Page 65 of Tumbling Hearts

As he barely opens his eyes, it takes him a moment to register where he is—and who he’s with.

Gene is still hugging him from behind. Naked, under the blanket. Gene’s lips graze the back of his shoulder; Ray can feel his warm breath on his skin. It’s the next morning: the first day of October. Carol’s modeling gig is at ten⁠—

“Ray?! I know you’re in there. Are you still sleeping?”

It’s Carol’s voice. She knocks again, harder.

Ray’s heart nearly bursts from his chest.

“Uh… yeah! Just a moment!” he shouts, sitting up abruptly, making Gene let go of him. His best friend groans, rubbing his eyes.

“Ugh, my head…” Gene says.

“Fuck. Carol’s outside the door,” Ray whispers, jumping out of the bed as quietly as he can. “Hurry, put your clothes on.”

“Carol is…? Fuck. Fuck, okay.”

Ray tiptoes across the floor, spotting his clothes near the door. He can’t have Carol hear him—she’d wonder why he’s pacing around the room like this. So he lies low, barely making a sound as he snatches his belongings, hurrying back toward the bed to shuffle them back on.

“What’s taking you so long?” She jingles the doorknob. Thank god I locked it last night. “You mind opening the door?”

“I’m sorry, I’m literally just waking up,” Ray tells her, which is true. She doesn’t need to know the fact that he woke up naked with Gene, though.

“I’m actually just going to head into the bathroom and turn on the shower,” Gene whispers, holding all his clothes in his arms. “I’ll turn it on right away so it seems like I just got in. I need to take one anyways.”

“Alright,” Ray whispers back, stepping into his pants.

Gene almost drops his scarf as he walks around the bed. It drags on the floor as he hustles into the bathroom, trying his best to shut the door without a sound. Ray zips up his fly, then throws his glittery blouse over his shoulders, fumbling with the buttons. He spots his socks near his shoes still, but figures he can leave those off for the moment.

Once the shower is turned on and Ray feels presentable for the most part, he finally walks over and unlocks the door. In no time at all, Carol swings it open, hurrying into the room and shutting it behind herself. She’s already dressed to impress for her gig later, wearing a yellow knit turtleneck and flared red pants, a silver necklace dangling over her shirt.

“Why didn’t you come back into the room?” She glares at him.

“Oh… uh, just lost track of time?” Ray itches the back of his head. “I came in here to jam with Gene and ended up just getting so tired, we fell asleep.”

“To jam, huh?” She puts a hand on her hip, eyeing around the rest of the room. “It looks to me like Gene never took his acoustic out of its case, with how nicely it’s sitting against the wall.”

Ray turns around, spotting the guitar in question. “He just put it back! That’s all,” he lies. “Nothing weird about that.”

“And you were so tired that you… slept in your clothes from yesterday? That’s your sparkly blouse from the show. I know you and Gene share clothes sometimes. You couldn’t even borrow some of his pajamas?”

“Um…” His hands feel clammy. He holds them by his sides, wiping his palms against his hips. “Yeah. I drank a bit too, along with smoking, and just passed out when we were done.” He says that, although he didn’t have a drop to drink, and barely even smoked.

“Ray, you don’t sound very convincing.” She frowns. “There’s only one bed in this room…”

“Babe, you know I’ve slept next to Gene countless times on tours before. That’s normal.”

“Why is there a jar of Vaseline on the nightstand?”

“What?” Ray turns again, spotting it—his chest feels like it’s going to explode. Fuck. We left it out. “Uh… Gene needs it for his hands sometimes after playing guitar. Helps with his callouses.”

“You guys didn’t invite a girl in here and she’d already left on her merry way, have you?!”

She throws an arm out, nearly slapping Ray, just barely missing.

“What the hell? No, of course not!” Ray breathes in deep through his nose. “Nothing sexual happened with anyone. It must’ve been Santi that told you I was just in here with Gene, right?” He needs to shift the topic away somehow—and fast.

“Yeah. He mentioned you were ‘jamming’ with Gene, too. But still… Something still doesn’t seem right. I don’t get it.” She shakes her head.