September, 1986 - NYC
The petite, brunette woman opened her eyes to a sunny, warm day in New York City. She turned off her alarm clock and quickly got up to get dressed. It was 7.30 a.m. And work began in an our, so she hurried and wore a shirt and a plain skirt as fast as she could. Her heart was beating so fast as she sat on the table in the kitchen to eat a bowl of cereal. It was her first day at work, in the building of the United Nations. After she graduated as a very successful student, she had found herself trying to decide what she wanted to do with her life.
She had a lot of dreams, pretty different from each other. She literally wanted to live in totally different universes at the same time. She wanted to form a rock n' roll band, but she also wanted to save the world. One part of her wanted a lively life, full of adventure; but the other part of her wanted a calm life, silent and peaceful. One part of her wanted to be recognized, to get attention, to be known by millions and to be remembered for centuries. But the other part of her wanted to be completely apart from the society, to spend her life quietly without even letting anyone know that she exists.
She quickly grabbed her jacket and bag and got out of her apartment. A man, probably her colleague, that she had been sending letters to had offered to pick her up from her apartment at 8. She couldn't turn down his polite offer, and just hoped that he was actually as nice as she thought he was, since she hadn't met him in person yet. His name was Collin. Collin Linwood.
The sunshine immediately fell onto her as she stepped outside, and she decided to wait under the shadow of the building in order to prevent herself from sweating in her formal outfit. Tons of cars passed by as she waited, but no Collin. She looked at her watch and saw that it was already 8 o'clock. After waiting for a few more minutes, she decided to sit down, onto the pavement and listen to the noise the cars were making. Five more minutes passed, but Collin was still nowhere in sight. She started to think that he was never going to come, or worse, Collin didn't really exist at all. He sounded really trustworthy in the letters, but still, she hadn't met him in person after all.
Just then, she heard a quite familiar melody, coming from a guitar. She immediately turned her head to see the source of the melody. That was when she saw the long haired man with dirty and ripped up clothes, sitting on the pavement, his back against the building, and strumming his acoustic guitar. There was a cowboy hat on the floor which only had a few coins in it. She couldn't help but stand up and move closer to him. He was really talented, for sure. He was effortlessly playing that wonderful classic by Dire Straits; Sultans of Swing.
Music was a big part of her life. Actually, it used to be her whole life for a long time, before she started focusing on her career. She had been playing piano since she was 9. She even went to a music school in her country, Turkey, for a few years when she was 12, in order to be a musician. Then, she decided that she didn't want to be a virtuoso. She wanted to be a rockstar. So, she changed her school to a regular middle school. Actually, it wasn't really regular. It was one of the best schools in her country, and it was really expensive. But she managed to get a full scholarship and became one of the most successful students in her school.
She grew up in Turkey, her parents were Turkish, she was Turkish. But now, she was able to speak English as if it was her native language. She left Turkey when she was 18, and moved to Europe with her parents in order to go to college. And then, she came to America. It had only been a month since she came, but she didn't feel like a stranger at all.
"You like Dire Straits?" the man spoke with a soft voice, after stopping playing. She looked at him. He had blond, wavy hair which was almost at the same length with her own hair. His eyes were greyish blue, and he probably hadn't been shaving for a few weeks. He was about her age, and probably homeless. "Yeah." she answered quickly when she realized that she had been staring at him for so long. He was definitely good looking.
"Well, I could sense that you liked them by the way you looked at my guitar." He chuckled. She couldn't help but smile at his chuckle. It was so sad that he didn't even have money to buy something to eat, her smile turned into a frown. She would love to bring him to her apartment and let him stay there. But she didn't want to be dumb. She didn't even know him.
"You don't talk much, do you?" She quickly came back to real life. This guy had certainly been trying to communicate with her, but all she had said to him was 'yeah'. "Yeah, well... I'm sorry, I..." She was never good at socializing, so when she couldn't find anything else to say, she just didn't say anything at all. Realizing that she wasn't able to just talk to him, he decided to ask questions. "Are you waiting for someone?"
She immediately looked around when she remembered that she was. But still, there was no one in sight. "Well, yes. But he was supposed to come at 8." She looked at her watch. It was quarter past 8, and she was going to be late if Collin didn't arrive in a few minutes. She decided to keep on talking since she actually had some things to say. "Today is gonna be my first day at work, and this guy I've met via letters told me he was gonna pick me up."
He raised his eyebrows. "Why have you been sending him letters?" He looked like he was about to burst into laughter. "He works at the UN. I wanted him to help me get a job there. Now he is my colleague, I guess." He stayed completely silent for about ten seconds, then he suddenly cracked up and started laughing like crazy. He almost hit his head to the building, and he was having a hard time breathing. She couldn't understand why he was laughing, so she just patiently waited for him to stop. But also, she found it kind of rude. "So..." he managed to spit out between chuckles, when he was finally calm, he said: "So you believed that a guy you met via letters will give you a ride to work?"
She still didn't know why it was funny. "Yes..." was all she said. He laughed one last time. "Honey... You are so fuckin' naive, you know that?" She was shocked when she heard him swear, she never swore. And she wasn't used to those kind of words. It just made him seem ruder in her eyes. "But okay, sorry, sorry. I guess you are new in New York." he said, this time seriously. "I moved here a month ago." she replied. He nodded, then smirked and shook his head. "You have a lot to learn, darlin'"
She turned her head back to the road. She was kind of offended. She decided to sit down again. After a few minutes of listening to the cars noise again, he started strumming his guitar. This time, he was playing a blues tune, which she really liked. He played a few chords and looked like he was choosing them randomly, but it sounded beautiful. Then, he suddenly stopped playing. She turned to him to understand why. He was looking directly at her. "Do you always get offended this easily?"
She lowered her head. Yes, she did. She was always offended very easily. But of course, she couldn't say that to him. "Hey, I'm sorry if I offended you." She was surprised by his apology. "I can be kinda rude now and then." She smiled sincerely. "It's okay." She really thought it was okay. It was very kind of him.
"I'm Dustin." He held out his hand. "Call me 'Dust'." She took his hand without doubt and shook it. "I'm Aryl." He didn't let go of her hand for a few more seconds, and she didn't pull her hand back. She had liked his touch. "What kind of a name is Aryl?" He raised an eyebrow. "What kind of a name is Dust?" She replied without thinking, and made him chuckle again. He looked into her eyes as he slowly let go of her hand. "By the way, you can take a bus from that way," he pointed a direction, "I guess it goes somewhere near the United Nations building." She smiled again, looking into his eyes. "Thank you." He grinned at her.
Just at the moment she decided to take the bus instead of waiting for Collin, a white car stopped right next to her apartment's entrance. Both she and Dustin looked at the man that came out of the car. He was quite tall, he had brown hair and he was wearing an expensive suit. He was about to get inside the apartment when she shouted "Wait!" He turned to her and rushed towards her. "Hello, might you be Aryl Raine, miss?" He spoke in a formal tone. She quickly got up. "Yes, I am. You are Collin Linwood, right?"
"Yes. I am so sorry, the traffic..." She cut him off. "It's okay." They shook hands. "Nice to meet you." He genuinely smiled at her. "Nice to meet you too." He stepped back to allow her to go first. But she took a glance at Dustin, who had a strange emotion on his face. He was either shocked, or happy or something else... "Bye sweetheart!" he yelled and waved. She couldn't help but quietly giggle when he called her sweetheart.
Suddenly, she remembered. She quickly zipped her bag open and pulled out a tuna sandwich. It was supposed to be her lunch, but she didn't really care. She felt like helping this interesting man she met. "I think I have something for you!" she yelled and quickly walked towards Dustin. She handed him the sandwich then pulled out her wallet, pulled out 50 dollars and put it inside his cowboy hat. She started walking, or running, to Collin's car, before Dustin could even decide what to say, so he ended up yelling "Thank you so much!" behind her.
She smiled to herself as she got inside Collin's car, and he sat on the driver's seat. "You are so fuckin' naive, you know that?" Dustin's voice echoed in her brain. No, she wasn't naive. She trusted people, and she loved making people happy. Just like how she made Dustin happy that day.
For the first time in a long time, she knew what she wanted. And she was going to have it, she knew it.
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What do you think she wants? By the way, the guy in the photo is Travis Fimmel, and he represents Dustin. I hope you liked this chapter because I haven't written anything like this before. And, the first 4-5 chapters might be boring, but then GN'R members will start to become a part of the story, as well as some other rockstars like Sebastian Bach, Vince Neil, etc. So keep on reading ;) Please vote and let me know what you think in the comments!