Rouge Child

Two in the Morning

While on the road, Ray noticed something about the girl beside him. She was rather simple and petite with that long black hair; she looked somewhat both Asian and American. He remembered that she was the Bugle girl who used to sneak into shower rooms of the varsity teams. That happened in his junior year in high school. He also remembered her as an uptight and "not really pretty" girl from New York. That was what he heard, and he knew that people in FHH thought she didn't belong. Huh! New Yorkers were prude.

Damn, they were in the same Physimper class. He shook his head. He almost forgot that one detail. He could hear Frankie in his mind telling him that that "McQueen" was forgettable and absolutely "not really pretty".

Rose Trail was not that far from Concord. He hadn't been here before but he did not have any difficulties driving Lily home. The house with the pines untrimmed - that was a useful clue and an obvious one. Lily's place was in fact the only house with the untrimmed pines. Was she really that busy? Man, New Yorkers were busy.

"Hey! Wake up." He tried to stir her awake. She didn't budge so he stirred a little more. "McQueen...."

With a sleepy grumble, she finally woke up. "What?"

He only kept his hands on the steering wheel. "I think you're home. Don't worry about your car. Your friend, Appleton, said that she would be the one driving it in the morning."

"Uh. Thanks." She got out of the car, lazily.

"Easy. You're drunk, remember?" He went out of the car to keep Lily upright. "Here, let me help you."

He walked Lily to the front door. He kept himself amused while Lily was looking for her key. "Next time, don't drink vodka if you can't stand it," Ray suggested.

"How did you know it is vodka?" The front door opened.

"The smell...." There was no one inside the house. "You alone?"

"Ah yeah but I have my grandmother around." She pointed at the house next door. "We're neighbors if you are going to ask."

His only reply was, "Cool."

"Again, I thank you for driving this poor girl home. I am not really drunk though. Tipsy, maybe."

With his hands in his pockets, he only nodded and smiled. It was dark outside but Lily could see the freckles on his face. He was also tall, like between 6'3 and 6'4. She was sure he was familiar and, yeah, popular in Fram Hill High, and she thought he was unbelievably pale for a guy.

Unbelievably pale. Unbelievably pale. OMG! She knew him. How on Earth did she not recognize him?

Pretty smooth, Lily. She shook her head.

No one in Fram Hill High or even in this whole town was as pale as him. He was the illegal French alien. Most of the Fram Hill kids of her age called him that but she had her own name for him - Snow White.

He was the Arrows Football Team captain who played as wide receiver and just happened to be the mayor's infamous grandson - Ray Carter.

A troublemaker. No he wasn't, she corrected herself despite the rumors about him. Whether the rumors were true or not, she was too tired to care. So, she said good night and closed the door.

He did not know what he did wrong for him to deserve the door shoved to his face. She was really drunk, he thought. He wanted to talk to her more and asked something which he had no idea what it was, just an impulse to stay longer. Nothing else left for him to do, he walked his way back to his car and Alas. The guy was dead. No, not really. He was just drunk and fucked up because Missy dumped him again. He started the engine and drove home.

It was already two in the morning. It was indeed late. Long day it had been for him. He was supposed to be happy and enjoy Dougray's party because his team won a game the morning before, but he did not feel like it. On his way, he kept thinking about Lily if she was ok. There was this impulse again. It annoyed him and, here, he thought that he was supposed to feel nothing like caring. He turned towards Rickett Way and thought to just dump Alas in a gutter but ended up knocking on Dr. Cumming's front door. He hauled Alas' ass out of his car and bid goodbye to the vet.

The party was over. Boys and girls went home. They partied, got kissed - some might had gotten laid like Frankie- and got drunk. Lily was alone in Rose Trail, Jean was writing something in her diary, Frankie was hoping to get laid again, Alas was sleeping with Bruce, Dan and Sofia were still lovers, and Ray was driving his Mercedes.

Two in the morning it was.