Jem…Chapter 63

Chapter 63

We settle down and I slip to the kitchen for some bottles of water and cans of apple juice, Dad always has it on hand that or tomato I’m okay with either but orange is my favorite.

I check up on the roast and it’s cooking away nicely everything else can wait…the real trick I’ve always seen on TV for a roast like this is sear it and get a crust onto it and then cook it long and slow so it’s juicy and tender. It’s just starting to change smells from the smoke and meat to roasting smoke kissed meat.

I grin at it. This is my first really big roast just like last time was my first big turkey that I’ve cooked. And there is a really feminine pride at me doing this now that I’m able to recognize it.

I microwave us two bags of popcorn too and head back down to the room and they’re all talking tuning again and playing around with words and riffs. Rayne has out this old toddlers chalk board that Dad had put here for us to use and she’s writing sheet music for the girls to play and try out.

I set the stuff down on the coffee table and I start arranging my notes and stuff. There a lot of stuff that I have here that’s just a few lines or a title and waiting for something to spark it towards being finished.

The first song we’re working on has this almost female version of Journey’s kind of sound to it and it’s good mid range rock and roll if anything it’s a lot like one of Heart’s songs.

*Keep the Faith.* By Starlight Butterfly.

Life’s never easy.
I can tell you that right now.
Everyone has their struggles.
And how we face them says who we are.

Sometimes it’ll beat you up…
Sometimes it’ll throw you down…
Sometimes it’ll grind you..
Some time’s it’ll hurt you…

(Chorus.) But I tell you this now.
I’ve been there before…
You let it stop you there’ll always be more…….
So pick you self up off of the ground.
Wipe off the tears and wipe off the rain….
Never give up…don’t ever back down…
Stick that thumb out and leave it behind...
You’ll be alright….
It gets better…
Keep the faith….

(Long drum and guitar riff.)

I know it’s hard….
To put one foot in front of the other.
I know it’s like quicksand….when they say why even bother.
And all that aimless wandering….
Looking for your home.
It seems never ending, there’s just too much road….

Sometimes it’ll beat you up…
Sometimes it’ll throw you down…
Sometimes it’ll grind you down...
Some time’s it’ll hurt you…

(Chorus x2)

(Long drum and guitar riff.)

Oh keep the faith…
You’re stronger than you know…
Keep the faith…
Keep the faith…

Doing a song and getting first the words and the flow of them together is hard work to know where to put in those longer vocals and breaks is another and then to figure out the timing for a song, what to do for the music for the instruments and the timing then to play the piece then to sing it and combine the two.

It’s work it’s really hard work and yet it’s really so not, not when this is something that you really love to do. It’s art, it’s so visceral creating a whole new song for the band and them to get everything down and we play it through three times running out the wrinkles….record it and play it back.

A brand new song and we still need some work with it but it’s pretty much done. And it took like three hours. I get up and head off to the bathroom them after all that sing and dance my way into the kitchen.

I’m taking the roast out and checking it and it’s just about right and I roll the roast in the pan juices getting it good and basted then I get a bowl with flour and salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder and grind it all together then flour the wet roast to it. I don’t use all of it but as the wetness from all the roast liquid soaks the spiced flour it’ll make this really barely there crust.

I put the roast back in and I turn up the heat getting a good crisp on once it’s going for the fat to snap and get crackly.

I see the guys including Billy and Davey out in the garage working away at what looks like another car and a motorcycle rare for Dad’s shop but not too rare and the big fans are turning in our home made painting shed.

Dad and I made it for the rare times we did auto painting and it’s just a wooden frame covered with plastic sheeting and a hole for two box fans as the exhaust vents. It’s in cement and bolted down but it’s really just there to keep bugs or dust and other things from landing on the paintjobs. We’re not even close to like a real professional paint shop but we’re careful amateurs.

I still like all that stuff and maybe once we’re clear Dad and I can do that as father and daughter or way more likely father and daughters.

Anyway I see Mike’s loaner car in there getting cooked off.

I smile as I hear the amps in the back roof crank up and the music get louder from the back room as they must have opened the windows and I hear Brooklyn playing guitar with Rayne as they go in that back and forth awesome guitar playing.

*Cause we’ve ended as Lovers* By Jeff Beck.

Rayne’s good but Brooklyn can really carry out the best parts of the guitar work and I head down to watch just getting there to watch her doing the hair hanging loose bent over the guitar majik that she can do when she really gives it.

It’s a softer Jazzy tune that might be good for Tuesday nights or really good at The Amsterdam.

I shake my head when their done that and Rayne offers me my guitar. “Naw, supper’s getting ready to be getting ready I’ll just be there to listen to you girls and we can get back to it after supper.”

She leans over and gives me a kiss and switches out my guitar for her bass and she’s already starting to play *Enter Sandman* by Metallica…not our usual stuff and we don’t sing it that often but playing wise it’s fun and it has a great skill set for practicing bass, guitar, and drums.

Sometimes it’s a good idea to play outside your usual its opens your head up for other stuff and primes you for the stuff that you are normally playing. It’s like vocalises for singing or crosswords to keep your brain sharp.

I head to the kitchen and just start getting the potatoes going and the veggies, just really good basic food to go with roast beef. For me there’s only two things that really need to be perfect, the roast and the potatoes.

Dad come’s in and gets some cans of cold juice. He drinks and so does Uncle Mitch but not around the shops unless just talking and not doing anything.

He stops and does this really big inhale. “Smells amazing honey.”

“Thanks Daddy it’ll be ready in about an hour.”

“Can’t wait, you’re spoiling me.”

“You’re my Dad…the only one I’ve got I think its okay if I take care of you back.”

He hugs me. “Thanks Angel…I got really lucky having a kid like you.”

I hug him back and I love being free to do that. “Me too Dad.”

I’m just getting busy getting everything cooked and the girls are into jamming and Raven’s still a gothy metal kind of girl so I’m not surprised at the harder stuff being played just for fun.

*Paint it Black* By the Rolling Stones.

*Rock n’ Roll Ain’t Noise Pollution.* By AC/DC.

*Nothing Else Matters* by Metallica is what they end off with.

I’ll say Raven can carry a deeper voice and really she’s so close to sounding like Joss Stone when she sings these songs and Brooklyn is every bit as good at that opening guitar.

Confidence…if Summer really had any clue to just how talented Rayne can actually be when she’s just letting it all out there and singing her heart out…

And she’s with me…and just because I’m me.

I’m still humming and dancing when Rayne shows up to help me and the girls are headed out to the garage. I smile as her arms slip around my waist and into my belt loops and she spoons to me as we dance.

And she kisses my neck.

“Rayne…”

“Mmm…”

“I’m trying to cook…”

“I’m trying to finish what I had started…”

“Oh…” and that’s part me saying oh and me saying the feeling of her teeth gently grazing my neck before kissing me there.

Supper is a little more challenging when you’re trying to make everything right and you’re leaning on the counter with your girlfriend and she’s touching you in all these delightful ways and stuff and kissing you so good it feels like she’s licking the pleasure centers of your brain.

I have to actually push her gently away. Rayne’s nipples are big and hard and even showing through her bra. “You’re really…” she bites her lip and she nods.

“I get that way right before my time.”

“Oh…”

“Yeah…Angel?”

“Yeah hon?”

We both smile at that even blush smile with that.

“I want to be with you tonight.”

“Okay.”

“No…” She slides up and she kisses me. “I want to really be with you tonight.”

“Uhm…oh…isn’t it really soon?”

“Yes, no…we live together it’s more than us just going out and I do want us to do that go out more and date more but I really need to be with you…and it’s not just my hormones doing the talking it’s me…it’s us and everything that we’ve been through…”

“Okay…” I give her a serious look back holding her eyes. “I want that too…I do…I’m just really new at this and I’m nervous and scared a little still.”

“We’ll take it slow…gently….Angel being with you, singing with you doing stuff like this and today…our mornings on the steps with our coffee’s it’s more than I’ve ever had before…hell coffee in a blanket on our steps is a better date that Summer and I had ever had.”

“Really?”

“Hell yes, summer was all about the sex and her seducing me and using the fact that I was trying to find myself to wrap me around her little finger…You’ve given me so much more already and I want even more…I want to have what should come next.”

“Me too.”

We kiss again and we almost fall back into it and it takes a lot of willpower to get my head out of the clouds to finish supper. I get Rayne off of my lips by getting her to mash the potatoes.

I take the roast out and it’s perfect and I set it to rest and I’ll get Dad to carve it and I set the roasting pan on the stove and add the rest of the four and spices that I dusted the roast with and cook the flour until it just starts to change color and add a bit of water and then mix and scrape all the baked brown bits off the bottom. I finish it with just a bit of cream to make it creamy gravy and Rayne has the potatoes mashed and the veggies drained and we’re setting the table.

We call everyone in to eat and the mood is pretty happy and festive actually with everything that’s been going on with us. I swear I sort of get the whole womanly girly happy thing as we eat and people are enjoying the food. Dad carves the roast and it’s just got the right amount of juicy pinkness in the center and the guys are actually ooohing over it and I swear they’re all drooling.

I’m not saying we girls belong in the kitchen even though I spend a lot of time there but I do get a real hit of pride from doing this.

I have a decent slice and so do the rest of the girls and some potato and mostly veggies seeing as we’ve been eating pretty hardy stuff recently and I know I’m bony and skinny and so is Kim but it’s still a good idea to watch some of the stuff that we eat even though we’re going to really work it off playing all these shows.

But the guys…three or four slices of roast, piles of potatoes and bread and veggies and gravy all over that.

I have this little girly yay…squee inside as they are obliterating the food…you know it’s not even that disturbing at the amounts their eating or how fast they’re shovelling it down.

It’s just all pretty cool. Me I have some gravy on my potatoes and a tiny drizzle on my meat and some of the roast beef salt that Mom used to make. It’s not as good as Mom’s was but it really, really tastes like home.

And the guys do the dishes and Davey made a pot of coffee as we sit back and watch the anime show K-On! as we melt into foodgasmy puddles eating my cousin Jenna’s cinnamon rolls…

Oh god they’re good…rolled up bread dough with this sort of buttery caramelized brown sugar insides that are still gooey and really perfumy with like high end cinnamon in them and there’s richness too from real butter and that sweet sticky stuff is all over the bottom of them too and the tops are covered with this icing sugar glaze that has this tang to it that might be cream cheese…and the bread part is just light and feathery and just really, really amazing.

I sooooo want this recipe!

It’s so perfect with a black coffee too…I usually have cream in mine or milk but it’s like really good pecan pie that sweet lingering blast that you need something really strong to clear it out for the next bite of heaven.

I’d be laying there stuff and in a food afterglowy coma if the coffee and the sugar wasn’t kicking in and we watched to episodes of the show and head back down to the back room.

We end up playing and singing Fluffy, Fluffy Time from the show as a giggle. There’s even a little debate with us maybe trying to see about getting permission to do that as a cover or something and play it for some of our Japanese fans but that kinda the sugar talking.

We do end up playing *Keep the faith* again and the rest of out play list and there several others that we’ve got started and in the works. I think we have nine songs now without covers and we might get to another three maybe four more if we make any head way with these other songs and twelve to fourteen songs well that’s…that’s an album.

We pack things up and get our things and after lots of hugs and kisses and Brooklyn’s making out awhile with Mike as I’m getting the laundry that we brought over and saying goodbye to the guys.

I’m nervous as we’re driving home…it seems to take forever…and not…and we stop at a Shopper’s Drug mart and Rayne gives me a kiss and she heads inside.

I’m thinking and I honestly have my brain going like a hundred miles an minute just being nervous and stuff. Rayne’s not in there that long and she smiles and has a pretty big bag of stiff with her and it just seems like in no time we’re home.

I think I ended up actually taking my time unpacking our stuff and everything and getting the laundry too and Rayne was pretty fast and she headed upstairs. I mess around a bit more and she actually texts me.

[Angel…it’s okay…we’ll take it slow.]

[Sorry it’s not like we haven’t it’s just those times just happened.]

[Right so this should be better right?]

[Right, I’ll be there…uhm where?]

[My room.]

[Can I get ready…I…I want to be pretty for you.]

[Yes, take all the time you need, I’m not going anywhere.]

I turn off my phone and I head upstairs and take over the bathroom…My mind’s racing a bit but I get showered and scrubbed and seriously go over my body in my attempt at getting smooth…facial cream…lotion and lots of it letting it sink in before I put my breast back on.

I get an odd, crazy strange idea and slip out and get pliers and paper clips and I am doing my nails and figuring it as they dry…oh…two coats one a base of red and then a pearly pink over that and some clear coat….

Okay I have the liquid bandage stuff out and some tape here…so I straighten the paper clips and I twist out a little loop at the end of it and bend the wire so it’s centered over the loop I just made. Then I take my time and with a bit of trail and error I line the wire in with the nipple of the breast form and secure it there with some medical tape. The I apply some liquid bandage to my nipples and let it start to get tacky and then apply it to the rest of my silicone breast on the inside…I want a really good seal tonight…I apply some medical tape over the top of the ring in the wire and settle the breast into place I take an emery board and slip it in to push the tape against my skin.

It doesn’t hurt it feels a little odd at first and I do the same to the other one and I paint them on and do the edges the rest of the way before doing my hair and make up and then powder and perfume. I wear my red corset and I do it pretty tight and I wear the red lacy underwear to go with it.

Oh…okay…it…

I can feel that stiff but flimsy bit of paperclip wire and ring moving with my breast movement a sway and the tug on my skin and my real nipples is following the way that my breasts are moving…it’s not the same, I know it’s not even close but my nipples are hard and I’m really aware of the constant stimulation as they move and I cup myself…I can sort of blind man cane feel my breasts and…and I like it…

There’s no more reason to wait or to hold back other that being scared at taking that first big real step with Rayne and I think she’s scared too….this thing our relationship is very left field out of the blue for her and she’s…

She’s choosing me over my biology.

I hear her playing acoustic guitar in her room and I knock and it makes the door slide open…There this sweet mixture of scents…candles…perfume but not a lot of it an incense stick is going but her window’s open and that adds a mixture of fresh air.

Rayne’s wearing just simple but amazingly elegant black lacy bra and panties and her hair is that semi spiked goth look she wears so well and she’s got her make up done in that really Raven style too…studded little choker…bangles and bracelets and anklets even and all her piercings too…fishnet fingerless gloves and black pumps…

I know we’re both really way over done and we’re being all costumey and dramatic but she’s so beautiful…dark and sexy and her like that with one of the dark enamelled acoustics on her lap.

My breath catches as she looks at me and a wisp of black silky darkness drifts into her eyes.

She’s stopped playing and she’s staring at me and it’s just so…I’m on remote control almost in my body and not as I close and lock the door and walk over to her and take the guitar and set it aside and lean over and kiss her and we keep kissing and I move onto her bed and her lap and straddle her just like any other girl would.

I’m shivering I’m so excited…

Raven slips her hands up along my corseted sides and even up to my bra and cups my breasts I inhale as we kiss with the oh…of the feeling…

And her eyes light up and shine like stars and blue diamonds.