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jjmichie · 2 years

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In Too Deep: Chapter 4

Fiction. In case you missed Chapter 3, it can be found here

What had he really expected, anyway?

Stone spit toothpaste into his bedroom sink and watched it swirl down the drain. He could hear the sound of his parents watching the news from the living room below him, and the steady hum of the furnace as fought to shield the cavernous home from the December air that enveloped it. Standing in front of the mirror in only his boxers, his hair and body still damp from a shower, he shivered. Coldness seemed to waft endlessly through his bathroom window despite the efforts of the furnace, inviting the inky moonless night into his room, into his space, into his mind.

Had he honestly expected her to invite him up to her room? Of course, she hadn’t.

But he hadn’t expected the day to end so abruptly either. After finishing their coffee, with the sun starting to set, he had driven back to her hotel. And she simply hopped out and said thank you. In the same tone that one might thank a taxi driver. After such a perfect day, it had just surprised him, that was all. He just felt like it had been leading up to . . . something more. Closing his eyes, he re-lived the day as vividly as he could: him showing off his city to her, the wind playing with her hair on the ferry, the way she had clung to his arm going up the elevator of the Needle. The way she had smiled at him. And laughed at his jokes.

Really Stone? You think just because she laughs at your jokes she wants to have sex with you?

Maybe he had been talking too much. Thinking back, he realized he had been doing most of the talking all day, and hadn’t learned a thing about her. Hadn’t even asked a thing about her. Perhaps that had been a turnoff.

No.

He rinsed his toothbrush and studied himself in the mirror. No, that wasn’t it. The reality was, she was married. And even if she wasn’t married, why would she be interested in him? He had dressed like a dork. She was older than him, and easily the most lovely creature he had ever seen. She could have anyone. Why was he even thinking along the lines of what was or wasn’t a turnoff to her? Or of her inviting him up to her hotel room?

The phone by his bed suddenly rang, stopping his mind from playing out the hotel room scenario.

“Hello?”

Loud music. Turn to Stone. When you are gone. I turn to Stone. Turn to Stone. When you comin’ home? I can’t go on

And a voice singing along: “Uh bah bah bah bah Turn to Stone! When I’m alone, I turn to Stone!”

“Hey Andy . . .”

“They’re playing your song! I think of you whenever they play this stupid thing - just had to call and torture you with it.”

“That’s so kind of you. What’s up?”

“Nothing. What are you doing?”

“Brushing my teeth.”

“That’s boring. Hey did you know Soundgarden’s gonna tour Europe again?”

“Oh really? No.”

“Yup. Chris just told me. This spring.”

“That’s GREAT.”

Andy was quiet.

Stone was quiet.

The song had ended but Stone could hear the radio DJ talking in the background. And no sound from Andy.

“Are you still there?”

“Soundgarden’s touring Europe, dude.”

“Yeah! You told me. That’s awesome.”

Andy was still quiet.

“We’ll get there too . . .” Stone finally said.

“I know! Of course we will. It’s not like I’m . . . jealous . . .”

“Ha, ha! I know. I wasn’t implying that you were.”

“Well I wasn’t implying that you were implying . . . uh buh buh buh buh Turn to Stone, dah dah dah dah . . .”

“Andy?”

“Tuh tuh tuh turn to Stone!”

“Andy . . .?”

“Whaaaaat?”

“Umm . . . are you . . . okay right now? Because you sound –”

“Screw yewwwww world!”

And the line went dead.

Stone stood still, holding the receiver, staring at it.

Shit.

No. Nope, nope, he convinced himself not to freak out. Andy was probably just drunk, that was all. It was late. He had probably just gotten back from some club and was still bouncing off the walls. Everybody got drunk at clubs, even himself. Not a big deal.

Don’t call him back. Don’t even think about it. Just put the phone down and go to bed.

******

Jeff pushed the management office door open with his foot, and wobbled a cardboard tray with four coffee cups past the admins and across the room to the desk where Stone and Kelly were huddled. Calendars, photos, notebooks, and stray french fries were strewn across the top of the desk, now joined by the coffee tray that Jeff set down.

“Well look at YOU!” Stone exclaimed. “Thank you sir.”

“Courtesy of Raison. They miss us.”

“Nice.” Stone grabbed a cup. It was still warm.

“No Andy today?”

“He called in a while ago,” Kelly explained. “Said he wasn’t feeling well this morning.”

Stone bit his cheek, and continued to warm his hands on the cup.

“Okay, well, more coffee for us then,” Jeff shrugged.

“I’ll take one . . .”

Her lilting voice filled the room and sent a tingle of warmth down the back of Stone’s neck, as he heard her feet walking across the room.

“Oh hey, Molly.” Jeff handed her the extra cup.

“Thank you,” she tucked her handbag under her arm in order to grab the cup with her fingerless gloves. “Hey Stone!” she said and smiled at him. “Thanks again for showing me around yesterday.” Then to everyone in the room, she casually recited a list of everywhere they had gone, ending on the coffee shop and the pungency of the hazelnut, finally concluding with “things taste better here than LA.”

Stone just nodded his head and tried not to look overly proud.

Kelly had nodded his way through her recitation too, keeping one I glued to the pile on the table.

“Okay, well I’m just glad you’re here, we need to sort out when to contact the press, and arrange some publicity photos and . . .”

Molly joined the group at the table, and together they rummaged through the work ahead of them.

Stone noticed she looked slightly tired. Was that his imagination? Or was there a slight heaviness to her lids today? He hadn’t slept well. Maybe she hadn’t either. He enjoyed watching her work. It was comforting to have someone take charge, confidently plot out the steps and strategy needed to pull this album and tour to fruitive success, from a record company perspective. He felt himself relaxing, sitting back, relieved to be able to put his trust into the management team. They’d get to Europe one of these days. He noticed Jeff was doing the same. He was barely aware of time passing, but it somehow had. He only realized how much time had passed when Kelly stood up.

“I’ll grab us some burritos then, hopefully back in 30. Molly if you could make that phone call, and have Stone listen in, if you guys are cool with it, I’m cool with it, and then we’ll be good to go. You can use that one.” He pointed at a phone in his office.

“I’ll join you,” Jeff said to Kelly, and stood up and stretched.

And then they were gone.

Molly had already walked into the office, and had picked up the phone. She was looking back at him, with her ice blue eyes, waiting for him to join her.

He did.

“Shut the door,” she said.

He shut it.

“Hey . . .” he started, his back still to her. “Is everything okay? I hope I wasn’t boring you yesterday, I tend to ramble on sometimes -”

But then he felt her hands on his back. Sliding upward from his waist to his shoulders. He froze as he saw her hand reaching around him to lock the door. She gently turned him around to face her.

“Yes,” she smiled, showing off that single dimple. “Everything’s okay, except for one thing.”

“Wwwwhat’s that?” he whispered.

“I spent the whole day thinking about how much I wanted to do this.”

Her hands were now on the front of his shoulders, and she pushed him back so that he was up against the wall. And then she kissed him. He felt her shiver and moan lightly as she pushed her lips harder against his, her eyes tightly closed.

Oh my god, this is happening.

“Mmmmm,” he moaned into the kiss too and put his arms around her. He could smell a gentle strawberry fragrance and felt the softness of her hair and sweater and the curviness of her body beneath it. He couldn’t believe he was actually tasting and touching her. It had been leading up to something more.

But then she pulled back, gasping a little. He noticed she was flushed.

“Wow . . .” he said and slumped back against the wall, accidentally letting out a giggle. “What was that?”

“I . . . just wanted to.” She giggled too. “I had to taste you . . things definitely taste better here than LA . . .”

“I have to confess I wanted that too,” he smiled.

“I had a feeling you did.”

“You know . . .” Stone glanced over his shoulder at the door. “We had a lot more privacy yesterday . . . we could’ve . . .” Stone raised his eyebrows.

“On the first date?” she snickered, raising an eyebrow back at him. “I didn’t think you were that kind of boy.”

He gave her his most innocent smirk.

“What kind of boy are you, Stone?” she whispered, close to his ear.

“I’m . . .” There were a million ways to finish that sentence, and they all raced through his head simultaneously.

But there was a sudden commotion outside the door.

“Oh shit, we have a phone call to make!” she remembered.

#fiction #fanfiction #grunge fiction #grungefic #mother love bone #stone gossard

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