RAY VS JAKE

Lily's mouth was dry. She couldn't move. Or breathe.

All she could see was that Jake Wright had his death stare on Guy Lowell. He was angry enough and intent to make things painful for the shaking guy on the floor. He shouted, "What the fuck do you mean it's gone?!"

Poor Guy, begging, almost wished the floor swallowed him whole so he could escape Jake and his kicks. "It's gone. Come on, man. If- If- If you want, we can go to my place and then- then--"

"Oh, shut up, you shit! When I say it's mine, it's mine!" He grabbed Guy by his shirt but pushed him away. "Who took it?! Give me a fucking name."

Afraid and desperate, Guy looked around him, around the room, looking for a face to blame.

The room was quiet. People were looking at one another, whispering to each other. Douglas' house suddenly seemed too small for Jake and his anger. He was a dark figure in the middle of the room. He was draining the life of the party.

Lily thought that dark clouds surrounded Jake, forming a menacing wall around him. He was staring at everyone like a rabid dog. A bully, ready to bite.

When his gaze fell on Lily, she shivered. She went cold and shrunk to a size of a pea.

She wanted to run away from the bad, mad dog named Jake Wright.

She had this sudden urge to hold Ray's hand. Shocked by the thought, she stopped herself from reaching out.

She shook her head. What am I thinking? Hold his hand?

It was a ridiculous idea.

"Carter… Carter, man." Guy begged Ray. He was waiting for him to save him somehow.

A desperate call for a friend.

Like the bad, mad dog he was, Jake was too alert to hear and recognize Ray Carter's name escaped Guy's mouth. Ray's name seemed to make him angrier but excited at the same time. He was ready to gnaw his favorite bone, very hungry. He closed his eyes for a moment and opened them. He tried to calm himself but failed.

Then, he growled, "You-- ."

Lily looked at Ray. She waited for his reaction. What now? What did you do? She mentally asked him.

She felt him stiffened for the second time that night and was perplexed again about the same impulse to hold his hand.

No, don't hold his hand! She should not.

Why should I? She felt it was weird feeling the way she was feeling.

She was scared by how Ray was standing there beside her. He was staring at Jake who was also staring back at him. She shrunk a little more. Now tinier than a pea.

The atmosphere between the guys suddenly became suffocating for those watching them from the sidelines.

Oh, Snow White, what did you do to make the school bully mad? She but whispered to the air.

Gone was the stiffness replaced by arrogance, Ray moved away from Lily's side and smiled at the bad, mad dog as if taunting it to be a puppy instead. "Yo, Jake, my ever favorite buddy. What is this? The intensity, man. Whew! Let's cool it down. I see this party doesn't amuse you so much as expected. Don't kill the fun." He reached for Guy and patted his shoulder. "You okay?"

Guy gulped hard and could only nod a small okay. "Carter bought the last one, Jake. I thought you wouldn't come tonight so I… ah… I mean... I thought you were at the Shacks. So-- " He never finished his sentence. He scuttered away from the guys instead as fast as he could.

Only Jake and Ray were standing face to face. In the middle of the room. They were like that for a few moments, just staring at each other, holding their own breaths, and waiting for the other one to give up first.

To Lily's eyes, it looked like a pissing contest or a "Whose Ego is Bigger?" contest. It could be the "Whose Dick is Bigger" contest too.

Boys. Boys. Boys. She was mentally repeating the mantra. Boys. Boys. Boys. Are. Stupid.

But after no-one-knows-how-long-because-no-one-dared-to-count, both Ray and Jake gave up the pissing contest. Who won, nobody knew.

Lily realized that all that while she was also holding her breath.

Ray playfully touched Jake's right shoulder and smirked. "Come on, man. It's just weed."

He made it seem so easy. So petty. Nothing to kick someone's guts over for.

On the other hand, Jake was tense and still being the bad, mad dog of the two. He didn't say anything but swatted Ray's hand away. He seemed disgusted with his nearness to his apparent rival. After one last stare at every single one in the room, he turned away and left.

As if leaving skid marks on Douglas' marble floors on his way out.

Lily was just grateful that there were no blood or body parts after all. She could breathe again.

Everybody recovered from the "Jake Wright versus Ray Carter" pissing contest and soon began to party again. As if nothing happened. As if Guy Lowell did not exist.

Looking around, Lily saw Jean talking to Alas, who surprisingly had his arm around the redhead, curvy girl. She guessed the two were really dating, but she had no idea how they came to be.

Jean did not tell her anything. All Lily knew was that the last time she checked Frankie Bosworth was still her best friend's ultimate crush.

Still finding her way through the crowd, she tried to look for Ray and failed because he was nowhere to be found.

Just a few seconds ago, he was right there, and now he was gone, invisible to her radar. She guessed he went out for a breather outside or got himself even drunker. By the look of him tonight, he was someone who needed alcohol and to drown in it.

I say let him be. Good god. That Ray Carter is a mystery. He spells trouble with a capital T.

Thinking that it didn't matter if she cared anyway, she swallowed her last beer and decided not to get drunk anymore. She felt like shit the last time she did.

Another party. Another night of not getting things quite right.

Remembering about feeling like shit, she did not want to go home in someone else's car again like Ray driving her home a few weeks ago.

No, not again. Nope! Not happening.

She did not mean to sound ungrateful, but it was just that she was always anxious about the strange impulse she got whenever she was near him.

And that same impulse was so foreign to her to explain though it was also too surreal to dismiss simply as her being drunk and lonely.

She dared not to explore it any further. Or else she would not like what she'd find or what she might do.

***