Reality {Aerosmith}

THREE

“Life’s a journey, not a destination”

-

Steven Tyler

THREE

Delaney had never stepped out of her hometown, however her first impression of where a rock star would be living wasn’t the coastal town but a city filled with lights and retail stores. Unfortunately, she was starting to like this man’s taste, or at least in the building and environment side, when realistically she didn’t want to be in this position, still half hoping that she’ll wake up and the passing of her parents would be some type of nightmare.

“Now we’ll be meeting for afternoon tea at the local diner.” Amy’s words brought a huge relief to the girl, they weren’t going to the man’s house, into his land. They were going to meet at a mutual place, and Amy would be their Switzerland while Steven and Delaney were America and Germany. “You hungry?”

Delaney shrugged her shoulders against the car seat as they drove through the main street. Truthfully, her stomach felt like an empty pit but she wasn’t about to admit that, she didn’t want a free hand out.

The pair pulled into a parking lot, the diner stood on the side of the road. Delaney raised an eyebrow at its appearance – it was quirky. The door and windows were painted bright red with a light blue coating the walls. What really caught the girl’s attention was the photo frames and structures spread around the diner with its chairs and seats. Maybe it was the batman clock or the vile records that made the smile appear on her lips, either way she liked the place, she had never seen anything like it. “Is that the Beatles?” Delaney asked, looking at the old black and white photo of four man with bowl haircuts.

“Yes, I believe it was taken when they brought out the Yellow Submarine.” A deep voice sounded behind her, she quickly glanced over her shoulder at the man before looking back at the photograph. “Though I can’t quite remember what year that was.”

The man stole her attention once again, letting her get a good look at the older male. She almost couldn’t believe who was in front of her after seeing the photos on the internet. “Steven?” She asked somewhat unsure, she was having a causal conversation with the man without even knowing it. Delaney had thought their meeting would be awkward to say the least…but it flowed. His personality matched his clothes, free flowing with wild colours from the 80’s with his yellow pants, purple shirt and floral scarf.

“I see you’ve already met Steven.” Amy joined the two, coming back from ordering drinks for the both of them, a green tea for herself and a chocolate milkshake for the girl even though she had declined Amy’s offer for something to eat.

Delaney glanced between the two adults, the sudden moment she had with the man, her father dissolving with the forced nature of having to speak and act. “Yeah.” She shrugged her shoulders, her eyes flicking back to the Beatle’s photograph. “Can we get this over with?” She caught the deep frown from Amy. There was no negative reaction from Steven, only a slight smirk at the corners of the older man’s face.

“How about you chose the seat Delaney?” Steven asked, loosening the scarf around his neck. “I would say the back corner on the right with the window is the best seat, get the finest view of the diner, you’d be surprised what old Mark has in here.”

Delaney glanced to the side of her, keeping the man in her vision before looking towards the ‘best seat’ - It did look quite good. Taking another quick glance to the adults, she made her way towards the table. Sliding against the cushions to the end, her back leaning against the corner piece, she let her eyes feast on the different objects of the diner.

“Just above the door is a signed photo of Elton John. And if you look a little to the left, you’ll see the new edition of art work from the latest movie Avengers.” That’s how most of their afternoon went, Steven telling her bits of information about each piece in the diner, of course going into more depth on the music side of things, while they ate the peach pie that Steven insisted was the world’s greatest.

Delaney didn’t mind the fact that Steven talked about the objects in the diner because it showed her little bits of his personality. She was afraid that she’d be the one stuck to talk about her, having personal questionings thrown at her but she simply got to enjoy the company, it wasn’t how she had imagined meeting a stranger.