Ray leaned back against the passenger-side car door, folded his arms across his chest and closed his eyes.
It's been a strange day…
He slowly opened his eyes and saw a familiar figure heading towards him. He took a deep breath and smiled slightly.
"Sorry that took so long. Pratt cornered me." Neela smiled apologetically.
"It's not a problem." Ray said and casually opened the door for her.
Minutes slowly passed by as they sat in silence, both staring off to the road in front of them. Ray slowed as he approached the stoplight and allowed himself a quick glance to Neela. In less then a day he managed to learn a lot about her, most of which he probably shouldn't know, what worried him though is he didn't even feel bad about it. He should feel guilty that he pressed the subject with both Pratt and Abby instead of talking to her about it. But the only thing he felt bad about was not trying to get to know her sooner.
Neela shifted uncomfortably; all to aware of the strange looks Ray kept shooting her. She knew she should say something, attempt at some kind of conversation, but she couldn't bring herself to say anything. She's well aware of her habit to always say the wrong things, or to over dramatize things that should be left alone. She decided not to risk it. The last thing she wanted was to seem ungrateful.
"Are you hungry? We could stop--"
Neela's gaze quickly shot up, "No! …I'm fine… Thanks."
Ray silently nodded leaned back into his chair.
Feeling awkward with her abruptness, she decided to continue, "Unless… you want to--" but she was quickly cut off.
"No. I'm good." Ray offered a small smile and faced the road again.
His smile quickly faded though as he saw a long line of cars stopped in front of him.
"Damn it." He rolled down his window, trying to see what was going on.
Neela mimicked Ray's actions and stuck her head out of the window. She saw flashing lights faintly off in the distance and sighed, "There must have been an accident. No wonder traffic was so terrible."
Ray repositioned himself back in his seat and dropped his head to the steering wheel. He turned partially towards Neela and gave her a sad smile, "Might as well get comfortable."
Neela laughed lightly and gave him an apprehensive look, "Yes, and you're looking so comfortable Ray..."
Grinning, he pushed himself up and leaned back into his chair. "Well, as comfortable as you can be in a car."
Neela smiled back at him and reclined her seat. She gazed lazily around his car, taking in its appearance. She felt a sarcastic remark coming from the back of her throat, but quickly decided against it.
Choosing a much a safer subject, she looked towards the back seat, "What's with the bags?"
Glancing towards the back, he laughed slightly, "I was wondering what I did with those." Ray smiled and looked back towards Neela, who wore a semi curious expression on her face.
"Clothes. I went shopping." He stated simply.
Stifling a laugh, she tried looking away from Ray, but immediately noticed his uneasiness. She couldn't control herself and began laughing.
"What?" Ray said, obviously exasperated.
When he got no answer, he sighed and ran his fingers through his hair.
"Ray, I'm sorry, I just can't imagine you shopping." Neela responded, giving her best impression of an apologetic look.
Considering her statement, "Who do you think picks out my clothes, then?" he narrowed his eyes slightly.
"Oh, I don't know, Sid Viscous?" Neela's face broke into a huge smile and she silently shook her head.
Not sure if he should be offended or not, he looked back towards her, getting ready with a sarcastic comeback, but stopped himself when he saw her smiling. He found himself momentarily speechless, but quickly shrugged the feeling off.
"You must think you're pretty clever." He said eyeing her curiously.
Before either could say another word, he noticed the car in front him starting to move. Breathing a sigh of relief, he looked back at Neela and smiled.
"Finally."
The rest of the ride went fairly smoothly and they continued to talk casually.
They approached their apartment door and slowly walked inside.
Heading straight for the fridge, Ray grabbed a bottle of water and offered Neela one.
"Thanks."
After downing almost half the bottle, he smiled at her, "We should do this more often."
Wiping her mouth, she smiled back, "What, get stuck in a car pile-up?" she said jokingly.
"I was going to say talk… but that works too."
They both stood there silently, finishing off their water. Neither could stop a small smile from forming on their lips.
"Good night, Ray." She gently set her bottle on the counter and headed towards her room.
"Good night." He set his bottle down as well, but instead of heading towards his room, he found himself glued to that spot, watching her retreating form.
Neela crawled into bed and turned off her light. She tried to silence her inner thoughts, but she kept tossing and turning, unable to fall asleep.
"I can't believe you've been holding out on me."
She kept repeating in her mind Ray's words that he said to her earlier on the way home. She kept wondering if there was some sort of hidden meaning in it. Realizing she was probably overanalyzing, she closed her eyes and made another lame attempt at falling asleep.
"So, Sid Viscous huh?" He questioned her and couldn't help but smirk.
"Wow, that was a delayed response." She jokingly responded, but silently cursed herself for her poor choice of conversation.
Ignoring her, he continued, "That just another fancy name you heard, or do you actually know who he is?"
"He certainly wasn't your everyday cruel, nasty, self-destructive Average Joe slummin' the streets of England." She rambled on, but tried to display mild arrogance.
He countered, "Ah, but don't forget obnoxious, immensely good-looking and extremely talented?" mirroring her arrogance.
She studied him temporarily, "Now, are we talking about you, or Sly?" she laughed and rolled her eyes.
He opened his mouth for a quick retort, but her words quickly sunk in and he grinned even wider, "Did you just admit that I was good looking?"
She looked at him somewhat annoyed, "Did you just admit Sid was good looking?"
He laughed at her uneasiness, "It's a well known fact Sly was one of the leading punk sex icons in the late 70's."
"So?" She narrowed her eyes, definitely regretting this choice of conversation.
"So… It's a fact. It's not my personal opinion. It's a fact."
"Well, you have more of a Johnny Rotten flare to you anyhow." She haughtily replied and quickly folded her arms across her chest.
He gazed at her curiously wondering if she was actually upset, "You know, you never answered my question."
"Hmm?" She knew what he was referring to, but she wanted to play dumb anyway.
Not wanting to let her off that easy he continued, "Did you admit that I look good?"
She turned to face him and looked him directly in the eyes, "I admit that's what you believe."
He slowly took in her response and sat in silence, replaying their conversation over in his mind. Surprised couldn't even begin to describe how he was feeling. He noticed she had been surprising him a lot lately. Just when he thought his smile couldn't grow any wider …he was proven wrong.
"I can't believe you've been holding out on me."
Regaining her senses, Neela mentally slapped herself for getting lost in her thoughts. She needed to stop thinking about this.
All he meant was, I had been holding out on him… with my knowledge of… things… that he finds interesting. Yes. That's it. He didn't mean anything by that. I mean, of course. What else would he have meant?
"Bloody hell." She muttered aloud to herself but quickly shoved her face deeper into her pillow.
Author's Note: I appreciate the feedback so much you guys! Does anyone think I'm taking this too slow? …Or even too fast, for that matter… Let me know what you think… : )
Oh and I realize it was quite a character leap at the end, Neela probably wouldn't ever have a conversation with Ray regarding the Sex Pistols, but it practically wrote itself, it was uncontrollable.