Another Five Years

For You Blue

*Virginia, The day before Thanksgiving 1996*

He pulled his rental car into the parking lot of the little strip mall in Alexandria and nervously shoved a couple pieces of gum in his mouth. The clock on the dashboard clicked over to 5:55 and he took the uniformity as a good enough omen to brave entering the record store.

The bells jingled happily above the door, intensifying his butterflies and her voice drifted from the back room. "Be right there!"

He darted to the Rock section, keeping his back to her when she emerged from the back room carrying a box of Christmas decorations. "Can I help you find anything?"

"Yeah, you guys have that new Goo Fighters yet?" he tried not to laugh as he stared up at a promo poster of him and the band from a photo shoot he didn't even remember being at.

"Foo Fighters or Goo Goo Dolls?" he could hear the twinge of irritation in her voice as she made her way over and turned to watch her flip through a stack of records. "The last Goo Goo Dolls was released a few years back, but the Foo Fighters..." she found his first album and held it up, gasping in shock when she finally looked at his face. "Goddamnit, David! You are such an asshole!" she cried.

"Happy to see you too, Annie," he laughed and dragged her to him, hugging her tightly and hoping he didn't have to let go.

"You cut your fucking hair!" she exclaimed, running her fingers through his chopped cut.

"Do you like it?"

"Um..." she wrinkled her nose a bit but giggled. "I think it's going to take some getting used to."

"Good enough," he decided, trying to hide his frown when she wiggled out of his arms. "Need help closing up?"

"Sure! You remember what to do?"

He nodded and let her take the cash tray in the back before moving behind the counter. Finding himself facing a wall covered in posters, pictures and other random memorabilia of his, he spotted a frame holding a collage of ticket stubs and pictures. Several Scream, Nirvana, and even two Foo Fighters stubs were positioned over pictures of Anna and her Dad, both of them happily smiling in front of the lit stage where Dave was performing. He heard Anna returning to the front and crouched to shut off the stereo.

"This is new," he said, tilting his head at the wall.

"Yeah, Dad's a big fan," she said simply and put the cash tray back in the register.

"I wish I would have known you were there..."

Anna leaned against the counter with a raised eyebrow, daring him to go on. He sensed her irritation and leaned against the wall, copying his cheesy grin on the poster behind him. "Can I take you to dinner?"

"I don't know, kitten," she replied with a half smile. "Can you?" Her eyes drifted to the silver band on his ring finger.

Fuck. He had meant to leave it in the car, but he had been too eager to see her. "As friends."

She snorted a laugh and tossed her keys at him, "Here, you drive. I just have to lock up."

Perfect. He hurried to her car and slipped into the driver's seat, pulling the demo tape from his pocket and shoving it into the car's stereo. He switched it to the CD player just as she hopped into the passenger seat with a bright smile. "So where are we going?"

*

"Sorry I couldn't make it to the west coast," she sighed and flopped onto the bar stool. "The holidays are just insane at work. Especially now that Clinton won again."