*Mattie POV*
I woke earlier than Addison and Corey this morning. I climbed out of bed carefully as not to wake Corey next to me. He was sleeping peacefully with his mouth slightly open. I ran my hand over his head gently enough not to wake him, but he rustled in his sleep, sighed, and turned onto his stomach. I walked to the kitchen and prepared a pot of coffee. It gurgled to life as I walked away, down the hall back to my room and into the bathroom where I started the shower. After, I dressed in black leggings, brown knee high boots, and a black Slipknot tank top. I prepared myself a cup of coffee just the way I liked it, with sugar and french vanilla creamer then went back to my bedroom.
The early morning sun shone through the bedroom window. I sat curled up on a small sofa in the corner of the room with the hot cup of coffee in my hands. It had been four weeks since I had first came to stay at Corey's house, and I was just starting to feel better. My hands had stopped shaking and my stomach had stopped churning. My mind was clear and my nerves were steady. Also, my heart was full. I had more love from Corey than ever. He treated me like fragile glass, always so careful not to break my spirit. It was different. But he convinced me that it was something that I deserved and it was something that I had to get used to.
I heard rustling from the bed and turned just in time to see Corey flip the covers off and stand up. He was shirtless, but wearing gray pajama bottoms.
"Good morning," I said to Corey as he wrapped his arms around me from behind and kissed the top of my head, "There's coffee ready in the kitchen."
"A girl after my own heart," he said into my still wet hair. He stepped back and messed my hair. "Nice shirt, kid. Great taste in music." He added as he saw my Slipknot tank top. I ran my fingers down my blonde strands and tried to fix what he messed up. "Thanks. I heard the vocalist is a total tool, but those are just rumors." He laughed and looked at me.
"Guys! They're here! Corey, come look at these!", Addison's voice called from somewhere in the house. I started down the hall way with my now empty coffee mug as Corey threw a black Nirvana shirt on. We met Addison in the living room. She was sitting on the plush, white carpet with a box in front of her, the biggest smile on her face. Corey and I made our way into the kitchen and started to prepare more coffee. We could both drink about two pots each morning.
"What's that?", Corey asked as he leaned against the kitchen island and sipped his black coffee. "Pictures," Addison explained. I walked over to her and sat down on the carpet next to her, setting my coffee cup on the table. Corey followed me and joined us on the floor. He reached for the box and pulled it towards him. He examined the mailing label then smiled. "This is from my Grams. I wonder what's in here." Corey peeled the tape from the box and ripped it off. He swiftly opened the box and reached inside. He pulled out several picture albums and a note. Addison and I both watched the smile spread across Corey's face as he read the letter from his Grandma. We gave him his privacy.
He put the letter down and opened the nearest picture album, "So I'm supposed to pick photos from these for the book?" Corey flipped the pages slowly.
"Yeah," Addison said and sat up on her knees, "The publishers wanted you to pick some pictures to put in the book. Stuff from your childhood, teenage years, earlier Slipknot and Stone Sour stuff." I scooted closer to Corey and spotted a picture of Corey in high school, I couldn't help but giggle.
"What?!", he exclaimed laughing too. "It was the 80's! Big hair metal was all I listened to back then." He shrugged his shoulders. We spent the next few hours laughing and looking at pictures. I couldn't help but smile as I looked at pictures of the boy with red hair wielding a fake Light Saber, riding his bike, and climbing trees. The pictures from his teenage years began to paint a picture of the Corey that I saw today. He had let his hair grow out, long and wavy down his back. He began to wear Iron Maiden and Metallica shirts with grungy jeans and cigarettes hanging from his mouth. Then came the pictures from his early days with Slipknot. Once again, he had changed his hair. It was now dyed blue and red, but still long. He wore vulgar shirts with weird sayings on them. Corey posed with bottles of Jack Daniel's in one hand and his middle finger pointed to the camera. There were also pictures of him and his band mates. In one picture, Corey and Sid sat in a recording studio; their arms in the air. In another, Corey sat outside on a sunny patio shirtless with his acoustic guitar in his hands, a bottle of Jagermeister at his feet. Lastly, there was a picture of Corey and Paul. Paul's arms were wrapped around Corey, holding onto his body as tight as he could. He was kissing the side of Corey's head. Corey's eyes were closed tightly and his mouth was opened wide. I could tell that Corey was laughing uncontrollably. Corey saw this picture, sighed, and he pulled it from the album and added it to the pile that would be sent to the publisher for the book.
