Chapter 3
Three hours later, they had managed to find three flashlights, two of which actually worked, and four candles. Ray had spent a good ten minutes making fun of the fact that one of the candles Neela found in her bedroom was bright red and was called 'romance.' According to the tag, it was supposed to be used to woo a potential lover. On the inside, Ray was thinking that he mine as well give it a try and light it and then maybe it would speed things along between them, but he kept the thought to himself. Neela simply told him that a friend had given it to her as a joke. She didn't bother to tell him that Sam had bought it for her for Christmas last year, telling her to use it wisely and with a certain male roommate.
After they had finished collecting the flashlights and candles, they made turkey sandwiches for lunch and were currently two hours into a game of monopoly. Neela thought Ray had been kidding when he suggested they play, but, along with two flashlights and one candle, he came out of his room with the game.
They had set up the game board, which had seen better days, on the coffee table in the middle of the living room. Neela was sitting on the couch, still wearing Ray's sweatshirt and she had the blanket draped around her shoulders. Ray sat on the floor across from her, having put on yet another layer of clothing. Their apartment had grown colder and Ray guessed that, by nightfall, it would be even worse.
"You owe me two-hundred fifty," he told her as Neela moved her piece the number of spaces the dice said.
"It seems highly unfair that a property that cost you sixty dollars now costs me two-hundred fifty dollars."
"Quit whining and pay up," he said, putting his hand out.
Neela counted out the correct number of bills and handed them to him.
"I hope you end up in jail," she muttered.
"Well, someone's a sore loser," he replied.
Ray picked up the dice and rolled them. He moved the number of spaces and Neela smirked.
"Go to jail," she read the square off the board game.
Ray placed his piece on the jail. Neela quickly snatched up the dice and rolled. She moved her piece and landed on a chance space. She picked up the chance card and her smirk disappeared.
"What does it say?" Ray asked.
She shoved the card at the bottom of the deck and picked up her piece. She placed it beside Ray in jail.
"Well, well, welcome to jail," he said. This time it was he who smirked.
"It figures," she said.
"What does?"
"That you'd somehow manage to get me thrown in jail right along with you."
"You managed to get yourself thrown in jail all by yourself. I had nothing to do with it."
"It is symbolic, though." Yeah, she thought, symbolic that we do everything together except the one thing that I've been dreaming about.
"What is?" He asked, interrupting her thoughts.
"Us together in jail."
"How do you mean?"
"Well, we live together. We work together. We mine as well end up in jail together."
If only we did some other things together, Ray thought.
"You should call Hallmark. That would make for a good card," he remarked.
"Well, remind me to call them when my fingers thaw."
They both smiled.
That smile may very well kill me, he thought, as he stared at her.
There was a knock on the door.
"Who would be knocking on our door in the middle of a snowstorm?" Ray asked, tearing his eyes away from her face.
Whoever it is, they better not be staying, Neela thought. Even though they were only playing a game of monopoly, she was enjoying spending time with him and she didn't want anyone or anything to spoil it.
Ray got up and opened the door. A middle-aged woman stood in the doorway. She was shorter than Ray by a foot and had chestnut colored hair with a number of grey streaks throughout. Based on the fact that the woman looked to be bulky and uncomfortable, Neela guessed that she was wearing just as many layers as she and Ray were.
"Lindsey, come on in," Ray offered.
He stepped out of the way so Lindsey could enter.
So that's Lindsey, Neela thought, breathing a sigh of relief. At least she could stop worrying about Ray having a torrid affair with the girl next door.
"Lindsey, this is my roommate Neela. Neela this is our next door neighbor Lindsey."
Neela stood up and shook her hand.
"It's nice to me you," Neela said politely. Even though she was relieved that Lindsey was old enough to be Ray's mother, she still wanted her to go.
"It seems odd that we've lived next to each other for almost a year and we're just meeting now," Lindsey said sweetly. "Of course, I understand, you're both bright, young doctors with busy lives. I was young and busy once, too. I just came over to see if I could borrow some matches. I have plenty of candles, but no matches."
"Yeah, sure, I'll get some," Ray said. He disappeared into the kitchen.
"He seems like a nice young man," Lindsey said to Neela. Neela nodded. "You know, I always wondered why Ray didn't have a girlfriend. Now I know."
"Oh, Ray and I…we're not…"
"Not yet anyway." Lindsey winked at her. "Like I said, I was young…and in love once, too. I know what that look is."
Ray came back with a book of matches and handed them over to Lindsey.
"Thanks," she said.
"This weather sure is treacherous. First, no heat and now no electricity. We're all going to be frozen in our beds by the morning."
Neela picked up that the woman had a hint of a Southern accent and, for some reason, it made her smile. Although Neela had never really had many female friends, or many friends at all, she felt as if she would be able to sit down and tell this woman her whole life story.
"Well, it's a good thing you have two doctors living next door. We're expert defreezers," Ray joked.
Lindsey laughed.
"Hold on to this one, honey," she said, winking a second time. "Well, you two have a good…warm night."
She turned towards the door. Ray opened it for her and then closed it behind her when she left.
"What was that all about?"
"What?"
"'Hold on to this one, honey?' What did she mean by that?"
"Just some girl talk," Neela replied.
"Girl talk, huh?"
"Yeah, girl talk."
"Did this girl talk have anything to do with me?"
He smiled, making a face that Neela knew all too well. Secretly, she called it his cute face because, simply, he was unbelievably cute when he made it.
"Girl talk is meant to be kept only between girls," she replied sarcastically, turning around.
Grab her, he thought. Reach out your arm and spin her around, say something witty and romantic, and kiss her.
"Whose turn is it?" She asked.
She sat back on the couch, tucking her legs underneath her.
"It's mine," Ray answered, running his hand angrily through his hair. He knew he would never work up the guts to really kiss her. With other women, he never had a problem. He would have grabbed any other woman and had her in bed before he even had a second thought. But with Neela, it was different. With Neela, he was afraid that if he did take her to bed, she wouldn't be there when he woke up the next morning and that would devastate him. He would rather be her friend than risk losing her if they became lovers.
"Oh, that's right," Neela said. "Someone's got to buy himself out of jail."
"If I recall, we were both in jail. In which case, we could spend some quality time there together." He winked at her. Instead of paying his $50 to get out of jail, he rolled the dice, chancing that he might get doubles to get himself out of jail. Really, he had no interest in getting out of jail. Even though it was just a game and they were just playing with little, pewter pieces, Ray wanted to stay in jail with Neela. He realized it was stupid, but it was true.
Author's Note: Again, I just want to start off by thanking everyone for all of your comments. I'm completely overwhelmed by all of the responses to this fic. The whole monopoly thing came from my own life. Whenever the power goes out or my family is stuck inside during a bad storm or something, we play monopoly. I thought it would be a fun thing to put in a fic. Well, I can't tell you when the next chapter will be posted because I'm not sure where I want to go with this fic yet, but thank you for reading so far and stay tuned!