Jem… Chapter 159

*Before…

Rayne is refilling one of the pitchers we use to fill the coffee perk and she motions me over and I’m not sure when they came but Rick and his Dad from Home Hardware are out there with some other folks on our front lawn and they have ladders and spray scrubbers and they’re power washing the tags off of our house.

It’s such a moment…My hand’s over my mouth and I’m getting teary eyed and I quickly take the pan off the heat for the French toast and I head out onto our step.

“Wow…you guys what are you doing here?”

Rick’s Dad looks at me and he smiles. “Sometimes Angel when you pay it forward enough it comes back around.”

*And Now…

I smile around the tears that are starting to come and I call out to them.

“Thanks so much you all, really this is such a cool thing!”

Rayne says. “It’s really above and beyond!”

I call out asking. “Who wants coffee?”

There’s some hands going up and I count them off on my hands and head back inside and start another pot while Brooklyn is cutting more bread while it’s hot and buttering it and then she puts it all on a tray covered with a towel and heads outside with Kimmie carrying the peanut butter and a bottle of jam.

And it just sort of morphs like that from us eating our breakfast together to us having company outside as they’re cleaning things up and people are eating hot bread and drinking hot coffee as they’re taking turns and I’m thanking them all and Molly’s out with the camera and taking it all in for our site and she’s making sure that she gets the Home Hardware logos on the yellow trucks and video of like the other helpers and there’s mention of “Not only does Angel play, sing and write music but she bakes amazing homemade bread as well.” And that’s coming from rick and his dad regales then camera of the times that I have brought it cookies for them just to be neighborly.

And of course I’m blushing and then while all of that was going on Carmen and Mike ran out some of our extension cords and brought out some of our amps and things and it just sort of happened that we end up in our jackets and hats and our warmer stuff and we start playing as they’re all eating and working at repainting the house after they got all of the tags off of it.

Brooklyn starts us off actually with that really signature guitar as we go into *Drift Away* The Uncle Kracker version.

It’s definitely sort of a country kind of song and an Amsterdam kind of tune and it’s actually on tonight’s playlist for the gig but it’s a good song, it’s got great licks and there’s a little something magical when you have friends over and doing stuff like this and people that are here and not working but just sort of helping out are doing that slow weaving dancing bit and some are even clapping their hands along with the chorus.

“Oh…. Give me the beat boys that frees my soul…”
“I wanna get lost in your rock and roll…”
“And Drift away…”

“Oh…. Give me the beat boys that frees my soul…”
“I wanna get lost in your rock and roll…”
“And Drift away…”

It’s a really, really great song and that actually leads us into doing a few more tunes in that sort of semi popular vibe that they like here.

Going from that into *Everything I Own* By Bread and then we do *All I Ever Needed* By Brett Michaels yeah the lead singer from Poison did some seriously good country rock and romantic songs.

And I’m looking at Rayne and she’s looking at me and we’re singing…

“We didn’t need fortune, didn’t need fame…”
“Just a little shelter from the rain…”
“You hand to hold on to…”
“When times got tough you pulled me through…”

“Don’t need a castle made of stone…”
“Just you there as I grow old..”
“You heart to hold on to….”

“All I ever needed is you…”

And we get treated to Brooklyn going into the really good guitar in the song with these really decent country rock it’s almost that steel guitar ping as it’s that high note riffs and we’re just grooving with it all and when we finish the song the painting is done and the people there are whistling loudly and they’re clapping for us too which is really cool and it’s really neat.

Actually it’s better than all of that really because thing as much as the clubs is kind of the point of playing and stuff.

Dances, weddings, celebrations, kitchen parties there’s music there almost all the time and that’s just one of the reasons why I love doing this and that’s because it’s so one of those times when you have feel it getting down and deep into who you are.

Like the song said… Gimmie a beat that soothes my soul, I want to get lost in the rock and roll and drift away.

There’s hugs and handshakes as we’re done playing and they’re done painting and the front of the house looks as good as new and it sort of makes me want to have the rest of it done but the fall isn’t a really great time to be painting a house and stuff.

We thank everyone a couple of times and then we head inside and we re-set up our stuff to get ready for rehersal and practice and I let them do it while I use the bathroom and then head into the kitchen and I pour some chicken stock into our slow cooker and add some frozen veggies and some chicken breast that we have in the freezer and several carrots more and some potatoes and some black pepper and some dried rosemary and thyme and just lid it and go into the living room and let it do its thing while we’re getting ready.

Carmen’s talking to the others about their costumes for the gig at Ace’s comics and I show her my idea on her tablet and she’s nodding. “Cool though like I’ve never heard of her. But I’m not like a comic nerd and all.”

Rayne’s doing Xena and Brooklyn is goings as Merida from Brave and Kimmie is going as Karai from TMNT and Molly is going as Roxy from Gen 13 and Carmen is just looking at me as I ask her what she’s going to go as and she makes a face and I show her some stuff.

“Going as her will really turn heads.”

“Really?”

“Totally, people especially fans love Zoey.”

“Zoey?”

“Zoey Washburn is a kickass woman.”

Carmen looks at me. “Okay show me.”

Thankfully there’s lots of Zoey clips on You Tube from Firefly and Serenity.

She grins after a while. “You’re playing that song right?”

“Yeppers, it’s a definite for there.”

She gets her purse and her coat and I give her some cash for supplies and she calls a cab to go and get stuff she needs for our costumes while we get ready and into our gig rehersal for tonight and our rehersal for our gig tomorrow night.

That we turn the cameras off for when it comes to our new tune just for Ace’s venue.

Actually there’s like several songs that we’re keeping off the site feed for Ace’s comics but we do let the fans see us trying to do our little versions of The Canteena Jazz Jam and things like *Faith of The Heart* By Rod Stewart and Rayne singing *Bonny Portmore.*

She so has the pipes for that.

It’s been about four hours or so and into the afternoon when Carmen gets back with her bags of stuff in the cab and she hangs out while we finish up and then she gives me the receipts for the stuff so we can put it under costumes and make-up for the company.

Then it’s time for a break and some rest and we’re getting close to supper and we’re all hungry since with the late breakfast we skipped lunch and I check on the slow cooker and after more than four hours things are all done and tender and I get out some lettuce and the last zucchini and cucumber and I grate a carrot into the salad.

It’s pretty basic but I try and think about all of that kind of stuff with the girls and having them get some actual food into them. I mean the only one I wasn’t too worried about was Carmen actually because I can remember her eating healthy stuff when we were in school together.

But like I know the things that the girls were eating or not and Molly well I can only guess how bad the stuff was that she was eating.

Crap food while broke is very easy and sometimes it’s what you can afford. Which leads to a whole lot of problems too with stuff.

It’s grab a bowl and serve yourself and I’m glad we have a really big slow cooker because everyone’s having seconds even when we’re having salad with it and bread.

It’s even hitting the right spot for me too. Homemade chicken and vegetable soup with fresh bread. I love soup especially in the fall and as fast as it went, like totally went I’m not the only one that does.

Mike actually offers to do the dishes while we pack up our instruments for the gig and then Rayne and I are heading upstairs to our room holding hands.

Then we’re kissing at the door to our room with her sort of leaning me against the doorframe and she’s tilting my chin up and she’s slowly and sweetly kissing me.

“Supper was awesome.”

“More like a late lunch, we’ll eat super likely at Jake’s.”

“Better than the bar food actually hon.”

I smile around the next kiss because I really like her calling me hon.

“I like the bar food they have there now.”

“I like your cooking better… (Kiss)…always Ange.”

“You… (Kiss)…are biased.”

“Mmmm…hmmm…” She just sort of hums it as she kisses me some more and we fiddle with the door to go into our room and then we lock it behind us and she reverse walks me to our bed.

It’s gentle touches and light sort of petting and loosening of waist strings and talking off socks and bras between kisses and then it’s snuggling together in this sexy but not sexy holding each other way.

No not sexy…intimate, just that being held, slower and softer kisses while we set our alarms to get up in time for coffee and getting ready for our gig. It’s only a couple of hours but we’re all stopping for a couple of hours for a recharge before the show.

I like this, not just the rest which is cool and we all need but it’s the family meal, the community stuff from today and it’s that actual relationship like stuff.

I drift off actually feeling so kind of loved and perfect right now and even kind of remembering Mom and Dad sort of doing this some afternoons on the couch. They’d be watching the races out of Barrie and then the volume would get lower and lower until they were dozing off together.

I kind of feel like mother like daughter with Rayne’s arms around me and her pressed into m spooning me and a little happy blushy too since her hand is actually up my top and sort of cupping my left breast such as it is…okay like the growth is like barely started but it’s still pretty much a blushy-yay moment.

And a heck of a way to fall asleep.

…………………………………..It didn’t even really bite that bad waking up either. It’s kind of funny that my alarm went off and it’s normal on my phone but Rayne has *Shout* By The Isley Brothers.

I wrinkle my nose as they do that opening lyric and then it’s that high energy sound and I turn my head to look at her. “Really?”

Rayne grins. “Hey it works doesn’t it? Besides it wakes me up and it’ll force me to move to shut it off.”

“That’s true though I thought that you’d pick a different song for when you’d have to get ready for work.”

“Oh and that’d be?” She says grinning as she nuzzles me and squishes up against me in a nice way.

“Help by the Beatles.”

She bursts out laughing and I’m grinning and I look at my phone.

We have time…I slip and slide down her body and the bed gently pulling her pants and underpants down.

I chuckle as she says. “Oh you’re playing Aerosmith now.”

I start humming *Love is an elevator* against her skin as I tease her before tasting her.

I’m really getting better at this I think, I mean from the sounds that she’s making and then the way she moves and the way that her scent changes and it’s such a double edged kind of thing too.

I mean it’s a part of me that I want to become a reality and as much as it’s that sort of achy thing in my head there’s this still sort of fascination, this care too about how much this is a thing with Rayne and I and part of me doesn’t just want to be her girlfriend and lover but really her lesbian lover.

Because I’m pretty sure I’m not having guy feelings or wants and even how I want to be with her.

I don’t want to press into her; I want to fall into Rayne.

Fall into loving her just like I’m falling in love with her.

Once and once again I ride the wave of her…hear her breath, feel her song and it’s not reciprocal this time.

“We should get ready, we kind of pushed it.”

“But…?”

I kiss her mound and then her belly button. “We have time later, I’m in no rush hon, we’re not keeping score.”

She pulls me up to kiss me and it’s that deep, deep swirling melt my brain kiss that ends with her forehead to mine.

“Say that again Angel?”

“We’re not keeping score.”

She kisses me again as we’re getting up and I honestly think that that’s the most important part of everything that we just did.