The Punk and the Princess (A Dave Grohl Fanfiction)

Ch. 10 - Watch Him As He Goes

Your palms begin to sweat as you pull up to the Dischord Records house with Dave in his mom's car.

"Why are you so nervous?" Dave asks, looking over at you and noticing your change in demeanor, "You've met most of them before"

Dave was right, sort of. It'd been two weeks or so since you'd started dating and you'd spent almost every day and night together since then—you were truly inseparable. Most of those nights were spent at shows, so you had vaguely met a bunch of people but tonight felt different. 

"I don't know I just feel like I'm invading your zone...this isn't a show where I'm just there to watch, this is a hang out with your friends! I doubt they want some girlfriend tagging along every time they see you!" You lament and he laughs.

"You'll be fine, at these type of things everyone brings girlfriends, its like a family reunion. Plus, honestly no one thinks anything of me bringing you! They all think you're really sweet and this type of scene isn't petty about stuff like that, no one thinks you're a tag-a-long" He says reassuringly but you aren't totally convinced.

"Julia this is totally low key! We're just gonna grill up some food in the back and then a couple people are gonna come over and we're going to fold record sleeves for Dain Bramage's album. If you still are worried just think of it as you helping me with my career, nothing more" He says and you shrug.

"You're right I guess" You say, getting out of the car and Dave slings his arm around your shoulder as you walk up the front steps.

"Hey!" Yells Ian Mackaye, shaking Dave's hand. You had seen Ian around at a few shows with Dave but had never been introduced to him.

"Hey man good to see you," Dave says with his enthusiastic smile, "I want to introduce you to my girlfriend, this is Julia—Jules this is my 'boss' Ian" He says, putting boss in air quotes and you reach out your hand for Ian to shake.

"Its nice to finally meet you!" You say enthusiastically and Ian nods.

"Nice to meet you too, are you gonna be helping us with the record sleeves?" He asks.

"Yeah totally! I'm excited, I know how hard everyone's worked to have this record finally out" You say and Ian smiles.

"Cool! I'm glad you came down then, we need all the help we can get" Ian says, wiping his hands on his jeans, "Everyone's out back, we're having burgers and veggie burgers and we'll start working in about an hour.

Dave thanks him and leads you to the backyard where thankfully you recognized almost everybody. Meeting one of Dave's all time heroes was enough for one day.

For February it was strangely warm and even though it was brisk out, no one was uncomfortable if they had a light jacket on. While Dave and his band mates talked to Ian at one picnic table on the porch, you sat on folding chairs in the yard with Skeeter Thompson from Scream, his girlfriend, and some other people you didn't know as well yet.

Even though you barely knew anyone, Skeeter kept bringing you into the conversation and making you feel like less of an outsider, even though aside from Dave you were 10 years younger than anyone there.

After it got a little darker out you all headed inside and sat at a long table in the dining room and began working on folding the records. This was your favorite part of the whole evening, simply because of how comfortable and at ease you felt.

You worked by candlelight since Ian could barely afford rent, let alone a high electric bill. Ian played hardcore music on a record player in the background and you talked about everything from politics, to music, to your thoughts on the future of DC and the conversation never lulled.