Services And Symphonies ✔

//F r i e n d s//

September came and brought with it the beginnings of Rayna's second favourite season-fall. Rayna loved everything about it.

The atmosphere, the scenic beauty in parks and best of all her family traditions. It was a Williams family tradition to re-watch old home videos from when Rayna and Joey were children, on Sundays.

So when Rayna came back home from her study session with Chester at 5. Ever since Chester's outburst, Rayna had been unsure if their friendship would ever go back to the way it had been. But their relationship had been healing and healing and Rayna was glad because the last thing she wanted was to lose another person she cared for. Quickly changing into comfortable clothing, Rayna knocked on Joey's door.

When she didn't get a reply for almost a minute, Rayna opened the door to find Joey lying in bed, curled up in a fetal position.

"Hey." Rayna said quietly as she slowly walked towards her sister and sat at the edge of the bed.

Joey's arms were wrapped over her legs and her face buried in her pillow. She was in her pajamas and her long, black hair was in a messy ponytail.

"Joey, we don't have to do it." Rayna said in a soothing voice placing a comforting hand on her sister's arm.

"B-but they would w-want us to, right?" Joey said.

Rayna slowly pried away her hands that were now covering her face. "Oh God, Joey."

She'd been crying for a long time. Her eyes were blooshot and swollen. Her lip was bleeding from when she had bitten into it and her nose was running.

Rayna's heart broke seeing her little sister like this. She was supposed to take care of her. She wasn't doing a good job, obviously.

"They wouldn't want us to do anything we didn't want to, okay?" Rayna said and slowly pulled her sister into a sitting position.

Joey wiped away stray tears witu the back of her hand before she spoke. "No, I wanna do this. We didn't do it last year too because of me but....Gimme a minute." With that she sprinted out of her bed and rushed into the bathroom.

Rayna had been really excited at the prospect of watching home videos. Of course, the whole thing reminded her of a parents so it did make her a little sad but those videos had their parents in them too; watching them would always be bitter-sweet. But seeing Joey like that made her second guess if it was a good idea.

Joey came out with a small smile on her face. "Let's do this."

Rayna got up and placed her handa on her sister's shoulders. They were almost of the same height. "You sure?"

Joey nodded. Rayna pulled her into a hug which Joey returned tightly. The sisters went downstairs and Joey got settled as Rayna put in the cassettes.

Sitting beside her sister, Rayna took Joey's hand and whispered. "Ready?"

Joey replied with a smile. "Ready."

---

Rayna wasn't quite sure what to do with herself when the videos ended. She had never experienced something so conflicting, so bitter sweet. She'd seen her father sing hapoy birthday to her on her first birthday and to her sister on her twelfth birthday. She was reminded how utterly captivating her mother looked when she played the piano.

Joey had started crying half way through the first video and was now silently sobbing. Rayna's cheeks were stained with tears too. There was an ache in her chest that felt like it would never go away.

"I m-miss them s-o much, Ray." Joey said with so much sadness Rayna's heart broke. All over again.

"I know. I miss them too." Rayna said, wiping away the tears with the back of her hand. She forced a smile on her face and turned to face Joey.