I DO NOT OWN LEMONADE MOUTH!
CHAPTER SEVEN.
RAY:
The ticking of that stupid clock seemed to take forever.
"Dude why are you starring at that thing like you're crazy?"
"It's two thirty. I'm going on my lunch break." I say quickly and hop over the counter. I practically run to my car and push anyone in my way.
…
"hey." I drop onto the booth where Stella is sitting.
"hey." I say and smile at her.
"Are you okay?" she asks and reaches over to move my hair from my eyes.
"Yeah I'm fine." I respond.
"You're blushing and you look like you just ran a mile." She says and frowns slightly.
"It's nothing." Just as I say that one of the waiters comes over and places a pizza between us.
"If you say so." She says and grabs a slice. I take one too and start eating.
"Why are you starring at me?" I ask when I feel her gaze burning holes into my head.
"I'm not starring." She mumbles and smiles.
"Sure you aren't." I chuckle when her face turns a bright red.
"Ray?" I look up and frown when she's starring over my shoulder.
"What's wrong?"
"Look behind you." I do what she says and slide down in the booth until my head can't be seen.
"Do they know? I ask and wince when I hear Mo laugh.
"Mo and Olivia do, the others don't. Stay down." She says and slides down slightly.
"Why don't the others know?" I glance over and quickly turn back when Scott looks over at us.
"Because they'll go all Big Brother Bear on you!" she hisses and sighs.
"Okay here's the plan. Did you drive here?"
"Yeah why?"
"Okay, you're going to walk out. Here put this on and keep your head down. After a few minutes I'll leave too. Meet me under Big Oak Street in fifteen minutes okay?"
"Have you done this before?" she asks and takes my Letterman jacket before slipping it on.
"Once or twice." I mumble and glance over at the rest of the lemon heads.
"Geez you're bigger than you look!" she mumbles and I can't help the chuckle that escapes my mouth when I see her practically drowning in the fabric of the jacket.
"Go Stella." I say. She nods and quickly stands up. I watch as she keeps her head down and walks out of the restaurant easily. After about ten minutes I stand up too and start walking out.
"Ray?" I wince when Scott's voice calls out my name,
"Hey man." I say and put on a fake smirk.
"Hey, listen man I got to talk to you." I sigh when he stands up and we walk out to the parking lot.
"What is it Scott I'm kind of in a hurry here." I mumble and look at my watch.
"I got Mudslide Crush a gig. I'll play with you guys and I got the others in on it too. It'll be like out last show. It's at the warehouse and we can charge people."
"You did what?" I forget about Stella for a second and stare at him.
"You heard me. I felt I owed you. So I did it."
"Thanks man! When is this going down?" I ask and smile.
"Next Friday. So will you do it?"
"Yeah! At the warehouse right?"
"yeah."
"I'll be there, I got to go." Is ay and quickly jog to my car.
"Hey Ray!" I turn to see Mo walking out.
"What?" I call back and get into the car.
"take care of her!" I feel my cheeks turn a bright red and before Scott can ask what she's talking about I drive away.
STELLA:
I stood by the tree a few feet from the street sign and waited for Ray to pull up.
"Stella!" I turn my head and stare as Ray pulls up driving way over the speed limit. He jumps out of the car even before it comes to a complete stop and trips over the side walk but just gets up and keeps running towards me.
"Hey! Calm down!" I say and catch his shoulders before he can fall again.
"Sorry I just need to tell you something…great!" he says and smiles widely. This is the happiest I've ever seen him.
"What's going on?"
"Scott got Mudslide Crush a gig!" I see his eyes light up immensely and he chuckles.
"You're really excited." I say and cup his cheeks to keep him from jumping with excitement.
"I'll be even more excited if you come and see us." He says and places his hands over mine.
"You want me to come see you perform?" I frown slightly but he nods.
"Please?"
"I'd love to."
"Great!" suddenly I find his lips on mine. Instead of pulling away like Mo insisted I do every time he tries to kiss me, I let him enjoy himself and kiss him back. His hands squeeze mine softly before he pulls away slowly.
"Come on, let's get some food." I say and start pulling him towards my car.
"Why don't we just go to my house? I don't think it's safe for us to be walking around town holding hands." He says and opens my door with a smile.
"Fine. I'll meet you there?"
"yeah." With that he shuts the door and walks over to his car. I follow him to the big house and sigh happily when we walk in.
"Come on." He says and pulls me to the kitchen.
"What are we eating?"
"How does Lasagna sound?"
"Fantastic." I say and sit down on the counter. I find myself starring at him when he opens the fridge and bends down slightly.
He had a cute butt…wait what? What am I thinking? This is Ray beech why am I even looking at his butt, it's flat and…oh who am I kidding it's firm and cute.
"What are you starring at?" my eyes snap up to find him frowning at me.
"Um…nothing." I lie and smiles slightly.
"Mm-hm." He takes out a box and opens it before shoving its contents into the oven.
"Ray?" I say as he adjusts the temperature on the oven.
"Yeah?"
"Scott once told us a story about…soccer players getting to mark their territory. What did he mean by that?" I ask and frown.
"It's nothing. Just a rule some seniors made up a few years ago."
"What's the rule?" I hop off the counter and hug his letterman jacket to my body and cross my arms. I absolutely loved the feeling of it. And the fact the faint smell of chocolate and something else fills my senses just added to the fact that it felt as if he had his arms around me at all times.
"Well…it's called the Golden Marking Rule. Basically the letterman jacket is like a stamp." He mumbles and pretends to be interested in the oven.
"Explain it?" I ask and take his hand. He looks down at me and sighs.
"Promise you won't get all defensive?"
"I swear."
"alright." He sighs again and pulls me to the kitchen table. We sit down and he pulls me onto his lap. I don't complain or move away, instead just wait for him to start explaining.
"Okay, so a few years ago…1996 to be exact. The soccer captain made the book of sacred Mesa high Soccer member rules. These rules are like…the Ten Commandments for Mesa High soccer players. There are eleven in all so I guess they're the eleven soccer commandments but anyway. Rule number One is what's called the Golden Marking Rule. It says that as long as a girl wears a team member's jacket, whoever's last name is on that jacket…well that's the person they belong to." He explains and blushes.
"What do you mean belong?"
"Well say that we went to one of the Soccer team's parties. You'd wear that jacket and all the other guys or people at that party will see you. They'll immediately see the jacket and boom! You re off limits to anyone and everyone. Except under one condition. If a former team member decides that they want you, then they can challenge me to a fight. Winner gets the girl, unless of course you refuse. It's barbaric but respectful at the same time." He says and smiles slightly.
"Wow…so if I wore this thing out, they would know?" I ask and frown.
"Pretty much. And if a guy even tries to hit on you, I have the right to knock him into next month." He says as his smile grows.
"Okay then. I think the lasagna is ready." I say when I smell tomato sauce.
"Oh, I forgot about that." He mumbles and gently places me on a chair before walking to the oven. When he comes back he has a pan in one hand and two plates in the other.
"Lemonade?" he asks and grabs a pitcher from the fridge. I chuckle softly and nod.
"Can I ask you something else?" I ask and watch as he pours himself some too before sitting down and serving some lasagna to both our plates.
"sure." He answers and hands me my plate.
"On my first day you made a mocking comment to me. What was going on in your head when you said it?" I ask and stare at him. He turns a bright red and a smile appears on his face.
"You want the truth?"
"Yeah I do." I answer and smile.
"The first thing that popped into mind was 'Fresh Meat.' Then I actually got a good look at you while you walked to the doors and I thought 'hey look, I have a new toy to play with.' Then I got a look at you as a whole and I decided that you weren't going to be like the other girls at Mesa. You weren't going to be a toy; you were going to be a rival. I was right." he says and starts eating.
"What do you mean?"
"You aren't like anybody else here. Before you showed up, freshmen practically bowed at my feet, and senior girls actually wanted me to hit on them. Then you came along and everyone started standing up for each other. I didn't like at first but then I realized that maybe things were changing for the better."
"So you respect me?" I ask and raise an eyebrow.
"Yeah I respect you." He says and reaches over to take my hand.
The rest of his lunch break, we talked and laughed. There wasn't a time that I wasn't blushing after that. When we were done I insisted on driving him back to the resort and when his shift was over, back home.
"Stella is you sure? I mean my shift ends at eight." He says as we walk out of the house.
"Yes I'm sure. Here, you drive." I say and toss him the keys.
"Sweet!" he screams and runs to the car.
RAY:
I had gotten off of work early today and I smiled as I pulled into my drive way. Stella had let me drive again and I was enjoying every bit of it. The car moved so smoothly that it felt as if we were flying, and these seats were so comfortable that I wanted to stay in them for the rest of my life.
"Can't we take another drive?" I ask as she gets out and smiles.
"No we can't. Come on Ray you drove it now hand it over." I sigh and get out of the car.
"Can you at least stay for a few minutes?" I ask and hand her the keys.
"Sure why not." She tucks the keys into her pocket and I take her hand before starting to pull her to the front door.
"Hey where are your parents?" she asks and frowns.
"They're both on some business trips." I answer and unlock the door.
"Oh my…" I hear her gasp and I frown before looking up from the door knob. I feel my body go rigid as I watch the scene that's laid out before me.
"Dad?" I scream and feel my face becoming red.
"Ray!" he gasps and looks up. He's laid over some lady that has got to be at least half his age.
"Ray, come on." I feel Stella tug on my hand but I stay frozen.
"Ray it isn't what it looks like."
"No it is what it looks like!" I yank my hand away from Stella and walk over to them. They're both completely nude and laid out on the couch in a tangled bunch of limbs.
"Ray, get out of the house for a while." He says and sits up.
"What is wrong with you?" I scream and throw his shirt at the girl. She quickly slips it on and gets up.
"I'll be upstairs." She mumbles and runs up.
"Ray…" I glare at him and he shuts up quickly.
"Ray stop, come on." Stella grabs my hand and starts pulling again. This time I let her pulls me away and out of the house.
"here." I catch the keys to the Camaro easily and quickly get in.
"Buckle up." I growl out and start up the engine.
"Ray?"
"Not now Stella." I yell out and pull out of the driveway. I see her reach out and before I know what she's doing she has her hand in mine.
"you're shaking." She mumbles. I notice for the first time that I'm vibrating with the anger that I'm trying so hard not to let out.
"Is it okay if we go Dante's or something? I need to get that out of my head." I mumble and take her hand in mine.
"Turn right at the next light, I have a better idea." She mumbles. I nod and stare at the road angrily.
Okay so end of chapter! So far this is defiantly one of my favorite chapters! Okay so those of you that voted on the pole. Thank you! The majority wants Scott to cheat and Mo will develop feelings for Charlie. It'll happen soon I promise! Oh and as for those of you that don't want Stella to dump Ray, sorry but it's going to happen. But don't worry! By the time she does, Ray is going to be so in love that he's going to fight for her : ) review please!
