Broken Down on Memory Lane Alone, Together Alone

“We ended up… in the sack, and that’s how the date ended” I looked around my room slightly uncomfortably.

“Really?” Mara asked, with a hint of shock and excitement.

“Ah… yeah,” I looked over at her, and quickly added, “but that doesn’t mean it’s okay to sleep with someone on the first date! I knew Draven for a while, and we had practically been a couple without the intimacy before that!”

Mara giggled, “I got it, Gram… can I call you Rainn?”

I was a little startled by that question. A smile rose to my face, as I laughed. It made me feel like she wanted to be more on a friends level with me. And that was more then fine with me. So long as I got to see my granddaughter more often, she could call me whatever she wanted.

“Sure thing, sweetie… I’d like that.”

“Cool,” she smiled widely, “so what’s the plan of action for today?”

I thought for a moment, “well… I need to go grocery shopping. You can tag along if you want?”

“Sure,” she shrugged.

“Lets go get this over with then,” I sighed and made my way out of the room.

We both went out and got in my car, Mara made sure to lock the door when she exited the house. I turned on the radio, and backed out of the driveway. Jet by Paul McCartney and Wings came out of the speakers. I was surprised when Mara started to bop around in her seat, singing happily along with the song. I was happily surprised, mind you.

Mara looked over at me and broke out in laughter, “the look on your face…”

“What the hell was that?” I asked, eyebrows raised, “I thought you didn’t know any good old music.”

“Well,” she shrugged, “I went through some of dad’s old CD’s… and he told me some of the better ones to listen to. That was on one of them,” she smiled, “I like Paul McCartney a lot. With and without The Beatles.”

I felt a sense of pride well up in my chest, “Paul was always one of my favourite Beatles.”

“He was pretty handsome back in the day,” she chuckled.

I couldn’t help but laugh at that, “You’re tellin’ me!”

We continued to talk about Paul and the other artists she listened to so far. She had gone through most of my favourite softer stuff so far. It seemed like Ani had just given her soft stuff, probably thinking she wouldn’t like any metal. I declared that I was going to put on some of my favourite records for her when we got back to my house. She seemed happy enough about it.

We finally got to the store. I parked as close to the building as I could, which was half way away from the store. It was quite busy today. I got Mara to grab a cart and push it as we walked around the store. I knew what I needed right off the top of my head, so it went rather quickly. I let Mara pick out a couple random snacks here and there. I thought it would be nice to get her some treats; it was the grandmother coming out in me.

On our way to the cash, I saw someone I didn’t think I would ever see again. She was still as short as I remembered her being before she ran off to California. Though she was a bit bigger now, her hips were wider and her chest was larger. She looked still looked beautiful though, her eyes twinkled and she had on a permanent smile.

She practically beamed when she noticed me, and began to wave almost franticly. I looked over at Mara, she looked slightly confused but was continuing to following me none the less.

As soon as I reached where Loralie was waiting in line, I was engulfed in a tight hug. It was so constricting I couldn’t breathe. I was a little startled too. I was expecting a hello or something like that before I was crushed.

“It’s been forever!” she grinned, releasing me from her death grip, “you look amazing, Rainn… and who is this beautiful young lady?”

I smiled, “this is my granddaughter Mara. Mara this is Loralie.”

Mara went to offer Loralie her hand, only to be pulled into a hug similar to mine, “it’s wonderful to meet you sweetheart, you seem to have inherited your grandmothers eyes.”

“Thank you,” Mara said shyly, a faint smile on her lips. She sounded almost proud.

“Oh!” Loralie said suddenly, she looked very excited, “you must come over for dinner tonight! I’ll make a big meal, it’ll be spectacular! We’ll catch up on everything, it’ll be perfect.”

I looked over at Mara, then back at Loralie, “sure… I don’t see a problem with that.”

Loralie let out a shriek of happiness, as she grabbed me and crushed me in another hug. She started quizzing us about food once she released me, up until she paid and left. Waving good-bye furiously as she walked out of the store.

As the teenage boy, named Ron, rung up all the food we’d picked up, Mara looked dumbfounded at me, “what the hell was that?”

I laughed and rolled my eyes, “that lovely woman, is Dravins younger sister.”

“Are you kidding?” she asked as she started to load our reusable grocery bags into our cart.

She had a look on her face, which I was beginning to know all too well, “you want a story, I take it?”

I swiped my bankcard through the thing and punched in my code, as I waited for her to respond. I noticed the boy at the register was checking Mara out, and I couldn’t help but smile. The kid wasn’t hideous, so it was kinda nice.

“Is it that obvious?” she smiled once she had everything in the cart.

“It’s starting to be,” the boy handed me my receipt, “thanks.”

We walked out of the store, Mara still pushing the cart, as I asked “so… what do you want to know?”

She thought for a moment as we got to the car, “how you met?”

“Okay,” I tried to remember as we piled all the food into the trunk, “well… Dravin came and got me after class, he said he wanted me to meet some very important people…”