Tempest (Royce/Winston)

015

Chresanto's P.O.V.

"Do you think Elijah's still mad about us not letting him come along?" Ray asked.

I shrugged my shoulders, turning on my left blinker and looking over my shoulder to make sure I could switch lanes.

"I don't know and I don't care, he'll get over it. Honestly, he probably would've said some stupid shit while we were giving these guys the money anyway. It's best that we just went without him, Ray".

"You know that all he wants to do is fit in with us, right?"

"Just because he wants to fit in doesn't mean he should".

"Right, but at the same time... I think we should let him come along and do some stuff, maybe if he were to actually experience things he'd actually mature" Ray murmured, "he's got such a carefree and childlike persona and as much as I don't want him to change, to stay stress free, he should at least be aware that not everyone in the world is a nice person".

I could understand where Ray was coming from, but at the same time all I saw Elijah as was an annoying little brother. No one would want their little brother to be around people who they know would do them harm.

"I had to find out the hard way, Chresanto" Ray stated.

"Yeah" I agreed, "I know".

Ray used to be just like Elijah, this crazy optimistic kid who thought everyone was nice, that no one was out to get him. So you could understand how his whole demeanor changed when his fucked up aunt decided to feel up on him whenever she came to visit for family gatherings. That was when he was young, like the age of eleven or twelve. 

I kind of think that's why Ray identifies as asexual because he was inappropriately touched by someone who he thought he could trust, which in turn made his appeal to sexual behaviors, and things that naturally come with it, such as relationships, non-existent. He didn't like being touched or in tight spaces with people because he just didn't feel comfortable, and I could understand why.

"I haven't heard from her since the last time she was over" Ray suddenly confessed, he absentmindedly flipped through radio stations, it didn't bother me as much as I thought it would. That was only because I was too busy paying close attention to what he was saying, Ray rarely talked about his aunt, and at the random times that he did, I wanted to make sure that he knew I was listening. 

"She didn't touch me or anything, she actually kept her distance, which was weird, but my parents were constantly around this time, so that's probably why. I tried locking myself away in my room like I always do when she's over, but my mom didn't want me to be antisocial towards family".

"Do you think you're ever going to try and tell them again about what she did?"

Ray shrugged, "I don't know, I told you about how I tried that one time and how they fucking turned their backs on me. Spouting their bullshit excuses: 'Aunt Sheila is family, she wouldn't do that' and 'she loves you'. I'm graduating this year, I already know what college I'm going to and it's nowhere close to home, so I could care less if they really know what that woman did to me or not".

"Okay".

I wasn't going to tell him that he should try and tell his parents again because if he didn't want to, I wasn't going to force him. He did what he wanted to do anyway, he didn't have to listen to a thing I said. I could tell his parents myself, but I damn sure wasn't going to betray him like that. Ray obviously trusts me a lot to tell me something so personal, I wasn't going to make him regret it.

"What's the deal with you and Jacob?" He asked, switching the conversation over to me.

"Nothing..."