Raven sat up in bed immediately after waking, startled. It took her a second to remember where she was. She winced and rubbed her temples. Her head felt foggy. She must have fallen asleep again.

She looked for her phone and found it next to her under the sheets. Blinking, she tapped the screen. “What the hell,” she mumbled as she checked the time. It was almost noon!

Raven had slept for more than two and a half hours. She shifted her position so she could lean against the headboard of the bed. Her lock screen showed that she had several messages and missed calls. The sound had been switched off so she hadn’t heard any of it.

She saw Nathalie’s name and immediately tapped. “I thought she would be home by now,” Raven thought, frowning.

Nathalie had sent her quite a few messages, she saw, and she struggled to see where she should start reading. Bart’s name popped up in the text several times and Raven felt a sense of dread come over her. She scrolled all the way up until her first message.

“Fuck, Bart was here!” said Nathalie’s first text.

Raven shook her head. “What?” she said out loud.

She blinked again. Her head really was foggy. She sighed and swung her legs out of bed.

It was only slightly less suffocating in the bathroom. Raven looked down at the phone and read the other messages from Nathalie.

“You have got to be kidding me,” she whispered and looked around the bathroom.

There was a grey shirt hanging from the hook on the wall. She grabbed it and pulled it over her head. It was long enough to cover her thighs and so she didn’t bother with finding panties for now.

Raven stumbled down the stairs, her ears focusing on the sounds coming from the rest of the house. Nathalie had texted she was stuck at work, but Raven was still disappointed to not hear her walking around.

She took in the mostly dark living room. Nathalie had left the curtains closed to keep the sun out. Raven walked into the small kitchen. There was a bright yellow post-it note by the coffee machine, she saw.

She picked it up and read, “The coffee should still be warm.”

“Exactly what I need,” Raven thought as she grabbed the coffee pot. She didn’t drink coffee that often, but she felt like she needed it today.

Nathalie had already placed a mug next to the machine. Raven didn’t bother looking for milk and took a sip. Wincing because of the bitter taste, Raven turned around and leaned against the counter.

For a second, she felt her heart swelling in her chest. It was so nice to be in Nathalie’s space. It felt like home in a way. That was kind of scary when she thought more about it.

After another sip, she groaned out loud and picked up her phone from the counter. She needed to reply to Nathalie’s messages. The problem was that she had no idea what to say!

Raven felt more than a little annoyed, to be honest. The last few days had been a rollercoaster. She had hoped she would now be able to spend these days just enjoying Nathalie’s company. Bart sure had a way of ruining her plans.

“Hey,” she typed and sent it to Nathalie.

This way, Nathalie would know that she was awake and had seen the messages.

“What the fuck,” was the next thing she typed.

Raven took another sip of coffee. Her head was finally clearing up. The coffee helped, of course, and the kitchen wasn’t as hot. She reread all of Nathalie’s messages again and let out a long breath.

“Okay, think,” she told herself. “There has to be a way out of this.” She didn’t want Nathalie to lose her job. But Bart had been playing an ugly game.

Raven was typing when she heard the front door open. She put down the coffee and phone and hurried out of the kitchen, already grinning. The butterflies in her stomach were almost overwhelming.

“Hey,” she said, raising her hand above her eyes because Nathalie was opening the curtains.

The sudden, bright light was startling. She squinted at the figure by the window. Something was off.

“Hi,” an unknown voice said. “You must be Raven. I’m sorry to walk in like this but Nathalie asked me to drop something off. I’m Kim, her best friend.”

Raven immediately dropped her hand and pulled down the shirt over her thighs.

“Okay,” she gasped, even though this was not okay at all.

She hurried in the direction of the stairs, pulling the shirt down as far as she could. “I am going to get dressed for a second,” she uttered.

“Oh, no need,” Kim said, pointing at the window. “Let me just put this here.” She placed a small object on the window sill. “And I will get out of your way.” Her voice sounded amused. 

Raven did not share her amusement. She had trouble staying polite, to be honest. But this was Nathalie’s best friend and she didn’t want to make a horrible first impression. She tried to sound more friendly when she spoke next.

“I’m sorry. Nathalie didn’t give me a heads up that you were coming.”

Kim walked back to the front door, not facing Raven. She was a bit smaller than Nathalie, but her shoulders and hips were wider, Raven noticed.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to startle you,” Kim said. “I’m happy to meet you, though!”

Raven frowned. Kim clearly knew more about her than she knew about Kim. She guessed that wasn’t a surprise. Still, Raven felt caught off guard. Nathalie had put her into an awkward situation.

“Yes, nice to meet you,” she managed to say, her fingers still tight around the shirt.

Kim waved without looking at her and opened the door. Raven shut her eyes at the sunlight. After the door fell shut behind Kim, she stood in the small living room feeling very much out of place.