|Concrete and Gold||dave grohl|

Chapter Thirty Three•My Poor Brain

For the next few months, the trio were insperaable. During the day, Dave stayed in the studio hard at work on The Colour and The Shape while Taylor and Eliza reaped the benefits of living in Los Angeles. Eliza even decided to take up surfing under the direction of Taylor. They spent their mornings surfing, laying out in the sun to dry off, and then driving the coast to meet Dave at the studio when he finished up work. Then, they went out. They became regulars at some of the local bars, and they became friends with many of the other regulars.

Eliza was truly happy. It was summertime, she was living in the greatest city in the world with her two best friends, her and Dave were on good terms, and everything was well.

That is, until, it was time for them to go on tour again.

Eliza knew the time was coming. Of course Dave was going to run himself dry on a year long world tour promoting the biggest album of the year. She's known him and his ambitions since they were children. She was smarter to think any differently. That didn't make it any harder. And this time around he would be taking Taylor with him.

In the weeks leading up to their departure, Eliza tried to hide her sadness and soak up every little last bit of the boys as she could. However, masking her true emotions proved to be very difficult.

One day, while Eliza was washing their dishes and Dave was watching TV on the couch, she became frustrated with his incompetence around the apartment.

"Dave, it's not that hard to put your dirty dishes in the dishwasher when you're done with them." She growled from across the room.

"I'm sorry, sweetheart. I'll work on it." He said, not even looking up from the screen.

She sighed, knowing that he was only half listening to her. However, something inside snapped and. She decided to press the issue.

"David, really? I do all the damn work around here. It would be nice if you tried even a little bit." She hollered.

This change in tone made him sit up and turn to face her.

"Sweetheart. I'm so sorry. Do you need any help right now?" He said softly.

"No, Dave, I'm fine. I'm just fine." She said, clearly upset. After throwing up her hands in frustration, her hand came crashing down on top of a plate, sending it flying down onto the floor and breaking into a million pieces.

Dave jumped off the couch to help her clean up while in a state of pure anger, she turned towards their bedroom and shut the door behind her. Eliza crumpled against the door and broke down into sobs.

She knew that she was misdirecting her anger and she was really just upset about Dave and Taylor leaving. However, she was too scared to show that to Dave. What if he wasn't as worried about it as she was? Maybe he was happy to escape for a year on the road with his best friend. Maybe he wasn't as sad about them being apart as she was?

She sat and sobbed while she could hear Dave sweeping up the mess she left in the kitchen. Once he finished, she heard his feet shuffle down the hallway towards their bedroom. She quickly wiped her tears and tried to compose herself. She was embarrassed to have Dave see her like this.

She was startled by a soft tapping on the door. "Sweetheart, can I come in please?"

"Dave, I just want to be alone right now."

"Are you sure? We can sit and talk about it if you want."

"I'm sure."

"Ok, then. If you want to you know where to find me."

She heard him walk away and took a deep breath. Eliza decided to reel it in and get herself into bed. She changed into her pajamas and washed the makeup off her face. She curled up into bed and drifted off to sleep.

Eliza was awoken a few hours later to the soft sound of Dave's breathing. Confused, she looked around at the scene she had woken up to. Dave was wrapped around her back, softly holding her as she slept.

He must have felt her moving around because he jumped up and turned towards her.

"Sorry if you didn't want company." He said, running his hands through his hair. "I just felt really bad for what happened earlier."

"Dave, it's ok. I just lashed out at you when you really didn't deserve it. I should be the one apologizing, not you."

"If you don't mind, can I ask why you were lashing out? Is there something else wrong?" He said, taking her hand.

Eliza tried to fight it, but she couldn't help her eyes from filling with tears.

"Hey, come here." He said, taking her into his arms and scratching her back. "You know you can talk to me about anything, right?"

She cleared her throat, mentally preparing herself for the conversation she had been trying to avoid.

"I'm happy for you. I truly am. You're doing such a fantastic job at reaching your goals, and I'm just so unbelievably proud of what you're doing. I'm just going to miss you so much when you're on tour. I've gotten so comfortable and happy living here with you and Taylor, I just can't shake the feeling that it's over now."

"Oh Eliza, come here. Why didn't you tell me about this sooner?"

"I guess that I was embarrassed."

"Embarrassed? That you're going to miss me? Eliza, that's like the silliest thing that I've ever heard. You think that I'm not going to miss you too? You're my best friend. I can't even imagine spending one day apart from you."

"You mean it?" Eliza whispered.

"Yes. I promise you that I mean it."

They sat together in a silent embrace as Eliza calmed down.

Dave's voice broke the silence. "Come on tour with me."

"What?"

"Come on tour with me."

Eliza, shocked, didn't know how to respond. "Dave, I have the apartment and the school year is starting soon-"

"Forget all that. Come on tour with me."

"I can't quit my job! I need to make money somehow.

Dave just stared at her, hoping she would come to her own conclusion about that statement so he didn't have to say it out loud.

"That was stupid. Like Dave needs any help paying the bills." Eliza thought to herself.

"So what, you want me to quit my job and sell the apartment and go on a world tour with you?"

"That's exactly what I want." Dave said, grinning from ear to ear.

"Well, it looks like you've got yourself a deal."