Beep Beep Beep.
Ray groaned as he reached over to shut off his alarm, wishing he could have at least one day to sleep in and get up after the sun came out. Glaring at the 5:30 am on his clock, he contemplated just calling in sick as visions of the impromptu birthday bash thrown at a local dive by his band mates following last night's gig started filtering in. Sitting up, he rubbed his eyes, taking a deep breath as the room started to spin. 27 years old, he thought as he closed his eyes, waiting for the enormous rush of nausea to pass.
"Great way to start the day, Barnett,"he muttered to himself, grudgingly getting out of bed to get ready.
It had seemed like a good idea a few hours ago to just sit back and drink with his friends while flirting with all the lovely girls at the bar. Of course, after a few beers and a couple of shots of tequila, dancing on top of the bar while singing show tunes had seemed like a good idea too,he mused sourly.
Walking into the living room, Ray stopped and looked around for his keys. Man, this place is looking messier than normal, he thought, looking under Neela's books and papers. Seems Neela has given up on making this place look halfway decent. Can't say that I blame her. Sighing, Ray realized that apart from sleeping, he'd barely spent any time at the apartment in the last couple of weeks.
Feeling a bit guilty about not helping out more, Ray decided he'd do something nice for his roommate. Glancing at his watch, he realized he was running late. Shit! He finally found his keys lying on the floor by the couch. He snatched them, and left the apartment, thinking about the long day ahead of him.
"Morning, Ray," Jerry greeted him cheerfully as he strolled though the sliding doors. "You look like hell," the desk clerk added as Ray walked past admit on his way to the lounge.
"Thanks, Jerry," he responded, rolling his eyes. "Good Morning to you, too," he muttered, walking into the lounge.
"Looks like someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed today," Neela observed, giving him a look as she went back to making her tea.
Ray opted to not say anything, answering her with a sour look.
Turning back towards him, Neela sipped her tea. "Can't say that I'm surprised, though. You made quite a lot of noise getting in at what was it..." she glanced at her watch, "3 AM?"
Ray winced slightly. Remembering vaguely that in his drunken state, he had spent a good ten minutes trying to master the art of juggling his shoes and keys in the living room - among other things. And he'd failed miserably. "Sorry."
Neela gave him a pitying look and shook her head. "It's ok, Ray; but your alternate lifestyle seems to be catching up with you." She glanced down at his feet with a smirk as she left the lounge.
Wondering what she was smirking at, Ray looked down and noticed for the first time that he was wearing two different types of sneakers. Closing his eyes, he banged his head against his locker. Wonderful, just wonderful.
By late afternoon, Ray was ready to jump off the roof of the hospital. Between trying to examine and calm a screeching toddler with bruises following a fall, and working on a tough trauma case involving a man with multiple GSWs, Ray's birthday was looking to be the day that would never end.
Sitting wearily at admit, he was working on his charting, when Morris strolled up and gingerly announced to everyone, "Listen up people, in honor of our resident rock doc's birthday, I'm inviting you all to come by Ike's after your shifts. I'm buying the first round; with more rounds to follow, I'm sure, courtesy of the birthday boy." Morris looked back at Ray and winked. "Happy Birthday, man," he grinned, slapping Ray on the back as he walked out the sliding doors towards the ambulance bay to get the incoming trauma.
Ray cringed, but quickly forced himself to smile as people approached him with congratulations. Just when I thought I would finally get a chance to go home and relax, he thought dejectedly as he grabbed another chart and headed to Exam 1, passing Neela, who was watching him with a concerned look on her face.
Ray's birthday, she thought as looked over her final chart of the day, no wonder he was out late last night. Judging from his expression after Morris's little announcement, Neela figured Ray wasn't much in the partying mood tonight. Getting an idea, she smiled to herself as she walked over to Susan to sign out her patients.
One hour to go, Ray sighed to himself. Walking out of Exam 1, he noticed Neela with her jacket and bag getting ready leave. He approached her as she was turning away from Susan.
"Thanks Dr. Lewis," Neela said to Susan, smiling.
"No problem, Neela," Susan replied, heading back to admit. "Oh and Happy Birthday, Ray," Susan called out as he walked up to Neela.
"Thanks," he responded, tiredly running his hand through his hair. "You going to Ike's? Ray asked Neela, feeling a bit hopeful that with her company he would be able to make it through the next few hours.
Neela gave him an apologetic look, "Sorry, Ray, I'm heading home now. I'm really exhausted."
Trying not to let his disappointment show, Ray just nodded and gave her a wry smile. " I know the feeling."
"Try not to stay out too late," she said, smiling. Reaching out to give his arm a quick squeeze, she turned and walked out.
Taking a deep breath, Ray looked over at his watch and prayed for the next few hours to fly by.
Much later in evening, after forcing himself to enjoy half a beer and countless jokes from a tipsy Morris and the rest of the staff, Ray walked into the apartment.
Closing the door, he noticed that Neela had done some cleaning, the place looked very neat. Ray glanced down at the bouquet of wildflowers he had just purchased at the flower store not far from the apartment. Neela doesn't seem like the flower-type, but I hope she will like these, he mused as he placed the flowers on the coffee table.
Thankful that the evening hadn't gone on very long, he sat down on the sofa and closed eyes, idly running his hands over his face.
Sitting up suddenly, he opened his eyes. The most wonderful smell was drifting in from the kitchen. My favorite, Ray sighed happily taking a deep breath, spicy spaghetti marinara with meatballs from Luciano's!
Suddenly starving, Ray got up and walked over to see their small kitchen table beautifully set for two. Smiling to himself, he looked over at the stove where the food was reheating and Luciano take away boxes were lying in the trash.
"Hey, you're back." Ray turned as he heard Neela walk into the kitchen. Smiling she asked him, "How was Ike's?"
"Not bad," Ray said giving her an appreciative but curious look. "What's all this?" He asked, gesturing at the table.
"Oh, nothing special. I figured you would be hungry when you got in and grabbed some food," Neela casually replied, opening the cupboard to take out some dishes for the food.
"Looks great, Neela, thanks," Ray said, giving her his first genuine smile of the day.
"No problem, Ray."
And she told me she was exhausted, Ray thought to himself. "I'm going to go wash up," he announced, heading for the bathroom.
After cleaning himself up a bit, Ray sat down with Neela and proceeded to have one of the best meals ever. Not just the food either, Ray realized, it was the first time in awhile he was able to really relax and have a good time.
Feeling stuffed but thoroughly satisfied, he couldn't help just looking at her. "Thanks again." he whispered, "I really appreciate this, especially considering the day I had today...and will probably have again tomorrow," he added, groaning as he realized he had another early start tomorrow.
"Ray-" Neela began, giving him a soft smile.
"Wait," Ray interrupted her, "I just wanted to say I'm sorry for not being a better roommate. I know I haven't been around much to help with apartment stuff and frequently wake you in the middle of the night when I get in-"
"It's okay, Ray-"
"Let me finish Neela, please. I wanted to tell you I'm going to make more of an effort to get in at a decent time, and clean up more. Make sure to check with you before letting my band mates crash here, leave less of my stuff around for you to trip on in the mornings...just...be a better roommate," Ray finished looking at her.
"Are you done?" Neela asked, giving him a look.
"Almost." he replied getting up from the table, Ray walked over to the living room and picked up the flowers he had bought earlier. "These are for you." Ray said shyly handing her the bouquet. "Uh, I wasn't sure what you liked and wanted to thank you for being…. a good roommate and friend." He stated quietly, not quite looking at her.
Surprised and left slightly speechless by Ray's gesture, Neela simply took the bouquet and breathed in the fresh scent of the flowers.
"These are beautiful, Ray. Thank you." She responded after a minute.
Their gazes locked for a moment, both staring as if seeing one another in a new light. The moment passed and Neela glanced quickly at her watch, "It's getting late and you look pretty tired."
"Yeah, I'll just help you clean up and hit the sack," he said, stretching slightly.
"Well Ray, how about you do this," Neela suggested, getting up to put the flowers in some water, "how about you clean up while I go to bed?" She asked, smiling. "It turns out, I have to get up early tomorrow."
Ray looked at her, confused. "You have off tomorrow, why would you need to get up early?"
"Actually Ray, you have off tomorrow. I spoke to Dr. Lewis, and I'm taking your shift," Neela responded giving him a slow smile. "I figured you'd need sometime to recuperate from today," she added, grinning at the shocked expression on his face.
I get to sleep in tomorrow, was the first thought running through Ray's head. He moved to get up and thank Neela, when she walked over and gave him a peck on the cheek.
"Happy Birthday, Ray."
The End