Beautiful Burn || Chris Cornell

2

Mojave Desert, May 31 1991

"I uh... think I need a smoke," I say offering a half smile, feeling awkward and desperately wanting to break this little moment between us.

"Yea... me too," Chris clears his throat, blinking a few times quickly looking away and moves off of me. I flip my curls out of my face, moving over to throw on my black thong panties, and throwing my Type O Negative tank top back on. He watches me as I loosely throw on my Doc's and open the van door to step out into the night air.

The air was a lot cooler than before, given the fact that it was now close to 3am. There was still the distant flickering of lighting and rumbles of thunder but still not a single drop of rain, obviously being in the desert and all. I step over to my car, reaching in the passenger window, opening the glove compartment and pulling out the pack of smokes. I light one up and lean against my car taking a long drag, feeling instantly relaxed and free standing out here in just my panties and shirt. A few moments later Chris emerges from the van in just his black baggy shorts and loosely tied Doc's like mine, flipping his curls out of his face and wandering over to me. I exhale a cloud of smoke and offer the cigarette to him. He takes it from me and takes a long drag.

"It's beautiful out here, don't you think? " He says exhaling a cloud of smoke looking up at the sky as a slight breeze blows through.

"Yea it is," I say quietly looking up at him and then letting my gaze fall to land over his chest.

"I always loved the idea of wide open space like this. I'm glad I was able to actually travel out here to see it. It's not like the mountains at all... constant pissing mist and overcast for like 9 months of the year..." He trails off gazing up at the clouds that now seemed to part, revealing the tiny sparkling of stars.

"Is there like... no such thing as summer in Seattle or something?" I ask. He glances down at me and chuckles a little.

"No, well... we have summer but it only seems to last for like, a month or two and then its back to doom and gloom as they say," He says and takes another drag of the cigarette.

"Doom and gloom eh? Sounds like it's perfect for me," I say looking down for a moment. He looks down at me as I gently kick the tire of my car, my curls falling down around my shoulders. I can feel him studying me for a few moments though I keep my gaze on the ground.

"Wanna come back in the van and have a drink with me?" He asks sweetly as he takes another drag. I glance at him for a moment and his eyes lock with mine as if he's searching my soul, like he's trying to read me.

I reach up and take the cigarette from his lips, taking a drag for myself, looking up at the sky and exhaling a cloud of smoke as he keeps his gaze locked to me. He then reaches over taking one of my curls and brushing it off my face, twirling it around his finger, softly playing with it.

"Why are you running Andi...?" He asks, his blue eyes studying me still. That question hit me harder than I thought it would. I refused to look back at him and I glance up at the stars.

"You can uh... see Orion's Belt up there..." My voice cracks a little as I avoid the question being presented to me.

"Andi...?" He says softly.

"We're forgetting who we are remember?" I reply looking back down at myself and quickly taking another drag of my cigarette.

"Andi?" He repeats only this time his voice was filled with concern, almost comforting like he wanted to be the one I could run to, confess to, make everything right in my world again. Truth is, I don't know if anyone can make anything right in my world again.