Ray ||l.h.||

1.8

Ray remembers many times where she was eager to be with Calum and Michael. Once in the middle of summer, the summer after their freshman year, the both of them were just getting back from visiting family out of state. She had asked Calum's sister if she could wait for them in Calum's room, because they'd told her on the phone, in their newly-pubertized-teenage-boy voices, that they were going to be there around dinner time. 

Young Ray had carefully positioned herself on Calum's bed, sitting with her legs crossed as she waited. She didn't realize at the time that she'd neglected to turn his light on, so when both boys came in and flipped the switch, only to see one of their best friends eerily staring at the wall, she didn't blame them for screaming.

This time, though, Ray is more than eager. She's thrilled, exhilarated, synonyms. She's discovered, after how it felt to see Ashton, that seeing her best friends was one of the best feelings, up there with seeing her parents.

"Okay, wait," Luke chuckles, reaching out to grab Ray's hand from the door handle. The closer they had gotten to Ray's house—that, she knew via Luke's narrating, the more she smiled, and the more her knee anxiously bounced against the door, which Luke noticed and found very amusing. "Before we go in, do you want any hints so you know who's who?"

Ray is mainly focused on her front door as she answers Luke, "No, Skywalker, I wanna figure it out myself." She shoots him a smile and gives him a peck before getting out of the car and leaving Luke to shake his head to himself.

If Ray is honest, she doesn't know which house is her parents' until she sees their vehicle in the driveway. She can't say that she's imagined what it looks like, because, well, she hasn't, but she thinks her old home is nicer looking than their older home.

Putting together that the house to the right of it must be her and Ashton's house, she smiles impossibly bigger at the sight of it. Even at what's probably Ashton's hunk of junk car.

Ray takes a few deep breaths, feeling weird as her feet step on the familiar path to the front door. She knocks on the door, tentatively, as if this were a stranger's house, as Luke comes up beside her. Ray looks up at him, slightly rocking back and forth on her heels and he fondly stares down at her until the front door opens with a beaming Calum behind it.

"Hi," Ray studies this person's face, sure that he's either Calum or Michael and choosing to take a guess. "Calum?" 

Several joyful yells erupt from inside the house, including Calum's own hollering, as the tan boy quickly scoops her up, bridal style. "Ray can see me!" Calum dramatically shouts to the ceiling.

Ray laughs, putting her arms around the boy's neck and embracing him as best she can while she's being held by him. Another boy, with a shock of blond hair—who is screaming louder than anyone else—bounds up next to them.

"Ray, wait, Ray, what color is my shirt?" The boy, Michael, excitedly quizzes. Ray glances down and looks at his plain t-shirt.

"Black." She says, briefly tightening her grip on Calum's shoulder as he knees her up so she doesn't slip out of his hands. Michael's grin falters for a second.

"Wait, so does that mean—" 

"No, Michael, your shirt is actually black, she can see it!" Ashton chimes in, gently shoving his friend. 

Michael cheers again after remembering what shirt he put on this morning, letting Calum hand the girl off to him. Ray squeals, throwing her head back as she laughs and Michael swings her in a circle. She's nearly dizzy by the time her giggly begging for him to stop actually works and she wobbles on her feet towards her parents.