False Starts || Dave Grohl

Chapter 50

My eyes dart between him and Jennifer, who is awkwardly rocking on her feet and looking anywhere but at me. I can't blame her for any of this. Dave's a charmer, he could just smile at someone and they'd fall in love with him. Jennifer just happened to be the unlucky soul in this situation. He probably told her about me after some time, but by then it would be too late.

It shocked me when he released his grip on Jennifer's hand, shifting to stand next to me instead. "Can you give us some time to talk Jen?"

"Sure." The woman's voice is hoarse as she feigns a smile, "Call me later."

I clear my throat as he turns toward the elevator, feeling out of place as Dave leaves my side to open the apartment door. "You coming?"

"Yeah..." My eyes do one final scan of the hallway, filing the memories into a folder before locking them in a cabinet in the back of my mind. The more I think, the harder this will be on all parties involved.

Once inside the cold apartment I make a beeline for the bedroom, hoping Dave had enough common sense to not follow me. That hope dissolves as the boy takes a seat on the edge of our bed though. "I'm sorry Rose."

"Don't worry about it Grohl. Everything will be better this way." I respond while struggling to pull my oversized suitcase down from the top shelf of the closet. Eventually Dave stepped in, realizing that there was no way in hell I'd be able to get it down without hurting myself in the process. "Thanks..."

Rather than back away the boy places a shaky hand on top of my own, causing me to snap back when that familiar sting of electricity courses through my body. "I want to fix this Rose. I don't want to lose you."

"If you wanted to do that Dave, you wouldn't have been with her earlier. You would've come found me in the waiting area of Sea-Tac. You would've called Shelli asking if I was alright, but no." I shake my head and pull the suitcase toward the dresser across the room, "You didn't do any of those things."

"You went to Kurt, Rose..."

"Yeah, and?" My voice rose an octave as I begin messily throwing all of my clothes into the plastic case. "I needed someone around who wouldn't treat me like I'm replaceable for once."

A hand tightly grips my arm, whipping my torso around to face him. "Did you do it? Did you fuck him Rosemary?"

"Do you want me to lie to you Dave?" My heart broke for him in that moment even though it shouldn't. "Tell you I didn't fuck Kurt when it's pretty obvious that I did? Well, I can't..." My voice cracks and tears once again well up in my eyes. "... I can't lie to you."

The next minute or so occurs in slow motion and all I can do is watch. A string of curses leaves the man's mouth as he begins pacing back and forth, tugging lightly on the roots of his hair as he runs his fingers through it. "God damn it!"

The phone starts ringing in the distance and I choose to use it as a way to pull him from his episode. "It's been over between us for a while now Dave... We just didn't want to admit it to ourselves."

His pacing didn't cease though and as soon as the ringing stopped, it started again. Resulting in another string of curses to come out of the man's voice as he walks out to answer it. I follow at a distance, praying with every fiber of my being that he won't threaten whoever is on the other end of that phoneline.

"What the fuck do you want?" I visibly cringe. "Rose turn on the TV." Whatever had been said on the phone made Dave's face soften. His anger being replaced with wave of worry as he looks at me expectedly. "TV Rose, now!"

The voice crack is what sets me in motion, leaping over the living room sofa in order to reach the remote that had been skillfully placed on the coffee table. Something was wrong.