Eminem Fan Fiction Shorts II

Mr. Mathers' Serenity

Jackie's room was like a cocoon. It was small, practically overwhelmed by the queen bed situated in the middle of it, and overflowing with fabrics and decorations that made me feel like I'd stepped into a genie's lamp.

A light on a small side table threw a soft, yellow glow over everything. There was a T.V. in this room on one side while along another wall, much like what was out in the living room, there were drawings and illustrations. These ones, however, were scenes of the same character depicted in various stages and moments in life.

I put the clothes she'd handed me on the bed as I stripped the wet clothing off. Jackie's place might be tiny, but the warmth it gave off was going a long way to fixing the cold that had seeped into my bones. As I stepped into the baggy jeans and large shirt she'd gotten for me, I wondered if they were a boyfriend's. They smelled like fresh detergent, so there wasn't much to go on there. I grabbed my wet clothing off her floor and moved out into the living room, the sound of a kettle greeting me as I did.

"Tea or hot chocolate?" Jackie asked, her back to me.

"Uh, hot chocolate would be great." I said.

I still wasn't sure how to take her. She didn't act like she recognized me at all, which just made her actions all the more extraordinary. As far as she knew, I was just some normal person who'd been caught in the rain. She turned to me, handing me a mug as she walked across the room and scooping the clothes out of my hands.

"I'm going to toss these in the dryer downstairs, I'll be back in a flash." She said, moving out of the room. A few minutes later, she returned and sat on the couch.

"You can sit, Marshall. It's going to be a little bit before they dry." She suggested.

"Thanks," I said, gesturing to myself and the mug. She waved her hand at me as she untied her black sneaks.

"No problem. Ah, that's better." She murmured as she took off her socks and wiggled her toes. She sighed with a smile and leaned back into the couch as I continued to stand there, looking at her. She cocked her head at me, shaking it slightly.

"Come on, I know just the thing." She said as she stood. She grabbed the hand that wasn't holding the mug and tugged me into her room, pointing to the bed.

"Have a seat while I put on a movie." She instructed. I stared at her for a moment before doing as she asked. This wasn't the strangest experience I'd ever had, but it was certainly in the top twenty.

I put my back against the wall of pillows, as I settled into what had to be the most comfortable bed on the planet. Setting aside my mug on the table, I looked back to the illustrations.

"You like comics?" I asked and she chuckled, flashing a hundred watt smile at me from where she was putting in a DVD.

"I'm an artist." She said. My brows rose as I thought about what all I'd seen in her place. Every piece had the same underlying style to it.

"You did all those?" I asked, my surprise evident. Jackie nodded and then crawled up the bed to lean back next to me, her shoulder touching mine as she settled in.

"Yep." She answered, clicking the remote through the main menu of whatever movie she'd selected.

"They're really good." I said, looking back to some of them. She bounced her shoulder off mine, smiling again.

"Thank you! I'm in grad school, art history. I use comics to offset some of the drier art that I work with and learn about." She explained. I choked a little into my mug. Grad school? I was fucking old enough to be her- I cut the thought off, unwilling to think it through to completion.

Instead, I nodded and focused back on the screen across the way, which was starting up some comedy. I barely registered my eyes getting heavier or that I'd slid down the mattress such that my head was at a pillow by Jackie's side. Sleep came naturally, however, as the flickering images of the movie washed over my brain and I snuggled into something warm and sweet smelling.

---

The next day, I woke up clutching one of Jackie's pillows. My brain was fogged over with the best sleep I'd had in months. I was warm and everything felt calm - the restlessness that had been driving me insane wasn't spidering across my nerves.

The peace was broken, however, when a warm, curvy body jumped on me and laid against my back. I grunted, raising my head to find Jackie's twinkling eyes looking at me. She chuckled as I groaned.

"Wake up, sleepy head. I made food." She demanded.

"Too early." I responded, closing my eyes and burying my head in her pillow.

It smelled like the rest of the apartment, only with the addition of chocolate and spice. My brows puckered a little. That's what Jackie smelled like, too. She poked me in the cheek, her grin seemingly never ending as I popped open one eye.

"The pancakes have chocolate chips in them." She enticed and I shifted, rolling her off me in sudden movement. She laughed as she fell back on the mattress, holding her stomach. I kept having to revise what she was. She wasn't champagne; she was moonlight, shining in the darkness.

She got up and moved into the other room. I noted that she was once more in head to toe black, the color somehow bringing out the glow of a healthy tan. When I got into the room, I found a stack of pancakes on a plate on a small table in front of the couch.

"Your clothes are all dry." She informed me as she sat on the floor and laced up her shoes. "I got your phone into a rice bowl, but you should probably wait longer to try it." She continued, pointing to the kitchen counter.

I sat back and said what I'd been thinking, unable to stop myself.

"How in the fuck are you real?" I asked, and she cocked her head at me in question. "First, you let a complete stranger into your home." I said, putting up my index finger. "Second, you dry his clothes and have him hang with you while you do it. Third, you let him fall asleep in your bed. Fourth, you take care of his shit. And, fifth, you make him breakfast." I finished, all five of the fingers on my left hand now raised.

Jackie chuckled, shifting to lace up the other shoe. She stood and put one hand on her hip as she pointed at me.

"Sounds like you don't have many people in your life who don't expect things from you." She responded. "You needed help and I was able to. It's just that simple." She said as she bent at the waist and started gathering her hair. She stood, raising her arms overhead as she smoothed it into a pony tail.

"That's because no one is like that!" I countered. Jackie shook her head, walking toward me and stumbling a little on the same upturned part of the rug that she caught yesterday.

"Nope. Now, I have to get to class. Your clothes are folded there," she pointed. "Please just lock up when you leave." She finished as she grabbed a coat and her purse.

I stared at her, angry now. She was disregarding the harm she could have come to last night and now she was letting me stay here without supervision? For reasons I couldn't explain and didn't want to delve into, it pissed me right the fuck off.

"Jackie, that isn't fucking safe." I said, my tone hard. She looked at me with a sigh, walking over to the couch and sitting on it. Without any fucking warning, she gave me a hug and kissed my cheek.

"Thank you for worrying." She said. "If you leave your number, I'll keep up with you. I've left mine, in case you want it." She finished, pointing to a pad near the bowl with my phone in it.

"See you later, Marshall."