Long Awaited Love [LAL]

[Aspiring Ali]

T'was the end of another long school day for Alison, the sun was shining, the birds were chirping, the depressed gazes of tired students were blankly staring ahead. Not Alison, though, unlike others she had a pretty decent day. History and languages have always been her strong point, even though she was absolutely terrible at french, she was slowly improving! Slowly yet surely... Besides, she had something to look forward to after a long day...~
'' Alison! Did you finish your extended essay on Ancient Rome? '' One of her friends walked up to her with an exhausted gaze.
Alison let out a small chuckle upon seeing her friend so tired, reminded her of a certain someone who was always tired after classes...
'' I'm going to be working on it today, if I'm not distracted...''
'' Oh~!? ''
'' Shush. ''
Alison puffed her cheeks out slightly upon realizing that she was being teased once again. Her friends seemed to enjoy teasing her a lot, especially when she would mention Raimond in any indirect way. She was in her last year of university though, so a little bit of teasing was pretty good to help relieve her stress and avoid the horrors of sleepless nights and eventually suffering from Insomnia.
She had to say, though, her french was improving quite a bit. After deciding to study in France for a year she felt quite anxious about how she would be able to communicate with people, however, with the help of Raimond's.... 'French lessons', she managed to have a decent pronunciation now. At least to the extent people could understand her... Dear lord the conversations she had with Rai's mother when she had no fucking idea what she was saying...

'' Rai? I'm home! ''
She called out once she had entered their tiny apartment. They had got this apartment for the cheapest price they could find, but it didn't mean it was extremely rundown. It was actually very cozy! The walls were in pastel colors and they actually had furniture there so it wasn't like they were sleeping on the ground or anything. Though the bed had to be a double bed because it was cheaper than two single beds. They also had a small study where Alison usually cooped herself in whenever she had to finish a project just before the deadline, it was a complete mess. Papers scattered across the floor and like 5 empty coffee mugs on the table cause she didn't bother washing them all. Well, basically this was their small yet cozy apartment.
Alison didn't wait for a reply as she set her bag down and took off her shoes with a sigh. Even though she couldn't complain much about this school, it was quite fun and, well, people spoke in english here so it was fine as long as she could communicate. It was still tiresome though...

[Ravishing Rai]

As an adult, Raimond could handle every day responsibilities such as waking himself up, even if this meant accidentally rolling off the bed onto the floor and crushing the small family of ants that were gathered around the pepsi puddle on the floor (left there by himself of course). Prying his eyelids apart after the sudden encounter with the creaking floorboards, Raimond squinted at the old clock hung from the wall opposite. It was 2:30pm, or at least it was by the time he had managed to read the hands.

Now although Raimond was a self-proclaimed "responsible adult", this didn't necessarily mean he knew what he was doing. At all. In fact it was almost 2:38pm and he was still lay face down on the floor when he heard a voice float through the open door. The all-too-familiar feeling of mild panic spread from his stomach as he
peeled himself from the floor, almost not noticing his shirt had *mysteriously* disappeared since getting into bed. How that had happened he could not fathom.

Luckily for the young French imbécile, an old grey shirt lay on the floor, so close to finishing its mission of reaching the wardrobe as so little of Raimond's clothes ever did. But he was still a responsible adult in his head, even if he always neglected any responsibilites that were to do with tidying. He slipped the shirt over his head and around his torso. Was it an old shirt? It must have shrunk in the wash since he thought it felt a little tight around the waist. The possibility that he had put on weight was not even considered.

A breeze seemed to come from nowhere and blew up his shirt, chilling the poor manchild. With haste he began to tuck the shirt into his pants and shuffled into the main room where Alison was stood.
"Bonjour", he greeted her merrily with his hands still fumbling around in the front of his pants.

[Aspiring Ali]

Once Raimond entered the room Alison immediately arched an eyebrow suspiciously. He looked like he had clearly just woken up and his clothes were roughed up as well, almost as if he was in a hurry to change. Now if this was a romantic tragedy movie or something of the sort it would almost look like he had just finished some 'business' in the bedroom with some other girl, however, since this morning Alison knew he was sleeping like a rock the whole time so that didn't worry her at all.

" I swear, you look like you just woke up from your winter hibernation. "
She chided as she reached over to somewhat try to smoothen his hair. It didn't work at all, it was like his hair had a mind of it's own and she couldn't help but squint her eyes as she tried her hardest to smoothen his hair so it would look less like the ancient ruins in Peru. Eventually she gave up. There was no hope in Rai's hair and she just messed it up even more, not sure of out of frustration or the fact she loved messing around with him. Well, the fact that some of his bangs were covering his left eye, making him look like an emo did amuse her a little bit. Actually no, she was tired so this amused her a lot. She could just barely hold back her laughter even though she was biting her lip.

[Ravishing Rai]

"Ah yes...eyebernation..." his eyes formed small crescents as he laughed away the guilt he had been feeling for sleeping in. If his face wasn't already a little red from the guilt, it certainly was when Alison roughed up his hair and...and...bit her lip. The fact she was laughing didn't seem to register in Raimond's head- all he noticed was the way her pearly whites buried into her soft lower lip- in a way that somehow seemed teasing to him. Normally Raimond was painfully oblivious to any of Alison's attempts to catch his attention but this time his eyes were drawn to her- even though she wasn't trying anything special on him.

It may have only been 2 seconds but it could have also been 20 seconds by the time Raimond snapped back to life, wondering what or who had possessed him and his thoughts. Not sure why he had suddenly become obsessed by such a small thing, he tried to flatten his hair down with the hand that had just been down the front of his spiderman pajama pants. No matter how many times he smoothed them down in those 10 seconds, every single hair stood straight back up again. If only I had motivation like that to get out of bed in the mornings, he thought to himself, sighing a little.

"So.. 'ow was your day?"
Seeing as his day had only been about 15 minutes long, Raimond decided he could at least attempt to divert the attention away from himself.

[Aspiring Ali]

Alison flashed him a somewhat confused smile when she realized he was staring at her at some point, but decided not to question it too much. It seemed like a very Raimond thing to do to just space out all of a sudden. Usually it's because she did something strange or of the sort, but this time she wasn't sure what caused that kind of look from him. Oh well.

'' It was pretty alright, though I got more essays though so I will probably be cooped up in my room again for like a whole day. '' she said with a sigh as she kicked her shoes off. Sometimes when she is given lots of assignments Alison tends to sit in her study for a whole day, completely immersed in her work. On those days she's not very... Talkative. If anything she turns out grumpy, which is also why she drinks so much coffee on those days, along with the fact she pulls an all-nighter...

'' In any case, are you feeling hungry? '' She's been starving ever since her last two lectures and she was pretty sure Raimond hasn't eaten anything either... Since he just woke up and all.

[Ravishing Rai]

"I could do weeth a baguette", Raimond admitted. Wait. Wasn't baguette slang for...something? Or was his currently hormone infused brain playing mean tricks on him and his weak English capabilities.

"I mean, I can make the breakfa-lunch. Yes, lunch."
Perhaps if it was first thing in the morning Raimond would have had an excuse for being so dazed, but fortune doesn't favour fools and he was no exception to this rule. No doubt Alison would have sussed by now that he had only just gotten out of bed. The realisation of this was excuse enough for him to swiftly turn his back and stumble over to the cupboard where a few basic foods were stored. Some bread, biscuits, cheese and (of course) an old banana skin right at the back.

"You want a cheese sandweech?"
He hoped to god this wasn't some kind of vulgar English slang that he was too French to understand.

[Aspiring Ali]

Alison pondered on whether or not she should make some sandwiches then... Cheese sandwiches. This sounded so disgusting, why did she even think of that? Something about baguettes and cheese made this combination in her mind and she couldn't help but scold herself deep down for even getting this thought... She must not get too deep in thought about this.
As she got herself a glass of water, she immediately choked at the words that came out of Rai's mouth and had to actually hold on to the table as she coughed.

'' W-What did you- ''
She stammered, at a loss of words for what to say. He had no idea, right? He was just asking her a general question, or was he reading her mind? Oh god, reading her mind....
Alison immediately felt her cheeks burn red at the thought of...

It felt like her brain had shut down for a moment as her sexually frustrated mind got the best of her. She had always told herself not to think of such thoughts, and if she does then only in the shower or bath. Jesus Christ how can this man say something like that so innocently?! He probably doesn't even know what it means and she's just getting worked up over nothing!

[Ravishing Rai]

Raimond's face flushed a deeper shade of red, though luckily he was facing the cupboard so Alison wouldn't see. Jesus, was there nothing he could say safely in English? Flustered, he decided to just..how do they say it? YOLO it?
"O-ok so not a sandwich. 'ow does cheese and crackers sound?

With determination he fumbled in the cupboard, pretending to search for something even though there was so little in there that everything could be seen just by simply glancing at the shelves. Realistically, with the window as wide open as it was and his shirt lifting up to reveal his painfully pasty stomach as he reached for the cupboard, Raimond should have caught a chill. However, the situation and embarrassment that came with it provided enough heat for his whole body as he was metaphorically on edge.

[Aspiring Ali]

Alison had no idea what to think anymore, her mind was already a mess and this guy wasn't helping at all, in fact he was just making it even more awkward. To quickly try and stop him from continuing with accidentally saying more things she might misunderstand, she walked over to the cupboard and took out some bread and cheese.

'' I-I'll make some grilled cheese sandwiches instead. '' she muttered as she tried to hide the fact her face was burning red, which was basically impossible since she was now right next to him, but she could at least pretend like she didn't care much at all. What a load of bollocks. In any case she hoped that now the somewhat awkward atmosphere would disappear, or maybe she should think of some kind of topic to discuss?
'' So you know how I'll have my break up soon, I was thinking of finding a job or something during that week. ''
She said, trying to sound as chill as possible to change the atmosphere quick.

[Ravishing Rai]

"We 'ave a grill?"
Raimond felt it was now safe to turn around as his embarrassment had been replaced with genuine curiosity. All this time he had been shoving cheese sandwiches in the toaster and consequently having to spend at least a half hour scraping the excess melted cheese from the inside of the machine.

The word break-up briefly made Raimond feel cautious until he heard the rest of the sentence. Since when had he lost the sense to realise that Alison would not want to break up so suddenly? And since when had his life begun to seemingly revolve around his relationship with Alison. It was almost as if he had nothing else to do- oh wait, he didn't. That wasn't entirely his fault though, he was training to become a professional and earn enough money to support them both and probably many other people. Just what he wanted to become a professional in, he had not yet told Alison.

"Well I WOULD do eet with you but... I don't 'ave ze time."
It was a feeble excuse and he knew that but at such an early hour in the morning (according to his body clock) how was he supposed to process words AND formulate a reasonable answer?

[Aspiring Ali]

" Well, we have a stove~ "
She explained with a small smile, figuring he might have misunderstood what she said. At least, that's usually the case. Even though his english was improving and his accent as well, it was far from perfect. She didn't blame him for misunderstanding her though, if anything it was sometimes funny and cute.

" No time, ey? " she raised an eyebrow suspiciously as she made her way to the counter to prepare the sandwiches. Somehow if seemed quite the opposite. Since he seemed like he just woke up he clearly had a lot of time on his hands. Well, at least that's what it seemed like. Who knows, maybe he actually IS busy, but who was she to make assumptions. Oh wait, she was his girlfriend, right? But somehow she's always taken care of Rai she's gotten used to the way he is, even if she sometimes has to shoulder everything for herself, she doesn't mind.

" I mean I'm not telling you to do that with me, I'm just saying that that's something I'll possibly do. Since our situation is getting a bit sad it wouldn't hurt to have some extra money. " she explained while heating up the stove.

[Ravishing Rai]

"Don't be sad",
Raimond almost squeaked, just managing to control his inner pre-pubescent teen before he could embarrass himself even more. After such a magnificent saving of his dignity, he somehow felt the urge to celebrate by slipping an arm around Alison's shoulders. Perhaps celebrate wasn't quite the right word... it was more like he was allowing himself to follow his instincts since the sudden surge of manliness he felt after suppressing his squeaky voice gave him a strange confidence.

His hand snaked from her neck to the top of her arm, where he grasped her shoulder gently but with a definite firmness in his grip. His eyes shifted from side to side as he contemplated his next move. A gentle squeeze on the shoulder should suffice.

[Aspiring Ali]

Alison was definitely not expecting Raimond to suddenly make a move like that, in fact she was so caught off guard that she nearly dropped all her ingredients, but managed to keep holding them. Even though it wasn't very surprising for Rai to suddenly make random moves like that once in a while, because of the conversation earlier she was a bit more flustered than ever.

" I wouldn't say I'm sad. If anything I don't mind being in this situation as long as you're here- "
She turned her head a bit so that she could look at him, but soon enough realized her mistake. Their faces were now almost dangerously close, and even though normal she wouldn't care that much this time her face flushed red yet again. Alison quickly turned her head away, still not sure what she was more embarrassed about, the fact she got herself in such an awkward situation or the cheesy line she said. At the back of her head she thought that this was Rai's fault, for making her feel like this, even though she didn't necessary dislike it. She slightly leaned back against Raimond, feeling like she should manage some kind of move instead of just standing still.

[Ravishing Rai]

Raimond raised his eyebrows as his eyes bulged slightly. It wasn't as if something like this had never happened before but...today something felt different. He pursed his lips fairly tightly, partly because he needed to stop himself from laughing at Alison's embarrassed expression but also because he hadn't brushed his teeth... Actually it was probably mostly because the latter reason but Alison's expression was very distracting.

The fact that Alison enjoyed his company was comforting to hear, even though he had already assumed she didn't mind him being around given their circumstances. He smiled a little, accidentally releasing a short laugh. This just caused him to purse his lips once again, guiltily.

"So...ze food?"
He barely parted his lips as he said it.

[Aspiring Ali]

'' OH! Right! ''
Alison immediately snapped back reality at Rai's words and immediately went back to preparing the sandwiches. By this point she should just focus on cooking, but it was still so distracting to be held in Raimond's arms like that. She felt that it was hard to focus on not burning the sandwiches as she cooked on the stove. She pondered if she should give Raimond a chore or task of some sort, just to start up some kind of conversation maybe.

As Alison turned off the stove once she was done she glanced at the cupboard on top, but realized there was no way she could get a plate from up there. Normally she would ask Raimond to get it for her, but for some reason she felt like she NEEDED to get it herself so she extended her hand out and stood on her toes, but even then she could only just barely brush the tips of her fingers against the plate.

[Ravishing Rai]

Raimond narrowed his eyes at the sight of Alison struggling to reach the plate. Had she always been that short? Had he always been that tall in comparison? Today was turning out to be a day of self-discovery for Raimond.

Normally he would have been oblivious to the fact that a reasonable person would help Alison to get the plate down but not today. Today he was Mr. Reasonable and he would get the plate. His free hand soared like a jet through the air and didn't stop until it came in to land at Plate Central Airport. His fingers traced its surface and curled around the edges, getting ready to commence part 2 of the mission. The plate was heavier than he had expected and trembled slightly as it began to take off, now completely out of Alison's reach.

With perfect execution, Raimond brought the plate down to land softly on the counter beside them.
"Mission compl-", wait did that make him sound like an unaware nerd?
"Here you go."
Yes, a simple statement was good enough here.

[Aspiring Ali]

For some reason it felt like it took quite a while for Raimond to get the plate, it almost felt like she was just witnessing some kind of movie about airpla- what the fuck was she thinking.

'' Thank you~ ''
Alison said with a smile as she took a fork and moved the sandwiches from the pan to the plate. Well this definitely seemed like it took way longer than it should have, or maybe it was just her. Still, all of a sudden she couldn't help but feel like she had forgotten something. Something about these sandwiches was bringing up a memory she had forgotte-

'' Bloody hell. ''
Alison cursed quietly, her eyes widening when she remembered what she had just forgotten. Grilled cheese... She had an extended essay to write on Ancient Greece for history. When was this assignment given to her?!
She hurriedly pulled away from Raimond's hold and made her way to her bag in the study where most of her papers were. As she rummaged through the bag she finally found the paper that had the deadlines for most of her essays. Greece was due in two days.

She bit her lip to stop herself from letting out any curse words as she felt the waves of defeat slowly overcome her. If she started today maybe she could finish tomorrow evening, that is if she didn't skip school. Maybe she should skip that tomorrow to work on it, but Alison preferred to start as early as possible. The damn grilled cheese seemed to manage to ruin her day already.
'' Rai?! You can start eating without me, I'll eat a bit later. '' she called out.

[Ravishing Rai]

Raimond had been slouched on the tiny sofa for an hour or two, keeping himself "occupied" while Alison worked. It had been a while since he allowed himself to feel pleasure this way and he felt his skills were a little rusty. He didn't have to worry about Alison walking in and questioning his unwise way of passing time since she was busy so this was the perfect time to go all out and do it properly. His fingers worked furiously while he moaned perhaps a little too loudly...Why couldn't people understand he hadn't played Ranked queue for at least 3 weeks and of course he wasn't playing as well as he normally would? The toxicity of the League community had certainly not improved while he had been away and it was becoming increasingly harder to not cry out angrily at their comments.

Disgruntled at having lost his third game in a row, Raimond stood up, stretched and shuffled towards the tiny fridge. He knew there wouldn't be anything in there except a soon-to-be mouldy banana and the beer his friend had brought over about a month ago but he st- wait. Where had the beer gone? He opened the fridge door the rest of the way and inspected. Sure enough the banana was there- he took it out and began to peel it- but where had the beer disappeared to all of a sudden? They couldn't have been robbed since Raimond spent all his days on the sofa like a lazy (French) lump and would have noticed. Well, it wasn't anything serious since he never planned on drinking it anyway but still he was curious. But not curious enough to go and investigate so he simply rolled over the back of the sofa into an uncomfortable looking position where he re-joined the League queue.

[Aspiring Ali]

Alison had her head rested on the desk as she let out a long sigh. The empty irish beer can was on the floor by her feet, right next to the half empty bottle of champagne. It was almost like the bottle was mocking her for not being able to handle the amount of alcohol, and Alison couldn't help but quietly curse at it. With another sigh she looked up at her computer screen where her essay was displayed. At least the first two sentences were. Alison had gotten absolutely nothing done, which is also why she started drinking. She thought she'd gain some kind of inspiration, but no. Nothing.

Alison slowly stood up, wobbling slightly side to side as she tried to catch her balance and exited the room. Now she just felt extremely bored. Very, very bored. No idea if that's why she went to see what Raimond is doing or she went there just because.

'' Raaaaiii~! ''
She whined as she entered the room, her cheeks flushed slightly as she slightly lifted her shirt up and down in an attempt to fan herself and cool off.
'' It's so hot... Did the air conditioner break again? So hot... '' her voice sounded a bit raspy as she spoke. She pursed her lips when she saw that Raimond was occupied with a certain 'something' and walked up to him, only to squat down next to the sofa. '' Rai! '' she puffed her cheeks out in a pout, not very pleased that she was not getting any attention so far.

[Ravishing Rai]

Raimond's face contorted into an expression of confusion and fear as he stared at the sight before him. Just as Alison puffed out her cheeks the drum sounded through his headphones to signal that a match had been found. He had to admit the sound effects were of perfect timing but somehow he deemed this slightly crazy Alison much more important than his match and shut the lid of his laptop, slowly. He placed it on the floor, carefully, and continued to stared at Alison, confused. He shuffled into a more comfortable position where he could sit up straight and invite Alison to sit beside him.

He patted the sofa next to himself, not wiping the expression from his face- in fact his eyebrows were falling quickly and were almost joined in the middle from confusion.
"What is she doing...?" he asked himself under his breath, though it probably didn't matter how loud he said it since Alison was in her own world. He patted the sofa again. Wait, was this really a good idea?

[Aspiring Ali]

Alison seemed pleased that she was finally noticed by her 'beau' as she happily stood up only to sit down next to Raimond. A smile appeared on her face as she looked at him with anticipation. Not sure what she was anticipating, though.

'' Am I getting an award~? '' She asked curiously, her eyebrows raised slightly as she stared at him for a short moment but upon noticing Rai's eyebrows furrowed her lips pursed together slightly. She didn't like the fact he seemed upset or possibly angry (is what her drunk mind thought), so she figured she had to do something about it.
'' Did I do something wrong? '' She asked, her voice suddenly changing from a cheerful to a more worried one as she kept her eyes locked on his. Something seemed to bother him and she was determined to fix that.
'' Is there anything I can do to cheer you up? Anything you've ever wished for? '' Alison didn't really know what she meant by that, it just sort of came out of her lips, but somewhere deep down she was almost anticipating his answer... For no reason.

[Ravishing Rai]

Raimond really had no idea what to make of all this. He turned his head to the side and looked at Alison out of the corners of his eyes. His upper lip curled in confusion as his eyebrows assumed a more fearful position atop his forehead. Whatever was going on, he couldn't be sure if he was enjoying it or not.

Alison's sudden question certainly didn't help the situation. What DID he want? He allowed his face to relax and licked the corner of his lip as he thought for a few moments. When given such an open question what was he supposed to say? What even did he WANT to say?

"Ees there anything you are wishing for?"
He decided turning the situation around might be the answer here.

[Aspiring Ali]

Alison wasn't pleased at his answer at all. Here she was, giving him the opportunity to fulfill whatever wish he has had, and he wasn't taking that offer! Though maybe that wasn't the only thing that made her a bit upset...

'' Of course there are things I want to do! ''
She puffed her cheeks out yet again. Alison reached over and her hands lightly clung to his arm,
'' T'es rien qu'un petit connard... Making a move on me today and now teasing me... Shame on you. '' she grumbled, this time her gaze directed downwards. She had no idea why she was saying things like this, it was definitely not helpful but in a way she had no control over herself so it couldn't be helped. Most of this was alcohol talking, mixing up her feelings in one huge mess...

[Ravishing Rai]

Raimond's arm became hot beneath her touch. Not because he was embarrassed but because he wasn't sure what she was going to do in this kind of situation. However, having Alison so close to him made him notice something. Her breath smelt. Bad. Not bad like his probably did since he hadn't brushed his teeth but bad like...alcohol.

He narrowed his eyes at her. He had found the culprit. But that wasn't the main problem, the main problem was surviving this.
"What move?"
His eyes moved naturally upwards as he tried to recall the 'move' he had made.

Maybe the alcohol in Alison's breath was messing with his head too, or maybe he was just being his usual thoughtless self, but the question he was about to ask probably wasn't going to save him from the situation,
"Show me what move."

[Aspiring Ali]

Alison wasn't sure if Raimond was trying to tease her again or he was actually serious, all she DID know was that he must be underestimating her. She didn't like that at all. Alison let out a small sigh, almost as if saying 'what am I going to do with you' as she suddenly moved closer to him to the point where she was pressing herself against his arm.

'' Suggesting we do indecent things with such an innocent expression... I'm still a maiden in love, you know? ''
She grumbled quietly as she buried her face in his shoulder. Her whole body was heating up from the alcohol she started feeling like her head was a bit heavy. She couldn't take this anymore, it was way too much.
'' I'm so hot... Rai... Do something... Strip me...'' she whimpered quietly, almost sounding like she was practically begging now. She was probably making the move now instead of Raimond, but she was too drunk to notice this.

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