'So is he still not speaking to you then?' asked Shannon about two hours later after they'd finished eating at the Chinese place she'd took him to. Of course he was referring to Aaron.
'Well he is, but he's just being distant. I dunno, I didn't expect him to believe something so insane but in the same breath I sure didn't expect him to behave like a five year old' she said with a shrug, the deep blue feathers in her earrings touching against her bare shoulders. They matched her new hair colour of deep and electric blue underneath the white blonde, something Shannon had commented on as they'd walked through the airport out to her car.
And as he looked at her from across the table it was all he could do not to reach across and kiss her. She was completely mesmerizing, so naturally beautiful he wondered how on earth she could possibly be single. He was also free to notice that so far she seemed to be every inch as interesting as he'd thought her to be over the phone. He could still barely believe he was sitting there with her, enjoying the warmth of the restaurant while Anchorage suffered one of it's coldest Februaries on record, which looked like it would extend into one of the coldest Marches too when the first rolled around in two days time.
'I don't wanna call judgement on your friend when I don't even know the guy, but it does seem he's acting a little immaturely. If anything he should at least put some comedy into his little disbelieving routine. It's what I would have done I think' Shannon replied, a pleasant shudder running through him as he watched her catch a falling drip of soda water with her tongue as it trickled off her glossy bottom lip.
'So if one of your friends came up and told you the same thing, would you have believed them?' she then asked, leaning across the table a little closer, a movement he was quick to copy.
'I think after the initial 'what the fuck?' of it had gone away and I knew they weren't trying to fool me then yeah I guess I would. Simply because it's such an inconceivable idea that no one would ever make it up!' he replied.
'You should try telling that to Aaron. He's really got a bee up his ass about it. But anyway, enough talk about Sir Killjoy, he's cool enough when he isn't behaving like a tard. So anyway tell me about your week, because of you doing all that filming I haven't had chance to speak to you as much. Did that guy come back to the shop who accused Shane of fucking up his back piece?' Keri asked, pouring the rest of the bottle of water out between their glasses. And once again he felt himself pulled in by her, he loved the way she remembered things.
He'd only perhaps mentioned the guys at the shop a few times by name, and yet she remembered an incident he'd told her about a man who'd accused Shane of doing his tattoo incorrectly when both he and Shannon had warned him that because it was a cover up job he was choosing not to have lightened via laser removal first it might not look as good, but it had fallen on deaf ears apparently. Deaf ears that wished they had listened once it had healed up and he was left with the forewarned finished result of a jumbled up looking tattoo.
'Yeah he did, but there wasn't much he could say since we'd both warned him it'd look crap. I've never asked you before but do you have any ink?' he said, waiting for her to finish crunching on a prawn cracker before she answered.
'Nope, I do have a design though but Frankie and I keep adding to it and its gunna end up huge! Way too big to have it as a first tatt, I don't think I could handle sitting that long in a chair!' she said, laughing.
'Just get it done in sittings then, have the outline done on one day and let it settle down and then just go back for the shading and colouring in when you feel ready. I took a big leap and got this one as my first, took forever to get it finished. There's about sixty hours of work just on that arm alone' He said, pulling up his sleeve and showing her the huge dragon on his left arm, and assorted other designs that the work comprised of.
'It's really beautiful. I had to confess I've always favoured black and white designs but this is amazing. Did you do any of it yourself?' she asked, carefully turning his arm over and trailing her fingers over the stars and Japanese symbols. He hoped she wouldn't notice that the thousands of goose pimples that had broken out down his arm were solely because of her touching him.
'Nope, I hadn't even held a tattoo gun before when I was getting this one done. I haven't the guts to practice on myself again after I nearly fucked this one up doing the outline' he said, showing her the gas mask he'd had done on his hand, pointing out the slightly wobbly line.
'Well you're braver than me! I'd have been sat there going 'must..........finish...........ouch but it hurts!..............But must...................FINISH!!' she said, picking up a chopstick and using it as a pretend tattoo gun on the back of her hand, making him laugh. 'I did do my nose piercing myself though!' she added with pride, turning and pointing to the minute silver stud in her left nostril.
'Lots of ice and a diaper pin?' he asked.
'Bottle of rubbing alcohol, a darning needle and ice to be exact, mom wouldn't let me get it done so I decided to do it myself when I was away with school so she wouldn't see it healing and going all scabby for a few days. Then when I got home I just took it out before I saw her, until one day she caught me out and went ape shit!' laughed Keri.
'See my mom just rolled her eyes and that was the end of it, she's never stopped me doing what I wanna do, even when I was your age. And in saying that I've made myself feel ancient again' he said, laughing softly.
'And in the process made me feel like a little baby, well done Shannon' she laughed back, pushing his hand away when he slapped her elbow.
'God I hope the next three days go slower than a snail on sleeping pills' he thought to himself as she excused herself to go to the bathroom. So far the only way he could describe the way he felt over the evening thus far was being like on the greatest first date of his life. But the reality of the situation, the fact that they were just concentrating on friendship did contradict that. He didn't care though; he was having way too much of a good time with her to worry about it. He knew she must be special, because there was no way that he'd ever felt so comfortable with someone in such a short space of time, the way they'd fallen into friendly conversation like two old friends becoming reacquainted after a period of separation.
After paying (and arguing over who picked up the check- Shannon winning by jamming his card into the machine faster than she could) they braved the cold, cold night and walked down further into downtown Anchorage towards The Lounge, where they would meet Frankie and Hayley. And all the way through the fifteen minute walk they continued to get on like a house on fire, noticing so many similarities between themselves it made Shannon comment one thing out loud-
'Alright stop! Are we the same fucking person or something?' he said, after they had both gushed at length of their mutual appreciation of Courtney Love. 'That's like the tenth thing we've found we have in common in less than ten minutes!' he continued as they carried on walking through the pedestrian zone of the wide main street.
Nope, you're like three to four times the size of me! I've always been too little' she said, pulling a sad face as she shivered against the cold, smiling as he put an arm around her shoulders to keep her warm, her reciprocating with an arm around his waist.
'Well yeah you are pretty tiny. I bet you could get away with wearing kids clothes too!' he said.
'These jeans I'm in now are tailored for a ten year old! I'm a natural size zero, but with some jeans I have to take a bigger size because skinny I may be, but I still got a curvy butt!' she said with a little giggle.
'Yeah, I was trying not to notice that. Or the fact that despite your size you have pretty impressive boobs' he said, tightening his arm around her a little as he laughed and watched her go slightly pink, thinking how adorable she was.
'Stop it! I can only just handle you being a shameless flirt over the phone!' she cried, laughing still.
'Then you're gunna have your hands full, I'm ever worse in the flesh. Add alcohol and well.....................I'm naughty' he said, winking at her. She just laughed quietly and leant into him a little more, excitement fizzing away inside her. She really liked getting to know her new friend better, even if he was incorrigible. They arrived at the lounge to meet up with Hayley and Frankie, and after an hour Shannon felt perfectly at home in Keri's world, thinking to himself what a nice group of girls they were, also how mature and intelligent they were for their ages. If he hadn't have been told he would have put all of them at mid twenties purely for the civilized manner they spoke in. But there was also much humour and silliness to be found within the group that he found himself getting into the thick of quite soon.
'It's actually only Mezcal that you find a worm in, and even then it isn't really a worm it's caterpillar of a moth. In Mexico it's illegal for anyone to put worms in Tequila, but not Mezcal. And that's a fact bitch' said Shannon after they had been talking about Tequila, Keri's drink of choice. Frankie and Hayley both sat with their mouths hanging open after hearing what he had said at the end of his sentence, for 'That's a fact bitch' was something Keri said all the time.
'Oh god, it's happened' said Frankie with a comical face as she looked at Hayley. 'THERE'S A MALE VERSION OF KERI AND HE'S SITTING RIGHT THE FUCK THERE!' she continued, pointing at Shannon as he and Keri laughed.
'Dude she says that all the time when she's making a point, she even said it to our tutor the other day in a lecture, the whole room was in stitches, including Professor Collins!' Frankie said again, with Hayley laughing her ass off next to her.
'She's one of these people who you just think 'Uh-oh! What's she gonna come out with next?' said Hayley, once she had controlled her giggles and accepted a cigarette her girlfriend offered.
'Something my friends say about me too' he laughed, looking to his side at Keri as she sipped her tequila and bitter lemon. And so the similarities between the two kept on being drawn, with Hayley and Frankie becoming progressively more amazed at each common ground or mannerism they found they shared. And although he had a good time meeting her friends, it was the time he'd have Keri alone again he looked forward to most; to do nothing but sit back and talk to her.
He got that chance at 1am when Hayley and Frankie went to bed, leaving just them and what Keri dubbed 'the world's comfiest pull out'; and it really was. She sat with her knees hugged to her chest in the corner sipping a can of coke while Shannon stretched out on his front, resting his head on his forearms crossed in front of him. And as the same thought ran through her head for what must have been the fiftieth or more time since meeting him at the airport, she began to laugh.
'What?' he asked.
'I'm just having a 'holy shit he's right there' moment again. It's good but it's weird' she replied, watching him smile.
'Snap. I can't believe I'm here either' he said, leaning up and rubbing her back when she stated coughing.
'Thanks. I always get like this after a night of singing my ass off at band practice. Throat gets sore' she said, clearing her throat again as she moved to sit a little closer to him.
'See now there's something else I didn't know about you. I know things like what happened to your dad and you used to be the junior high bully but then you go and surprise me with little revelations like that! So c'mon tell me more' he said, moving over so she could lie down next to him, her posture mirroring his as she leant her head on her hand.
'Well, last night wasn't easy because Aaron is still barely talking to me as you know. He's our guitarist, Ash is on drums and a guy called Preston we know from uni is on bass. We just started jamming about a year or so ago and play the occasional gig around town, it isn't anything we wanna pursue as a career, just something we do for kicks really. We rehearse every Wednesday, and like I say last night was not easy at all!' she replied, reaching for her cigarettes and an ashtray, which she placed on her tummy once she'd rolled onto her back, jamming a pillow under her head so she was almost sat upright.
'So what kinda stuff do you play?' he asked, becoming more interested.
'Grunge mostly, we're trying to revive the scene! We do a lot of covers in our set too, stuff like Hole, Medicine, Alice in Chains, all that type of stuff' she said, blowing smoke down through her nose as he nodded.
'I'd like to hear you play sometime, I really would. So, what else is there that's interesting to know about you, c'mon gimmie a list, I like finding out all I can about people who interest me' he asked, watching the way her blue eyes glittered through the soft light from the lamp in the corner.
'Erm, I don't know where to start!' she confessed with a little laugh.
'Just hit me with random things' he said.
'Okay' she said, picking up a newspaper off the table behind them and whacking him over the head. He let her get away with that, after pulling the end of the duvet they were lying on up and over her head, burying her in it.
'Alright I can't breathe, let me out and I'll behave' she said from under the duvet.
'You fucking better, now, hit me with THE LIST, not anything else!' he said, shouting 'the list' loud enough for Frankie to hear and think 'what the hell are they on about?' as she lay in bed next to a snoring Hayley. He pulled the duvet off her head and rearranged it, still laughing as she finger combed her messed up hair whilst giving him dark looks.
'You just look even cuter when you're mad you know' he laughed, reaching out and pressing a finger into her nose lightly. She shook her head, laughed, and sat to think of random things about herself she could tell him. She left out the one thing she could think of most though, and that was that she was going to feel very sad at her lovely friend having to go back to North Carolina in three days time.