Without You (James Franco Fanfiction)

Chapter VI - Part I

Scarlett’s POV

The icy drops of rain caused me to shiver uncontrollably as I walked to Seth’s house from the hotel. I told everyone that I’d meet up with them later, without specifying why. That’s one of the things I love the most about being in a band with my three best friends. We’d known each other since high school, and they can always tell when I want to be alone without taking any offense or worrying that they’ve done something to offend me. Whenever I have a lot on my mind, I always go for walks to clear my head. Lately, all that was consuming my thoughts was James, James and James. It’s getting to the point where he’s hindering my creative thought process, whenever I tried to get pen to paper, or paintbrush to canvas or my fingers to the fret board of my guitar I produced nothing. All I saw was his smile and all I heard was the smooth velvet tone to his voice.

James is going to be the death of me. If he wasn’t clouding my thoughts 24/7, then I wouldn’t be walking through some rich suburban area of Los Angeles, getting hypothermia on a miserable, rainy day. When I left the hotel people were bustling about their normal business and enjoying the warmth of the sun. It was just my luck that I didn’t think to bring any money in case I needed to call a taxi…or cab, whatever Americans like to call them.  Laughing to myself, I remembered the first time I asked a local where I could find the nearest taxi depot. Their blank expression is still so clear in my mind. Thinking about the difference between the American and Australian psyche reminded me of when I was living in New York with James. Even then, I never quite grasped the common lingo. Things weren’t always bad with him. In fact, one of the happiest times of my life was when we lived in New York together.

He’d always laugh and make fun of how I pronounced certain words differently, or how I used Australian terminology to refer to everyday things.  Like the time we went out to lunch together and I wanted some french fries. I called them ‘hot chips’ and for whatever reason, to James, it was the funniest thing in the world to him. So then it became a tradition that whenever we went out for fast food where French fries were being served, James would always ask for hot chips just to get a rise out of me. 

He wasn’t any better though. One time when it was nearing our four month anniversary, I was missing the simplicity of wearing casual footwear and I asked James to buy me a pair of thongs. At the time, I wondered why he was so enthusiastic about buying such a thing for me. When he came back, he presented me with some Victoria’s Secret lingerie and we both found out that ‘thongs’ in Australia, meant ‘flip flops’ in America. To prevent any further mishaps, we both composed our own lists of American-Australian slang for each other. I’m pretty sure I still have his original handwritten copy pinned up on the corkboard in my home studio. I can never bring myself to get rid of it.

Looking up ahead of me, I became overwhelmed with the sinking realisation that I probably had a few more kilometres to go. Honestly, if I didn’t know better I could confidently say that I was wandering through the streets of Melbourne. Over there, the weather changes more frequently than a germ freak would coat their hands in sanitiser. Glancing down at my clothes, I shuddered at the sight of how damp they were. By now my shirt had gone entirely see through and if I didn’t hurry up, I’d get hypothermia and die.

The sound of a car pulling over to the curb met my ears and out of the corner of my eye, I noticed it slow down to match the speed of my stride.

Great.

Honestly, could this day get any worse?

It’s pouring down rain, the ground is slipperier than freshly polished floorboards and given my tendency to be accident prone there is no way I could outrun some pervert stalking me in a black sedan, ready to abduct me any second now. Hearing the window wind down, I spun on my heel ready to run my mouth off at them when I was surprised to see who was situated at the wheel.