Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ My Happy Ending ❯ Ordinary Day ( Chapter 20 )

Chapter 20: Ordinary Day

“There are places I remember
All my life, though some have changed
Some forever not for better
Some have gone and some remain.
All these places have their moments
With lovers and friends Istill can recall
Some are dead and some are living
In my life I've loved them all.”

-The Beatles “In My Life”

About a week passed, and Raye stood in her laundry room busily sorting the family's laundry. She thought about Cid and how he was faring, wondering whether she ought to give him a jingle later. She picked up a pair of her jeans and began to empty the pockets when she came across the photograph of the younger Cid Highwind. Raye's eyes widened in utter horror as she stared at the picture in her hand.

“Ack! How the hell did I end up with this?!” she almost screamed.

Brad poked his head into the laundry room door.

“End up with what?” he asked curiously.

Raye jumped, having not expected her brother to be inside the house. She quickly hid the photo behind her back.

“Uh…um, nothing!”

Brad smirked and looked at his sister skeptically.

“Oh? Then why are you turning red?”

The girl recomposed herself. “Oh, it's just this tampon I somehow stuffed into my pocket…you know, I have no idea how it got there, really, things have been so busy…”

“You can stop right there,” Brad said flatly. “I don't want to hear anymore.”

He turned and left the small room hurriedly leaving Raye relieved and pondering what she was going to do with the picture. Worse, she now had to worry about keeping it from Brad or she would find it photocopied multiple times and wallpapered all over her room.

“Well, fuck,” she muttered. “How the hell am I going to get this back without getting my ass caught?”

Raye ran upstairs to her room and looked around for a place to hide it. Although her brothers never came to her room that often, she wanted to be absolutely certain there would be no way they could find it, especially Brad. She turned about three circles before finally spotting her dresser. Raye ran over, flung open the top drawer and buried it, of all places, among her underwear. She nestled it somewhere near the bottom between a pair of nice comfortable panties and a black thong she never wore. She closed the drawer and sighed, relieved that she no longer had to worry about it for the time being.

“I am so glad it was my turn to do laundry…,” she breathed, returning downstairs.

Raye walked through the house and down to the shop where Rick and Brad were busily working on vehicles. It was rather slow during the winter months, and not many customers called for parts making Raye free from having to do deliveries for the day. Although she rather enjoyed making deliveries, the trips out to Cid's house over in Rocket Town made her sick and tired of driving, so she conned Brad into making them for her for the rest of the week. She picked up a ratchet and began to work on a tune-up for another vehicle.

“So, Raye,” Rick began. “Is Cid doing okay, now?”

“Yeah, he's fine,” Raye replied. “He'll make it.”

“Good. I'm glad to see you did such a nice favor by hanging around, Raye. He doesn't have any family or anything to look after him, you know.”

“Yeah, he told me,” Raye said empathetically.

“Cid doesn't have any other family?” Brad asked.

“Nah, the man's been on his own for a long time,” Rick explained. “He's always looked after himself.” Rick looked up at Raye. “I'm surprised he even told you that, hun.”

“Yeah?” she told him, surprised.

“Well, Cid's pretty personal and keeps a lot of things to himself. You have to know Highwind real well to get him to open up to you.”

“Huh,” Raye said thoughtfully. She really didn't know Cid that well aside from the time they rebuilt her carburetor in the hangar and from last night. Her father was good friends with Cid, but she imagined that even he didn't know the man inside out.

“I'm gonna go inside for a drink,” Rick announced.

He went into the back door and to the refrigerator for a drink of water. The buzzer went off on the drier, and figuring since he was already inside, Rick decided to do Raye a favor and change loads. He took the finished load out of the drier, and reloaded it with wet clothes. He folded everything on the kitchen table, taking them to everyone's rooms.

Rick saved Raye's room for the last since it was on the top floor. He climbed the flight of narrow stairs and went to her dresser, opening her underwear drawer to put a pair in. A corner of what looked to be a piece of paper caught his eye, and thinking it was one of Raye's more personal pieces of art, Rick pulled on the corner and discovered the photograph of the young Cid.

“What…how did she get this…?” he trailed to himself.

Rick smirked and placed the photo carefully back in its place. He closed the drawer and went back down to the shop, filing this bit of information in the back of his mind.

“What took you so long, Dad?” Raye asked.

“Oh, I thought I would do you a favor and rotate loads for you,” Rick replied casually.

“Oh, well…thanks, then.”

Raye, Brad, and Rick returned to work once more, and Brad decided he wanted to liven things up by harassing his sister a little.

“So, Raye,” he began, smirking. “I'm glad to hear everything went well.”

The sister glanced at her brother, eyes narrowing suspiciously.

Rick cut in sensing an argument about to erupt. “I'm glad to hear everything turned out fine, like you said, Hun.”

Raye glanced at her father as she adjusted a spark plug. “Well, he was feeling really shitty last night after he broke his wrist, but he felt a lot better when he finally woke up this morning. The bad thing is that he's going to be in a cast for about two to three months, and he's pretty upset about that.”

Brad snorted, unable to resist a smart assed comment. “How come we weren't invited to the wedding?”

Raye's head flew up from her work so fast she banged her head on the hood of the car she was working on with a loud `thunk'.

“Ow…sonuvabitch…” she growled rubbing her head and glaring evilly at Brad. “What the fuck are you talking about?!”

“`Hello, Highwind residence,'” he replied, horribly imitating her voice.

Rick raised an eyebrow and began to watch the uproar that was ensuing between his eldest children.

“Oh, real mature you moron,” Raye griped sarcastically as she leaned under the hood to continue her work.

Rick was oblivious that Brad talked to Raye earlier.

“W-wait…what?” he asked confused. “Did I miss something?”

Brad sniggered and peeked around the hood of his project at his father.

“Oh, I called Raye this morning to see when she was coming home, and when she answered his phone, she goes, `Highwind residence' like she's married to the guy!”

Brad burst out in guffaws as Rick chuckled from under the car that was raised in the air on a lift.

“You were not checking on me! You were just doing that to harass me!” Then Raye snorted derisively. “Besides, just thinking about being married to him gives me the chills.”

Rick sniggered quietly. This story sounded all too familiar, and from what he gathered at seeing that photo of Cid in Raye's underwear drawer, history was eventually going to repeat itself.

“I bet it does…,” he murmured from under the car.

“Do what, Dad?” Raye asked.

“Er, nothing, Raye,” Rick replied, dodging the subject. “This car's just giving me a hard time is all.”

Brad began to radiate evil.

“C'mon, Sis,” he teased. “You know you were over there clearing out his clogged pitot tube.”

Raye looked up at her brother confusedly.

“His what?”

Rick emitted a bark of laughter but quickly stifled it.

“You know the little thing that gets all the dials in an airplane turning?” Brad tried to explain. He made a gesture in the shape of one with his hand.

“Actually, Brad, it's what makes the airspeed indicator register airspeed,” Rick pointed out.

“Anyway, you know the little tube on the wing that sticks straight forward,” Brad again tried to elaborate.

Raye thought for a moment and remembered seeing something similar to that on Cid's airplane. Then her face twisted into a hard scowl.

“You asshole!” she bellowed as she ripped the ratchet from the cylinder head, spark plug and all, and flung it at Brad.

Brad roared with laughter at his sister's delayed epiphany while dodging the flying projectile as the tool landed with a loud `clink' on the shop floor.

“She got it,” Rick snickered as Brad made kissing noises at her.

Raye fumed and glanced down at the cylinder head, her face contorting into horror.

“Goddamn it you mother fucker!” Raye screeched. “You made me strip this thing!”

Rick ducked out from beneath the vehicle on the lift.

“You did what?” he asked coming over to look.

Raye sighed heavily, still quite miffed. “I fucking stripped it. Dammit…”

Rick inspected the cylinder head and looked over the damage. Raye was an excellent mechanic and rarely, if ever, made any mistakes on her work.

“Well, I'll be damned. You sure did.”

“Dad, I am so sorry!” Raye apologized. Then she ran a hand across her forehead. “Brad just pissed me off so much…”

“It's alright, Hun,” he cut in. “It ain't that bad.”

“Yeah, but I just created a shitload more work for myself, and it's all his fault!”

Brad looked up apologetically. He hadn't meant to make Raye that angry.

“Raye,” Rick began, “why don't you get out for awhile and calm down. Go down to the doughnut shop and get some hot doughnuts for us.” He turned to Brad. “When your sister gets back, how about we just keep it to a dull roar. If we get to horsing around too much, we make mistakes, and we can't afford that.”

Brad sighed. He hadn't really meant for things to get that far out of hand. “Yes, sir.”

Raye smirked satisfyingly as she walked over to her motorcycle in the corner of the garage. She pulled off the cover revealing a beautiful silver painted bike with purple trim. The chrome of her tailpipes and rims gleamed under the bright lights of the garage, and the seat had that soft glossy leather look and feel to it.

The redhead hopped on the vehicle clad in her black motorcycle-racing jacket and boots, pulling her helmet over her head. She started it up, letting the motor rev up loudly the way she liked it.

Rick opened the large machine shop door for her letting a blast of cold air into the area that caused Brad to shiver. Raye waved at her father as she pulled out into the chillness to go for a short ride. Turning onto the street, the woman headed toward the downtown area just to go for a little cruise and calm her nerves. After the kiss Cid stole from her the other night, it seemed that everything reminded her of it, and Brad was no help at all. Frankly, the whole thing freaked her out. She didn't like the feeling she got in the pit of her stomach from it, and she couldn't stop thinking about how his lips felt brushing across hers.

Raye continued toward the bustle of downtown, her motorcycle thundering down the road. For some reason, Raye always gravitated toward bikes because they made her feel so free. Sometimes she would choose to ride with her helmet off and let her hair fly free, letting the wind carry her troubles away and clear her mind.

The young woman downshifted as she entered the activity of the business district and rode slowly to avoid the pedestrians on the avenue. She drove by many of the shops that she and Shera visited a few weeks ago before finally deciding to park her bike and do a little window-shopping.

She took off her helmet and carried it with her as she idled along thinking and looking. She came to a shop with a dress in the display window and studied it for a moment. The dress was a black halter that came down to about the knee. Raye sighed and looked at it, wondering for a moment how she would look in something like that. She looked at her reflection staring back clad in her motorcycle jacket, greasy jeans, helmet against her hip, and flaming red hair to top it all off. Raye turned away almost sadly. There was no way she could ever wear something like that; it didn't suit her at all. Besides, it wasn't like she would look all that pretty anyway. She was, and always would be, a grease monkey.

Raye continued to amble listlessly along entwined in her thoughts. She shoved her hands in her pockets and thought once more about Cid. She hadn't heard from him in a few days, and she couldn't help but to wonder if he was avoiding her. If he indeed remembered last night, things would be awkward between them, and she couldn't blame him for not wanting to call. Raye didn't have feelings for him - no way, but…why was she thinking about him? Damn that Brad and shooting his mouth off. She would be able to forget about the thing completely if he would let her.

As Raye continued to muse, a familiar shop window caught her eye. She paused for a moment and looked over, finding that it was the same shop she spotted the watch in. Raye idled up to the display window and found that the timepiece she saw was still there, making her instantly think about Cid all over again. Raye stood there a long while pondering. Cid broke his watch when he broke his wrist, and he most likely was going to need a new one. To make things more convenient, Christmas was about a week away, and he was coming over.

Raye, just get your ass in there and buy it already!

She agreed with herself on this one, and against her better judgment, went inside, and after a conversation and some haggling, she returned to the street with a small box wrapped with pretty gold paper tied with a green ribbon. She was broke now, but she felt it was worth it so Cid wouldn't feel left out.

“Gawd, this is stupid,” Raye muttered to herself, borderline regretting the purchase. “I stay all night to help his ass out then I go off and buy a watch for him. Have I lost my friggin' mind?”

Raye chucked the small package into a leather bag she kept tied onto her motorcycle to use for deliveries. Once she stopped by the doughnut shop, Raye headed for home now that she was calm.

Upon returning, she decided to leave Cid's gift in her motorcycle bag for now and sneak it up to her room later so Brad wouldn't have another excuse to bother her. At least tomorrow, she was going to go with Brad over to Shera's place to help her finish her store.

Over the past month, Brad and Raye had helped Shera finish painting and building things. Shera decided that she wanted sort of a dreamy, cloud theme for the place since she finally decided to call her shop Dream Street. Raye thought this was an excellent name for her store, and so symbolic as well. She was planning to do a mural on the back wall of a grassy, flowery knoll and a blue, cloud-filled sky, but she hadn't set that in stone, yet. Jamie had been working on fliers, which they promptly hung up all over Costa del Sol and anywhere Brad and Raye stopped for deliveries.

Shera called Brad while Raye was at Cid's house and told him that she got the clothing racks and hangars in, and she was already putting things on them. She asked Brad to give her a hand during the first few opening weeks, and after much deliberation, Rick agreed to let him go, meaning more work for Raye and her father in the shop. Raye shrugged, deciding that at least he would be out of her hair, and she wouldn't have to hear so much about Cid, much to her absolute glee.

When Raye returned home, she found Rick working on the car she inadvertently damaged and Brad somewhere inside the house. Raye parked her motorcycle, covered it, and removed her jacket, feeling somewhat refreshed from her little rendezvous.

“Is it fixable?” she asked Rick.

The man glanced up and smiled warmly at his daughter.

“Yeah, I managed to rethread it while you were out. At least it was just one opening and not the entire head.”

“Yeah…” Raye soberly agreed. “I'm still really sorry I did that, though.”

Rick stood up and handed the ratchet to Raye.

“I know you are, Hun, but I really wish you'd learn to ignore your brother and control that temper of yours.”

Raye leaned into the engine and began gently twisting in the new spark plugs.

“I know I should, but even if I don't defend myself he still teases me. I just wish he'd leave me alone is all.”

“I know you do.” Rick shook his head and went back to his own work. “You are so much like your mother that it just amazes me,” he suddenly told her.

Raye smiled a little. “Am I?”

“You bet. Your mother had a flaming temper to go with that red head of hers, much like you.” Rick let out a laugh. “I remember how much she hated me when we first met. I used to deliver parts over to your grandpa in Cosmo Canyon, and I used to tease her every time I saw her.”

“You teased her?”

Rick sniggered. “I sure did. I used to make her so mad that she'd wind up hitting me or throwing something at my head.”

“Wow…what kinds of things did you say to her?” Raye asked, now leaning against the car listening intently.

“Oh I don't remember what all I used to say, but I do know that she was the prettiest girl I ever saw. Teasing her was just my way of flirting with her a little. Aside from the teasing I was scared to death to let her know how I really felt `cause I honestly thought she hated me.”

Raye giggled. “So how did you manage to at least talk to her?”

Well,” Rick began. “Like I said, I used to tease her all the time, but one day we actually found some common ground and from there everything just took off, and we wound up becoming good friends.”

Raye grinned excitedly. “I just have to know, Dad: how'd you win her over?”

A smile pulled at the corner of Rick's mouth. “A little charm here and there, but honestly one night I just took a leap of faith. I kissed her at the New Year's Festival in Cosmo Canyon.

Raye squealed. “Really?! Aww, how sweet!”

Rick blushed slightly as a nostalgic look crossed his face as he remembered his lips locking with Raye's mother for the first time. It was a memory he would cherish even more now that she was gone. He smiled sadly, however, that she was no longer around for him to have and hold.

“Dad?” Raye broke in.

“Yeah?”

“Do you miss Mom?”

Rick looked at Raye tenderly.

“Everyday, Raye. Everyday.” Then he paused and looked up at the shop's wall clock sadly. “C'mon, girlie. It's time to close up for the night.”

Raye put away her tools as Rick locked up the parts shop. Raye set the alarm on the garage doors and turned out the lights to the machine area. She joined her father at the backdoor as they went in, greeted by the smell of Brad's delicious cooking wafting into their nostrils.

“It's almost ready,” he cheerfully told them. “Table's already set.”

Rick smiled at his oldest son and exited the room to wash up. Raye came over to him and scowled.

Brad uncomfortably shifted, and he glanced at Raye.

“What?”

“You know, you're a fucking asshole sometimes,” Raye began. Her face twisted into a grin. “But I have to admit, I couldn't ask for a cooler brother.”

A look of shock crossed Brad's face. He half expected her to come in and kick him in his shins or something for all the stuff he said to her down in the garage area.

“Um, thanks?” he ventured awkwardly.

Raye came up behind him, hugged him around the waist for a moment, and let go. Then she playfully punched him in the arm.

“Now hurry up and get that chow on the table before I kick your ass.”

Brad snorted. “Yes, ma'am!”