Butterfly Effect

Chapter 7

Ƹ̴Ӂ̴Ʒ

"There are no wrong turnings. Only paths we had not known we were meant to walk."

Guy Gavriel Kay

"Um, what are you doing here?" he asked sheepishly.

"I'm here with my friends," she replied, eyes practically digging a laser through him.

Garfield nodded nervously, "Me too. Heh."

Silence. What was he supposed to do? Perhaps apologize? But apologize for what? He truly believed it hadn't been his fault. Maybe if she apologized first. Or perhaps he could just walk past her, lock himself in the restroom, and just never come out. No, that would be a dumb decision.

"Gar," she snapped him out of his ridiculous ideas. "Now that we're here... I guess I should take a moment to apologize."

He raised both eyebrows, thoroughly shocked that Raven out of all people would actually apologize. "Apologize?"

"I treated you unfairly. I was frustrated, and I wasn't sure what I was saying. But that doesn't excuse my behavior. I shouldn't have brought up your girlfriend. It was a low blow, and I did it out of impulse. Since I presume we won't see each other again after this, I just wanted to tell you that."

He nodded as she spoke, somewhat shocked yet touched by her apology. He smiled, "It's alright. I say things I shouldn't all the time."

They both awkwardly chuckled and another awkward pause followed it. "So we really won't see each other again?" he asked, unsure of what brought him to say it. Way to go. Now you're certainly going to scare her away.

"I wouldn't be surprised if we do see each other..." she shrugged and crossed her arms. "That's way too many run-ins in barely a month."

"They are," he nodded, eyes tracing the sparkle in her own carefully, falling deeply into her enchantress-like charm. How did she manage to do this to him? "But I don't mind." He stepped closer, and she didn't do anything to stop him.

"I don't think I mind either," she admitted, her tone inciting something inside him in the span of a second.

They shouldn't have done it. He wasn't sure what drove him to do it. Vic had warned him. It was supposed to be a normal guy's night out. He wasn't supposed to run into her. But now that he had, he couldn't help but feel the same intense attraction he'd felt in that elevator, driven toward her like she was magnetic. And the worst part was that she didn't stop him, even though she knew she should have.

By the time they'd locked themselves in the girl's bathroom behind her, his belt was already on the ground, and their lips crashed furiously against each other, both giving into their desires. It wasn't supposed to happen. The thought was practically on repeat inside his head even as his eager hand slipped inside her pants.

Her moans were enough to encourage him, further driving them into their crazed lust. And even after he whispered, "We shouldn't be doing this," into her ear, they didn't stop, too far into their primal inclinations to think logically.

"We shouldn't," she managed in between her sighs.

He couldn't thank the woman who decided to knock on the door enough for snapping them out of their trance.

Raven's panic-stricken expression was enough to make him jerk back and hurriedly pull up his pants.

"Anybody in there?" the woman asked.

"Yes," Raven managed as she zipped up her own pants and fixed her shirt. "In a second."

"How do I get out?" Garfield whisper-yelled in a panic.