“Good for you.Park?”
Seneca Park had trees, and trees meant shade.Raven nodded.“Yeah.He can run there.”
“Maybe he’s going to run away and find another human he can laugh at.”
Raven looked at Umeboshi.The dog raised his red ears and looked right back.“Nah, he likes it here.”
“Wow, he’s trained you.”
Raven smiled.
The two of them crossed the street, heading into Seneca Park.It was strange.Raven wasn’t quite sure this was the same entrance he and Maxim had taken.It felt like ages ago, not just a matter of hours, when they’d gone to the park, Maxim in his PJs.Raven shivered at the memory, though that had nothing to do with Maxim.Maxim was about the only good thing in that memory.Well, him and Ume.
Once they crossed into the greenery, Ume decided to explore and sniff the grass, trees, and bushes.He looked back at Raven, then rushed off into the underbrush.
“Perfect.”Jason pulled a set of little plastic bags from his pocket.“I’m not picking up after him in the spider-infested underbrush.Is this better?”
“Huh?”
Jason gestured.“The shade.You really don’t like the light, do you?”
“It’s…pretty bright.”
“Dude, you weren’t outgoing to begin with.This is a better excuse than ‘studying’ or whatever.”Jason used air quotes, which irked Raven in the friendly familiar way it always had.
“I guess.Though I did go out.”And that was entirely the problem.I should’ve stuck to my schoolwork, not pursued some random theory.
“Right, right.Hey, uh… So, you moved out.”
Raven shrugged.“I guess.”
“It’s no pressure or anything.And who even cares about roommates?Clement has been making comments about how student housing is terrible anyway, so I figure if I have to, I can ask Heath for room and board.But…are you going to talk to your mom?”
Raven shrugged again.He felt silly doing it but wasn’t sure what else he should do, how he should explain.“It’s not like I really talk to her.”
“I guess not.Look, what I’m asking is…do you feel like you want to tell your mom?Just…let her know what happened?”
Raven snorted.“That I was kidnapped, raped, and turned into a vampire?I don’t think so.”
Jason stopped.Raven froze.I said that?!I just said that…
“Raven—”
“Don’t.”
“I—”
“Please don’t.”
Raven kept his gaze low.It was easier to deal with the sunlight that still filtered through the foliage that way, but it was also…easier.
Next to him, Jason let out a stuttering breath before carefully, slowly, putting his arm around Raven’s shoulders.He pulled Raven close.He didn’t speak.Comically, Raven felt like all of that should make him cry.I cried before this, and for no good fucking reason, and now that I should, I can’t.What the fuck is wrong with me?Was I always this broken?
They walked along the shadowy paths, always following the sheltering tree branches when the path forked.After maybe ten minutes, when the noise in Raven’s head had started to subside somewhat, there was a sound from the underbrush, and Ume stormed out, making right for them.He had a tennis ball in his mouth.
“Huh?”
“Where the fuck did he get that?What is wrong with your dog, Raven?Is he some kind of undercover magician or something?”
