Eminem Fan Fiction Shorts II

Mr. Mathers' Astonishment

The gallery that Jackie directed me to was in the art district, on a side street. The building looked like a combination of old world architecture and industrial, a mishmash of brick and metal that was stark in its presentation. Jackie used a key to get in, grinning at me over her shoulder as she did. Her excitement was palatable and infectious. I knew from the work on her walls at home that she was good, so I was looking forward to seeing what she'd been laboring over.

"This way," she said, pointing up a circular set of metal stairs that took us to the second floor. When we got there, I stared around, shocked.

Surrounding me, on all four walls, was a life-sized mural. It was edgy, following the style of the comic illustrations that were in Jackie's living room, with an almost street-artist feel to it. As I walked up, I saw that each broader scene, of which there were three per wall, was made up of minute, smaller scenes. My eyes couldn't rest as they looked over the work. Everywhere, there was more detail and more to the story. As I was sucked into the first one on the left, I realized that the smaller scenes were telling the story of the larger one – they were chapters to the book that was the large portion of the mural, with each of the three larger sets per wall casting an umbrella over the trilogy.

My mouth was literally hanging open as I moved from one image to the next, amazed by the detail, the color, the emotion that was coming back at me as if it were in 3D. Jackie wasn't good. She was a fucking master. I was quite literally in awe of her.

When I turned, she was watching me, waiting for my reaction. I shook my head, gesturing all around. I was speechless. She grinned and threw herself at me and I caught her in my arms, feeling the bubbling excitement in her body as her hair tickled at my forearms.

"You're phenomenal." I said as I bent my head to her ear. "I don't know how else to say it." I admitted and she leaned her head back and looked at me, her smile lighting her whole face.

"I'm glad you like it," she said. "I need to finish some lines on that end," she pointed to a corner, "and then we could go get something to eat." She bit her lip. "If you don't mind waiting a bit?" I nodded, looking around me.

"I think I have something to keep me occupied while you do your thing." I said. She chuckled and stepped back.

"Alright, you explore."

---

Three weeks later, I was standing in her gallery with an excited, flushed Jackie talking to patrons off to the side. The prior two weeks, we'd seen each other about every other day. The most recent week, however, she'd been busy setting up for the opening of the exhibit and so I'd only caught her through texts and calls. I'd missed her something fierce, which I'd come to accept the second straight day without her. I may have only known her for a month or so, but it didn't matter. She felt like home and I was homesick.

Tonight, however, I was finally going to be able to have her to myself again. After the show, that was. I looked around at the crush of people here to see her work and I was both proud as Hell and annoyed as fuck. I wanted everyone to recognize her abilities and talent, but I also wanted them all to just motherfucking disappear so I could snuggle my Ewok.

"There she is!" A loud, booming voice called from the entryway of the exhibit, causing a murmur of discomfort among those already in the room. I looked up to see a group of six guys and women walk in.

The voice wasn't the only thing that caused the tension in the room. The six weren't dressed posh or artsy like many of the patrons. Instead, they were in street clothes. The four dudes were a variety of shapes and sizes, but covered in tattoos from their hands up to their necks where you could see their skin from their shirts. The women, meanwhile, had the stark beauty that comes with rougher lives. All of them walked with the swagger that comes from time spent in bad neighborhoods and they were all focused on Jackie.

As the patrons surrounding Jackie moved away, I got closer, standing to her side but slightly in front. I didn't know what was about to go down, but I didn't like the idea of being far away from her right now. Jackie, however, smiled at me and patted my arm before she moved past and gave the one who'd spoken – a big fucker who was probably pushing three bills – a hug.

"You came!" She said as she pulled back and then hugged each of the other five. I watched quietly, trying to connect dots without any pencil to put to the paper. Jackie was a grad student in art history, how the fuck did she know people who I'd be more likely to have known on the 8 mile?

"Wouldn't miss this for the world, Jack." One of the women spoke, her voice warm.

When the lot of them had walked in, they'd had their masks of indifference up. When they looked at Jackie, though, the ice thawed. I'd known I wasn't the only one who saw how extraordinary Jackie was, but it still made me territorial to see others look at her like that. I was a damn Smeagol; she was my precious. Jackie turned to me and gestured to the group.

"Marshall, these are more of my friends." She said, pointing to each as she introduced them. "This is Tami, Rocky, Damon, Kelly, Donnie, and Sparks. Everyone, this is Marshall." She finished as she slipped an arm around my waist.

The leader of the group cocked his head and then looked back to the other five before chuckling. They joined him as they looked at us and my brow quirked.

"Sorry, man." Rocky said as he put out a hand. "It's just that Jackie is the only woman on the planet who can know people like us and you and all these motherfuckers," he indicated around us, "and see nothing whatsoever weird about it." He said with amusement. My lips quirked as I shook his hand and nodded.

"You got that right." I agreed. Jackie looked between us, slight confusion pulling her brows together and I kissed her forehead. She genuinely didn't see why someone would think it strange that she was friends with so many different kinds of people.

"You guys should get some food," she said, pointing to a far corner. "They wanted some ritzy stuff, but I made them do sliders instead. There's pop, water and tea, too. Oh, and Rocky, the piece about us is in that corner." She said with a smile and he nodded.

"Alright, then I'll start with it, Jack." He said as he moved away.

"Tell me what you think!" Jackie called as he moved past and he nodded and waved his hand, bee lining to the corner as hipsters parted like the Red Sea for him. I looked to the corner she'd pointed at and then down to her.

"What do you mean, that one was about you and him?"