𝐷𝑖𝑠𝑎𝑝𝑝𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒 - A Norman x Ray Story

Enjoy The Wedding

"I don't have a proper answer."

"How do you not have a proper answer? You were gone for a really long time and you can't answer where you went?"

"I-" Ray sighed. "I don't want to make you feel bad. It's your wedding day, and I already made it weird by showing up."

"It's not weird at all! I promise. I'm so glad you're here." Norman's expression saddened more than before. "I just feel that I deserve an explanation. You left with no heads up. You left me, alone. I was so scared without my partner in crime by my side at all times. And there was nothing I could do. I didn't even know if you were safe. I mean- fuck, Ray- I convinced myself you were dead." Norman looked up at Ray's guilty face. "I, really, think I deserve an explanation." He repeated.

Ray's eyes watered. He hadn't really thought about what Norman might've felt while he was gone. All this time, he was too scared of coming back to face a Norman that was mad at him or a Norman that didn't even remember him. But, in all actuality, Norman was hurt, and would probably feel better if Ray had come back sooner. He looked down, breaking his eye contact with Norman. His guilt was overwhelming. He felt as if he couldn't even look at Norman.

"I-I'm sorry, Norman. I guess I didn't think about hurting you. I was just so caught up in my own problems at the time, your feelings didn't even come to mind."

"I don't want you to be sorry, I want answers. I wanna know where you were, as your best friend."

Ray sighed. "Well, I guess I'll start when I left. I was sixteen and every problem in my life was so overwhelming. I was being emotionally abused by my mother, I was in love with my best friend, my father died, which I thought was my fault, and I found out, at my dad's funeral, that my mom didn't love him. There was also the thing with your dad- and, as a sheltered kid who had never experienced any of that before, I just wanted to disappear. So, that's what I did. I took nothing with me except money from my savings account at the bank. There was about $600, and I took it all. After that, I left. I walked until my legs gave out as I thought about what I was going to do. I thought about going back so many times whenever the thought came to mind that I might not make it out there. But I'm stubborn and I convinced myself it would be easy. As time went on though, I found it was anything but easy. Especially as someone who wasn't even a legal adult. But, somehow, I managed to get a job and snag a low income apartment. I paid $327 in rent and the only condition was that I had to keep it spotless. Since rent was so low and I was only paying for myself, I was able to save up money for a pretty long time. I didn't check how much I had saved until I was about twenty. That ended up being a lot of money that I didn't even know what to do with, so I got myself a better paying position in my workplace and found myself a better place to live. And I've lived in that place since my twenty-first birthday. I found some friends along the way and I'm doing the best currently than ever before. I live about an hour away from this place and my hourly wage now is $19.15." He took a pause for a breathe. "Happy now?"

"Yes, actually." Norman's pout-like face made Ray feel guilty for anything he'd ever done to Norman. "But not really. Because I let you leave and I wasn't able to make you happy."

"You tried, but it doesn't really matter now anyways."

"It matters to me. Can we, please, be friends again? I know everything is different and that it will be weird for a while, but I really want this back."

"What?"

"Our friendship. I missed you more than words could ever describe."

Emma walked over to Norman.

"You okay, love?"

He nods. "Of course."

"Rudeness, why didn't you introduce me to this guy!?" She rolled her eyes and stuck out her hand for Ray to shake it. "I'm Emma, Norman's wife, you must be part of his family!"

"Why did both of you assume I was part of your lover's family? I'm related to neither of you and thank god for that. But I'm ranting, how rude of me. My name is Ray and I'm a friend of Norman's."

Her eyes went wide. "THE Ray?" She looked over at Norman and he nodded. "You're alive!?"

"Nope, I'm just a ghost."

She tilted her head in confusion, to which Ray scoffed.

"Yes, I'm alive, you idiot. I wouldn't be here if I wasn't."

"He's not as nice as you said he was," Emma seemed a bit bothered by Ray's first impression, which had Norman in a bit of a predicament.

"He's not a people person, I'm sorry."

"You don't have to apologize! I don't mind!" She was clearly lying and she was probably already planning on complaining about Ray after the wedding.

"Hey, how about you go back to the dance floor, Gilda's looking for you." Norman said to try and get her to leave to ease the tension between her and Ray. Of course he wasn't going to send Ray off, he barely got to see him again.

Emma took the hint and nodded. She hurried back to the dance floor where Gilda was waiting for her and she started to dance again.

"You married that bitch?"

"What-?"

"Sorry. I just can't help being a little jealous."

"Hey, you decided to leave. This could've been us." Norman joked.

Ray looked away from Emma on the dance floor and made eye contact with Norman.

"You should probably go with her. It is your wedding too."

"I'm a little worn out from dancing."

"Still? Or are you making an excuse to keep talking to me?"

"A little bit of both," Norman chuckled and Ray smiled.

(This isn't proofread btw)