Waking up the next morning was definitely a shock to me to say the least. To start off with, I woke to see guitars and suitcases packed into the corner near my side of the bed. Knowing that they weren't mine, I looked around the room a bit more to recollect my memory of where I was. It was only until I saw my bag lying on the floor by the foot of the bed, that I remebered what had gone on last night.
I had met Slipknot and Corey had let me stay at his house with him. I let out a content sigh and snuggled my head further into the pillow, enjoying the peace that I had until I felt someone snake their arms around me and pull my back into their chest. As I realized it was Corey, I was sure that I had been blushing like crazy now, and I tried waking him up. I'll say that it took some effort.
"Corey? Hey, Corey wake up it's... 1pm," I said quietly, looking over at the clock on the bedside table. I tried turning around so that I could face him but his grip was to strong, and only got stronger when I tried waking him. Instead of getting an audible response, Coreys answer was just a load of sleepy mumbling as he buried his face into my hair.
"I will find a way to wake you up, even if it means jumping on you and pulling you off the bed myself," I said, mainly to myself this time.
"Go on then, I'd like to see you try love," Came a sleepy response. I could hear the amusement in his voice as he smiled against the back of my neck. Oh Corey Taylor, I've only known you for a few hours and yet you have no idea how crazy you're driving me...
I let out a frustrated sigh, making him start to chuckle. Realizing that his grip had loosened a little bit, I regrettably made the decision to jump out of bed so that I could actually get him up. That plan only went so far though as almost instantly, the second I began getting up, I found Coreys arms clamped around my waist again and he was dragging me back down to where we were just laying.
"Stay." Was all he said as he turned me around so I could face him. I tried to keep my breathing as steady as possible once I registered how close together we were.
"Your eyes are pretty. I never noticed how bright green they were before," Was his next random comment. I tried my best not to blush but the smile that appeared on his face told me that I had failed.
"Aw, that's cute. You are something different, ain't ya," Corey thought out loud while still gazing in my eyes. I bit my lip nervously as I stayed quiet. I never replied to compliments, if I ever did I would just deny them, but this time I wanted to see how many compliments I actually could take before I started not to believe them again.
We ended up staying in bed for most of the afternoon, we'd make small talk here and there and drift in and out of sleep all whilst Corey still held me securely in his arms. I liked being like this, it made me feel safe having his arms placed around me. There was just something about him that seemed so calm and trustworthy all the time. Once I finally woke up and actually decided to stay awake, I noticed that we were still holding each other, the only difference being that Corey had entangled our legs together whilst he had been asleep, and his lips were pressed gently against the side of my forehead.
I decided not to wake him back up straight away, even if it was coming up to 5pm. Dam, a whole day wasted and all we done was sleep, but I suppose this is normal for him and the rest of the guys after a long time on tour. After a few moments of enjoying the quiet, I turned my head to get the time. 5:15pm. Ok, now it was time to get up.
I wriggled my arms free from Coreys grip and manage to sit up a bit, then tried waking him up once more. A few seconds later, he lazily opened one eye and looked at me.
"Hmm?" I smiled a little at his sleepy response and continued to get him up.
"We do need to get up now, it's gone 5pm."
With that, he woke up a little more and checked the time himself. After seeing that I was right, he sat up and put his face in his hands, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. Yes, all while I was having a hard time trying not to stare at his perfectly toned arms.
"Ok, we need food, I'm hungry. You wanna go out somewhere or get a takeaway?" He asked with his face still in his hands.
"I don't mind, whatever you want," after I replied, he suddenly snapped to life and got out of bed, heading straight over to the wardrobe, pulling out a white hoodie and putting it on, zipping it up a little below halfway.
"Alrighty, we'll order something I guess, I don't like the idea of getting dressed up to go somewhere the first day after tour," He decided. I nodded in agreement and got up from the warm comfort of the covers, going over to my bag to check my phone. No missed calls and no new texts. My heart sunk a little, knowing from experience that if Ryan hadn't tried contacting me, then it means he's beyond pissed off. He's like it because he knows that the angrier he is, if he doesn't call me then it turns into a guessing game on when it's safe to go back home or not. This wasn't the first time that he'd beaten and left me in the street, or that I've been absent from the house for a couple of days, although running and hiding from him never worked out too well once I did show up again.
I was pulled from my thoughts by Corey coming over and kneeling down to where I was on the floor.
"Hey, you Ok?" He asked with concern.
"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?" I replied quickly, trying to put on a happy face.
"Well I've just been blabbering on about nonsense for about five minutes while you've sat there staring at the lock screen of your phone." I shook my head, feeling slightly embarrassed that I hadn't been listening.
"I-I'm sorry, I just haven't had any calls or texts from Ryan yet..." I said quietly. Coreys eyes snapped towards mine at the mention of his name.
"Ryan... You're boyfriend?"
I nodded and he visibly tensed up, a small flash of anger appearing in his eyes. Why was he becoming so protective so quickly?
"Surely that's a good thing?"
"No... If I don't hear anything from him it means he's too angry to make the effort and then it becomes a guessing game for when I can go home without getting hurt straight away," I explained to him, feeling tears begin to fill my eyes again. Without another word, Corey pulled me into him and held me as a few tears rolled down my cheeks. I felt so safe with him, I didn't want to go back to the house.
We sat like that for a few moments, me just thinking and Corey holding me whilst he stroked my hair, before a thought came to mind.
"Corey?"
"Hm?"
"Why did you bring me home with you last night? I don't get why you'd want to add someone like me into your busy life."
He looked down at me and thought for a while, almost as if he was trying to piece together his answer.
"I brought you back with me because any man with even a hint of decency or respect would know better than to help out a woman who'd just been beaten to a pulp, and then toss her back in the hands of whoever done it straight away. I don't know... There's just something different about you too, you're calm, shy and I feel like I can't let you leave until I've at least made you happy or helped you out as much as possible."
He finished talking and I just stared at his beautiful blue eyes. I don't usually go for kissing people I hardly know personally, especially seeing as I have a boyfriend, but something about how close we were and the emotions in Coreys face whilst he was answering my question, in my mind it seemed like the perfect moment. Of course I'd never have the guts to do it, god knows what he'd think of me afterwards. Although I couldn't help but pay attention to the way he was looking back and forth between my lips and my eyes, it made the heat rise in my face once more, and my heart speed up ever so slightly.
Almost as quick as we had found ourselves in that small situation, we were snapped out of it when Coreys phone went off. He blinked a couple of times and let out a gentle sigh, then unwrapped his arms from me and got up to see who had text him. I watched as he had his back turned from me, looking down at his phone and typing away.
I really needed to get my head clear of these thoughts. Ryan would go mental if he ever found out I was having thoughts about liking another guy, even if it was a famous rockstar who I'd soon never see again once we parted ways. Standing up before I could fall any deeper into yet another thinking trance, I followed Corey downstairs as he went through to the kitchen to find some takeaway menus of some sort. Once we reached the kitchen, I jumped up onto the counter and once again found myself watching his every move.
He eventually turned around with a smile on his face and skipped over to me, making me giggle as he began reading out the menu titles in funny voices. We set them out on the side next to me and decided on getting pizza. Cliché classic I know, but pizza is way to dam good to reject.
After the pizza had been chosen and ordered, Corey helped me find another set of clean clothes to wear so I could have a shower. I was in need of one as my hair was all gross after the previous events outside the concert.
Whilst in the shower, I washed my hair at least twice to make sure it was definitely clean, then I washed my body then just stood there, letting the hot water flow over my battered and bruised skin. I let my fingers trace the bruises along my collar bones, down to the ones on my stomach, along my scarred arms and finally down to my thighs. Ryan had gone apeshit when he saw what I was doing on my arms, so I changed to my thighs. He still had yet to find that one out, and looking at them reminded me that I hadn't done it for a few days now. Feeling the temptation of a relapse coming about, I quickly turned the water off and stepped out, wrapping a towel around me. I couldn't do that, not in Coreys house.
Once I felt that my mind was clear again, I walked from the bathroom to the bedroom, where I found some clothes that Corey had managed to pick out for me. Holding them up, I realized all he had given me this time was a black and red flannel shirt and a pair of boxers. I bit my lip nervously. There I had been, just thinking about my scars and cuts and now I had no way of hiding them.
I spun my attention towards the door as a knock sounded followed by Corey slowly entering incase I wasn't decent yet.
"Pizza's here, everything Ok?" He asked and I struggled to put an answer together quick enough before he looked fully at me, then trailed his eyes towards my thighs. Well, too late now I guess.
"Oh god," He breathed almost silently. I couldn't bear this, I was just being to much of a burden on him.
I expected him to shout, to yell just like Ryan had. I knew that he'd get angry, maybe throw something, I don't know, but I was prepared for the worst.
"If I had it my way, you'd never go back to that fucker ever again. He's ruining you, isn't he?"
I let out my breath that I'd been holding and stared at him as he walked towards me and sat me down on the edge of the bed. He knelt down if front of me and took my hands into his considerably bigger hands.
"I'm gonna help you get away from this guy. I don't want friends of mine feeling like this or going through anything that causes them pain of any sort."
He considered me a friend already? I was surprised at that as he finished his sentence and ran one of his hands through my hair, then leaned down and placed a soft kiss on each of my thighs where my scars were littered. My breathing hitched and he looked back and me, standing and pulling me up with him were I stood no taller than around his shoulder height. He left the room so I could change into the clothes on the bed and I looked at myself in the mirror. I had the flannel shirt on with the sleeves rolled up to my elbows and the length went just above the bottom of the boxers. I'll admit it looked kinda hot on me, it's just a shame I wasn't all that hot in general though.
"Yo, you might wanna hurry down here before all this food dissappears!" I heard from the lounge downstairs. I was quick to towel dry my hair and tie it up with a hair tie from my bag, then headed down to where Corey was putting on a film. Once he turned to face me he stopped almost dead in his tracks and gave me a piercing stare, making me feel uncomfortable. I was just about to say something when he beat me to it.
"Dam... I uh, I mean... The shirt looks nicer on you than me... uh, yeah..." He trailed off. I blushed and he chuckled, heading over to the couch with me and Collapsing onto it, waiting for me to join him before playing the film and grabbing some pizza for the two of us.
Throughout the course of the film, we had finished all the pizza and gradually altered our position so that now Corey was lying down and I was snuggled across his torso and in between his legs, with my head against his neck. He had his arms around me once again and we slowly paid less and less attention to the film as we entered some more casual conversation.
By the end of the night, I was cuddled into him on his lap and we just sat, enjoying each other's company once the film ended. Our faces were within millimetres from eachother and I took the chance to study his face, his blue eyes, his slight shaving stubble, his perfectly kissable looking lips. God I really needed to stop this.
My attention flickered back up to his half lidded eyes, which seemed glazed over with sleep and some other form of emotion which I couldn't quite pinpoint at this moment. I watched as he once again began to look from my eyes to my lips and inched closer, pain stakingly slowly. This wasn't happening. It couldn't happen. Oh god I wanted it to happen. But as always with my luck, he instead placed a kiss on my cheek after a quick flash of realization then sadness washed over his eyes. He must have remembered about Ryan...
"We should get some sleep, you look pretty tired," He mumbled, sounding pretty tired himself. I nodded in agreement and went to turn the TV off. Leaving everything else where it was, we decided that we'd clear it up in the morning and made our way upstairs.
We reached Coreys room and I went straight to the bed, diving under the covers and getting comfortable. A few seconds later, I saw the lights go off and felt Corey climb in next to me, pulling me towards him and kissing my forehead while we interlocked our legs together and he smothered my small frame with his arms. We stayed like that as we said goodnight and slowly drifted off into sleep.