Tacoma, WA June 20, 1994 The two friends ended up spending time together more often than not. They would hang out at each others' apartments, still go out for their weekly coffee chat, and occasionally do dinner and a movie. Dave was coming to the realization that his feelings for Sarah were getting more and more difficult to contain. She kept him going. And if he ended up losing her to his feelings, he feared that he would want to stop going.
Sarah woke up to the feeling of a very heavy comforter weighing down her body. She opened her eyes slowly and saw an unfamiliar ceiling, then the other side of the bed that was still made. She picked up and turned her head to the other side and saw Dave peacefully sleeping on the floor under a fluffy blanket. She heard him sharply inhale, his eyes fluttering open.
"Morning, Sare," his voice was raspy, and he raised his arms to stretch.
"Morning, Dave," Sarah smiled, watching him brush his long hair out of his face as he sat up, cracking his lower back. She winced; it sounded painful.
"You really didn't have to sleep on the floor," she told him, and he automatically shook his head, denying her statement.
"It was my choice, I wanted you to be comfortable. Coffee?"
She concluded that she wasn't going to get very far in terms of the sleeping situation, so she left it alone. "Do you even have to ask?"
Dave pulled himself off the ground and headed into the kitchen to fill up the coffee maker. Sarah watched him go before closing her eyes again, letting her head fall onto the pillow again. Escapism sweet escapism.
"Yo! Sarah! Don't go back to sleep and leave me hanging! Get out here!" she heard Dave call from across the apartment, and she bolted upright before shuffling out of Dave's room. She sat down at a stool around the kitchen island, and Dave poured Sarah a mug of coffee, pushing it towards her. Her hands wrapped around the mug, absorbing the warmth. She was energized by the scent of the coffee alone.
Sarah took a sip, deep in thought. Her toes subconsciously wrapped around the thin metal legs of the stool.
"So, question. Have you listened to Live Through This yet?" Dave asked, and Sarah nearly spit out her coffee. He could've led up to it, because goddamnit, it was too early in the morning to be describing Satan's latest creation.
"No, I haven't," Sarah rasped, the coffee having burnt her throat. She glanced up at Dave, who was wiggling his eyebrows.
"Listening party!" Dave smiled sarcastically, his eyebrows humorously furrowing with dread. He walked across his apartment and put the CD into his stereo system. Soft guitar began to play, and Dave rolled his eyes before trudging back to his spot across from Sarah.
A few songs went by, the two of them cringing at her off-key, breathy voice that occasionally cracked in the most atrocious way possible. It was all shits, giggles and mockery until about two thirds of the way through the fourth track, Asking For It. Sarah's stomach dropped when she heard Kurt's voice.
"If you live through this for me I swear that I will die for you." Dave felt absolutely sick.
"I can't do this. I'm sorry, I'll be right back," he told Sarah, watching her nod in understanding before ejecting the CD and leaving the room to take a few breaths. Maybe one day there would be a time that he didn't have to panic and leave. But for now, something didn't sit right with him regarding Kurt's feature and the fact that it talked about dying.
---
About an hour went by and Sarah began to hear a subtle sound of guitar coming from Dave's room. She got off the stool, coffee still in hand and she moved toward where the noise was coming from. She walked in on Dave playing a few familiar chords on his acoustic guitar, and he seemed so deep in his element that he didn't realize she was standing in the doorway. She leaned against the door frame, which creaked a little bit, startling Dave out of his comatose state.
"Jesus, Sarah, warn a person!" Dave's eyes were wide, and Sarah chuckled a bit at his reaction.
"I'm sorry, it just sounded so good and I didn't want to interrupt anything."
"No, don't worry, you aren't interrupting," Dave patted the spot next to him on his bed, "In fact, I've been meaning to show you this for a while."
Sarah sat next to him, curious. "What is it?"
"Well, remember that thing I was playing back in New York? On the Gibson?" Dave asked, and Sarah nodded.
"Yeah-- Marigold, was it?"
"Yeah, Marigold. I might have recorded the full thing."
"No way."
"Here, I'll play it," Dave told her, setting his guitar down before reaching over to the giant stack of tapes on his side table and pressing one of them into the tape player. Heavy bass began to play from the speakers attached to the tape player, making the floor rumble a bit.
The next few minutes were pure bliss as the song continued. This was not like any of Nirvana's material; she could tell that this was Dave and Dave alone. She felt a small burst of joy knowing that Kurt's death might have led to something beautiful amidst the tragedy of it all.
"Six colored pictures all in a row of a marigold..." the song trailed off and finished softly, and Dave swiveled around to face Sarah, who had slight tears pooling in her eyes.
"Woah, what happened? Are you okay?" he stood up, walking up to her and pulling her into his tight embrace.
"Yeah, I'm fine," she smiled, pulling away to look up at him, their faces mere inches apart. "I'm just so happy for you that you're creating again."
Dave's lips curled upwards into a genuine smile. Before Sarah could get another word in, she was pulled in tightly by her waist, their lips ghosting each other before meeting again at full force seconds later. Sarah reached up to lock her fingers together over Dave's shoulders, while his hands gripped tightly at her hips. He pulled away, leaving the two breathless and content.
"Me too."
A/N mediocre chapter w a cute ending. so they kissed! i have been eaten alive by my classes this semester. so much so that i'm changing my major from performance to songwriting, which surprisingly uses less music theory. thank god. but yeah i'm starting things up again because i realized writing is my coping mechanism! stay tuned besties :)
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