Work Text
It was one sunny afternoon, in a pleasant neighborhood, sometime in the early 1950s, when a blood curdling scream erupted from the backyard of a small house.
Laying on his back, in the dirt, with a sickle in his eye, young Ray screamed in pain, his brother, Dave, looking on in horror, unsure what to do. The brothers had gotten into a fight, like they regularly did. It started out as an exchange of words, when Dave got fed up with Ray and grabbed the first thing in sight, and threw it. That 'thing' happened to be a very sharp gardening tool, and it impaled Ray directly in the left eye. Dave backed slowly away, then turned and ran to get their mother, screaming for her all the way into the house.
Later that night, Ray woke up from surgery, and felt for his eye that was covered in a cotton ball and gauze. He asked the doctor if they could save his eye. The doctor, solemnly, told him no; that he would have to wear an eyepatch from then on.
Little Ray, refusing to cry, took the news in stride. His brother came into sight, and he turned a murderous glare to Dave, showing him the damage he caused. Dave never met his stare, and Ray knew then this was a change in his life and their relationship.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Out at the courtyard after school, Ray sat at a picnic table with his older brother. He watched, with his one, right eye, as two girls walked up to Dave, smiling and giving him hugs. They glanced at Ray, but avoided eye contact. He made people uncomfortable. And so, he had few friends; none, actually. The one person who would talk to him was his brother, whom he loathed, which made a lonely existence. "Oh, hey, Ray is here, too," Dave said, gesturing behind himself to Ray, showing the girls that Ray was indeed sitting on the bench. The girls gave him a tight lipped smile, making Ray feel like shit. He threw up a hand, and kicked his legs out to stand. "Goodbye, ladies," he muttered. He grabbed his book bag and threw it over his shoulder, walking away, not wanting them to be uncomfortable while they drool over his older brother. "Ray, where are you going? Why not come to the malt shop with us?" Dave called after him. Ray stopped, looking at the ground.Ray could never tell if his brother was trying to be nice or play games with him, but either way, it disgusted him entirely. Turning, he looked Dave, with his two birds, one on each arm, staring him in the eye now."I think I'm good."Dave looked at the ground. They both knew that nothing he did was going to fix their relationship. Ray wouldn't allow it. Turning, Ray gave his back to the trio, and walked off the school yard and to the direction of home. He never once looked back to see if they cared; they didn't.Sighing with resignation, Ray kept his eye to the ground and slowly walked home, taking a different route than he usually did. Ordinarily, Raymond would go through every alley and back road to get to and from anywhere, even though all the twist and turns made the trip all the longer. But today, he just wanted to get home and go to sleep as soon as possible. Looking up to cross the street, a shop across the way caught his attention. It was a record store. It had been a while since Ray got some new music. He crossed the street, chewing his lip in indecision, pondering if he should even chance it. When he got to the other side of the street, he stood on the corner, gazing longingly at the building. He walked toward it finally, after much indecision. Shakily, he opened the door and a little bell bounced back to alert the store owners of his arrival. He saw a man behind the counter look to him, his smile faltering when he saw the eye patch. Ray cast his gaze to the floor like he always did and rushed other to the rock n roll records toward the pack of the store. But on his way there, he cross collided with another person, making the smaller person fall and Ray to start apologizing profusely. "My apologies, that was completely my fault," he rushed out, offering a hand to who he now noticed was a woman. She looked up at him and the sight of her took his breath away. Everything else faded but this vision in front of him. The girl was wearing a brown leather jacket and black mini skirt, with a white blouse. Her hair cascaded down her back in waves of blonde, brown, and red streaks. She castes her soft, brown eyes at him with tenderness and kindness, a sight Ray had never experienced before. Her pale skin was speckled with freckles, and one large one made its home in the corner of her left eye. To Ray, she was the most beautiful woman to exist. "Oh it's perfectly fine, if anything it was my fault. I shouldn't have been rushing around like I do," she said, accepting his lending hand. He helped her to a stand. The connection made Ray gap in awe. How a stranger could make him feel this way was beyond him. "You are incredibly beautiful," Ray spoke up, then mentally slapped himself in regret for saying something like that. There's no way she would be flattered, having a compliment come from a horrid looking man like me, he thought solemnly. But to his surprise, she blushed and smiled, looking away. "I've never been called that before," she confessed, twirling a loose piece of hair from behind her ear. The announcement shocked Ray, leaving him wondering how society could over-look such grace and beauty. "What is your name?" Ray asked, still stunned by everything about her. She looked back at him, first at his eye patch then to his right eye. Her eyes never ceased to be kind. She didn't show that disgust, disdain, and horror that others did. His gaze moved all around her face, from her thick eyebrows, to her full cheeks and high cheek bones, to finally rest on her lips. The bottom was just slightly more full than the top, both of them being slightly large. The way they moved when she spoke to him formed perfect vowels, sometime showing her slightly crooked top teeth. But he didn't like that frown she had now. Why was the girl frowning?"Are you alright?" She asked, sounding concerned. Ray shook himself, embarrassed that he was so captivated by her beauty that he didn't realize she had been talking to him. He felt very warm, his face especially. "Er, yes. I'm fine. I'm sorry I'm just," Ray waved a hand in the air. "What was your name again?" He asked sheepishly. She smiled. "It's Melody."Ray smiled at the name. How appropriate for the store they were in. "My name is Ray- um, Raymond. You can call me Raymond," he said with another smile, one of the first genuine smiles that he's had in years. "Say, perhaps I could make it up to you. Dinner?" He said, hopefully. Melody frowned, looking sad. "Not tonight, I have something to do. But I'm free tomorrow," she said, her smile coming back. Ray did not though. Tomorrow was Saturday, he had a show to put on. He couldn't take her out-Promptly, an idea appeared in his head, and it made him smile again. I could get use to this, Ray thought. "What is it? What's going on in that head of your," she said, smilingly curiously. "Tomorrow I have a show to put on, but I figured maybe after the show I could take ye for a treat?""A show?!" She asked excitedly. "Yea, a small concert of sorts," Ray explained. "I love music, I'd love to come watch you perform!" She exclaimed. Ray felt his heart fluttered, but that wasn't possible, he thought. She had stolen it already.The thought made him blush, and he smiles back at her excited face. "It's date, then," he proclaimed as he without thinking. When he realized what he said, he blushed harder and started to sweat. She blushed slightly and hid her smile behind her gorgeous hair. "Bye, Raymond," Melody said shyly as she went back to working in the back of the shop. "Bye... Melody", Ray said, staring after her longingly before turning and walking out the door to go home.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Ray was laying in bed, staring at the ceiling and thinking about Melody. The only person to ever treat him with genuine kindness. The only woman who he ever had the guts to ask out before. And she said yes.
Sighing happily, Ray tried to fall asleep, but he was too excited for the coming day. This was a major event in Ray's life. Never had he hit it off with anyone, nonetheless a woman. Everyone shied away from him, excluding him from their cliques because his eyepatch looked menacing and the scar that it failed to hide was jagged and intimidating.
Reminded of his unfortunate augmentation, he frowned. Reaching up, Ray felt the rugged scar from the top of his cheek to just below his eyebrow.
When Dave has thrown that yard tool at him all those years ago, it was too heavy to stay in place and ripped the eyeball and eyelid in half and dug it's way down his cheek. Although the eyeball remained, the sight and color faded, leaving behind a useless, clouded white eyeball.
How would Melody act if she ever saw it, Ray worries. She would be disturbed without a doubt. She would run away screaming for certain, he persuaded himself. But could a girl with such a kind look in her eyes be so cruel should he allow himself to be vulnerable around her? Surely not.
Ray continued to ponder for the rest of the night, his head too full of thoughts and worries and excitement to get some rest. Only when he heard a rooster croaked a few houses down did he rise from his bed and stretch. It was a chilly Saturday and he had no classes to attend, so he put on his best outfit so he could go visit the record store that morning.
Ray pulled on his brown straight legs and white button up shirt, a pair of scuffed black boots and his well-worn leather jacket. Combing his hair back, he admired his less than attractive reflection for the first time in months, before heading out of the house to start his day.-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Walking down the street, Ray sighed deeply, smiling up at the birds in the trees, and thinking nonstop about that woman from yesterday. Just the thought of her made his stomach do flips, his heart squeeze in his chest. Never in his entire life has he had this feeling. On one hand, it frightened him. He had never felt such anticipation for someone in his life, this longing to see her again. But on the other hand, it had him all twisted up and feeling himself for once. Everything about Melody had seized his attention. Her auburn colored hair, her supple porcelain skin, the little creases in her cheeks when she smiled and the light that was persistent in her eyes.
After about a 20 minute walk, Ray found himself standing in front of the record store again. But suddenly, he was frozen. Ray couldn't make himself walk into the store. His palms were starting to sweat and his breath became hitched. Could I really be nervous? Ray pondered, amazed at his body's reaction. He let out an airy laugh, and got a hold of himself. Taking a few deep breaths, Ray forced himself into the record store. The little bell dinged to announce his arrival once again, and a smile spread across his face once he saw her. Melody was deeply entranced by the book open in front of her, hair tucked behind her ears and nibbling on her bottom lip. His stomach tightened with butterflies at the sight of her natural, peaceful beauty. Raymond walked up to the counter she was leaning over, and cleared his throat. She straightened with a gasp, then smiled shyly as she realized who it was.
"Hi, Raymond," she said quietly, a rosy blush spreading across her freckled cheeks.
"Hello, Melody".
They stood there, staring at each other and unsure what to say next. Minutes swept by as they smiled at each other like fools.
*Ding*
The spell broken, they both blushed and looked to the door to see who had just come in. Ray's smile vanished instantly when he saw his brother.
Dave's eyes narrowed into Ray. "Hey, man. What are you doing talking to HER?".
Ray held back the hurt from the venom behind his brother's words. He always made sure to make him feel like a bastard in front of everyone. Ray opened his mouth to reply with an equally snarky remark, but Dave continued to let him have it.
"Ray, don't you know you're going to frighten this sweet bird? No one can get past that cyclops condition you have going on".
Ouch. Dave has never been this harsh before.
"Dave, I've had enough of you! Raymond is my friend! If you don't have anything nice to say, I don't want you back in my store!" Melody spoke up, fuming.
Dave scoffed. “C’mon Melody, I’m just yankin his leg. Teasin him, that’s all.”
Dave came up to the table Ray and Melody were standing at, and leaned over the girl. “Y’know, my band is having practice in a few hours, I would be honored if you blessed us with your presence at our show tonight”, he cooed, tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear”.
Melody blushed, and her glare lost its intensity. Raymond felt a rock in his stomach watching the transaction.
There’s no way I could compete with Dave, not like this, he mourned to himself.
Ray went to go look at some albums while they giggled and flirted. When the door chimed again, he came back to the front to talk to Melody again. She smiled at him.
“So, you and Dave are in a band together? That’s pretty cool, how did you two meet?” She enthused.
Ray gave a small smile back, not feeling as jovial as he had before Dave’s arrival . “He’s me brother. I guess I should head to band practice now. I’ll see you at the show”
And with that, Ray walked out of the store, not caring about the confused, sad face staring after him.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Ray made his way back home to where the rest of the band were just cleaning up and tuning their instruments out front to load into the car. It was a tight fit but they made it work time and again. Dave looked up and smirked at Ray. They both knew what that look meant; he was going to make Melody his girl and there was nothing he could do about it.
Grudgingly, Ray began to help load up the car, nearly slamming Dave’s guitar case into the too-small trunk.
“Bollocks, I’ll do that ye git,” Dave grit out, shoving Ray out of the way.
“Not our fault ye missed practice,” He glared at Ray, and slammed the top of the cargo space closed.
Ray jumped in the back of the car with Pete, While Mick and Dave were up front. The ride was full of laughter from Dave’s jokes, except from Ray. All he was able to think about was Melody and how easily Dave was able to woo her. He felt along the line of his scar, feeling disgusted with himself. How could he go from feeling so confident and eager for the show, to this?