By Wednesday, Sora grew more and more suspicious of de Lucía and Charlie. It was to the point where Sora wanted to know what, specifically, Charlie did on his phone. Was the guy still on Tinder? Was he talking to other guys aside from de Lucía? He wondered if de Lucía knew. What if de Lucía thought they were exclusive while Charlie was out fucking around?
The bottom line was this: that Charlie couldn't be trusted.
Meanwhile, on the rare occasion that Sora didn't work, he came home early and found de Lucía in the living room practicing his guitar. He could hear it faintly out in the hall, and when he entered, the music paused for a moment as Ray tipped back and into view of the foyer hallway.
"Welcome home!" Ray called out as Sora was slipping off his sneakers.
He wandered up the hallway and, lingering at the foyer archway, studied the state of the kotatsu. Ray had his laptop out with music sheets on it, and his tuner was left among the entrails of his backpack on the ground.
"I can take this to my room if you want," Ray said, about to close his laptop.
"No," Sora said, waving a dismissive hand. "It's fine. Keep playing."
Sora went to his room to put away his things and, after he disappeared behind his door, Ray picked up his guitar again and began with a flurry of bright notes that cascaded into broad, rich chords. Sora paused just inside of his room, his backpack strap in hand, and his attention still consumed by Ray's perfectly accented vibratos peppered among quick finger-plucking and the sensual taps of his nails against the pickguard.
The guy's a whole one-man band, Sora thought, silently impressed by the makeshift percussion sprinkled throughout Ray's acoustic cover. Or was it a cover? He had never heard the tune, the closer he listened to it, and it didn't occur to him until he was in the kitchen making a protein shake that Ray might have actually composed this song all on his own.
He thought about the lyrics from the studio in the lecture hall basement and wondered if Ray was a lyricist, too.
With nothing but his hand on the neck of the guitar, Ray plucked the keys while coordinating the heel of his other palm against the wooden body of his guitar. He drummed his fingers against the underside of the body while his other hand remained nimble and free against the fretboard.
Sora lowered himself silently across the kotatsu from Ray, his smoothie all but abandoned in his hand as he watched and wondered why the hell Ray was in music theory school when he could have started his own career by now. He could already picture Ray with an electric guitar engaging in solo battles on a rock concert stage against a fellow bassist.
I wonder if Charlie's heard this, Sora wondered, taking a sip of his smoothie.
Ray paused to jot something down on the note sheet on his computer, and only then did he realize that Sora was sitting there watching the entire goddamn show.
Sora had never seen Ray's cheeks turn so red so fast.
"I-I didn't realize you were listening," Ray stammered as his fingers resumed their positions.
Sora looked away pointedly, took a sip of his smoothie and, after smacking his lips, said, "I'm not."
Ray frowned at him, and Sora caught it in the corner of his eye. "You are too," he said through a pout.
Sora stretched his legs out under the kotatsu since Ray had his legs folded beneath him, which gave Sora plenty of room to relax, drink his smoothie, and listen to the iterations Ray went through. As Ray polished up his set, Sora pictured it all flowing in a mosaic of color on a foggy, clear limited edition vinyl that he could play on repeat in a Northern Cali beach house, or on a static-y cassette player surrounded by redwoods, sitting on a lawn chair propped up atop a VW.
He could see himself at a bonfire surrounded by nothing but the great outdoors and a collection of faceless people that didn't annoy the shit out of him. Charlie was there, as was David, and strangely enough, Ambrose and Parley. They probably wouldn't understand it, but there were people out there who would, and they would listen to Ray's cassettes on a road trip one autumn weekend and every year after that they would find it amidst their collection and say, "This throws me back to fall of 2019."
It would be an obscure release, one that would involve word-of-mouth, hand-me-downs, chill house parties and café afternoons. A limited number of cassettes would be made, and an even smaller number of records, and Ray would hand them out in basement parties when it's so late at night that everyone is either high, drunk, or asleep. A calm atmosphere to close out the night in a way Closing Time couldn't. He'd make friends with his small audience in exchange for their pocket, where Ray would slip a limited edition cassette and say, "To remember me by."
"I want to market you," was almost what Sora said, but instead, he said, "You should sing."
Ray had been shifting notes on his program when Sora suddenly spoke after nearly half an hour of silence. Ray blinked, startled, and shook his head with a bashful laugh. "Oh, no, I couldn't," he said, shaking his head again. He put his attention back on the screen as he said, "I don't like how I sound."
Sora shrugged, indifferent, even though internally, he was screaming with frustration. It wasn't his place. "Your loss," Sora sighed.
As Monday passed them by, Tuesday was fast approaching and Sora came to dread going to work. Exhaustion was hot on his heels and lulling him to sleep in the middle of class, even as Alice called, once again, for a group meeting to decide when they would be watching the movies discussed in their essay prompt.
While Sora half-drifted off, Ray covered for him by saying a Saturday afternoon would work well. It was the safest bet Ray could think of, given that Sora tended to work weekend nights.
"I'll be there bright and early!" Leo promised that same day after class, bounding off of a stone hedge outside of their lecture hall.
Huey rolled his eyes and said, "We all know you sleep 'till eleven most days."
Leo spun to him with a scowl and a threatening fist shaking in the air. Huey ducked away from it as Ray giggled behind his hand.
"You guys don't have to get to the café straight away," he insisted, still smiling. "I'll be there until ten-ish."
"First ones there or nothing," Leo said, to which Huey added, "He's kidding."
And, while they weren't the first ones by any means, they were the first witnesses to what could have been an uneventful, but successful, gig. They arrived just in time to see the status quo before it was broken.
Before it broke, Leo, Huey and Barry arrived to a nearly full-house. The café was stationed in one half of the building which was divided into two by a narrow hallway where the outer door was propped open, and the café door was swung open wide. There were people milling about in that small corridor outside of the café, out on the sidewalk at the tables, and most of all, the café was packed.
It was like any other weekday morning, but this time, people lingered a while longer on their morning routine before heading off to work. They lingered as they sipped their coffee and let the caffeine seep in with the hypnotic music Ray was playing on a small platform at the back corner of the café, perched on a stool, and sporting a loose floral button down tucked into a pair of slacks. His floral shirt was unbuttoned halfway down, revealing a plain white tee behind the wooden body of Melvin 2.0.
Leo peered into the café, at first hesitant, before leading the trio through a gap in the line. They shimmied down the narrow stretch of wood flooring to the back, where they could stand among customers watching the calm, instinctual way Ray's fingers flew across the fretboard.
Impressive, Leo thought. He had heard Ray play before, and he knew what Ray would likely be playing that day, but it still amazed him just how talented Ray was with a guitar.
Ray's eyes opened at the sound of someone leaving a tip in his jar. He smiled at them and watched them walk off, only for his eyes to pull towards an eager Leo, jumping with excitement and waving frantically at Ray.
Ray beamed at them and, after concluding the song, intended to greet them. Instead, he was met with praise in the form of eager applause across the café and out into the hall. He flushed, hugging Melvin 2.0 as he leant towards his friends and said, "Thanks for coming..."
Leo punched him in the arm. "Anything for you, dude."
Ray giggled, flustered as all hell, and Huey turned to Barry and said, "He's so fucking cute." Barry gave Ray a thumbs up, and Ray waved a dismissive hand at him.
"You guys should get something to drink—they have an excellent chai if you're into that kind of thing," Ray suggested, waving them off back in the direction of the cashier line. Leo blew Ray a kiss before following after Huey and Barry.
Ray let out a relieved sigh and went back to work.
One long, experimental song later and Ray was back in the groove. He could feel the energy inside of the café mingling on his skin, trembling into his quick fingers. He played to his heart's content, satisfied only with the looks of amazement he saw when he opened his eyes and scanned the crowd for Leo, Huey, and Barry. His friends had taken to a open spot near the windows, and they looked just as content as Ray felt filling the café with music.
When Leo's drink was called, he went up to fetch it and, taking a sip, turned to head back to Huey and Barry. His attention caught on a tuft of black hair and perfection passing the window, and he choked immediately.
He scrambled to their table, coughing, and Huey gave him a firm few pats on the back. "I-Ikeda's here—" Leo rasped, and Huey, likewise, gasped.
"Where? I don't—" Huey started, just as Sora-goddamn-Ikeda stepped through the café door trailing behind some blonde guy in a black sunhat and glasses.
Sora's eyes were on the line, wondering just how long he needed to stay here to satisfy Charlie's promise of, "For as long as it takes to get a drink." Given the state of the morning rush hour, it would take an entire damn hour to leave.
"I've never heard him play," Charlie said, pulling his sunglasses off with gloved hands. He looked back at Sora, who set his jaw tight and looked away.
"I'm getting a mocha," Sora decided. His eyes glanced over the crowded café and, in doing so, he skimmed straight over Leo, Huey, and Barry and thought to himself, Fucking perfect.
After placing their order, Sora attempted to tug Charlie off to the hallway to wait, but Charlie pointed to the countertop directly next to the Idiot Trio's table. "There's a spot right there," he said, and yanked Sora along.
Meanwhile, Leo and Huey had their sights on that blonde-haired androgynous beauty with Sora. When those two approached the counter, Huey started slapping Leo repeatedly until Leo stammered out, "H-Hey Sora. Did you come to listen to Ray, too?"
"Purely coincidence," Sora said.
"I came here for Ray," his friend said and, leaning over, held a hand out to Leo. "Charlie."
"Leo, Ray's friend," Leo said, his heart screaming in his chest. "Are you...? You and Ray are seeing each other, aren't you?"
Charlie smiled sweetly and said, "Yes, we are. Has he told you about me?"
"Yeah, actually," Leo beamed.
When they went back to their designated groups, Huey turned to Leo and said, "Charlie looks exactly like that guy in Alice's picture," to which Leo whisper-screamed through clenched teeth, "I fucking know! What the fuck!"
Huey turned back to them just as Charlie was tossing his blonde hair over his shoulder and looking back at them. Huey propped his elbow over the back of his chair, leant in, and asked, "So how do you two know each other?"
"We've known each other since high school," Sora said as Charlie opened his mouth. Sora turned, slowly, to glare at Charlie in a silent threat to keep his mouth shut. Charlie shrugged and went back to studying Ray from across the café.
Charlie had never heard Ray play, let alone witnessed it and holy shit, he was impressed. Ray had his eyes on his strings, playing along them with a flurry of finger-plucking and pickboard taps that created an entire ensemble all on his own. It was mesmerizing to watch, and it was no wonder that people lingered and totally obscured Charlie's view of the guy.
Charlie leant over to Sora and said, "I'm gonna go talk to him. Could you get my drink for me when it gets called?"
"Yeah, sure," Sora sighed.
Charlie bounded off through the crowd, knowing that if he lingered any longer with such a shit view, he'd start shanking people for being in his way. When Charlie approached, Ray was just concluding the song and, when it was over, lifted his eyes to meet the applause and the bright expression on Charlie's face.
"H-Hey!" Ray stammered, heat swelling to his ears. "Thanks for coming!"
"Of course—I couldn't miss it," Charlie said, and as the two of them chatted, Sora glared from across the café.
He wasn't quite sure what this feeling was, but he was certain it had something to do with Charlie's Evil Plan that had everything to do with defiling Ray. Why did it bother him so much? Was it Charlie's flippancy? He supposed he despised people who fucked around with people who didn't fuck around. If Charlie just stuck to the goddamn program and fucked around with a certain someone at their club, whether that be Ambrose or David, it wouldn't bother him so much.
But why, out of all the people in San Francisco, did it have to be de Lucía?
"Christ," Sora muttered under his breath, turning away. He looked out the window and started with a curse at the sight of his reflection—or rather, the person standing just beyond his reflection, staring at him through the window.
Erin! he cried internally, eyes wide with horror.
There his sister was, staring at him through the café window. She smiled sweetly at him and spun away, towards the entrance. Sora's eyes followed her, mortified, and as his heart twisted in his chest, he remembered that students from his class were sitting right there.
Fuck, he thought, scattering from his seat. Erin would surely say something awful, and he needed to make sure there wouldn't be collateral damage—
But then, Erin was swinging into the cafè, blocking Sora's exit. She grasped him by the shoulders as he staggered. Behind them, Leo turned to Huey and said, "She looks like a celebrity! Does he know any celebrities?" Huey shrugged uselessly, and Barry watched from between them, arms crossed, thoroughly concerned and fascinated by everything that was happening.
The three of them watched as this strange yet beautiful woman started peppering Sora Ikeda's forehead with red kisses.
"Oh, my precious baby," she cooed.
"S-Stop it, I'm serious," Sora said, pushing against her in an attempt to escape, but she clung to him like the leech she was. "Let's—talk outside—"
"Aw, but I want to see your boyfriend—Where is he? He invited me to see him perform and I came all this way—!" she cried.
"B-Boyfriend!" Leo squeaked, only to slap his hand over his mouth when Sora's attention snapped back to him with a murderous glare.
Sora seethed, "I don't—" only to falter.
There were too many moving parts. Ray's friends were staring at him with those wide, shocked eyes that suggested Ray hadn't, not even in the slightest, alluded to even talking to Sora. As far as they were concerned, Ray and Sora were just group partners for a project.
What Ray had told them, however, was that he was seeing someone else entirely, and that someone else was just on his way back to fetch his coffee when Erin said all of this.
Charlie had never met Sora's sister, but the resemblance was there, and Sora talked about her enough for Charlie to gather who she was in the time it took for him to process what she had said.
"Ray's performing," Charlie corrected, squinting at Erin.
Sora spun around, heart stopping in his chest. It leapt to his throat when Erin pointed at him and said, "Yeah, Sora's boyfriend."
"What?!" Leo screamed. Huey was holding him back, or rather, holding onto him for moral support.
Charlie looked like he was two seconds away from ripping Erin's extensions out. "Excuse me, but what did you say?" Charlie said, eyes stuck solely on Sora's sister despite Sora knowing that all Charlie wanted to do was punch him right then and there.
"It's—" Sora started, about to finish with "complicated", but that wouldn't fly. Not with Charlie, and certainly not with Erin. Still, it got Charlie's attention long enough for Sora to fully analyze the gravity of Charlie's annoyance. He felt like he was in the theater again, getting bitched out for being selfish.
Ray was strumming out the fastest riff Sora had ever heard with an exotic, hispanic lilt that made it feel like they were on the cusp of a bar fight in Mexico City.
So Sora pointed to Ray through the crowd and said the first excuse that came to mind. "Ray's poly," he said.
Ray punctuated the end of the sequence with one last final strum and put his hand in the air, and the applause lifted with it, drowning out the sound of Leo crying, "You've got to be kidding me!"