I Guess I Could Stick Around
Era: circa 1971 (Mudcrutch era)
Summary: Tom and (y/n) dated in high school, but they broke up when she moved away for college because neither wanted a long-distance relationship. Now, four years later she's back. (I'm sorry, I suck at these summaries, but I had to include some backstory for this one)
Warnings: None
Note: The whole storyline is completely fictional, none of this ever happened, but you guys should already know that. I'm also not sure if the timeline is entirely accurate since I got most of the info off Wikipedia, but I did my best. If you see any mistakes, don't hesitate to tell me.
Five men walked down a moonlit street, joking around and laughing.
"So where should we go tonight?" One of them asked.
"How 'bout Martha's?" Another replied all too quickly.
"You just want to flirt with the new singer, eh Mike?"
"Shut up Benmont." Mike grumbled.
"You know she made it pretty clear she wasn't interested." Benmont continued.
"What new singer?" Another man asked.
"You see, that's what happens when you're late to practice Tom. You miss important announcements." the fourth one joked.
"Will you knock it off Randall?" Tom replied, "I came 10 minutes late. It's not the end of the world."
Randall just laughed.
"So, Martha's?" The fifth one asked.
The others agreed and headed towards the bar.
Time skip
(Tom P.O.V.)
All five of them walked into Martha's Bar, a small but homey place where there was live music and alcohol all night. As they went in, he noticed a (y/h/c) haired woman strumming her guitar and singing. Another woman, a blonde one, sat by the drums behind her.
The five of them took a small table near the bar, ordered drinks and watched the two performers. Tom gazed at the singer, who was supposedly Mike's latest flame. She looked eerily similar to a distant memory that he had locked away years ago. A memory that still hurt to think about. Then it hit him.
(Y/n).
That soft (y/h/c) hair, those mischievous dark eyes he had last seen four long years ago, and that voice. That sweet and gentle voice that carried so much emotion, yet could still belt out Joplin's Greatest Hits at any given time. How could he have forgotten that?
(Y/n) hadn't changed much. Her hair had grown a bit longer, and her skin was paler after so long in cold, grey England, but she still looked just as beautiful as she did that summer afternoon when they had said their final goodbyes. How had he not known that she was back? Wouldn't she have called him? Yes, they had lost contact over the years, mainly due to expensive phone calls and not being able to afford plane tickets, but surely she would have called him if she was coming home, wouldn't she? Maybe she had moved on, even if he hadn't.
But now Mike was after her. A knot of jealousy twisted in his stomach as he saw his friend ogling (y/n).
"So, is that the singer you were talking about." Tom asked nonchalantly.
"Yeah." Mike replied, still not taking his eyes off (y/n).
"Do you even know anything about her?" Randall asked.
"Yes, in fact I do." Mike said indignantly, "I know that her name is (y/n) (y/l/n) and she recently moved back here from England, where she studied... something to do with music, I think. Now she works at the radio station and plays at this dive twice a week."
"You got all that from the two minute conversation you had last time?" Benmont questioned.
"Nah, I asked Martha about her."
"Stalker." Benmont muttered into his glass and the others laughed.
(Y/n) finished her song in a round of applause. The microphone buzzed as she adjusted it.
"Thank you. The next song is one of my own. It was originally performed during my time with the Professor Milks Band" (y/n) said, before jokingly adding, "Don't judge the name, we were completely wasted when we came up with that."
The crowd laughed and (y/n) started plucking the strings of her guitar with a wry smile on her face. After so long in the UK, he noticed that she had picked up a slight accent. Then (y/n) started singing again. She sang a bittersweet tune of love and loss, of fights and reconciliation, of leaving and returning. And as she was singing, her eyes wandered across the room, finally meeting his and lingering there. A look of confusion spread across her face before changing to recognition. She immediately lowered her gaze, a sad look in her eye, but she kept on singing. When the song ended, she looked around the bar again, a small smile playing in her lips.
"And that's a wrap." (y/n) said, taking her guitar off, "Thank you all for coming and I'll be back on Tuesday."
She climbed off the stage, stowed away her instrument and started chatting with the drummer, who seemed to be a friend of hers. After a while, (y/n) broke off from her friend and headed to the bar.
"A radler please." They heard her say.
"And that my cue." Mike said with a smirk, and headed towards the bar.
"Good luck." One of his friends laughed.
The knot of jealousy in Tom's stomach tightened.
"I need some fresh air," he said, not wanting to witness his friend flirting with his ex.
The others barely paid attention to his leaving. They were too busy eavesdropping on the conversation between Mike and (y/n). With a sigh, Tom headed outside into the cool night air. Ten minutes and a couple of cigarettes later, he decided to go back into the bar. He was sure that (y/n) had recognized him, and knowing her, she would want to talk. A part of him had been looking forward to seeing her again after such a long time, but another part wanted desperately to go home and avoid an awkward conversation. Then again, he couldn't just ditch his friends without giving them an explanation, so he chose to head back inside. 'If she really isn't interested in Mike like Benmont said, the conversation would be over by now' he thought to himself. But as he headed back to their table, he saw Mike still at the bar, talking to (y/n) who was lazily sipping her beer.
"...so what do you think?" Mike was saying.
"I think that's a sweet offer, but as I said before, I'm not interested." (y/n) replied, "And to be completely honest, you're not really my type."
The knot in his gut unclenched when he heard her turn him down. Mike started to say something else but (y/n) set down her beer, turned around and began heading back to the small stage.
"Tough luck." Benmont said as Mike sat down again.
"Shut up"
With a suppressed grin on his face, Tom headed back through the crowd to their table. He had almost arrived when someone walked right into him, causing them both to stumble backwards.
"Oh, sorry about that" The young woman said before looking up. It was her.
"Tom?" (y/n) asked incredulously.
"(y/n)" he replied. As usual when speaking with (y/n), it seemed that all thoughts left his brain.
"Oh wow. Long time no see." She said and went to hug him. He wrapped his arms around her awkwardly.
"Yeah, what's it been? Four years?"
"I'm sorry for not calling more often." (y/n) said with guilt written all over her face.
"Don't be sorry, I should have called more too."
"Wait up... you two know each other?" Mike cut in.
"Umm, yeah, we used to go out." (y/n) said.
"Damn it Tom. You get all the cute girls, don't you?" Mike said and turned sulkily to the bar.
"Sorry about him" he apologized to (y/n).
She just laughed. "Don't worry about it. My friend acts the same way sometimes."
"Maybe we could set them up." He joked and they both laughed. He had forgotten how easy it was to talk to (y/n).
"Hey, do you think I could buy you a drink? For old times sake" he asked
"Yeah, I'd like that." she replied with a small smile.
They took a small table in a corner and talked for hours on end. She told him about college in England and he caught her up on how things were going with Mudcrutch. They reminisced about they're high school days and talked about how much Gainesville had changed. After a while (y/n)'s friend came over and said she was leaving. Shortly after, his friends announced they were going home as well. Mike shot (y/n) another look of longing and they walked out of the bar.
"It's getting late, isn't it?" (y/n) said.
"Yep, it's already after midnight." He told her, glancing at his watch.
"Time flies when you're having fun." she said, "But I do think I should be getting home. I've got work at 7 tomorrow."
"Let me walk you home." He offered.
"Thanks" she replied with a smile.
After paying for their drinks, they walked through the moonlight streets in silence, taking in their surroundings. It was a beautiful night. The sky was cloudless and in this small town you could see millions of stars. A cool summer breeze blew down the road as they walked and (y/n)'s hand slipped into his. Tom glanced down at her, but her eyes were focused on the sky, a smile playing on her lips. It seemed so natural, just walking through the night, hand in hand, with (y/n).
"Remember in high school, you used to sneak out of the window almost every night so we could go see a movie or go to the arcade?" he asked.
(y/n) smiled at the memory. "Yeah, my parents never found out. The next morning they would always wonder why I was so tired."
He laughed.
"I forgot how beautiful it was here" (y/n) said after a while.
"Here? Really? Four years ago you were dying to get out of here."
"I'm still dying to get out of here, but I'm not going to deny that it's beautiful."
"Yeah, it really is a lovely night" he agreed and they fell into a comfortable silence again.
"Oh, this is me." She said pointing to an apartment building on the right.
"I had a great time tonight, you know." (y/n) said.
"Yeah, me too. Do you think we could do it again? Maybe with dinner next time?"
"Are you asking me out on a date?" She asked, raising her eyebrows playfully and he took his chance.
"If you accept, then yes."
"Yes, I accept."
As they stood facing each other on the doorstep, he couldn't help noticing how beautiful she was. Her (y/h/c) hair was silver in the moonlight and her eyes sparkled with the light of a million stars. He suddenly found himself leaning in and (y/n) met him halfway. It was a sweet kiss, but it left them both breathless.
"Are you still dying to get out of here?" he whispered.
"I guess I could stick around a bit." (y/n) replied softly.