Speechless | Rayemma

40 | Toxic

It was currently 6:45AM and Ray was not quite ready for events that would occur later that day.

He had poured himself a cup of black coffee and took a sip of it, feeling the bitter beverage spread caffeine all over his body.

Ray glanced at the couch, where Emma was sleeping rather peacefully, covered in blankets and one inch away from falling to the floor.

Was this going to be his every morning from now on? He smiled to himself at the thought. He had to admit he was quite excited.. It wasn't everyday that you got to live with your.. Actually, what was exactly his relationship with Emma? They weren't best friends since it had been revealed that they both had romantic interest for each other but they weren't dating either.

"Love is so confusing" the boy thought as he sipped the last sip from his cup of coffee. He placed it on the desk, the mug making a "clunk" when it landed on it and sighed.

Suddenly, his phone vibrated, meaning he had a new notification. It was early so Ray supposed it was something like "Pogona", the app he had downloaded to learn Spanish; he really had no need to learn it but ever since he discovered that the language in question was known by Emma, he wondered if he could talk to her in it, as if it was a secret to anyone but them.

He grabbed his phone to check it and found out that the notification was an alarm, reminding him of his "father and son" reunion.

"Right, I had that today.. I almost forgot" he sighed again, this time more deeply than the previous one. Ray was kind of scared about it. He didn't know what the outcome of the reunion would be but he had a feeling it wouldn't be the best one. Luckily, Emma would be accompanying him.

"Ray?" A sleepy ginger called out, standing up from the couch she had adopted as a bed.

"G'Morning, carrot-head" He greeted, thinking carefully about the fact that they would eventually have to buy a bed for her to sleep in.

Emma, still half asleep, walked to the desk, where Ray was sitting. "We'll see your dad today, right?" She rubbed her eyes a bit with her hand as she waited for an answer.

"Yeah.." Ray looked at his feet, nervously. "Hey, it's gonna be okay! It's us both after all, we're invincible!" she grabbed his hand and squeezed it, sharing with him the confidence that was characteristic of her

Ray smiled, he was thankful he had her by his side.

--

Not long ago, Ray and Emma had arrived at the cafe where they had agreed to meet Leslie, Ray's father. It was the same cafe they had been to when they had hung out with all their other friends but, unlike the other day, today it didn't look as beautiful. Probably because of the fact that Leslie would be there soon.

"I'm here!" He announced and Emma had to contain the urge to start laughing right in front of Leslie. He looked rather.. Sophisticated, like a businessman.

Leslie sat down, in front of Emma, and inspected the menu for a few seconds, leaving it in the center of the table once he was done.

Finally breaking the silence, he said "How are you doing?"

"Right now? Quite bad, actually. I was feeling better before you arrived. I wonder why.." Ray responded, hostile. He knew he should try to solve things with his father but a part of him just refused to treat this man, who left him alone to fend for himself, well.

He caught Emma glaring at him but he ignored it.

"Ah, I see you're a brat. Why can't you be more like your friend Fanta? She seems educated enough"

Emma made a face.

This was not off to a great start...

The girl grabbed her bag and placed it on her lap. She needed her conversational notebook. Once she found it, she looked at the cover. Her expression shifted to one of preoccupation. She had brought the wrong conversational notebook; the one she used with Ray and her other friends.

Well, whatever, this one will have to do.

She wrote a typical question, an ice breaker and gave it to them so they could read it. Ray read it first and responded.

"I dunno, Em. Maybe a crow?" the girl smiled, crows were amazing animals!

Now it was Leslie's turn to answer the question. "What is your favorite animal?" He read out loud. However, unlike Ray, he didn't answer, instead, he started flipping through the notebook's pages, reading all the conversations she had with her friends.

And then, he got to a conversation she had with Norman some time ago.

"Hey Norman"

"Yeah?"

"How do I ask someone out..?

"Well, you talk to them about it, of course. Is this about Ray?"

"Mhm!"

"Do you plan on asking him out?"

"Yes, I really want to but I'm not sure how to proceed"

"I'm afraid I can't really give you advice this time, Em. It was Anna who asked me out so I'm not sure how you do it.. However I'm sure you'll figure it out! It's you we're talking about, after all."

"Thank you!"

Leslie got to read everything, despite Ray constantly trying to get him to stop.

"What's wrong with you?! It's her privacy, stop reading!" Ray said, raising his voice.

"So, Emma, you plan asking this brat out?" He ignored his son.

The ginger turned beet read at the mention of her plans and looked the other way.

"I see, I'll take that as a yes. Are you sure you want to do this? There's no way someone as nice as you will get along well with this boy. I mean, look at him, he's obviously up to no good. I bet he's just trying to use you."

"Who are you to say that?! You've barely even talked to me, how would you know?" Ray asked, his voice full of spite.

"Oh, it takes just a look. No wonder no one ever approached you in school."

"How... how do you know..?" this time, the black-haired boy's expression changed, it wasn't one of anger though, it was actually one of sadness.

"I didn't, just assumed. Seems like I'm right then. Ever wonder why they didn't approach you? Ever wonder why you had no friends until Fanta came to help you? Hm? It takes just a look to know the kind of person you are."

"But.." Ray tried to respond, he wasn't letting himself get manipulated like that.. Was he?

"Ouch!" The man rubbed his head, Emma had hit him, not too hard, with her book.

The book fell open to the most recent page, which read "Could you quit bothering Ray, you asshole?"

"So that's what it's like huh?" he said, looking at them with those ominous eyes he had shown when they first met. "Fortunately for you, I don't hurt girls.. But Ray here isn't a girl." Slowly, he reached for his pocket, from which he pulled out a pocket knife.

He raised the knife and..

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" a deafening scream could be heard in the cafe that day, as splatters of crimson blood stained the wall.

What just happened?