Raphael pulled up to Vanessa house, “I had the most weirdest day ever.”, he said and Vanessa just slouched in her seat a little, trying to cover her face as she so badly just wanted to run in her house and never go out. She had manage to avoid him finding out her secret and she had transformed back to normal a minute after being in the bathroom since she wasn't drenched.

But Raphael smells like beer and soda, not a good mixture.

“How'd all those drinks just explode?”, he asked himself. “It just isn't possible and I mean every single one of them burst at the same time.”

Vanessa had a feeling it wasn't some big prank the frat boys set up, she believes it was her that made them explode like that, but she isn't sure how she actually did it and more important, how did she make the door slam against Raphael like that? Adalyn would have told if her if she had special powers that just made her seem even more like a freak.

“Do you think I could come in and get a shower?”, Raphael suddenly asked, making her back stiffen a little as her head snapped towards to look at him.

She sat up in her seat, “Uh,”, she said, looking down the street to see if her dad was home. She was kind of surprised to see he wasn't, it was six o'clock, he should be here. He doesn't work on Saturday’s and she thought he would be home from his meet up with Detective Hurley already.

“Please, Vanessa, I can't go home like this. My mother would nag my hear off and force me to hose myself off with the garden hose and I'll hear about for the next three months.”, he said.

She looked at him for a second before nodding, “Okay, sure.”

They got out the car and Vanessa glanced at Raphael who was touching his sticky messy dark hair. He took her key out her pocket and opened the door, letting the both in and turned on the lamp. She walked over to the kitchen and grabbed a gorcey bag, handing it to him, “You can put your clothes in here and I'll wash them for you. My dad should be your same size, you can wear an old pair of pajama's until your clothes are done, he wont even notice.”

“Thanks.”, he said as he took the bag and followed her upstairs. She grabbed a towel from the cabinet and stood up, turning to him, “Shampoo and everything already in—“ she cut herself off when she almost ran into him and she stared at his damp gray shirt. She quickly looked up at him and held out the towel shyly as her cheeks blushed up since his shirt was stinking to him closely.

Raphael may have not been the strongest nineteen year old she seen, but he was in good shape.

“Bathroom right there.”, she said, pointing at the door when he took the towel from her.

“Thanks.”, he said before turning and left to the bathroom.

She bit her bottom lip and mentally slapped herself. How awkward she was making everything, she felt so lame right now. She took a second to herself before walking over to her dad bathroom and opened his draw, grabbing a pair of his million and one flannel pajama pants and t-shirt he wears to bed.

She walked out of the room, folding them nicely as she walked over to the door of the bathroom. She hesitated, but brought her hand up and knocked on the door two time. It was a moment before Raphael opened the door just a little for him his face to show and a little bit of his tan chest.

She forced herself to swallow the ball in her throat and give him a small smile, “Here, I'll trade you.”, she said, holding out the clothes as she tried to make the awkwardness go away.

He gave her his side smile and held out the bag with his sticky clothes inside before taking the pajamas from her. With that, he closed the door and she heard the shower starting. She just nodded once before turning to go down the stairs and into the wash room. She threw his clothes into the washer and put some detergent and softener in.

After she went back into living room and saw at her answering machine the red button was blinking. She went over to it and pressed the button for her to listen to.

“Hey, Nessa, I guess your sleeping right now.”, she heard her father voice. “I'm going to be out a little longer, I hope you don't mind if I go to the bar with Detective Hurley and some of her friends. I wont be out to long though, be home probably at nine. I'll bring some food home for you, I love you.”

Why did her father staying out later make a smile appear on her face? She shouldn't be smiling like a maniac right now, she should be continuing to be freaking about making them explode and causing air to just appear. God knows what else she could do.

She turned her head to the pair of steps and knew right now the guy she had a crush on for awhile was in her bathroom. Her face heated up and shook her head as she closed her shuts.

Just be quiet, Vanessa. You stupid, stupid girl, she thought as she went upstairs to go change her clothes.

Once she was in her room, she clothes the door and took her hair out of her ponytail and her hair fell down passed her shoulders in waves, nothing strange about that. She changed out her clothes and into some pajama shorts and a big over size blue t-shirt.

She walked out of her room and when she started to pass the bathroom, she heard something. She couldn't stop herself from walking over and lean close to the door. She heard Raphael singing in Spanish. He wasn't being very loud, but she could still hear him.

She has only heard him speak Spanish around his uncle and dad fish shop with them. She knew if he was singing about cheese it would be beautiful with that language and voice. Why would Raphael wants to spend his life catching fish if he could go out and be a singer?

She put her hands on the door and pressed her forehead against it, smiling. She closed her eyes and not helping it, it was like an urge inside herself to hum. Something inside of her just wanted to sing even though she wasn't a good singer. She knew she wasn't, but she couldn't stop herself.

She wasn't sure how long she had been humming along to his voice but she heard him stop. He had stopped for a few seconds now as she hummed but woke up when she heard the curtain of the shower slid and she jumped back, her mouth dropping a little since she surprised herself. She already knew without seeing he was coming towards the door. She ran over towards the steps and ran down them. She got to the bottom right when the door opened and she hide in the kitchen.

Oh God, he heard me, she thought, her heart racing quickly since she was completely embarrassed.

{}

“Hey.”, she heard Raphael voice and she jumped up from the oven window since she had been checking the biscuit and chicken gravy dinner she grabbed from the freezer.

She turned to face him, “Oh, I didn't hear you come down.”, she said. She turned half way towards the oven and pointed at it, “I thought we could eat something while we wait for your clothes to finish.”

“Great, I'm starving.”, he said as he walked over to the small dinner in the kitchen and she shyly leaned against the counter. It was quiet now and it quickly filled the air as they both thought of something to say. She was waiting for him to say he heard her humming along with him outside the bathroom and say she was totally weird. “I thought I heard something in the bathroom.”, he said as he gave her a confused look.

Oh no, here it comes. Just stay calm, she thought to herself as she raised her eyebrows, “Oh?”

“It—it was weird.”, he said, sitting up straighter up in the chair. “It was so nonhuman.”,

Oh God, was I really that bad?, she asked herself as her face heated up.

“It was a beautiful.”, he said, smiling as he continued to look confused and her eyes widen. “I have never heard anything like what I heard, whatever it was wasn't even talking but humming. It was such a hypnotizing voice. Do you have some kind of radio or alarm in there cause I didn't see one or anything.”

She shook her head and shrugged her right shoulder, “No, I don't.”

“Oh, then maybe it was just in my head.”, he said.

Jeez, I got off there easy, she thought then realized that beautiful humming was coming from her. She bit her bottom lip as she look at the floor and blushed, trying hard not to smile.

The beeper from the washer went off, making her jerk. She gave him a smile and walked into the washroom. She opened the lid and reached in to grab the clothes, but froze. She couldn't pick up his clothes and it's not because his boxer briefs were on top of the bundle of clothes. They were wet.

She pulled her hand back and brought her hand up to her chin, thinking about what she's going to do. She looked at the pile of clean clothes and saw a rag. She grinned, knowing something wasn't going to stop her.

She picked up the grab and careful not to touch the drenched clothes, she threw it in the drier and her face couldn't stop from heating up as she grabbed his boxer briefs and quickly threw them in. She closed the drier lid and put the timer on for thirty minutes.

She joined Raphael back into the kitchen and joined him at the table, “Should be done in thirty minutes.”

“Thanks again.”, he said. “It was really messed up for Vincent to pull that prank.”

“Yeah.”, she said only because she knew she would fail at lying.

“He's a dumbass though because he will be the one to have to clean it all up.”, he said, chuckling. “Crazy how it all just went though, it was wild though.”

“Surely interrupt your conversation with Ava.”, she said without meaning to. She was only suppose to think that, not for it to come out of her mouth. “I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that.”, she said as her head dropped and she looked at the table.

It was quiet for a second before he cleared his throat, “No, it's kind of a good thing. I wanted to get away from her so it perfect.”

Vanessa couldn't help be amused as she looked up at him, “She seemed pretty surprised to see you, why'd you to break up? She's really pretty.”

Raphael bit his bottom lip and she felt stupid for asking now. Why would he want to talk about his ex who seemed to have cheated on him. “We just grew apart, wanted different things.”

She just nodding, understanding why he wouldn't want to tell her the real truth.

The oven beeped and she got up, taking the food out. She got them both a plate and something to drink before she joined him at the table, “My dad usually cooks but when he works late some nights, he would get me this. It's my favorite.”, she said.

“Looks really good.”, he said, taking a bite of it. “Nice to have something different then fish.”

She chuckled, “I get tired of seeing ice cream to. I thought working at Rita's would be the perfect job but after two weeks of stuffing my face with it, I just got sick of it.”

“Yeah, I get sick of eating ice cream to.”, he said as he stuffed his mouth.

Her eyebrows came together in confusion, “Huh? I thought you said you liked eating ice cream because your old couch wouldn't let you have it.”

Raphael suddenly coughed for a few moments and took a sip of his ice tea, “Right, right, but you know some days it can get old and some days I like it.”, he said, giving her a smile and she gave him a confused but amused look.

Okay, weird a little, she thought.

{}

“I never realized how good strawberries with sugar could be so good.”, Raphael said as he dipped the strawberry in a bowl of sugar.

“My mom loved doing this, she handed me one one day and I thought it was the most amazing thing.”, Vanessa chuckled, sticking the fork into the fruit since she could touch it since a few were still wet from when she watched them.

“I can a hundred more if I wasn't getting so full.”, he said, sticking one more in the bowl and then in his mouth.

Vanessa smiled and ran her hand through her hair, “I had a good day, Raphael, thank you.”

“I can tell, I think this is the longest I seen you smile.”, he said.

“I smile a lot.”, she said.

“Not for this long,” he said. “You been smiling and giggling for the last forty minutes.”

When she tried to force her smile down, her face muscles just didn't care and made her smile again, “No one ever took their time to just hang out with me. Cameron and Shayna are nice to talk to at Rita's but all they ever like to talk to is about makeup and dresses. Unlike me with my talk about spending hours in Barnes and Nobles or watching every rerun of Degrassi as much as I can.”

“Wow, you are different.”, he said and she just shrugged her right shoulder. “I can't finish a book even if it means I would be saving my own life.”

“You can sing though.”, she said, her face heating up as he gave her a confused look. “I-I heard you when I walk passed the bathroom when I changed.”

“Oh,” he said, looking taken back. “Your heard me? God, that's embarrassing.”

“It's okay, your voice is nice. You could be a singer.”, she said. “What were you saying? I couldn't understand.”

He shrugged and laid his crossed arms on the table, “It's just some stupid old lullaby my grandmother use to sing. She moved here when she was seventeen and when she learn the legend of Coasta Sirenas, she made some little lullaby about it.”

“Really?”, she asked, sounding way to interested then she should have been. “Can you show me, I mean, in English?”

“Eh, another day.”, he said. “Kind of embarrassed still that you heard me.”

She chuckled, “You don't need to be embarrassed, your really good.”

He smiled bigger, making his dimples deeper, “Thank you—Nessie.”

Her mouth dropped, “Did you just nickname me after the Loch Ness Monster?”

“Uh, if that's what it's nickname is, sure.”, he chuckled. “I just called you if because I heard your father call you Nessa and I thought I would be different.”

“Oh.”, she said, smiling. “Okay.”

They just smiled at each other and Vanessa had to break eye contract as she brought her hand up to her hair, pushing it behind her right ear. She knew she was blushing and she knew he knew. She never thought she would be spending this much time with Raphael, it was nice to spend time with him. She was learning so much about it, it was nice to be his friend. He was so sweet and nice.

She opened her eyes and looked up at him. Her smile then dropped when she looked behind him where the sink was and floating in the air was the little bit of water she had filled the sink up with so the food on the dishes wouldn't stick.

Her heart started racing and in the little bit of what she saw of Raphael, he looked confused.

“Vanessa, what is it?”, he asked and started turning around.

“No!”, she yelled, looking away and reached across, grabbing his arm. She couldn't let him see what she was doing. A loud crashing noise made him more even curious since the water floating in the air splashed down on the sink and counter.

“What the hell?”, Raphael said as he jumped up from his chair and turned around. He turned around and looked at Vanessa, “What is going on?”

Her mouth just opened a little and she shook her head, “I don't know either.”, she admitted.