They both sat there in silence with the phone to their ears just listening to each other breathing for a moment.
Neela didn't really know what had come over her to be so bold. One thing she had never been with Ray was truthful and outright about her true feelings
for him.
Lately, it seemed she just couldn't get him off of her mind. Since his brief surprise visit, Neela had been plagued by the many regrets she had for what
she had not done and said when it came to her relationship with Ray.
She truly was haunted by him, thoughts of him, their time as roommates, the scent of him, what it felt like to be held in his strong arms, his soft and
tender kisses. She reminisced about the simplest of things they had done together once upon a time and how much she missed doing all of those inane
things with him. Grocery shopping, watching scary movies, making dinner, well her watching him make dinner for the both of them most of the time.
She was a terrible cook and he never failed to tease her about that. And she had yet to find another human being willing to get extra anchovies on a
pizza just because she liked them so much.
Recently, in her mind she replayed over and over again the words he whispered so quietly as he left her apartment that night, "See you soon..."
The statement was so open yet so in definitive. She wanted to shout after him "Umm, when exactly? Give me a date... Let's meet for breakfast
tomorrow before your conference!" She ached to follow him, perhaps to plead her case once more that he spend the night at her place and forego his
hotel. However, instead she stood there planted in the spot that he'd left her left her in. Breathless, her lips still tingling from his tender goodbye kiss.
She had finally snapped back into it in time to make it over to the window to get one more glance of him before he drove away into the night.
Suddenly, she was all alone again. She cried herself to sleep that night, first a few tears which soon became intense sobs from deeper and deeper inside
of her with each tear she shed. She reminisced that night on their checkered past, working together as interns, sharing an apartment, the development
of their friendship, her hasty marriage to Michael, the unnurtured growth of their repressed love for each other, Michael's death, her ridiculous
involvement with Tony Gates, Ray's accident, her own accident. All of these memories flooded her mind that night after Ray left. So much had
happened, so much time had lapsed. Did he really mean it when he said he'd see her soon?
It wasn't long after that he told her about his new girlfriend and his plans for Thanksgiving. Talk about timing, just when Neela had finally decided to grow
a pair and was all ready to suggest she go out to Baton Rouge to visit him for the holiday he dropped that bomb on her. So she tried to step aside, put
him out of her thoughts and give him his space. He still called her all the time and texted, that should've been her first clue that Ray still held a torch for
her. But clueless as usual, Neela opted to keep their conversations light-hearted and dare not ask about his new girlfriend. If only she had, perhaps she
would've known that the relationship was no longer. Neela could've gone out to see Ray for Christmas or rung in the New Year with him. Regardless of
Neela's actions or more importantly her inactions when it came to Ray, now suddenly in the dim lighting of her apartment with him breathing huskily on
the other end of her phone, none of that mattered. There was no longer a girlfriend. There was simply him and her, Ray and Neela and for once no
bullshit. Maybe that's why she finally spoke up. After all of this time, the days that had turned into months and now years, could it finally be their time?