Ch 14: The Aftermath -3/22/07 - 4:01pm
Disclaimer - Ok, guys...I just realized that I haven't put a disclaimer up here. Well...I don't own RFR or any of the characters held within this fic....except the eccentric being that is Riley Diane, and of course her parents who make very few appearances: Sarah, and David Brennon.
Dedication - This chapter i s dedicated to my friend Jessica for all of the many, many references that you guys might laugh at but you won't truly get. Damon belongs to Jessica, she wishes that Loki belonged to her. Actually, I want Loki to belong to me...you should too. Trust me, if you knew Loki like either of us do, you'd want him to belong to you.
Travis was dreading the next few days, purely because of his mother. He really wished she would just stop coming upstairs, opening his door, looking around, and closing the door again. It was getting really annoying. It really wasn't so annoying for the fact that she was doing it, but more for the fact that she was doing it so often. She came up about every twenty minutes and Travis was seriously starting to consider leaving the house.
Cheyanne walked up the stairs to go check on Travis again. She was making check rounds every so often now to make sure he wasn't doing anything he wasn't supposed to. Cheyanne knocked on her son's door and opened it. She stuck her head in and peeked around, "Hi dear, just checking on you." She smiled and closed the door. Travis heard his mother's resounding footsteps. He waited until he knew she was in the kitchen, or somewhere that wasn't near the living room. He stood and picked his keys up and went downstairs. He went down and left the house. He couldn't stand one more minute of his mother acting the way she was or one more of her stupid check ups. As Travis got into the car he suddenly realized that he had no clue where the hell he was going. He started the car and backed out of the driveway and sighed. He rolled his eyes at himself. He really needed to figure out where he was going.
After driving around for a little while, Travis found himself at Mickey's. He sighed but pulled into a parking place and got out. He soon found himself sitting in a chair doing absolutely nothing at all but...sitting there.
~*~
3/22/07 - 4:03pm
Robbie was really shocked that his parents didn't ground him, at all. It was actually really strange. He wasn't sure that he wasn't going to be grounded, they had probably just been to surprised and whatnot to really say anything. He didn't know why they would be so shocked though, seeing as how he'd forgotten to call before. They hadn't worried that much then--And when that had last happened, he'd been at a party that had alcohol, drugs, and all kinds of other things. Robbie didn't understand adults. Currently, the dark skinned boy was sitting upstairs on the floor of his room. Parents aren't meant to make sense I don't guess...they never do seem to. But shouldn't mom and dad have been more worried about that party rather than this? Maybe their....parental programming wires were switched around....I've got to get out of here.... Robbie knew his parents weren't home right now so he went downstairs, grabbed his keys, and went out the door. They wouldn't be back before he was.
~*~ 3/22/07 - 4:06pm
Lily wasn't shocked in the least when her parents grounded her for three weeks. She didn't make anything too much of it either; She knew they'd forget about it half way through next week. However, for the time that she would be grounded, she couldn't talk on the phone, watch tv, get on the computer or leave the house unless it was needed. She was starting to wonder if going to Mickey's could be considered as 'needed'. Maybe she could go for the open mike, that was needed for her to get over her stage fright, right? Not that she hadn't already now but, it was an excuse to get out of the house, right? Lily sighed from her position on her bed and sat up. She stood and went down into the living room where her mom was reading a book by some guy who had probably written really great but now could write no more for the fact that he was dead. "Mom?"
"Yes, dear?"
"Can...I go to Mickey's?"
Emily Randall raised an eyebrow, "Why?"
"I have a new song and...I want to know what people think about it."
Her mom looked at her inquisitively, trying to make out what she was really saying.
"Mom....pleeeeeaseeee...." Lily jumped up and down a few times.
Her mom sighed and Lily knew she was giving in. "Alright...but only for an hour."
"But...mom....I don't know if I'll get on stage in an hour..."
"Alright, two hours, but I don't care if you get on stage or not, two hours you're coming home."
"Thanks mom! Later!"
~*~ 3/22/07 - 4:10pm
Kim had gone home to an empty house that morning. Her parents came home and never knew a thing. Even if they had known, she knew how to work her mother and she had her father wrapped around her finger, it would have been easy to get out of a grounding. Though there was always the few rare occasions things like that didn't work and, that could have very well been one of those occasions but...she'd never know because she would never tell her parents about what happened that night. She was really starting to get bored and as she went down stairs she decided what she would do. There really wasn't much to do in Roscoe so, she decided she's just go hang at Mickey's for a bit. "Mom! Dad! I'm going out, be back later!" And she was gone.
~*~
3/22/07 - 4:12pm
Riley and Ray hadn't gotten off as lucky as the others. They had gotten two lectures from Maire and James. If you knew the two, you would know automatically that James' lecture was a lot less harsh than Marie's. You really couldn't call what James had said a lecture, more of an "It was wrong, don't do it again," kind of thing. Marie however, was very red in the face and yelling at the two for what they'd done. Yelling wasn't a very often occurrence for Marie Brennon but when she did, you knew it was bad and there was most definitely something very, very wrong or evil going on. The two seventeen year old's were still downstairs in the living room on the couch next to each other, wincing at Marie's harshness at points. She had sort of started running out of points and it seemed like she was just....starting over but neither Ray or Riley were daring enough to point this out to her.
"I can't believe you two! You had all four of them over? You had three teenage couples in the house alone...and no one knew where their children were! You could have called their parents!"
When Marie paused, Ray decided he'd go out on a limb and say something, "Uh...mom...the...electricity was kind of...gone."
"I don't care, Raymond!" the woman snapped. "One of the six of you was bound to have a cell phone! Those would have still worked!" In his mind, Ray agreed, she did have a point. At this point, after three hours of yelling and berating the two teenagers, Marie was really losing points and getting tired of yelling, though she wasn't sure if they got her point, even though it had all been going on for so long. Marie decided she would just stop yelling, try to calm down, and in a little while, she'd have to call Sarah and David and talk to them about it. She took a breath before speaking again, "I'm done. Go to your rooms."
Ray and Riley immediately obeyed the woman for the sheer fact that they didn't want her to suddenly change her mind and start yelling again. Ray went to his room and Riley followed him. ray wasn't sure he wanted to ask why she was going to his room rather than hers so he just kept quiet. When they entered the room, Riley shut the door and both of them ran over to the computer chair. They shoved each other out of the way, both trying to be the one successful in sitting there. In the end, Riley won because she'd threatened to kick Ray in places he'd rather not be kicked. Ray wasn't sure if she was telling the truth but he decided not to test her and sat on the bed. Riley spun around in the chair a few times then let out a strange noise when she stopped, facing her cousin. "Wwwaakkaa!"
Ray raised an eyebrow at the eccentric girl, "And what is that?"
She answered with, "Stonnnngggg....."
Ray just looked at her as if she were insane.
"I know I'm insane, so just shut UP, Damon! And you too, Loki!"
"Hearing voices again?"
"I always hear them...some days there just more pronounced than others....sometimes, they are even influential on my choices of things..." Riley nodded slowly with a very serious look on her face.
"You're really spending way too much time talking to your friends back in Cali....The strangeness you had when you first came here is slowly seeping back into you from the keyboard when you talk to them."
"Melanie, Carrie, and Faith are perfectly normal people! It's people like...I dunno...Audrey, who are weird! You're normal too...and Robbie, Lily, and Travis as well."
"That's where the line stops." Ray said, moving his hand from one side to the other, horizontally, as if to illustrate the line he was speaking of. "Travis is weird...."
"Then so are you."
"Does that mean you and your California friends are as well?"
Riley thought about it for a moment. "Naw! We're still normal."
After a few moments of complete silence went by, Ray spoke again. "This is really boring....we should do something."
"Like?"
He shrugged, "Go to Mickey's?"
"You honestly think Aunt Marie is going to let us go to Mickey's after all the yelling she did? Puh-leaze! She's only my aunt, I haven't exactly been living with the woman my entire life and I know her better than you do."
"That's where you're wrong. Since I have lived with her my entire life and she is my mother, I know her very well. I know her well enough to know that after three hours of yelling, she probably won't want to see us for awhile...she'll let us go..." He paused and added, "More than likely."
"Which one of us is gonna ask her?"
"You."
"Why?"
"It was your idea."
"No, it was your idea."
"You're the one that said we should do something."
"Yet again, that was you."
"Is there any way I can win this?"
"No. Usually there is a way you could win but...I can't think of one this time."
"Ah...here's something: She's my mother, naturally when she gets done yelling at me for three hours, she probably not going to want to see my face for awhile. You on the other hand, she'll still treat you basically the same since you're her niece and not actually her child. You get to ask her for the fact that she'll just end up yelling at me again and we have more of a chance of getting a yes out of her from you rather than me."
"Wow....that was a lot from the tiny, peanut sized brain you normally have. I think Travis' logic is starting to rub off on you."
"So...are you going to?"
She sighed and rolled her eyes. Riley knew that the moment she got out the door, he was going to sit in the computer chair. "Yeah..." She spun around in three circles, stopping when she was facing Ray again.
"I win."
"For once."
"Hey!"
Riley grinned and got up to go down and ask. And just as she suspected, the moment she was out the door she could hear him run over to the chair. When she entered the kitchen, where her Aunt Marie was, she smiled.
"Oh, hi Riley."
"Hi Aunt Marie."
"What are you doing?"
"Nothing...just..." She said the first thing that came to her mind, "Getting a soda." She walked over to the refrigerator and took a Mountain Dew out. After she took a sip of the sweet, green sugary goodness she asked, "So...Aunt Marie...I was wondering....could Ray and I go to Mickey's?"
Marie looked like she was going to burst into rage again but when she spoke she was very calm. "Yes...I think it'd be good for you to leave...I might be able to suppress the excess rage from within enough to the point where it will only barely exist...but never fear, my dear niece, when you come back the rage will still be there...just not as evident as earlier."
Riley was standing behind her aunt and both of her eyebrows were raised and eyes wide. Her aunt was being really weird right now. That's ok, She thought, At least we can get out of here...away from all the...not so suppressed rage. "Thanks Aunt Marie!" Riley ran out of the kitchen, up the stairs, and burst into Ray's room. "Guess what?"
Ray, who had the back of the chair turned, jumped at the sound of the door and turned around. "I don't know...are you running from the rage that is my mother?"
"No...I"m running up here to tell you we can go....she said, and I quote, 'Yes...I think it'd be good for you to leave...I might be able to suppress the excess rage from within enough to the point where it will only barely exist...but never fear, my dear niece, when you come back the rage will still be there...just not as evident as earlier.' That's it."
Ray blinked. "You remembered something word for word of what my mother said?"
"Well...yeah...she only said it like, six seconds ago."
"Right..."
"Anyway...later!"
"Later? What?" But before he had gotten the two words out of his mouth, his cousins form was gone and the door was closed.
A few minutes later, Ray rolled his eyes as he waited for Riley. Why did girls always have to take so long to go anywhere? It just never made sense. When Riley came out of her room and down the stairs she was clad in a white to-the-waist top tank top, a pair of black jeans and a pair of black high- top type Sketchers boots. Ray looked at her and said, "It took you that long to get dressed?"
"Yeah....Ray, I couldn't decide which top to wear." Riley responded sarcastically. "No, Lily called me, she's at Mickey's fixing to perform a new song she came up with. She warned me that it's pretty depressing but she was perfectly happy when she wrote it. She also told me to inform you it has nothing to do with you guys' relationship, it is not, she repeats through me, NOT directed at you. Got it?"
"Don't know if I'll remember all that but, yeah."
~*~
The two fought over the keys to drive for several minutes. Ray had won for the simple fact that he was about six foot and Riley was a mere five foot five and a half inches. However, he almost gave the keys to her because she'd threatened to kick him again but he held the keys out of her reach and she finally gave up, letting him drive.
"I still don't see why you got to drive." Riley muttered as they tried to find a seat after entering Mickey's. It was open mike tonight and there was always a good turn out because basically everyone knew someone who was going to be on stage.
"For the simple fact that I'm taller than you and I can hold the keys out of your reach."
"I knew I should have kicked you...you didn't think I'd actually do it, did ya?"
"No...but now I'm starting to change my mind...with that whole...psycho look you're giving me."
"You say psycho like it's a bad thing..."
They finally found two seats near the back come to find out, Travis, Robbie, and Kim were all there as well. Ray could care less about Kim but otherwise, this was really ironic. Riley sat next to Travis, Ray next to his cousin, Kim was on his other side and the line ended with Robbie.
"Have you been forbidden to see me yet, Strong?"
"No...not yet. Well, not seriously anyway."
Riley frowned, "What do you mean?"
"My mom..she's weird and--"
"So the truth comes out...now we know who you get it from.."
Ray motioned to the other four to be quiet, Lily was on stage now.
"Well...it's been awhile since I've been up here...thought I'd just....drop by." Lily spoke into the mike. It was pretty obvious she'd rather not be doing this but she saw all five of them in a row in the back and grinned. When she saw Ray give her two thumbs up and Riley wave her hands next to her face with her tongue out, she felt an odd burst of confidence. It sure does seem to come at strange times...and comes along with weird things. She took a breath and started to play and sing.
I don't know where I went wrong But I know that you're gone Are you comin' back? I don't know
Wanna call it fate? (spoken) Sure Wanna call it luck? (spoken) Fine. Wanna call it chance? (spoken) Whatever
You're gonna take. My life. A-way. You're gonna take. My will. A-way You're gonna take. My eve-rything And throw it all awa-ay
I don't know why I keep callin' you then hangin' up I don't know why you keep callin', you know I'm not gonna answer Why we keep seein' each other on the street, I don't know
Wanna call it fate? (spoken) Sure Wanna call it luck? (spoken) Fine. Wanna call it chance? (spoken) Whatever When you're comin' back-I don't know Got you're letter-3 days ago You're comin' back I don't know when-But I know it's happenin'
Wanna call it fate? (spoken) Sure Wanna call it luck? (spoken) Fine. Wanna call it chance? (spoken) Whatever
You're gonna bring. My life. You're gonna bring. My soul. You're gonna bring. My will. You're gonna bring. My eve-rything. You're gonna bring. It all. Right Back.
Wanna call it fate? (spoken) Sure Wanna call it luck? (spoken) Fine. Wanna call it chance? (spoken) Whatever (Music to fade)
As the last bars of the song were played, everyone in Mickey's was clapping and cheering. Lily immediately ran to the back where her friends were. Riley was the first to stand up. "Ohmygod! That was great! I'll love you forever if you let me use that song in my book!"
Lily laughed at Riley's comment. "Yeah, whatever, give me credit though."
"So, how's it feel to be in-Mickey's-famous?" Ray asked.
Lily rolled her eyes. "Ray...that made no sense."
"Did you understand it?"
"Well..yeah."
"Then that's all that matters and you lied because if you understood then it made sense."
"Just because I understood doesn't mean it made sense. I've known you since we were like...three, I'm bound to be able to make sense of you're incessant rambling by now."
"Ahh...you think I ramble. You obviously haven't met my cousin. Her name's Riley Diane and she goes on about stuff no one knows about."
"What are you--" Before she finished her sentence, at least half of Mickey's, including Mickey himself, had all turned to look at Riley.
"Loki! Damon! Go AWAY! I don't need you in my head right now! I'm at Mickey's....yeah, I guess you would know where we are...what I'm doing...just...go away for awhile...come back when we go home." "Nevermind." Lily said and everyone went back to their own conversations and doings.
Travis was standing behind Riley when he placed both of his hands on either of her shoulders. "Riley, are you talking to the voices in your head again?"
Riley nodded. "Yeah...and they aren't listening! Travis! Make 'em go away!"
"Meditate."
"Meditate?"
"Yeah...it clears your mind."
Riley shook her head, "I don't think so..."
"Why?"
"Well, first off I don't think I have the patience to meditate and second of all, I really don't think that anything will get Damon and Loki outta my head unless they decide to be...no so evident."
"Maybe a psychologist would help." Kim said.
"No, honestly, they aren't going anywhere unless they want to." After a pause, Riley shouted, "Cow in a white tank top scrunched under a desk!"
All five of the other group of teens looked at her. "Riiiiiiight."
"No, really, flashing through my mind twelve seconds ago there was a cow in a white tank top and it was all scrunched up under the desk....I think it was Loki's fault."
Ray looked at her with an odd look. "What did he do? Hold the cow at gun point until it went under the desk and got all scrunched up?"
"I don't know! It's Loki! But then again...it could have been Damon....Damon does strange things...."
"You guys can get off the topic of the voices in my girlfriend's head, I'll help her with them....you guys can have a....normal conversation...." Travis said, guiding his girlfriend to a table in the back corner.
"So....why are we over here?"
"Because..." Travis started, "No one else wants to hear chatter about the voices in your head."
"They might, you never know...."
"You know, if writing didn't work out for you, you could always be an actress."
Riley shook her head, "No. I'd be on Saturday Night Live. I couldn't act all...specific like in a movie...unless it was a movie that I could mad lib in and it wouldn't matter....like Dude Where's My Car....that's the kind of movie I'd be in...." Riley nodded several times. "Yeah...definitely....and Ashton Kutcher, Sean William Scott, and Mike Myers would all be in the movie....I think I'd get on with them pretty well...."
"Right..." Travis said. The people that thought he was weird, should really meet his girlfriend.
"Travis...I'm bored...I wanna do something. Any ideas?"
Travis shook his head, "No."
Riley looked thoughtful. Bowling?, "No..." Walk?, "Naw..." Ice Skating?, "No...I don't really feel like falling on my ass today." Roller bladeing? "Same as above..." She sighed and looked at her boyfriend, "Well, so far I've got nothing...less we see a movie..."
"Do you want to see a movie?"
"No...not really."
Travis rolled his eyes, "Why mention it if you don't want to do so?"
She shrugged and completely out of the blue she said, "And so ends another chapter of life."
"What?"
"You'll know one day, you'll know. You'll really understand me."
"I don't think anyone can fully understand you, Riley."
~*~*~*~
A/N - Well, wasn't that half a basket full of grandma's cookies? *crickets* Don't ask...What I meant was: Wasn't that a half-ass piece of a chapter? Well, the end kinda sucked but....whatever dude! I didn't know what to do. I know what I'm doing for the next chapter but I couldn't put it in yet so...yeah. Anyway, reviews appreciated, love what feed back I've gotten so far. ^_^
Later days
~PFB
Disclaimer - Ok, guys...I just realized that I haven't put a disclaimer up here. Well...I don't own RFR or any of the characters held within this fic....except the eccentric being that is Riley Diane, and of course her parents who make very few appearances: Sarah, and David Brennon.
Dedication - This chapter i s dedicated to my friend Jessica for all of the many, many references that you guys might laugh at but you won't truly get. Damon belongs to Jessica, she wishes that Loki belonged to her. Actually, I want Loki to belong to me...you should too. Trust me, if you knew Loki like either of us do, you'd want him to belong to you.
Travis was dreading the next few days, purely because of his mother. He really wished she would just stop coming upstairs, opening his door, looking around, and closing the door again. It was getting really annoying. It really wasn't so annoying for the fact that she was doing it, but more for the fact that she was doing it so often. She came up about every twenty minutes and Travis was seriously starting to consider leaving the house.
Cheyanne walked up the stairs to go check on Travis again. She was making check rounds every so often now to make sure he wasn't doing anything he wasn't supposed to. Cheyanne knocked on her son's door and opened it. She stuck her head in and peeked around, "Hi dear, just checking on you." She smiled and closed the door. Travis heard his mother's resounding footsteps. He waited until he knew she was in the kitchen, or somewhere that wasn't near the living room. He stood and picked his keys up and went downstairs. He went down and left the house. He couldn't stand one more minute of his mother acting the way she was or one more of her stupid check ups. As Travis got into the car he suddenly realized that he had no clue where the hell he was going. He started the car and backed out of the driveway and sighed. He rolled his eyes at himself. He really needed to figure out where he was going.
After driving around for a little while, Travis found himself at Mickey's. He sighed but pulled into a parking place and got out. He soon found himself sitting in a chair doing absolutely nothing at all but...sitting there.
~*~
3/22/07 - 4:03pm
Robbie was really shocked that his parents didn't ground him, at all. It was actually really strange. He wasn't sure that he wasn't going to be grounded, they had probably just been to surprised and whatnot to really say anything. He didn't know why they would be so shocked though, seeing as how he'd forgotten to call before. They hadn't worried that much then--And when that had last happened, he'd been at a party that had alcohol, drugs, and all kinds of other things. Robbie didn't understand adults. Currently, the dark skinned boy was sitting upstairs on the floor of his room. Parents aren't meant to make sense I don't guess...they never do seem to. But shouldn't mom and dad have been more worried about that party rather than this? Maybe their....parental programming wires were switched around....I've got to get out of here.... Robbie knew his parents weren't home right now so he went downstairs, grabbed his keys, and went out the door. They wouldn't be back before he was.
~*~ 3/22/07 - 4:06pm
Lily wasn't shocked in the least when her parents grounded her for three weeks. She didn't make anything too much of it either; She knew they'd forget about it half way through next week. However, for the time that she would be grounded, she couldn't talk on the phone, watch tv, get on the computer or leave the house unless it was needed. She was starting to wonder if going to Mickey's could be considered as 'needed'. Maybe she could go for the open mike, that was needed for her to get over her stage fright, right? Not that she hadn't already now but, it was an excuse to get out of the house, right? Lily sighed from her position on her bed and sat up. She stood and went down into the living room where her mom was reading a book by some guy who had probably written really great but now could write no more for the fact that he was dead. "Mom?"
"Yes, dear?"
"Can...I go to Mickey's?"
Emily Randall raised an eyebrow, "Why?"
"I have a new song and...I want to know what people think about it."
Her mom looked at her inquisitively, trying to make out what she was really saying.
"Mom....pleeeeeaseeee...." Lily jumped up and down a few times.
Her mom sighed and Lily knew she was giving in. "Alright...but only for an hour."
"But...mom....I don't know if I'll get on stage in an hour..."
"Alright, two hours, but I don't care if you get on stage or not, two hours you're coming home."
"Thanks mom! Later!"
~*~ 3/22/07 - 4:10pm
Kim had gone home to an empty house that morning. Her parents came home and never knew a thing. Even if they had known, she knew how to work her mother and she had her father wrapped around her finger, it would have been easy to get out of a grounding. Though there was always the few rare occasions things like that didn't work and, that could have very well been one of those occasions but...she'd never know because she would never tell her parents about what happened that night. She was really starting to get bored and as she went down stairs she decided what she would do. There really wasn't much to do in Roscoe so, she decided she's just go hang at Mickey's for a bit. "Mom! Dad! I'm going out, be back later!" And she was gone.
~*~
3/22/07 - 4:12pm
Riley and Ray hadn't gotten off as lucky as the others. They had gotten two lectures from Maire and James. If you knew the two, you would know automatically that James' lecture was a lot less harsh than Marie's. You really couldn't call what James had said a lecture, more of an "It was wrong, don't do it again," kind of thing. Marie however, was very red in the face and yelling at the two for what they'd done. Yelling wasn't a very often occurrence for Marie Brennon but when she did, you knew it was bad and there was most definitely something very, very wrong or evil going on. The two seventeen year old's were still downstairs in the living room on the couch next to each other, wincing at Marie's harshness at points. She had sort of started running out of points and it seemed like she was just....starting over but neither Ray or Riley were daring enough to point this out to her.
"I can't believe you two! You had all four of them over? You had three teenage couples in the house alone...and no one knew where their children were! You could have called their parents!"
When Marie paused, Ray decided he'd go out on a limb and say something, "Uh...mom...the...electricity was kind of...gone."
"I don't care, Raymond!" the woman snapped. "One of the six of you was bound to have a cell phone! Those would have still worked!" In his mind, Ray agreed, she did have a point. At this point, after three hours of yelling and berating the two teenagers, Marie was really losing points and getting tired of yelling, though she wasn't sure if they got her point, even though it had all been going on for so long. Marie decided she would just stop yelling, try to calm down, and in a little while, she'd have to call Sarah and David and talk to them about it. She took a breath before speaking again, "I'm done. Go to your rooms."
Ray and Riley immediately obeyed the woman for the sheer fact that they didn't want her to suddenly change her mind and start yelling again. Ray went to his room and Riley followed him. ray wasn't sure he wanted to ask why she was going to his room rather than hers so he just kept quiet. When they entered the room, Riley shut the door and both of them ran over to the computer chair. They shoved each other out of the way, both trying to be the one successful in sitting there. In the end, Riley won because she'd threatened to kick Ray in places he'd rather not be kicked. Ray wasn't sure if she was telling the truth but he decided not to test her and sat on the bed. Riley spun around in the chair a few times then let out a strange noise when she stopped, facing her cousin. "Wwwaakkaa!"
Ray raised an eyebrow at the eccentric girl, "And what is that?"
She answered with, "Stonnnngggg....."
Ray just looked at her as if she were insane.
"I know I'm insane, so just shut UP, Damon! And you too, Loki!"
"Hearing voices again?"
"I always hear them...some days there just more pronounced than others....sometimes, they are even influential on my choices of things..." Riley nodded slowly with a very serious look on her face.
"You're really spending way too much time talking to your friends back in Cali....The strangeness you had when you first came here is slowly seeping back into you from the keyboard when you talk to them."
"Melanie, Carrie, and Faith are perfectly normal people! It's people like...I dunno...Audrey, who are weird! You're normal too...and Robbie, Lily, and Travis as well."
"That's where the line stops." Ray said, moving his hand from one side to the other, horizontally, as if to illustrate the line he was speaking of. "Travis is weird...."
"Then so are you."
"Does that mean you and your California friends are as well?"
Riley thought about it for a moment. "Naw! We're still normal."
After a few moments of complete silence went by, Ray spoke again. "This is really boring....we should do something."
"Like?"
He shrugged, "Go to Mickey's?"
"You honestly think Aunt Marie is going to let us go to Mickey's after all the yelling she did? Puh-leaze! She's only my aunt, I haven't exactly been living with the woman my entire life and I know her better than you do."
"That's where you're wrong. Since I have lived with her my entire life and she is my mother, I know her very well. I know her well enough to know that after three hours of yelling, she probably won't want to see us for awhile...she'll let us go..." He paused and added, "More than likely."
"Which one of us is gonna ask her?"
"You."
"Why?"
"It was your idea."
"No, it was your idea."
"You're the one that said we should do something."
"Yet again, that was you."
"Is there any way I can win this?"
"No. Usually there is a way you could win but...I can't think of one this time."
"Ah...here's something: She's my mother, naturally when she gets done yelling at me for three hours, she probably not going to want to see my face for awhile. You on the other hand, she'll still treat you basically the same since you're her niece and not actually her child. You get to ask her for the fact that she'll just end up yelling at me again and we have more of a chance of getting a yes out of her from you rather than me."
"Wow....that was a lot from the tiny, peanut sized brain you normally have. I think Travis' logic is starting to rub off on you."
"So...are you going to?"
She sighed and rolled her eyes. Riley knew that the moment she got out the door, he was going to sit in the computer chair. "Yeah..." She spun around in three circles, stopping when she was facing Ray again.
"I win."
"For once."
"Hey!"
Riley grinned and got up to go down and ask. And just as she suspected, the moment she was out the door she could hear him run over to the chair. When she entered the kitchen, where her Aunt Marie was, she smiled.
"Oh, hi Riley."
"Hi Aunt Marie."
"What are you doing?"
"Nothing...just..." She said the first thing that came to her mind, "Getting a soda." She walked over to the refrigerator and took a Mountain Dew out. After she took a sip of the sweet, green sugary goodness she asked, "So...Aunt Marie...I was wondering....could Ray and I go to Mickey's?"
Marie looked like she was going to burst into rage again but when she spoke she was very calm. "Yes...I think it'd be good for you to leave...I might be able to suppress the excess rage from within enough to the point where it will only barely exist...but never fear, my dear niece, when you come back the rage will still be there...just not as evident as earlier."
Riley was standing behind her aunt and both of her eyebrows were raised and eyes wide. Her aunt was being really weird right now. That's ok, She thought, At least we can get out of here...away from all the...not so suppressed rage. "Thanks Aunt Marie!" Riley ran out of the kitchen, up the stairs, and burst into Ray's room. "Guess what?"
Ray, who had the back of the chair turned, jumped at the sound of the door and turned around. "I don't know...are you running from the rage that is my mother?"
"No...I"m running up here to tell you we can go....she said, and I quote, 'Yes...I think it'd be good for you to leave...I might be able to suppress the excess rage from within enough to the point where it will only barely exist...but never fear, my dear niece, when you come back the rage will still be there...just not as evident as earlier.' That's it."
Ray blinked. "You remembered something word for word of what my mother said?"
"Well...yeah...she only said it like, six seconds ago."
"Right..."
"Anyway...later!"
"Later? What?" But before he had gotten the two words out of his mouth, his cousins form was gone and the door was closed.
A few minutes later, Ray rolled his eyes as he waited for Riley. Why did girls always have to take so long to go anywhere? It just never made sense. When Riley came out of her room and down the stairs she was clad in a white to-the-waist top tank top, a pair of black jeans and a pair of black high- top type Sketchers boots. Ray looked at her and said, "It took you that long to get dressed?"
"Yeah....Ray, I couldn't decide which top to wear." Riley responded sarcastically. "No, Lily called me, she's at Mickey's fixing to perform a new song she came up with. She warned me that it's pretty depressing but she was perfectly happy when she wrote it. She also told me to inform you it has nothing to do with you guys' relationship, it is not, she repeats through me, NOT directed at you. Got it?"
"Don't know if I'll remember all that but, yeah."
~*~
The two fought over the keys to drive for several minutes. Ray had won for the simple fact that he was about six foot and Riley was a mere five foot five and a half inches. However, he almost gave the keys to her because she'd threatened to kick him again but he held the keys out of her reach and she finally gave up, letting him drive.
"I still don't see why you got to drive." Riley muttered as they tried to find a seat after entering Mickey's. It was open mike tonight and there was always a good turn out because basically everyone knew someone who was going to be on stage.
"For the simple fact that I'm taller than you and I can hold the keys out of your reach."
"I knew I should have kicked you...you didn't think I'd actually do it, did ya?"
"No...but now I'm starting to change my mind...with that whole...psycho look you're giving me."
"You say psycho like it's a bad thing..."
They finally found two seats near the back come to find out, Travis, Robbie, and Kim were all there as well. Ray could care less about Kim but otherwise, this was really ironic. Riley sat next to Travis, Ray next to his cousin, Kim was on his other side and the line ended with Robbie.
"Have you been forbidden to see me yet, Strong?"
"No...not yet. Well, not seriously anyway."
Riley frowned, "What do you mean?"
"My mom..she's weird and--"
"So the truth comes out...now we know who you get it from.."
Ray motioned to the other four to be quiet, Lily was on stage now.
"Well...it's been awhile since I've been up here...thought I'd just....drop by." Lily spoke into the mike. It was pretty obvious she'd rather not be doing this but she saw all five of them in a row in the back and grinned. When she saw Ray give her two thumbs up and Riley wave her hands next to her face with her tongue out, she felt an odd burst of confidence. It sure does seem to come at strange times...and comes along with weird things. She took a breath and started to play and sing.
I don't know where I went wrong But I know that you're gone Are you comin' back? I don't know
Wanna call it fate? (spoken) Sure Wanna call it luck? (spoken) Fine. Wanna call it chance? (spoken) Whatever
You're gonna take. My life. A-way. You're gonna take. My will. A-way You're gonna take. My eve-rything And throw it all awa-ay
I don't know why I keep callin' you then hangin' up I don't know why you keep callin', you know I'm not gonna answer Why we keep seein' each other on the street, I don't know
Wanna call it fate? (spoken) Sure Wanna call it luck? (spoken) Fine. Wanna call it chance? (spoken) Whatever When you're comin' back-I don't know Got you're letter-3 days ago You're comin' back I don't know when-But I know it's happenin'
Wanna call it fate? (spoken) Sure Wanna call it luck? (spoken) Fine. Wanna call it chance? (spoken) Whatever
You're gonna bring. My life. You're gonna bring. My soul. You're gonna bring. My will. You're gonna bring. My eve-rything. You're gonna bring. It all. Right Back.
Wanna call it fate? (spoken) Sure Wanna call it luck? (spoken) Fine. Wanna call it chance? (spoken) Whatever (Music to fade)
As the last bars of the song were played, everyone in Mickey's was clapping and cheering. Lily immediately ran to the back where her friends were. Riley was the first to stand up. "Ohmygod! That was great! I'll love you forever if you let me use that song in my book!"
Lily laughed at Riley's comment. "Yeah, whatever, give me credit though."
"So, how's it feel to be in-Mickey's-famous?" Ray asked.
Lily rolled her eyes. "Ray...that made no sense."
"Did you understand it?"
"Well..yeah."
"Then that's all that matters and you lied because if you understood then it made sense."
"Just because I understood doesn't mean it made sense. I've known you since we were like...three, I'm bound to be able to make sense of you're incessant rambling by now."
"Ahh...you think I ramble. You obviously haven't met my cousin. Her name's Riley Diane and she goes on about stuff no one knows about."
"What are you--" Before she finished her sentence, at least half of Mickey's, including Mickey himself, had all turned to look at Riley.
"Loki! Damon! Go AWAY! I don't need you in my head right now! I'm at Mickey's....yeah, I guess you would know where we are...what I'm doing...just...go away for awhile...come back when we go home." "Nevermind." Lily said and everyone went back to their own conversations and doings.
Travis was standing behind Riley when he placed both of his hands on either of her shoulders. "Riley, are you talking to the voices in your head again?"
Riley nodded. "Yeah...and they aren't listening! Travis! Make 'em go away!"
"Meditate."
"Meditate?"
"Yeah...it clears your mind."
Riley shook her head, "I don't think so..."
"Why?"
"Well, first off I don't think I have the patience to meditate and second of all, I really don't think that anything will get Damon and Loki outta my head unless they decide to be...no so evident."
"Maybe a psychologist would help." Kim said.
"No, honestly, they aren't going anywhere unless they want to." After a pause, Riley shouted, "Cow in a white tank top scrunched under a desk!"
All five of the other group of teens looked at her. "Riiiiiiight."
"No, really, flashing through my mind twelve seconds ago there was a cow in a white tank top and it was all scrunched up under the desk....I think it was Loki's fault."
Ray looked at her with an odd look. "What did he do? Hold the cow at gun point until it went under the desk and got all scrunched up?"
"I don't know! It's Loki! But then again...it could have been Damon....Damon does strange things...."
"You guys can get off the topic of the voices in my girlfriend's head, I'll help her with them....you guys can have a....normal conversation...." Travis said, guiding his girlfriend to a table in the back corner.
"So....why are we over here?"
"Because..." Travis started, "No one else wants to hear chatter about the voices in your head."
"They might, you never know...."
"You know, if writing didn't work out for you, you could always be an actress."
Riley shook her head, "No. I'd be on Saturday Night Live. I couldn't act all...specific like in a movie...unless it was a movie that I could mad lib in and it wouldn't matter....like Dude Where's My Car....that's the kind of movie I'd be in...." Riley nodded several times. "Yeah...definitely....and Ashton Kutcher, Sean William Scott, and Mike Myers would all be in the movie....I think I'd get on with them pretty well...."
"Right..." Travis said. The people that thought he was weird, should really meet his girlfriend.
"Travis...I'm bored...I wanna do something. Any ideas?"
Travis shook his head, "No."
Riley looked thoughtful. Bowling?, "No..." Walk?, "Naw..." Ice Skating?, "No...I don't really feel like falling on my ass today." Roller bladeing? "Same as above..." She sighed and looked at her boyfriend, "Well, so far I've got nothing...less we see a movie..."
"Do you want to see a movie?"
"No...not really."
Travis rolled his eyes, "Why mention it if you don't want to do so?"
She shrugged and completely out of the blue she said, "And so ends another chapter of life."
"What?"
"You'll know one day, you'll know. You'll really understand me."
"I don't think anyone can fully understand you, Riley."
~*~*~*~
A/N - Well, wasn't that half a basket full of grandma's cookies? *crickets* Don't ask...What I meant was: Wasn't that a half-ass piece of a chapter? Well, the end kinda sucked but....whatever dude! I didn't know what to do. I know what I'm doing for the next chapter but I couldn't put it in yet so...yeah. Anyway, reviews appreciated, love what feed back I've gotten so far. ^_^
Later days
~PFB