Ray watched in horror as Lily literally froze on the stage, holding her guitar as if she were about to smash it on the ground. It seemed like she had hated the news, even if he had been working up four years' worth of courage just to let that sentence out, to get it out of his system, to let her know. After all, if he were a girl, he'd want to know if someone felt that way about him...

His eyes scanned the audience, making contact with Travis, who was sitting in a concerned state for Lily, but Ray felt as if the man would never truly understand her. Then again, this was coming from a guy that couldn't get Lily to like him in the first place.

"C'mon, Lil, you can do this," he muttered under his breath, watching from the side of the stage and biting his lip nervously. Maybe this was a bad idea. Maybe he would've been better off if he had just moved on and tried to get a girlfriend to get his mind off of Lily. But either way, everything had happened, and he couldn't turn back time. He had to do something, and it had to happen fast.

Ray felt a sly smile coming to his face as he peeked into the closet.

Meanwhile, Lily was standing onstage looking as if she were about to scream. Mickey kept looking at her in the silence and trying to signal her to go, but every time she tried to move her fingers, it was like they were frozen into ice cubes, unable to touch the guitar's strings. She pushed her hair behind her shoulders and finally cleared her throat, her voice shaky and small. "Uh, h-hi..." She started, an attempt of a weak smile on her light-toned lips. "I'm Lil-Lily Randall, and I think that I'm, uh, s-supposed to be doing something... for you... so..." She searched for something else to say, but no words would come out.

At that moment, Ray Brennan burst out of the curtain with an acoustic guitar on his knee, carrying a stool to sit on. After taking a seat, he looked over at Lily, his heart racing with nervousness. With that, he started to sing, playing a few moderate chords as he went.

The days wash on to nights

And the moon's still watching over us

Seeing as we lay

Under the stars.

He felt a foolish grin come to his face, and a bit of scarlet rising to his cheeks. Playing a background, Ray couldn't keep his eyes off of Lily, and although he wouldn't allow himself to look at Travis, he could only picture his expression. Oh God, was Ray making a fool of himself? Was Lily going to hate him for this?

Well, I don't know much about what you desire

But I know one thing – you make me burn like fire...

They say heaven on earth doesn't exist, they say heaven on earth doesn't exist,

But how do they know when they haven't met you?

'Cause the whole world's spinning and I just keep on winning

Every day with you.

Ray glanced over at Lily, his grin gone, and finally he laid down his guitar on the stage, looking her in the eye and praying to death that he wouldn't mess up. Singing a capella, Ray finished, a look of determination in his brown eyes.

The days... wash on to nights...

And the moon's still watchin' over us...

Seeing as we la-ay... under the stars.

He ended with a grin, the entire lounge bursting into claps of applause and shrill shrieks of happiness. Ray felt himself blush as Lily looked over at him, a slight smile on her face, tears in her eyes. Glancing into the audience, he caught Travis's eye, and something about it told him that he wasn't too terribly happy. They'd always competed for Lily, but Ray felt like he'd won a thousand times just from this one experience. It wasn't something he was going to forget anytime soon.

What the audience didn't know? Ray had just written that song as he came onto the stage, making it up as he went. Not knowing what to do, Ray walked out of the lounge, grabbing his coat and stepping out into the cool breeze, his face damp with sweat.