Like most Ray/Neela fans, I absolutely hate how Ray left the show. For reasons only known to my muses, they have decided that Ray, the night of Abby and Luka's wedding, he went home (even though he said on the show he didn't want to!) and got drunk at home. Of course, being the HUGE Frank Sinatra fan that I am, my muses have used one of Frank's best songs (thus inspiring the title) as inspiration. I hope that this one isn't as rusty as CRASH was, but my muses are just starting to come back to life now that I have a computer again. My muses didn't want to do simply sad; they wanted Sinatra, and well…they GOT Sinatra…and Rayla! They decided that the story should start off on a sad note, but end on a happy note. I hope you all like. Please let me know! Thanks!
Again, I DON'T own any thing mentioned in this story. Well, I own the CD "Classic Sinatra", which the song is on, but others do too. I just don't own the characters or the song. Please insert frownie face here.
Most people would not have counted Ray Barnett as one of Frank Sinatra's biggest fans, but they would have counted wrong. He sat in his darkened apartment, listening to Ole Blue Eyes singing. Ray sipped a beer, cursing it for not being strong enough to get the image of Neela with Gates. Man whore, more like it. Ray thought as he leaned his head into his hands.
As Sinatra crooned We're drinking my friend/To the end of a brief episode/So make it one for my baby/And one more for the road, Ray nodded his head. "Man! Sinatra got it." He said to no one in particular. "No one understood better than Ole Blue Eyes." Ray leaned his head back on the couch. He closed his eyes and remembered everything Neela ever told him and never told him.
"I was so close, I know it." Ray stood up and headed to his kitchen, thankful that he had more than just beer. He walked over to the cabinet just above the stove. He drunkenly laughed as he reached for the Jack Daniels. Whether he laughed out of spite of the situation or in spite of it, he wasn't sure, but he knew he just had to let that small laugh out.
He poured himself a tall glass of Jack and headed back into the living room. He stumbled back on the couch and not only drank the Jack he held in his hand, but Sinatra's music. Ray always felt that Sinatra was perfect for any mood you were in.
Drinking again/And thinking of when/When you loved me/I'm having a few/And wishing you were here/Oh yeah, I'm drinking again/It's always the same/That same old story/After the kicks/There's little old mixed up me/Trying to lose a dream that used to be.
"That's the song, Frankie!" Ray slurred to the CD player as though the deceased crooner could hear him.
He smiled as he remembered the Sinatra song he listened to the first night he met a certain dark-eyed, dark-hair, tanned skin Neela Rasgotra. He looked at his CD player and decided that he wanted to listen to that song. He was going to, in his drunk state, live what he called his life of Neela via Frank Sinatra.
He found the song he was looking for. He sat hard on the couch as Sinatra crooned Something in your eyes was inviting/Something in your smile was so exciting/Something in my heart told me I must have you/Strangers in the Night. Ray could pinpoint the very moment he fell in love with Neela. It was immediate. However, he could not dare admit it then. She was so proper and he was, well, he wasn't. He was a rocker with painted nails and eyeliner. She was a studious proper lady from London. "Ne'er shall the two meet." he scoffed to himself.
He decided that he would then find the next song to listen to. As he headed to the CD player, he heard a knock on the door. "Ray?"
He recognized the voice. He stumbled towards the door. "Whadd'ya want?"
"Can we talk? I've tried calling you, but you're not answering."
"You think there's a reason I'm not picking up the phone?" He leaned against the door, as if it could bring her closer to her. He softly softly as he heard the lyrics of Frank and his daughter singing I can see it in your eyes/That you despise the lies you heard the night before/And though it's just a line to you/For me it's true/And never seemed so right before.
"Ray. Please." Neela pleaded. "Open the door."
I practice everyday to find some clever lines to say/To make the meaning come through/But then I think I'll wait until the evening gets late and I'm alone with you/The time is right/Your perfume fills my head/The stars get red and oh the night's so blue/But then I go and spoil it all by saying something stupid/Like I love you. Does my CD player know she's here? Ray felt his heart stop as the song played.
"Ray?" Neela's voice sounded more desperate.
Ray cracked the door. "Where's Gates?" He knew his voice was more accusing than he intended it to be.
Neela shrugged. "Don't know. Don't really care." Her dark eyes stared up at him and he felt his heart melt. "The only one I care about left after Pratt decided to send him home." She placed her had on his.
Ray didn't move. "Don't bullshit me, Neela. I can't take any of your bullshit."
Neela knew he was drunk, but knew he was being truthful. She had heard it several times that alcohol brought out the truth. "I won't bullshit you, Ray. Just let me in and let me tell you what I've been wanting to tell you for the longest time."
He looked down at her. In that dark dress and her hair up, she looked as an angel and it was hard for him to resist pulling her close to him. He moved to the side and let her in. He breathed in her rose-scented perfume. He closed the door and watched her as she walked towards the living room. Someday, when I'm awfully low/When the world is cold/I will feel a glow/Just thinking of you/And the way you look tonight Ray smiled as he realized his CD player seemed to sense her presence. "What do you want, Neela?" As she faced him, he stopped smiling.
"We never really officially talked about the kiss." She softly smiled. Keep that breathless charm Sinatra kept crooning in the background. Neela looked at Ray and then turned towards the CD player. "If we're going to talk about the kiss and everything, then we need the perfect song."
"What song?" Ray's interest was piqued.
Neela looked over her shoulder. "Just wait." As Frank sang behind her, Neela took Ray by the hand. "Dance with me."
Ray held her close as they danced and he couldn't help but smile at the song she chose. Call me unpredictable/Tell me that I'm so impractical/Rainbows, I'm inclined to pursue/Yes, I'm unreliable/But it's undeniably true/I'm irresponsibly mad for you.
"I told Tony where he could go." Neela drew in his scent. The cologne and alcohol and she found herself becoming intoxicated. "Well, more or less."
"Where's that?"
"I don't really care as long it's not between us." She looked up at him. She placed her head against his chest. "I've missed you, Ray."
He pulled her close to him. "I'm not going anywhere unless you're going with me." He placed a soft kiss on the top of her head and smiled at the irony of the song playing in the background. I've tried so not to give in/I've said to myself this affair will never go so well/But why should I resist when baby I know so well/That I've got you under my skin
Neela was under his skin and by the way she was moving against him, he figured he was under hers.