Oh My God, They Were Roommates

34 | Put Your Head On My Shoulder

Ray felt as though he had just run a marathon and was still recovering days later. The emotional energy of explaining everything (on top of the fit he had that morning after Sora left for class) wore him down into nothing but a tired bean on the floor, cradling his guitar. When the conversation ran dry, and all was out in the open—aside from Sora's profession, that is—Sora suggested that they end the visitation period.

"Yeah, that sounds like a good idea," Huey sighed. He gave Ray a pat on the back and said, "Thanks for telling us, albeit after... having your arm twisted about it."

"Yeah, thanks for listening," Ray yawned from the ground, eyes closed. "I'll be back tomorrow."

"You better promise up, bub," Huey said, holding his pinkie out. Ray shook it with his own pinkie, and that was that.

Huey and Leo left to put their shoes on in the foyer, which brought Xavier over to Ray as Sora watched from the kitchen, his arms folded over his chest, and his annoyance with Xavier simmering over the surface of his expression. Xavier eyed him from over Ray's head and it took an immeasurable amount of effort not to flip the guy off.

Xavier looked down at Ray and said, "Can I talk to you? Alone?"

Ray swallowed hard. He glanced back at Sora, and then at the front door where Huey and Leo waved farewell and left. He really didn't want to take this to his bedroom, so he clasped Xavier around the wrist and pulled him to the foyer.

At the door, he didn't bother with shoes. Xavier ducked down to grab his sneakers before following after Ray, his wrist falling back to his side. The moment the front door shut behind them, Sora pushed off of the counter and hurried across the wood, skidded down the hallway, and went to the front door to press his ear to the wood and listen.

Ray went to the window at the end of the apartment corridor. There, he hopped up onto the ledge and said, "What'd you want to talk about?"

Xavier stuffed his bandaged hands into his pockets and shrugged, glancing back at the door as he said, "Oh, I don't know, the fact that you're living with your boyfriend?"

Ray frowned, brow furrowed. If his forehead could hurt anymore, it would. "I don't see why it concerns you," he said.

"It doesn't, but I'm worried about you, Ray. And I have a feeling that one of your reasons for hiding this is so that your mom doesn't find out," Xavier said, and the thought of Aunt Natalia finding out about all of this made it feel like Ray's stomach acid was eating its way up his esophagus.

He swallowed it down, tense.

"If you're hiding things from the people you care about, is it really such a good thing?" Xavier asked, and Ray said nothing.

He knew it was irrational for him to hide this from his friends, and in the end, it felt like Xavier was just another excuse to keep people from finding out that he was living with Sora and—on top of all of that—was crushing on the guy.

"I didn't want to make you feel bad about this—we know now so there's no point in regretting not saying anything earlier. The more people who know, the more backup you have if things go south," Xavier said, and Ray glanced up at him, eyes glassy with tears. Xavier offered a weak smile and said, "It sucks being stuck with an ex—even if you have separate rooms. And I'm not saying you and Sora will even get to that point, but... just saying, that'll really fuck a guy up. It's not good for either party."

"You say that like you have experience in the subject," Ray said, pursing his lips.

Xavier laughed, shaking his head. He stepped up to the windowsill beside Ray and leant against it. "Sort of. My mom—she tends to jump from apartment-to-apartment depending on who she's dating. I never really got to see that since my abue took me in. She's never really had... stability. Let's put it that way."