Jem…Chapter 92

Chapter 92

 

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Author's Note: Picture used with permission from *lavonia on deviantart.

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Chapter 92
 

I’m a mess but a happy mess with the tears and Rayne and I finally making up. I mean yeah what happened still happened and it soooo sucked but we’re…

I think we’re at another place with things and we both had this huge fight and I was upset and hurt and did the leave and go cry and so did she and we took I think a look at ourselves and a look maybe at where the other was coming from and we got through it.

In the best, strangest, most intense and wonderful way.

We played it out.

Sang it out and at each other…for each other.

That’s why I love music, it’s like a picture…art…it let’s us say all the things that we can’t find the right things to say to each other with….or ourselves really.

It’d been my mood majik bullet. Get my keyboard or my guitar and just play. I used to think that that was just me but it’s not is it? Rayne too at the very least does it too and she…just wow I mean she did that with me…for me.

I’m settled in close to her with her pressed close to me and we’re still sort of dancing and she slips her arms around me and into the small of my back and I can’t help but let out this sigh.

Seriously that is one of those spots; it feels good to have someone touch you there, not sexual but maybe sensual but mostly just plain good. And it’s a spot when you’re single that see’s no real attention and it’s just one of those with anyone…it’s just a sigh spot.

“I hated this.” I say softly into her shoulder.

“This?”

“No silly us fighting.”

“I know, me too…I wasn’t thinking and stuff and I should have.”

“No….well yeah but I could have flipped out a little less to start with.”

“Maybe…but we’ve never down this road of things before either we didn’t know when to put on the brakes.”

“I know but the teasing…I think I had a sort of PTJD attack.”

“I should’ve thought of the stuff with you and getting teased and then the whole fight happened and my dad popped up.”

“……………..I thought that you missed your dad?”

“I do…it still doesn’t mean that he wasn’t a jerk to me.”

“I suppose, I’ve been really lucky when it comes to parents and stuff.”

“Yes, yes you have been…Remy’s…none of the dad’s back home would have been here that late last night and have come over and just been…”

“Dad…” I smile because I’m proud of him for doing that and everything else. “Yeah he took me for a ride and we stopped at one of our places and we had a long heart to heart.”

“See…he’s that cool that he’s good with you and you and him still have places…I…actually I don’t think really my family has places.”

I see Brooklyn nodding and Kimmie too and Kim’s rubbing at her eyes. “We’ve never really had a dad like him around…he made us breakfast this morning.” (Kim-sniffle.)

Brooklyn’s unhooking her stuff since it’ll take us some time to pack our stuff up for the gig. “He made me drink milk.”

I look at her. “Brook milk’s good for you and women need extra calcium and stuff that’s why I buy us vitamins.”

She sticks her tongue out at me.

Kim does this little squee dance. “He made us coffee shakes for breakfast!”

I laugh just because I missed this, even just gone overnight I…I guess it’s the way I left maybe that kind of made this feel longer but I missed my Care bear on Red Bull.

You know that movie from a little while back with the bad evil scientist Despicable Me? Well Kimmie’s so the littlest one Agnes.

I move from Rayne’s arms after a peck on the cheek to give Kimmie and hug and Brook too. “You girls are all family…you’re my sisters, and it’s always been that way in my family just because one of use was hurting and mad at the others does it mean that we take sides or leave anyone left out in the cold.”

Kimmie smiles and sniffle plants her face in my side. “Ohano…”

“Yeah Ohano.” It’s from Lilo and Stitch…Ohano means family. I hug her a little tighter.

Brooklyn sniffles too. “Yeah okay can we get ready for work…okay…damned Chinese people and their cartoons.”

Kim pushes off of me and swears at Brooklyn saying “Baka.” and stuff like that in between her yelling at Brooklyn as they’re packing up their stuff for the gig. “I’m Japanese! Ja-Pan-Neeze…and it’s not just cartoons it’s Disney and traditional Japanese cartoons are called…”

Brooklyn. “Japanation?”

“No!”

“Manga?”

“No! That’s not right either you round eyed gaijin.”

“Naruto?”

“No! That’s a kind of anime you dummy like Innuyasha!”

“Gesundheit.”

“I’m not sneezing!”

I lose it that point and start to giggle and snerk until my sides hurt actually snerking is worse because snerking is funny and that leads to snaughling.

Yeah I end up definitely snaughling.

Snaughling is when your snerk cycles into a laugh and you keep going.

I’m so pulling a Chrissie Snow right now.

Rayne’s laughing too and holding me up and I look at her and she’s looking at me and she leans over and kisses me.

I love that fall of her hair.

Sigh…

Her arms circling my waist.

Sigh…

I lean into her for a few minutes.

“We… (Kiss.)…really… (Kiss.)…should… (Kiss.)…Pack up… (Kiss.)…Rayne.”

She smiles and I detach from her with a little pang of “don’t wanna” and head for my things.

I’m humming as there’s this little new thing getting born in my head…a little head nodding as I’m putting my cables in my cases and it’s just like that y’know sometimes just something that sparks the thought, gets the songwriter in my head to start writing even without pad and paper.

I think I got some looks from the girls and I pack everything up but my notebook and I head to the bathroom for a quick check over but I’m going as is. Band shirt and long bohemian gypsy skirt in red and black floral and flats.

I’ll do my make-up there before the show.

The girls look goods as usual with the exception being Kimmie who’s in a denim mini-skirt and a band tee and fishnets but has a denim vest to go with it and a great make up job.

Actually we’re all wearing the tee-shirts.

Rayne’s rocking a size too small like a belly-tee and under a black dress shirt she’s wearing open and a really hot pair of dress pants with a killer studded belt and she’s wearing her dark framed glasses.

Oh wow…just hot, girl…butch meets hipster meets Goth.

Raven, just Raven and did I say wow yet?

Even Brooklyn’s wearing a tee-shirt but suspenders with a red paid mini-skirt and Mary Janes that sort of set off her knee high socks and goes with her hair.

But Rayne…Oh yeah just.

It’s really hard to pin down just what’s so hitting me in all m right places but it’s like she is super hot I a girl way but dressed in sort of a masculine way? The shirt looks guy sort of butch casual but it frames her breasts in the t-shirt…yay…

We get loaded as the guys come in and I’m grinning as dad get’s a whole lotta love from the girls as well as me and he’s loving it. I hug him too and kiss his cheek as he passes mr my stuff that I left over from home.

“Thanks daddy, how’d you know?”

“I’m your dad; I’m supposed to know you kiddo.” He hugs me tight and squeezes. I’m really happy just soaking in that and realizing how hard he works at this. Loving me, us and really trying even though I’ve changed so much in such a short time.

I leave my stuff in the living room except for my bag of candy. I reach in and grab a candy necklace and wrap it around Kim’s wrist and she stares a minute then she bursts out squeeing.

“Ohmigawd it’s a candynecklace I have had one of these since I was like six!”

She hugs me and she’s going to the other two girls who I’m passing them out to as well. Brooklyn gives hers this look. “They any good?”

“Tmofurly wassam.” Kim says mouth full with it around her neck and giving two thumbs up.

Brook looks at me. “You had to give her sugar.”

I just grin.

Then Kimmie’s dragging me off to one side and she has these sheets all printed off with music and lyrics and I’m looking them over.

“This is hilarious Kim.”

“Really but will it work?”

“Definitely, we’ll be playing this tonight.”

“Cool!”

I get hug-mugged by Roxy-Moogle.

God I love that about her.

We get everything underway and we head in our little convoy down to The Pine Tree and pull into our parking spot and head inside with our things taking time to stay out of the way and stuff I see some ads up for Saturday and Sunday night and it being Thanks giving weekend.

I see Mr. Walker there looking at me before he comes over. “I know you girls are doing the Amsterdam on Friday and Saturday but Sunday is Thanksgiving for here and it would be a big favor if you girls could come in and play some live dinner music.”

I look at him and there’s the whole thing of it being a family thing but at the same time he’s been very cool to us so far and it’d be doing him a favor. Plus real Thanksgiving is Monday but it's still cutting into our time.

I bite my lip first. “Honestly I’d have to talk to the girls.”

“It wouldn’t be long say from four until eight?”

“I’ll ask, just give me a second.”

I go over to the girls. “Hey, Mr. Walker wants to know if we can do him a favor and play Sunday night from four until eight for him here.”

They’re all looking at me like they don’t get it.

I…wow…they… “Uhm…Sunday’s his Thanksgiving for the cafe instead on Monday.”

Rayne's like. "Monday?"

"Yeah Monday."

Rayne’s looking at me. “We never have really done it lately, just never bothered to keep track of things like that.”

“Well I was planning on a big thing at our place.” I say.

“You were?” Rayne asks looking at me.

“Yeah, I thought you girls and the guys would like a big deal thanksgiving.”

Kimmie’s like. “Could we have another turkey please omigawd I love turkey!”

I nod. “I was planning on a really big spread and everything.”

Brooklyn looks at the place. “We shouldn’t turn it down; it’s a really good thing like professionally.”

I nod. “I was thinking that and that we could do some other stuff we usually don’t do for this like the way the guys from BNL do those small Christmas shows.”

There’s an. “Ooooooh.” From the girls.

Rayne actually gestures for Mr. Walker to come over. He comes over and looks at us. She nods and says. “We’ll do it.”

“That’s great girls I’ll even pay you all extra.”

Rayne shakes her head. “Just regular’s fine but we’ll be doing this live on our feeds if that’s alright and unplugged.”

“That’s fine with me…but I could pay.”

Brooklyn pipes in. “This.”

She’s holding a menu card for Thanksgiving and on it is a crá¨me brule topped cheese cake with hazelnut crá¨me and a coffee’d sugar crackling top.

She looks so serious though while looking at him. “A whole one.”

Kimmie’s nodding and stops and looks at him with the Asian version of the puppy dog eyes.

“That works for me.” He say’s. “Angel, Raven?”

We both nod.

Then we shake on it and I really like this guy because he shakes a girls hand and he means it and he doesn’t just shake mine or Rayne’s but all four of us and get’s hug-mugged by Kimmie which does make him almost crack a smile.

We get ready and my make up takes a little time but that leaves me time to play around with my notebook and do some writing while they’re still getting ready and Mike’s being awesome and he’s got all our technical stuff set up and the other merchandise too.

He’s so great to have around and I know he’s not just there to protect us but I honestly think besides being our roadie he’s an audio video geek under all that good looking tough guy stuff.

Actually people are buying things as they’re coming in and I play around with a cheap sketch of a pine tree sort of log cabin with the fourth wall removed to show us playing inside and maybe a wreath? A design for here at the café maybe? No…keep the wreath idea but a photo of us playing here on stage…yeah.

Then I go back to writing the song I’m working on and smiling and waving to some of the people who call out my name or well “Jem!”

After about the tenth shout out I get up and get my guitar and start tuning it up in from of them and the girls are coming out all done up and stuff and I’m not singing it at first just jamming it out on my guitar and the girls join in for the unplanned first song of the night as Rayne uses her sweet smoky voice to do a really killer girl…lez cover of *Layla* By Eric Clapton…or his band Derek and The Dominoes if you prefer.

I love songs like this because you get the people moving or sort of swaying side to side and singing along with the song.

“Layla… you've got me on my knees….Layla… I'm begging, darling please…Layla, darling won't you ease my worried mind….”

Yeah it’s a really good tune and everyone likes to sing that course and it’s one of those things that just about everyone knows too.

I signal off and start dancing a bit and bopping and some how I can actually kind of sort of dance according to other people. I still sort of feel like a goof up there but here it’s on stage and even singing too…it’s just kind of fun.

And like the first tune we did this one has its fans too that sing along especially the women and the girls. There’s a lot of the community college and tech-school kids in here tonight.

*Walk like an Egyptian* By The Bangles is a heck of a lot of fun and almost a classic cover for us to play and I love the force of getting the “Oh-wey-oh’s!” hitting us from the crowd.

There’s another cheer that goes up from them as soon as I pick up the ukulele and it’s such a popular song here with this crowd that I swear we’re breaking the noise laws for the area with they. “Hey…Hey’s” as I take up into *Soul Sister* By Train.

*Oh Love.* By Green Day is next and it’s a good tune too.

Then we go into *Truly Madly Deeply.* By Savage Garden a song that we’ve been holding for or Tuesday night gigs and it’s definitely a crowd pleaser get a girl moving kind of tune and a lot of fun to sing.

The I grab my bag of treats as the girls are playing the hyper yet fun intro to *I Want Candy!* By Bow-wow-wow and after the treats are tossed out to the crowd I launch into it and they’re all having a blast from vintage free candy and this song too.

Of course you gotta follow something like that up with *Love Shack!* By the B-52’and they’re hyper and into it when I get the mic and grin at everyone.

“Hey everyone!”

“Hey Jem!”

“We’ve got another treat for all of you tonight a new song written by our very own Roxy-Moogle1 Are you ready?”

There’s a cheer.

“Are you ready!?”

Louder cheers and whistles.

“Okay!”

I take a breath as Brooklyn goes into some pretty strong licks and I start belting it out.

“Ali Babba had his secret cave!”
“Aladdin had his lamp…”
“You got Rapunzel with her kick ass hair…”
“And Cindy’s got her pumps!”

“But I got something that’s all me!”
“And I know you got em too.”
“That sexy, sultry, lingerie…”
“That makes you feel so cool…”

(Hard short drum riff.)

“There ain’t nothing like……”
“Magical Power Panties!”

(Yeah…Grins….and Drum solo.)

“Slide them on and snap the band…”
“Boy they fit just right.”
“They make you shimmy, they make you strut.”
“They make you feel just right!”

(Hard short drum riff.)

“There ain’t nothing like…” (I mic the crowd.)
“Magical Power Panties!” (The girls in the crowd are screaming it as loud as they can.)

(Guitar solo by Brooklyn.)

“Jessica, La Perla and good old Vicky too.”
“There’s nothing in the whole wide world…”
“That’ll make your lover drool.”

(Hard short drum riff.)

“There ain’t nothing like…” (I mic the crowd.)
“Magical Power Panties!” (The girls in the crowd are screaming it as loud as they can.)

“There ain’t nothing like…” (I mic the crowd.)
“Magical Power Panties!” (The girls in the crowd are screaming it as loud as they can.)

We finish the song and the crowd goes nuts with screaming and laughing and a huge amount of whistles and I turn and point back at Kimmie.

“Miss Roxy-Moogle everybody!”

Kimmie stands up and she waves to the crowd and I grin at her and give her a thumbs up before turning to the crowd.

“You wanna hear that again1?”

There’s over whelming cheers and we launch back into *Magical Power Panties.* By Starlight Butterfly.

And…

It’s official.

Every member of SLB has written lyrics for the band.

That’s just really, really cool.

We finish and we break.

“Okay1 We’ll be right back after a short break everyone it’s be a really good time to hit the bar and grab some of the kick-booty snacks they have here while we get ready for the second half!”

I blow a kiss two handed and we head off stage.

That’s when we all lose it giggling and hugging each other and hugging Kim. I look at her and give her a monster squeeze for a change. “That was awesome and they loved it.”

“They did?”

“Yeah and we really needed a song of our own like that to fit in with our Tuesday night covers.”

“Really?!”

“Yes really, that was amazing!”

I grab a water and I see cute flannel boy there with this little sweet thing who’s wide awake and she stares at me smiling and does this little fingery wave thing but she gets this huge set of widening eyes on her when she see’s.

“Daddy…lookit it’s RoxyMoogle!”

I look at Kim and she’s blushing and she also got that good owie look on her face and I take the chance to slip out of there with the other two and go and pee and get cleaned up.

I’m sitting and finishing up with my note book too as I’m sucking back some water and orange juice and Rayne’s looking over my shoulder and takes a sharpie pen and she makes a few changes in the sheet music that I’m sort of crib writing and it makes it better and I look up and her and smile at her and she leans over me and…

Oh…hair falling down upside down Spiderman kisses…Sigh…

Such romantic yayness.

“You going to sing that tonight?”

“I’d like too.”

“Okay baby…we’ll play and you sing this just do the five by five sign.”

I reach up and I kiss her again.

Is this still making up?

And Peter was the one upside down in that scene.

Which makes me her Mary Jane.

Sigh…

I see Kimmie getting hugs from both the little girl and Max and he gives her this sweet slow kiss on her cheek and there’s this soft lingering look between them and she’s leaning in towards him even with this being a cheek kiss as he’s pulling away to break in just to get a few nano-seconds more of it and she just sort of almost stands there like a cartoon as he’s leaving with the little girl.

She see’s us looking and she blushes intensely and hides her face but she can’t hide that smile there at all and she goes with the girls to clean herself up again and I put the finishing touches on my new song then I head out to the stage and just as I’m walking out there’s music and Rayne’s singing a little chorus ditty version of. *Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic.* By The Police.

Oh yup…my turn to blush as she’s singing that a bit to me, at me about me…in front of everyone.

Oh hell I walk over and I sort of fall into her and wrap my arms around her neck and I kiss her long and slowly and deeply over and over again right there on stage. It’s not like we’ve ever really hid the chemistry between us in our acts or anything so those who can’t handle two girls in love well…

Mmmm…yeah Kisses.

I break the kiss and back away to my mark looking at her and tasting my lips in that sort of savory biting them and she’s doing the same and yeah…just yeah…

I motion to Mike to lower the stage lights again.

“Okay…well…that was awesome.” They cheer and whistle and Rayne’s blushing now too with that and the few cheers of “Yeah!” and “Way to go Raven!”

“Well it’s time to get to that second half of the night where we play some stuff that let’s us all sing along when we’re not snuggling deep…alright hear we go.”

It’s just not our show and it’s just not a Tuesday night without opening up with *Brian Wilson.* By The Bare Naked Ladies.

And it’s just one of those cool nights where they’re still just singing along with us and who doesn’t sing along with most of the songs these guys do anyway.

From that song though we slip pretty seamlessly into doing *True Colors* By Cindi Lauper and by the time we’re done that I reach for my pad ontop of one of the amps and look out at the crowd.

“You guys want to here some thing new again?”

There’s some more cheers and whistles and since the lights are low lighters are flaming.

“I wrote this tonight between after rehearsal and coming here and the break so it’s pretty unpolished.”

There’s some more cheers and there’s a few “Do it!” and “We don’t care!”

“Okay…here goes…this is… Don’t Wanna.”

The girls start playing and music wise it has a sort of same sound sort of like a song by The Black Crowes/or Tragically Hip maybe Train….that sort of tight rock denim blues.

“Skateboards and ripped jeans….”
“Mini-skirts and AC/DC…”
“Summers of jumping in over my head…”
“Fireflies and bonfires.”
“And kissing and your eyes…”

“I know that want this…”
“I know who I want.”

“I don’t wanna give up…!”
“I don’t wanna stop dreaming…”
“I don’t wanna give up…!”
“I don’t want to stop singing….”

“I want to take your hand…”
“And shout it out loud…
“I want the world to know…”
“I’ll never let you down…!”

“I don’t wanna give up…!”
“I don’t wanna stop dreaming…”
“I don’t wanna give up…!”
“I don’t want to stop singing….”

“I want to take your hand…”
“And shout it out loud…
“I want the world to know…”
“I’ll never stay down…!”

“I wanna dance all night…”
“And hold you tight…”
“I want to kiss you, love you…”
“I want kiss you, love you!”

“I don’t wanna give up…!”
“I don’t wanna stop dreaming…”
“I don’t wanna give up…!”
“I don’t want to stop singing….”

“I don’t wanna give up…!”
“I don’t wanna stop dreaming…”
“I don’t wanna give up…!”
“I don’t want to stop singing….”

“I wanna be your Sunday morning smile…”

It plays out and I take a bit of a bow and there’s cheers and whistling and lots of applause and I do another quick dip down and I smile at the crowd and then turn and look at the girls and I we do one of the new covers that we picked for the night and it’s a really great band and killer song.

*Only when I sleep* By The Corrs and since we don’t have a violinist or fiddler we sub out that bit with me doing some keyboarding but it’s a killer song and we all get to chime in on it with the vocals in this one.

Then from that we do *Please don’t go.* By Starlight Butterfly.

And The *Iris* By The Goo-Goo Dolls a really decent band and a really good song and the soft fit of that is a great lead into me doing.

*Carousel.* By Starlight Butterfly which lets me have a drink and a breather as Raven slips into doing.

*One and Only* By Adele and I really enjoy that because she’s singing that for me…at me…and I do that girly fannish sway back and forth hanging onto the mic stand…and just let it out the way she makes me feel and the sort of way that I’m blatantly girling out over her as she sings to me and when she’s done she does the bow to the place and then she steps over to me and she gives me this long sweet kiss like the one that I gave her and I do the curl my leg from the happy.

And just like earlier…just like how we re-connected I sing to her…I hold onto her by her t-shirt and belt and keep her right there and I sing to het in front of everyone there.

*Life After You.* By Daughtry

There’s cheering and there’s clapping and even louder when we start kissing and I break it enough to mic point at the crowd and they lose it in a good way again and I say into the mic just before putting it up.

“Thanks for coming out and seeing us play everyone…drive safe, be well and love deeply.”

I kiss Raven again and start dancing with her on stage as Brooklyn play’s us out for the night with. *One for the Money, Two for the show.* By Trooper.

Mike drops the lights down and down and then does the curtain while we’re still kissing and…I nuzzle with her breaking the kiss but still doing the Eskimo kissing thing.

“I think I really like making up…”