12 Chapter Twelve

After a bit of pulling on Carson's ankles while on his knees, Raven was able to move his body away from the door. Now he could get back to the torso to try the next step of his plan. Getting Carson back to the room.

Placing his ear against the door he listened but heard no one from the earlier event on the other side. He didn't want to run into any of the guys that had chased him before. Cracking the door slightly looking out it had seemed to calm down from all the prior commotion. There was no one in plain sight allowing Raven to open the door all the way so he could focus on lifting Carson more than making sure the door didn't shut on him.

This helped him because once he got Carson onto his shoulders if the door closed he doubted himself on being able to do anything but move forward. Propping the door open he started lifting Carson's body, he struggled while he tried to get underneath Carson. Even if it was just his torso that Raven could manage to lift he was certain he could at least make it halfway to the room as long as there was no interruptions.

Once Carson was hanging over his shoulders Raven was so slouched over that he was still dragging Carson's body across the floor. He felt like the sight of them was equivalent to watching a ant failing to carry a large piece of food across the pavement. Letting out a huff as he dragged Carson along inch by inch he became more focused on the path ahead of him and not paying much attention to his surroundings.

Seeing shoes step in front of his path and come to a stop blocking him from going any further Raven stopped. Fear struck him for a moment and he almost dropped Carson as he thought he would be put into a dangerous position again. Keeping himself together he kept a hold of Carson but still he didn't say anything, not even looking up to the person hoping they would just move on but he knew better.

"Oh raven it's you, what you doing under there?" The familiar voice of the student from the room across from theirs questioned in a teasing manner as he leaned over to look under Carson's body at Raven.

"Dimitri, ugh..." Raven's heart raced as he looked over to the classmate expecting he was going to have to leave Carson behind anyways. Only to be surprised and find that he didn't change once their eyes met.

Waiting a moment he watched Dimitri's expressions not being sure if he just couldn't see the pink shade on his dark skin. After waiting a few moments he noticed there wasn't any change, not even a subtle hint of attraction towards Raven causing Raven to sigh with relief.

"Taking a gorilla to my room, what are you doing up?" Raven asked curious as he knew Dimitri was the kind that went to bed early even on weekends after studying since he was aiming to be some sort of big shot in the world. Unlike the others that Raven lightly socialized with since being friends with Carson he liked how Dimitri kept to himself.

Dimitri let out a small scoff to the comment about Carson that was made leaning back he glanced away looking down the hall, "I heard the wrestling team was running around in towels and underwear, figured Mark was up to something again." He explained lightly talking about his roommate.

Raven nodded knowing that Dimitri's roommate was the kind of guy who pulled pranks and caused problems often. It could be seen as true but Raven knew he wasn't to blame so he felt guilty and couldn't just play along like he would have liked.

Raven adjusted Carson on his shoulders a bit since it looked like he was going to stand around a bit longer than expected, "Weren't they chasing a girl?" Raven pried as he was also seeking information on the horde as well.

"They were? I don't know..." Dimitri admitted not hearing much about the whole thing that had gone down. Shrugging it off now knowing it wasn't his roommate in trouble he looked back to Raven dealing with his instead

"Do you need my help?" He says offering out his arms to take some of the weight from Raven.

Raven instantly felt the relief on his shoulders without even passing Carson off yet, "Wondering when you would ask"

This reaction made Dimitri chuckle once again as he started taking one of Carson's shoulders into his grasp, "You really have a funny way to show gratitude, you should probably gain some muscle to back that up" he teased playfully.

Raven puffed his cheeks though he was thankful to have help he resented the remark made, "Shut up and lift his heavy ass" He growled.

"Such a foul mouth doesn't match that pretty face" Dimitri teased further sticking his tongue out while he took most of the weight of Carson's body off Raven.

Raven jumped to this tease after having been a girl he didn't want to be reminded of his feminine features, "Knock it off." he snapped looking away from the taller man.

Dimitri's attitude changed as he noticed the unusual avoidance given, being used to Raven putting up more of an argument when called such things. This irritated him a bit to ask what was wrong but he decided not to after glancing at Carson and thinking maybe it had something to do with him, "I'm just teasing" He explained trying to calm the tension between them again.

Raven gave no response just looking towards the way to their rooms like he didn't care though it was clear something was bothering him which bothered Dimitri even more. He wondered after looking Raven over for a moment if he could get Raven to talk about what happened indirectly.

"Phew... he drank way too much" he states while waving his hand over his face pretending to have smelled an overpowering amount of alcohol though he didn't smell as much as he assumed he would. While he waved his hand in front of his face Raven looked over agreeing though he knew this wasn't the actual case either.

Raven looked over at Carson as he wondered why Carson was even back so soon. He seemed to be having a good time but when they were trapped in the laundry room he noticed Carson's mood seemed off. Since Carson and Raven had gone out to meet girls before that Raven wasn't interested in and left early without Carson minding he couldn't tell what was wrong this time. Raven wondered what might have happened between the time he left and the time he got the first text. He wondered if maybe he was upset to have been left to deal with Jewels on his own.

Curious about what it was that upset Carson earlier Raven wondered if he should ask later about it but now he was reluctant to touch the subject out of fear that if he brought it up there could be consequences. Messing up Carson's memory of a night was much easier to do if he wasn't asked to recall anything and Raven was depending on influencing what happened to make Carson forget what he saw in the laundry room.

"Raven?" Dimitri called out Raven's name to catch his attention watching raven space out while staring at Carson.

"Huh?" Raven blankly looked up still in a daze, "Oh yeah..." Confirming the theory of Carson being drunk he figured this was the easiest way to explain things.

Dimitri arched a brow as he knew there was something wrong with the two having seen Carson alone earlier, "You weren't with him earlier, that's a bit unusual" He points out trying to encourage Raven to speak more about it.

Raven looked over to Dimitri suspicious of what he was implying, "I was too..." He grumbled. Though he knew he wasn't there the whole time he was still there while Carson was drinking so he wasn't lying.

Dimitri shook his head to this statement made, "Not when he got like this I saw him come back alone I knew he was acting odd but he seemed fine so I didn't think to check up on him" Dimitri admitted having heard him earlier throwing what seemed like a fit.

He was regretting it now not realizing Carson had gotten this bad but more he was concerned with what Carson might have done to Raven than Carson himself.

"You did?..." Raven looked away from him glancing at Carson for a moment then straight ahead he was now more curious than before. Carson seemed off but for it to have been enough for even a fellow student to notice this really crossed Raven's interest to know what happened after he had left. He wondered if he would be able to ignore asking Carson about it.

While he was playing what happened through his head up till he left the lounge, Dimitri became impatient with Raven's spacing once more showing that clearly something had happened between the two.

"He was really upset when he got back and you weren't there, were you supposed to be?" He asked

"He was?" Raven questioned finally looking up to Dimitri with this statement engaging into the topic.

Dimitri gave a light smile seeing as he seemed to be reading how to get responses out of Raven at the moment, "I figured that meant you two had a fight, you alright?"

"It wasn't him..." Raven clarified as he didn't want anyone to get the wrong impression, there had been many people who have thought that Carson was using Raven for other reasons.

This was there way of excusing Carson for protecting Raven from potential attackers but either way even with the incident earlier he never wanted to tarnish Carson's name even further. It was bad enough that Carson seemed to deal with all the straight men in the school because of women but having this rumor hold any evidence of being true that he and Raven were more than just friends could make all of the school become more of a problem for Carson.

Dimitri was reluctant to allow Raven to push his answer know even if it wasn't Carson's fault there was still something that happened between the two, "You sure?"

Becoming annoyed with the persistence Dimitri had Raven gave a light glare when he met eyes with Dimitri then quickly let it go. Realizing Dimitri really seemed to be worried rather seeking for personal interest, "Yeah" Raven muttered just wanting the conversation to be dropped at this point.

Dimitri narrowed his brow adjusting Carson a bit, "Well if you ever need, I am across the hall" he suggested knowing Raven wasn't going to tell him at that moment.

"I know" Raven stated though he wouldn't be using Dimitri's assistance he was happy to have someone who generally seemed to offer help for no personal gain.

Carson was the only other person who seemed to treat him this way no matter what people thought about him Raven knew he wasn't the problem that Raven was currently facing and he wanted at least Dimitri to know this, "We're alright... It was my fault"

"Raven, did he...?" Dimitri spoke up concerned hearing Raven say this, it was completely out of character for him to say.

Raven realized quickly that Dimitri mistook what he said, "no, no... it was about a girl" Raven corrected using his hands to express himself letting go of his grip on Carson a bit.

Dimitri tightened his grip as he listened to Raven's correction and could see that this was a reasonable explanation but it didn't feel like this was the real reason.

Though at that moment he noticed he couldn't keep a grip on Carson, "Raven the gorilla, quick" Dimitri grunted as Carson was slipping from his grasp.

Raven noticed he had let go of Carson forgetting their surroundings and quickly getting underneath Carson adjusting his grip again, "Sorry, I got him"

"Yeah... almost there" Dimitri grunted pushing forward, "Don't drop him again" he grumbled.

Raven scoffed, "I won't"

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