Time After Time || Chris Cornell

10. The Perfect Present

Seattle Washington, February 14 1988

(Andi is 18, Chris is 23)

ANDI: I wake up with a jolt in the middle of the night and find myself laying in Chris's bed with only the street lights illuminating his bedroom. I turn slightly and glance at Chris who has me clutched in his arms, his hand cupping my right breast with his face buried in the crook of my shoulder. I close my eyes for a moment and just lay with him, listening to him as he sleeps, feeling completely at peace, but for some reason I was finding it hard to fall back to sleep. After a few moments, I decide to get out of bed.

I slowly slip out from under his arm, he stirs just a little but still doesn't wake and I climb out of his bed and search the room for a shirt to throw on. I could barely see as I walk over to the large chair on the opposite side of the room to grab one of his button up shirts - a plain black one that felt so soft - and button it up just enough to cover me, un-tuck my curls from it and make my way out of room.

I quietly close the door behind me and make my way down the long hallway in my bare feet. I pass Andy's room, hearing Xana moan and I grimace as I continue out into the living room. You think I would be used to their noises but, not in the slightest. I hate it just as much as the first time I heard them.

The place was completely empty and I was surprised that no one had crashed on the couch. I quietly step into the kitchen and turn on the overhead stove light and decide to make myself some tea. Sometimes a cup of hot tea is all I need to help me fall back to sleep. I open up the cupboard and take out some of Xana's tea that she keeps here, fill up the stove top kettle with water and place it on the stove to heat up.

"So I guess you and Cornell are getting to know each other really well,"

Andrew Wood... L'Andrew the Love Child who always flirts - especially with me when Xana isn't looking - raises his eyebrow as he catches me reaching up to pull out a cup from a high shelf. Startled, I quickly turn around to see his brown eyes flick over me noticing that I was obviously only in Chris's black shirt that barely covered my ass.

"Fuck, give me a heart attack will ya?" I exhale, placing my hand over my chest.

"Sorry love, I didn't mean to... though you're pretty much doing that to me right now," He says, leaning against the refrigerator. I roll my eyes and place the tea bag in the cup.

"Trouble sleeping?" He asks after a few moments.

"Yea, a little..." I say as I pour the water in my cup.

"You're not going to slip are you?" Andy says moving a little closer to me.

"No, no... I'm ok," I say.

"You know I still haven't actually seen you do that though, so I'm a little wary on believing you, but I hear crazy shit all the time so I never know what's real or not,"

I remember the day Xana told Andy about my little situation. Xana is the only one to ever actually see me time slip - other than my parents of course. It only lasted for about 15 minutes and from what I remember, I was somewhere in the future. The only way I could tell it was the future was because the atmosphere was different. It's almost like if you climb up mount Everest to a higher elevation where the air is really thin and it's hard to breathe.

I had no idea what the year was but I remember being in an apartment and Andy was in the living room passed out on the floor. I remember I had appeared in one of the bedrooms and I quickly scrambled for some clothing and when I walked out of the bedroom, Andy was on the floor passed out. I remember going over to him and trying to wake him up but he wouldn't move. When I thought of calling 911, and attempted to make my way over to the phone, I slipped back to my time, right in the same spot as I left with Xana completely freaked. Try explaining that to your new roommate of only a month.