Authors Note - WARNING: Slightly spoilerish! My friend sent me the recent spoilers for Neela/Ray so I decided I might as well make use of them. I'm tweaking it quite a bit, but I just thought I'd let you know anyway.

Chapter 2: Guilty confessions?

"Ok! Stop, stop, stop."

"Dude, that's gotta be the 6th time you've stopped us. What's your problem?"

"It just doesn't sound right. I don't like it."

"Maybe that's because you couldn't keep a beat if your life depended on it."

"Or maybe it's your shitty baselines that keep throwing me off."

Ray let out a frustrated sigh. Another day I get to play referee… He reached down and turned off his amp. His gaze quickly shot upwards as he saw his roommate making her way inside the apartment. After much speculation, his eyes darted between Neela and his band mates. He settled on Neela.

Ray stood up and started to make his way over to the kitchen, knowing his band mates were far too engrossed in their argument to notice. He watched as Neela slumped down into a chair and started sorting through her mail. He stood there for a few moments, shamelessly staring at her much to her unknowing. She was consumed with what looked to be a letter. He almost spoke, though stopped himself when he saw a small smile play across her lips.

A little taken aback, Ray slowly ran his fingers through his hair and, in spite of himself, turned back around seeing his drummer emerge from the living room.

"Whatever man, I'm taking off" He heard his highly agitated drummer yell to his bassist.

"See ya Ray."

"Later." Ray replied shaking his head and closed his eyes.

"Hey Ray." Startled, he open his eyes as her voice cut through his trance. "I didn't see you there."

"I like to think I can be invisible when I want to be." Ray said as he slowly averted his gaze back to Neela.

"Sure, Ray…" Slightly thrown, she slowly takes in his appearance.

Wait, is she checking me out? No way… she can't be…

"—All right?"

Why does he always have that elusive smirk on his face…

Suddenly brought back to reality, "Wait, what? All right what?"

"Are. You. All. Right?" Carefully narrowing her eyes she waits for his response.

After considering his options for a moment, "Well, that depends. Will we play doctor if I'm not?" his smirk grows wider.

With that, Neela stands up and makes her way towards her room, "On any other day, I probably would have slapped you Barnett."

She had almost reached her door when he stopped her.

He could practically feel the ice coming from her eyes but couldn't stop himself from grinning even wider. "It was Ray just a second ago, why the cold shoulder?"

Shaking her head in dismay she reached for her doorknob.

"What are you doing here, anyway?" She was now opening her door, ready to fall not-so-gracefully onto her bed. "Didn't your shift start hours ago?"

"I had to switch schedules." Ray responded easily.

Neela quickly spun around to face him. "Why? You said…"

Trying his best to hide his guilt, "I know. It'll only be for a little while though. We booked a couple of gigs that were sort of time conflicting."

Seconds past where they both stood staring at each other in silence. He was waiting for her to say something. He didn't think she'd be this upset…

After studying her expression, he silently turned around quietly muttering sorry on his way to the kitchen.

"It's fine, Ray. I'm just very fond of sleep."

Ray smiled slightly as he watched her disappear into her room.

"Hey man, are you really all out of beer?"

Ray quickly spun around facing his friend.

Shit, I forgot he was still here…

Ray laughed and shook his head, "Brett, do you really not remember? We finished off both 6-packs. Just the fact that last night may seem a little blurry should have tipped you off."

The look of confusion quickly faded from his friend face and was replaced by a look of disappointment.

"Well, anyway. Are we gonna practice or what?"

Sighing, Ray's eyes found his way to Neela's door and shook his head, "No, we'll pick up where we left off tomorrow."

"Alright, then. You going someplace?"

"I think I'll stop at the store. Listen, if you're going to stay, try and keep it down."

"Sure thing. See ya later."