The Final Year, The Final Show
Disclaimer - Still don't own the show. Honestly guys, if you sue me, all you'll get is a few pieces of paper, a pen and...*looks for pockets only to find that she doesn't have any* and that's it cause I don't have any pockets to have anything in.
A/N - Like I said in the last chapter, I'm really not sure if Ray's gonna be saved by a miracle or if he's going to be sent into oblivion...as I write this, I'm trying to decide. I guess we'll all find out in the end, eh?
Well, read, enjoy, and review!
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Ch 2 - Birthday Miracle - 5/18/07 - 4:30 - Friday
"Are you sure?"
"About what? You knowing what I mean, yeah."
"No. Are you sure that hell has bells? Maybe it has drums."
"And maybe you could find out and tells us."
"No...wait..why?"
"Because, hell is exactly where Lily is going to send you if you don't get her something for her birthday."
"What? Her birthday isn't till the nineteenth."
Riley gave him a 'uh-huuhh, aaannddd' look. "Yeah...and today is...what?"
Ray was going to look at his watch but remembered that he had lost it so he grabbed Riley's right wrist and looked at the date on it. "Aww hell! This is bad....really bad..."
"Wait...you really don't have anything for her?" Riley asked. "I was joking..."
Ray's eyes were wide as dinner plates. "I'm not..."
"You're in deep shit. What are you going to do?"
"Try and get out of the quicksand I've managed to land in."
"Nice analogy." Riley nodded, grinning.
"Riley, good or bad analogies are the least of my worries. I need to think of something..."
Riley rolled her eyes. She knew exactly what Ray could get her best Canadian girl friend but she wanted to see what he could come up with. In all honesty, he should know what she was thinking of, it was what Lily had been going on about for the past two months almost non-stop.
As Ray racked his brain for something, occasionally throwing out a, "No..." or, "No way!" here and there, Marie came out on the porch, portable phone in hand. "Riley, hun, it's for you."
Riley leaned forward, taking the phone from her aunt and pressed the phone to her ear, not even bothering asking who it was. "Hello?"
"Riley..."
"Oh, hey, what's up?" Riley pushed herself off the swing. She turned to the other two and mouthed, "Robbie. See ya in a few." To which they nodded. Riley figured Ray would be begging Travis to help him think of something to get Lily for her birthday.
"You know back in December when you said that I could call and talk to you anytime and you'd listen?"
"And keep my mouth shut." Riley added as she entered the kitchen. She grabbed a Mt. Dew and popped the can open, "Yeah, I remember that. Need ta talk?"
"Yeah....kinda...." Then Robbie fell silent.
Complete silence was all Riley heard, there wasn't even anything in the background. She hit the phone on her hand a few times, thinking that maybe the phone had gone dead, "Robbie? You still there?"
"Yeah..." He sounded a little startled and really far away, like another planet far away.
Riley frowned and made her way upstairs to her room. As she closed the door behind her she said, "Robbie...what's up?"
He didn't answer but she knew he was there, she could hear him moving stuff around.
"Robbie..." She repeated, "What's going on?"
He let out a startled gasp. "S-sorry. I-I've been thinking..."
"Not surprising, Ray and I don't do enough for everyone...did that make sense?" She shook her head, "Anyway...what have you been thinking about?"
"Uh...I-I think I'm going to quit RFR."
"Dammit Robbie! Don't you dare tell me you're letting Kim get to you!"
"No, Riley...it's not Kim...really. Or..at least...I don't think it is...I don't know!"
Riley sighed. He couldn't want to quit. Not yet. They only had one year left. Robbie was the reason she was allowed the occasional appearances as 'Random' on RFR. He was technically the one that convinced the other three that she was safe to come on when they needed her to or she felt like it. "You can't." Riley blurted out.
Robbie frowned, "Why? Shouldn't it be my choice?"
"Who'll replace you?"
"You."
"Oh, yeah, that'll be great." She paused, "I'm Random and I'm wondering...why the hell is Question Mark going to quite RFR? Is it because of his now ex-Cougar Radio girlfriend?"
"Riley..."
"Don't 'Riley' me. You're not quitting and that's final."
"You can't choose for me."
"You realize that you're the reason I have my appearances on the show, right? You're the one out of you four that convinced the other three of it, you know? There's no way I'm going to let you quit without fighting with you over it."
Robbie sighed. Maybe he should just stick out the last year. There was that whole two month break since they didn't do the show in the summer unless there was some special topic or something that came up. He was weighing the decisions in his head. On one side, if he quit, Kim would win and he might not see the others as much. If he didn't quit, he might not be able to see Kim as much as he liked. This was really hard on a teenagers mind. He massaged his temple. This wasn't something he should be dealing with the first day of summer vacation.
"Robbie..."
"Yeah?"
"What are you going to do? Stay or go?"
Robbie took a breath in and bit his lower lip. He really wasn't sure but he knew Riley wasn't going to wait around for an answer, when she asked something she expected an answer fairly soon. This really wasn't something he could choose on the spot, he needed time to think.
"Robbie..."
He released the breath he'd been holding. She was starting to get impatient. He fell back on the bed and looked up at the ceiling. Should he stay or should he go? He didn't know but he needed to know. Not only to answer Riley, but for himself as well. "I...I don't know."
"Robbie, answer me."
Robbie closed his eyes and sighed again. "I...I think I'm going to stay."
"You think? Robbie, stay or go, cat or dog, one or two, yes or no, I want a real answer."
Robbie still had his eyes closed as he clenched his jaw. After five seconds he relaxed and answered her. "I'm going to stay."
"Ok."
"So..."
"I gotta go..."
Robbie frowned. "Out of curiosity, why?"
"Travis is here. And on top of that, I need to suggest to my cousin some gift ideas for my dear blonde friend."
"He didn't get Lily anything for her birthday?"
"Not yet, and well..as you, Travis, Lily and I have known all month, it's tomorrow."
"He didn't know?"
"I don't think it was the fact of not knowing, just the fact of not remembering."
Robbie chuckled. That was Ray for you. "I guess I'll let you go."
"No, wait. What'd you get for her?"
"I just went with the simple idea of the new Paper Moon cd."
Riley laughed, "Cheater!"
"What'd you get her?"
"I got her Malibu's Most Wanted."
"Why?"
"Because it's great! Jamie was hilarious in that movie!"
"Do you know if she'll even want it?"
Riley shrugged, "No clue, but if she doesn't I have the back up of twenty bucks. That's what the DVD cost."
"Why?"
"Well, come on! You think I'd let the girl simply exchange it? No way! I'll give her the money, if she doesn't want the dvd I'll take it."
Robbie laughed at her. "Well, later I guess, right?"
Riley laughed a little as well. "Yeah, later." Riley tossed the phone behind her shoulder as she left her room. She ran back downstairs, through the kitchen and out the back door back on the porch. She practically skidded to a stop at the end of the swing. She sat down next to her cousin and was practically in his face when she asked, "So...ya think of anything yet?"
"New Paper Moon Cd."
"Can't."
"Why not?"
"That's what Robbie got her."
"A DVD?"
"Can't be Malibu's Most Wanted."
"Yet again, why?"
"That's what I got her."
Ray looked at the blonde boy to his right, "What did you get her? Don't wanna go copying you either."
"A book of quotes."
"What kind of quotes?" The two black-haired teenagers asked.
"What do you think?"
Ray and Riley both rolled their eyes but only Ray spoke, "You're so weird, Strong."
"This coming from the guy who thinks I'm an alien."
"Or a human-android." Ray added.
"We're still trying to decide." Riley joked, grinning. "So...any other ideas, cous?"
"No. This is soo not right. I know there's something that no one else has thought of yet...or maybe they have...I don't know." He leaned over, elbows resting on his knees, palms pressing against his eyes.
Riley and Travis looked at each other from behind the boy and grinned. "Should we say something?" Riley mouthed.
Travis simply shrugged in response before they both went back to their previous positions. Riley weighed her decisions in her head. To tell him, or not to tell him? That is the question. If she told him, Lily would most definitely be ecstatic about it. However, if she didn't tell him, it would be an honest gift. Then again, an honest gift from Ray with only a day to get it could never be good. In fact, it would probably be absolutely horrible. She knew this from unfortuneate experience. To tell him...that is the answer. She leaned forward similar to how Ray was, only her forearm was on her knees. "Thought of anything else yet?"
"I may have to settle for something like...eah...I dunno...flicourice I guess." Ray answered his cousin after raising his head.
"Flicorice, flowers and licorice, best of both worlds, right?"
Ray nodded, pressing his palms to his eyes again.
Riley shook her head at his innocence, or maybe it was his ignorance, she couldn't remember. No, wait--I think it might have been stupidity...oh well, who cares. She smirked and before she knew it, she laughed lightly.
"Riley, this isn't funny!" Ray snapped.
"Well, excu-use me, Mr. Snapping Turtle." She shook her head at her idiocy. "Anyway, I think I can help you with this one."
Ray's head shot up. "What is it? Please...Riley...I'll do anything, just tell me what it is."
Riley laughed at how desperate he was.
"Riley!"
"Ok...ok...Listen." Riley said after she was done laughing.
~*~
5/19/07 - 9:23am - Saturday
Ray had only just woken up five minutes ago but he was already freaking out. He knew that what Riley had suggested the day before was pretty much the perfect gift but he hadn't been able to get it last night. The only store that held it was closed by the time he had found the number and called. Now he only had a matter of time, that amount of time being about two and a half hours because everyone had already decided to meet at the park--people were rarely there at all--at noon. It didn't take long to get to the park but Ray had no clue what he may be doing so he was going to make sure he was done by eleven thirty so he wasn't late like he usually was for things. Ray really hadn't woken up and to be quite honest, he wasn't even out of the bed just yet. He was lying there, staring at the ceiling, wide awake, just like he had been for the past hour. He was really starting to think he should have just gotten up at eight fifteen. It probably would have been a lot better than what he'd been doing. For the past hour, Ray had been staring at the ceiling, rarely blinking, thinking. What am I thinking? I can't buy it! I don't even know if I can afford it! I don't even need to add in the fact I know nothing about the damn things! Well...I guess that's what the people that work there are for...someone could help me but...what if she doesn't like it? What will she do if she doesn't like it? Wait...what will I do to make it not obvious at to just what it is? These thoughts and then some were going through his head like a hurricane. After a few more moments of just lying there, he got up and got dressed. He had to get to that damn store soon or else he would loose complete track of time and everything would go wrong afterwards.
~*~
5/19/07 - 10:02am
What did Riley say? What kind was it? Ray Brennon sighed as he entered the small store. He couldn't believe what he was doing. This was a ton of money to be coughing up for a birthday present. He shook his head. He couldn't have doubt, he had to be positive about this. It's not like Lily wasn't worth everything he had. No...more than that...she's worth..everything. He was looking around at all the different shaped and sized objects lined on the wall. Some of them Ray wasn't sure what was but...that didn't matter, they weren't what he came for. On his way to the front desk, he sighed. He was really glad he'd brought that picture that Riley had given him. He couldn't remember what she'd called it for his life.
"May I help you?" The girl behind the desk was about Ray's age, maybe a year older. She was pretty, chestnut hair, hazel eyes, she was definitely easy on the eyes. She was probably one of those girls who was used to guys throwing themselves at her. Normally Ray would have at least flirted but he didn't seem to notice much right now, not even the looks of the beautiful girl in front of him.
"Uh...yeah. I'm, uh..I was thinking about buying something like this..." He pulled the picture out of his back pocket and showed it to the girl.
To be quite honest, Elizabeth was really surprised that he wasn't throwing himself at her, or at least flirting but she chose to ignore it and savor the fact that there were guys like that out there. She studied the picture for a few moments then looked up, smiling at him. "I think I know just what you want." She made a motion for him to follow her as she made her way around near the front of the store. "I think you'll like this one.." She started explaining all of the different things about it but Ray was getting confused.
I should have dragged Riley along... Ray held a hand up, "Wait..." she stopped and frowned but stayed silent, letting him continue. "Let me call my cousin, she could tell you if it's what she's looking for."
~*~
5/19/07 - 11:44am
Ray was back at the house and had placed the gift in a fairly big box. He had to or it would have been extremely obvious what it was. Right now, he and Riley were down in the living room on the couch. "Do you think she'll like it?"
"Ray, come on! She's been saying how she's been saving up for it and she's been talking about it for the past two months practically non-stop."
"I know but...are you sure it's the right one? I mean, is it the right model or...whatever?"
"Trust me, with this, you can't go wrong. She'll love it, and...she'll love you. Trust me on this one, Ray. Honestly it wouldn't matter if it was model 45326-A or 84390B, with this...you really can't go wrong. The model has nothing to do with anything."
"Right." Ray clapped his hands together as he stood. "So...you wanna go ahead and start that way?"
Riley shrugged, "Sure."
The two teenagers didn't argue over who drove today. Riley simply jumped into the front passenger's seat of the car and let Ray drive. Once they got to the park and Ray parked the car he killed the ignition but the two both just sat there. Riley sat there because she didn't feel like moving, Ray on the other hand sat still more or less out of fear that Lily might not like what he had gotten her. Riley couldn't figure out why he would think she wouldn't. Like she had said before, Lily had been going on about it for the past two months almost completely non-stop. "Well..come on, Ray." Riley said, glancing at her watch. 11:53am.
Ray took a breath and opened the door, getting out of the car. He locked the car after he and Riley got their boxes out. Riley had stuck the DVD in a medium sized box, and a box inside of that and so on and so on until there was just the DVD, laying there in a box that was a little bigger. She thought it was fun doing stuff like that. The two walked over to the huge oak tree in the middle of the park where they had all decided to meet. The only one not already there was Lily, surprisingly enough since she was the one who had picked the place and time. As soon as Riley and Ray had sat down, Lily came running towards the group. "Sorry I'm late guys."
"You're not late." Ray said, "You're a whole two minutes early."
Lily punched him in the arm.
"Ow!" Ray cried out, rubbing his arm.
Lily finally took in her surroundings. There were four boxes around the group and two of them were pretty good in size. "Whoa....what's up?"
"Hellooo....it's your birthday, or did you forget?" Riley asked, "I've done that before..."
"Well, I know but...guys..."
"Stop talking a open the boxes!" Riley said enthusiastically. "But you can't open that one till last." She added quickly, pointing at the box that Ray had brought.
"O...kay...Whatever."
She opened what Travis had gotten her. "This might be useful...it says it has explanations...now I'll know what you're going on about when you quote stuff!"
Travis laughed. "I don't think you'll understand all of it."
"No...but some of it anyway."
Next she opened Riley's. To be quite honest, she was starting to get annyed. "Did you just get me a bunch of boxes for my birthday, Riley?"
Riley shook her head, "No!"
Lily finally got to the eighth and final box and opened it. "Malibu's Most Wanted?" She laughed. "This movie was hilarious!"
Riley frowned. Well that plan just jumped out the window and committed susicide... Riley grinned before anyone other than Robbie had seen her frown, "Yep! Jamie was so great!"
She opened the next one, from Robbie and Kim. She figured Robbie had just put Kim's name on the tag so it wouldn't be so bad, since Kim didn't know Lily so well as to get a gift on her own. Robbie soon found himself embraced in a hug by the girl. "Paper Moon!"
Robbie laughed, "Yeah, thought you'd like that."
Lily looked around and saw one thing left. It was a relatively large box and there was only one person it could be from unless someone doubled up and Ray completely forgot. But he wouldn't forget my birthday...would he?
As she walked over to the box, Ray said. "Don't shake it or drop it...you'll be sorry..."
Lily gave him a strange look but agreed all the same. She took the top of the box off and stared at what was inside. Her eyes were as wide as the moon as she looked at what was in the box. She couldn't believe what she was seeing. This couldn't be real, it had to be a dream! She blinked hard to make sure she wasn't seeing things. Nope. It was still there. The fender strat that she'd been looking at for the last year, going on about for the last two months non-stop, and saved up for from the moment she saw it, was right here. In the box that had come from her boyfriend. She still couldn't believe this. She turned to look at Ray, eyes still wide and tried to speak but she couldn't. She looked back at the guitar. Yep, still there. "Ray..." was all she had managed to get out in the last three minutes.
"Yeah?"
"Is this..." She pointed to the guitar, "Is this...is this real?"
"Well, it's not foam, plastic or a hallucination if that's what you mean." He was sitting next to her now.
"But...but Ray...how..how much did this cost? I mean...it had to be a fortune! Fender strat's don't come by cheap!"
"Uh...it cost...enough...trust me." He said, quickly grabbing the receipt out of the box while she wasn't looking. She never saw him do a thing, she was too oblivious to the fact that the guitar was even real. "So...ya like it?"
"Like? No! Ray, I don't like it! I love it!" She paused before chanting, "I love it! I love it! I love it!" She took his hands in hers as they stood. She immediately threw her arms around his neck and almost made him fall backwards. "I love it! Really! I do...and..." She lowered her voice. She then proceeded to whisper in his ear. "And...I love you..."
As soon at those three whispered words had come out her mouth, Ray's eyes went wide, he stiffened, he lost the ability to speak and he completely froze. As his eyes darted around from Riley and Travis to Robbie and Kim, he could tell by the confused looks on all their faces they hadn't heard her and were really unsure why he was acting the way he was. He licked his lips and swallowed.
"Ray?" Lily said, stepping back to look at him.
"Yeah?"
"Just making sure you're alive...you sounded kind of dead, ya know? Since you actually weren't running you're mouth non-stop for a few seconds." She joked.
Ray smirked and suddenly everything made sense to Riley. She knew what happened. Lily told Ray that she loved him and he completely choked just like most every guy does when the three words are said. She flashed her cousin a small sympathetic and knowing smile.
Ray glanced over at Riley and she saw exactly what he wanted to say in his eyes. To Lily, he wanted to say that he loved her too and to her he wanted to say that to be quite honest, he was going to have to talk to her later.
~*~
5/19/07 - 2:37pm
Everyone had finally dispersed from the park and gone home. Those who had come with something left with nothing and those that had come with nothing left with a book, a cd, a dvd and the best gift she'd gotten, her new fender strat. Riley had forced Ray to let her drive home by simply threatening not to talk later. She figured he'd wait until they got home or even later than that to talk. However, Riley was proven wrong when he starting talking almost the second both doors of the car were closed, even before she had put the key in the ignition.
"I can't believe this. I'm such a moron."
Riley was tempted to say, "We both know that." and add to it but she decided against it. However, when she did speak she said, "Why?" What the hell? Why? I know why. What am I, some dumb blonde?--oooh...baaaad analogy... Riley thought as she pulled out of the parking lot.
"You were there. You know what happened. You know what she said...and what I didn't."
Riley sighed. She could see why he was so down. After he'd frozen, Lily practically ignored him. She still let him in on conversation but she never tried to get him in like she usually did on the few rare occasions when he wasn't already in on it. "Ray, I can understand why down...I mean, she should know that most guys, people in general really, don't reply immediately. I mean...saying you love someone is...a big deal." Riley turned the wheel to the right. "I have to say: Please don't go suicidal over this."
Ray looked at her with an odd expression but stayed silent.
Riley didn't like the silence and in turn, she turned the radio on. Static came through and she turned it off, not feeling like changing it. "Ray...It's not your fault. You were shocked that she said it. It's. Not. Your. Fault."
"I know." He said but Riley had the feeling he didn't really believe her.
Riley glanced at her cousin as she pulled into the driveway. Seeing the distant, saddened look on his face made her feel sorry for him. It wasn't right, Lily doing what she did and all. Riley made a mental note to talk to her about that tonight. She finally killed the engine and got out of the car but Ray just sat there, like he couldn't move. Riley stood outside the drivers door and waited until she saw him opened the door and get out to make her way into the house.
Riley immediately when upstairs to her room and dialed Lily's phone number. The phone rang five times before someone answered. "Hello?"
"Lily!"
"Oh, hey Riley, what's up?" Lily asked, hearing the anger in her friend's voice.
"Why did you treat Ray like that?"
"What?"
"After he froze you were completely ignoring him, with a few rare occasions!"
"Riley, I wasn't ignoring him! I was talking to Kim. I knew Ray wouldn't have been interested in what we were talking about."
"What were you talking about that was so much more important than your boyfriend, who was trying to talk to you?"
"We were talking about different stuff but it mostly revolved around hot movie stars."
"You could have at least payed attention to him when he was trying to tell you something!"
"Riley...I'm sorry...I-"
"I don't care right now, Lily. I'll talk to you later when I don't feel like ripping something to pieces."
"Bye..." Lily said cautiously as she hung up.
Riley turned the phone off and hung it up. She flopped first face into her pillow and screamed.
~*~*~*~
A/N - Well, Ray didn't get thrown into oblivion but...Lily's being a little weird but...well...yeah, find out later when I find out as well!
