cruel summer | ray hall [panic]

chapter 18

chapter 18 - PHANTOMS

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Grace and Ray collected themselves, and then headed to join the rest of their peers in the Graybill House. Not thinking much of it, they intertwined their hands as they entered the hallway.

Ray nervously swung their hands between the two of them as he spoke. "I know Tyler wanted to check out the basement and smoke for a bit if you wanna join us." He wasn't his usual confident-Ray self when he asked, and he wasn't totally sure why.

Grace hummed, genuinely thinking about his offer. "I'd love to," she began, "but I should probably try and find my friends." She had realized that they'd been separated for too long and that they might be worried about her.

"Yeah, maybe you should do that," Ray responded with a small smirk on his face, even though his heart had deflated a little. Still, neither of them moved, their hands still connected, and their gazes locked.

As Grace scanned Ray's face, she realized the differences she now saw in him. No longer was he the bad boy who had mildly intrigued her at the start of the summer, but he was someone who she'd grown to know, and genuinely liked spending time around. She leaned in slowly, her hand reaching for the back of his neck, and kissed him for the final time that night. Only this kiss was different than all the others. Ray's hand fell on the side of her face and she leaned into his touch. He was taken aback by the nature of the kiss but eventually began to savor it. The kiss wasn't lustful, but instead more passionate. Meaningful. It was a kind of meaning that Grace couldn't quite put her finger on.

Still, the difference in the kiss didn't stop Ray from smirking as he pulled away. He hiked his bag higher on his shoulder and turned on his heel to go find Tyler, leaving a blushing Grace behind him.

Little did she know, that while she had been occupied, Heather had found Natalie who too had been separated from Dodge, and when the two went to search for Grace, they stumbled upon her kissing Ray Hall.

"What the fuck?" Grace recognized the voice behind her and quickly pivoted to see Heather and Natalie inside another room in the hallway with looks of bewilderment plastered on their faces.

"What the fսck were you doing?" Natalie whisper-shouted as she pulled Grace into the room the two girls were in. "Are you kidding me?" Natalie seemed shocked to say the least, but so was Grace. She could only assume that the girls had seen her goodbye kiss to Ray and finally figured out what was going on. "Do you need me to call someone? A psychiatrist? Cops? I don't know. A fսcking assassin so I don't have to shoot you myself?!" Natalie was flipping out while Heather stood behind her with a shocked look on her face, yet she offered no comments.

"Okay, Nat, you need to come down," Grace attempted to stop the girl's questioning, but she completely ignored Grace's words. Instead, she interrupted her, rhetorically asking "Were you just hooking up with..." It seemed that Natalie couldn't even bring herself to say his name, so Heather finished for her. "With Ray Hall?"