Jem…Chapter 48

Chapter 48

It’s a fun ride even just going to Sudbury heading up the highway with our tunes blasting and a lot of its girl tunes like Pink, Adele, Sarah McLaughlin and other stuff. We’re singing along and driving pretty fast for being in a van and it all sort of lent to the mood and there’s a girl yell-cheer as we see the lights of Sudbury.

It’s actually a pretty big city, I mean not compared to the really big ones like Toronto or Montreal or stuff like that but it’s easily three times the size of Harpers point add in the outer areas and stuff it’s more like five times the size.

I’ve been here a few times, Dad and me and when I was little we went to see some of the stuff here like Science North. There’s a lot more here now and a lot more things to do and see but right now we’re going to the movies and that means heading into town and making our way to the Rainbow Center.

It sounds like a LGBT place but really it’s a mall and hooked to the Radisson Hotel and it’s got one of those big movie theatres with the whole six different theatres to go to. Home has two theatres both with a single screen the older one down town and there’s an Empire theatre up at the big mall.

We get parked and we lock everything up and head into the mall and we sort of rubberneck around none of us really familiar with the place and we’re getting looks with me and Rayne holding hands and me and my pink hair and Mike and Brooklyn because he’s the only guy with us.

Wow, I just sort of excused myself from being included into male company didn’t I?

And there’s a lot of places to see and look at and that we might have to come back to. The thing is that I’m just as into coming back and spending time here as the other girls are. There’s some things that I’m just as interested in. Well…maybe more. Rayne actually doesn’t seen to be much of the shopper but more…like Mike, that hands in the pocket bored boyfriend kind of thing.

I wonder if it’s a lesbian thing? Or like just Rayne or if it’s the fact that she works retail at Hellmart and she’s sort of sick of it. But it’s funny she’s got that same kind of there uh-huh, uh-huh, yeah nice thing that Mike’s got going on right now.

Instead of being freaked out by it I sort of think that it’s kind of cool. I mean I’ve never really lacked for money when I really needed it but most of it went into my music and my instruments and stuff because when I wasn’t in school I was helping Dad out running the stuff with the shop mostly doing the office work. I mean I can do mechanical stuff to and I’m good at it but if really no one kept up on the stuff in the office we’d have been swimming in paperwork.

Yeah just thought of that I’m going to have to check up on things in the office on Sunday. I fully intend on us all going over there on Sunday and having another Sunday dinner. I won’t have to cook as much stuff but I want to have the family dinner thing and it’s something really I think is important to the girls.

And it’s looking more and more like I really should look into getting some kind of business classes so maybe I can help dad and get things going more and more with the band and stuff.

Oooh they have a sushi place here. I’ve actually always wanted to try that.

“Hey Kim does that place look any good?”

We sort of stop in front of Osaka Sushi and she’s looking in through the window. “Nope, they don’t cook the fish here.”

“Kim its Sushi.”

“Uh-huh and what makes you think that I eat sushi?”

“Uhm…”

Brooklyn grins. “You’re Japanese, don’t you all eat sushi?”

“No!, Jeeze I’ve never even had it before.”

“You’ve never had sushi before?” I ask her.

“Nope.”

“What did you guys eat at home?”

“Take out.”

Brooklyn says. “They fed her Chinese food. It’s why she so Kimmie she’s cross wired.”

Kim gives Brooklyn this raspberry while pulling down on under her eye with a finger?

“No…we never ate oriental food, Mom thought it was gauche for us to eat that stuff so we ate like stuff from these expensive restaurants and stuff or went and ate out or she just had like stacks of stuff you just heat in the microwave.”

I look at her. “Which is why you like home cooking so much?”

“Yeah there’s only so much Michelena’s and stuff like that a girl can take.”

“But you’ve had Chinese food before?”

“At school they do like chicken balls and egg rolls and fried rice sometimes in the food hall.”

Brook’s nodding. “The rice is actually really good it usually runs out.”

I look up and Mike’s coming out of the place with a take out container from the place and there’s some stuff on it like those seaweed rice roll things and what looks like sizzly stuff on skewers.

“Here, this is some of the basics.”

Brooklyn’s looking at it and takes a skewer and bites into it. “Hey this is chicken!”

Mike nods. “It’s Osaka based food, and Osaka is a Japanese foodie town that’s called yakatori, and that’s a spicy tuna roll and those are octopus balls and that’s rolled omelet with crab and scallions.”

We start walking and eating and Mike’s holding the dish open for us and it’s pretty good and it was really cool of him to do that. I kind of wish that I had thought of it.

“So where’d you learn about Japanese food Mike?” Brook asks going for an octopus ball stabbing it with her yakatori skewer.

“I took some classes awhile back getting introduced to some Aikido and a bit of Kendo.”

“That’s with the swords right?” She’s giving him this oh cool look.

“Well you don’t really use swords but you use either a Bokken which is a wooden sword or a Shinai which is a sword made of bamboo strips bound together.”

Kimmie looks at him. “Both are pretty deadly without being real blades.”

“You learnt it too?” He asks her.

“No, no way that’d be allowed even if I wanted to. No my dad is into it because he gets like baddass points with the guys at his firm. We’ve got the swords and stuff at the house.”

“They didn’t like hit you with them did they?” Brook asks looking at Kimmie.

“No, they never laid a finger on me besides my mother can use her deadly powers of disappointment with deadly results and that combined with my fathers astounding ability to make you feel like you’re something to either be ashamed of or like he’d like to scrape off his shoe. Between the two of them you can pretty quickly to the point of wanting to hurl yourself down the elevator shaft.”

I look at her then give her a hug. “They were really that mean to you?”

“Not mean just uncaring unless I was their perfect Asian wonder kid and did everything they wanted me to do to the letter and don’t even try to think for yourself because they know best about how your life should be. I just couldn’t do it, I just couldn’t…I’m not like that…so…”

“So they put you in the school in Harper?” I ask.

Brook chimes in. “See the thing is the private school is where a lot of the Ontario rich parents dump off their problem kids.”

Mike grins. “Which is why you fit in there.”

“True but I’m on a hardship scholarship, Kimmie’s dad set it up.”

Okay I’m curious. “Why? I mean…How’d you two meet anyways?”

Brooklyn smiles and hugs Kim. “On the streets, we both ended up taking off before all of this and we sort of ended up meeting in Toronto and I’d been there first and we met at a party with Kim getting into trouble so I jumped in and helped.”

Kim shakes her head. “I was still just a kid and being a wild child home wasn’t doing it with my parents so after one of our silent fights I took off to stay with one of my “Forgotten” cousins in Toronto and he had me boost cars for him. We were at a party and one of his guys girlfriends didn’t like me or the attention I was getting so her and some of her friends jumped me and Brooklyn was at the party too, we got our butts kicked and he threw me out of his crew. Brook let me stay at her place right up until I got caught and arrested.”

“For what?”

“Duh stealing cars.”

I look at Raven who’s got this oh really expression. “News to you?” I ask.

She nods. “Yeah, they were Kimmie and Brooklyn even before me and Summer I just never really asked why. So how many cars did you steal?”

Kim looks at us. “Total?”

“Yeah, How many?”

“Seventeen, but only three were after my cousins crew. I still thing one of the bitches turned me in.”

“You’re lucky you were family Kim, otherwise they’d have done worse for poaching.” Mike says dumping the empty take out box. Okay I want more of that before we leave.

“Yeah I know and I was still a little kid then in a lot of ways then.”

Rayne asks. “So how did Brooklyn end up here again?”

Brooklyn smiles. “Kim’s idea, she was getting sent here or jail and she told her dad that she’d shame the family if he didn’t get me into the school. After she begged me to come back.”

“Beg! I never begged…I whined, and you came because I got you thinking about how all those assholes that used to look down on you could choke on seeing you getting into the best private school in town.”

“Best? I thought it was a reform school?” I ask.

“It is but the parents that send their kids there don’t dare say that. It might reflect badly on them. Having your child go there is politely never talked about. It’s that whisper scandal stuff.” Brooklyn adds in.

Kim’s nodding. “And they have pretty much moved on and forgotten my with Lisette being all Tokyo-Stepford child.”

“Lisette?” I ask.

“Baby sister.”

“Twin.” Brook says.

“Three minutes older doesn’t make you the big sister.”

“It does with twins.”

I look at her. “So your sister’s towing the line as it were.”

“Oh she a damned tug-boat, she just doesn’t get it, she doesn’t get what they’ve been doing to us our whole lives and she’s not just good with it she…”

Brook nods and hugs her again. “Lisette is a carbon copy of them, last time we seen here was at Christmas when they stopped by for they’re almost mandatory face saving visit and she was almost more holier than thou than the parents were.”

Even Rayne’s nodding. “Remove the batteries and replace them with a big, big stick. I really didn’t like her.”

It’s getting kind of moody intense and we’re supposed to be having a good time. I look at Kimmie as we’re walking. “So any requests for Sunday?”

“Huh? What’s going on Sunday?”

“Sunday dinner over at Dad’s.”

“Seriously! We get to do that again!” God I love Kimmie just like that…ping…and she bounces right back.

“Yeah seriously, I figured we make it an every week thing.”

“OH MY GOD! That’s so cool!” She yells and bounces over to hug me and she still hugging me face in my chest and still bounce hopping going. “Thank you, thank you, thank you!”

“Hey it’s no problem besides…we’re family.”

She looks up at me and I swear she’s got those big anime eyes, brimming with tears. “Really…?”

God she looks so hopeful and needy and on the edge of crying. I can’t help it but pull a page right from Dad’s book. “Yeah, really….” and I hold out my pinkie for her. It’s the first time I’ve done that ever and I never really got this stuff until Dad and Brook. She looks at me and her eyes spill over and we hook pinkies and Brooklyn joins us and Rayne and there’s and entirely girls bawly crying glomphy moment going on leaving Mike there watching…oh…he’s got his smart phone out and is either taking video of us or pictures or both.

Good I want to remember something this special and we’re unless for a good five minutes and we head to the ladies room at McDonalds and get our faces and stuff fixed. Rayne and I are done first and she decides to take our lipstick for a test drive.

“Thank you for that Angel, Kim really needed that.”

“I know, but we all need our Sunday at Dads including Dad.”

“Still that was sweet and amazing.”

“Kim’s a sister to me, she always will be Brooklyn too.”

“And me?”

“Well yeah I’m just glad we’re not related.”

“Me too, c’mere woman.” ………….oh…oh her calling me that was really, really erotic. It was this sexy voiced lez thing and followed by her hands circling my waist to link behind my back and my arms around her neck and our breasts pressing together and kissing oh the kissing and oh…lipstick slipping over lipstick and everything is just.

It was trance like. We never even heard them talking to us they had to nudge us to get use to break the kissing we were doing and swaying…I think we were dancing slowly together too.

Mike’s a really good sport about this and we head to the theatre and we all get our stuff and I pay for Rayne’s and she pays for mine and Mike treats Kim. I get a whole bunch of napkins because Rayne gets the biggest popcorn and she’s okay with me ordering extra butter on it. I know, I know but movie popcorn is a treat and I like it really, really buttery. I guess Mom did too. The rest of the stuff I’m not really into but Kim’s all about the popcorn too and Brooklyn’s into those red hots candies and general junk food and Mike’s not fussy about anything and Rayne had to have her red twizzlers.

We all end up going to see. “The Lucky One.”

Good movie really and Zack Effron isn’t too bad an actor really everyone see’s him as Mr. High-school musical but he was really decent in this and I actually liked him in Charlie St. Cloud. He’s kind of like a young Jake Jillanhall that can sing.

Just enough action to not be boring and yet romantic. And I really liked it because I could actually put myself in the shoes sort of with both leads. Actually in my head emotionally there was not a lot of one side or the other. Jase me would’ve went looking for the girl too. And me…I get some of the stuff the girl went through and could at least empathize with were she was at in her head during most of the movie.

It wasn’t as screwed up as it sounds either it was actually kind of nice feeling the way that both parts sort of dovetailed together in the movie and in my head.

It was really cool when the whole getting together big moment happened that I caught Brooklyn getting “The Kiss” from Mike. And I got it just seconds before getting the same from Rayne.

I never made out in the dark, in a theatre with a girl before. And we do that all the way through the credits until the usher comes and kicks us out for the late show crowd. I thought that Kimmie was going to feel left out with us necking and she’s got this look on her face. She walks over to the usher and he’s about our age and kinda of cute in a geeky hipster way and she coughs and he looks up from putting the more obvious garbage into a trash bag.

“Yes?”

She grabs him by the head/ears and pulls him down and none of us were expecting that especially him and she must have kissed him over and over with full tongue for a good two full minutes and then she broke the kiss.

“Thanks! I needed that!” She pecked his cheek and we’re leaving and there’s a thump as we turn to see the poor guy fell trying to sit down with this stunned OMG look all over his face and a lump in his dress pants.

We girly giggle our way out of the place because honestly I got a taste of that rush with the me and Mike thing and it’s kind of funny but it was a whole lot more of I can’t believe you had the guts to do that kind of thing.

“That, that was such a Roxy-Moogle kind of thing.”

I hug her and we almost do the guy talk about it but it’s about guys so it’s girl talk but it’s from what I know surprisingly the same as much as it’s different. I’ve done the guy talk stuff with Dad and some customers/friends of his but not with girls and not in my own age group.

It’s fun. And I don’t feel off or odd I’m having girl fun with my sisters.

Okay Rayne surprises me with some of the stuff she says and comes up with about Guys and girls and it’s not all lesbian guy bashy but more before I was out and when I was younger and the whole pre-teen lesbian thing she’d be in the same shock as he would.

That actually leads to a long conversation from the Sushi place to the van and down the seventeen to home about sexual attraction and experiences. It’s kind of neat doing that eating Osaka take out by the dash lights and having one of those so serious life conversations with the closest people you know by the dash lights. It’s just one of those things I never thought would be part of my life. I sink into it a lot as I’m listening.

Both Mike and me get schooled in how there’s differences but not between some young aware lesbians and guys of the same age plus the fear and confusion and then the predation in the lesbian community. And not just Summer but the girls that just love a scared fresh little dykling to eat up and use. Then the stereotypes. How so many inside and outside the community cling to them. And that a lesbians can’t get along with having straight male friends.

Mike talks about from his side about not staying put and the way no girl wants to seriously date a guy that moves around so much because he’s not going to be there and he’s just spouting lines. Or like the Mounties kid thing either being a rat or trouble, or the fact that he’s a semi-pro junior fighter and that automatically makes him a thug, or that the rough guys wherever he goes seem to need to show him he’s not that tough, or the kids and others that are related to like the criminal types will start shit because he’s a cops kid.

Kind of surprising to me, here I sort of though Mike had things really easy or well relatively easy.

Kim’s all about being Japanese and the assumptions like we made earlier. But how it is even in her own community. But she doesn’t really have an ethnic community mote of the box she got shoved in. Never mind she’s full on Canadian and if anything with her family she’s more Yuppanese than anything. “Yuppanese” is apparently Asian when it’s fashionable or popular. And the anime girl fetish thing just drives her nuts and stuff like that like the Maid café stuff.

Okay some of Kim’s are actually kind of funny especially once they get going.

Brooklyn and I share a lot. About being poor in a really bad way or having someone just able to use his power to just declare you trash, useless, unlikable and untouchable. We went to different middle schools and junior high schools but so much was the same. I was made into a pariah and Brook grew up as one being one of “Those.” kids.

Our stuff was more about the way it felt seeing everyone else around you just getting to have, see and touch the stuff we couldn’t.

But there’s also all the red head stuff she trots out and the Irish assumptions but apparently McWhitter is Scottish or she thinks it is.

“Me? I’ve got nothing much to say about the current state of my experience with dating and things. This is still all really new to me no matter which way it gets looked at. But tell you what. Ask me when we’re done dancing and stuff tonight!”

I say it as we pulled into a parking spot at Lucky’s and I’m the first one out and I’m lit up by the headlights while I’m dancing to the music coming from inside. I’m walking backward giving them all but mostly Rayne some extra sway in the hips and a bit of shimmy up top...I want to have fun tonight.