Reverberation - Guns N Roses Fanfiction

SIX - the movie

September 3rd, 1991

"I don't know!" I exclaimed, pacing around my apartment, my fingers playing with a pencil in my right hand. Colin lounged on the couch with a bag of chips in his lap, his back to me. "It was so unexpected. Like, who does that? Just says all that shit to someone they haven't seen in ages?"

"Maybe he just wanted to make sure that you wouldn't back down from your decision," he said around a mouthful of chips, not even bothering to turn from looking at the TV.

I pivoted back to the kitchen counter where my list (Reasons Why Izzy Could Have Sprung All Of His Feelings Onto Me Out Of Nowhere) resided. I tapped my pencil against my chin and stared at the blank space next to the number one.

"If that's true, then it was pretty over-kill to me," I grumbled. "I mean, he said 'you make me think maybe the world isn't so bad after all' and 'part of me wished I'd never urged you to leave'. What the hell! You can't just tell someone that and expect them to not freak out!"

A beat of silence.

"Have you ever thought that maybe he's, like, in love with you?"

I paused, considering.

"No," I decided, first gently biting my pencil then gesturing with it as I spoke. "That's not possible--we never even talked much while I was there. And you can't fall in love with someone you don't know, who you haven't seen in ages," I explained. "Plus, he's had plenty of girlfriends over the years, according to the magazines. Do you really think he'd do that and be lusting after me the whole time, too?" I scoffed at the idiocy of the thought.

Colin mumbled something unintelligible.

"What?"

"I said," Colin exaggerated, finally twisting around to face me with an exasperated look. "It doesn't sound like mere 'lust' to me."

I threw my pencil at him. He just laughed when it hit the wall behind him.

-
September 7th, 1991

I went four days before seeing Izzy again. It came as a surprise, considering I'd expected him to have gone back to LA by now.

"Oh," I said, my tone light and high from being caught off-guard, "Hey."

He stood in my doorway with his shoulders curved slightly inward, not quite meeting my eye.

"Do you... need anything?" I asked.

"Is your... cousin still here?" he asked me instead.

"Um, no; Colin left. He lives in Quebec."

Izzy nodded.

A beat of silence. I raised a brow slightly. "Is there something I can do for you?"

"No. I was just... I went back to LA for a day. I mean, it wasn't meant to be for a day, but I met up with Duff and... I love the guy, but I... it's terrible to be around him. All of them. I just can't do it anymore. So I came back as fast as I could and I just... wanted to tell you--or make sure it was okay, I guess--that I'll stay in New Brunswick for a while. Only for the time until you leave, and then I'll go with you. I think... it would be good for me." Izzy smiled a bit, not at all like the open, careless grins he'd shown me when I'd agreed to this deal of his.

"Oh. Okay--I mean, it's not up to me, it's your decision of course, but--no, it doesn't bother me at all, I mean I don't know why it would, anyway, but..." I stopped myself before I rambled for too long. I just gave him a small smile and opened the door slightly further. "Would you like to come in?"

"No, no, it's okay; I should be getting back," he told me, backing away a step.

"What, got someone waiting for you back at your hotel room or somethin'?" I huffed a laugh, but the question rang true.

"Of course not," Izzy chuckled with me, "I just meant I didn't want to bother you."

"It's okay. Really. You can stay for a bit, if you want. Actually, I was just going to go for a walk; you're welcome to come if you'd like. Maybe we could stop by Blockbuster and find a movie to rent or something."

Again, that small smile of his. "Sure."

"Okay, great, just give me a second. You can come in." I opened the door to him and grabbed my wallet, sliding it into the front pocket of my jacket.

Our walk was partially quiet. At times, Izzy would ask me what certain things were, and I would tell him. Mostly, though, we walked in content silence.

We reached Blockbuster in about ten minutes, and decided on a movie in half the time. We got two, actually: the first one was Misery, but just in case we didn't like it we also took out a classic--Jaws.

Izzy and I wasted no time when we arrived back at the apartment--he went on his way to set up the TV, and I prepared the snacks.

We sat on the couch together, a comfortable distance apart. The bowl of popcorn was between us, and Izzy put his drink down dangerously close to the edge of the table, but I didn't say anything. I kept mine a safe five inches away from the edge.

The movie began, and we watched in a stiff silence--the sort that felt like something should be said, but you're just not sure what conversation to start, or where it could lead.

During a lull in the film--a panoramic scene of a city skyline at night upon the screen--I cleared my throat uneasily. Behind the partially curtained patio door, there was a similar view. The noise of day had died down and, somehow, just the act of sitting on a couch with a man felt... intimate. It was just Izzy, and it wasn't like that, but...

I didn't peel my stare from the TV, even as I could feel his eyes trying to reach mine from across our seat, as I spoke. "You can--" I began, but stumbled in my mind upon searching for suitable words. "I mean, you don't have to, but if you didn't want to try to catch a cab back--or, you know, I could always give you a drive, I suppose--but, uh, it's really late, so if you'd like, you could just stay here. For the night." A brief pause. "There's a spare room."

"Oh." Another beat of silence, and then some sort of light flickered on inside of him. "Oh. Yeah. For sure. That would be great."

I tucked my legs into my chest and managed a glance in his general direction. "You don't--I mean, don't feel obligated or anything, I wouldn't be--"

"No," he said with that quiet confidence of his, "it would be nice--to stay here, I mean. Thank you."

I offered him a shy smile and nod, both of which would have been hard to see in the dimness without truly paying attention. Judging by the way he settled back into the cushions after my small actions, though, I would guess that he was, in fact, paying attention.

Quietly, just above the choir singing in the background of the movie, I told him, "You can stay for as long as you want."

Izzy nodded, and, just like he had, I caught the little grin that he sent my way.

Something like satisfaction--happiness--settled in my core.

--

Awe how cute :')
How much do you think they should just fuck already lmfao

-megan xx

Ps. happy birthday to me bitches