It was sunrise. She waited on the swing at the park near her hotel, like the note from Raven had said. He was certainly mysterious, she gave him that. In his reluctance to get to know her in front of other people, she felt drawn to him. He kept to himself backstage, and she had made friends with others that were outcasts. But He rarely spoke when their group went out. Just sat and watched the world go by, so to speak. Many times she had tried to get him to talk amongst them, but it ended the same way. He would smile politely and say he was just thinking about something, and retreat back to the hotel, or wherever they were staying. He was almost deliberately ‘building a mystery’ as the song went. If any other man acted like this, she would have ignored him, but not Raven. She was compelled to get to know him at any cost. And he seemed to feel the same way. Their first encounter outside of the group happened a little over a month ago, and he hadn’t spoken to her since. But he always left her notes in her hotel room, and in her gym bag. If it hadn’t been for his notes, she would have written him off again. They were just sweet little notes about their first meeting, and how good she had done on the TV shows. She looked forward to them. The latest one had told her to walk a block, and stop at the park when the sun was about to rise, and wait on a swing for him. The first thing she though of was that it was like a bad rewrite for party of five, but then, she decided to go along with the plan. It seemed romantic, and fairly out of character for him. Besides, she was never alone with him, and this would be a perfect chance. IF he let her get to know him. It seemed he knew everything about her, and whenever she would ask, he would change the subject, or answer with a question of his own. It had frustrated her. She thought about what to ask him, when she felt hands grab her waist, and pull her back. She shrieked, and almost turned around before realising that the grasp was Ravens. He pushed her forward and moved to sit on the swing that moved slowly with the breeze that was empty beside her. He watched her move until the momentum slowed, and she came to a stop. He smiled slightly at her, and put his head down, letting the curly brown hair fall across his face.

"So what’s this all about?" she finally asked. He brought his head up.

"I just wanted to see you away from everyone. When you can act as yourself." She looked down, trying to figure out whether that was sarcastic, or serious. She gave up.

"What do you mean? I don’t act differently, do I?" she asked softly.

"Well, I have kind of noticed that you do around certain people that you’ve known longer." She looked questioningly at him, and he chuckled softly. "Let me explain. When you’re around Lenny, you seem very comfortable, probably because he trained you, and you’ve known him the longest. But around, say, Brad, you’re very self-conscious. I don’t think you’ve noticed though. I have…" he trailed off.

"Oh…. So I guess that’s what you do when we all get together? Watch me?" she laughed seeing him flush. "No, its okay. Watching is good. I just wish you’d talk more."

"Does it make you uncomfortable?" his hazel eyes met hers, and she couldn’t look away, or speak for a moment, transfixed by his gaze.

"No…it just makes me think that you’re bored. Or that you don’t care." He opened his mouth in protest.

"You think that I don’t care? If that’s the impression I’ve given you, I am so sorry." He took her hand. "I care about you more than anything I’ve ever known. I just want you to know that." He got up to leave, and almost made it before she started to run after him. She grabbed his shoulders and spun him around.

"No! I will not let you leave me like this anymore! If you say you care, then stay with me! Talk to me, let me get to know you!" She screamed at him. He was startled by her sudden outburst.

"I- I’m sorry…I never knew you felt like this." He smirked, "I thought you enjoyed the mystery."

"To a point. It was fun. But now, I want to know you. If this whole social outcast thing was just to get me, then it worked. You have me." She stretched her arms out, almost imitating his crucifix. "Just…don’t leave me hanging." She cocked her head and looked at him. He smiled slightly.

"Well, in that case, I guess I don’t need to kidnap you." He lowered his eyes, while she stared at him, awe-struck.

"Kidnap me?" She looked at him questioningly. He smirked again.

"That was my plan…I was going to take you away to New Orleans for a week. But then I saw you with Lenny last week, and I thought maybe you and him were….an item." She lowered her gaze, in guilt.

"Well, what can I say? We were, we are, its confusing. I’m barely sure where we stand right now." He pondered this for a moment, before answering.

"Do you feel like talking about it? I mean, you don’t have to, its just sometimes that helps."

"No. This is something I have to figure out by myself, and I’m the only one who can understand. I don’t want to drag you into it." She sighed in frustration.

"I don’t wanna danger it then. Whichever way you go, I’ll be here. I assure you of that. Now, since I don’t think we’ll be making it to New Orleans, where shall we go?" She thought for a moment.

"Starbucks." He laughed.

"Are you for real? What a mainstream place to go." He said, as he took her hand, and they walked out of the park.

"But they have the best Hazelnut lattes. I can't go a day without one of those." She lead him around the corner, to the main street. She knew there had to be a starbucks there, and there was.

"Addicted to coffee, are we?" He asked sarcastically, as they entered the door.

"Better than some other things I can think of…" he chuckled.

"That hurt. I try…"

"I’m kidding…calm down…Have a coffee…" She playfully hit his shoulder.

"ow. That hurt. You know about they surgery. And calm down and have a coffee don’t fit in the same phrase." He sat down in a corner, letting her get her own coffee.

"You don’t want anything?" She yelled from the counter, where a sleepy looking twenty something guy took her order.

"Nope. Nothing. At least from here."

"If you didn’t want to come here, then you should have said something….we didn’t have to.." she said, taking a seat across from him in the corner. He chuckled under his breath.

"That’s not what I meant…." She pondered this for a moment before clueing in.

"ohhh….okay, I get it. That’s all you want then? Because from the letters and everything, I gathered you were more of a psychological person rather than a physical one….If" He stopped her by reaching across the table, and putting his hand over her mouth.

"Stop. You’re rambling. Sex isn't all I want. It’s the last thing on my mind right now." He took his hand off her mouth, and she drew a sharp breath.

"You didn’t need to do that. You could have just told me to stop talking."

"but it was more fun the way I did it, don’t you think?"

"for you maybe."

"And you."

"What makes you think that?"

"Give it up."

"Alright."

...continued...