Glorified G // Eddie Vedder

Chapter 15

The next morning Joanne woke up early to get to the university with John, the two managed to spark a lot of interest in the students and were asked lots of questions which was a great feeling for both of them. After the lecture as Joanne and John were heading back to the car they were stopped by a group of students, the students asked questions about pursuing a career in criminal psychology. It was a great feeling knowing that they had inspired the next generation of psychologists, profilers, and law enforcers- it was such a large subject area, with so many jobs to come from it, that was one of the things Joanne loved about it. There were jobs in prisons, counselling prisoners and assessing the likelihood that they would re-offend upon release, jobs consulting with law enforcement on cases. Then, of course, there were the profilers, who could either travel around the country consulting on cases or stay in a field office consulting on local cases, like Joanne. And these were just a few of the jobs that fell under the criminal psychology umbrella.

After the chatting with the students Joanne made a trip to the shop to buy food for the picnic, she couldn't deny that she was excited about the picnic, she really did love the guys- they'd become such good friends so quickly and she found herself loving every second with them. Joanne got carried away buying the food and ended up buying way too much food for only six of them, she'd bought vegetarian options, vegan options, everything she could find. She returned to the hotel and made up the picnic and put everything in the small basket she had bought. The day seemed to fly by and before she knew it she was heading to the beach. She had bought a maroon handkerchief skirt and a plain black vest, she had thrown on her docs, once she got to the beach she took her docs and socks off- she loved walking on the beach in bare feet, the sound of the waves crashing onto the shore, the chorus of seagulls squawking. She set a few blankets down and took a seat, she watched the waves until the guys arrived, getting lost in her thoughts.

Joanne heard some voices which she instantly recognised, when she turned around she saw the guys racing across the beach all carrying boxes of beer, she laughed as Jeff managed to trip Stone up causing him to faceplant, yet somehow he managed to fall while holding the beers up not smashing a single bottle. Joanne burst out laughing at the sight,

"You guys are fucking crazy." She giggled, they all sat on the blankets and cracked open a bottle of beer each,

"Did you bring food, Jo? I'm starving!" Mike questioned as soon as he sat down, Jo grinned,

"I got a little bit carried away buying food so help yourselves." She lazily opened the lid of the basket, the guys quickly dug into the picnic Joanne explained what everything was- pointing out the vegan and vegetarian options.

They all ate while making idle chat, the guys were still hyper about touring and Joanne was really excited for them she loved their passion for music. The food didn't last long, the guys stuffed their faces. After many beers, Stone and Jeff thought it would be a great idea to go skinny dipping they ran to the edge of the water and as they took their tops off Joanne yelled,

"You do know I could arrest you for public indecency?" She couldn't help but laugh as the two turned around and flipped her the bird, of course, she wouldn't arrest them for skinny dipping- the beach was empty apart from them so they weren't doing any harm. After a few minutes, Mike and Dave decided to join them, leaving Joanne and Eddie sitting together on the blankets. Jo opened two new bottles of beer, handing Eddie one and taking a swig of hers,

"It's so beautiful here Eddie," She said gesturing to the sunset and the orange that was mingling with shades of pink and red, he simply nodded,

"I used to come here surfing all the time, then I'd just sit on my board watching the sunset, then the stars. It's always so quiet here in the evening it's perfect." Joanne smiled, with her left hand she began creating patterns in the sand, the feeling of the warm sand put her at ease and she felt although she never wanted to leave.

She turned to Eddie who was staring at his bandmates who were splashing each other in the face with water like children, she stared at his eyes how blue they were, it was although they were illuminated by the sea, the sun gently fell onto his face- he must've noticed Joanne staring as he turned to her with a small smile,

"How are you doing Eddie?" She asked, using that as a cover for why she was staring at him like a creep, she couldn't deny that he was very attractive but she didn't want to start thinking about him like that because then she'd end up fucking up the friendship she has, and that was the last thing she wanted. He seemed to pause for a few moments before shrugging nonchalantly,

"I'm over it- it's done now." Joanne sensed his reluctance to talk about it, "How are you? How's the lecturing going?" Joanne smiled and took a sip of beer,

"I'm okay, I had to archive a case as unsolved the other day and it was the most frustrating thing to do. The lecturing is great, John is such a fucking legend- I mean if he didn't do his research and make profiling a thing I probably wouldn't have a job." She let out a small laugh, "But the man is a genius, he interviewed some a range of violent offenders and managed to figure out how to categorise the different kinds of offenders. Since studying him at university I've been a 'fan'-" She said making air quotes, "And now I've worked with him, and been invited to Quantico where it all started, I can't believe it really." Eddie gave her a smile,

"I'm glad you're happy here, I can't imagine what it would be like to literally move halfway around the world- it's such a huge leap of faith you took." She nodded before remembering the tale of Eddie and Pearl Jam,

"It's only like you moving to Seattle the way you did to join the band." She replied he shook his head,

"Only yours is a much bigger scale." She nodded in agreement,

"I guess it was, but there wasn't anything really keeping me there, Interpol was a great place to work and the people were great, but there wasn't as much room for growth there. Whereas here, I'm at the bottom of a giant chain of command, which I'll slowly work up- if they keep me here." As she spoke a shiver ran up her spine, Eddie shuffled a little closer to her and grabbed a blanket that no one was sitting on and pulled it over their shoulders, Joanne moved a little closer to the warmth. After a few moments of a comfortable silence, Eddie grabbed her hand, the sudden contact made her jump a little bit,

"Thank you, Jo," She turned to look at him with an eyebrow raised in confusion, "For being here, I know I can count on you." She smiled at him and gently squeezed his hand,

"No problem." She re-positioned so she could lean her head on his shoulder, where they stayed for a few minutes, a comfortable silence settled in the air as they watched the others all messing about in the sea.

The skinny dippers returned to get more alcohol, they'd gotten dressed and raced each other back to Eddie and Joanne as the approached all laughing and joking they were hushed, in shock the looked at the person who had shushed them it was Eddie- Joanne had fallen asleep on his shoulder, clutching the blanket to her. Mike who had been trailing behind the guys finally made it back to the group,

"Stoney! My beer!" He slurred, the sound of Mike's voice startled Joanne who quickly sat upright, eyes wide after realising where she was she relaxed a little she stretched out her legs and handed Mike a beer.

For the few minutes that Joanne had been asleep Eddie simply sat like a statue trying not to wake her, every so often he heard her whimper or whisper 'no' he just presumed she was dreaming the longer she slept the more she'd talk, 'don't do this' she had said at one point, it was clear as day so Eddie thought she had woken up, 'I'm not like you' some of the ramblings were incoherent, but the ones that weren't were enough to make Eddie worry about her- he considered waking her, but had once read that if you wake people that are having a nightmare it can make them injure you or themselves, so he decided to leave her, at some point he began lightly tracing patterns on her shoulder before the guys had come over and startled her. Eddie thought about asking her about it, but he didn't want to pry. He simply made a mental note to mention it at some point, she intrigued him- He couldn't wrap his head around how she could do the job she does without not trusting people at all, he knew that her guard was up when they first met, but the more he got to know her the more her guard came down.

When it got to being time to leave Joanne gave them all a hug, when she got to Eddie she thanked him for being 'an excellent pillow' before pulling him into a tight hug, it was weird she hated hugs, but with the guys she felt at ease enough to hug them, maybe it was because she wouldn't see them again for a few weeks and she would miss them- or maybe she was changing her ways, and letting people in.