I Got You ~ C.B

TWELVE

Previous ~ Four Years

LA is even more lively in the day. The typical picture perfect movie montage of an LA summer day. I can guess where he's taking me as we get closer, just from seeing the surroundings in photos and movies and tv shows.
"Venice baby!"
I holler out the wound down window as we drive past. Colby laughs, whooping with me at the top of his lungs. It's cool too- on the drive here he did that thing where they rest a hand on your thigh while they drive that drives girls crazy. It's a small thing, but huge to me. It's not like this hasn't happened for me before, but this is the first time with someone who actually counts. We walk around- looking in random stores, watching random street performers, taking photos of each other. Until we get hungry and find somewhere to eat lunch. I was craving wings, and he knew to take me to this spot instantly. The Venice Whaler. Although the name is concerning to me, the wings are amazing. He laughs at me, tucking into my wings that I ordered extra spicy. I raise an eyebrow at him, asking after I suck the sauce off my fingers
"Something funny, Brock?"
He comments
"You remind me of a chipmunk."
I smirk
"Oh honey, you haven't seen anything yet."
He leans on the counter top of the bar we sit at, sharing wings, turning his body to face me directly, indicating he wants me to show him. I explain
"My first party trick I ever learnt was with a chicken wing."
He questions
"Wasn't your party trick the vape bubble thing you did last night? That was sick."
I shrug
"I'm a woman of many talents."
He slides the plate closer to me, nodding at them
"You're going to have to show me now."
Picking up a fresh flat wing, I shove the whole thing in my mouth, holding one end in my fingertips as I suck around the bones and a few seconds later pull the bone out clean. His eyes are wide, smile over his face
"That's hot."
He compliments, no sarcasm evident in his tone. I swallow my mouthful of chicken, furrowing my eyebrows
"Sucking off a chicken wing? Guys find the weirdest things attractive."
He chuckles
"I mean, that. But I mean seeing a girl actually eat. That's sexy."
I smile, cleaning my fingers with a napkin
"Is it rare or something here?"
He nods
"In LA. Everyone's vegan or vegetarian or something free, you know."
I admit
"Oh, I wouldn't say I've gotten off free from that. Too much dairy does not agree with me."
We chuckle together, and he tells me
"You're so real. It's amazing."
I reach for another wing
"No, what's amazing are these wings."

After lunch we walk it off, playing around on the beach, chasing each other down. All the moment needs is Summer Loving playing and a romantic montage and we have the opening scene from Grease. If Danny and Sandy went emo. We find another place to get another coffee, he knows all the best places. It has to be the best coffee I've had. As we walk further, I sight a hole in the wall. A doorway barely visible amongst all the junk closing in on it. Being an innate explorer, I point
"What's in there?"
At this point I'm expecting him to know everything about his place. We pause as he looks over, he sips his coffee
"I don't actually know."
I raise an eyebrow at him, and he raises one at me. Without needing to say anything, we head over, turning side on to get through the door. It's dimly lit inside- no lights but sunlight coming through the windows and casting lines of light over the place. I can feel the dust in the air, anyone would think it's an abandoned storage place. Given all the junk laying around in no particular organised fashion. It has everything though- vintage devices like typewriters, cameras and record players, stacks of records on records to go with the players. Racks of clothes, not separated into men's or women's, and jewellery. There's also a random section of houseplants and succulents and cacti. Another section for spiritual things- crystals, tarot decks, incense, spell books. We explore for ages, at least an hour without even knowing if anyone is in there. Holding up amazing record finds, pointing out crazy old models of cameras, holding up weird and wonderful articles of clothing we find buried in the masses. I either bore or impress him with my knowledge of house plants and all the spiritual stuff. We tell stories from our childhoods when we see things that prompt memories. We talk about our lives back home- Australia and Kansas- our families and school life. In the jewellery section, he points out
"Hey- that's your necklace."
I deny
"Don't think so. That's probably nearly eighty years old and made of pure gold. Mine is gold plated and tarnished on the back. Big difference."
I point out a silver one
"That's cool."
It looks like a dagger, but it actually a gun-metal silver cross. We have both just established we're Christians. The horizontal line of the cross intricately cut with designs. He nods, picking up he pendant to look closer at it
"Yeah- actually."
We continue on, but I pick it up before we continue on. I wonder where I pay for this, it has to be a store. And there's a price tag with handwritten numbers attached to the chain. I assume the register is somewhere near the exit, so as we head past there to leave, I leave thirty dollars in cash on a table and walk out, pocketing the necklace.

Present

After remembering, I glance down at his chest, seeing a chain running under his black Playboy shirt.  Curious, I smirk and shift so I'm straddling his lap. His hands rest in on my thighs as he watches me curiously. I kiss him, hand still in his hair moving down over his chest, where I tug at his shirt. He lets me take it off him, both of us laughing as I do. I see it, the cross/dagger necklace from that day rested against his skin. I brush my fingers over it, hands resting against his waist
"You still have it."
He smiles, almost surprised I thought otherwise
"Yeah! Why wouldn't I?"
I shrug, not knowing what to say. He tells me, hand on my face and thumb running over my cheekbone
"I haven't taken it off since you gave it to me. At least for extended amounts of time."
I pout
"You sweetheart."
He touches the gold pendant sitting at the hollow of my throat
"Now we both have the necklaces from that day. Funny how that worked out huh?"