Time After Time || Chris Cornell

40. Afterglow

North Washington, November 4 1990

(Chris is 26, Andi is 20)

CHRIS: "... then I don't know where to go here. Into your room I stumble now, too tired to cower... and then everything I write after that is just stupid," She says holding her black leather bound journal in her hand taking a bite of the pizza that she had made for us. It actually turned out pretty well considering it's only a frozen store bought one. She sits cross legged in front of the fire place on the fur rug, her curls all around her in just her red plaid button down shirt which she left unbuttoned and her little black lacy panties and nothing else. She is so incredibly beautiful when she gets so insecure, especially with her writing that she has no idea just how much it makes me want her all over again.

"Baby it's not stupid... here...lemme see," I say reaching out for her to hand me her journal. She hands it over, and takes another bite while I read what she has written so far. She then sets her slice of pizza down in the plate brushing the crumbs off her fingers, then carefully takes her Sunset Burst Gibson that she brought and lays it across her lap as she leans back against the front of the couch, her shirt slightly open and I couldn't help but steal a quick glance of her bare chest, her dark hair barely covering the space between.

Fuck, she is so fucking sexy.

"With the last line, I don't know if I should go 'too tired to cower cause I put you out? ' or 'too tired to cower, trying to draw you out..?' And I don't even know if I like the first part" She says looking away from me, strumming a few chords nonchalantly.

"Well, how do you feel it should go?" I ask, looking down at the page, reading her neat small hand writing, compared to my chaotic scribble that's a mixture of upper and lowercase letters.

"I don't know," She says indecisively still looking off somewhere as she continues to pluck the strings.

"Wanna sing it for me?"

"No way," She chuckles at my question but continues to strum.

"Why not?" I ask flashing her a grin as I lay on my side, my forearm propping me up, as I set her journal down in front of me.

"I can't sing Chris... I'm just a guitar player," She says looking down at her fingers as they press down the strings on the fretboard.

"Babe, just try. If you can write lyrics like this, I know you've got a voice inside you," I say as she continues to study her fingers, refusing to look my way.

"It'll help, trust me,"

She quickly glances at me, then back at her Gibson as I study her for a few moments.

"Ok, but don't look at me," She says so cutely and I smirk, then readjust myself laying flat on my back, hearing a cute little laugh emerge from her as I cover my eyes with my hands.

"Chris?" She laughs again. She then reaches over and tries to pull my hand away from my eye.

"What?" I ask after a few seconds and look at her with a laugh.

"Don't be weird... I just mean... don't like watch me, or y'know," She says between her giggles and I smile at her. 

"Ok, I'll just lay here with my eyes closed and I won't watch you," I chuckle and place my hands behind my head, close my eyes take in a deep breath while she readies herself. I honestly didn't know if she was actually going to or not. It would be the first time she ever has in front of me. I just wanted her to feel that she didn't have to hide it from me.  After a few minutes I begin to hear her sing.

"What have I done? Your little spark... I'm falling apart, don't know where you are... but I am here and I know you're not far..."

I take a peak at her with just my right eye listening to her voice, soft and somehow mournful as she plays along, her eyes closed as she leans against the couch.