Chapter 7

No one had ever asked me what I had on my mind before. It felt weird. I didn't think I should trust him but when he looked at me with those kind emerald eyes I couldn't think of anything else. What would I lose by telling him anything? He wouldn't hurt me. No one with eyes like his could. Ray's eyes moved down my eyes and lingered on my lips. He licked his lips and his eyes met mine. There was a different look in them now. One I couldn't comprehend. Get your shit together, Amber. He's your boss for fuck's sake. He must be filthy rich if he owns cars like this one. Hell, it must not be the only car he had. Ray moved his eyes back to the road. I tore my eyes from him and looked outside the window.

I made up my mind and spoke," I was just thinking about how I cried in front of you"

" I guess you won't tell me why you cried," Ray said. It wasn't a question I realized.

He knew I wouldn't but I was afraid of his influence on me. I would probably tell him if he pressed me for an answer. But he wouldn't, I was sure of that. Suddenly, the car stopped. We had reached the restaurant. I couldn't hold back my gasp when I saw the restaurant. It wasn't McDonald's or Subway or any ordinary food place like I had expected it to be. It was an extravagantly fancy steakhouse.

" Vic and Anthony's," I read out loud from the car.

Ray opened his seatbelt and I tried to do the same but I wasn't able to open it. Putting it in was easy. Suddenly, an arm stretched across me to open the seatbelt. Fuck, it was Ray's. I gulped as I saw the muscles on his arm flex and push the veins outward. Ray's hair brushed against my face and I was too busy staring at his arms to realize that he had already opened the seatbelt. I blushed and knew really well that he noticed it. Ray got out of the car and opened the door for me. I got out of the car and my face fell in despair. I looked down at my clothes. It was probably the second time I wore them this week and most probably the thousandth time I'd worn them this year. My jeans were so worn out that they were slightly torn on one knee. I had so grown out of my shirt that it looked like a crop top on me.

" I can't go here," I said. Ray turned around and looked at me weirdly.

" Why not?" he inquired.

" I just... I've never been to such a fancy restaurant and I look too crappy to be in one right now," I admitted.

" What's wrong with how you look?" Ray commanded.

It was a genuine question. He looked at me with those eyes again and they reminded me of stars. Stars that made nights serene, that made people love the nighttime because it revealed them. The stars, that let people focus on the light instead of the dark. I could see stars in his eyes even in the daytime. If he was the stars then I would be the darkness. There was nothing that shone in me. This reminded me of the movie The Fault In Our Stars, which I watched with my mom a year ago. It was the first time she wasn't drunk or had any guy home. It was just the two of us. At that time I was living with her, she was better than what she had become now. It was the best moment I ever had with my mom in the sixteen years I'd lived with her. We were both crying our eyes out by the end of the movie and hugging each other. We probably discussed the movie for a solid hour and argued about how the ending should have been.