(no subject)

[notsogroovy]

There were days when Raven didn't like working in the restaurant for long hours. She enjoyed seeing all the people and occasionally talking to the regulars, but it was when she got to the end of the night that she started having problems. Most days were all right, but then there were the days when it was like she was asleep standing up. Those were the awkward nights when she had to watch herself very carefully for fear that she would be just tired enough to slip.

Tonight was one of those nights and, once her shift was over, she amused herself by talking to Tom, one of her fellow waiters. It kept her awake and thinking and it didn't hurt that he was cute. She'd just talk and flirt with him for the few minutes it would take for Charles to show up and if she slipped him her number, then it wasn't like Charles would ever really know. Unless he happened to pick up.

"Maybe I'd better get yours instead," she told him. The last thing she wanted to do was have Charles looking over her shoulder as she tried to date. She loved him to death, but she could only pine for so long. She reached out to take his number and yanked her hand back when she noticed that the skin underneath her fingernails was blue. She tried to fight the panic. That would only make it worse. She managed to mutter some kind of excuse, but all Tom gave her was a confused and unhappy look. She cursed herself and looked around for Charles, hoping he'd come in the time she'd taken to make an idiot of herself.

"Please be here, please be here."

Comments

[bringyoupeace]

Charles is running a little later than usual, and when he finally enters the restaurant he wears an expression of exhaustion, flustered after dashing from one place to another, and the black coat fastened tight around himself is littered with dark splashes where the rain outside has begun to soak in from the heavens opening up on him.

But the second that he locates Raven, Charles makes a beeline for her, instantly cheering both outside and in at the mere sight of a familiar face. Family.

"Raven," he greets with a genuine smile, though glancing over her shoulder at the miffed boy watching on, and steps in, hands briefly taking hold of her shoulders as he pulls her in for a quick hug. "I am so sorry that I'm late, love, I needed a word with one of the professors, but tracking them down can be a nightmare sometimes. Are you all right? You're looking rather pale." He reaches out and presses the back of his hand against her forehead. "I do hope that you're not coming down with something."