Princeton Short- Story: Never Safe

Chapter Thirteen: Burning On My Lips

“I said open the goddamn door!” he screamed again, banging his fists into the door once again. Ever since last week you had tried to ignore Ray but it seemed impossible. The fact that Princeton found you gave you mixed emotions and you weren’t even given the chance to sort them out. You sighed loudly and pulled on some sweatpants with your t-shirt and swung the door open.

“What?” you mumbled guarding the space between your room and the door. Ray was looking away for a second but when he heard you speak he turned around and looked at you, his face instantly turning angry.

“Fuck you mean what?” Ray asked pushing past you into your room. Ray was shirtless and only wearing a pair of swimming trunks from outside with his hair unbraided and wild. For any normal girl, they would think Ray was cute…but he turned you off. You could hear Ray sitting down on your bed and you grew further annoyed, considering the fact that he was still soaking wet from the pool.

“Close the door.” Ray demanded as he flipped through the book you were previously reading.

“One minute you want me to open the door, the next minute you want me to close it.” You replied walking over and slamming the door.

 “I said close the shit, not slam it! Damn!” Ray yelled flashing you a dirty look. You glared back at him and walked over to the closet, to lean on it while he laid on your bed.

“Why you so far; come lay next to me.” Ray said not looking up from the book. You folded your arms in annoyance and walked back over to the bed, sitting a few inches away from him on the bed. His chest was till glistening and a few curls were stuck to his body from the water. You stared down at him uncomfortably as he continued to flip through the book, squinting at the words on the pages.

Ray suddenly looked up at you, catching you as you stared at him.

“What?” he asked grinning at you.

“Nothing, you just keep staring at the pages like they’re about to jump up at you or something.” You explained looking away.

Ray’s smile dropped and he pulled himself up, so that he was sitting beside you, the book was still being clutched between his fingers though.

“What’s this say?” Ray asked, pointing to a word on the page.

“Extirpate.” You answered glancing at the confused expression on his face.

“What’s that mean?” he mumbled with a stressed expression.

“It means to rip apart or destroy something. It’s a 10th grade level word.” You replied trying to make things sound as nicely as possible.

Ray looked back at you and managed a weak smile before flipping the book closed and setting it down on the nightstand.

“You never learned how to read?” You whispered looking him up and down gently.

“Not really…” Ray murmured with a shrug.

“I could tech you if you want…” You replied.

Ray turned and looked at you with surprise throughout his face but he nodded his head slowly and spoke,

“Why would you do that?”

You halted for a second, searching for an answer. Ray cursed at you, beat you, yelled at you and kept you away from freedom…but yet you were willing to help him.

“I don’t know.”

Once Ray heard your answer he looked at you, searching your eyes for a reason for your kindness.

“I know what this shit is about, you’re probably hoping that if you help me read than I’ll let you go earlier and allow you to run off with that Princeton nigga!” Ray accused loudly.

“No I was just trying to be nice!” you attempted to explain but Ray quickly cut you off,

“Fuck that! No one does something for nothing!”

You stopped talking and just looked down at the bed, nothing you could say was going to change his mind, and it would just make an even bigger issue. The room grew quiet as you sat with your arms crossed, ignoring Ray’s presence.

You could feel Ray’s eyes upon and soon you could feel Ray scooting over closer to you.

“What you mad at me?” Ray asked leaning in to get your attention. You glared at him from the corner of your eye silently and you suddenly felt Ray grab your chin, turning you to face him,

“Look at me.” He instructed. Your grit your teeth and stared at him as he stared back at you, studying every inch of your face. Without warning you felt Ray’s lips come into contact with yours. Ray’s left hand was still on your chin while his other hand attempted to push you upon the bed. The kiss made your body shutter and your eyes refused to close. You had never had a man on top of you like this aside from when Darrel and Kevin attacked you so instantly freaked out, not to mention you didn’t like Ray like this. You pulled your lips apart for long enough to speak,

“Ray stop.”

But Ray ignored you and dove back into kissing you, causing your heart to start pounding and your palms to start sweating.

“Ray please stop.” You whispered through a kiss. Ray ran his hand through your hair gently as he continued to kiss you, disregarding you once again.

“Stop!” You screamed throwing Ray off of you with all the strength you could manage. You covered your mouth and stared at Ray uncomfortably as Ray climbed off the bed, staring back at you.

“I wasn’t going to hurt you…” Ray whispered glaring at floor.

“I-I know I just… It didn’t feel right.” You explained as tears began to well up in your eyes.

“Sorry I’m not Princeton.” Ray muttered walking out the door, slamming it behind him.

You stared at the door, waiting for something else to happen…hoping for something to happen, but nothing did. The music outside continued, the laughing outside continued, and the tears from your eyes continued.