Jem…Chapter 45

Chapter 45

I just sit there like that with Rayne for a while just being us and taking that time to soak in the world and love that I’m leaning on her and love this place that we’re at right now. I love the effect it’s having on her, I can literally feel her decompressing and unwinding. I get that. I think it’s easy to get, just try and think when the last time you sat, just sat outside with a coffee or a tea and just spend thirty minutes to yourself.

Scary right, I really get why my Mom made the time for herself whenever she could. It’s that look there on Rayne’s face when she’s got her eyes closed facing the sun and taking a long sip of her coffee.

I can’t believe it when she moves her arms and she catches my legs. “Hold the cups.” I take the coffee cups and then she gets up and she piggy back me into the house.

Never…I mean I think dad did when I was little but this, this was nothing I’ve ever expected to happen…

And I’m giggling because it’s fun.

Oh I’m so the girl in this relationship and I don’t care. I’m laughing pretty hard as she takes us back into the house. She set’s me down onto the couch and I hook her neck with my arms and kiss her.

“That was fun.”

“Good.” She kisses me.

I kiss her back and sigh then let her go and she takes the coffee cups. “Refill?”

“No, two’s more than good for me.”

“So what do you want to do today?” She asks as I follow her into the kitchen to check on the bread that’s in the oven.

“Honestly?”

“Yeah of course.”

“Banking, paying some bills and paying our rent and getting licensing done up.”

“Licensing?”

“Yeah, as a band, and getting stuff set up.”

“Like?” I love the way she lifts herself up to sit on the kitchen counter.

“Well we need to get us registered and legal as a band but as a business too so we can work better all around.”

“How?”

“Well with like putting stuff we can claim in our business, equipment and gear, gas and rent.”

“Rent?”

“We are putting out things online, and putting the stuff soon on I-tunes and CD’s maybe sometime and shirts. It’s a place of business in a way so maybe we can claim some of the rent, and stuff for the vehicles.”

“How do you know all this stuff?”

“I helped with the garage, I kinda got a lot of it from that and as much as the band is the band the music business is a business.”

“So we’re going to get all this stuff set up?”

“Yeah, or at least get a start on things but getting an appointment.”

“Appointment?”

“At the bank, the same people that help you with your accounts can help us with our business stuff.”

“What about the Marshals?”

“I was thinking we use Toronto Dominion with it being the newest bank in town and a national bank that there’d be less chance of Adam messing around with our stuff since he hasn’t yet. His family might have the juice but I’m not sure we’re worth their bother.”

“Okay…you sure?”

“Pretty sure Adam see’s me as something he wants…” I shiver at the thought and the memories of what he tried to pull at Lucky’s.

Rayne slides off the counter to give me a hug. “Yeah…well he can’t have you.”

“Thanks.” I give her another kiss then just lean on her awhile until the buzzer goes off for the oven and I take the rest of the bread out of the oven.

We get out things together and I’m making my lists, I do lists all the time really it’s not like they go with me half the time it’s just to get stuff right in my head. There’s money I want to get us hooked into some things I want for the band. I want memberships for all of us in the S.A.C. (Songwriters Association of Canada.) I want to get us legit credits like that. I show Rayne the printed off membership forms and she looks impressed.

“I never thought of that, it just seemed like a big time thing.”

“It sort of is and at the same time it’s not. I had a student membership as Jason so it’s not a big deal but it’ll lend us some credit in the business.”

“I’m all for it, I like the whole idea of it.”

“There’s more things we should be a part of like CIMA (Canadian Independent Music Association.) Music Canada if we’re going to sometime put out an album.”

“Wow, Summer never…I never thought about anything like this.”

“We need to get all of us as members of the TMA (Toronto Musicians Association.) too.”

“Why?”

“That’s the big one for us it’s like joining the union or better still the guild and while it’s Toronto based it covers all of Canada and they really set the standard for things here in the province and it gets us able to be known.”

“Known, you can find us online.”

“Yeah but we’re at right now just kind of not professionally noticeable, there’s people that wouldn’t look at us at all without these credentials. If we ever wanted a say festival spot we couldn’t get one without them.”

“Oh, wow…”

“Uh-huh, but something to work towards.”

“Wow towards?”

“TMA membership alone just four us as a band to get in is over a thousand buck total.”

“Holy shit…we’ll never be able to…”

I go over and kiss her. “Yeah we can but we can start by getting ourselves set up first as a business.”

“But…but…”

“That’s the initial costs, it’s not that bad once we get going. And we get lots of extras with that too. We’re letting cash we can get back every time we drive to a gig and can’t claim it. Tons of stuff that once we nail down will let us be the band we want to be and the we get to really do this as our jobs…not take jobs that we can do this.”

“Don’t leave!” She’s suddenly hugging me tight. Like really suddenly.

“Uhm…I won’t Rayne…?”

“Summer left and she was full of all her ideas that we were going to be this and go places and now you’re showing me all of these amazing things and we’re falling in love…just please, please don’t leave me.”

“I’m not…” I move us so we’re leaning on the hall table by the front door and I lean in on her and rest my body weight against her. I lean in and slowly kiss with her. “I’m not going anywhere, c’mon breathe…breathe we’re going to be okay.”

I rest my forehead on hers and stare in her eyes and breathe…and breathe…and the blush starts on her cheeks then we’re both smiling. Then there’s a twinkle there. “So you going to do this when I’m in labor?”

…………………………….. Oh…oh wow, oh holy shit wow…I know she’s making a joke but making a joke about something like this has to say something about where her heads at. I’m not even sure, like really sure when I joke back but still forehead to forehead looking in her eyes. “Yes, definitely yes…”

And uhm there’s some serious making out again. We break the kisses. “Uhm I’m going to get changed actually before we go is that alright?”

She looks at me and rolls her eyes. “You’re such a girl, but yeah cut offs might not be a good look for where we’re going.”

We head up and I’m…I’m such a girl huh…

I start looking through my clothes and start changing and use the faux skin first off getting my chest right, then some light perfume just a hint of it and I go with the nicest bra and panties I have which just sort of tells me I need more, since I don’t have…I guess I want more choices, just so I can look the way that I’m trying to say…okay that just totally made sense.

I go with matching white stockings with things and go with this white artists peasant top and a sort of long skirt I think Mom made to match it but in this sort of brown dyed denim with this hidden zipper for the leg slit that lets me show some leg and the stockings off. I add some bangles and fluff out my hair and slip on some nice sandal styled wedges.

I transfer all my stuff into a faded denim big purse/shoulder bag and touch up my make up and I head downstairs. I get my guitar and I’m just about ready when I see Rayne leaning in the doorway looking at me.

She’s got her gothy edged make up on but toned down to where it’s just a hint more than the look she has for work, she has her piercing in, lots in her ears and nose stud, two little earrings in her right eyebrow and several necklaces and bangles all with her in black army styled pants and this tight, really perfectly tight black thin cotton sweater with those long skater sleeves…who cares about the sleeves, whatever bra she’s wearing and the second skin sweater she’s wearing just give her these absolutely perfect breasts.

How in hell could Summer…?

And she’s got her hands in her pockets leaning in the doorframe just staring at me with this amazing soft, sweet, smile. I love the way she takes me in with her eyes, I want her to do that…I actually like when she looks ay me like that. I like feeling like this, like I’m special.

“You ready to go?” She asks and I nod. “I’m bringing one of the guitars, I just sort of feel naked without it in town.”

“You actually make any money doing that?”

“Yeah, decent money busking it’s still cute and new here in town.”

“Cool I just might watch.”

“You could join in.”

“Maybe.”

It’s so neat when she open the doors to the house and the van for me and makes sure I’m in with my skirt before getting in herself. We head downtown to the Toronto Dominion bank and ask to talk to one of the personal banking agents or to get an appointment and this guy called Travis comes out to see what we need to set up and appointment with him.

He says he’ll have to look into some research for the best accounts we’ll need and also our Paypal stuff and the bills we’ll likely be using and a business credit cards options and what our creditors will likely be. Okay it’s just setting up a list of stuff for both of us to get ready to put things together and everything but it still took nearly an hour.

Even in an hour we or I learned a lot. Like getting a company name for us as well as a band name. Getting business designed credit cards that give you different rates for stuff made for business and travel. The fact that gas stations have gas credit cards for their stations that have decent interest rates but give you discounted rates per liter. And used for the band they’re easier on the bookkeeping.

Travis even said if we’re ever tour planning get CAA, that’s like triple A in the states and I guess just handy.

Rayne and I cash our cheques from Mr. Walker and she taps the money in the Paypal account and with my recipe cheques we get a cheques for our rent and drop it off. There’s a really nice feeling doing that and having this cushion of rent a whole month ahead.

We’re heading to the mall to actually do some shopping and I’m figuring things in my head. “Next weeks pay should take care of the lights and phone.”

“Really, so what about the girls or is that just your’s and mine?”

“Yours and mine, I want Brooklyn to get ahead and Kimmie.”

“Kimmie?”

“Her parents, they’re still paying her some allowance and her schooling so I’m guessing when she does hear from them it’s one of the things they lord over her head. Her own money will give her lots more freedom from them and they’re BS.”

“Yeah that’d be great.”

“I’m thinking too we’ll need a website and then get some sponsors for ads.”

“Like?”

“Charities and stuff, I think we should put in stuff for music and stuff like Breast Cancer society, OV cancer, Because I’m a girl stuff like that but also ads for our webstuff we’ll keep going.”

“I was thinking the same thing actually and maybe even the musical organizations once we’re a part of them.”

“Right which means a decent web designer.”

“And a person that does graphic art and printing.”

I look at her. “Okay, I can sot of see that but for?”

“We get one printing place and stuff to do things we’ll need like posters, fliers, business cards.”

“Yeah we might even get a discount on our stuff if we use him for all our stuff.”

We head into the mall actually talking and brainstorming over things and while we talking we’re mostly window shopping There’s some nice things in Bootlegger and American Eagle but expensive or right now for us. Bluenotes has some interesting stuff and good deals and prices. Like two tops for ten dollars kind of good and I buy four one’s a lacy rose bra insert fitted tube top I’m going use as a surprise. I’m not surprised that I’m buying pink actually only one of the shirts on sale that I get isn’t pink. It’s white and I like the cap and sleeved v-necked styled shirts, I get a great look from them and really cleavage friendly but not like slutty cleavage friendly. I also get a cute tee-saying smile and a moss green shirt that says I love nerds on it. I wanted another color but it only came in that but the I love nerds thing is something I want for my image and it speaks to my Jasoness.

There is a lot, a lot of stuff I’d never wear though. You know those stupid Bro and the Keep Calm signs on Face book? … “Yeah, they’re tee-shirts and…no sheeple shirts for the Omigawd this is so kewl crowd.” I say to Rayne holding one of the keep calm shirts up. We both kind of rag on the pop-culture idiotcracy stuff we’re seeing and all the just played to death crap…on the stores radios/stereos. I swear in I walk into a girls clothing store and hear Call me baby I’ll strangle someone.

I do convince Rayne to get a charcoal fedora hat that’ll just look smoking on her for like eight dollars. I get one too white straw fedora style with a pink band and a pair of pink framed sunglasses and some pink dyed feather earrings that have been around lately.

There’s these dusky grey belts with white embroidered butterflies that we get for all of us at another store and I buy three more for me there two are a muted rose color wit roses embossed in one and like ivy and flowers on another super girly and yet thee will look great on me. Rayne just shakes her head and looks at stuff with studs or is darks and shiny.

I get a fitted pink lace tube dress at another place called Desiree that’ll be great for Tuesday nights for eight dollars and a matching black one that will be great for that too.

There’s some stuff priced though really high and I can get at the other mall from the ethnic owned places I’m not paying fifteen bucks for a cute glass bead necklace I know I can get for three dollars over there.

We do it Victoria’s secret and I buy underwear there I get the ones on sale but I’m still kind of snobby. I don’t like anything with a logo or a saying printed on them, I’m not into animal prints and honestly as nice as some stuff they have is there about eighty percent I don’t care for. I like hip hugger cut panties or the cheeky kinds and some of the bikini cuts I like white or pink or black. I like the way Rayne stares at me when I model them. I’m not really afraid of “Sticking out.” While just having one…well you know and when a guy is unaroused he ca be very compact. I actually don’t really show past the normal bulge a girl has once I’m settled. I don’t tuck like I said don’t need to I just push smooth myself downwards and thankfully my condition doesn’t have me with enough stuff to pop out.

Actually it’s not that different than wearing a guys swimming speedo. I’m actually pretty good in the water having taken a lifeguard course one year but I never got the job because well…I wasn’t part of the in crowd and one of Adams friend of a friend got the job of course.

Sigh…

Sears and actually Wall-Mart are our last stops. And that’s just to look around really and I get some stuff for supper, nothing major but there were canned chic-peas on for thirty seven cents a can so I’m thinking soup and maybe a fritter to go with them. Rayne giving me this look.

“What?”

“Chic-peas?”

“Yeah, they’re good.”

“Never had them, too out there for my family, Kim might have.”

“You have hummus before?”

“Yeah.”

“You like it?”

“Yeah actually.”

“Mostly ground chic-peas but there’s a lot of…”

I grin as Rayne gets like a dozen cans. “You can make that stiff right?”

I laugh. “I can make my mom’s version that I like better.”

“Cool.”

I laugh some more because she seems so excited.

“Okay c’mon there’s a few places that I want to go to before we go home.”

“Okay.”

We get our stuff at Wal-Mart and Rayne gets it all using her employee discount we head out and go get in the van and drive across the highway to one of the mini-malls that has Ace’s comix and games. I get out and check my make up and adjust my cleavage and Rayne’s looking at me. “C’mon.” I say.

Ace’s was a Jason spot and there’s a large geek contingent that goes here as it’s pretty much the only decent place in Harpers point for comics but also alternative magazines and geek hobbies like D&D and all that stuff. While there might be some girls than come here on occasion not many and with them having tables for the gamers to come and play at they’re a great place…pretty girls playing music.

I step inside and there’s eyes on us pretty quickly. Gary the guy that runs the place looks up and stares at us in almost a Spock “Interesting.” kind of way. I come over to the counter. “Hey.”

“Hello…can I help you girls you seem…lost?”

“No, not lost but I was wondering if you could let two troubadour ladies partake in the shelter of your store and busk awhile.?”

He laughs a bit. “Troubadours huh, well since you put it that way sure, you girls can hang out for awhile here you want inside or playing outside?”

“Oh inside would be great.”

I stop…there’s a big water bottle with change in it saying. “Jason Powers is innocent! Support Jason!”

“Uhm what’s that?”

“Oh one of the kids that used to come in here a lot is being railroaded by this real piece of shit rich kid?”

“How do you know he’s being railroaded.”

“Jason wouldn’t do the stuff they said he did.” Gary says.

Another couple of kids nod and say. “Jase is good people, there’s a bunch of us that might not be able to stand up to Adumb Marshal and company because he’d make our lives really suck ass but it don’t mean we’re not going to try and help a little bit when we can.”

“He’s…he’s my cousin.”

“He okay?”

“Yeah…lying low until things change…god…he ever would’ve thought this’d happen. Are you guy afraid of Adam?”

“He won’t see this, his kind won’t even look at this kind of place.”

“But why?”

“Well…we might not have stood up to Adam but Jase, Jase never backed down from him, not once no matter how outnumbered he was…it’s the least we can do is to try and pony up some cash to help with his lawyer.”

“Wow…thanks so much guys.”

They blush and Gary actually waves in off then looks at me.

“So what can you sing?”

“Bits of everything really.” He shows me to a spot. Rayne just grins. “Don’t look at me, this is you’re deal. I’m going to watch though.”

“Okay, wish me luck.” I kiss with her and she kisses me back whispering to me. “You okay?” as Gary sets me up a folding chair in the corner and every guy there is staring at us. “Yeah…just surprised is all.”

“I’m not, Angel you heart…I’m seeing where some of it comes from. I wanna know more.” She gives me another kiss. Oh Yeah more stares.

I take out my guitar and set the case open on the floor beside me and I look at the crowd in there shopping and playing games but they…wow I’m a little emotional and shaky but taking my guitar calms me. Geeks, Gamers…I know the first tune I want to play.

“Take my love, take my land
Take me where I cannot stand
I don't care, I'm still free
You can't take the sky from me.

Take me out to the black
Tell them I ain't comin' back
Burn the land and boil the sea
You can't take the sky from me.

Leave the men where they lay
They'll never see another day
Lost my soul, lost my dream
You can't take the sky from me.

I feel the black reaching out
I hear its song without a doubt
I still hear and I still see
That you can't take the sky from me.

Lost my love, lost my land
Lost the last place I could stand  
There's no place I can be
Since I've found Serenity

And you can't take the sky from me…”

It’s like a freaking club scene about ten of the fifteen guys in there started singing along with the theme song and I can’t help but to grin at them and Rayne’s pretty new to all of this since she looks shocked that just happened.

I go from that into *Faith of the heart.* From the Enterprise version of Star Trek then I start *Who wants to live forever.* By Queen from of course the Highlander stuff.

And there’s guys taking their change and dropping it in there and some are texting, and tweeting and a few guys even get some cash back extra on their debit cards and are dropping fives and a ten or two.

One guy drops a twenty. “Can you do You can’t take the sky from me again?”

“Sure.” I smile at him making him turn red.

I think we started something here and some people coming in recognize us and Rayne’s talking to Gary and a few others and I’m just having a good time over the next three hours and I must have played the Firefly song seven times but also. I sneak in *The Man They Call Jane.* From the Firefly TV show and there was even a couple of people asking for some songs….apparently I do requests for cash, I charge only five buck a song word that I do requests thanks to the guy that requested the first one. And even Rayne helps me sing a few songs too. Well I play and she sings…

*Serenity.* By Godsmack she with her tough chick voice and playing it on acoustic was a song we might actually save for a Tuesday night show.

*Bring me to life.* By Evanescence…Rayne can so pull out the vocals for that too.

And it’s a Metallica song but…Rayne can just sing the hell out of *Unforgiven* I’m really into the stuff we’re just messing around with unplugged here.

We stop and we get some hands shaken and told how great we are and we tell them about Starlight Butterfly and our stuff and our sites and Rayne says we have a gig here next Friday night to play for a gaming tournament.

I look ay Gary. “How many serious girl titles you have here?”

“What do you mean by serious?”

“Titles with female leads that aren’t the female add on’s to a team.”

“Ten or fifteen why?”

“You want to run a video-blog ad on our sites?”

“Huh?”

“You teach me these comics, I’ll talk them up and the store and stuff and we’ll put it online.”

“Okay but why?”

“Helping each other out.”

“No cash?”

“Nope, we do this and you find space for our posters for our gig’s and when we get in our t-shirts you can maybe sell them along with the super hero shirts and stuff.”

“That’s it?”

“That’s it you can even get a cut on the shirt sales.”

“That’s pretty generous Angel.”

“Not really, you actually get a lot more out of life from shared goodwill. Besides you want us for a gig for your tournament right? So we’re all going to make out pretty awesome really. There’s nothing like geek blogging word of mouth right?”

I gesture around the place and it’s packed with fan boys and guys wanting to get in on two hot girls plating SF tunes in their hobby store. I play again for a few more tunes and by that time Rayne’s gotten stuff ready and we start to film and save and download the stuff about the store, and the comics like She-hulk, Wonder woman, Super girl, Batgirl, Buffy, Lady Death, and really the list goes on and on of cool comic heroines even though I think I’m partial to Super-Girl, Rayne as it turns out likes Electra, Psylocke and X-23.

We both give our opinions and talk about how these are really not little girl comics but real ones with female oriented storylines that don’t take away from the characters and that there’d be better girls in these stories if more girls read them, seen them for how cool they really are and how reading a copy of Black Canary will do more for a girl than reading Vogue. Not that there’s that much wrong with Vogue but I like the message to girls a lot better from my comics.

I get a bit soap boxy wit that but at the same time Angel me has a point. One if I had a daughter I’d love for her to have women like tem to look up to instead of the flavor of the month. And if more real girls bought comics the comics would make even better female centric comics.

And comic lead to movies and movies sink into culture.

Just saying.

By the time we’re done we got lots to edit and even some crowd or customer reactions to girl comic fans, female comic characters and female gamers. I can’t help but say to some of the guys. “You know this is going to be up on our sites right? There’s nothing some girls don’t like more than guys who are into supporting girls. You never know…show up down at the gigs we’re playing and some girls might recognize you boys.”

I can’t believe I’m offering set up advice to guys about maybe getting girls.

I really love that we got a couple of geekettes down there before we were done and a few of the geeky guys saying that they’d love to meet a girl that was into this stuff too and brave enough to be herself.

There’s this thing called hipster geek going on were geeky guys can be really cute and stuff. Rayne and I mention that a few times…just y’know and mention the stores website and that you can check out their calendar for events including the show we’re doing for the tournament they’re having here and everything.

Gary’s more than pleased with the stuff we shot and we get to keep the comics he let us talk about and I get a few music magazines too that he carries.

Oh and we made more in busking tips there than we spent at the mall today. Rayne’s happy and all sorts of impressed.

“We did so much today and we still have the banking and band stuff to do when he calls us and the commercial and got a gig and wow! Those tips! We should go back more often.”

“No, we’ll burn out the money that way, we should put it on the twitter feed for us and he one for Ace’s saying when we’ll be popping in that way we’ll have a good draw.”

“Yeah but I’ve never busked before I didn’t know that you could make this kind of cash with it.”

“You can but you gotta pick your spots and songs.”

“We’re doing this again.” She’s got this smile in her eyes.

“Sure but we’re still going out tonight right?”

“I’d love to. Where?”

“Maybe the movies? Then go dancing?”

“Sounds like a plan to me. Huron Electric‘s playing over at Lucky‘s tonight.”

“Help me with supper?” I kiss her again.

“Love to.”

We head to our rooms to get changed into some more mellow clothes to lounge around in and cook it and take one of the laptops into the kitchen to start editing our videos that we e-mailed to ourselves from Ace’s.

It’s been a really good day. I’m hoping tonight will be even better.