They're Only Photos || Norman x Ray

36

RAY

"If you can dream it, you can do it."

~°~
"Norman!" Ray shouted, but the white-haired man was long gone now, out of the shop, down the pier and into the sea of people.

He wretched his arm from the lie detector; it clattered on the floor and he bolted for the tent exit.

He crashed into someone on the way out. "Sorry," he yelled, not looking back; he was too busy to care.

Ray pushed his way through the crowd, searching the heads of people for a tall man with a head of white hair.

He couldn't see it.

Eventually he just gave up. He was too defeated for this. There was no way Norman would forgive him.

Besides, Ray was exhausted. He admitted to guilty. He deserved to be dropped by Norman. The raven-haired man would also be creeped out if he found out his best friend was obsessed with him.

Yes, he supposed that was it. Norman would report him to HR, he would lose his job and his accommodation. Emma would refuse to speak to him on Norman's behalf.

Ray would be homeless, jobless, friendless and moneyless all at once.

He the took the taxi home.

~°~

Now, he sat on his bed.

Ray gazed out of the open window. Then at the open window across from his.

A white hand lolled onto the windowsill.

Ray sighed. He'd decided to give Norman some space because he didn't want to seem prude, but it was proving more difficult than anticipated.

Every second he itched to be with him. Ray wanted to apologise, but he just didn't know how.

The raven-haired man looked away from the window, then glanced back. It was worth a shot.

"Norman?"

The hand flinched and withdrew itself.

"Norman please, I just want to talk!"

It was no use. Ray could hear footsteps and the angry shut of a door. Norman had left.

Ray sighed. He'd give his best friend the time he needed.

He'd signed himself up for a situation like this when he'd started to take secret pictures of Norman.

Ray had known that his actions could damage their relationship, but he was used to thinking about the "now" rather than the "then."

He owed Norman an apology, a huge one, and he knew it.

Ray's actions had not been valid. He needed to fix that. Do something for Norman that definitely wouldn't justify the way Ray had acted, but make up for them.

So, getting up from the spot where he'd been so quietly sulking for so long, he decided: it was time for a shopping trip.

~°~

"Erm, do you have .. like ..."

The woman at the counter perked up when she saw Ray.

"Ah, darling, is there something specific you're looking for?" she asked with a smile.

Ray blushed. "Uhm ... I'm looking for something to give to a .. special friend," he mumbled.

She grinned at him. "Oh? A future girlfriend, perhaps?"

"No, uh .. he's a guy, actually." He kept his eyes trained on the floor.

"Is that so? Well, what sort of present are you looking for?" The woman seemed unfazed at the change of gender.

"I dunno," Ray blurted dumbly.

"You don't know?" She raised an eyebrow. "Well, you should atleast have some vague idea of what he likes, right?"

"Well, he likes puppies. He bought one recently actually, a corgi."

The woman sighed and looked at him seriously. "Sir, I'm sorry to inform you, but we don't sell puppies here. This is a jewelry shop."

"Oh. Well then, do you sell jewelry here?" Ray deadpanned.

"I'm joking!" he said quickly when he saw the incredulous look on the woman's face.

"You better be."

"Anyway," Ray continued, clearing his throat. "I was looking for ... like, matching hairclips or something."

"Matching?"

Ray nodded.

"We have lots of those," the girl at the counter assured him. "Come."

Ray followed her deeper into the store, which was abundant with cases filled with precious and non-precious stones alike. The shelves were lined with displays and cheap jewelry.

He took a moment to breathe everything in; take in his surroundings.

There were a lot of choices after all.

"Here we are." The woman gestured to the little area they had stopped at.

It was at the very back of the shop.

"You're not looking for anything too expensive, are you?"

"No, no!" Ray said quickly. "I can't afford that. Just an apology gift. I ... really messed up," he admitted.

"Mm, I could tell the moment you walked in."

"Really?" Gosh, was he that obvious?

"Yeah. You looked devastated. Like you had just had the person you were stalking find out about it or something."

"Something like that," Ray mumbled.

"Alright," she sighed. "We have some options here, stainless steel, partial silver, partial gold, etcetera."

Ray scanned the shelves. They were mostly rings, some bracelets, a few hairclips, but nothing really caught his eye.

Oh, wait. Yes there was.

On the highest shelf possible was a two-set earrings. One pair was jade green and silver set with little sunshine yellow details. The other was azure blue on silver, decorated with bits of lavender.

"Ohemgee, what a coincidence," the lady at the store said. "There seems to be a cheap set that I know you'd love."

"Oh, yeah,"  Ray breathed. "They're perfect."

~°~

Once Ray had gone shopping for almost everything he needed, there was one last stop.

Hot Topic.