The Uncanny Valley - Corey Taylor FF (Slipknot/Stone Sour)

13

I think some people might have waited for this kinda chap because.. well, you'll see. Enjoy!
Cheers ~
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The music got louder and louder with every step I took. I encircled some patches, palms, bushes and whatnot until I reached an open entrance to the backyard. Loads of people were dancing, talking, laughing, drinking. This definitely was a party, I’ll give him that. Though I had realized that I wasn't dressed right for a party of any kind, nobody else seemed to notice or care. All kinds of people in all kinds of clothes stood around, drinking or smoking. Some smiled at me but still did not take any real note of my existence. I couldn’t find any familiar face, so I just kept pushing myself through the people in the direction I assumed the entrance would be… at least it had been there in my memory. I saw people with bottles and cans in the pool and rolled my eyes at all the madness. Nearly at the doors, someone grabbed me out of all sudden.
“Kaelyn!” Over all the other sounds, Lia screamed into my face. I gave her a smile and nodded.
“Yupp, hey,” I yelled back but still was on the look-out for someone completely else.
“What are you doing here?” she asked and wouldn’t let go of my freaking hand. Oh mate.
“Uhhm... “ I was about to say ‘minding my own business’ to give her a good hint but decided otherwise. It might be time to make up things with her as well.
“I want to talk,” I admitted and she gave me a funny face.
“I can’t understand you, what did you say?”
“I said that I want to talk things through!”
“What?”
“I SAID -” suddenly the music stopped and some people around me turned their heads to me screaming bloody murder, so I stopped. Lia chuckled and nudged me on my shoulder, turning me around and mentioning to an enhancement a few meters away. The red haired guy was on there, his mohawk sticking into the air and he was grinning into a microphone.
“Aight people, you ready to party?” he asked, pretty drunk as much as you could tell. He didn’t even wait for any answers, though most people applauded or screamed back at him, he just concentrated onto the mixer consoles in front of him and did the thing he could do best: being a DJ. I felt Lia nudging me again and I turned back to her, she signalized me to follow her into the building and so I did. She seemed certain on where to go, her blond ponytail bouncing up and down in front of me. She walked up some stairs and lead me into an empty bedroom, closed the windows and doors and locked out some of the music. She turned around to me and smiled widely.
“You decided to come.” Obviously, duh.
“Ehh, ya,” I scratched my neck und shrugged.
“Corey was pretty sure you wouldn’t. You were quite… well, you were right in most points and we would’ve understood, to be honest. If you wouldn’t have shown up, I mean.”
“After the scene I did?” I gave her another small smile and chuckled a little bit about what I did, though I was quite embarrassed. It still felt as if I was right at that point, but I might have acted this out differently. Whatever, shit happened and I wasn’t completely sure if this evening would end differently.
“Ah, well, when Corey came to the café I didn't know until he was like right in front of us, you know? After that, after you went with Mason, I nearly killed him. Same with the others. We still didn’t know what exactly happened between the two of you because neither you nor Corey ever said anything,” she explained and I took a seat on the bed, waiting for her to finish. I still wanted to search for Corey and hear his excuses, but I could also go for him later, couldn’t I?
“So, when he finally told everything we eventually got how you felt, why you ran away and were all upset. I mean, sure, we figured something… but this… well..”
I stood back up but Lia seemed to sense what I was thinking.
“Nah, wait. He didn’t... I mean, it was a mistake, really.”
I looked at her in total disbelief.
“A mistake? He cheated on me and got some barbie pregnant,” I exclaimed and she shook her head.
“Really, it isn’t my job to explain this to you. It’s his. But believe me, since you met first he is totally done with everything and he is blaming himself for all this shit, he is drowning in his own sadness and...well, other things. You gotta talk to him,” she spoke really fast to stop me from leaving or so, giving me a hard time to follow her words.
“Uh… but it’s obvious, man. I mean…” I sighed and looked to the ground for a second.
“Yeah, whatever. Maybe. I gotta search for him, then,” I stated more to myself than to her and she nodded eagerly, taking a step away from the door so I could actually open it. And so I did, letting back in the music. But I turned around and smiled at her, arching an eyebrow.
“Sorry.”
“Just what I wanted to say, actually. I’m sorry, believe me. Are we good?”
“We are good.”
She gave me a smile matching mine and nodded encouragingly, so I made my way through the huge building. Or wanted to, but stopped in my tracks and turned around, calling after Lia who was half down the stairs.
“Wait!”
“What is it, Kae?”
“Uhm.” I stared at her and she chuckled. “Well, you are always talking about Joey… and you are so close to the guys. I’m just wondering… I mean…”
“Ahh, there is the Kaelyn I know and love,” Lia started to laugh out loud and I grinned at her.
“So?”
“Sooooo… yeaaah, there’s is something, I think. No, I definitely know… and you know what? You go get your guy and I’ll go get mine now!” She winked at me and I started to protest.
“He’s not my guy!” I said quite loudly and heard a raspy voice answer me from the other side of the hallway where another staircase led to the other floors.
“Who’s not?”
My eyes widened and Lia winked at me another time. She then held up her phone as if to tell me she messaged him or some shit and I rolled my eyes at her. Then, I turned around and finally faced Corey. He stood there with his arms crossed over his chest, dressed in a black jeans and gray shirt. His hair was slicked back and he wore three-day stubble. He seemed even worse than last time I had seen him. I took in the image of him. The bags under his eyes were even redder and bigger than last time. The week before I had assumed that they must be from all the liquor his body could not take. Now, I figured it actually looked like he had been crying a lot. His eyes looked watery as well, still intensive. Now fixed on me… it might be my imagination, but it seemed like he lit up completely. He took some doubtful steps and ruffled his hair a bit. Just staring at me. I kept staring back. It felt like the only right thing to do because I did not know how to approach him or what to say. I even forgot why I came, what I wanted to talk about. We just stood there and I liked to imagine we were strangers, laying eyes on each other over the dance floor for the first time. But we weren’t and all the things we were burdened with still lasted on our shoulders. Sooner or later, we were brought back to reality.
“It’s nice to see you, I’m really glad you came,” Corey spoke first and broke the awkward tension by giving me an honest smile that even reached his eyes.
“Shall we… can we talk?” he asked and I nodded, targeting the room Lia and I had been talking in, but he stopped me when I was about to open the door by holding it shut, shaking his head. Some people came running up the stairs with cans in their hands, throwing something at each other.
“I want to talk somewhere else. There are so many people around… and dammit, the guys made this party thirty times bigger than I wanted it to be. I didn’t want a party in the first place. Damn, I don’t even know half of the people, I mean - “ he chuckled the moment he realized that he was rambling on and sighed.
“I’m just saying that this is more than just important to me and I think we should go somewhere nobody can interrupt us,” he kept talking and looked me in the eyes. I returned his gaze and felt a prickle on my skin, but soon he backed off and stared somewhere in the distance, waiting for my answer.
“Yeah, sure,” I shrugged and saw how this eased some of his tension since his muscles seemed to relax. He tried to hide a smile by keeping his head to the ground. I was still able to spot it, though. Idiot.
I then felt how he suddenly grabbed my hand and dragged me after him. I ignored the electricity shooting through my hand and pretended that it was all just my imagination. Or something else. Some chemical shit. I’ve always hated chemistry, to be honest.