7th Rose Street was not that far from Concord where Ray lived. After all, Fram Hill was a small town.
He hadn't been in the quaint neighborhood before but it was not hard finding his way to Lily's home. The house with the pine trees untrimmed – that was a useful clue and an obvious one. It definitely had a personality.
Her place was in fact the only house with untrimmed pine trees. The Stiff didn't have gardening skills. That much was true.
Ray tried to stir her awake. "We're finally here, princess."
She didn't budge so he pressed a little more. "Hey, McQueen...."
"I actually heard you the first time. Sorry."
He only kept his hands on the steering wheel and looked at her in the rearview mirror. "No problem."
"Thank you."
He only nodded.
Unsteadily, she got out of the car.
"Easy there. I heard you drank quite a lot tonight. Do you need help?" He quickly went out of the car and helped her. "Let me walk you to the door."
When at the door, he observed her small frame, her being clumsy, and her fumbling for her house key.
"Next time, don't drink alcohol if you can't stand it," he suggested.
"Noted."
Click! The front door opened.
Finally, after what felt like a hundred years of her trying to open the door, Ray could get away now.
There was no one inside the house.
Curious, he asked, "You alone tonight? Will you be okay?"
She looked up at him and nodded, "Yeah. I'll be okay. I have my grandmother around." She pointed to the house next door. "We're neighbors."
His only reply was, "Cool."
***
"Yeah, cool. Anyway, thank you for driving me home. I could have driven my car by myself, but Jean insisted. She's this safe driving advocate I sometimes need."
With his hands in his pockets, Ray only smiled, "A good citizen here, and you're welcome."
Not sure what else to say, her reply was "Yeah..."
It was dark outside, early morning, and with little light coming from inside the house, Lily could see the tiny freckles across the bridge of his aquiline nose. He was tall and towered over her. She had to crane her neck to meet his eyes when talking.
He embodied to her the one true gripe of her youth -- she no longer had chances of ever-growing an inch or two. She was frustratingly, vertically challenged. She's short, okay?
For a popular guy like him in a town that was Fram Hill, Ray Carter was unbelievably pale. Technically speaking, the word should be fair-skinned but he was...
Pale. Leather jacket. Freckles. An unruly mop of dark hair. Daddy long legs. Eyes almost like cobalt blue.
Ugh!
And he was the last person she wanted to be seen out in public with.
She caught herself staring at him that she hastily said, "Thank you for the ride. And goodnight!" and closed the door, so abrupt she was sure she saw Ray's eyes went as big as saucers, his mouth agape.
To her, closing the door was the end of another typical Friday night, of another attempt at fitting in, and of one unexpected encounter with a stranger.
Facepalm! Lily, it's Ray Carter. Ugh!
Realization set in.
To him, she could only imagine, it was confusion as to why he deserved the door suddenly shoved to his face.
Ears pressed to the hard, rough surface of the door, she listened to his footsteps or him letting out a disgruntled sigh, a knock on the door, or him kicking the pebbles, or him breathing in frustration. She imagined him staring at the door, wondering why.
Go home, will you?! Go Away. She silently implored him, her heart beating fast.
Praying she had not been too rude to him, she rather faced whatever repercussions of dismissing him in the manner she just did in the morning or some other time but not any time soon, hopefully. She rather faced him never again, if possible.
She believed if she ever saw him again in school or somewhere else she would not survive the embarrassment. She would melt right there and then in front of him -- like ice cream under the heat of the sun. That would be a tragic chapter in her book.
Ears pressed closer to the door and listening more intently to any movement outside, she finally heard the rumble of a car engine and the roughness of rubber against the asphalt. She was certain he was gone.
Whew!
For the first time since she left the party, she could breathe again.
***