"You knocked?" Sora droned.
Ray kicked into gear, rules still in hand. Sora pointed to them and asked, "What're you doing with those—" only to be cut off by Ray shrieking in a barely restrained whisper, "No time to explain! I had to buy a mattress and Leo, Huey, and Barry are helping bring it—"
The both stilled at the distant sound of Huey cursing in the stairwell. "Almost there... I think this is Ray's flat," Leo's voice sounded, just outside of the foyer. "Almost! You're not the one carrying it!" Barry shouted.
Ray spun back around, pinned like a frog on a biology countertop. Instead of pins, however, he was held down by Sora's sharp and deadly glare.
"You fucking idiot," Sora seethed, and Ray yelped at the sound of the front door opening. Sora cursed again, under his breath, and scrambled back to his bedroom. Ray skidded after him, assisting in shutting the door before Huey and Barry ever made it over the threshold.
Ray flattened his back to the Sora's closed door, only to shriek at the sight of the apartment rules in his hand. He stuffed them up the front of his shirt without thinking twice.
"Ray?" Leo called into the apartment, footsteps coming to the foyer door.
Ray yelped. "Over here!"
"Oh, thank God—I thought we just burst into a stranger's flat," Leo laughed, striding into the living space with an impressed whistle. "Wow... nice place, dude."
"Thanks—"
"It's not messy at all! I was expecting, like, a pigsty or something."
"That's because I just threw the pigsty out the window," Ray said as he reached for his bedroom door. "This is my room. The only bedroom. 'Cause I live alone."
He could almost hear Sora bang his forehead against the wall.
He flattened a hand over his stomach where the paper crinkled. The sound was drowned out by Huey and Barry cussing in the foyer, so Ray and Leo rushed in to help. The four of them struggled across the apartment to Ray's room where they kicked aside Ray's sleeping bag in favor of dropping the mattress onto the hardwood floor.
The instant it was down, Huey and Barry collapsed onto the mattress.
Leo put his hands on his hips. "What're you two lazing about for? Don't y'all work out or something?"
"Or something," Huey huffed, rubbing a hand over his forehead. He passed his fingers through his black curls and glanced over at Barry, who let out a gruff groan as he sat up, straightened, and stretched his shoulders out.
"Nice place you've got here, de Lucía," Barry said.
"Uh, thanks."
"So, you rich or something?" he asked and was immediately assaulted by Leo punching Barry's upper thigh.
Ray winced—it looked like that hurt like a sonuvabitch. "Uh... not exactly. My aunt—she's helping me out. And I got a pretty good deal on this place."
"How good?" Leo asked, jabbing a thumb in the direction of the wall opposite the windows. "And by that I mean could I move into the bedroom over there."
Ray's heart stopped.
"Th-That isn't a bedroom," Ray said, weakly. "Just a... closet. Large closet."
"Who said I couldn't live in a large closet? This body is compact, bro," Leo said, hands stationed squarely on his narrow hips.
Huey yawned, flopping his phone out of his pocket. He raised it up, only to hesitate, eyes stilling on the screen. Barry took notice and turned, only to have his head bashed in when Huey shot up and knocked his head straight into Barry's thick skull.
"Ow, fuck!" Huey groaned.
"Shit, dude!"
"What happened?" Ray said, alarmed.
"It's—Alice—" Huey grunted, a hand on his head.
"Alice? No way!" Leo shrieked, clapping his hands.
Ray didn't recognize the name and his brain superimposed Alice Cullen from Twilight over it. "Dare I ask: who's... Alice?"
Barry cursed under his breath as he pushed off of the mattress. Rendered useless by the news on his phone, he shook his head miserably and let out a low, pained groan.
Huey threw his arms out, exasperated, and said, "Only USFC's best journalist! Okay, to be fair, she's only minoring in journalism, but she scores every ounce of tea on campus—and she's scored shit on Ikeda before."
Fuck, Ray thought, wincing. He glanced at the door where Barry was heading out into the main living space. Ray raced after him, paranoid that Sora's last name being spoken allowed would summon his roommate.
"What do you mean... 'stuff on Ikeda'," Ray asked, raising his voice a touch, intentionally looking away from the "closet" door. He stood on the steps in front of it, though, so he could guard it from Leo and Huey's prying eyes as they left the bedroom.
"Here, I'll show you," Huey said, and Ray rose an eyebrow at Leo, who shrugged.
"We're all on her mailing list," Leo said.
"Why?"
"For the sweet, sweet tidbits of juicy, juicy gossip she gives us, duh," he explained. "Last time Sora came up in her newsletter, it was because someone found out he was moving out of the dorms. Who just moves out of the dorms for second semester?! Especially when you're that good-looking?"
Ray shook his head, confused. "What does being good-looking have to do with it?"
"Nothing. He just wanted to remind everyone that Sora's perfect," Huey said with a sigh. He held out a photo to Ray, and Barry came around, clasped an arm around Ray's shoulders, and leant in to the screen. Leo weaseled in, his head perched on Ray's shoulder.
It was a picture of what appeared to be the back of Sora's head, pulling a cigarette out of a woman's mouth. The woman looked like she could have been a model, or at the very least, a celebrity. No one wore sunglasses that size—or black sunhats for that matter—around San Francisco.
"Girlfriend?" Barry asked.
Huey gave him a dull stare. "Since when were you interested in Sora."
"I'm not! I'm just asking—keeping the conversation going!" Barry said. When Huey rolled his eyes away, Barry shoved him roughly in the arm, but not before Ray swept the phone out of Huey's hands.
He squinted at the photo. It was already so zoomed in that Ray could see the smoke on the woman's lips.
Sora's probably listening, Ray thought, pinching his fingers to his bottom lip. If someone was taking pictures of Sora without his say-so, then the guy deserved to know it and know when it happened.
"Where was this taken?" Ray asked. "I don't recognize this view."
"It's the top floor of the parking structure," Leo said. "What did the article say?"
"He got into that black car in the foreground. Alice, that whore, she blurred out the license plate," Huey muttered. He crossed his arms and seethed, "What I wouldn't give to run that plate through a police database..."
"Wow, okay then," Ray said.
"Huey! There you go again, with that morbid sense of humor!" Leo cried.
"Does... this chick really go around scraping gossip together and putting it in a newsletter?" Ray asked, and when Barry shrugged, Huey winced, and Leo nodded, his answer was clear. "Oh. That's kinda—I mean, no offense—scummy."
"Oh, it is, but I love it," Leo sighed dreamily. "She's got a whole squad of photographers on her team! They have eyes and ears everywhere."
"Ominous. Sounds kind of like high school," Ray said in a borderline grumble. High school... wasn't the greatest, and the gossip just made it worse. He hadn't considered he'd take it to college, but gossip went around his old community college.
He wasn't sure why he thought USFC would be any different.
"Oh, it's not that bad," Leo said with a wave of his hand.
"And look at the photo quality! Look at his ass!" Huey said, pointing to the picture in Ray's lowered hand.
"No! I'm not gonna look at it!" Ray lied, because he had already stared at it for approximately five seconds while Leo and Huey chattered on about Alice. He slapped the phone back in Huey's hand before he could be accused.
"For shame! I thought you were gay!"
"I-I am!" Ray cried, voice cracking. He cleared his throat and rasped, "But—! That's inappropriate!"
"Inappropriate," Huey teased, crossing his arms. He stuck his tongue out at Ray and said, "I'll show you inappropriate."
"Don't make it sound like a threat! You're gonna scare him away!" Leo exclaimed, shoving Huey towards the exit. He laughed nervously at the horrified look on Ray's face. "I'm sure he won't show you 'inappropriate', whatever that means."
"I'll come up with something," Huey promised, shaking a finger in the air.
Barry clasped onto Ray's shoulders and gave him a firm shake. "Nice place, dude. Thanks for letting us infiltrate."
"N-No problem," Ray squeaked. Leo was herding Huey out of the front door, so Ray followed after Barry and asked, "You don't think Huey meant anything by that, do you? I'm just not really about the whole crazy, flamboyant scene."
"Well, unfortunately for you," Barry said, clasping a hand to Ray shoulder. Ray swallowed hard. "Huey definitely is part of that scene. I'll see you later, de Lucía."
He took off with a light wave before disappearing around the open front door. Leo peered in and waved to Ray, saying, "See ya tomorrow!" before shutting the door. Ray could hardly raise his hand to wave.
Exhaustion seeped through him and, both hands clasped to the strap of his guitar case, slumped his head forward against the hallway's archway. He groaned, the dread seeping in as soon as he heard Sora's bedroom doorknob turn.
He heard Sora's footsteps behind him, approaching menacingly from the bedroom door.
"For some reason," Sora started, and Ray flinched, "I expected you to crack. I'm surprised you kept it together."
"You and me both," Ray groaned. He pushed off of the wall and went to lock the front door. Once the bolt was secure, Ray lifted the guitar case from his shoulders and carried it into the living room. "I thought you worked tonight."
"I do. Not until nine, though," Sora said. Ray put a hand to his face to hide his embarrassment.
"I know exactly what you're thinking..." Ray sighed.
"Oh, do you? Do you really?"
"Yes. You're thinking about the apartment rules and how I just broke one of 'em."
"Technically two, since you're still wearing shoes."
Ray looked down at his feet. Sure enough, he was still in his converse and his shirt still crinkled with the rule paper. He pulled it out from under his shirt and Sora rolled his eyes, walking away.
"It was evidence! That I have a roommate!" Ray insisted, but it was no use. Sora certainly thought he was insane now.
Sora wasn't particularly upset about de Lucía dragging three of his college buddies through their apartment. It helped that they didn't have enough furniture for it to seem like two people lived there, and their shoe sizes were similar... they did have two tooth brushes, though, and Sora would have to remember that.
For next time.