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She was gonna do it.
She was gonna do it.
She was so gonna do it!
Emma marched down the hallways of the shelter. Her goal? Going to the archives room where Ray would be sitting. He was always in the back, researching about the demons. Everyone knew he was always there. It was probably his favorite spot in the whole shelter.
Emma had a confident look in her face as she marched down the halls. Gilda was watching from the very end, peeking behind a corner. "Go get him, girl!" Gilda whispered, sending telepathic waves of encouragement to Emma.
Emma walked down the halls, confident look still in place.
But as soon as she reached the archives room, she did a 180, whirled back around, and marched right back to where Gilda was standing.
Gilda groaned as the orange-haired girl marched right up to her. "Emma!" Gilda scolded. "You're supposed to be going in. The archives room. Not. Back. To. Me!"
Emma's face changed from confidence to a huge, red blush. Emma squatted down and hugged her legs. "I know, I know!" Emma whimpered. "I'm trying!"
Gilda kneeled down next to her. "Emma, where'd all that confidence of yours go? You know I'm here for you even if he doesn't like you the same way, but I'm confident that he does! Go be a big girl!"
"I'm thankful for that, Gilda, I really am!" Emma replied. "But... I'm scared, this... this is different!"
Gilda sighed and comforted Emma with small pats on the back as Emma groaned in frustration.
This has been the news for the past few weeks. Emma found out she had a crush on Ray. Everyone in the shelter knew about it, even the little kids. Well, everyone except Ray. No one dared to tell him anything. It was Emma's job to confess to him, so the poor boy's been left out of the loop while the children all gave him creepy, knowing grins whenever he walks by.
Gilda was the first one to find out. One day she was minding her own business when she saw Emma peeking at Ray from behind a corner. Gilda was curious, so she decided to approach Emma. Emma gave a small shriek when Gilda touched Emma's shoulder that day. "Emma, what are you doing?" Gilda asked.
"I- I'm watching Ray," Emma replied, her eyes avoiding looking at Gilda's face.
"I can see that, but why? If you need him for something, I can go get him for you," A confused Gilda said.
"No!" Emma yelled before covering her mouth with her hands.
Ray already heard the yell, so he turned around to find the two girls standing there. "Need something?" He asked, staring at them with the aloof face he always has.
"Nope!" Emma chirped back, feigning innocence with a wide grin on her face. "Go back to what you were doing, Ray!"
Ray raised an eyebrow, but eventually shrugged it off and walked away. The two girls watched as he walked away and entered a different room. When Gilda looked back up at Emma, she saw a face she never thought she would see.
Blushing?
Emma was as red as a tomato. She also had sweat droplets running down her face, and visually, she was screaming nervousness.
Emma saw that Gilda was staring, so she brought up her hands, using them as a sad attempt to block her face from being seen. "Don't look!" Emma cried out. "I get it, I'm being weird!"
Gilda was dumbfounded for a good moment, but then she started laughing wildly. It didn't take a genius to realize what was happening. "Don't worry, Emma," Gilda said with a smile on her face. "You may be acting weird, but I'm about to help you get a whole lot weirder."
Thus began the two girl's mission of getting Emma to confess. For the past few weeks, Gilda has been watching Emma's interactions around Ray. They were extremely close in the past. They were always side-by-side. But ever since Emma realized that she had a crush on Ray, Emma started actively avoiding him.
She was avoiding him so much, in fact, that it became obvious to everyone in the shelter. As soon as Ray entered a room, Emma would leave before she could start blushing. As soon as Ray tried to sit down with her at a table to eat, Emma would get up and move to a different spot. When even was the last time they had a decent conversation? There was a huge distance between them that was starting to bother everyone at this point.
Even Ray noticed this distance in the past few weeks. Of course, he questioned it. He would try to grab Emma and get her to explain why she was avoiding him. But one day, Emma couldn't run away from him. Emma freaked out and screamed, and roughly pushed him onto the floor. Ray sat there on the floor, stunned by her reaction. He got visibly upset. He was hurt, and Emma realized her mistake a little too late.
Ray ran to the archives room and slammed the door behind him. Since then, Ray hasn't tried to bother her. He holed himself up in the archives room, getting out of contact with everyone in the family.
Gilda tried to talk to Ray. She went into the archives room to tell Ray that Emma didn't really hate him. "Then why did she push me away?" Ray asked, pouting.
"She has her reasons," Gilda said nervously, twirling her fingers anxiously.
"I don't care anymore," Ray replied, getting mad. "If she hates me now, so be it." Gilda knew that he didn't really mean that. The poor boy was honestly hurt that he was being avoided. Gilda knew that he wanted to see Emma. It was just in his eyes. Though Gilda could also see that Ray wanted to be left alone, so she left the archives room that day and has been encouraging Emma since.
Emma wasn't trying to avoid Ray. In Emma's words, "It's an automatic reflex!" She couldn't help but run away. Emma knew that she had to end this silly crush eventually, just so that she could be on friendly terms with Ray again.
Emma knew she had to apologize. She had to walk into the archives room and talk to Ray. Emma had Gilda's encouragement, but Emma was never even able to knock properly. Gilda has been trying very hard to get them to meet up ever since they started avoiding each other.
After the fifth day of seeing Emma turn around from going into the archives room, Gilda had enough.
"You. In. Today!" Gilda yelled, pointing at Emma's chest.
"G- Gilda?" Emma said nervously, backing up. It was rare to see Gilda so fired up. Gilda was scary when she was mad, and she was furious.
"I've had enough of this!" Gilda yelled. "You've been avoiding each other for far too long! You are going in to talk today!"
Gilda took Emma by the hand and dragged her. Despite being older and usually stronger then Gilda, Emma found herself being dragged by Gilda at an alarming rate.
"Wait! I- I'm not ready yet!" Emma cried out, trying to pull back.
"No buts! You are going through that door right now! I'm sick of this!" Gilda yelled back.
True to her word, Gilda marched up to the archives room and slammed the door open. The large crash of the door hitting the wall resonated throughout the shelter. Inside, Ray dropped the book he was reading and looked up with wide eyes. He was alarmed and bewildered by the sudden presence of the two girls.
Gilda pulled Emma by the hand then shoved Emma in. Emma tumbled into the archives room, barely catching herself from falling.
"You!" Gilda said, pointing to Emma, who flinched. "And you!" Gilda said, now pointing to Ray, who also gulped in surprised. "You two are going to talk, and when you come out, you better have made up!"
And with that, Gilda slammed the door shut behind her. She patted her hands together and huffed.
Her job was done.
Emma and Ray both stared at the door with bewildered expressions for a while. Emma reluctantly turned her head towards Ray, who looked up with her with nervousness on his face.
"H-Hey, Ray," Emma muttered.
Ray gave a slight nod. "Yo," He replied, raising up an arm.
Emma was already flustered from being in the same room as him. She thought she was gonna blush any minute now. She couldn't bare getting rejected by Ray.
"Do you want to sit down?" Ray asked all of a sudden, making Emma flinch.
"No!" Emma cried out, waving her arms. "I'm good! Don't worry about me!"
Ray sighed. "But how are we going to talk if you're all the way over there?"
"It's okay! Standing here is... very comfortable," Emma replied. "There's a nice view of those bookshelves...over there..."
Ray raised an eyebrow. "You don't sound very convincing, Emma."
"I don't do I," Emma said with a nervous chuckle. "But... just leave me here. I feel comfortable here."
Ray got up from his seat. "Well if you're not coming to me, I'm coming to you," Ray said.
What?
Emma watched with wide eyes as Ray started marching up to her. Emma jolted, she stepped back and hit her back against the door. Emma squeezed her eyes shut, she didn't want to look at Ray, didn't want him to see her face.
"Open your eyes, Emma," Ray whispered.
Emma slowly raised her head and opened her eyes. To her surprise, blunt Ray was standing a few feet away from her. A good distance. He had a sad look on his face but made it purposeful to not get any closer.
"I won't touch you," Ray told her. "So won't you finally talk to me?"
Emma saw the pain in his eyes. She knew he really did want to get closer to her. It was like she could read his heart. How he wanted to pat her head, have conversations again, and be together.
Emma took in a deep breath. She really wanted to talk to him. Truly she wanted to end this distance between them.
"I'm sorry, Ray." Emma finally said.
"For what?"
"For... For pushing you," Emma muttered, looking down. "Did it hurt?"
"No, no," Ray said, shaking his head. "I was surprised, but it didn't hurt. You could never really hurt me, Emma."
"That's good," Emma said, giving a slight nod, but still looking down.
And then there was the silence again. The dreadful silence.
Emma knew that wasn't the end of it. She had to confess her feelings. He had the right to know why she has been constantly avoiding him.
But... it was scary.
"So... about the view..." Ray suddenly said.
Emma looked up. Ray wasn't looking at her, but to the left where all the bookshelves are.
"The view?" Emma asked with wide eyes.
"Yeah, the bookshelves and all... pretty neat view... from here..." Ray mumbled.
Emma's eyes widened as she saw the tint of pink come into Ray's face. Ray awkwardly scratched the back of his head as he looked at the bookshelves.
Was this...
His sad attempt at making conversation?
Emma couldn't help herself. She burst out laughing. Ray jolted at the sudden roar of laughter and looked at Emma. The pink in his cheeks was getting darker by the minute as Emma saw he was getting irritated with her reaction.
But she couldn't help herself, Ray making conversation was the funniest thing in the world to her.
Soon, Emma saw the irritation in his face fade into a smile. A warm smile. Ray even gave a slight chuckle as Emma stopped laughing.
"I'm glad..." He told her with that small smile on his lips. "I'm glad you're still cheerful."
And Emma felt her heart skip a beat. It was times like this that made Emma realize that she developed a crush on him. No, she was head-over-heels falling for the guy. He cared about her so much, after all.
Emma took in a deep breath again and decided to look Ray in the eyes.
"Ray, you want to know why I'm avoiding you, right?" Emma asked.
Ray's smile disappeared. His face turned serious, he was paying close attention to Emma's every word. "Yeah," He replied, giving a slight nod.
Emma squeezed her fists tighter. He had the right to know, he truly did. She just had to remember that.
"I..." Emma started. She couldn't help but look down again due to the blush spreading across her face.
'I fell in love with you..."
She did it. The words were out.
But Emma couldn't stop herself. She started blabbering.
"I... realized I had a crush on you! I realized and ever since... I started avoiding you. I just got too embarrassed around you. It was just weird to suddenly develop these feelings. I didn't know what to do with them! I didn't mean to avoid you or push you away. My heart just got too erratic when you were next to me, and I started blushing too much. I- I'm sorry for springing this on you!"
The words came out before she could stop them. When Emma was finished, she felt her face heat up to newer levels of warmth. She wouldn't dare to see the reaction on Ray's face.
"That's it?" Ray finally said after a moment of silence.
Emma blinked.
"That's it?" He said again, louder.
Emma looked up. What did he mean by saying that's it? But Emma was shocked when she looked up.
Ray... was angry.
Ray started marching up to her, ignoring the distance he had set previously. Emma shrieked and cowered to the door.
Ray slammed his hand down on the door, blocking any escape Emma might have been thinking.
"Emma, you're an idiot," Ray told her, glaring down at her.
Emma looked up in shock. "Wha-?" She tried to talk.
But before Emma could say a word, Ray used his other hand to lift up Emma's face. He brought his face down and kissed her right on the lips. A rough kiss that lasted for just a second.
When Ray removed his lips, he glared at her once again.
"Emma, you're an idiot!" Ray repeated, still angry.
Emma couldn't help but just stare at him with a bewildered expression. That was her reaction: Bewilderment. Her mind didn't even register the embarrassment that came with a first kiss, she was just baffled.
Did he just kiss her?
"Wait, wait," Emma said, bringing her hands up to cover her face, which was now getting hot again. "What just happened?"
"You," Ray said, pointing to her with an angry finger. He twirled the finger around to point at himself. "And me. We kissed."
Emma felt the blush rise to her ears. It wasn't a dream.
"Do you know what this means, Emma?" Ray asked.
Emma slowly shook her head, causing Ray to let out a frustrated sigh.
"It means I like you back! You idiot!"
Ray pulled Emma off the door and wrapped his arms around her. He placed one hand on her back and the other behind her head. He nuzzled into her shoulder. "You idiot, you should have told me," Ray whispered. "Do you know how I felt when the girl I liked for so long started avoiding me? I was really hurt, you know. Sure you can't hurt me physically, but I have emotions too, Emma!"
Emma couldn't believe her ears. Ray liked her back all this time?
"This- This feels so surreal," Emma mumbled, reaching up and squeezing Ray back.
"You're telling me!" Ray growled, squeezing her tighter. "I was prepared to never confess and you come in with this news. I'm the one who feels like he's living in a dream."
Ray lifted Emma's face once more, looking down at her with a tint of pink on his serious face.
"It still feels like a dream, so, I want proof that it's real."
Meanwhile, Gilda was sitting in the dining hall. She sat on a chair while drinking tea. Her foot was tapping wildly.
Perhaps she was too impatient with Emma. Confessing takes a lot of work. Maybe she shouldn't have rushed it.
Gilda was starting to feel guilty for making Emma go in there when she head a knock on the dining hall's double doors.
"Come in," Gilda called out to whoever was behind the doors.
The doors opened to reveal two individuals, and Gilda realized she didn't have to feel guilty after all.
"So, I suppose you had a good talk?" Gilda asked, giving a small smile.
In front of her stood Emma and Ray. Both were standing awkwardly and were actively holding each other's hands. Ray had the tiniest blush on his cheeks that he tried to cover with his other hand. Emma, on the other hand, was far too red to even try hiding her face. She just stood there, looking down at the ground with wide eyes as her cheeks flared red.
"Yeah," Ray said, speaking for the both of them.
"A good talk."