Chapter Thirty Nine

Carson pushed his fingers across his brow rubbing the temples while ignoring the complaints about him not going out with them more when he knew it wasn't worth his time. Agreeing quickly, so that they would drop the topic, he heard what he thought to be the strange girl's name being called. Robin was too rare of a name for it to just be a coincidence.

Glancing over to the table area, his eyes scanned the other customers coming to rest on the only redhead in the building. Unable to tell what her figure was under the baggy clothes he couldn't see if it was her from the distance they were from each other.

Hoping who she was with would maybe shed some light on her identity without having to get any closer he looked over to them. Just as his eyes moved to see who the man was, their eyes met as if he knew Carson was looking at them. Though the man's expression never changed his eyes gave a slight warning glare as if to tell him to stop looking their way.

Carson arched his brow to the threat giving out an irritated hiss finding it a little strange when he was sure he wasn't being too obvious about what he was doing just yet. This didn't put Carson's mind to rest as he now needed to know who she was all the more having the suspicious behavior feel like she was hiding from him.

"I'll go save a seat" Carson claimed as he went to step away planning to pass them by while pretending to claim the table they would sit at.

"Hey man you need to order at least one thing" One of the members nagged as they pulled on Carson's shoulder causing him to face the front desk where the menu was.

Carson hissed as he glanced back over his shoulder only to see they were getting up from the table. Thinking he could see her now he kept staring their way only for the group to crowd around him, blocking him from being able to get a look at her.

Carson snarled finding his team mates to be more of a nuisance than usual, he was getting tired of their persistence especially while he had more important things. Just as he was about to tell them to move and push his way through he realized he was going to shove Mark out of his way just to see if the girl was Raven's cousin with no other proof than her red hair.

"Hey Carson, you alright bud?" Mark questioned as he waved his hand in front of Carson's face. "Are you still sick?" He wondered coming to the only conclusion that would cause Carson to be acting so strange, spacing out like he was.

"Ye-yeah, I'm just not that hungry right now" He muttered as he shook his head beginning to ignore what he was about to do, finding he was going to go crazy if he kept bothering himself over what Raven or his cousin was doing.

Dimitri looked over his shoulder as he watched the girl leave with the guy hoping what he saw was just a misunderstanding. Though since she looked like she was in pain it bothered him to just ignore it. As they passed the window he looked at her face being thrown off by her appearance, "Hey, did anyone see that red head girl just now?" Dimitri asked as he approached the group.

"No why?" One of them questioned as they became curious.

Dimitri shook his head while he looked back to the group, "Nothing, she looked familiar but I don't know where..." he muttered trying to make sense of what he saw.

Carson looked to where Dimitri was just staring off to but saw no one anymore, "Like Raven?" he questioned aloud looking back to Dimitri knowing if it was Robin from before Dimitri would be able to compare the two.

"Yeah?" Dimitri exclaimed being a little thrown off by how Carson would catch that detail since she wasn't his usual type.

"Maybe it was" One of them teased as they began to pick around about Raven's feminine looks.

Dimitri looked back over his shoulder to the direction they went, "Seriously, I hope she's okay though" he states becoming more concerned for not questioning what was wrong feeling a lingering need to go to her aid.

Carson arched a brow looking over to his words wondering what he meant, "What do you mean?" he questioned pulling away from the rest.

"She looked nervous but the guy she was with stopped me from getting a closer look" Dimitri explained as he looked back to Carson seeing the same expression as he did before when Carson was asking about the shirt Raven wore a few days ago.

As Carson figured, it was Robin, however he didn't expect the man she was with to be dangerous. Though it explained the glare he was given while looking at them even for that brief moment which ultimately made Carson worry. Sense she was supposed to be taking care of Raven this meant something was going wrong in that household, "And you didn't stop them?" Carson snarled aggressively almost blaming Dimitri for not stopping them for him to get to the bottom of this.

"No?" Dimitri questioned looking back confused to hear such a tone coming from Carson finding that he's been doing a lot of strange things since Raven absence, "Why would I?" he asked wondering what it was that bothered him so much about Raven and that girl just then.

Carson pulled his jacket back up over his shoulders while throwing the hoodie over his head, "I know her" he claimed being vague about who she was not wanting the rest to know.

One of the guys started chuckling as he thought of what Carson said, "Wait, was that really Raven?" He asked joking around.

Carson glanced at him for a moment silencing his chuckling with his aggressive glare. Paying him no more attention he began to walk towards the door, "I'll catch you guys later." He declared intending to follow her before she got away so he could get some answers.

Dimitri didn't understand it but he was sure it had something to do with what had happened between him and Raven on his birthday. Though he had no idea what the girl had to do with these two he knew Carson needed to find her, "Hey, they went that way" he shouted informing Carson of which way to go so that he could find them faster.

Carson looked back then to where Dimitri was point, nodding he gave a wave while walking out the door. Though just as he stepped out it began to pour down rain making it difficult for him to look for Robin when he could hardly see in front of him.

Ignoring it he went the way he was given anyways while others sought shelter from the rain he was beginning to wonder if he was really looking in the right direction. Looking back over his shoulder from where he came from as the rain died down a bit he felt himself coming to a stop as someone had stepped into his path. Brought back to look before him he went to apologize having run into someone by mistake. However when he saw the man from the restaurant standing before him he stopped. Curious he noticed that he was alone, leaning around him he looked for Robin.

"Tch," Asher snarled as he was bluntly ignored, "Watch where you're going" He growled shoving past Carson aggravated by the sight of him.

Carson arched a brow ignoring it while looking down the alley where he had come from still finding no one there. He started down the alley wondering now if something were to have happened to Robin in that short time.

"Why are you even here?" Raven snapped loud enough to be heard.

Carson froze as he heard the familiar voice assuming this was meant towards him he thought he was caught following her. Making his way back to the street he expected to see them together however when he found the sight of Raven he was still standing too far away from him. Raven had yet to even notice he was there at that very moment and Robin was still nowhere to be seen, instead he was with an unfamiliar man.

Carson got a little closer as he stepped back out of view so he could listen in on the conversation the two held. It was hard to tell by what was said from his distance but he caught a few things said that he wished he hadn't. He wondered what the man meant by Raven being a boy again.

This brought Carson to want the answers now and just as he went to intervene to question Raven about where he had been or what he was doing he heard Raven call the man in front of him by the cat's name.

"The cat?" Carson muttered confused as he looked and see if Raven had Menay anywhere around him in this rain only to see the man place his forehead on Raven's.

The sight made his jaw and fist tighten with anger, jealous that this man was so close yet he hadn't seen him before.

"Tsk," He hissed becoming irritated by every passing moment to the way Raven was becoming so secretive. He was bothered even more that Raven, of all people, was finding company with others rather than telling him what was wrong. Even after the understanding he was sure they had of each other he couldn't understand why Raven wasn't returning to him.

"Ugh, I got to use the bathroom" Raven groaned out in an undesirable manner.

Carson heard these words as he realized they were coming closer his way. He moved into the back behind a dumpster as he heard Raven and the other's footsteps grow louder.

"I could have gone without that detail" Menay chuckles looking down the vacant alley feeling something was off about it.

"Hey, I haven't been able to go for days becau-" Raven went to complain when his mouth was covered by Menay's hand.

"Don't say that aloud in public, someone could hear you" Menay warned dropping his hand as he felt someone was listening into their conversation though he saw no one around, "Besides you could have gone" he teased not caring for Raven's excuse.

"Why?" Raven questioned looking over where Menay was peering finding nothing as well, "Let's go, so I can get my things together to go back to school" He grumbled ceasing his complaining, for now at least.

Menay looked over knowing they had nothing at the house to retrieve he questioned if they should even return, "Should we head that way then?" He asked.

"No I am not ready to face everyone with an excuse for why I have been absent yet." Raven explained rubbing the back of his neck knowing he was hardly able to face them in a different body where they didn't even know who he was, "Especially Carson, let's go back tomorrow morning before class starts so no one will have time to bother me before I get comfortable being back to normal again." Raven adds giving the true reason he wanted to return to his father's house and not the school.

Menay smiled while nodding his head, "We can do that." He accepts Raven's reason to not return, patting Raven's wet head softly as he began to lead the way back to the car.

Carson was all the more irritated by the conversation he overheard having his name even being brought into the reason Raven didn't want to return. Placing his back on the wall he slid down the rest of the way laying his head back irritated by it all, "What's going on?" He questioned wondering why it was Raven couldn't face him.

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