Louder Than Love || Chris Cornell

Lost Loves Clothing Store

Seattle, Washington
November 9, 1988

"Andi... would you be able to put these shirts out on the rack over there?"

"Sure.." I say and grab the shirts and walk over to the clothing rack near the back if the store.

It was about a week later and I was busy with work, putting up the new... well relatively new donations that came into the store. We received a bunch of new band shirt donations and what was cool is that I was able to get first pick of what shirts I would like if I find one.

I quickly scour the pile of shirts before I set them up on the rack and find an awesome Aerosmith T-Shirt from 1984. Hell yes I'm keeping this. I set the Aerosmith shirt aside and bring the clothes over to the rack and start to sort and hang them up. As I continue to sort the clothes, I hear the little bell on the door indicating someone coming in. As I hang up the shirts, I quickly glance up and I see that is was Chris that walked in the store. I do a slight double take and then quickly turn my attention back to the shirts. I could feel my face flush and my heart started to flutter.

He flipped his long curly hair out of his face as he walked up to one of the rows of shirts and started flipping through the button up shirts. I glance back at him and still my heart fluttered. Again, what the fuck is wrong with me? It's just a guy, but I don't know how to explain it. I just have a feeling about him. As he flipped through the shirts I tried to concentrate on what I was doing but I constantly caught myself looking in his direction. His light blue T-Shirt that had the "Vision" skull logo on the front, made his eyes look so blue I swear it looked like they were almost glowing.

I continued to hang up the last of the band shirts when he then appeared beside me

"Hi," He says sweetly. I quickly look in his direction and grin at him.

"Hi," I say nervously.

"Um... I was wondering if you had any GWAR band shirts at all," He asks as his blue eyes look over me which send chills all over my body.

"Um... I think I saw one in here... let me check..." I say thoughtfully and flip through the rack.

"Um there's... this one..." I say as I hold up a white GWAR – Scumdogs Of The Universe T-Shirt.

"Cool," He smiles and I continue to flip through to find another as he takes the shirt from me. I look at him as he looks at the shirt and find myself fantasizing about sucking that pouty bottom lip of his. Fuck Andrea get a hold of your self.

"Or... there's... this one too," I clear my throat and hold up a black T-Shirt with Oderus Urungus.

"Cool," He smiles at me as I hold out the shirt for him to take. I continue to look at his gorgeous face, that was perfectly clean shaven and looked so soft I wanted to reach up and touch him. He looks over the shirt and we stand in silence for a couple of minutes.

"I didn't know you liked GWAR..." I say as I look back at the rack of shirts and flip through them to try to distract myself.

"Yea... They're cool... Dave Brockie's lyrics are hilarious," He smiles at me. We stand in silence again as he looks at me. A shy smile spreads across his lips and he looks away from me.

"Uh... I just pay for them up at the front?," He asks shyly.

"Oh yea... here I'll ring you through," I say and walk passed him as he follows me and I grab my Aerosmith shirt from the top of the rack. I walk up to the cash register and he stands in front and hands me his shirts. We look at each other for a moment and then I quickly look away to fold the shirts and place them in the bag.

"Uh.. that's 4 dollars," I say clearing my throat again. He reaches in his pocket and hands me four 1 dollar bills. I cash him out and place the receipt in the bag.

"Thank-you," He says as I hand him the bag.

"You're welcome," I say shyly. We look at each other again and I swear you could cut the sexual tension with a knife.

"See you... Andi..." He says smoothly and with that, my heart felt like it was going to fly out of my chest and flutter away.

"Bye... or I mean... yea... you too... Chris," I say trying to sound sly but I'm horrible at it. He smirks at me then flips his gorgeous hair out of his face and walks out the door.  I exhale loudly and try to contain myself.  I walk back over to the clothing rack where I set my Aerosmith shirt aside and noticed it was no longer there.

"Oh no... fuck," I say to myself. I didn't see anyone else come in the store so I must've accidentally put it in his bag. God damn it.  I turn and head towards the door and step outside but Chris was long gone now.  Damn it, I wanted to fix it up and style it to wear Saturday night when I go to The Central to see Soundgarden with Selena.

"Fuck..." I say to myself and head back in the store. Now what the hell am I going to wear on Saturday? I walk back over to the rack of band shirts and sift through them to find another shirt.  I eventually find a Dead Kennedy's-Too Drunk To Fuck band shirt. It's punk but it'll have to do. I'm not a big fan but I do like them. I look up at the clock and see that my shift was over.

"Sweet," I say to myself. I walk up to the cash and pay for the shirt and pay for the Aerosmith shirt that I accidentally gave to Chris, then head into the back of the store and put the shirt in my bag.

"Hey, I'm heading out now" I call to my boss, Nancy, downstairs.

"Alright Andi... see you Monday," She calls from downstairs.

"Yep, See you Monday," I say and with that I sling my black stripped purple bag over my shoulder and head out of the store.