It was now the week of Eliza's trip. She had spent the past few days packing and preparing to see Dave again.
"You really don't have to fly all the way out here." Pete said on one of their calls. Eliza knew that he was just changing his tone because of what Franz said, but she couldn't let on that she knew anything about that.
"Of course I'm gonna take the chance to see my favorite band out in Europe."
"Whatever you say." He sighed. "See you soon, Eliza."
"You too, Pete." She hung up the phone and sighed. Whatever was going on in Europe was bad enough that even Pete was trying to get her to stay home. She had to assume that the boys were going a little wild, which she had expected when they left. You put a bunch of teenage boys unsupervised in a foreign country, and obviously they're going to go a little wild. But could it be that bad that they didn't want her to see it?
The next night when she called the boys in Europe, she was actually surprised to hear Dave's voice answer the phone. It seemed that the times Pete or Franz would answer outweighed the times Dave would. Eliza tried to ignore all the reasons why that might be, and was just happy that she could speak to her boyfriend again.
"Hey Dave! How have you been, I haven't talked to you in so long."
"Everything's been good out here." She only had to listen to his speech for a second to recognize that he was drunk. She sighed, sad that this rare conversation was to be had with a drunk Dave.
"Yeah, I miss you very much. But I'll see you in a few days, right?"
"Woah, wait. You're coming out here?" Dave stammered.
"Yes, Dave. We've talked about this before." She chalked up his forgetting to his drunk state.
"Oh, Eliza. You can't come out here." He said, stuttering his way through the sentence.
"And why is that, Dave?" Eliza said, changing her tone from being excited to talk to him to one of frustration.
"I'm just a mess, you know me." He slurred.
This let Eliza take a deep breath. So the only reason he didn't want her to visit was because he was embarrassed that maybe he had been overindulging, right?
"Dave, that's ok. I still want to see you, though."
"No Eliza, don't come out here." His sentence was ended by what sounded to be him throwing up.
"Well, I'll let you get some rest, ok honey?" She said, trying to not sound disgusted over what she just heard. That would only prove his point.
"Bye Eliza." He said, abruptly hanging up.
Eliza sat down on her bed, more curious than ever to know what the hell Scream was up to in Europe.
The next day Eliza was supposed to fly out to Europe. As she was doing all of her last minute packing, she had a final conversation with Abby.
"I'm here for you no matter what you find over there."
"Abby, I'm not going to find anything Earth shattering. Maybe just a few empty liquor bottles, nothing else."
Eliza hadn't told Abby all of the drama that was going on between her and the band, but she was able to piece together what was happening based on the phone calls that she heard Eliza having from the other room. From an outsider's perspective, Abby thought that Eliza would be walking into more than just a few empty beer cans when she arrived in Europe.
"Well, call me when you get there, ok?"
"Of course. Goodbye, Abby."
"Bye, Liza."
The two embraced as Eliza walked out of their dorm room. She took a cab to the airport, and went through the process of boarding a plane. She sat down in her seat and pulled out the book she packed to read during the trip. She tried to focus on the words written on the pages, but she found her mind wondering about all the things she might find once the plane landed.
Once she got off of the plane, she headed to the bathroom to make sure she looked acceptable before going to see Dave for the first time in two months.
She took her hair out of the messy bun that it was in and ran through it with her fingers. She straightened out her navy blue t-shirt and took a deep breath. Whatever she was about to find she knew that she had to stay strong. She could handle whatever was hiding between those hotel room doors.
She gathered her luggage and headed out of the airport. She hailed a taxi and gave the driver the address of the hotel that the boys were staying at. She got the name of it from Paul, since there always seemed to be an excuse as to why none of the boys would give it to her.
After about a half hour drive, they pulled into the parking lot of a hotel. She thanked that driver and paid him, then gathered her luggage out of the trunk.
She walked through the lobby and headed towards the three rooms that Paul had told her the boys were occupying. She took a deep breath before knocking on the door of the first one she found.
After a second, the door flung open, and she was now face to face with Pete.
"Hey Eliza! Come here." He said happily, tucking her into a strong embrace. "I can't believe you came all the way out here."
"Yeah, well, I missed my boys." She could tell that Pete was happy to see her, but there was also something making him nervous.
"Eliza! You actually came." Franz said, coming around the corner to give her a hug. She could tell his tone was a mixture of disbelief and worry.
"I did. Where's Dave?" She asked, peeking around the corner to see if she could spot him.
"Oh, he's in the next room over. Come here, I'll show you." Franz headed off to the room on the right of theirs, and walked into it without even knocking. He turned around and shut the door behind him before she could even step into the room. Eliza was confused by his actions, but that was all wiped away when she locked eyes with Dave.
"Oh, sweetheart." He said, his face lighting up once he saw her. He ran out of the room into the hallway, and swept her up into a tight hug. She stayed in his arms for as long as she could before Franz cleared his throat, reminding the two of them that he was still present.
"Oh piss off, Franz. Can we get a little alone time?" Dave asked, looking over Eliza's shoulder to reprimand his friend.
"Whatever you say, Dave. Just watch yourself." Franz said, shrugging and walking off.
"What did he mean by that?" Eliza asked as Dave pulled her back into his arms.
"Oh, it's nothing. Franz is always so protective. Don't worry about it, love."
And there they stood, holding each other in the hallway of the hotel, just reminding themselves of how good it felt to hold one another. She could feel Dave taking in the scent of her hair, and she took note of how his breath smelled like cigarette smoke.
"You guys have a show tonight?" Eliza asked, pulling away from their hug. She already knew the answer was yes, as she had their touring schedule practically memorized, but it was a good conversation starter.
"Yes, and of course you're coming." He smiled. "I've missed being able to look over at you while I'm playing."
"I've missed you so much, Dave."
He bent down and planted a kiss on her forehead. "I've missed you too, sweetheart."
They spent the next few hours hanging out in Franz and Pete's room, debriefing the past two months of each other's lives.
"Why are we coming in here?" Eliza asked as she was escorted by Dave into his band mates room.
"My room is too messy. We have kind of have been using it as the party room."
"Oh, ok." She finally understood why Franz had been so protective over the room. He was probably just embarrassed, she rationalized in her head.
They took a seat on the beds in the other room, and just began to talk.
"Tour has been amazing." Dave gushed. "It's just kind of crazy being on my own, you know?"
"Yeah, I get it."
"How's college been?" He asked.
"It's been good." She then gave him the rundown of her classes and complained about her least favorite professors.
"Davey, we've gotta get going." Pete said, stepping into the room.
"You bring any show clothes?" Dave asked.
"Of course I did. You think I forgot how to be a groupie?"
He laughed. "Well go change. We've gotta go in twenty."
She grabbed her suitcase and went into the bathroom and changed. She emerged wearing a black leather skirt, her black Doc Marten boots, and a tight black tank top.
"Goddamn." Dave said, walking over to her and sliding his hands around her hips. "I've missed views like this."
She smiled and went in for a kiss, which was interrupted by Franz throwing open the door of the hotel room.
"Let's go, Dave. We're gonna be late." He said, firmly.
"Time's up sweetheart." Dave sighed. He grabbed his wallet off the nightstand before following Franz down to the lobby. Outside, Eliza could see two taxis waiting outside for the boys. Eliza and Dave were ushered into the empty one and the drive took off towards the venue.
Once they got there, Eliza helped the boys set up their stage, just like she did back in the days.
"It's good to have you back." Pete said while they both were helping carry drums to the stage. She could tell that he sincerely meant it, which made her feel relieved that maybe they still needed her.
The boys eventually finished setting up and took their places on the stage before the curtain dropped. Eliza resumed her place on the side of the stage, and pulled over a chair to watch the show. She took a deep breath, taking in as much of this moment as she could. Maybe she hadn't realized it, but she truly missed doing stuff like this.
The curtain was still down, and she watched as Dave hopped off of his drum seat and ran over to her. He lifted her chin and planted a hard kiss on her lips.
"I've missed you." He said, looking deeply into her eyes.
She smiled as he ran back over to resume his spot right before the curtain fell and the show began. Eliza sat and observed their show, and was blown away at how much they'd improved since she last saw them. The band just seemed so tight. And she noticed that Dave was more comfortable with being on stage. He wasn't afraid to crack jokes into the mic between songs, or to look out from under his mop of hair every once and a while and take a peek at the crowd.
After their set had finished, Eliza helped them tear back down the stage. They all reconvened in the parking lot, and Eliza met Dave with a huge hug.
"Dave, that was incredible! No wonder these audiences dig you guys, you're fantastic."
"That means the world coming from you, sweetheart." He smiled.
"Party at the hotel?" Pete said, coming over and clapping Dave on the back.
"Eliza, are you in for a party?" Dave asked. She loved the way that he checked with her first to make sure that she was ok with it.
"That's what I'm here for."
"Alright boys, meet in the hotel in twenty." Pete called to everyone surrounding after hearing Eliza's confirmation.
"You sure that's a good idea, Dave?" Franz came over and said under his breath.
"What do you mean by that?" Dave responded, clearly irritated.
Franz shrugged his shoulders and walked away.
Eliza looked up at Dave, who was clearly irritated by Franz's question.
They all took a cab back to the hotel and gathered by the bar in its lobby.
"I think I'm gonna head up to the room real quick and grab some stuff." Dave said to Eliza.
"Ok, do you want me to come with?" She asked.
"No, that's alright. Stay down here and make sure these boys stay out of trouble, will ya?" He said, shooting her a wink.
She sat back in her chair, defeated. He was covering it up with winks and kisses, but that boy was hiding something. She watched him walk away and then struck up a conversation with Franz.
"How's Dave?" Franz asked, who had just sauntered over.
"He's good, I guess? I mean, you'd probably know better than I would. You two have spent the past two months together."
"Just asking, that's all." He shot her a smile and then walked away, leaving Eliza to sit alone and analyze what Franz could be meaning by all of this.
Eventually, Dave returned with as many beer bottles he could carry. There was also a cooler slung over his shoulder, and he was holding his room key with his teeth.
"Here, Dave, let me help you." Eliza stood up and came over to take some of the things out of his arms. She started by taking the room key from his teeth, and he was so caught up in setting everything down that he missed her slipping the key into her own back pocket.
She then helped him set everything out for their guests on the table. Once he was settling into the party, Eliza came over and spoke to him.
"I'm going to run to the bathroom real quick." She said.
"You want me to come with?" He asked.
"No, that's alright. I'll be back, ok?"
"Sounds good, sweetheart."
Eliza took off in the direction of the hotel bathrooms, but then once she was out of Dave's sight, she took a right towards the elevators. Whatever Dave was hiding in his hotel room, she was about to find out.