I Ran My Hand Through Your Hair [RayEm]

Chapter 14: I Don't Like Deeper Meanings

"Emma, wake up we have to get to class." Ray said through my door. I turned over and furrowed my eyebrows, ignoring him has got to be a talent.

A loud and disastrous sound from outside my room quickly startled me awake in the end. I scurried over to the door and opened it in distress; a pile of cans in an organized chaos laid, carefully set by Ray.

"You scared me, Ray!" I yelled as I quickly tried to become adjusted to the light in the room. God it was bright.

Ray gave a sly smile, almost mischievous. "You leave me no choice but to get creative."

-- I gasped. A memory in a dream.

I rubbed my eyes and groaned, what time was it?

"Emma, wake up you have a visitor!" Yuugo called out.

"On my way!" I responded, flopping to my side, slithering in the best words to describe the process to my closet. A sweater will do nicely for this already tired day.

I swung my door open and to my surprise it was neither Ray nor Gilda, the people I had spent the rest of my winter break with. No instead it was a rather surprising guest. I waved my hand while holding back a yawn.

"How's it hangin', Norman?"

"I'm good, I'd ask how you're doing but you're clearly still waking up."

"Keen eye." I smiled. "So what's with the special appearance, haven't heard from you much lately."

Norman looked over at Yuugo, who was distracted with a book and a warm cup of coffee. He glanced back at me, a soft smile formed on his face.

"I wanted to hang out. I take it you're not busy, it's the last day of break and you usually reserve that day to do nothing."

I sighed. "Norman, sometimes I think you know my routine better than myself." A chuckled escaped me. "Alright, you got it. Name a place and I'll follow."

"Great."

---

"I shouldn't be surprised you wanted to go to an art museum, but still not expected." I said.

The museum was one of modern art, it was pretty but I didn't really care about all the symbolism it was trying to convey, I'm not exactly a fan of deeper meaning stuff like that.

"I thought it would be nice. I know this isn't really your style, but I thought you'd end up liking it." Norman gave his signature smile.

"Really? I dunno, I'm not too good at stuff like this. You and Ray are way better." I waved my hand dismissively.

Norman gave a distraught look at the mention of Ray's name, but not for long before returning to his usual expression. "You don't give yourself enough credit, Emma. You're plenty smart, I think you're only saying that because language arts and literature have never been you're favorite subjects."

I gave him and teasing punch in the shoulder. "It's boring and you know it."

He winced before we shared a laugh. "I know you, Emma." He grabbed my hand. "Come on, let's get going, see who come up with most entertaining interpretations."

I grinned. "This is gonna be so fun."

We ran around, respectfully, giggling at each other's answers.

"It's symbolizing... the us vs them mentality."

"Dude, it looks like boobs."

Chattering and laughing we didn't notice our eventual disturbance of the other museum goers, which led to our eventual removal. We sat in silence for a moment afterwords, though it was short lived before we burst into laughter.

"I'm so sorry," I said in between laughs. "But you of all people making a sex joke was all I needed to lose it."

"It was worth the sacrifice of my dignity." He weezed.

We spent a good amount of time laughing, at some point our laughing was simply just contagious and not because of the said sex joke. Finally, we calmed down, slouching on the bench with goofy grins as people walked past.

"This is fun." I looked over to him, anticipation rising. "What next?"

Norman looked at his phone, the smile drooping. "I'm sorry, Emma, I just got a text from my parents they want me home for some family stuff."

"Awe, next time then." I sighed.

"For sure. Now let's get going, I'll drop you off at home." He stood up.

We followed I suite, making more childish comments about the art pieces we say today, a few mentions of school but of course goodbyes are always eventual.

"Thanks for hanging out today, I know you like to spend these days unwinding hut I dragged you outside." Norman said as I turned towards him, hand on the handle.

I grinned. "You kiddin'? This was a blast, I wouldn't have it any other way, Norman, I had fun." A sigh escaped me. "We don't hang out as much as we used to."

"I know, but things change. You have a boyfriend and I like him, it's only natural that we drift apart."

I frowned. "I know, I wish it didn't. Apart of me wished we could still act like a normal trio."

"It's impossible to have it all, Emma."

"I'm aware, Norman."

We stared at each other in silence, a hostile feeling taking over.

"What are you two doing?"

We snapped out of our daze, whipping our heads towards a certain raven in the apartment hallway.

"What's up, Ray." And "Good afternoon, Ray." Norman and I said in unison.

Ray cocked his head before shrugging, he walked towards us. "What's Norman doing here?" He looked over at me.

I glanced between them, landing my eyes on Norman. "He's dropping me off."

Ray looked at Norman, his signature smile plastered on his face. "We had a friend date, impromptu but fun. It was short lived."

Norman let out a breath, as if he had been holding it in, he looked over at me as he ran his hand through my hair, messing it up. I grabbed my hair as soon as his hand left it, odd.

"I'll see you two at school tomorrow, have a good night." Norman left, not leaving is time to respond before he turned the corner.

"Bye, Norman!" I yelled snapping out of my surprise. "That was weird."

"Yeah, weird." Ray whispered before turning his towards me. "He's never done that to you."

I removed my hand from my head, quickly patting it down. "Clearly, it felt weird too."

"How?"

"Well, when you do it, it feels kind. When Yuugo does it feels soft." I furrowed my eyebrows. "His felt not soft or kind."

I stated off at the corner before shrugging. "Whatever, best to not think too much on it." My face quickly reflected a smile as I looked towards Ray. "What are you doing here?"

"I had to take out the garbage."

"Makes sense." I went for the handle. "If you got time you wanna come in, I wanna watch a movie now that I got your attention."

Ray sighed, but a content expression showed. "Sure, only if it not a musical."

"I could say the same and ban those boring documentaries you make me watch." I lead him inside.

"They're educational and fun, Emma, not much better than that."

---

So, it's been a minute. Um school is okay, I've focused for the most part but you know... you know. You don't know but let's just say my mental health is a bit of a pain in my ass. Anyways I tried, here you go, enjoy I sure did. I think.

I also took the ACT so I'm in a might as well mood.

- Cryspi