Shangri-la

1964

Out at the courtyard after school, Ray sat at a picnic table with his older brother. He watched, with his one, right eye, as two girls walked up to Dave, smiling and giving him hugs. They glanced at Ray, but avoided eye contact. He made people uncomfortable. And so, he had few friends; none, actually. The one person who would talk to him was his brother, whom he loathed, which made a lonely existence.
"Oh, hey, Ray is here, too," Dave said, gesturing behind himself to Ray, showing the girls that Ray was indeed sitting on the bench. The girls gave him a tight lipped smile, making Ray feel like shit. He threw up a hand, and kicked his legs out to stand.
"Goodbye, ladies," he muttered. He grabbed his book bag and threw it over his shoulder, walking away, not wanting them to be uncomfortable while they drool over his older brother.
"Ray, where are you going? Why not come to the malt shop with us?" Dave called after him. Ray stopped, looking at the ground.
Ray could never tell if his brother was trying to be nice or play games with him, but either way, it disgusted him entirely. Turning, he looked Dave, with his two birds, one on each arm, staring him in the eye now.
"I think I'm good."
Dave looked at the ground. They both knew that nothing he did was going to fix their relationship. Ray wouldn't allow it.
Turning, Ray gave his back to the trio, and walked off the school yard and to the direction of home. He never once looked back to see if they cared; they didn't.
Sighing with resignation, Ray kept his eye to the ground and slowly walked home, taking a different route than he usually did. Ordinarily, Raymond would go through every alley and back road to get to and from anywhere, even though all the twist and turns made the trip all the longer. But today, he just wanted to get home and go to sleep as soon as possible.
Looking up to cross the street, a shop across the way caught his attention. It was a record store. It had been a while since Ray got some new music. He crossed the street, chewing his lip in indecision, pondering if he should even chance it. When he got to the other side of the street, he stood on the corner, gazing longingly at the building.
He walked toward it finally, after much indecision. Shakily, he opened the door and a little bell bounced back to alert the store owners of his arrival. He saw a man behind the counter look to him, his smile faltering when he saw the eye patch. Ray cast his gaze to the floor like he always did and rushed other to the rock n roll records toward the pack of the store. But on his way there, he cross collided with another person, making the smaller person fall and Ray to start apologizing profusely.
"My apologies, that was completely my fault," he rushed out, offering a hand to who he now noticed was a woman.
She looked up at him and the sight of her took his breath away. Everything else faded but this vision in front of him.
The girl was wearing a brown leather jacket and black mini skirt, with a white blouse. Her hair cascaded down her back in waves of blonde, brown, and red streaks. She castes her soft, brown eyes at him with tenderness and kindness, a sight Ray had never experienced before. Her pale skin was speckled with freckles, and one large one made its home in the corner of her left eye.
To Ray, she was the most beautiful woman to exist.
"Oh it's perfectly fine, if anything it was my fault. I shouldn't have been rushing around like I do," she said, accepting his lending hand. He helped her to a stand.
The connection made Ray gap in awe. How a stranger could make him feel this way was beyond him.
"You are incredibly beautiful," Ray spoke up, then mentally slapped himself in regret for saying something like that. There's no way she would be flattered, having a compliment come from a horrid looking man like me, he thought solemnly.
But to his surprise, she blushed and smiled, looking away.
"I've never been called that before," she confessed, twirling a loose piece of hair from behind her ear. The announcement shocked Ray, leaving him wondering how society could over-look such grace and beauty.
"What is your name?" Ray asked, still stunned by everything about her.
She looked back at him, first at his eye patch then to his right eye. Her eyes never ceased to be kind. She didn't show that disgust, disdain, and horror that others did.
His gaze moved all around her face, from her thick eyebrows, to her full cheeks and high cheek bones, to finally rest on her lips. The bottom was just slightly more full than the top, both of them being slightly large. The way they moved when she spoke to him formed perfect vowels, sometime showing her slightly crooked top teeth. But he didn't like that frown she had now. Why was the girl frowning?
"Are you alright?" She asked, sounding concerned.
Ray shook himself, embarrassed that he was so captivated by her beauty that he didn't realize she had been talking to him. He felt very warm, his face especially.
"Er, yes. I'm fine. I'm sorry I'm just," Ray waved a hand in the air.
"What was your name again?" He asked sheepishly.
She smiled.
"It's Melody."
Ray smiled at the name. How appropriate for the store they were in.
"My name is Ray- um, Raymond. You can call me Raymond," he said with another smile, one of the first genuine smiles that he's had in years.
"Say, perhaps I could make it up to you. Dinner?" He said, hopefully.
Melody frowned, looking sad. "Not tonight, I have something to do. But I'm free tomorrow," she said, her smile coming back.
Ray did not though. Tomorrow was Saturday, he had a show to put on. He couldn't take her out-
Promptly, an idea appeared in his head, and it made him smile again.
I could get use to this, Ray thought.
"What is it? What's going on in that head of your," she said, smilingly curiously.
"Tomorrow I have a show to put on, but I figured maybe after the show I could take ye for a treat?"
"A show?!" She asked excitedly.
"Yea, a small concert of sorts," Ray explained.
"I love music, I'd love to come watch you perform!" She exclaimed.
Ray felt his heart fluttered, but that wasn't possible, he thought. She had stolen it already.
The thought made him blush, and he smiles back at her excited face.
"It's date, then," he proclaimed as he without thinking. When he realized what he said, he blushed harder and started to sweat. She blushed slightly and hid her smile behind her gorgeous hair.
"Bye, Raymond," Melody said shyly as she went back to working in the back of the shop.
"Bye... Melody", Ray said, staring after her longingly before turning and walking out the door to go home.