Title: The Hours Home
Author: BelleG08
Summary: You. You have taken all of me without giving any back. You have broken me down to nothing, and yet you have shown me what it is to be alive.
Disclaimer: I own Nothing. This is a Ray/Neela/Simon Fic.
NOTE: Thank you all so much for your supportive reviews! I hope this does not dissapoint!
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This was a horrible, horrible mistake.
She stood awkwardly near the fireplace, clutching her red wine goblet tightly in her right hand. Neela hated parties. She had always hated parties. She felt she was far too socially awkward to be allowed to mingle with people. She was always that one guest who never really mastered the art of small talk. She would somehow manage to babble on about a perforated ulcer she corrected that day or worse, organic chemistry. That's why she clung to her drink for dear life. At least with an elevated blood alcohol content, she would loosen up a bit.
But this was almost torture. Apparently when Morris said that 'everyone was invited', he fully meant everyone, including his very drunk friend, who through an incredibly graceless, slurry conversation conveyed that he was in fact, Archie's fraternity brother from college.
"So where did you do your undergrad?" He inadvertently spit on her. Neela felt like she was going to throw up.
"Yale,"
"SO WHERE DID YOU DO YOUR UNDERGRAD?!" he shouted with a drunken smile. Much to her dismay, it caused a great number of eyes to rest on them.
Her face deadpanned. "Oh my god," She rolled her eyes.
The guest laughed. "It's a joke! Yale, yell. I asked it again, except I yale-ed," he slapped his thigh, accidentally spitting on her again, "Have you heard that one before?"
She plastered on a fake grin, wiping her face this time, "Once or twice, yes,"
Yes, this was definitely a very bad mistake. She should have just stayed home and watched some TV, maybe some Chinese food also. Yes, that seemed to be much better. Actually, anything would have been better at that point in time. Not to mention the fact that the only other people she knew there were already drunk. Why her body was metabolizing the alcohol much better than everyone else's was a very mean question that she could not answer. She took another sip of her drink. Something stronger was definitely needed. As if reading her mind, the former bane of her existence swooped in for the save, a tumbler in hand.
"Need something new?" Simon grinned, handing her a drink. She nodded in thanks, a small smile on her lips. "Simon Brenner," the Aussie introduced himself, holding his hand out to the inebriated man.
"Oh cool, you've got an accent too," he accepted the beer that Simon offered.
"That I do," he chuckled, rocking back on his heels, "Hey, you know I heard Archie over there telling some stories about you from college. You should go and make sure he's remembering them correctly," he pointed over his shoulder to the living room where Morris was standing on the coffee table, his arms flailing about.
"Oh thanks, man! Arch, you liar!" he turned to Neela, "We will finish this later," with a wink, he ambled over, not before stumbling a bit.
Neela shook her head, turning to Brenner. "Thank you,"
"You looked cornered,"
"Well, according to my new friend, I have the voice of his third wife,"
He smiled. "And how many times has he been married?"
"Twice," She nodded, taking a swig. It burned her throat, thoroughly causing the young woman to blink and strain her lips. "That's strong,"
"I heard Archie humming something along the lines of 'Tequila makes you stupid'," he laughed in a sing-songy voice. "It's like a house full of Morris's. Strong drinks are the only ones allowed," he motioned over to two empty seats.
"When did you get here?"
"A little while ago, I had to make an appearance at the Anspaugh family Turkey Roast first. Nothing fun, just a big house full of family members asking if I was married, to which they followed with an 'I know a lovely young woman' speech. Needed to get out of there quickly," He leaned forward, resting his elbows against his slack-covered knees.
"Ah, speaking of lovely young women. Where's your young girlfriend?" she questioned over her glass, crossing her legs.
He smiled. "Oh, she went home for the holiday,"
Her eyebrow quirked, "And you didn't go with her?"
Simon blew some air and laughed, "Meeting the family? No indeed, we're not that serious," She sputtered on her drink slightly. Of course, meeting the family was always serious. Gods, the holidays royally sucked. "Expecting a call?" he asked, noticing Neela's incessant glances towards the i-phone in her hand.
"What?" she quickly shook her head. Her cheeks began to feel hot as she clenched the phone tightly.
"A call? Are you expecting a call? You keep on looking down at your phone," he tapped her hand.
"Oh, no," she shut her eyes. "Yes," she stammered. "Kind of, yes,"
"Ok, ok, no pressure in answering," he laughed.
"I'm just," she cursed herself. Damn her crappy social skills. "It's complicated,"
"Uh huh," he nodded, clicking his tongue. "So you're not really flying that solo?"
Oh she wished. "No. Kind of," she shook her head hastily, obviously showing an inner battle. "No. I'm not seeing anyone still,"
Damn. She did it again. She backed herself into the proverbial corner. There it was: the awkward silence. Damn, damn, damn. She took a healthy swig of her drink finishing it to the last drop, not caring that it burned her throat raw. She placed it on the coaster near her.
"Empty!" The voice rang in her ears. Morris came up next to her, pulling Neela up by the elbow tightly. "Empty drinks. No empty drinks allowed!" he scooped her tumbler. "You wouldn't mind if I talked to her a second, Simon?" He held onto her arm, making sure she could not make an escape.
Brenner stood. "Go right ahead. I think Frank's about to finish all of the oyster appetizers anyway. I definitely wanted to try one,"
They watched as he walked away.
"Ouch!" Neela exclaimed, She rubbed her funny bone profusely as he pulled her to the side. She shot him a dirty look before smacking the attending upside his fiery red-head, "Morris, what is wrong with you?"
"Why are you fraternizing with him?"
"Your friend? I'm pretty sure he was fraternizing with me," she subconsciously shivered.
"Not him," Shaking his head incredulously, he pointed in the Australian's direction.
"Simon? Because he's the only one here who isn't drunk off their arses," she pointed her finger into his chest, "And he's your guest,"
"He's trouble,"
"So is that metallic tub of beer in the corner, but you didn't see me yanking you away from it whilst you did your third keg-stand," She rolled her eyes. "Please, Archie. He's involved with someone and we were merely talking. It's not like we were shagging in the coat closet,"
"Yeah well I've done a lot 'shagging in the coat closets' in my day," he air quoted, "And let me tell you, they've all started with talking,"
"You're daft," she began to walk away.
"Hey, wait," he called her back. He held his hands out in a shy question. "How's Ray?"
Letting out a huff of frustration, she shrugged, folding her arms tightly across her chest. "I don't really know. He's in Georgia with some girlfriend of his. He's probably sitting back, drinking, and having a great time, being the David Bowie, Casanova-esque, Johnny Depp, rebel-without-a-cause, smooth-talking doctor that he always has been," she took a deep breath and slowed down, vainly attempting to rub the aggravation from her face. Being truthful was proving to be as painful as she expected. "His flying out on the holidays to be with some girlfriend is nothing new to me,"
"Neela," Archie started softly, moving towards her.
Neela stepped back, needing the distance. "I'm fine. I'm hungry, but I'm fine."
He smiled, suddenly welcoming her change in subject. Rubbing his hands together, he began to brag of their scrumptious meal. "Well, just your luck. We've got a perfectly Cajun thanksgiving. I got everything sent in from with East Jesus Land, Louisiana: Deep fried Turducken, crawfish and Andouille stuffing, boudin balls, Oysters Bienville, gumbo. Ray set me up with this great guy. He's hilarious, says they were neighbors growing up-" he caught himself. He hung his head sheepishly. "I mean…dinner's right up,"
She shook her head. She hated being treated like something little and fragile. "It's fine. I'll be over in a minute."
Neela walked outside, onto the snow-covered terrace. Archie had a lovely view of the Chicago skyline. From where she stood, she could see the Sears building, the Smurfit-Stone building, the Chase Tower. To be truthful, the sight made her incredibly nostalgic of her old home, the apartment that she and Ray shared. Oh the memories they had there. No, it didn't have the million dollar view that this terrace did, but it was worth just as much, even more.
She inhaled slowly, reveling in the cold air as it burned her insides. It was now or never. Resolutely touching her phone, she closed her eyes and prayed for the voicemail.
"Hey, it's Ray. Sorry I missed your call. Rock the beep."
"Hey, Ray," she spoke timidly. "I know we spoke only a few days ago. But, I erm, I just wanted to wish you a Happy Thanksgiving. I hope you're having a great time in… Georgia. I bet the weather's much nicer there than here. It's freezing outside, as you can imagine. I, um, I hope that I'm not bothering you. We're just having dinner at Archie's. Surprisingly, it's not too horrid. He told me how you got him connected with a great foodie man. It all smells really good," she shut her eyes. She was rambling. "Anyways, I just wanted to wish you a happy night and-"
"Neela, we're about to eat," Simon poked his head outside. Noticing that she was on the phone, he raised his hand in apology, pointing inside. She acknowledged him with a nod.
"Well I need to go," she inhaled deeply again. "Good night, Ray. Happy Thanksgiving,"
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thank you tremendously! Please don't hate the Simon/Neela interaction! I figure it all needs to be broken before it's all fixed right?
