The voting only lasted a few moments, but it was the tensest Ray had been in a very long time. A part of him was silently begging Leigh or Val to shake their heads and walk out so that they could all just move on with their lives and be happy... but he knew deep down that none of them have truly been happy in a while. At least, not happy enough to get rid of any doubts of "what could have been." "Thanks, guys." Jimmy spoke with a sad smile. Ray gave a weak smile to the small group of friends before taking a large gulp of his beer. "That does it then." He spoke softly, and while a part of him dreaded this moment, he'd be lying if he said that he wasn't curious on how this was going to go. 

Still, memories of his last night in Rhodes lingered in his mind the more he thought about going back to that lake house. Life was so much simpler back then. If only his pride didn't get in the way, then he might have been able to see Austin one last time. Make him laugh, hear his pep talk to get the courage to talk to Val and- he didn't know- apologize? Ray had a feeling that Leigh had this anger towards Val, but if Raymond was being honest maybe leaving town and never looking back for ten years was a bit too much.

"Well, I'd hate to say it, but I open soon and I gotta sober up and clean a bit before that happens." Jimmy downed the last of his drink. Raymond looked around and chuckled a bit. "Looks like you needed to clean up a few years ago. Need any help?" Ray asked, but he knew Jimmy's answer already. "Nah. It'll keep me distracted before the funeral tomorrow. Besides, ya'll can visit later. Drinks'll be on me." Jimmy looked at Ray with protesting eyes as he saw him pull out his wallet. "Fine, fine..." Ray defeatedly put his wallet away and gave a sigh. Raymond looked over at the two girls at the bar, not exactly having a plan or anywhere to go besides back to his childhood bedroom. 

"You ladies have any plans before happy hour? Was thinkin' about taking a walk around town. Wanna see what's changed and what's stayed the same." While he was talking about their small town, he also was curious on talking with his old friends some more, getting to see what had changed and what hadn't with them. Raymond had constantly glanced at Valerie's ring finger, a stupid little hope that she had no family to go back to. "I'm free, but Val might have made plans with Leo already." Leigh spoke up, finding a way to attack Val and hurt Ray at the same time, a pit in his stomach already starting to form. Ray did a good job at hiding the fear from his face, but the thought of Val being with someone always made him a bit sick to his stomach, even as kids. 

"Leo? Don't know a Leo from when we were kids... he a new dog or something?" Raymond asked a bit obliviously and hopeful, but by Leigh's sudden burst of laughter, he could tell that he just made a fool of himself and Val which was the last thing he wanted to do. In Ray's defense, there have rarely ever been newcomers to their little city of Rhodes. 

"I guess you could say that, Ray."