I feel so bad that I haven't updated this in so long, esp. cause it's now officially over... I hope you all like it.

To everyone that reviewed, you rock so very, very much!

-YESTERDAY-
Chapter 6
by Ellie

Clean socks.

There is no better feeling in the world than clean socks.

Sitting on the bed once again, I slipped them on my feet.

I'd quickly towel-dried my hair, and was letting it do whatever it pleased at this point. I couldn't care less.

I stepped out into the livingroom, my headache not nearly as bad as it was earlier, and saw Ray and Audrey talking.

He quickly stopped when he spotted me, and gave me a weak smile.

"I'll drive you home," he said, grabbing his keys.

I nodded my head, and Audrey stood up.

"I'll see you guys on Monday, then," she smiled at me, before giving me a quick hug goodbye. "Take care of yourself, Lil."

"You too," I replied, walking out of her house. I'm so glad I'm finally leaving…

We walked in silence to his car, and I tried opening the door, but realized it was locked.

He got into his side, and got inside once I saw the small click of the lock pop up.

"So..." he said, pausing before he put his keys in the ignition.

I just nodded my head, I wasn't sure why.

The whole ride was silent.

He must hate me.

Why would he hate me, though?

We found out nothing happened.

Why is he acting like this...

I glanced at him for a quick second, hoping he didn't see me.

He was concentrating on the road.

I closed my eyes for a moment, this was confusing me so much.

He hasn't even tried to lighten the mood with a joke, which just wasn't Ray.

----

We'd gotten into town, and he parked in front of Mickey's.

"Hungry?" he asked.

I wouldn't be able to taste it...

"No," I replied quickly.

He opened his door anyway, then looked back over to me, echoing words he'd said last night: "You coming?"

"Fine."

I opened his door once again, stepping outside...

I walked the few steps onto the sidewalk, and looked up at Mickey's.

We walked inside, and the first thing I noticed was the lack of people on a Saturday afternoon.

"You can go sit down, I'm gonna get something."

I nodded my head, walking over to the couch that faced the fireplace.

I sat down, suddenly feeling comfortable again.

I loved this place so much... it was the only place that I really don't have any bad memories in. Somehow, being here always made matters better.

I was surprised at how quickly Ray had sat down next to me, a drink in hand.

I didn't even have to ask him what it was before he noticed my eyes on it, and he quickly said "Jumbo vanilla soda."

Whenever he's in a bad mood, that's what he orders.

I remember him telling me once that it was just one of those things he picked up from Veronica.

Not the best sign.

"Oh," I let out, suddenly replaying the word in my head over and over.

We'd said, what... 10 words to each other from the time we got into that car to right now?

We're usually talking up a storm and cracking each other up by now.

"Lily, we should talk."

I swear, he can read my mind.

"What should we talk about?"

He paused, taking a drink and setting it down on the table in front of us.

"I'm sorry."

Did he just tell me he was sorry?

"Why?"

"Because I dragged you to the party."

I managed to give him a small smile. "It's alright. We're still relatively young... we can make mistakes."

"Are we good, then?"

Me and Ray... a truce.

"Yeah," I started. "We're good."

He quickly pulled me into a hug, and his arms wrapped around me tightly.

We broke apart, and he had the most content smile on his face.

"Oh, and Ray, thanks."

He paused. "For what?"

"For, uh, saving me from... Rick."

He let out a laugh. "Rick... what a name."

He was looking right at me, and all I could look at was his black eye.

That's the thing about Ray. I can try to hate him as much as I want, I can try so unbelievably hard to hold a grudge…

And then he does something so sweet, like get in a fight with a huge guy just for my sake, and I can't be angry. I just can't.

It's like when you're fighting with someone, and you're yelling, and you manage to screw up your words and you both start to laugh.

You want to keep yelling… but you can't. It doesn't work…

And I can't hate him right now, he's got that look on his face.

What is that look?

He's studying my eyes.

I think.

Why aren't we saying anything?

I'm getting that nervous feeling…

He's leaning in.

Oh my god, he's leaning in…

I don't know if I meant to do it, but I felt myself lean in as well.

I felt his lips lightly touch mine… and oh my god, I'm kissing Ray… he's kissing me, and I'm kissing back, and this is not like last night… no, this isn't even close…

And then I tasted it:

Vanilla.

I pulled away quickly, a smirk on my face. He just looked hurt.

"I… I got my sense of taste back."

He grinned.

"Hey, Ray, can you promise me one thing?"

"Yeah, anything."

I paused, thinking about that last kiss of ours.

"No more parties."

"Deal."

FIN

Oh, it's over. :( I'm gonna miss this baby… I think I rewrote that ending like 20 times, it originally wasn't going to end sort of fluffy. Actually, up until like 5 minutes ago, I was very much against this fic to end Rily. But, well, you go with the flow. :D

Thanks again to everyone that reviewed already, and please review this chapter, let me know what you think, etc…. reviews are perfection. -SP