Show Me the Way

Chapter 11: Awkward Love

When I woke up, Frank and Gerard were still asleep. Ray had disappeared, but I had the covers gently tucked over me.

I smiled. Ray was so sweet. He thought of everything.

I walked out into the living area and saw Ray's hair off the end of the couch. He was laying on his back, fumbling around with the remote with one arm behind his head.

I leaned over the back of the couch and looked at him. "Oh, fuck!" Ray jumped, dropping the remote. I smiled and covered my mouth so I wouldn't laugh.

"Well, good morning," he said, laying back down on the couch. I went around and layed down so that my head was on his chest.

I felt Ray's hand land on my head, and he began gently playing with my hair while playing with the TV at the same time.

I tried to figure out what he was doing for fifteen minutes until I realized that he was trying to set up the subtitles on the screen.

Just for me.

I took a fistful of his shirt and scrunched myself up on top of him.

He was incredible.

A little while later, Frank and Gerard both emerged from the other room. Frank looked at me, running a hand through his hair. "You aren't getting that bed back, Mikey," he said.

I scrunched my face up and signed, "I don't think I want it."

~

"We should go out."

I tilted my head. "Are we not?" I signed. "I mean... I sleep with you." Ray grinned. "I meant to eat or something," he said.

"Oh," I signed. "Like a date?" He blushed slightly and nodded. "Like a date."

I nodded slowly. "Okay," I signed. "When?" He shrugged. "Whenever you want. Hell, we could go out today if that's what you wanted." Another nod.

"Where?" I signed. He shrugged again. "Your choice," he said.

I didn't know three places in this tiny-ass town.

"I don't know," I signed. "Let's look up somewhere." Ray grinned and nodded.

We searched on the internet for a while, and we finally decided on this little Italian place not far from campus. It was cliche, we knew, but it got good reviews. Who cares?

Ray was an amazing person to be out on a date with. He did everything flawlessly. I wondered how many times he'd done this before.

Even when shit started going wrong, he reacted well.

And shit went really wrong.

We started off at the Italian place, where we ate dinner, which was amazing. We didn't even get that many weird looks when we held hands.

Then Ray decided he wanted to show me this place he'd seen on the way to the college from his home.

We drove to this little hill, about fourty minutes from campus. It was one of those idyllic, fairy-tale type hills, with a single tree at the very top. It was great, but then it started raining. And it wasn't just casual rain. It was a downpour. And it was fucking cold.

Ray's hair was an absolute mess, and the rain that coated my glasses made me lose that sense, too.

We were running down the hill to get into the car, Ray holding his jacket over me. When we got to the car, we got inside and drove about ten feet before running out of gas. Ray was swearing repeatedly, and I was kind of glad that I couldn't hear him.

I was trying to dry my glasses on anything I could find in the car while Ray phoned Gerard and Frank. They didn't pick up, and so we ended up calling Pete and Patrick and Brendon and Ryan.

They showed up thirty minutes later because apparently gas was sold out at the first three places they went to.

I had to wonder what the fuck kind of stores sold out of gasoline.

When we finally got home, we were both cold, wet, and tired. We couldn't find Frank anywhere, but Gerard said they'd gotten bored and had been playing hide and seek.

In college.

My brother.

I sighed and followed Ray into the bedroom. We turned our backs to each other and began changing clothes. I finished first and darted out of the room to grab us some towels for our hair.

When I got back, Ray draped the towel over his shoulders and took my hands. I smiled. I wanted to laugh. Our first date had gone horribly, horribly wrong, and yet, it was probably the most fun date I'd ever been on.

I looked at him for about three more seconds before giving in to my impulses. I gently tugged Ray forward and pressed my lips against his.

He really was incredible in everything he did.

I managed to tug myself away from him and we made our way over to the bed. We sat down, and he pulled me in for another kiss.

We somehow rolled into a position where Ray was laying on top of me, but I sure as hell didn't mind.

Everything was going great until Ray suddenly jolted away from me, looking behind him.

I sat up and looked over. Frank was laying awkwardly in the floor, rubbing his elbow.

"What the... Where the hell were you?!" Ray cried. Frank pointed lazily towards the closet, and I remembered his game of hide and seek with my brother.

I covered my hot, red cheeks with my cool fingers. "So you saw... all of that?" Ray asked. Frank nodded. Ray covered his face, just like I had.

"Ah, whatever," Frank said, slowly getting to his feet. "It was cute." I rolled my eyes. "Private!" I signed. Ray pointed at me and nodded.

Frank pointed and me and shook his head. "Now you know I can't read that shit, man," he said. "I'm going to go fix my... eveything. Later."

He slumped out of the room, closing the door behind him. Ray and I looked at each other and smiled tiredly. He leaned forward and kissed my cheek.

"It's okay, Mikey," he said. "Today was fun, anyway."

I couldn't argue that.