Set Fire to the Rain

We had pulled up to the curb of what appeared to be an average New York apartment building from the outside, with a double glass door entry and blue overhang that extended out over the sidewalk. Everything seemed normal until a gentleman dressed in a full Bellman’s uniform came running out the second that we came to a stop out front, and he ran around to the driver’s side of the car waiting for Shannon to exit the car.

“Good evening Sir, Ma’am.” The young man said with a nod of his head to the both of us when Shannon opened his car door.

“Hey there Liam, how are you tonight?” Shannon asked him as he exited the car and stepped over to open the rear door to get what I was guessing to be the camera bag.

“I am doing very well, sir. Thank you for asking. Are you going back out again this evening sir?” He asked in a professional tone.

While they talked I decided to get out of the car and leave my prize in the back seat, knowing I would be going home later anyway. So I stood on the sidewalk watching Shannon shut the door. But because of the tint on the windows I couldn’t see much else. I was imagining his beautiful face and his soft lips. Ok, this has got to stop, I thought to myself.

“I will need my car again tonight, but not for a while Liam. Thank you.” Slinging the bag over his shoulder as he walked around the back over to where I now stood waiting for him on the sidewalk in front of the glass doors.

“You ready?” He asked looking down at me with the bag over his left shoulder, and his right arm wrapped around my lower back guiding me inside the entrance to the building as he pulled open the door with his left hand.

“As I’ll ever be. Lead the way.” I whispered, looking up at him glancing at his exposed neck, my mind wandering to the simple triad tattoo that was just below his other ear. I loved it, it looked perfect on him.

We went to the elevator saying hello to security and tonight’s manager who was on duty along the way, pressing the button for the 3rd floor that would lead us to Shannon’s home, once stepping inside the elevator doors. The ride was short and before we knew it the ‘ding’ came and the doors opened, and we stepped off. I followed Shannon to the left down the hallway out of the elevator doors and went to apartment 3C. He had pulled his keys from his jacket pocket and opened the 3 locks that were on his door. Shannon turned the last lock and then turned the doorknob and pushed the door open wide telling me to go ahead of him. I walked ahead slowly as it was dark out now due to the fact that it was nearing 7:30 in the evening. The lights were turned on one by one as Shannon ran around his apartment trying to make sure that I didn’t hurt myself along the way. It was on the small side but not terribly so for a city apartment. It wasn’t fancy either, but I hadn’t expected that from Shannon, it had a kitchen that was just the right size for him, there was a small hallway that seemed to lead to a 2 rooms, and I currently stood in a living room/family room area I think where he had a couch and table, along the wall was a set of bookshelves filled with magazines and all sorts of books, but there wasn’t much else. On the walls hung beautiful photographs of random places and things that had the SL sign in the lower right corner, my guess is that they were taken by Shannon. There were also the occasional picture of family members and a mix of other people I didn’t know. In the far corner was a low sitting shelf with a stereo system and a very eclectic assortment of cds. The more I looked around the more I liked what I saw, and found it was perfect for him. Besides the fact that his primary residence is in LA, he really doesn’t need much here in NY. By chance, I noticed that he had a bicycle that hung from a pair hooks in the hallway by the entry that actually looked familiar; I think he had used it in one of his band’s music videos or something. I will have to ask him about that later.
Pulling me from my thoughts, pots and pans started banging from behind me. I turned around and saw Shannon pulling things from different cabinets all over the kitchen with a smile on his lips and he glanced over at me.

“What are you doing?” I asked him.

“What do you mean, I told you I was going to cook you dinner.” Disappointment was written all over his face.

“I know you did, it’s just that it’s so late already, I don’t want you to think that you have to cook for me tonight. We can do this on another night if you want. I mean, I was looking forward to it, but we can order out if you are too tired and it’s too late. I know some people like to eat by a certain time, and I don’t want to screw anything up.” I rambled on and on.

“You were looking forward to it?” Shannon asked with a slow smile coming across his lips.
“Really, don’t feel like you have too because…”

“I haven’t been this excited about cooking a meal for as long as I can remember, Eliza. I remember you saying you are from Louisiana like me. Would it be ok, if I cooked something from home?”

“I think that would be great, if you will allow me to help you.” I said to him with a sly smile.

“Yeah, I think I can handle that. Let me put some music on the stereo and we can get to work.” Then he literally ran across the room pulling his iPhone out of his pocket and slipped it into his stereo system and pulled up a specific playlist. Then bounded back over to where I stood and pecked my forehead and said, “Ok, let’s get cooking good lookin’!”

I face palmed. I cannot believe the guy really said that! Cheesy, but cute! We had a great time cooking together. It was fun. We decided to make an old Cajun dish that I happen to love called Jambalaya. It has rice, tomatoes, sausage and we added shrimp because I happen to absolutely love shrimp and Shannon insisted. The smell was incredible and I couldn’t wait for it to finish. I hadn’t cooked with the assistance of someone else, in forever. Actually, I hadn’t assisted since I was in college I think. It was nice to not be in charge. Shannon was making this relaxing and time was passing almost too fast, I thought as I poured the last ingredient into the large pot.

Standing there together placing the lid tightly on top of the food to simmer, there was a tap on my shoulder. “Excuse me, this may be silly, but may I have this dance?” Shannon asked softly.

“I’m sorry?” I said with a questioning look. No one ever asked me things like that.

“Dance with me please?” This time Shannon bowed slightly while looking up at me while batting his eyelids wildly at me, and plastering one of his best smiles on his lips. Thus making it damned near impossible for me to say no.

“Of course” I answered.

Shannon took my hand in his and walked me to the living area where there was the least amount of furniture in the way. Not happy with the amount of space we had to move around in, Shannon started pushing the table out of the way with his foot, he seemed satisfied with himself. He was too much! On the stereo, the song that had started to play was ‘Dear God’ by Avenged Sevenfold one of my favorite bands of all time and some of the nicest guys I had ever met. Shannon placed one arm around my back pulling me close taking my right hand in his left and we just started to move to the beat of the music. Nothing was really said, as he slowly placed our hands on his chest directly above his heart, where I could feel his heart beating. It was a beautiful thing. We would occasionally look into each other’s eyes and smile, I couldn’t help but bite my bottom lip and look up at him in hopes that he wasn’t looking at me, but he was. All too quickly the song was coming to an end, and I found myself being really saddened by that, wishing that it would continue. If you know this particular song, it’s not a short one either! When it changed, Shannon didn’t show any signs of stopping or moving from our positions in the living room. I have a feeling he knew exactly what was up next. The next song that came on was an old one that I haven’t heard in a long ass time actually. It’s by Don Henley and Bruce Hornsby called ‘The End of The Innocence’. I softly started to sing along and Shannon smiled in response just smiling down at me, listening. Now I am really fucking embarrassed. I bent my head down and hid my face from him. I was so nervous.

As the song came to an end Shannon led me over to the couch to sit down. He sat at an angle so that we could look at each other, while resting his arm along the top of the couch. “You have a great singing voice El.”

“Liar.”

“That’s a first.”

“A first for what?”

“Being called a liar.”

“Well, there is one thing I know for sure, and that is that no one has ever said or acknowledged that I have a good singing voice. So either everyone I know that has ever heard me sing has been lying to me, has been tone deaf all their lives, or you are just kissing up to me. Or you’re a liar. Take your pick.”

“I can guarantee I am not trying to kiss up to you, and I am not lying to you. Maybe I am just the first person to actually listen to you.” Shannon said while starting to gently run his fingers through the ends of my long hair.

“Wow, I like that answer. Kind of works out for everyone involved doesn’t it?” I said with a straight face. “You know I don’t think you are a liar right? Or a kiss ass?” I had only been busting on him, and hoped to god he knew it.

“Seriously! You had me feeling like such an asshole for a minute. You are so going to get it!” Shannon started to lean in over me and brought his hands up to my sides in an attempt to begin his assault on me, if I had to guess, I think I would have been a tickle fight, if it hadn’t been for the buzzer for dinner going off. “Figures…” I heard him groan in frustration under his breath as he got up and stretch out his hand to help me up, then making our way to the small kitchen to turn off the noise that had so rudely interrupted.

“It should be ready, do you want to get the plates and utensils ready and then we can dish our own plates. I will put the finishing touches on the salad while you do that.” I suggested, feeling like a bitch for taking over in his home. “Unless there is a certain routine that you follow, I really didn’t mean to take over.” Slowly looking down at the tile floor, I wrapped my arms around myself.

“Hey, look at me” Shannon said standing in front of me, very gently unwrapping my arms from around my waist only to hold one of my hands in each of his then kissing the top of each one he continued speaking “Number 1, there is never a set routine with me, so any suggestions you have, I always want to hear them, ok? Second, thanks for helping out El, I have had a great time tonight.” Then his strong arms were wrapped around me and we stood there holding each other tightly for what seemed like forever. Then he let me go slowly giving me a kiss on the cheek.

Dinner went extremely well, and we learned a lot about each other. There was a lot of laughter and joking around. Some serious talking also happened. I started to open up to Shannon about my past with David. I didn’t get into all of it, but I did start to explain the reasons why I am the way I am. Some of the abuses I endured, what the kids had witnessed, heard, had endured themselves. All the while Shannon sat there patiently and listened. He let me talk and when I was done I saw something I had never seen in his hazel eyes. He went to turn his head from me so that I wouldn’t see the emotion there; before he had the chance to turn from me I reached out with my hand, holding his scruffy face in the palm of my hand I gently stroked my thumb upon his cheek and pulled his face so that we were looking at one another.

He sat there quietly for a moment before looking up at me and saying in a deep and almost angry voice, “I am so very sorry for everything he ever put you through. I swear to fuck, if I ever see him anywhere near you, or if he ever lays a hand on you or the kids, I will…”

“Shhhh…” I said placing my right index finger over his lips. Then I continued,” I experienced enough violence with him to last a million lifetimes. So the last thing I want is to drag you or anyone you know or care about into that nightmare. I don’t want any more of it Shannon. Please. I only want to find happiness and peace. Isn’t that what we all deserve?”

“Yes, it is. I just want to say, that I think you are one of the strongest, most amazing women I have ever met and we will leave it at that and talk about something else.” He said with a smile and a wink. I could feel the heat in my cheeks. I was turning red as a tomato right now, lord have mercy. The compliments were killing me!

I was so proud of myself, because this wasn’t something I would ordinarily tell someone I was just getting to know this way. Thankfully the subject changed, and we started to talk about touring and Shannon’s relationship with his brother and Tomo along with the crew. We seemed to talk for hours and hours. It was one of those things where you just don’t want it to end for fear that if you close your eyes, you would be absolutely terrified that you would wake up and find it will all have been a dream. The thing about being here with Shannon was that the whole time I had been here he hadn’t tried anything other than the friendly pecks on the cheek, hand or forehead, and we had danced. That was it, he was a total gentleman. He was being a friend to me, a good friend at that. The strange thing was, the more I tried to convince myself that not to go ‘there’, or that it was ‘not a good idea’, I found that it only made me want to explore the possibilities with him even more, but I knew that just couldn’t happen. He is leaving. That would kill me. Getting attached and then having to watch him leave me behind, I don’t know if I could do it. Then again, maybe all these feelings I am having are because I haven’t experienced any real feelings for any one in so long and I am being desperate. That isn’t a good thing. Fucking hell.

When we realized how late it was we both looked at each other and frowned. It was 2:30am. And I couldn’t stay here with him that is just something I cannot do.

“So I guess it’s time for me to bring you home now, huh?”

“Yeah, I am really sorry about the hour. I just don’t like you driving back and forth so damned late Shannon. It scares me. You sure you don’t want me to take the train home. I can have Jack pick me up.”

“Oh yeah, that would go over REALLY well with the overprotective older cop brother of yours, who already isn’t too thrilled with the idea of you being here with me. Yep let’s send his single younger sister home on a train at 2:30 in the morning by herself. Great fucking idea babe. You might as well send me to jail right now if I did that.” He was making fun of me. Jerk. “No, I’m perfectly happy taking you home. Unfortunately I have practice early tomorrow because I played hooky today.” He sighed out in frustration.

“Oh fuck, I am so sorry. Why didn’t you say anything?” Now I felt really bad.

“I will be fine, don’t worry about it. It all works out in the end, sweetheart.”
I blushed, I could feel my cheeks heat when he said that.

“Are you blushing? Oh my god, you are. It’s amazing!” Shannon said standing right in front of me. After a moment he walked to the living area, picked up his house phone and dialed a number, then waited. “Liam, hey, I am going to need my car in about 10 minutes out front, ok? See you then” then hung up.

Shannon walked down the hall and grabbed his leather jacket and my purple coat out of his room helped me put mine on. Then he slipped his jacket on in one fluid motion. He walked around turning off most of his lights and grabbed his keys, iPhone from the stereo, and wallet so we could leave. I had my bag, so I was ready. I stood patiently in the hallway leading to the front door of the apartment waiting for Shannon to gather his things together. Slipping his phone into his jacket pocket, he turned towards the door taking a few steps and stopped short, standing there facing away from me deep in thought for a second, not moving. For a second I thought something was wrong and was getting ready to ask if everything was alright when he turned around, a different look having taken over his features and in a few strides he was standing in front of me. Tilting my head slightly, I gazed up and into his beautiful eyes as his right hand came up and lightly traced along my jawline. My heart rate was picking up as we looked into each other’s eyes. In that moment it was like everything happened all at once. There’s no way to describe the feelings I had. He was in front of me within seconds wrapping his arms around me, going underneath my coat pulling me tightly against his body. Placing my shaking hands upon his chest, we gazed into each other’s eyes longingly, and Shannon started to bring his lips closer to mine ever so slightly knowing what was coming, or at least hoping with all my heart.

“I’m going to kiss you. Are you ok with that Sweetheart?” Breathe on my face, his face only centimeters from mine.

“I don’t know. I haven’t been kissed in so many years, what if I fail at it?”

“Not possible, and I am going to have to remedy that immediately.” Shannon all but moaned.
Soft full lips crashed onto mine and lasted for what seemed like an eternity, I felt the drag of his warm tongue along my lower lip, then over my upper lip around to my lower lip again. He was asking for entrance, and I allowed it slowly. My mouth opened to his and as our mouths began to move and dance as one, his tongue entered my mouth and laid claim to what was now his, and I did the same, just a little less dominant. I felt my coat being worked off and falling to the floor as we kissed, I was way too hot with it on anyway. As our tongues danced together I could feel his large calloused hands travel along the back of my neck and through my hair and along my shoulders and down my back pulling me even closer to him if that was possible. Running my hands over his muscled chest and over his cool leather jacket and onto the warm skin of his shoulders, my hands couldn’t stop exploring him as I held onto his muscled neck and ran my hands through his short brown hair. The heat of his hard muscled body against mine, his mouth, his skin, was driving me crazy, I couldn’t help myself. His mouth was warm, soft and inviting. I heard myself let out a small moan in approval. I had never felt this way. I was holding on for dear life. Our kissing slowed from a passionate intensity, into the desperate, longing, of gentle pecks on the lips that you give to someone that you never want to part with. It was the most amazing thing I had ever felt. I didn’t dare say anything to Shannon because he had probably kissed hundreds maybe thousands of girls that I really don’t want to think about. Besides, this was totally unexpected, and now I am totally and completely fucking confused.

“Wow. That was, um… Just wow Eliza. There was nothing for you to be afraid of babe.”

“I um, you are, just, amazing. Wow. No one has ever kissed me that way before.” I felt embarrassment coming over my features, as I looked at the floor.

“Obviously, you hadn’t found the right guy, and now you have. Unfortunately, right now I have to get you home.” He picked my coat up from the floor, dusting it off and placing it back on my shoulders, pulling it tightly together in the front for effect then let go. With one last gentle kiss on my lips, we walked out his apartment door into the hallway towards the elevator.