Chapter 7:
After Ray had left, Neela settled herself down on the sofa in front of the television with her snacks in preparation for her program to start. She checked her watch. Half an hour to go! Yay!
She flicked through the channels not really paying attention to what was on as she thought about what Ray had said to her earlier. I can't believe that he thinks I'm one of the prettiest girls he knows. Because considering the amount of girls Ray knows that's saying something.
To be honest she didn't care that much about her attractiveness but the fact that Ray thought she was pretty made her feel happy. Beautiful. That's what he had said. And for some reason it made her feel all tingly inside.
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Ray reached the bar slightly later then planned what with the late shift, extra time getting ready and the whole Neela butt discussion. He laughed as he remembered how genuinely concerned she was that her ass was becoming too big. I guess women are just weird when it comes to things like that.
As he was a bit late most people had arrived already. He quickly scanned the bar and his heart skipped a beat as he saw Melissa in a corner talking to a friend. She was looking very pretty in a black skirt and top and her brown hair left flowing loosely around her shoulders.
He went over to Aaron to say happy birthday and chatted to the guys for a bit. He didn't want to appear desperate by heading immediately for Melissa.
Finally he spotted he standing by the bar by herself ordering a drink and he went over.
"Let me get that for you", he said as he reached her side, and took out his wallet. He smiled down at her.
"Oh err.. thanks", she replied with a small smile as he paid for her and drink and got a beer for himself.
"How are you Melissa?", he said.
"I'm ok, quite busy at the moment with work and everything", she said. "How are you?"
"I'm great. Works quite hectic for me at the moment too but it always is so hey", he replied, "you look really nice tonight".
"Thank you", she said smiling.
So far so good. Ray thought. At least she's actually looking at me this time.
They chatted for a while longer and Ray found out more about her work and things she liked to do in her spare time. Ray made sure he was attentive and asked her lots of questions to show her that he was interested. He also told her about some of his hobbies.
"So are you enjoying the party so far", he asked.
"Yeah its pretty good but I don't know that many people here", she replied.
"Oh well I can introduce you, I know most of them", Ray said.
"Yeah maybe later".
Brett came over to the bar to get a drink, "hey Ray, Melissa", he said smirking and giving Ray a knowing look.
"Neela decided not to come tonight?", he asked.
"My roommate", he explained to Melissa.
"No she's watching Passion Valley. It's the season finale, wild horses couldn't have driven her out", he said smiling.
"Too bad. See you guys later", Brett said walking away.
"Passion Valley?", Melissa giggled, "She must be a bit of a dork to watch that instead of coming out".
Ray felt a stab of annoyance at her comment. He knew that he often made fun of Neela for watching it but he never meant it maliciously and Melissa didn't even know Neela.
"Actually she's really cool and its not that bad a program", he said slightly coldly.
"Whatever", she replied.
Although he wasn't happy about her comment about Neela he decided to let it slide and tried to get the conversation back on track.
They managed to get onto the topic of food somehow and Ray found out how she liked Italian food. He decided to take the plunge.
"Oh well I know this great Italian place nearby maybe I can take you there sometime", he asked trying not to sound too hopeful.
"Umm look Ray", She said looking sideways, "I don't really think its going to work out".
"But how do you know that if you won't even give me a chance", he said slightly desperately loosing all pretense.
"Actually I know you better than you think", she said bluntly, "your just like every other guy trying just trying to get another notch on your bedpost. My friend told me about you. Your Ray Barnett, the hot rocker who thinks he can bed any girl he wants. I saw the way your friend looked at us when he came over. But let me tell you this, your not that great and you're not going to get me into bed because frankly I think you're a little shallow". And with that she walked away.
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Neela had just finished watching Passion Valley back at the apartment and had munched her way through all of the snacks. Once the program had begun all thoughts of Ray left her mind. She was certainly not disappointed with the show as it was packed with drama and excitement. Once again she gasped out loud at all the shocking moments and if Ray had been there he would have been in fits of laughter at her usual reactions. The biggest shock was the death of Neela's favourite character at the very end of the program which actually dissolved her to tears.
Ray entered the apartment a little while later lost in his thoughts. After Melissa had left he had just stood frozen at the bar in shock. He left immediately and all the way home he thought about what she had said. He couldn't believe how badly that had gone. Is that really how people see me? Am I really that shallow?
He heard some sniffles from the sofa which brought him out of his reverie. He suddenly realised in surprise that Neela was crying and momentarily forgot about Melissa and the bar.
"Neela what's the matter?", he asked concerned.
She let out a jumble of words between sniffs, "Valley…Nico…trap… rescue… dead!", she wailed.
"Huh?", he said confused.
"Isabelle shot Nico when he was trying to rescue Stephanie and he died", she managed to get out her sobs subsiding. Now that she was getting over the shock she was a bit embarrassed to have Ray find her crying. She would never hear the end of it.
"Oh", he replied sighing and leaned his head on the back of the sofa.
Neela studied him for a minute. "Is everything ok Ray?"
"Do you think I'm shallow Neela?", he asked looking troubled.
Neela thought about it for a split second before answering firmly, "No".
There had been a time when she would have probably said yes but Ray had grown so much since then and she had seen how he was passionate about so many things in life.
"Why?", She asked. He must have got the idea from somewhere.
"Melissa rejected me and told me that she thinks I'm shallow", he said miserably.
"I can't believe she said that!", Neela said indignantly, "Well she's clearly clinically insane or otherwise just deluded. Let me tell you Ray that you are definitely not shallow".
"No, you know I think I am", he said dejectedly, "I do always sleep with loads of women and party all the time".
"But there's so much more to you Ray!", Neela said earnestly, "Your so passionate about your music, you're a kind, loving person, and you're a great doctor! Would a shallow person stay behind two hours after his shift to make sure a kid had the support he needed to deal with being put into care? You only need to look at today to prove to you that you aren't shallow."
"Yeah I guess so…", he said slowly looking at her.
"Exactly! It's totally her loss if she doesn't want to go out with you", she said sincerely.
"You know Neela, you always know how to make me feel better", he said smiling.
"Well I'm only telling you the truth", she said, "Just forget about her. Hey, I think there's some ice cream in the freezer! There's no better way to get over lost love then cookies and cream!"
"What you mean we still have food left in the apartment?" he said teasingly looking around at the coffee table littered with the remains of all the snacks.
"Oi!", she said laughing, "that's no way to speak to your fabulous roommate!"
Ray laughed as she got up, "ok well I'll make it up to you by letting you tell me about what happened in Passion Valley".
"Yeah yeah, I know you just want to know what happened yourself!", she replied coming back in with the ice cream and spoons. And with that they enjoyed the remainder of the night with friendly arguing about the program and gorging themselves on ice cream.
