Chester Bennington - Unusual Neighbor

Controlling desires and learning how to make a relationship work

As promised, Chester knocked on my door the next morning.

In his hands was a bag full of muffins.

He greeted me and kissed my cheek, making himself comfortable in my kitchen. I smiled at the image: the light of the rising sun illuminating my humble living room and the kitchen, glowing directly in his pleased face. I prayed that we had lots of mornings like this one. Together and happy.

"You woke up early this morning," I stated.

"I had to pick up breakfast for you," he said, taking the first bite of a blueberry muffin.

I grabbed a muffin for myself and sat by his side, with my legs crossed under my body.

We made small talk, telling about how we were going to spend our days at work and scheduling a dinner together in my house that night. We were both eager to spend time together, now that we found ourselves in each other's arms.

Occasionally, I'd give him a peck on his lips, or on his cheek, making him smile and blush even harder, but mostly we just talked about random stuff. It felt so good to have him there with me. It just felt so right.

My phone went off and I ran to my room to see who it was. I saw Nikki's ID on the screen and smiled, knowing that she'd be thrilled to know about Chester and me. I wasn't sure if I should tell her over the phone or invite her over for dinner some time to tell her face to face.

When I picked up the phone, I didn't need to ask her to come over. She invited herself and hung up the call without giving me time to say that I was busy that night.

I furrowed my brows at her odd behavior, but then again, it's Nikki - she's that insane. I smiled and walked back to the kitchen, to find Chester admiring my grandfather's old Vinyl's Discs.

"Is everything alright?" He asked as he noticed my confused and amused face.

"Yeah - I mean, I have no idea. Nikki called. Something about coming over tonight because she had something huge to tell me. Then she hung up. I practically had no time to even say Hi."

"That's weird," Chester pointed out.

"Tell me about it. I've met her for years now, but she always manages to surprise me with her boldness and her ability to get in trouble. I wonder what the hell she is up to this time," I laughed, searching for a photo album on the sideboard in the dining room.

I gestured to Chester to sit on my couch by my side and opened the album for him.

The first photo was of my grandparents and me when I was a baby. It was Christmas and behind us - as background - was a humble Christmas' tree, with a few balls and lights. There were also some boxes on the floor, wrapped up with wrapping paper. My grandparents were smiling for the camera, but I had an annoyed face.

"That's you, right there?" Chester pointed out, laughing at my non-amused expression.

"Yup. I hate taking photos. And apparently, it has been like this since I was born," I turned the page and showed him the next photo. But he was looking at me with a radiant smile on his lips.

"Why don't you like photos?"

"I don't know -- I guess I don't like seeing myself in them after."

"You're beautiful, why wouldn't you like to see yourself in photos?" He asked,  but it was more like a loud thought and not a question for me to answer. It still made me blush, though and I tried to run away from that conversation.

The album had photos in chronological order, following my growth through the years. And Chester was delighted hearing the stories of my childhood. He wished for a moment to be able to do the same, but he was so scared. So scared that these moments would end as soon as I hear everything about him. His past was so horrible, and he didn't want me to know about it, but at the same time, he felt like he needed to share everything with me.