Quiet vs. Loud

Basement Love and Bar-B-Cue (part 2)

******Riker's POV******

We stayed at Rayne's house for a few more hours, then Rayne told me that she had to start getting things ready for the cook out that night.  So I called my brothers, Rydel and Ratliff to the living room and told them that we needed to go get our stuff ready.  Rydel said that she would stay to help Rayne.  So I told Rydel that we would bring her keyboard and stuff, and after she gave Ratliff a hug, we all left.

When we got to our house, Dad had already gotten all the instruments gathered, so we just had to make sure we had everything, then we all went upstairs to get ready.  We had all taken shower the night before, so all we had to do was change clothes.  So since that wouldn't take too long, the others decided to play some xBox.  I declined the offer to play, and went back downstairs and into the kitchen.  Mom was in there getting the food ready to take to Rayne's.  "Hi Mom," I said as I entered the kitchen. "Need help with anything?"  "Thanks #1, but I've got it covered."  she replied with a smile.  "Ok, but if you need help, let me know.  The others are playing video games upstairs." I told her as I took a bottle of water from the fridge.  "How come you are playing with them?" mom asked as she wiped off the counters.  "I just don't feel like it.  I have something on my mind and I can't concentrate on games right now." I told her as I took a drink of my water.  "Anything, or should I say anyONE, you want to talk about?" she asked me with a grin.  I looked at her with a smile. "How did you know it's a person?"  "A mother knows these things." she said as she walked around the island to where I was sitting.  "Besides, you talked about Rayne rall night last night after she left, and you were with her all day today.  That, and I have seen the way you look at her.  Your face lights up when you see her, talk about her, or even think about her.  My question is: Have you talked to about how you feel yet?"

"No, not yet.  I'm not sure hw she feels and I really don't want to mess up the friendship we have." I answered as I finished off my water and threw the bottle in the recycle bin.

"Well, I think you should talk to her.  Just explain how you feel, but stress tha even if she doesn't feel the same way, you still want to remain friends.  It can't hurt anything.  Well, I'm gonna go get ready." Mom hugged me and walked out of the kitchen.  I went upstairs to get ready.  I changed into a pair of faded denim shorts and a dark blue t-shirt.  Then I put on my blue Coverse, grabbed my blue and black snapback and sunglasses, and walked downstairs.  Everyone else was already down there, and I laughed when I saw that everyone was dressed like me, but they were all wearing shirts in their favorite colors. 

"OK, it looks like we're all ready.  What time are we supposed to go over to Rayne's?" I asked as I entered the living room.  "Rydel just called and said that we could come over whenever we were ready.  We need time to get all the equipment set up, and Rayne's parents are already home." Ratliff answered as he put on his sunglasses.  "Well, let's get going. Do we need to get some clothes for Rydel?" I asked.  "No," Mom answered. "She said she would just borrow something from Rayne."  So we all grabbed our instruments and the food and headed over to Rayne's.

When we got there, I rang the doorbell and waited.  After a few seconds, the door was opened by two people I had never seen.  "Hi everyone.  You must be the neighbors Rayne and Jayce have been talking about.  I'm Rayne's mom Ashley and this is my husband Evan."  "Hi Ashley, I'm Stormie and this is my husband Mark.  And these are our kids: Riker, Rocky, Ross and Ryland." Mom said as she pointed to each of us.  "Nice to meet all of you.  Please come in" Ashely said as she opened the door wider for us all to come in.  "Stormie, if you would like, you can bring the food you brought in to the kitchen.  Evan, you and Mark can head into the backyard and start the grill.  Riker, you all can take your stuff to the basement and join the boys.  Rayne and Rydel are still upstairs getting ready."

Mom and Dad headed off with Ashley and Evan, so me and my brothers headed to the basement.  On the way, we heard the girls voices coming down the stairs, so we all turned and looked toward the stairs.  Rydel came first.  She was wearing a light blue denim skirt, a dark green tank top with a silver rhinesgtone heart on it and green sandals.  She had also dyed the tips of her hair dark green.  She matched Ratliff perfectly.  She walked to Ratliff and gave him a kiss, then she turned towards me with a smile.  I was getting ready to ask what the smile was about, but then I saw movment on the stairs so I turned.  As soon as I saw her, I dropped the guitar case I was holding, but I didn't even notice the sound.  In fact, I didn't notice anything or anyone else except Rayne.  She looked incredible.  She had on a pair of light denim shorts, a black tank top with a blue bass on it, and a pair of blue and silver sandals.   She had her hair braided with a silver and blue ribbon braided in it, and she wore a silver cuff bracelet with a bass cleff engraved on it.  I couldn't take my eyes off of her.  "Wow, you look amazing." I told her when she got to the bottom of the stairs.  "Thanks" she responded.  "You can thank your sister.  She did all the work."  "I didn't do that much." Rydel commented. "I just took the things you already had and put them together.  The beauty was already there."  Rayne blushed. "Thanks Rydel.  OK, let's get this stuff to the basement.  Jayce is excited about playing with you guys.  Oh, by the way, Jackson would like to take some pictures during the cookout, if that's ok with all of you." 

"Yeah, that's fine." I told her.  We all grabbed the equipment and went into the basement.  Jayce and Whit were playing video games, and Jackson was in his art room.  The stereo was turned up, and you could feel the beat in the floor.  Whit turned the stereo down when we walked in, and Jackson came out of his art room.  I looked at the boys and i laughed at all their shirts.  They all had jean shorts and sneakers on, but their shirts were funny.  Whit was wearing a black t-shrt that had a symbol from the periodic table (Um).  Under that it said "The element of Confusion."  Jayce had a shirt with a toothbrush and a roll of toilet paper on it.  The toothbrush was saying "I Hate My Job" and the toilet paper was saying "Oh, please."  Jackson's shirt had "I Have A Way With Words" spelled out in Scrabble letters.

We set up our guitars and keyboard, and then we just played music and messed around.  Around 6:30, Rayne's step-dad Evan came down the stairs.  "The food is ready if you guys want to come eat.  Whit, can you and Jayce please feed the dogs when you come up?"  "Sure Evan.  We'll be there in just a minute." Whit replied while Jayce just gave Evan a tumbs-up.

We walked upstairs and all of us went to the backyard while Whit and Jayce went to get the food for the dogs.  Once we got outside, we all fixed our plates and sat down at the big picnic table.  The seating order was: Evan at one end of the table with Ashley to his left.  Beisde her was Rayne, me, Rocky, Whit, and Ryland.  Dad was at the other end of the table with Mom across from Ryland.  Beside her was Ross, then Ratliff, Rydel, Jayce and Jackson was across from Rayne.  We all just ate and talked.  I noticed that Rayne made sure to include Jackson in the conversation.  I don't know how she had time to eat, she spent a lot of time signing.  Bu I also noticed that she signed really fast.  The more I watched her, the more I wanted to learn how to sign.

After we had eaten, the adults decided to go in the house, while we all stayed outside.  We played with the dogs for a little while.  Then Rocky suggested "Why don't we play a game?"  "That sounds like fun." I answered. "But what game?"  "How about Truth or Dare?" Rydel suggested.  "OK, that sounds like fun." Rayne responded.  So we walked inside.  "We are gonna play Truth or Dare" Rayne told our parents.  "OK, that sounds like fun. Just don't do anything to get arrested." Evan said with a smile.

Mom and Dad stood up and said "Ashley, Evan, thanks for having us over for the cookout.  Next time, we'll do this at our house.  We're gonna head home now.  Ashley, maybe you and I can have a girls' day with Rayne and Rydel when the guys set up a golf game.  Just let me know.  Riker, please make sure you guys don't get into any trouble during your game, and make sure you lock up when you come home."  Mom hugged all of us, including Rayne, then her and dad left.  After they left, Ashley and Evan said that they were going up to bed.  They reminded Rayne to lock up and set the alarm, then they headed upstairs.  We all grabbed drinks from the kitchen and went into the living room.  Once in there, we all sat down and got ready to play Truth or Dare.