Misprinted Lies (Alice in Chains/Bruno Mars)

Hello Seattle

The next morning, we packed the car. I put both of our suitcases in the backseat of her truck. I stood behind her, just staring.

"What?" she asked, scrunching her face.

I grabbed her by the waist and pulled her in very close. "I'm excited."

I drove for the first part of the trip and very early on, she was silent. She wasn't just sad though, she was angry. I knew all her faces and all her emotions.

"Lil?"

"Leave me alone," she said, clutching her stomach with one hand, looking out the window.

I didn't take it personally. I couldn't. She was really hurting. I pulled up at a McDonalds drive thru.

"What do ya want for lunch?"

She didn't respond and the guy at the intercom was waiting for our order.

"Lily what do you want? You gotta be hungry by now."

Again, no response. The cars behind us were honking their horns so I flipped them off. I drove away and parked the truck, deciding to go inside instead. Lily refused to come inside. I got her a salad and a burger for myself before heading back.

"Alright," I sighed. "I got ya a salad because I thought maybe it wouldn't hurt you as bad."

"Too fucking late," she responded.

"I can go in there and get you something else but ya gotta tell me what you want. Burger?"

Lily stared out the window, crying very hard. I reached my arm over with a bottle of water but she swatted my hand away, making the bottle fly to the back seat.

This wasn't the road trip I had been planning on.

"Lily..."

"Don't fucking talk to me."

We settled into a hotel in Medford, Oregon, watching some TV in bed. We were both exhausted, spending most of the day in the car. I began to get ready for bed and she just sat there, playing with her fingers.

I rummaged through my suitcase when she started talking again.

"Bruno?"

"Yes," I smiled and looked at her.

Luckily, my reaction brought her smile back. "I'm really sorry...about how I've been acting today...about the way I've been treating you."

I stopped what I was doing and sat beside her, rubbing her back. "It's okay. I know you're just really frustrated, but all of this will be worth it. I can promise you that."

Lily began to put on her pajamas, flannel pants and her Seahawks jersey.

"Look at chu, sexy Seattle girl," I said, sliding on my snuggie.

She laughed really hard.

"Don't laugh at me...I look hot," I said, strutting quite a bit.

"Stop," she said, laughing hysterically. Her mood changed so much since the morning and I was so thankful.

Anchorman 2 was on TV; it was halfway over. She grabbed her salad and started eating which was relieving. She hadn't eaten a thing all day.

"I actually did kinda like this move," she admitted. "It's not that bad."

I turned to her and winked. "So did I. Jess didn't like it so I pretended to hate it too."

"Bruno," she said smirking. "That's so stupid."

"I know."

I slowly brushed the tips of my fingers against her thighs. My fingers started moving up but she stopped them.

"N-not t-night, Bruno. I'm sorry, Bru. I just...I just," she said, stumbling over words.

"It's okay," I said softly. "Can I still do this?" I asked, continuing to rub her arm back and forth, tickling it a little.

Lily nodded, laying her head backward on my shoulder. I was so glad we took this road trip.

____________________________________________________

I drove for the second part of the trip since I was more familiar with the area. We entered Bellevue, a nice suburb of Seattle.

"This is a nice area," Bruno said, looking out the window.

"It's where my dad grew up."

I pulled out onto the road surrounding the lake and plugged in the code at the gate entrance. The house wasn't as big as the Malibu place; I bought it for the outdoor space which was so beautiful, with a lot of grass, gardens, and fountains.

"Wow," Bruno said, grabbing both suitcases out of the trunk. "This is really pretty, Lil. When did you buy this house again?"

"A little while after I bought the other one." Even though Seattle brought on some harsh memories, I needed to become reacquainted with the place I grew up.

As we walked in the front door, he was speechless. "I love your taste in houses."

The floors were hardwood and the room shone brightly with a lot of windows and natural light. The kitchen was modern but a little small. It's not like I ate a lot anyway.

"Make yourself at home," I said, taking our suitcases upstairs.

When I made my way back downstairs, he was outside already. In the backyard there was a lot of grass and a slight hill leading down to the lake with a dock. Across the lake to the right was the Seattle skyline in the distance.

"This is so nice."

I just smiled at him. "This is home."

The next day I went to pick up the Nintendo memorabilia from Japan from my P.O box. Bruno and I decided where to put them in the house. On the way to the box, I gave Bruno a small tour of Seattle. Of course he'd been there before but there's always something different about getting the inside scoop. Sean was in town and showed us the bar he owned downtown called The Crocodile. I'd never been there before.

"We definitely need to come here one night before we leave," Bruno said.

"Yeah," Sean agreed. "You guys totally should. We get some great local bands on Friday nights."

The walls in the house were pretty bare but I didn't come up to Seattle very often. In the guest bedroom, Bruno noticed the many paintings I had in there.

"Hey," he said. "These are cool."

"I know right," I replied smiling. "My dad did these."

Bruno looked really surprised. There were at least 30 of them in this room alone, collaged all over the walls. "All of them?"

"Yep."

"Wow. He was a talented guy."

I nodded my head in agreement. "He really was. He was... the best."

In the corner of the room sat a large cardboard box. Lily picked it up and carried it to the living room.

"What's in there?"

Lily smiled weakly, opening the top flaps. There were dozens of videotapes stacked.

"Sean gave me this. My dad always had a video camera out so I have to take these to get converted to..." she grinned, "to an updated format."

"Are you in them?"

"Probably...we can take a look at them once they're done."

"I'd love to see them," I smiled.