Catching Feelings

Chapter 40

They spent about another two hours out looking for shoes and accessories before Raven even got the chance to make it to the bakery to do a last minute check on Drake's cake. After which they finally headed to Raven's house. Raven pulled into her garage and helped Tiana with her luggage and shopping bags. When they entered the house Raven proceeded to give Tiana a quick tour, this was the first time she'd visited her in the time Raven's been living in LA. After the tour they took everything to the guest room. Once Tiana was situated, she went into Raven's room to find her rummaging through the closet.

"I don't know why you didn't just buy something while we were out." Tiana spoke while watching her friend push through hangers and hangers of clothing.

Raven laughed, still keeping her focus on her task at hand. "I can't shop with you. It takes forever and you make me spend too much money." 

There was some truth to that, but Tiana rolled her eyes anyway. She sat down on the bed and did a quick scan of the room picking up on a few things. The first thing she noticed was the men's slippers next to the bed and various clothes items that she knew didn't belong to a woman. There was a gold watch sitting on the nightstand with a picture of Raven and Drake right beside it. Tiana picked up the photo to get a closer look at it. They both seemed genuinely happy and that made her smile. She knew that they were serious, but seeing it up close for herself made it even more real.

"Speaking of money missy, exactly how much are you spending on this party?" Tiana asked. Her eyes glanced up from the photo looking back at the closet.

"Um, not much." Raven called out and Tiana knew she was lying. She then emerged from the closet holding up a peach colored strapless dress, and a black spaghetti strap one. "Which one do you like best?" she asked changing the subject. In all honesty, she had spent way over what she'd planned on originally. Tiana pointed to the black dress and Raven held it up against her as she looked in the body length mirror. "I don't know, if I wear this I won't be doing much dancing." The dress short to say the least and if she were to wear it there would definitely be some malfunctions. She shrugged her shoulders and continued looking.

"So who's all coming tonight?" Tiana asked.

"Oh it's just mostly Aubrey's friends." She replied back.

"Are they cute?" Tiana asked in a sly tone that Raven picked up on.

"Don't even go there. You are forbidden from flirting with any of his close friends." Raven warned. Drake's friends were cool, but she didn't want any mixing going on.

"Oh you're no fun." Tiana rolled her eyes and climbed off the bed walking towards the door. "I'm gonna go get ready. I need time to get extra sexy for tonight." She said it loud enough for Raven to hear and exited the room with a teasing smirk.
"I'm serious Tiana." Raven yelled out. She shook her head knowing that what she said went in one ear and out the other.

~~~~~

The doorbell rang and Raven rushed to answer it. When she opened it she saw that it was Danielle. Raven gave her a hug welcoming her in. Danielle stepped inside getting a good look at the woman standing in front of her wearing a robe with large rollers in her hair. "Hey, I thought we were leaving in an hour, you're not even dressed."

It was getting late. Raven had found out what she was going to wear, showered and now she only had her hair and makeup to worry about. "I know, I know, I just need twenty more minutes."

"She's been saying that for the past twenty minutes." Tiana spoke as she walked into the room now fully dressed.

Danielle's face lit up and a shrill scream came from both women as they rushed for hugs. They hadn't seen each other in years. With Tiana teaching at the studio in New York and Danielle constantly being on the road there was barely anytime left for girl talk.

"Oh my god, I feel like I haven't seen you in forever." Danielle said with a huge smile.

"That's because you don't know how to come home. You two come out to LA and get all Hollywood on me." said Tiana while pointing at the two women in front of her.

Raven rolled turning her attention to Danielle. "Anyway, what is this we have here?" she asked referring to the bottle in her hand.

Danielle looked down to see what she was talking about and raised the clear glass bottle with matching contents and waved it in front of her. "I couldn't show up empty handed."

Tiana shook her head seeing the playful gleam on Danielle's face. "You haven't changed one bit."

"I'll go get some glasses." Raven turned to head for the kitchen, but Tiana grabbed her by the crook of her arm to pull her back.

"Oh no you don't, there will be no hard liquor for you. The last time I was out with you two and Mr. Patron, it wasn't very pleasant."

"You don't have to worry, I'll be good, and besides that wasn't Patron, it was Don Julio."

After two shots of tequila, Raven was dressed and ready to go. She opted for a pair of high waist black skinny jeans that hugged her hips and a black see through top. She finished the look with a pair of black thigh high chap boots, and let her hair fall in wavy curls.

The three women headed over to the club in Raven's car. They laughed and joked as they drove through the Los Angeles traffic talking about everything and nothing. "So he has no idea about the party?" Danielle asked from the backseat.

Raven shook her head keeping her eyes on the road. "No clue whatsoever, but I think he's pissed at me right now."

"What makes you say that?" Tiana asked from the passenger seat.

"I sent him a text saying that I got caught up in a late meeting and might not be able to meet up with him tonight. He never replied and when I called him it went straight to voice mail."

"Yeah he's mad, but he'll get over it once he sees everything you'd done for him." said Tiana. Raven was pretty sure of that too, but she knew as of right now he was cursing her name.
~~~~~

Drake looked down at his phone reading the text that Raven sent him for what seemed to be the hundredth time. He couldn't believe that she would blow him off like that on his birthday. He knew that if he were to text her back or answer her calls it would only end in an argument. In his mind there was nothing she could say to make up for missing his birthday. The crew wanted to cheer him up so they decided to hit up some clubs. About an hour or so later they were pulling up in front of Supperclub two suv's deep.

40 and Chubbs led the way into the club. A couple of paparazzi caught his picture as he walked up to the entrance. Drake thought it was strange that there was no line of people waiting outside and when the doors opened the music was down low. He hoped that it wouldn't be a dead night; he needed to get his mind off of Raven. Drake entered the lounge with his eyes glued to his phone as he followed behind Chubbs when all of sudden...

"Surprise!"

His head popped up almost dropping his phone at the unexpected shout. A huge grin spread across his face as he looked at the crowd of familiar faces. They had got him. He ran his hand down his face turning to face 40 and the rest of the guys laughing. 40 walked over to Drake giving him a manly hug before the rest of the crowd rushed towards him. "Happy birthday man."

Drake was still smiling from ear to ear when he let his friend go. "You gotta be fuckin with me right now. When did ya'll do this?" he asked in between people approaching him to offer well wishes.
"We didn't...your girl did." 40 replied.

When he said this Drake's eyebrows quirked up, that's when he felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned around to see Raven standing there smiling. His eyes went over her from head to toe liking what he saw. Whatever anger or bitterness he was feeling towards her faded away as soon as he laid eyes on her.

"Happy birthday baby." She said as she went in to kiss him. When her lips came in contact with his she felt his tongue lick bottom lips before slipping into her mouth. Raven's eyes widened when she felt his hands slid under her backside lifting her up off of the floor. Her legs instinctively wrapped around him, but she broke the kiss staring into his eyes. Her face was flushed. The kiss didn't embarrass her, it was the many observers, flashing camera's and cheers that made her blush. Drake just flashed a coy smile knowing he was the cause of that. "What was that?" she leaned forward to whisper in his ear.

"That was me thanking you." His hand made a subtle shift to her ass, giving it a squeeze before he put her down to greet his friends.