almost famous

II

going to california - led zeppelin

"you always do this!" she screamed, but he ignored her, "you think that you can just run away from all of your problems! you're worthless without me! you won't make it one goddamn day before you come crawling back!" she threw the wine bottle in her hand. it shattered, leaving a stain on the wall like blood. he flinched, watery eyes cast down, not wanting to meet her searing ones. she shoved his shoulder roughly, hands raising blood to the surface of his skin. his eyes stayed trained on his suitcase as an ash from his cigarette floated slowly down to kiss the bare mattress.

they are in a forest. her laughter is muffled, as if his ears are stuffed with cotton balls. the sun glares through the branches, making them look like nothing but odd, green shapes. she spins towards him, arms outstretched as a flower crown sits crooked atop her long, brown hair. her lips are pulled into a smile as she comes to a stop next to him. her green eyes sparkle.

"sir?" the stewardess repeated politely as he blinked, turning his head towards the hazy cabin, "would you like anything to drink?" he asked for a whiskey before training his eyes back out the window. he could barely see the ocean through the grey clouds.

his feet drifted through the open air, causing butterflies to erupt in his stomach at the vast expanse below him. the sun was peaking just over the horizon, kissing the canyon shades of oranges of red. it's quiet, but every mere crumble of rock sends tidal waves of sound downwards. he turns his head. there she is, her eyes closed, face engulfed in the sunlight. a light smile graces her face. she turns to look at him. a breeze flutters a strand of hair across her forehead, but she doesn't seem to notice, or she just doesn't care. he wants to reach his hand up to reveal her full face again, but his limbs seem to have gone completely numb. there's a ring of blue around her irises.

"hey buddy! whaddya think you're doin' with my girl?" he picks his head up just in time to be greeted with a fist to his left cheek. he falls from his bar stool, the world teetering as he can't will himself to stand up again. he tastes blood as the woman he was briefly talking to yells for the man to stop. her voice sounds distant as his fists comes near.

the red water had long since gone cold. the smoke spewed from his lips wordlessly, floating to the grimy ceiling as a drip broke the eerie silence. there's dried blood just below his eye. he plucks the cigarette from his split lips, flicking it across the hotel room's bathroom floor. his head plunges under the water.

no smile is present on her face. her brown hair is darkened by the water as it floats around her head. her eyes are sad, pleading. there's pressure and a crackling in his ears. bubbles escaped through his open lips and he watches as they float up, up, up. her eyes remain on him. he stays there, suspended by an unknown force in the vast blue. there was a heaviness in his chest as his throat began to burn. her eyebrows furrowed together before she kicked her legs, propelling her forward. she cupped his face gently before connecting their lips together.

he sat straight up, coughing as he tried to suck in as much air as he could. the water spilled from the tub, cascading onto the floor with multiple splashes. his body began to shake relentlessly as he continued to sputter. tears mingled with bath water as he pulled his knees to his chest, a sob racking his quivering body.

the bar was different, but his drink was the same. his head was bowed, focus on the condensation slowly dripping down his glass. he only turned when the first few strums of sweet guitar notes met his ears, still slightly damp from his drying hair. a girl sat on a stool, a wine red guitar on her knee. the song he didn't recognize was sad and her soft voice floated through the air with the smoke and loud catcalls. her eyes were closed but he could almost feel the tears hidden behind them.

"she plays here every friday night" the man next to him said, noticing how transfixed he was with her. when he didn't turn, the stranger continued anyway. "her name is emily"

"emily" he repeated, testing it on his lips as he looked up from her slender fingers to find that she was already watching him with green eyes rimmed with blue.

he stood on a hill, the sunlight covering him like a warm blanket as his arms rested by his sides. he squinted his eyes to see the mountains that pierced the steadily rising sun. grass that came up to his knees twirled lightly in the wind as he felt someone softly grab his hand. turning his head, he found emily, her hair in braids and a daisy behind her ear. she looked out across the mountain range, her beautiful smile causing his heart to swell. her returns her grasp, fingers melting together.

he smiled.

~

hey ! long time no see ! i've decided to change this book up a little bit by putting all my shorter works in here so that i don't have a ton of books with only one chapter. so, i hope you enjoy, because these are some of my favourite works from the past, present, and future

lots of love !
max <3