If it Keeps On Raining

1: california always seemed to have the sun

james bought my plane ticket for me and everything. as I had predicted, he'd not realized that he offered to house me when I called him again the next morning. still, he felt responsible and contemplated the idea legitimately, deciding that it was in fact alright if i stayed with him and his band. 

"it's a lot different from LA, y'know." 

"that's a good thing. I need change." 

i was out of the apartment three days later, i didn't own much furniture which was convenient, because i'd have no other place to put it. I had most of my most important possessions in two bags, mostly clothes. the flight was almost five hours, from the los angeles international airport to the one in philadelphia. during the five hours, i couldn't help but fill my head with visions of what my life would be like in philadelphia. i had lots of questions that were yet to be answered, as james didn't do much of a good job preparing me for what it would be like. now i didn't know it then, but not preparing me was a huge understatement. 

i arrived at the airport, thankfully i was easily able to locate my bags, and james. he was sitting down, his head was turned facing the window. he looked very much different, his hair much longer and darker than i remembered, but yet i knew there would be no way i'd miss him. 

"james!" i exclaimed partially to myself. he was in earshot, so his head turned to face me, and a small smile appeared on his face.

"hey, lou!" his loud voice echoed through the airport as i walked quickly towards him, bags in hand. he stood up in front of me and i dropped my bags to hug him tightly. he quickly picked up my bags as soon as i let go. "lets go! we've got a little bit of a drive." i stood stiffly, confused. 

"wait, what do you mean? we're already in the city, how far can it be?"

"well, we don't really live in philly." i tilted my head and raised my eyebrows, while he refused to make eye contact with me. something he'd always done when he was nervous.

"james..." we continued walking and i nudged his arm, indicating that this was important. "what do you mean?" he stopped, inhaled and looked back at me finally. i could tell he was also biting the insides of his cheeks, another anxiety induced habit of his that i'd picked up on. 

"we don't live in philadelphia. we live in suburbs by philadelphia." he answered calmly.

"suburbs?"

"yeah, like where we lived, south pasadena. just... it's a lot different." he tried to reason while we exited the airport and walked to his car. 

"how different?" i asked, now experiencing anxiety myself. I felt helpless without a plan, and i wasn't taking this possible change of plans lightly. james hesitated. 

"you'll see. it's gonna be alright though. i promise, lou. we all like it there." he assured me, opening the door of the car. i got in after helping him put my bags in the trunk. i took a few deep breaths, trying to calm myself. 

"so, how far away is it?" he paused again.

"it's about an hour ish." he spoke quietly again. i nodded my head softly. 

"well... let's put on some music, then." i started rummaging through his collection of cassettes until i found one i thought would be alright for the time being. it was ufo's force it. i relaxed into the passengers seat of james' car as he continued driving peacefully. i spent most of the time looking out the window and taking in the different environment . it was very much different. there were a lot more trees, which i wasn't going to complain about. in california, the trees were mostly very tall. mostly palm trees. i couldn't reach the top of them, but here, there were trees everywhere, big ones. but there were more leaves.