Ray opened the door and imdiately had to catch Kevin before he almost fell forward.
"Shit— Kevin?" Ray muttered, grabbing his shoulders.
Kevin was a wreck. Eyes glassy, body swaying hard like he could barely stay on his feet. He looked like a kid about to cry, lips trembling.
"Ray... bro... I just wanna talk for a bit, man," Kevin said, voice hoarse and cracking. "Please..."
The sll of alcohol hit Ray hard — cheap whiskey and beer. Kevin was completely gone.
"I... I can’t go ho right now. Just let crash here tonight, please, Ray..."
Ray shook his head. "Nah, bro. You’re fucked up. Go sleep it off at your place."
"Co onnn..." Kevin whined, clutching Ray’s shirt like a little kid. "Just for a bit, Ray. I need to talk..."
Ray let out a long sigh, annoyed. Then his eyes caught sothing — a keychain half hanging out of Kevin’s jeans pocket. Without thinking, Ray slipped his hand in, grabbed the keys, and shoved them into his own pocket.
"Alright, co on," Ray said, pretending to help him inside.
But instead of bringing Kevin into his unit, Ray dragged him straight to the apartnt next door — Kevin’s place. He unlocked the door, hauled the drunk guy in, and dropped him onto the couch.
"Sit your ass down," Ray said flatly. "I’m leaving."
He turned to go, but Kevin suddenly grabbed his wrist.
"Ray... wait. Sit for a sec. Please."
Ray hesitated. He should’ve left. But that dumb curiosity got the better of him again.
He sat down on the single chair across from the couch.
Kevin leaned forward, elbows on his knees, looking completely wrecked.
"What the fuck am I lacking, Ray?" he started, voice shaking. "I’ve done everything Julia wants. Everything. So what else does she want from ?"
Ray stayed quiet, but he was listening.
Kevin kept going, words coming out fast and ssy.
"This is all ’cause of her, Ray. I was supposed to keep studying business. That was the plan. But Julia told to chase my dream, join the band full ti. So I dropped out. Fought with my parents over it. Now they barely even talk to . And I started drinking all the ti... every ti I hear people saying she’s cheating, I don’t know what the fuck to do anymore."
Kevin rubbed his face roughly.
"But I don’t believe it. How could she be cheating? She fucks all the ti, Ray. All the ti. Except when she’s on her period. So how the fuck could she be cheating?"
Ray let out a small laugh under his breath, thinking, ’Yeah right, like anyone’s tryna fuck during period anyway.’
Kevin didn’t notice. He just kept rambling.
"I’m the only guy who can make her moan loud as fuck on the bed."
Ray raised an eyebrow. "Who said that?"
"Julia," Kevin answered imdiately, like it was obvious. "She told herself."
Ray leaned back in the chair and stared at the ceiling for a second.
Ray actually felt a little happy seeing how pathetic Kevin’s life had beco.
’That girl’s toxic as hell,’ he thought. ’And this dumbass is actually eating it up.’
Then Kevin dropped anotherline without realizing how much it hit. ’I’am a genius....’ he stopped mid sentence.
Suddenly Kevin spoke again, his voice a bit quieter but still ssy and slurred.
"I used to go to Paragon, Ray... you know that place? Pa-ra-gon..."
Ray went completely still. Just hearing the na made his chest feel tight. Paragon. The university that used to be his biggest dream, but the doors were shut tight for soone like him.
Kevin didn’t notice Ray had gone quiet. He kept rambling.
"Julia always hypes up, you know? She calls a winner. Tells not to be scared of anyone. Even you. She said, ’muscles don’t an shit compared to ntal strength.’ You hear that? ntal. That’s what matters according to her."
Ray couldn’t hold it in. He burst out laughing, the sound echoing in the small apartnt. ’ntal my ass,’ he thought. But he didn’t say anything out loud. He just kept laughing while shaking his head.
His laughter slowly died down. So did Kevin’s voice.
The room suddenly went quiet.
Kevin stopped talking completely. His eyes stared blankly at the floor, like he just realized he’d said way too much. Even his breathing sounded calr now.
Ray let out a quiet sigh. He pulled Kevin’s keys out of his pocket and placed them on the coffee table right next to him. Without saying anything, Ray stood up and walked out of the unit.
He closed the door gently behind him.
Back in his own place, Ray went straight to his room.
---
The next day, around nine in the morning, Ray was already awake. He grabbed his phone and called Lisa.
It rang a few tis before she picked up.
"Hello...?" Lisa answered, her voice still raspy from just waking up.
"I wanna move in this afternoon. That cool?"
Lisa let out a small sleepy laugh on the other end.
"Yeah, it’s fine. Just move in whenever."
"Thanks," Ray said shortly before hanging up.
Around eleven, Karl showed up like he promised. He knocked on the door while carrying so empty boxes.
"Hey," Karl greeted as Ray opened the door. "You don’t have that much stuff, right? I only brought the small car."
Ray nodded. "Yeah, not too bad. Thanks for helping out."
They started carrying Ray’s things out. When Karl was about to grab the last box, he suddenly stopped near the door and turned to Ray with a small mischievous smile.
"Hey... I got a surprise for you."
Ray frowned. "What?"
"Turn around."
Ray raised an eyebrow but turned around anyway.
The mont he did, he froze.
Standing in front of the unit next door was a thick, curvy MILF. The sa woman who usually wore tight clothes now had on sothing more casual and comfortable. She was smiling widely the second she saw Ray. She was carrying grocery bags like she was about to cook up a whole feast for so kind of celebration.
Ray swallowed hard.
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