Part 2
2015 A.D.
Blackpool
It had been a difficult week for Raven, she had been making various attempts at job hunting, she had even received her grading reports; they were not as good as she had hoped for, in fact her hopes for a specific college course were now out of her grasp, she would not be accepted on the course she had wanted to get onto; it had really driven home how life seemed to have been conspiring against her, it first started with Daniel, and now it seemed to be reaching a peak with no longer being able to chase a dream; and with Yasmin being unavailable for most of the week, she has felt lonely during these difficulties times; she wasn’t certain on what direction she could take.
On the Saturday morning, Raven followed her usual monotonous routine; the difficulties of getting up, followed by a bath to get cleaned up; a fresh set of clothes, then breakfast; she was going through the same motions that morning; though that morning she found herself disrupted while eating by a knock on the door; getting up, she made her way to answer the door.
Stood there waiting, she found her father; Philip he looked at Raven with an indifferent look, he still seemed to look upon her with disappointment “Is your mother ‘ere?” he asked before glancing away, Raven noticed he had some paperwork in his hand
Not saying anything to her dad, she moved away from the door and walked to the bottom of the stairs and glanced upwards “Mum!” she shouted
“Yes?” Jenna called down; her head appearing over the upstairs banister, she looked down towards her daughter
“Dad is here” Raven told her; glancing back towards the front door a moment before walking off back to the kitchen; Philip raised his eyebrow as he simply stood outside, shaking his head after a moment, irritated she didn’t at least invite him inside
“Bloody hell Raven” Philip commented quietly; when he heard Jenna coming down he glanced about before looking towards her as she approached him
“What can I do for you?” Jenna questioned rather coldly; Philip knew she wasn’t going to warm up to him, not after his decision to invite Raven’s assaulter into their home, his comments that Raven could ruin the young mans future had really finished their relationship; he was not going to be forgiven
“I’ve got the paperwork” Philip told her, his tone did sound quite defeated; but he had accepted he wouldn’t be able to convince her to try fixing things
“Alright” Jenna held her hand out; Philip simply passed the paperwork over; there wasn’t anything further said as Jenna closed the door, Philip skulking off, Jenna then made her way to the kitchen, placing the paperwork down on the side, her eyes then drifted to her daughter, she watched her a moment before going over and sitting beside her “What do you plan for today then?” she asked, a smile curved her lips, she was hoping that Raven’s mood would be improving, but it was obvious that there wasn’t any change
Shrugging her shoulders, Raven shook her head “I’m not sure” she answered “I might go up town and see if there are any jobs hiring” she said with a distant look present
Nodding her head, Jenna gave Raven’s shoulder a gentle squeeze “Well, if you need to come find me after one-thirty; I will be down at the shelter” she told her daughter warmly; Raven slowly nodded her head in response, but not much else was said between them; Eliza would make a quick appearance, wanting to check on Raven before she would leave to meet with her boyfriend; Tyler, but like their mother, Eliza found her sister in a rather distant mood
Even their younger brother; Dylan would see the same, and his usual happy mood could normally have some effect with his older sister; but all that had changed since what had happened.
When Raven was finally out and about, she made her way towards town centre, she had pulled her hood up to cover over her head, there was no reason beyond simply trying to ‘hide’ herself from people; she had her hands pulled up into her sleeves as she wandered quietly through the bustling streets; eventually coming across one of the few places she had yet to visit in search of a job; as she made her way in, she heard a bell above the door which caught her attention, it caused her to look up with a confused expression before she walked to the counter; the shop was rather quiet for the time, and when she looked to see who was stood behind the counter, a rather tall lad stood staring at her with a puzzled expression, he wasn’t sure why she had her hood up when there was no rain outside “May I help you love?” he said, his tone was laid back, smooth
“Uh…” she mumbled, she felt a sudden build-up of anxiety “D.., Do you have any job applications?” she inquired with a stutter; as he looked at Raven, he noticed the growing anxiety she had, he watched her a moment, but this only made her even more uneasy “Please stop staring at me like that” she said quickly, her voice seemed to start trembling
“Sorry” he said before reaching beneath the counter, pulling out some paperwork and going through it; finding what he was looking for, he looked at Raven before putting the application onto the counter for her; Raven quickly reached for the application, pulling it away before moving back and turning to leave quickly, the lad shook his head as he watched her leave
Once she got back outside, she took a deep breath before looking at the application a moment, as she started walking down the street she had second thoughts about even applying for the job after her response to someone who hadn’t done anything to her; but that feeling of vulnerability just seemed to skyrocket for her, crumpling up the application she stuffed it into her pocket, she now just found herself wandering around; visiting various different shops; eventually she found herself where Yasmin worked, though being so mentally distracted, she doesn’t realise as she made her way in to the building
“Raven?” Yasmin called, having spotted her absently walking about between the aisles, at first she wasn’t sure due to Raven having her hood up; she had to chase after her to make sure; as she approached Raven, Raven turned to look back with surprise; but Yasmin saw she was not fully there “Are you okay?” she asked with a concerned tone
“Not really” Raven answered “Things just seem to be getting worse for me this week” she admitted, pulling her hood down from her head and taking a deep breath in
“I’m finishing soon; want to go and talk?” Yasmin asked softly; Raven nodded her head “Go and wait for me near the front, I’ll be out in a minute” she smiled at Raven, but her lack of response made Yasmin look at her with a saddened expression watching as Raven walked away
As Raven found somewhere to sit outside of the shop; she just seemed to let numerous negative thoughts begin processing through her mind, she found herself focusing on them, dwelling on them; it was starting to make her mood much more depressive as she stared off, a distant look fixed on her face, and even when Yasmin came out to her, she didn’t immediately react; she just felt someone’s arms wrap around her that made her jump; but as soon as she was about to move, she realised it was Yasmin, so she stopped her movement.
Yasmin knew how down Raven had gotten simply by her reactions in the shop and how unresponsive she had been when she came out to her; the two simply stood in an embrace outside of the shop for a moment; she felt Raven recuperate her hold; Raven’s arms wrapped around Yasmin’s waist as they continued to simply stand there for the moment “I’m sorry I haven’t been available most of this week Raven” Yasmin said softly “Come on, lets go to my flat, we can talk properly then” she felt Raven nodding her head; as they parted; she held her hand out, Raven gave a sad smiled before taking Yasmin’s hand.
When they reached Yasmin’s flat, Yasmin let them inside of the small living space, telling Raven to get settled, she grabbed a set of fresh clothes to change into from her working clothes; leaving Raven for a moment on her own; while waiting, Raven put the television on, flicking over various channels that Yasmin had available but she stopped when she found an old cartoon from the eighties, she couldn’t help but smile as she sat quietly watching it.
When Yasmin had come back out, she noticed Raven watching the television, since she seemed happy enough for that moment, she decided to first go and make something for them to drink; before finally coming over and sitting beside Raven, placing two hot mugs down; the usual scent of tea wafting from them “Old Cartoons” Yasmin said happily
Raven nodded “Yeah” she answered “I love these, use to always watch them as a kid with my sister” Yasmin couldn’t help but giggle in response
After they finished the cartoon and their mugs; they began talking, Yasmin asked various questions that seemed to have no real meaning behind them, if anything they were just random questions; but, these questions served a purpose; it was elevating Raven’s mood, and it encouraged Raven to start talking more about what had been going on, though as soon as Yasmin noticed some distant look coming through, she used the same tactic again, distracting Raven with various pointless questions that raised her mood.
Time would seem to start flying past them as they spoke, upon noticing the time, Yasmin would go and place an order for the delivery of a takeaway; so that they would have a meal that they could enjoy together; as Yasmin was making the order, Raven, having already agreed with Yasmin, let her mother know she was going to be staying with Yasmin.
Eventually their food would arrive, and their conversation would continue the exact same as before; Raven was much happier by the later part of their time together; her negative thoughts had completely disappeared.
Not long after they had finished eating and cleaning up; Raven looked at Yasmin carefully; she seemed to become lost in thought as she was staring, Yasmin noticed “You okay?” she asked, while obvious she paid no attention to the question, Raven just automatically nodded her head; she just kept staring “Hmm” Yasmin approached Raven and tapped her on the nose; it snapped Raven back to the present moment “I said, are you okay?”
“Yes; Sorry” Raven smiled
Yasmin chuckled in amusement at her; they soon moved to Yasmin’s small bedroom to climb into bed; but once again Yasmin caught that strange, distant look present in her eyes; she thought for a moment and moved closer to her, gently placing a kiss on Raven’s lips “Your starting to worry me Raven”
“Sorry” Raven replied, though her voice seemed quiet “It’s just…” she moved her hand up a moment but stopped “I really am in love with you” she told her
Yasmin simply smiled at her before kissing her again; she looked her in the eyes, there was a deep connection between them, it had been developing from their childhood, it entered new territories only the previous year; and even after what had happened with Daniel; their relationship only seemed to have strengthened “And I love you too Raven; I have never stopped telling you that, and I never will stop telling you that” leaning forwards, she leaned her forehead against Raven’s, moving her hand up, she gently caressed her cheek
They remained like that for a moment before laying down on the bed; she smiled as she felt Raven cuddle up against her, so she wrapped her arms around her as they laid quietly beneath the covers; Raven felt much safer in Yasmin’s embrace, she slowly drifted off to sleep, Yasmin soon followed, the two sleeping peacefully.
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