Louder Than Love || Chris Cornell

Living In The Temple Of The Dog

"Mom, it's fine... no I'm not drinking all that much... yes Chris is driving... no he won't... mom... we're sleeping in his truck... it's ok..." I say as she warns me not to let him drink and drive and I roll my eyes. I know she's just being extra protective cause she's worried and she's sick but I tell myself at least she hasn't lost her 'mothering' of me even when I'm all the way out west.

I pour my drink, a Jack straight up, take a sip and I hear a knock at the door.
"I'm just getting the door..." I say to my mom and I open the door to see Chris standing in his black leather jacket, his black fitted tank top, the dark blue plaid shirt still tied around his waist, and his black shorts. He grins at me and flips his curls out of his face as I cover the mouthpiece of the phone, lean in and give him a quick kiss on his soft pouty lips.

"Who is it?" He asks as I pull away,  wave him to come in and put the phone back to my ear.
"My mom," I mouth to him and he nods as he steps through the door and closes it. As my mom continues to talk in my ear, I walk back to the kitchen and pour a little more whiskey in my glass, I look over at Chris who was leaning on the kitchen door frame and hold up the bottle to ask if he would like one.

"No I'm good until we get to the park," He says quietly. I nod and set the bottle down and screw the cap back on with one hand.

"Mom... it's Chris..." I say as Chris raises his eyebrow at me.
"Yes... he's here... I know... I know... I can call you tomorrow when I get back... it'll be later in the afternoon though... ok... uh huh...I know... ok... I love you too mom... ok... ok bye..." I say and quickly push the hang up button and it makes a 'beep' and quickly down my whiskey.

"Long talk with your mom?" Chris asks as I set the glass down on the counter.
"Oh yea... but it was ok though.." I say as I set the phone back on its charging base and put the Jack in the fridge.
"How is she?" He asks.
"Um... well... miserable..." I say as I turn and look at him and his expression falls.

"It's ok... she's just really sick from the treatment... she's just finding it hard to eat and to sleep..." I say as I rinse my glass in the sink. I was already feeling the whiskey hit me and it really helped to talk about it with a bit of a buzz without feeling like I was going to fall apart.

"I'm sorry babe... are you ok?" He asks as he walks over to me.
"Me? oh yea... I'm fine..." I lie. I turn off the tap and he brushes a stray curl out of my face.
"We don't have to go... if you're not feeling up for it..." He says so soothingly.
"No... no I'm ok... I want to go..." I say and look up at him as I dry my hands off with the tea towel.  He leans down to me and presses his lips to mine as I completely get lost in his scent of leather and sweet musky cologne with a hint of smoke. I set the towel down on the counter and reach up to thread my fingers through his beautiful long curls as he pulls me closer into him.

I have no idea how he does it but in this moment, the feeling of his lips on mine melted away all the fear and hurt and pain I was shoving down into the pit of my stomach, even if it is only for a few moments. It's a few moments of love and peace that I long for all day, wrapped up in his arms. I pull away from his lips and he touches his forehead to mine.

"Well... if you still want to go we should leave now..." He says softly as I start to play with his beard. I'm actually really loving his beard now.
"Yea... ok," I say as I slowly pull away from him and move to the living room to grab my bag and my jacket as he follows me and we head out the door to his truck.

•••

"Is it just us with Jeff and Stone?" I ask as I put in a tape of Aerosmith's 'Pump'.
"Yea... and Mike too," Chris says as he turns up the stereo a bit and looks out the windshield.
" I thought you said you didn't like this album..." I smirk at him.
"Yea... well... it kinda grew on me," Chris smirks back at me and I giggle. We had been on the road for just a short while and we finally end up at the park. Chris pulls us up to a wide open field of the park area where we could see Jeff and Stone around the campfire that was somewhat close to the lighthouse and the beach. Chris turns the truck around so that the flatbed faced the fire and he hops out of his side and helps me out if my side of the truck and grabs his guitar and the case of beer.