"New Jersey. By some miracle we've finally got to Jersey!" Gar happily exclaim. He joyfully walked around the small park area they had decided rest at. Raven rolled her eyes at him, resting in the shade on one of the few benches there.
"Hey Rae, I'm gonna go get on the monkey bars. I haven't played on a set in ages."
"But kids are over there."
"So?" he gave her a questioning glance, not seeing the problem.
"This play area is for little kids."
"And?"
With a sigh and a rolled of the eyes, Raven said, "Don't break anything."
He gave out a small chuckle and ran towards the monkey bars. He jumped up and took hold of one of the bar before swinging to the next with ease. This causing the small children to look in awe. Gar flipped himself and hung upside down, staring face to face with his young audience. He gave them a large smile and started screeching like a monkey while he swung from his legs. The three children giggled at his performance. Gar positioned himself to fall and let go of the bars.
"Hey, my name's Gar."
"That's a funny name," the only girl of the three piped. This earning her glares from the two boys.
"Ignore Shelly, she's a doodie head," the younger of the two boys said.
"Am not! Your the doodie head, Ryan."
"At least I'm not a stupid girl!" he spat back.
"I'm not stupid! You're just jealousy, bird brain!"
"Ugly face!"
"Dog breath!"
"Doofus!"
The two six year olds continued to name call eachother and Gar just stared at them, unsure of what to do. The second boy then tugged Gar's sleeve, turning his attention away from the fight.
"I'm Mikey and I'm seven," he said with the biggest smile on his freckled face.
"Hey Mikey. Do they always fight like that?" Gar asked, pointing over to the still fighting pair.
"Yep. Shelly is my little sister and Ryan is Auntie Tina's son, but she's not really our aunt. She's just our mommy's friend. Our moms work together at a hair salon. They're sitting over there with Auntie Kree and her new baby, but she's not really my aunt either. But anyway, Ryan and Shelly always fight. Mommy said that even when they were little babies they would kick and fuss with each other. But Auntie Tina said that it's just cause they love each other!"
Gar simply stared at the small boy. He had said so much at such a speed that Gar didn't even think was possible. Mikey just continued to beam his smile while Gar's mind tried to register the new information.
"DO NOT!" Shelly and Ryan yelled, ceasing their fight with eachother.
"Mommy says that I talk too fast and it's hard to understand me. I usually have to repeat what I say. Did you understand what I said? I'll say it again if you want," Mikey suggested to Gar, his lips moving at super fast speed.
"Oh, just shut up Mikey! You just keep yapping your lips for no reason!" Shelly cried out.
"Okay," he softly replied in a hurt voice.
"Hey! Don't talk to him like that, you brat!" Ryan yelled at her in Mikey's defense.
"No, it's okay. She's right, I do talk too much," Mikey shyly told Ryan.
"Mikey, yous can't just let her walk all over ya! Yous gotta stand up for yaself!" Ryan said to his brown haired companion.
"Hey Mister!" Shelly yelled at Gar, flipping her dark locks.
"Um, yeah?"
"Will you please tell carrot top over there that boys are suppose ta' do what girls tell 'em to do?"
"What? Yous got ta' be kidding me! Girls are suppose ta' do what the man says!" Ryan cried out before Gar could say anything.
"As if!" Shelly huffed at him before turning to Gar, "Would you please give me a lift to the monkey bars, Mr. Gar?"
"Sure thing, cutie."
She giggled when he picked her up and she then grabbed onto the monkey bars. Gar then look down at the two boys with a nervous smile. He couldn't help but think about if his future son would be like them. Ryan seem a bit too proud and aggressive and Mikey seem hyperactive, but a bit too soft.
"Would you help me up too?" Mikey asked. Gar gave a nod and help him up. When Mikey was up there, Gar turned to Ryan. Ryan was jumping desperately up and down, trying to get to the bars. Gar sighed and picked up the small boy.
"Hey! Let go of me!" the red haired boy cried out as he tried to wiggle out of Gar's grip. Gar place the thrashing boy back on the ground.
"I don't need your help."
"What did I do?" Gar asked in utter confusion.
"You're not a real man. A real man wouldn't let a doodie head girl boss 'em around!"
Gar gave out an annoyed sighed. Is this kid serious?
"He was just being nice, Ryan," Mikey said as he carefully swung to the handle bar.
"Yeah, and what do you know about being a man anyway?" Shelly careless asked as she hung upside down from the bars.
"My daddy told me that a real man does whatever the hell he wants to and women should just do what their told," Ryan replied. Mikey ooh-ed at the use of a curse word causing Ryan to blush slightly.
"You shouldn't say things like that," Gar said, trying to sound adult-like.
"Yeah! And anyway, you dad's a total jerk face. I heard mommy saying that he was a drunken loser that should stay in prison where he belong," Shelly laughed out, as if she said the most brilliant thing ever.
"Shut up, Shelly!" Ryan yelled with tears in his eyes.
"Your such a crybaby," Shelly told him grumpily.
"Am not!" he yelled at her. Tears flowed from his eyes as he ran towards her. He took hold of her pony tails and yanked her down to the hard ground. Shelly immediately started crying as her body started to ache in pain. Gar stood, unsure of what to do. Was he suppose to yell at Ryan for hurting Shelly? Or should he yell at Shelly for saying that? Should he even yell at all?
He pulled both of the crying children into his arms and looked over at Mikey who had started to tear up as well. Feeling a bit uneasy, Gar looked around and saw a first aid kit hanging on the outside wall separating the two genders washrooms. He ran towards it with the wailing six year olds in his arms and Mikey following.
"Excuse me, but have you seen my kids!"
Raven looked up from her book to see a frantic woman in her mid twenties looking at her.
"Um, I don't know. Where were they?"
"Last time I saw them they were at the monkey bars!"
Raven glanced over to the metal bars to see no children and no Gar either.
"My boyfriend was over there. Maybe he kno-"
"Tina!" a tan skinned woman holding a baby yelled to them. Raven eyes widen as she stared at her.
"Tina! Macy spotted them with some man by the bathrooms! She went over there all by herself!"
"What! My baby!" Tina yelled as she ran towards the restrooms.
"Wait! I can't run with this baby!" the other yelled as she walked as fast as she could with the babe in her arms. Raven quickly got up and abandon her book to get to the restrooms.
"And that should do it," Gar merrily said after placing a bandage on Shelly's knee. Shelly sniffled a bit but wore a smile on her face. Ryan and Mikey had calmed down and sat on the ground eating the mint candy Gar had gave them.
"YOU DEMON FROM THE UNDERWORLD, GET AWAY FROM MY BABIES!" a brown haired woman yelled as she ran towards him.
"Mommy!" Mikey and Shelly gleefully cried.
"I'LL SAVE YOU!" she cried before tackling Gar onto the ground. The three children burst out in laughter as she quickly got up and kicked him where the sun don't shine.
"Aunt Macy?" Ryan called, trying to get her attention. Before she could turn to him, Tina appeared yelling out a warrior cry. She started slamming her bulky purse numerous times against Gar's quivering body.
"BEAT HIS ASS, TI TI!" Macy cheered as Tina continued her assault. Ryan went back into his laughing riot, while the other two started to get worried. Mikey and Shelly ran over to their mom and pulled on her skirt franticly.
"Mommy! Stop! He wasn't tryin' to hurt us! He just made my boo-boo better!" Shelly cried out, pointing to her bandages. Tina stopped her attack to look at Shelly and Mikey as they continued to shout at Macy. The three woman looked at each other nervously before Tina helped Gar to his feet. Raven huffed as she finally made it to the scene as Gar painfully stood.
"I'm so sorry for smacking you with my purse so many times. I thought you were trying to kidnap our kids," Tina said as she nervously twirled her finger in her dark red hair.
"Yeah, if we would of known you were just aiding them, we would have never smack your noggin," Macy said with a small laugh, holding her two kids hands.
"Well at least you stopped before I went into a coma," Gar joked, still rubbing his head. They all gave out a pity laugh before the third woman took a step closer to him.
"Don't I know you?" she asked, tucking her reddish brown hair behind her ear. Raven then went over to Gar's side and the two females look face to face.
"Kree?"
"Lil Ray?"
The two smiled at each other, wanting nothing more than to embrace one another.
"We don't get that much business on a Tuesday. So we decided to go out to the park for a while, since it wasn't that far away," Kree happily said as they all relaxed inside the salon. The kids were sleeping on the couch in the waiting area as they chat in the actual hair salon.
Raven was holding Kree's child as Kree continued to talk. Raven stared at the sleeping baby girl in her arms.
I hadn't even realize that Kree was pregnant when she left, but she probably didn't know she was pregnant herself, Raven thought. She ran her hand softly over the babe's soft blonde hairs. Then a thought hit Raven, could this child's father be-
"Raven, what are you thinking about so hard that you can't even pretend to listen to me?" Kree smiled, interrupting Raven's thoughts.
"Nothing, just thinking how beautiful your daughter is. What's her name anyway?"
"Shayla."
At the sound of that name, Gar burst out in a fit of laughter. He stopped after a few minutes to see Raven glaring at him and Kree with a face of worry.
"What's so funny about her name?"
"Um, nothing," Gar blushed in embarrassment.
"Anyway, what are you two doing all the way out here?" Tina asked with the hugest smile. "You two are from California, right?"
"Uh, yeah. We're going up to live with my brothers in New York City."
"Wow, you guys must of spent a lot of cash on gas if you drove all the way over here," Macy stated.
"Yeah, we've basically lived in my car and Raven finished off the rest of our food last night," Gar replied nonchalant.
"What! Oh, you two just must stay the night with me and eat a real meal," Macy practically screamed.
"That would be awesome! I've been living with Macy and it would be great to spend the night with you again, Lil Ray," Kree chipped in.
"Thanks, but I would hate for us to intrude. I mean, Macy, you have so many already in your house."
"Nonsense, I want you to stay with us!"
"But-" Raven tried to protest, but Gar quickly stopped her yelling out a thank you.
Kree stared at Raven with a smile, "You still refuse help. I guess some things never change, but I could barely recognize you with that long hair of yours."
"You sure it wasn't the pregnancy that threw you off?"
"No, it was definitely the hair. I've never seen it so long before! It's almost at your butt!" Kree exclaimed, running her fingers trough Raven's hair.
"I really hadn't noticed," Raven said honestly as her cheeks tinted pink.
"The boy's hair is kinda long too," Tina mentioned. Gar then ran his finger through his hair to realize it was at his shoulders. He'd never let it grow that long before, or more like his mother never let him. His mom hated for any of her boys to have their hair long and untamed. She even hated for them to dye their hair, even though all of them did, with the exception of Chris.
"It must have been a while since you washed your hair. Want me to shampoo it for ya?" Kree asked merrily.
"That would be nice," Raven agreed, handing over the child to Macy.
"If we're doing hair we might as well do you too, Dingy," Tina smirked at Gar. Gar frowned, but got up anyway to go over to the sink area.
Kree was washing Raven's hair while Tina did Gar's.
"Do you want me to re-dye your hair, Dingy?" Tina asked Gar. She had notice the faded green that was in his hair. He shook his head no and smiled, not caring that she was still poking fun at his dirty hair. He was too warped at the feeling of someone rubbing his scalp, it felt so good to him. Kree giggled at him as she continued to wash Raven's hair.
"So Lil Ray, you haven't seen Michael recently have you?" Kree whispered to Raven. Raven stayed quiet for a while, unsure if she should answer. She hadn't seen or heard from him since the incident, and that was almost a month ago.
Kree waited for a reply, but then decided to drop it.
"So how's my little cutie pie, Chris?"
Raven's heart was hit with a shard of pain. She remained quiet, unable to say anything.
"He died," came Gar's voice. He didn't sound sad or angry, instead he said it quite peacefully. The calmness of his voice shock even himself.
"I'm sorry, I didn't know," Kree softly replied and decided not to go into it.
"So when are you two going back to Jump City?" Tina asked as Kree and her quickly rise and dried their clients' hair.
"Um, I don't know."
"But the fall college semester is starting soon," Tina said, wondering if they were even going to go to college.
"Well, I did apply to a college in New York cause my friend Vic was going to go to college there," Gar said as he thought back.
"Did you get in?" Tina questioned. Raven turn to look at him, wanting to know as well. His face flushed and he roamed his gaze around the room and away from their faces. Tina frowned, "You don't know, do you?"
"We left before any of the letters came."
The three groaned at his stupidity, making him even more red in the face.
"Hey Dingy, you want me to braid your hair?" Tina offered after they were down washing his hair.
"My hair can't be that dingy, so stop calling me that!" Gar growled. Tina just laughed at him before walking over to Raven to join Kree as she played in Raven's long, clean hair.
Kree walked down the hallway of Macy's house with Gar and Raven on her side. They had finish eating and Macy was tucking her kids into bed. Already in their nightwear, Kree was showing them their rooms for the night.
"Gar, you'll be in the room next to ours," Kree pointed to the next room before ushering Raven into theirs.
"Why can't I sleep with Raven?" Gar questioned.
"Don't you think you did enough of that?"
"That's not what I meant," replied a red face Gar.
"I know, but you're leaving in the morning and I want to spend a little more time with Lil Ray."
"Could you stop calling her that," he asked, knowing that's the same nickname Michael uses for Raven.
Kree just shook her head no and told him good night. She closed the door in his face and went over to Raven with the biggest grin.
"There's only one bed," Raven thought aloud.
"I didn't think that'll bother you, since we use to share a bed when it rained back at home."
Raven flushed, feeling slightly embarrassed at the memory of how she would jump into Kree's bed like a small child when ever it had rained.
"But if it does, I have no problem sleeping on the floor. I just want to spend a little more time with you," Kree continued before picking up one of the blankets off the bed.
"No, I'm okay with sharing," Raven said, before Kree had a chance to lay on the floor.
Raven got into the bed and Kree smiled softly. Kree walked over to the crib on the other side of the room to make sure Shayla was sleeping before getting into bed.
"How did you end up in New Jersey?" Raven asked in a hushed tone.
"When I left Gar's place that night, I didn't know where to go. I found some clothes and started living on the streets again," she paused to let out a yawn. Raven stared at her, wanting her to continue.
"I ran into Macy one day. Our moms were friends and, for some reason, she thought that that was enough reason to help me and take me in. She's a sweet person, but I don't understand her one bit."
Raven smiled, just happy to know that Kree was okay. She couldn't remember how long ago it was since she last saw Kree. She loved Kree like a sister and always thought of her as one. Kree wasn't very strong, but manage to keep Michael from her for a long while. She protected Raven as much as she could since the day they met.
Raven had hope she was okay, but deep down she feared that her friend might have been dead. Raven eyes began to water at the thought.
"What's wrong?" Kree asked in mid-yawn.
"Nothing, I'm just happy you're okay."
"I've missed you, Lil Ray," Kree said sleepily as she pulled Raven into an embrace.
"I've missed you too, Kree," Raven softly replied before drifting to sleep.
yay longness! i'm pretty sure that if my story was a show or manga or something that people would make Kree and Raven a pair and draw and write all sorts of naughty things about them. but, sorry folks, Ravie don't swing that way. RnR
IiLwaS trivia winners: Sweet Valerie & talim9
Q: What is Gar's grandmother's real name?
A: Mildred