From Eden // andrew hozier-byrne

Chapter.7

"Hurry up lanky" I called down the stairs as I waiting at andrews apartment door. " I had to lock the car" he chuckled as he ran up the stairs, skipping two at a time.

"That reinforces my lanky statement" I added. "It's no secret" he said as he unlocked the door.

I looked around at the crème colored walls in a fairly vacant apartment. Perfect for two men who were just looking to move out of their parents house after college. The window in the middle of the living room let in lots of light.

The kitchen was barely a kitchen. A sink, a microwave and a refrigerator. A small rug in front of the sink reading" home sweet home" sat crooked.

A large tv with a futon and a coffee table with books stacked on it sat in between and collected dust and silverware from nights before.

" we live simply" he chuckled as he moved past me to his bedroom door. We walked in and there was a mattress with no frame and clothes hung in the closet with a hamper in the corner. His night stand had more books, a bottle cap, a lamp, and various hair ties scattered on it. The walls were the same color as the living room.

" well this won't be to bad" I assured him." It's mostly the guitars I'm worried about" he said, motioning the the line of cases leaning against the wall. "Yeah of course not the clothes just guitars" I smiled.

He chuckled and put his hand over my face, pushing me down onto the mattress." I'm being manhandled" I protested. " ok now that that's out of the way" he said as he dusted off his hands. " I'm fine with laying here and admiring you doing all the work" I smiled. He gave a restrained smile as his ears grew red.

I set up a box and began shoving a seemingly endless amount of flannel and sweaters into a box, taking them off the hangers one by one. Meanwhile Andrew was running guitars down to the car.

I listened to his labored breathing as he made is fourth trip up the flight of stairs. He took his hair down and shook it out before putting it back into a more neat position.

" I will rest and take that box downstairs next" he sighed as he laid back on his bed. I closed to the box of clothes, the smell of them wafting into my face as I did. His comforting smell of cinnamon and wood smoke filled my nose and warmed my body.

I looked over at his red cheeked face as he laid with his eyes closed. I sat down next to him gently and brushed the baby hairs and pin points of sweat off of his forehead. He lightly smiled as his eyes fluttered open.

" hard work" he joked as he closed his eyes again. I gently leaned down and kissed him, my lips landed sideways on his. His hand came up and held the back of my head, his fingers finding their way through my hair and to my scalp.

He traced his fingernails lightly up and down the back of my neck, sending shivers down my spine as our lips moved against each others softly. I pulled away, kissed his forehead and patted his shoulder.

" back at it" I sighed and he groaned and rolled to be face down. I pushed the box towards the door for him to carry down and I grabbed two of Alex's boxes and carried them down. I pushed the door open with my back and was met by the wind.

It blew across my cheeks and nose and blew my hair into my face. I handed off the boxes to Andy so he could neatly organize them into the back of his car. Watching him rearrange them was like watching him solve a jigsaw puzzle.

" let's call it at that for a day and lock up and go get fish and chips aye?" He asked as he made his way back to the building.

I opened my car door and slid in ask he came back down. I watched as he carefully got in, not to bump his head as he usually does on everything. " I've never seen my mother so delighted to meet someone" Andrew said after a while.

His mother showed me her gallery while I was over. She's incredibly talented. She revealed to me that she did the artwork for andrews album and that it was in fact hand painted.

" she's the sweetest woman I've ever met, you're family is so welcoming" I admitted. His toothy grin grew, knowing that our lives are intertwining before our eyes.

" she offered to paint with me, I'm afraid mine will look like a finger painting compared to her" I chuckled as we pulled into a seaside restaurant. " we are never ones to cast judgement" he reassured. " on special occasion however" he admitted.

" yeah that's what I thought" I laughed. He parked and quickly got out and made his way around to my side to open the door for me. My cheeked heated at his gesture and he restrained a smile.

I got out and felt the cold sea air hit my face. He leaned down to grab my hand and lead the way into the restaurant. We made our way in as the smell of food and beer made its way into my nose.

" have a seat where ever you'd like" the waitress told us in a strong accent. "This place has great fish and chips" he told me as he looked out the window to look at the stirring sea.

"The view is better though isn't it?" I inquired. He turned to look into my eyes as a light shown in them. " that is why I come here yes" he admitted. He realized that I could hear the truth behind his words, making him blush.

I'd come here too just for the view. To sit, eat, drink a coffee, or just stare blankly. I love moments where I get so caught up in what my eyes are beholding that there's nothing else in my brain but just that. What wonders the world holds.

I've felt that way a lot since I've come here. The most beautiful views you'll ever see. Especially the view sitting directly in front of me, sipping on his water with his eyes set intently outside.

" I like the view in front of me the most"  he smiled. I tucked my bottom lip into my teeth to suppress the grin that was about to spread across my face.

We ordered our food as Andrew got his notebook out that he never leaves home without. " ah an idea has sprung" I inquired." Just a little change to from Eden" he answered.

" I have a vision of this lightly upbeat song but one intense bridge that's just Laura's cello" he started explaining." But I just need to settle on lyrics for the first verse, that's where I struggle to decide the most".

" I'll most likely be biased I think all of your work is just genius, you have more of a literary mind than I own" I explained.

" nonsense" he denied. He slid the notepad to me to read over. I had crossed out an entire first section before and rewrote the first verse. " babe there's something tragic about you, something so magic about you, don't you agree?" I read aloud." Babe there's something lonesome about you, something so wholesome about you, get closer to me".

" I envisioned you as this sort of baby deer who's without its mom for the first time when I saw you, that's sort of feeling, and when I saw you I knew that this will either break my spirit or light my fire so to say, and so I wrote the dichotomy of that, as the first verse that basically either way it could end in fire" he rambled.

" the baby deer representation is very accurate, I've never felt like such an outsider before but when I saw you I had a psychical reaction" I chuckled." My mouth went dry and the only though I could think was' it's over for me' because seeing you felt so devastating, like you said either way this could end in fire".

He nodded in agreement. He put the notepad away, being content with my approval. I put my hand over my heart, feeling how hard it's beating from the intense emotion of him writing for me and about me.

He's so incredibly thoughtful without even trying to, he's just using his medium of expressing himself as he usually does.