They both walked over to Riker’s car, and Riker opened the door for Rayne. “Thank you” she said. “Anything for a beautiful girl” Riker replied with a smile. Then he shut the door and went around to his side. After he got in and shut his door, he turned to Rayne and said “So, what would you like to see first? Important things like grocery stores and gas stations or fun things like fast food restaurants, snack shops and game things?” “Well, I hate grocery shopping, so those stores are out. And I don’t have a car yet, so I don’t need a gas station. I guess that leaves the good stuff” Rayne replied. “Besides, all the unpacking this morning made me hungry, and I was not in the mood to eat a PB&J at the house.” “OK, food and then fun stuff it is” said Riker with a smile. Then he started the car and pulled out of the driveway.
“What kind of food do you like” Riker asked Rayne after about 10 minutes. “Anything that has meat” she replied. “I can’t do the healthy vegetarian thing.” Then she turned to Riker and said, “Oh no. You aren’t a vegetarian are you? If so, I am so sorry. I didn’t mean to offend you. Sometimes the filter between my brain and my mouth doesn’t work, and I end up saying whatever my brain comes up with.” Riker started to laugh. “It’s ok. I’m not a vegetarian. My favorite meal is burgers and fries. And don’t worry, my filter doesn’t work sometimes either. Just ask my brothers and sister.” “ How many siblings do you have” Rayne asked. Riker replied, “since we are almost at the lunch spot, let’s order then we can talk about our families over lunch.”
A few minutes later, Riker pulled into In-and-Out and parked the car. “This is one of my favorite burger places. I hope you like it” he told her as they got out of the car and walked up to order. After they got their food, they went and sat at one of the out of the way tables so they could talk and not be disturbed by the crowd. When they sat down, Rayne said “OK, now you get to tell me about your family.” Riker smiled and said “OK, but I am warning you now, this may take a while. It’s a big family. I have one sister, Rydel, who is 20. My brother Rocky is 19, Ross is 18 and Ryland is 16. My parents are Mark and Stormie, but you don’t need to know their ages. I also have a best friend, Ellington Ratliff, who is like a brother to me. He is also 20.” “Wow, that’s a big family. And I love the names. They are standard names that you hear every day” Rayne said. “And I like that they all start with ‘R’. That’s really cute.”
“Mom and Dad didn’t plan it that way, but after my sister, they just stuck with the same letter” Riker said. “If you don’t mind me asking, where did they come up with the names” Rayne said. “Well, my dad was a fan of Star Trek, and a character on there had the name Riker, so that’s my name. Rydel got her name from the high school in Grease, which is my parents’ favorite movie. I named Rocky after the Colorado Rockies. Ross got his name because of a boy that used to come into my mom’s shop. His name was Ross, and he was a really cute kid and my mom liked that name. And finally, Ryland got his name from a Real Estate company in Colorado.”
“Wow, so you got to name your brother? That is really cool, and a really sweet thing for your parents to do. But what would they have done if you had come up with a really off the wall name for him” Rayne asked as she and Riker cleaned up their trash from lunch. “I don’t know” Riker replied. “I never thought to ask. Now, on to my favorite dessert place and you can tell me all about your family.” “OK” Rayne said, “but it’s not going to be as interesting as your family. I only have 3 brothers.”
Riker and Rayne got in the car and drove for about 10 minutes before Riker pulled into the parking lot of a small brick building. The parking lot was crowded, but everyone already had their order, so there wasn’t a line inside.
“What is this place” Rayne asked as she and Riker got out of the car. “This is Get Shaved, my family’s favorite place for dessert. It’s a mix of shaved ice and ice cream. It’s amazing.”
They walked up to the counter, and Riker asked Rayne what she wanted. “I like sour things, so I think I will try the Sour Puss.” “OK, so that’s one medium Sour Puss and one medium Let Them Eat Cake” Riker told the girl at the counter. After he paid and they got their food, they walked outside and went to the park across the street. Rayne tried her dessert and told Riker “This is so good. I wish they had had this where I used to live.” “I’m glad they didn’t” Riker told her. “Why?” Rayne asked. “This way, I got to be the one to introduce it to you, so now whenever you go to Get Shaved, you will think about me” Riker replied. “Oh trust me,” Rayne said with a smile “I don’t think I will need a reason to think about you.”
Riker heard what Rayne said, but he pretended not to. Instead, he turned to her and said “OK, now it’s your turn to tell me about your family.”
Rayne wiped her mouth and put her dessert down. “OK, here it is. My oldest brother Jackson is 18, but he will be 19 in two weeks. My other brothers, Jayce and Whit, are 16. My mom is Ashley and my step-dad is Evan. I also have 3 dogs: a Border Collie named Riley, a Golden Retriever named Zipper, and a Black Lab named Shadow. Evan also has a German Shepherd named Shaw, but he had Shaw before he met my mom, so Shaw is really his dog. That’s why I said 3 dogs. I don’t count Shaw since he’s not ours.”
“Wow, your house is more crowded than mine. You might just have to spend a lot of time at my house to get away from the crowd and noise” Riker said with a smile.
“I wouldn’t mind that, as long as Riley comes with me” Rayne said. “He is my special baby, but I promise he won’t be any trouble.”
“That’s fine if you bring him. We love dogs. But why is Riley so special?” Riker asked. “Well first, he is only a year old, so he needs a lot of attention.” Rayne explained. “Secondly, he doesn’t really get along with Shadow, so we have to keep them separate most of the time. But most important, I need to bring him with me because Jackson and I are doing special training with him. Riley is deaf, so we have to train him with hand signals, and it takes a lot of time.”
“That is so cool” Riker said with a hint of awe in his voice. “I have never seen anyone work with a deaf dog. I would love to watch you train him some time, if that’s ok.”
Rayne looked and Riker and smiled. “Of course you can watch us. Jackson and I love to show people what we do. In fact, the more people we can show, the better. And, it’s really good for Riley to be around people other than my family. So it’s a win-win-win situation.
Riker thought for a second, then said “Wait, you said 3 wins. I think you used one too many.”
“No, I said it right” Rayne replied. “One win for Riley because he gets to be around new people, one win for Jackson because he gets to meet you and your family, and a win for me because that means I get to show you something I love to do.”
“Well, you need to add another win to that list” Riker said. “It’s a win for me because I get to spend more time with you. And speaking of spending time together, if you are done with your dessert, let’s go so I can show you more of my favorite places.”
YOU ARE READING
Quiet vs. Loud
FanfictionRiker meets his new neighbor Rayne. But where his house is LOUD and getting LOUDER, Rayne is surrounded by quiet. Can the two come together and equalize the volume? Sorry, I know this description sucks. Hopefully you think the story is better.
