Chapter 8
I Truly Like You
Neela exited the bathroom feeling all freshened up. She happily trotted down the hall towards the kitchen. In the distance she could hear the sound of dull shouting. As she drew nearer to the kitchen the shouting became louder.
"What are you trying Ray?" Miranda shouted. "You think you can just use innocent people to get to me. What happened to you? What kind of act are you trying to pull? Is this about us?"
"Us? There is no us anymore. There's just me and there's Neela," Ray shouted back.
Neela stopped just outside the kitchen door. She knew it was wrong to listen but she couldn't seem to pull away, her feet remained frozen in place.
"Don't try that with me. You and Neela? Is that some kind of joke that I'm supposed to find funny? Look at her. She is clearly not your type. Are you telling me you're in love with her now? This is just another one of your little stunts to try and make me jealous. Let me tell you I came back here for you, to try and work things out. I can see now that was a mistake," Miranda paused, her eyes burning into Ray. "Aren't you ashamed of using an innocent girl like that?"
Before Neela had a chance to run and hide Miranda came storming out of the kitchen, her stuff hanging out of her arms. She stopped when she saw Neela and glared at her. "A word to the wise. He's using you; don't make the mistake of falling for him. He'll just hurt you in the end," with that Miranda headed to the front, exited the apartment and slammed the door behind her.
Ray watched Miranda storm out the kitchen and then heard her talking to someone. Damn, he thought as he rushed out of the kitchen just as Miranda slammed the front door. He saw Neela frozen just outside the kitchen. By the horrified, hurt and confused expression on her face Ray knew Neela had heard all the wrong part of the conversation.
Tears welling up in her eyes Neela walked over to the front door and slammed her feet into her shoes. Ray chased after her. "Baby, wait," he reached for her hand.
"Don't," Neela cried shoving Ray away. "Just leave me alone," and then she too exited the apartment, the door shutting loudly behind her. Ray sighed and banged his head on the wall. She didn't let him explain. She missed the part where Miranda tried to kiss him and he told her no. She missed the part where he told Miranda that he truly liked Neela and he wanted to be with her. All she heard was Miranda's accusations of him using her. Sure Neela knew that this was first established to run Miranda out of town but he thought she knew that he did really like her. He wasn't using her; he wasn't going to hurt her. Miranda was lying. She was the one that had dumped him. She was the one who had left him when he thought they had something going.
Neela stormed out of the apartment in a rage. Of course she and Ray had made a little agreement to pretend to be dating to run Miranda out of town. How could he have been using her to get back at Miranda though? That isn't at all what he made it seem. She thought his feelings for her had been genuine. She thought he didn't care about Miranda anymore. Wiping tears from her eyes Neela stepped out onto the cold streets. Crap, she should have thought to grab her coat. Neela shivered and looked back up at the apartment window. She could go back. She could go back and talk to Ray. A tear ran down her cheek. She wasn't ready for that yet. She needed sometime to think, to clear her mind. Turning towards the direction of the park down the street Neela started walking.
Meanwhile upstairs, Ray decided he couldn't let her think something else was going on. He had to go after her. He changed at top speed and grabbed his coat. He noticed Neela's coat dangling on the hook and grabbed that too. Sliding his shoes on Ray dashed out of the apartment. He reached the streets and tried to figure out which way Neela had gone.
"Think man think," Ray looked in either direction. Making a decision he began running towards the park.
Out of breath Ray reached the park and started looking around for his beautiful roomy. He couldn't see her anywhere. As he was turning to start in the other direction hecaught sight ofher. She sat on the swings, her back toward him. He saw her shiver slightly and remembered he had her coat in his hand. Taking a deep breath Ray started to make his way toward her.