Sex, Drugs, Fame, & Love

I woke up at nine thirty, took a shower, brushed my teeth, did my hair all cute and curly (not that I was trying to impress Danny or anything), put on a black shirt with a white sugar skull on with purple pants, put my snake bites in, did my makeup, and put my purple beanie on. All in a matter of two hours. I figured we should leave around noon, so I grabbed my phone and texted Danny.

Me: Hey, it's Jess, does noonish sound okay?

While I was waiting for a reply Gwen woke up and stretched. She looked over at me sitting on the edge of my bed, impatiently staring at my phone. "You look cute, Jess," she complimented in a sleepy tone.

"Thanks, I figured I should," I shrugged.

"For your date?" she taunted as she got up and walked into the bathroom.

"It's not a date!" I yelled.

"Suuuure it isn't. And bananas aren't yellow. And two plus two doesn't equal four. And red and blue doesn't make purple. And—"

"Okay I get it!" I looked at my phone again and it vibrated. It was text from Danny! Yay!

Danny: Yeah that sounds awesome. Where are you staying at?

I told him the name of my hotel and he said he'd text me when he gets here. As I waited I decided to get something to eat so I wouldn't be starving and totally pig out in front of Danny. When I was done making my cereal Gwen walked out of the bathroom. "Took ya long enough," I muttered.

"Shut up! I'm on my period!" she yelled.

"Dude, TMI." I took a bite of my cereal—careful not to get any on my outfit—and carried it to the nightstand by my bed.

"Oh my God. That outfit is totes adorbs." Gwen was looking me up and down, admiring my style.

"Thanks," I nodded in appreciation. "You were with me when I got it. Remember?"

"Oh yeah! I am glad I didn't talk you out of buying it."

"Best seventy bucks I've ever spent." I took the last bite of my breakfast and my phone vibrated. I checked it and it was Danny.

Danny: Here, I'm a few spaces away from the entrance.

I almost shot milk out of my nose. "He's here!" I yelled while jumping up and down. "He's here oh my glob he's here!"

Gwen steadied me by putting her hands on my shoulders. "Okay, I get it, but you're not gonna see him by jumping around in our room. Go!" she demanded.

I obeyed and took the elevator down to the lobby and walked out the door. There he was, in eyesight, three spaces away. He had a red corvette convertible that matched his hot personality. I walked up to the car and he saw me and smiled his perfect smile. "Hey, hop in. We're gonna park my car somewhere, then we're gonna walk around."

"Walk?" I asked skeptically.

"Yeah, Portland's only fun when you're walking around to observe things better, and it's nice out today, so why not?"

"Okay, that sounds great." I stepped in his car and he started the car and drove. He parked at this building that only had a few cars in the parking lot.

"Now we're somewhere close to the good stuff Portland has," he said as he got out of the car. I opened my door and stepped out. He was right, there was sidewalk, people, ice cream carts, museums, a zoo not too far off, a library, all that good stuff. He started walking and I followed him. "There's a Starbucks just a few blocks away. Do you want to get coffee?" he asked.

"Sure," I nodded. He smiled his perfect smile and kept walking as I followed. Portland was really busy around lunchtime, there were crowds of people everywhere. Ugh, people.

After ten minutes of walking we were there. Danny and I ordered coffees and sat at a table outside the place. "So what do you think of Portland so far?" he asked, staring into my eyes.

My heart beat a thousand miles a minute and my stomach was tickling. Damn butterflies! "It's cool, I'm just not used to big cities."

"Yeah, you're from the country. Country girl," he teased. I looked up at him and smiled. He took a sip of his coffee and I did the same.

"I like it I'm just not used to it," I shrugged.

"Well you'll get used to it. Portland's awesome," he smiled.

"Looks like it," I smiled back.

"So... What do you want to do today?"

"It's your choice. You know this city."

"Well, there's a modern art exhibit, I was thinking we could go there and act smart and talk in British accents and stuff," he shrugged.

"Oh God that sounds like a blast! Okay!"

He smiled his perfect smile and took another sip of his coffee. "So how did you start doing music?" he asked.

"Well, I've always liked writing lyrics and singing since I was a little girl, my friend Gwen took guitar lessons ever since she was eight, and we found the rest of the band in the very beginning of high school," I answered. "You?"

"I've always liked pouring my heart out into lyrics, and my friend Zee was always the guitar type so we decided to be in a band."

"That's cool." I took a sip of the remaining coffee I had left and finished it. "I'm done with my coffee."

"Do you wanna go to the exhibit?"

"Sure." We got up and threw our coffee cups away and walked down to the modern art exhibit. It looked pretty professional on the outside, but once you walked in it felt like a bunch of colors were being thrown at you. Of course, since it was modern art, it all didn't really make much sense. And if you weren't like me, you wouldn't have much fun, because you wouldn't know how to make stuff like this fun.

I guess Danny was like me. "Hmm, quite extraordinary," he said in a fake British accent while looking at a piece of art, stroking his chin with his thumb and index finger like some sort of professor.

"Indeed," I agreed with the same accent. I guess this was the game we were playing, and I wasn't complaining.

We walked by a painting that looked like a Picasso painting. Of course Danny made a comment on that one, too. "Hmmm, I can see the feeling being expressed on this canvas. The courage the artist expresses." He moved his hands around to emphasize his words a little more.

"If you ask me I think he was just copying off of Pablo Picasso," I shrugged in my normal voice.

"Shut up Jess! I'm trying to be funny!"

"Well it's working," I laughed. He turned to me at that and smiled his perfect smile.

After what seemed like forever or so of more goofing around, we were kicked out. We didn't mind, we just laughed about it and continued walking. It was late now, probably eight or nine o'clock, and it was dark out. Danny was in front of me and he abruptly turned around. It caught me off guard so I bumped into him. "I got one last place to show you," he smiled.

"Okay." We kept walking on the sidewalk, I trusted Danny so I followed him wherever he went. On the sidewalk ahead of us there was a kid on a bicycle heading towards us. I have really slow reflexes, so I just stood there as the kid pedaled closer. I guess Danny has fast reflexes, because he grab my waist and pulled me to his side as the kid went passed us.

"That was a close one," he muttered. I nodded in agreement, surprised that he still hasn't let go of my waist. I guess I didn't mind, but it made the butterflies flutter faster.

We walked more with him leading, and his hand was still on my waist. He lead me to a dark alley that I wasn't so sure about. "Wait, Danny, is this safe?" I asked, still unsure.

"We won't be in this alley for long." He put his hand on the side of the building that was on our right. He kept walking with his hand along the wall and stopped when he found what he was looking for. As I got closer to it I realized it was a ladder. He lifted his leg up and took a step, then another, then another. When he was about four steps up he motioned for me to follow him up, I hesitantly obeyed and we climbed up the steps together. The building seemed like an old abandoned apartment building, probably about twelve stories high, with ladders that lead to porches, like how apartment buildings are on the back. Danny was being patient with me and waited for me when he was too far ahead. Climbing up the building was a lot harder than it appeared, but we finally reached the top. It was really high up, and scared me a little. Danny was standing next to me. "This used to be an apartment building, I come here a lot to clear my head."

I didn't reply, I couldn't take my eyes off of the road, the road that was was 120 feet below. I'm deathly afraid of heights, and I do weird things when I'm scared. My heart was racing inside my chest and my coordination was dramatically dropping.

"What's wrong?" Danny asked.

"I'm... afraid of... heights," I managed.

He wrapped his arms around my waist from behind and rested his chin on my shoulder. "Don't worry," he whispered. "If you fall I'll catch you."

My butterflies caught up with me again, and all I could do was nervously laugh. Damn these butterflies.

After staying up there for a while—probably about thirty minutes—we went back down. We walked back to where Danny parked his car and he drove me back to my hotel. He even walked me back up to my room. "Well, I guess this is the end of our night, Jess," he said as he held my hands in his outside my room.

"I had a really great time. You made me feel welcomed to Portland. Thanks," I smiled.

"No problem. I want to do this again sometime." He looked down at me with his eyes that could kill. His gorgeous, murderous eyes. He tipped his head down and his lips were just inches away from mine. I could close the gap in between us, I could touch his lips with mine. But I didn't. Instead I pulled away and awkwardly stepped into the room.

I turned around to see an irritated Gwen sitting on her bed. "What the hell Jess?"

"What?" I asked innocently.

"Why didn't you kiss him?"

"I was supposed to?"

"Yes! He wanted you to! Why didn't you?" she asked again.

"I guess I was just afraid of falling for him," I shrugged.

"Look, I know you're afraid of falling in love, but you're letting that ruin your love life."

"I know!" I cried. Tears were coming to my eyes as a sank down on the floor with my back against the wall. I pulled my beanie off my head and set it on the floor next to me. Gwen came over to me in a heartbeat and wrapped her skinny arms around me. I laid my forehead on her shoulder and cried, while managing to talk. "It's just... going through what I went through... it... it makes it hard to want to love."

"I know, I know."

I guess I should say it. My parents got divorced shortly after they got married, which was shortly after I was born. My mom got remarried right away, while my dad went from girl to girl, looking for the perfect one. He was in search for the one he loved the most for so long that after every girl he got sick of not finding a girl and he lowered his standards a little bit. His standards sunk so low that he settled for this bitch, known as my step mom. She was the worst kind of person. She blamed everything on me and looked for reasons to get me in trouble. One time she even Facebook stalked me and found a picture that said "fuck" in it and made my dad yell at me for it. Her and my dad fought a lot, too. So why would two people get married if they hated each other? I've lived in that life for so long I actually began to believe that marriage isn't as special as it sounds, neither is love. It never works. So now, every time I meet a guy and he starts flirting, trying to kiss, and all that stuff, I pull away because I'm afraid. I mean, I want to get to that point, but my fright gets the best of me.

"Jess," Gwen continued. "You got to forget about your past. It may not have worked for them, but it might work for you! You never know unless you take chances." I always told her about how I feel about this, she's a great listener, and gives the best advice. I don't know what I would do without this chick.

I wiped my tears away with my thumb and held my breath for a few minutes to stop myself from crying. "Okay, you're right. I got to let go." I have to take chances with this.

I have to take chances with Danny.