Chapter Nine

Twenty-five minutes later, Ray heard the shower shut off and heard Neela groan.

"Raaaay!! I forgot a towel!"

"What? I can't hear youuu!" Ray teased.

"Ray! I'm freezing!"

Laughing to himself, Ray grabbed a towel and walked up to the bathroom door. He paused for a minute to think. Should he knock? Should he just open the door?

Luckily, Neela answered for him when she opened the door a crack and stuck her arm out. "Please?"

Ray held the towel out, inches away from her hand.

"Raay." Neela whined as he pulled the towel further away every time she reached for it. "I'm cooold."

Finally giving in, Ray placed the towel in her hand and watched her pull her arm back quickly. Before he had a chance to walk away, the door opened and Neela walked out, wrapped in just the towel, her wet hair falling over her shoulders.

Not realizing that Ray was still standing there, Neela walked right into him, surprising herself.

"Sorry." They said at the same time.

"I didn't know you were still standing there." Neela blushed.

"Yeah, I -." Ray didn't know what to say.

There was an awkward silence, as neither of them knew exactly what to do.

"Um, Ray? Can – could I get by?" Neela smiled.

"Oh, yeah. Yeah, sorry." Ray moved to his left slightly so Neela could get by.

Once Neela was back in her room, Ray sighed and walked back out to the living room.

"Way to go, Ray. Let's try to be a little more awkward next time."

He sat back down on the couch and flipped on the TV.

"Did you order the food?" Neela asked, sitting down next to him. Dressed in a pair of pajama shorts and one of his t-shirts, she ran her hand through her still wet hair and rested her head on his shoulder.

"Yeah. It should be here in fifteen minutes." He replied, absentmindedly playing with her fingers. "Poker's on."

"Oh, yay." Neela loved watching Celebrity Poker and Ray had to admit that it was funny to watch her yell at the players when they made stupid moves.

It wasn't long before they had finished eating their Chinese and were settling down to watch 'The Descent'.

Ray was lying on his side, resting his head on a pillow that was leaning against the armrest.

Neela grabbed a light blue blanket from another chair and quickly hit the play button before settling onto the couch with her. She laid down with her back against his chest and rested her head on his arm, just under his chin.

"So, how frightening is this gunna be?" She asked, snuggling up closer to him and pulling the blanket up to her chin at the same time.

"I'm not sure. Brett said it was really good though." Ray replied. He felt her tense up and he slipped his arm around her waist, placing his hand under her shirt on her bare stomach. "We can shut it off whenever you want."

There was a moment of silence as the movie started up.

Suddenly, Neela looked up over her shoulder at Ray. "Ray?"

Ray looked down at his girlfriend. "Yeah?"

She paused for a minute before responding. "Thanks." And with that, she shifted back to her original position to watch the movie.

It wasn't long before the movie started getting scary.

"Neela?" Ray looked down. She had rolled over and had buried her face in Ray's chest. "You okay?"

Neela blushed and looked up. "It's frightening."

Ray just smiled and pulled her close. He wrapped one arm around her shoulders and draped the other her, placing his hand on her back, just about her waistline.

"Want me to shut it off?" He absentmindedly played with the back of her elastic waistband shorts, twirling it between his fingers. "Cause I can."

"No, it's okay."

"You sure?"

"Yeah. I just, I mean, do you mind if I… just stay here while you finish it?" Neela whispered tiredly.

"Of course not. You don't need to ask." Ray told her and that was the end of the conversation.

Within minutes, Ray felt her breathing slow down and knew she was asleep.