The Ray Reunion

The call comes in completely unexpectedly, as, I'm sure, all great things do. It’s Ray. He knows I wanted to come over to his house today, but he asks me if I want to have him come over here to my apartment complex, today. Usually, I don't like for people to come here because my apartment isn't exactly the best thing for hosting guests, but his voice is so soft and so attractive that it coats me in a never-ending calm, and immediately quiets my nerves. It doesn’t so much speak as it does settle, a change in the atmosphere transmitted through the phone’s tiny speaker. "Sure," I say, the word feeling small against the backdrop of his warmth. "Come over." As Ray is driving over here, I take the most comfortable shower of my life. The hot water doesn’t last long, but I'm feeling so good about this meeting I can't even get mad at the landlords bullshit. The lukewarm spray feels like a clean slate. Ray is a racialized light-skinned Black man—who has talked with me before—but We've fallen…