Chapter 11 #2
Ray nods. “Yeah. For sure.” Dennis claps Ray on the shoulder, then walks away to speak with Santiago. “So Maurice, you said you smoke pot, but have you tried anything else? I’m curious,” Ray asks.
Maurice’s posture instantly stiffens. He clutches the camera hanging around his neck with a tight grip. “Uh… Well… I’ve tried acid. Once. And I probably won’t ever do it again. I, um… I had a really bad trip.” He grits his teeth.
Ray’s jaw slackens. “Oh, uh… I’m sorry about that.”
“It’s alright.” Maurice frowns. “It’s a ‘me thing’. I’ve had… a rough past, and the acid only made the bad thoughts worse.”
Ray can understand Maurice’s cautious tone, how it’s obvious he doesn’t want to talk about the incident. He’s not that close friends with Maurice anyway, so he doesn’t want to push, especially when people around could hear them. “I get that.”
Maurice huffs a small chuckle, waving one of his hands. “But I don’t want me telling you about my own experience to discourage you! I mean, some of the greatest music ever made was inspired by acid trips. So… you never know.”
That gets Ray to laugh. “You’re right about that. Say, I wanna go find out where Gene went, and maybe eat some of this food. I’ll catch you later.”
“Sure thing.” Maurice smiles. “I could use some food too.”
Ray gives Maurice a wave, then heads over to one of the tables.
He’s surprised at the amount of faces he doesn’t recognize, wondering who they are and where they all came from.
But they’re likely a combination of things: a couple are the roadies and bus driver Dennis signed onto their tour, a few more must be the staff from the venue, one person is the A why should Ray care?
Why the fuck should I be jealous of whoever Gene picks as his girl?
Santiago comes up to Gene, pulling his attention away from the girl—thankfully, Ray adds in his head.
The two guys end up talking to each other, saying things Ray can’t hear over the commotion of the party, and the girl turns away from them, shrugging to herself.
Was she disappointed Gene stopped talking to her?
But now, with her facing Ray, he can see her fully, and his heartbeat quickens.
He can see her whole figure in all its glory.
The girl has a face like a pale porcelain doll.
Huge, gorgeous brown eyes, with make-up that accentuates them—dark eyeliner on her upper lids and long, false lower eyelashes.
Pink blush on her high cheekbones, and full, luscious lips that when opened, reveal a small gap between her two top teeth.
And then everything else: her shoulder-length brunette hair, her cute shift dress, and a body like Twiggy…
Ray can hardly believe his eyes at how beautiful she is. He has to talk to her.
“Excuse me, young miss?” Ray steps closer to her, avoiding bumping into the other party guests, and she looks up.
“Me? You mean me?” she asks coyly, and it gets Ray to smile.
“Yes, of course, you.” He ruffles the collar of his sparkly blouse. “Were you here to see the Dusty Brooms?”
She giggles at that. “Of course I was. You’re Ray Roderick; I’ve seen you guys quite a few times already.”
“That’s wonderful,” Ray says, putting a hand on his hip. “So you know my name, but I don’t know yours. I think that’s a little unfair.”
“I’m Carol.” She smiles. “Nice to finally meet you in person, Ray. I’ll be seeing you.”
She moves to walk past him. She’s trying to head over to the food table—and Ray’s heart sinks into his stomach. “Woah, woah, wait a minute! We’ve barely even spoken yet.” He shuffles over, stopping Carol in her tracks.
“Do we need to talk? I’m quite hungry, actually. Would rather be using my mouth for eating than for speaking, currently.”
“Then let me grab you something,” Ray rushes to say. “What would you like?”
“Do you even know what they have? Have you seen what’s on the table?”
“Uh…” No, he hasn’t, because as soon as he stepped into the room, he was talking to Dennis and Maurice. “We can check it out together, how ’bout that?”
She rolls her eyes, albeit with a small smile on her face. “Fine, whatever.”
And so, they walk over to the food table together, scooching and shimmying their way past other people to grab pizza and desserts.
Carol grabs her own, and Ray grabs his. As he takes a gander at her again, watching her snag a slice of pepperoni pizza, he wonders what’s come over him all of a sudden.
Obviously he’s met plenty of pretty girls before, and talked with them no problem.
But something about Carol makes him excited.
Determined, more than before. Looking at her makes his heart beat fast, his breathing stuttering. Yet… why?
“Would you like to sit down?” Ray asks.
“Yeah. Though…” She gazes across the room, and Ray does the same to see what she’s looking at. Gene and Santiago are sitting in some folding chairs against the wall, smoking cigarettes and having drinks. “You wanna sit with them?” she asks, keeping her eyes on Gene.
Ray’s heart sinks once more.
Oh.
He realizes now why she’d been so aloof to him.
“Um… Nah, Gene and Santi are rather close, and whenever they start talking, they could go on for hours, not even noticing anyone else in the room. I’d rather not interrupt them.
” While that may be somewhat true, he omits the part to Carol how, even when Gene and Santi are deep in conversation, Gene would always make room for Ray to join in, too.
“But I’m free, as you can see. I’d love to sit down with you. ”
Carol pouts, tilting her head to the side. “I don’t know. Maybe I’ll wait for them.”
She’s really not into me, is she? Come on, I know Gene is handsome but aren’t I just as good? “Then you might be waiting a long time.”
“I’ve got plenty of time. I don’t plan on going home for a while.” She says it so easily, her mind made up. It only fuels Ray’s desire for her, strange as it may be. Yet he doesn’t know what to do. This is new for him.
So he gives in, completely at a loss. If she’s planning to hang around, perhaps he’ll have another chance with her later. “Alright. I’ll still be over here, if you need me.”
“Groovy. Thanks, Ray. Be seeing you.” She says it so politely that Ray’s heart aches.
And then she walks away from him, zig-zagging around the other people and over to Gene and Santi, who stop talking to each other and pull up a chair for her.
Which makes Ray look like a total liar, unfortunately.
But he knows how much of a gentleman Gene can be, and even Santi, too, that they wouldn’t purposefully leave a lady hanging.
When Carol left those two earlier, it likely wasn’t because Gene brushed her off, but he simply got distracted. Figures.
“Lose that one, did you?” an androgynous voice says next to him.
Ray’s startled and looks to his left, finding Pat with a plate of cake. “Oh, uh… Maybe for now. But I’m not giving up,” he says. “Were you listening?”
“I’m pretty observant of you, yeah,” Pat says. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen both you and Gene interested in the same girl, though.”
“Well, who’s to say Gene’s actually into her? It looks like he’s just being friendly.”
“Maybe that’s what that girl likes about him? That he’s not pushy. But I don’t know; you know Gene better than me.”
Pat’s words hit an uncomfortable nerve in Ray’s gut. “I wasn’t that pushy.”
“I’m not saying you were. Again, just observing.”
Ray sighs, trying to wrap his head around everything that’s happening. “Let’s sit down. I don’t wanna eat while standing.”
“Sure. There’s some free chairs over there.”
Ray and Pat walk over to the chairs, stationed on the wall perpendicular from Gene, Santiago, and Carol, giving Ray a decent view of them. Carol’s sitting closer to Gene than Santi. His gut churns again.
Pat stays quiet as she takes a bite of her cake.
Ray tears a bite from his pizza, the savory flavor soothing his stomach a bit.
Pat was right—there hasn’t been an instance so far in their lives where both Ray and Gene fought over the same girl.
That’s not to say they’re actually fighting—far from it—but it’s also the first time a girl has turned down Ray for Gene.
It makes him uncomfortable, with a tinge of jealousy brewing within.
Jealousy and envy. He watches, seeing Carol plant her hand on Gene’s shoulder.
For someone else to want Gene, wanting to touch him, planning on pursuing him…
Ray shakes his head, then takes another bite.
He knows his thoughts don’t really make sense, but he doesn’t quite know what to make of it.
Every time he tries to straighten them out, they get more tangled.
Carol is beautiful, and he doesn’t like seeing her with Gene, that much he knows for sure.
He also knows he’s attracted to Carol. What man wouldn’t be, with a face as gorgeous as that?
Which brings his mind back to Gene. He sees Gene smile at her. Giggling about something or other. Ray frowns, holding onto his slice, that fire in his chest burning hotter and fiercer.
“You sure are staring at them a lot,” Pat says.
Ray scrunches his nose for a second, then takes in a long, deep sigh. “Okay, yeah. Whatever. I am.”
“I think you’re jealous.”
He turns his head to Pat. “Ya think?”
Pat chuckles. “Yeah. But that’s a normal reaction. Seeing your friend steal the girl you like.”
“He’s not… He’s not stealing her from me.”
“Oh, I guess not, when you never had her in the first place.”
“Hey!” He huffs an angry breath out his nose, which gets Pat to laugh.
“Just messing with you.”
“Yeah. Sure, I get it.” But Pat doesn’t.
Pat knows Ray and Gene are friends, but doesn’t quite understand the complex intricacy of their friendship.
But also, maybe, this whole situation isn’t that big of a deal anyway, and Ray’s merely overthinking everything.
Again, he shouldn’t be jealous of Gene getting a girl.
But what if that girl was someone so beautiful, someone he couldn’t resist?
What if Gene was finally ready for a steady girlfriend?
For some odd reason, it makes Ray want Carol more. None of it makes sense. It’s not like he can tell Carol what to do. If she wants Gene instead, honestly, what can he do about it? She’s just a random pretty girl he stumbled upon after a show. Why should he be bothered?
But if there’s one thing that bothers him, it’s not being in control.
And he definitely can’t control his feelings right now.