#redshadow74

It had been months, perhaps a year since he left the crew and left her heart. The battles in Los Santos were more violent, and they were less equipped. There was the usual bloodshed, gun shot wounds, and broken bones.

It took a few months for what she thought would be the best for her. She let Michael sweep her off her feet and into his arms. He made her laugh, smile, filled the wound with enough attention to distract her from the pain.

When she was home alone, she pulled the purple sweater from her closet and wrapped it around herself, smelling gun powder and his laundry detergent. The scents slowly disappeared, reminding her how long it has been since she saw him.

Come find me, you know where.

Her phone buzzed at midnight. Michael wasn’t home yet from whatever he was doing with the rest of the crew. She got dressed out of her pajamas as fast as she could, her heart racing faster than her car. She quickly parked her car; jumped out of her seat.

She fell into his arms, squeezing his flesh, feeling him clench and groan.

“Ray?” she asked as she pulled away. In the orange glow of the street lamps, she saw the familiar shine of blood. “What happened?”

“I came back to try to finish some solo work, I got stabbed,” he held onto the wound, trying to put enough pressure on it. Her eyes widened and her first instinct was to bring him home, heal him herself. She had enough practice with the crew. “You were the first one I thought of to call.”

She sat him in her bathroom, stripping him of clothes. Like old times, but for a different reason. The wound wasn’t deep, and it didn’t hit anything major, he would need stitches.

“You’re still as pretty as I remember,” he smiles as she cleans his wound with peroxide. She looked up at him, meeting his brown eyes under the light. She didn’t want to kiss him, not yet. She carefully stitched his wound; gave him a towel to bite or scream into.

“You’re still as loud as I remember,” she joked as he let go of the towel as she finished. They stayed quiet for a while until they both leaned in for the kiss. It was soft, needy, but nostalgic. A rush of memories and the gut clenching feeling of all those nights they’ve spent apart. She couldn’t breathe, but she didn’t want to pull away first. When Ray did, she sucked in a short gasp of air and kissed him a second time. Short.

“Michael, huh?” he looked at her, feeling hurt. She turned away, feeling as if she betrayed him.

“You left, probably never coming back, I-I-He was sweet, is sweet,” she stuttered. He gave her a short kiss, pulling away when he heard the door open.

Michael was the first to enter the bathroom. She was sitting on the floor against the tiled wall across from him with bandages in her hands. Everyone was surprised to see Ray there, not questioning why he was sitting, shirtless, in Michael’s bathroom. They saw the bloody towels and clothes. They all began talking to him, forgetting that she was there. He would glance back at her time to time. He watched the way Michael kissed the side of her head that he was glad to be home. His best friend.

He was invited, by Michael, to stay the night. While everyone was thrilled, she knew he wouldn’t stick around for long. All he needed was the care, and her. The hour they spent together could drive him until the next time, she wouldn’t last the night without needing a pair of arms around her. In the morning, he took a fresh shirt from Michael’s drawer before slowly opening the door to their bedroom. Michael snored peacefully, and with a gentle nudge, he woke Lindsay up to tell her he was leaving.

“Already?” she whispered. He nodded. He saw the pain in her face, and she could see his. They once shared the bed and they wish they could lay in it again.

“I’ll be back, eventually, take care of yourself, and Michael,” he wished. She reached her hand out to touch his face.

Happy ever after were for couples who did not see an ending. They did. Before the bickering even started, there was a gut feeling that they weren’t going to work out. Lindsay ignored it, hoping to fit the pieces back together where they fell. Many sleepless nights after arguments she thought of what she was doing wrong, where was she letting it break, what words did she needed to say.

Needless to say, that it didn’t take long for Michael to tell her goodbye and good luck. She was dumbfounded, lost for words, she stood there staring at him as he spoke words of sympathy, apologies, that he just didn’t have the energy to keep them together.

“Is there someone else?” she finally shouted as he turned towards the door. He turned to face her one last time.

“Yeah,” he replied and walked out, leaving her there to cry. She buried her eyes in her sleeves, trying to catch every tear. Her sleeves were soaked through once the tears stopped and she felt absolutely numb. She sat on her couch until the moon came up. She hadn’t been staring at something in particular, she was lost in space.

Ray knew something was wrong when he saw her at the dinner with friends. Arms crossed over her chest and barely spoke to anyone unless they spoke to her first. Michael did not sit next to her, and instead sat next to Gavin.

“Hey, is everything alright? Are you and Michael alright?” He asked her. She smiled but her eyes told the opposite.

“It’s Gavin, isn’t it?” she blubbered as he took the seat next to her. He turned to look but he didn’t have a clue and just sighed:

‘No idea.”

He didn’t leave her side the entire evening, he find it cruel for her to be even attending the dinner when she was still grieving.

“C’mon, let’s eat and then I’ll take you out for a movie, get your mind off of it,” he offered. She shook her head in agreement. She took some deep breaths, thankful that Ray was such a good friend.

Ray was able to make her laugh again for the first time in over a week. With a job where comedy was key, it didn’t phase her during that time.

They were an unlikely duo. It was always Michael and Lindsay, and now Ray was there to come into the office at the odd hours of the day to check up on her.

“Wanna record something together?” he asked. “It’s been a while.” There was a grin on his face that only seeing Lindsay could cause.

“Yeah, sure, wanna start setting up?” she smiled, excited to get out of editing for a while.

The dynamic was different, she never cursed or got discouraged when she lost and appreciated the help when they played in teams. Nor did she have someone cursing at her for not having top notch performance.

The possibility of a mutual crush was evident when Ray stayed after-hours at the office he no longer worked at just to hang around with Lindsay. They were the only two in the office and he was leaning on her arm as she moved footage around and editing the scripts for their animation.

“Making it sound like I’m really cool,” he joked.

“You are really cool,” she replied.

“You are too,” he complimented. They grew silence, as blush swept across their faces, a smile across Lindsay’s. It was the first of many, and when the nights were too short, he stayed over at her apartment, showing her some kind of game or practicing X-Ray and Vav lines with her. 

“Hey Ray,” she started as he booted up a game. He turned to her and she pressed a kiss onto his lips.

“Oh.”

“You think?” she pulled away.

“I think we could. I mean, why not? It’s been great, fun, hanging out with you,” Ray stumbled upon his words. “I know I could love you.”

“I could too. Wanna try it again?” she smiled. He smiled back at her. There was the feeling of falling in love with your best friend. The rush of wanting the person who can make them laugh and grow. They sat on the floor in their pajamas after a long day for the both of them. The comfort of doing this again many more times in the future was exhilarating. Lindsay was simply a goddess in the tinted glow of the television screen and he finally understood his own feelings for her.