A Flame From The Past

23: Coming Home Pt.2

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My eyes darted to the entryway, Ray came out in his pajamas with his blanket dragged behind him and the big pink teddy he and Luca had won. He wiped his eyes at the bright lights that I had on, squinting his eyes to try to see, he looked tired, exhausted, he went to the kitchen. I was planning on skipping milk tonight but he must've just gotten so used to it.

"Ray just woke up, you have a good time and I'll call you tomorrow", I rushed as he wandered over to the kitchen, trying to pour himself a glass of milk.

He always had one before bed, and many times he had tried to do it himself, but he could never exactly hold the milk carton. We had too many spilled and spoiled milks for me to let him do it on his own.

Luca said bye swiftly, and I left the phone on the dresser, ready to help Ray.

"I'm really tired", he whimpered, wiping his eyes again as I just shut the lights off, trying to give him some comfort. He was so out of it, I handed him his milk and he had a hard time actually finding his chair.

"Why don't we just get you to bed?" I asked him, and he took small sips of his milk, slowly nodding.

His teddy bear sat beside him on the chair, as he slowly leaned against it.

"Is Luca here?" He asked, piping up in his seat, looking around.

"He had a dinner to go to with his teammates", I said and Ray began interrogating me about this 'dinner', wondering who would go, where would it be at, he was like one of those nosy reporters. Not in a nosy reporter way.

"You can ask him about all of this when you see him", I began walking to his room as he followed, still slowly sipping his mug of warm milk. He yawned heavily and moved towards the comfort of his bed.

"This week was fun", he said, yawning as I tucked him into bed and he scooted over for me to fight. He leaned into me, as I wrapped my hands around him, holding him close to me. I looked down at him, snuggling against my warmth.

"We saw so many things I lost track...", he murmured sleepily, as I pulled the comforter above us both. He moved himself, cuddling up next to me.

"What was your favorite?" I asked him, yawning to the side. I didn't any to appear tired, if he still wanted to talk. I knew he had just probably slept the most in one day.

"Definitely the game-", his speech trailed on till it turned into incoherent mumbles of sleep talk. And my mind drifted off to sleep too, overwhelmed by this whole week.

I sprung up and off the bed at the sound of my phone ringing, the time read one in the morning, as I slowly got out of bed hoping not to wake Ray up. Something must've happened with Ally, who else would call me at this time?

But to my surprise it wasn't Ally.

"I was thinking about you for the fiftieth time and I just wanted to say that I think... you are the most beautiful person I've ever met", he paused with his words, slurring and mumbling with them all. I had guessed the dinner was a club of the dinner had lead to the club, and this was just the afterparty. This Luca was a new experience, never had I met a drunk Luca before.

The way he talked, I knew he was a soft drunk, he became like a big teddy when he drank. I hated mean drunks, they became ignorant, antsy, irritable, violent even. My father was a mean drunk, he was the meanest, he'd scream, and smash bottles of beer on the ground for me to clean.

I knew Luca wouldn't do this all the time, that he wouldn't be someone to end up like that. It just scared me whenever alcohol was in the mix. I drank to a moderation, I knew my limits, I knew when I would become incoherent and not understanding. The worst thing is I really don't want to end up like my father.