Cute Is What the Gods Aim For

She continued pulling me around through twisting pathways. I felt my heart increasing in speed as we raced by more do not trespass signs. Raven suddenly stopped walking/running. We had gotten to a small hut on the outskirts of the forest. A meadow fluttered in the background. The sky was turning dark and the sunset was pink and orange. I was captivated; it was beautiful. Raven stood next to me and smiled at my expression.
"It's pretty."
I nodded. It was beautiful. I had never seen anything like this before. It was like a fairytale picture. Raven tugged onto my hand and into the hut. I felt butterflies in my stomach. I knew she probably wasn't, but what if she was a mass murderer? And now she was going to kill me? What if that was the reason, she was kicked out of her house. I tried pushing these thoughts down, and for once, it worked. She led me into the cottage which was tiny on the inside. Inside there was a bed with quilts, a wooden table, chairs, a stove and a basin. Raven pulled me over and sat me on a chair. She stood in front of me with her arms crossed.
"What do you want to eat?"
I shifted on my chair. "I'm not hungry."
Raven stared me straight in the eyes. "You're going to eat."
I shook my head and inched away from her. Her child like personality seemed to crawl away. Ravens face fell. "I'm not going to hurt you."
I realized that I had hurt her. People didn't show if I accidentally hurt them, they always swallowed their hurt inside and smiled at me when I made mistakes. I hated that. I hated how I could never make anyone ever feel better, yet, everyone always wanted to make me feel better. I smiled. I smiled for her. She saw this and clapped her hands. She pulled on one of her piercing and spun around on the spot.
"What does the goody two-shoes catholic boy want to eat."
I pulled my knees up to my chin. I was tall, I was bony, so yes, this picture did look strange. Raven saw this and began to laugh incredibly hard. It got to one point were she was doubled over. I was not aware of it but I was glaring and pouting at her at the same time. When she was done she smiled at me and pulled something out of the cupboard.
"I'm making Mac and Cheese."
I stared at her. "What is that?"
Her eyes widened and she dropped the spoon she was holding. "Noodles."
I nodded and glanced around the room. She was softly singing to herself as she swayed to some invisible tune. I smiled for real for the first time. I felt tears welling up in my eyes. Why could I never have had the normal life of a child? A normal life for that matter? Why did I have to be the celebrity, why couldn't I hide in the shadows and laugh for myself? Raven turned and saw tears streaking down my ashen cheeks. She left the noodles cooking on the stove. She came to me and looked at me with a sympathetic expression. It wasn't that she had sympathy, she had empathy. I tried smiling and waving her off. She wrapped her thin arms around my frame and I grabbed fistfuls of her shirt and cried into her shoulder.
"Don't worry Kevin; its going to work out."
Her soft soothing voice caused me to shudder even more. I wanted this to be fine, just fine. Her hand rubbed my back and she continued to whisper soothing things in my aching ears. After a few moments we smelt the burning of the noodles and I pushed her away from me. She turned to tend to the food. I closed my eyes and wiped away my tears. This wasn't supposed to happen. My hard shell, my perfection was supposed to protect me from this. I wasn't supposed to be breaking down now. Raven stood in front of me with a bowl of noodles with a creamy orange substance. She smiled and pushed the food towards me.
I placed it on the table and began to play around with the fork. Raven looked at me with piercing eyes. Her hands were placed on her hips and her face looked slightly comical. I felt a giggle escape my lips. Her eyes grew wide. "Do it again."
I giggled and looked down bashfully.
She grinned. "Aren't Footballers supposed to be hardcore?"
I turned my expression blank and she looked at me through her eyelashes. "Sorry."
I smiled. I heard the door open and turned to look at the door way. Joshua was breathing hard as if he had been running. His cheeks were rosy and his hair was rustled by the wind. He saw me and stopped in his tracks. He glared at Raven. "Why is he here?"
Raven glared at him as I tried shrinking into the chair. He glanced at me again. Why does he have to hate me so much? All I do is like him. All I do is admire him, and he wants to see my innards strewn along his lawn. Joshua stepped closer to Raven. "Why the fuck is he here? This is our place Raven. Our place."
Raven smiled defiantly. "Yes our place. I can bring who I want here."
Joshua rolled his eyes. There was a pretty bruise forming on his cheek. He looked at me for a second time and noticed my face was tear streaked. "What celebrity taking too much toll on you?"
Raven stomped over to him. She glared at him. "Don't make me hit you."
He glared at her face and pushed past her to busy himself
somewhere else. I got up softly and walked out of the hut. I sat next to the door. I heard them fighting. I put my hands over my ears. I didn't like this. It was my fault. It was all my fault.
"I hate him Raven. What makes this so hard for you to understand?!"
"Why, why do you hate him? You don't even know him."
"I don't fucking need to, to know hes full of shit."
I heard something being thrown and winced.
"He's not. You don't know him."
"I said I don't need to."
"Well maybe you could, maybe you could make an effort for once in your life."
Raven came and stomped out of the cottage. She whirled past me, when she realized I was there she turned and lifted up my chin so that I would look into her eyes. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry you had to hear that."
I shook my head. It's all my fault. "It's fine. Ill leave you two alone."
She shook her head furiously. "No, no."
Confusion passed my face and Raven sighed. She got up and left me. I shakily got up and began to walk home. I felt my heart beat skip a beat when I heard someone behind me. I turned to be faced with Joshua. He cast his pretty eyes downward and mumbled. "Sorry."
I shrugged and continued to walk. He grabbed onto my arm. Electric currents shot up my arm and I bit my lip. I turned. He glared at Raven who had now appeared next to me. She smiled cheerfully at me. "I'll bring you home."
With that we left Joshua at the hut by himself. Raven led me away. While we walked I breathed and pushed all the hurt that I had let escape out back down. When we had gotten to my house, the street lights had begun to flicker on. In silence Raven gave me a boost back through my window. I watched her skip back home. She was free. I smiled sadly and slipped off my shoes. I sighed in thank that I wasn't forced to eat any of the food given to me by Raven. I lay back into my bed. At that very moment my mother came inside and felt my forehead.
"Are you sick darling?"
I nodded. She clucked her tongue and told me dinner was ready. To that I replied that the lord told me to fast. She nodded and left the room. I lay and stared at the ceiling above me. Why, why? I heard those words running through my head. I heard the car leave the driveway. I got up from bed and ran into my mothers room. I searched through her makeup and found a stick of plain black eyeliner. With shaky hands I rimmed my eyes with eyeliner. I stared at myself. It seemed I had dark raccoon eyes. I giggled at my reflection and wiped it off. I again applied it. This time lighter. I stared at myself. It seemed to fit. For some reason I felt like someone was watching me. I quickly wiped it off and closed the cabinet. I ran out of the room and panted outside of it.
Suddenly I heard the door knock. I walked slowly to open it. There stood Raven with her backpack slung over her shoulder. I let her enter and watched as she sat down on the couch and placed her combat boots on the coffee table. She opened her bag and pulled out another bag. I stared her with confusion as I closed the door. I walked over to her.
"What are you doing?"
She grinned and pulled out a stick of eyeliner. I blushed and she beckoned me over. "I'll show you how its supposed to be done."
I nodded my head and walked over to her. She had me sit in front of her. I did as she asked. After about five minutes and being poked in the eyes a few times she was done. I walked over to the mirror and gasped. She came up behind me and smiled.
"Makes me want to capture you and keep you in my closet."
I blushed and looked away. She looked at me for a moment. "I don't think you're straight."
I looked away and went to get her stuff. I handed her, her backpack and pushed her out the door. She seemed startled, but she left. I leaned against the door. How someone I barely knew figure something like that out, I don't know. I suddenly got paranoid that I made it too obvious. I closed my eyes and breathed evenly. I looked back into the mirror. A foreign creature stared back at me. I angrily wiped at my face, getting the black off. I heard a car door slam and raced upstairs into to bed. Moments later my mother came up stairs and sat on my bed.
"We're worried about your, new, friend."
I opened my eyes and stared at her.
"We think, shes a bad influence, she has no religion. No faith."
I nodded mutely.
"The reverend wants you to see him."
I froze. "W-what?"
She nodded and patted my head. "I'm so proud of you, for being one of the reverends favorites."
I nodded and closed my eyes. Her hand froze on my head. "Darling, what is that, that stuff around your eyes? Is that makeup? What is it Kevin? Are you a homosexual?!"
I opened my eyes and mutely shook my head. Two times in one day. Shit.