Sacred (II)

XX

The next time she found herself being startled awake for no reason at all. Then she heard noises coming from Ray's bedroom, then a low thud then a slew of curse words.

"God damn it." Rachel could faintly hear in the dark living room. She sighed and could feel the pain in her leg quickly starting to spread, with tense muscles she slowly got off the couch. The strain in her neck is already apparent, she wishes she had used a pillow to support her head.

It was late now, and she had to get back to her room to take more ibuprofen. She also wanted to get back to her bed, halfway to her room she heard Ray's door open and she froze and watched as he made his way towards her.

"Hey, what are you doing? You're supposed to be laying down." He said with concerned eyes, wrapping an arm around her waist to help her to the bed.

"Maybe I wanted to get out of the bedroom. I'm not completely crippled. Anyways I was starting to get hungry, and you had nothing to eat." Rachel said in a joking tone, Ray grinned as he handed her two ibuprofen pills. Then sat on the end of the bed,

"Yeah, I know. Haven't had any time to eat. But now I do because my stomach feels like it's to my back." He said with a laugh she laughed along with him.

"Well, I ordered pizza at like 9:30. It's still on the counter. Gave the driver a generous tip." She said with a wink.

"I'm sure you did." Ray replied with a smirk, "Thanks for getting the pizza."

"No, thank you. For everything." She whispered looking him in the eyes, her heart filled with so much gratitude. Tears quickly blurred her eyesight. She slid her eyes with her hands, as she wiped her tears, palms burning from the salty tears on her bruised hands.

Not even a second later, strong arms wrapped around her shaking form. Her fingers grasped at the back of his shirt as she sobbed in his shoulder,

"Hey, it's alright. You don't have to thank me for anything okay? I did it because you're important to me."

"Yeah, I know." she muttered with a shrug of her shoulder. "I don't know what I did to deserve you." Her face turned in the crook of his neck.

"I know, I know. I'm the best." He sighed dramatically, rubbing her back for comfort. He heard and felt her laugh,

"Yeah, you are." He now heard her voice mutter directly in his ear.

"No but seriously, I'll do anything for you. You know that." He said, staring at the wooden headboard behind Rachel's head.

"Same here. But we both know you'll help me before I can help you."

"You're not wrong." He said with a chuckle, smirking.

She pulled away from their hug and found his hands to hold in hers. Looking him in the eyes,

"What do I do now?" She sighed out,

"What do you mean?"

"I mean with Zack and I. Know that everything is over, I don't know what to do. I love him but I don't know if I'm ready." She explained a look of distress on her face.

"What's stopping you?" He asked, his question lingering in the air as the silence grew. She quickly averted her eyes and removed her hands from his.

"I don't know." She said not looking him in the eyes.

"Okay let me rephrase the question then, What is holding you back from being with him?"

"Me. I'm holding myself back." She answered quickly. Like she was making up things.