Chris POV
"Oh shit. I just told Christofer Drew to shut up," she said blankly. I started to get panicked at that point incase she was about to freak out on me. I got prepared to move when I felt a cold hand on my arm. "No, please don't go. I was just shocked. I love your music but I'd never act the way some people do. Let's start over, I'm Joanne," the girl said smiling and putting her hand out for me to shake. She was smiling at me, showing off her white teeth. Her long, wavy brown hair went half way down her back. She wore a floral top with shorts. She was a regular Californian girl I was guessing based on her appearance.
"Hi, Joanne. I'm Christofer but I prefer Chris," I said shaking her small, delicate hand.
"You met my brother earlier in Starbucks, you signed a autograph for me. Thanks for that," she said shyly.
"Ahh, Steven, right?" She nodded. "It was no problem. So Joanne, what makes you think smoking is bad for you," I asked her as I inhaled again.
She stared at me in disbelief. "You're kidding right? It's publicised everywhere, it affects your lungs and… that's really all I know," she said laughing.
"That's true but you're dying every day you're alive. Try it," I said handing the cigarette to her, she stared at it warily. "Come on, it's basically just inhaling smoke instead of air," I said, she laugh then brought it up to her lips. She inhaled the cigarette and closed her eyes for a second. I couldn't help but notice her beauty. She wore little make up, only eyeliner and red lipstick but she was beautiful. She wasn't very tanned unlike most California girls. She was perfect.
She opened her eyes and handed the cigarette back to me. "Can I tell you something?" I nodded, urging her to continue. "I used to smoke when I was 16 but I quite just before I turned 18. It really is bad for you, Chris," she said. I looked at the cigarette then back to her, contemplating what to do. I stubbed it out on the ground and left it there.
"I'll compromise with you. I'll limit myself to smoking 5 a day instead of as much as I want. How about that?" I asked her, she nodded and smiled at me.
"How can I be sure you'll go through with it though?" she asked me.
I went into the pocket in my jeans and brought out my packet of cigarettes. Emptying the pack to all but 5 I handed her the rest of the cigarettes from the packet. She took them in her hands and walked over to the bin and dumped them. I stood up and walked along the beach with her. "You know, I never thought I'd see the day when Christofer Drew Ingle cut down some on smoking," she told me looking up at my from under her eyelashes.
I noticed she wasn't that shorter than me, the top of her head finished in line with my nose. "Things change everyday in life, Joanne," I told her. "Can I walk you home?" I asked her. She nodded and linked her arm through mine and began to skip down the beach, dragging me laughing along beside her. "Do you live yourself?" I asked her. I wanted to know everything about her but I figured I'd work up to it.
"Yeah, my parent's live about a hour away and my brother lives at his college about 20 minutes away," she informed me.
"Why aren't you in college?" She seemed smart enough for college, I thought.
"It just wasn't something I planned, I've never wanted to go to college. I like photography though, I get jobs every so often to take photos of tours. That's how I first heard of you, I was photographing one of your first tours. I get flown to places a lot to do photoshoots of bands and I've done a fashion show before," she told me whilst forcing me to skip.
"That's pretty big, Joanne. I'd like to still see you after today's over so can we trade cell numbers?" I asked shyly.
She pulled her phone out her pocket and handed it to me as I did with hers. I handed hers back and waited for mines. "You know, you're going to have to chase me for it," she laughed and began to run.
I felt a grin spread out on my face and I chased her up the beach. She could run fast, I'd give her that. I grabbed her around the waist, took my phone from her hands and lifted her up and ran toward the ocean with her, threatening to dump her in. "No. Chris, please," she squealed and grabbed a fistful of my jacket. I laughed and put her back on the sand. "You know, that wasn't nice," she informed me.
I had to laugh at that. "Maybe not but you stealing my phone wasn't nice either," I replied back, cockily. She stuck her tongue out childishly at me. "You know, I can tell you'll be a real pain in my ass, Ingle," she fake sneered at me.
I laughed and pulled her into a hug before letting her lead the way to the walk back to her house. We walked up the stairs at the beach and over to the small street of houses mines was on. She stopped outside the gate next to my house. "You live here?" She nodded. "Well, it looks like I'm your new neighbour. A full out grin came on her face. "Wait, it only took me a few minutes to walk down to the beach and it took us all this time to get here?" I questioned her.
"That's we walked across the beach, silly"
"Really? I think you just wanted to spend more time with me," I teased her.
"Oh please, don't flatter yourself," she said as she put a poker face on.
"Where's the nearest shop that sells food?" I asked her.
"It's just up the top of that road," she said pointing to the top of a steep road. "You can just have dinner with me if you want and then tomorrow I'll take you up to the supermarket if you like?" she asked.
I smiled at her kindness. "That's sweet of you but you don't have to do that."
"It's fine, honestly. I'm making pasta," she said. Her hands clasped around mines and dragged me towards the house. I swear every time she touched me there were sparks.
She opened the door to her house. When we were inside I was pleasantly surprised. I wasn't sure what I expected of her house but it was definitely inviting. She led me through to the kitchen table and told me to sit as she began put ingredients in a pot then sat next to me while the dinner started cooking. I sat my hands on the table and felt her grab one of them. Joanne trailed her fingers over my tattoos, examining them. "I really love your tattoo's," she said, admiring them.
"Thanks, do you have any?" I asked her. She nodded and held her wrist out to me. The words stay strong sat on her wrist in a fancy elegant writing but that wasn't what caught my attention, it was the bruising around the arm that looked like finger prints. I didn't say anything about and I don't think she saw I noticed.
"I've got one on my back as well she said, standing up and taking of her purple cardigan. She had black angel wings on her back which could be seen since she was wearing a strapped top.
"My angel," I smiled at her. She smiled back again lifted the pot off the oven and dished it out onto plates. I sat back down at the table as she served her food. Over dinner we talked about how we grew up, what music we were into, even our favourite colours. As it turned out we have a lot in common and somehow I promised to let her read any of the new songs I'd wrote.
I made Joanne go pick a movie for us to watch while I washed and dried the dishes. It turned out she wanted to watch Despicable Me, that was another thing we had in common, we were kids at heart. I felt Joanne's head fall onto my shoulder less than half way through the film. I picked her up and carried her into her bedroom and tucked her into her bed, kissing her forehead just before I left the room. I made sure I sat her phone on her bedside table so she'd read the text I was about to send her when she woke up.
Taking her keys from the door I went outside the house, locked the door then put her keys through the letter box, so she wasn't locked in. Bringing out my phone I sent her a text.
To: Joanne J
From: Chris
You probably won't read this till you wake up so I thought I'd explain what I did as to not leave you confused. Once you fell asleep I carried you through to your room for a comfier sleep. When I was leaving the house I took your keys, locked my keys out then put your keys through your letter box so you won't have any problems getting outside. Whenever your ready just come through to my house and then we'll leave to go food shopping. I hope you had sweet dreams,
Chris
xoxo
I went to bed, thinking of how wonderful Joanne was. That was the very first night I'd ever dreamed of any girl. This girl was special.
