Reverberation - Guns N Roses Fanfiction

TEN - the room

September 14th, 1991

To say that the aftermath of our kiss was awkward would be putting it lightly. For ten minutes, we just sat beside each other in silence.

The clearing at the end of the make-shift road we'd driven up on was a mixture of dirt and rock, so I'd led him to the edge of the bluff, where it began to curve downward and the grass grew in patches. There were evergreens on either side of us and clouds in the endless blue sky--two dozen hot air balloons polluting it. It was the only beautiful pollution, with its rainbow colour scheme and unhurried pace. The land knew no bounds; it was all checkered farmlands, barns and fields with horses and cattle grazing in their pastures, and a river slicing the landscape in two. There was hardly any wind as we watched an entire town breathing beneath us.

I dared to glance away, behind us, to where the sun was setting. I didn't have my watch, but I could estimate the time by the increasing darkness of the sky as well as the position of the sun.

"We should get going soon," I murmured, so as not to disturb him from his clearly relaxed state--leaning back, eyes closed, features free of tension.

Izzy looked at me and slowly sat up straight, waking from his daze. He nodded curtly and didn't wait for me before he rose to his feet. I blinked at his behaviour but followed after him without a word.

The car ride was much of the same quiet.

"Izzy."

He looked over at me.

"Are we going to talk about this?"

"I don't know. Are we?"

If I had anger issues I probably would have slammed onto the brakes and called it a day, but instead I composed myself and didn't even deign a glance over at him. "Well, considering you kissed me, I feel that you should be the one to begin this conversation." I smiled at him.

Izzy chuckled. "I did, didn't I?"

I didn't respond. I just flicked on my blinker and steered the car onto the main road.

"Well. I don't know where to begin--"

I lifted a finger with a little smile. "How about: why you kissed me."

He huffed a laugh. "Yeah, well, keep in mind that you didn't pull away. In fact, I believe you reached out to touch my face before anything even happened. Which would make you the instigator. And what was that about anyway?"

If I hadn't been driving, I would have crossed my arms and challenged him further. "I think maybe we should have this conversation later," I told him instead.

"Not up for it?"

"No, I just think we should figure out what we're doing tonight. Where we're staying I mean. Hotel? Home?"

"Oh. Well, that's up to you; doesn't matter to me."

"I just wanna be home right now."

"Then let's go."

I turned up the radio and we didn't say another word for the entire drive.

-

I'd just exited my shower, smelling of artificial lavender and eucalyptus, when he glanced up from the TV, and his nostrils flared almost imperceptibly. But then he pulled his gaze away suddenly, as if my showing a little skin somehow had a physical affect on him. I wasn't even wearing anything particularly enticing, either--just a tight black tank top, accented with loose, sky blue and lilac plaid bottoms. I'd worn this exact same thing with him around before without any reaction.

He was relaxing on the couch, flicking through channels on the TV with his feet propped on the coffee table.

"Not tired after today?" I asked casually, twisting my hair in my towel to wring out the water as best I could.

"Mm," he replied, not quite looking at me. Then, he sat up with his feet on the floor, turning towards me and said, "Oh, wait, I have a question."

I shrugged, wondering what it could be but not wanting to seem too interested. "Ask away."

"What would you do if... hypothetically... your spare bedroom was not useable, and you had a guest over for the night?" he gave an apologetic grimace. "Hypothetically."

I crossed my arms. "Well, hypothetically, I would ask if that person would be willing to spend the night on the couch until the guest bedroom was useable. Why do you ask? Hypothetically, of course."

Izzy frowned a little, as though to diffuse the tension of the situation. "Well, you know how it is, things happen and it's just like"--he frowns a little deeper, shrugging his shoulders with his arms bent--"what can ya do, y'know?"

I narrowed my stare, letting my hand drop with my towel as I stopped drying my hair. "Oh, what did you do?"

"I didn't do anything."

I just turned from him and opened the door to the spare bedroom. Looking around the room, I sighed. "I don't know what you're talking about, Izzy, the room is fine."

"Did you feel the bed?" he asked, walking over to me. "Just go over and touch it."

I scrunched up my eyebrows and nose at his strange request but went over and inspected it anyway.

"Ugh!" I exclaimed, the sheets soaking wet. I pulled back the comforter and discovered that water had reached the mattress, as well. "What the hell happened?"

Izzy threw his hands up in surrender. "It wasn't me! It was like that when I got here."

I looked to the ceiling, to the darkened, damp corner of the room, where rain must have found a crevice to slip into. Onto Izzy's bed. Of course. "Looks like we have a leak..." I pinched the bridge if my nose, knowing that I couldn't call my landlord until the morning--considering it was midnight at the moment.

"I'd say so," Izzy agreed. "So, what now?"

I sighed trough my nose, looking at him. "I don't know. I just... I'm really tired. What would you like to do? I'll put this decision in your hands."

"I'm not sure you really want to do that..."

I chuckled, crossing my arms in a confident challenge. "And what could you possibly mean by that?"

"Well, considering your 'couch' is actually half the length of my body, I'd say that we would have to get an air mattress. However, since I know that you had left yours back in LA, I deem it unlikely that you have another one hiding around here; what with an extra actual bed. So, I believe that leaves us with one option: we share your bed."

--

yikesarooni izzy what is u doin ??! what will cassie think ??!?!?,?

hey y'all it's 9/11 and that sucks and none if my teachers even talked about it but damn it's important ?? like tf?? just?? appreciate what u have ok and let's remember everyone who lost their lives or almost did or lost a loved one on that day

-megan xx