WARNING: EXTRA LONG CHAPTER (I'm sorry).
"Hey... Firstly, congratulations" He said with his usual smooth voice.
"Don't start now" I said, a little bit embarrassed.
"Come on, you know I mean it" He said as he hugged me.
"Talks the one who's gonna make an unplugged" I said, still hugging him.
"Come in" He said, chuckling and putting his arm around me.
"Where's Courtney and Frances?" I asked.
"They're in California, relaxing a little"
"She knows I'm here right?" I asked again, with a little bit of fear.
"Of course, she called like an hour ago and told me to give you her greetings" Kurt said this time.
It was the beginning of 1993, mid-January to be more specific, and the nominations for the Grammy awards were announced on the 7th of the month, with Spencer owning 5 nominations for our latest work; Nirvana was reached by MTV to appear in an edition of the Unplugged series, and Kurt called me to arranged a meeting so I could help him write something for the performance, and also to invite me to participate as a feature artist in the concert.
For that reason, I visited him in his Seattle home that cold morning, where he congratulated me because of our nominations; Eddie was aware of this, and didn't mind, since we didn't have trust issues and also, on those days he had some work to do for their upcoming album, as the label was pressure them to write something as good as Ten.
"Are you ready for breakfast?" He asked me, as I followed him.
"You bet that... I'm starving"
"You mind if we eat in the garden?"
"No, it's fine"
"Perfect, then" He said, smiling at me, and then we made it to the garden where breakfast started.
"Now... Are you gonna tell me what the fuck happened to your hair?" I asked with curiosity due to the bright color.
"You don't like it"
"I never said such thing..." I said.
"I know your ways, Lily... you don't like it"
"It's not that... is just that... it's too red and... you have a beautiful blonde hair" I said while eating my bacon.
"I'm gonna wash it out as soon as possible"
"No! Oh, gosh..." I said and we both laughed due to his fake drama.
When we finished having breakfast, we washed the dishes and then he lent me one of his acoustic guitars, since we were both left-handed, returned to the garden and we started to talk about a lot of things to try to create something; a poem, a letter that was never to be send, or just random words could work.
"Shit!" I said as I placed my cigarette on the ashtray.
"What happened?"
"I burnt my finger... I forgot that I lit it" I said and we both laughed.
"You want more coffee?" He asked.
"Yes, please" I said and he filled my mug again.
"I've always wanted to know... What's your opinion on Drain You?" He said with a chuckle.
"I never thought I would find that poem you wrote to me in an album... I never imagined it with music... but it's a cool song, it works perfectly and I liked it" I said and he smiled widely, clearly pleased.
"You inspired me too much back in the day, you know?"
"Yeah..." I answered nonchalantly and avoiding his gaze.
"Remember how we used to just listen to the Beatles, writing poems for each other... our plan to move to Malibu... Remember how much we wanted to get out of here and just go driving through all the pacific coast highway until we reached Malibu?"
"Where we were supposed to buy a house near a beach and have two kids... Oh my god" I said and we both burst in laughter.
Then we looked at each other with a lot of melancholia and a weak smile.
"I guess those days are gone" He told me.
"Exactly..." I answered as he just nodded in silence.
"But I don't forget it..." He said, looking at me with those intense eyes when he was lucid.
"You have to... and I have to move on. This is just the way things are" I said, looking at him in the same way.
"I know" He finally accepted, and we continue writing whatever came from our minds, along with the melodies.
"Maybe I'll see you in another life, if this one wasn't enough" I said and he smiled again.
"I hope it happens" He answered me still smiling.
From that day, three songs were created, as we agreed one would be for the Nirvana unplugged and the other two for the Spencer unplugged that was postponed once again. Around 7 pm Eddie arrived and we went out to have dinner the three of us, as later we drove Kurt back again at his house and we went to ours.
On February 24, the Grammy Awards ceremony took place at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles. For the event I decided to wear a long black sequined dress and my hair up in a simple chignon decorated with a headband that had some crystals and pearls, and a pair of pearl earrings.
I attended the ceremony with Eddie and of course with Tom, Zack and Adrien, whom attended with their girlfriends except for Zack, who decided to go with his mom. If Spencer was already big by then, after that night everything went even bigger; at the end of the night we were the biggest winners by winning album of the year, song of the year, record of the year and best rock song, beating the great Eric Clapton.
As the Grammys didn't mean that much to us, we delivered some simple speeches, that in my case included gratitude to my family, band members, fans, staff, friends and of course, Eddie, who was caught almost crying when I thanked to him. It was cool to be the winners of the night, but to be honest, almost all the time I was about to die from my anxiety; however, we decided to go to an after party thanks partly to Anthony, who was the one who convinced me (RHCP won a Grammy that night too).
New dates were open to continue touring, the sales in our albums went to the sky again and we were more demanded than usual for some TV shows and festivals; February was a wild and heavy month, and we were about to start the second part of our European tour in late March, so shortly after the award ceremony was over I decided to escape to London with the guys and Pearl Jam, who were there to record something.
* * *
March 24, 1993. London, England.
I was feeling weird, the previous night I could barely sleep, but in the end, I did rest a little; I wanted to do it, I really do, but also, I was dying with fear for some stupid reason. I loved Eddie and he loved me too, we were more than a team, and that's why we decided to do this, but fuck it felt so weird.
And there I was, locked in the bathroom of my bedroom, breathing with the help of a paper bag, trying to calm down before getting married.
Sure, I think I missed something...
Flashback New Year's 1992, Chicago.
We drove around the city and I remembered some places from a previous trip to the city; then, we stopped in front of those large buildings, and surprisingly we were able to go inside to one of them, but then I found out the security guard was Eddie's old friend.
We went to the very top of it, and the cold air was cruel and harsh, as a little bit of snow was starting to fall, but the view worth it a million times.
"Do you like it?" Eddie asked me with a wide smile.
"It's fucking gorgeous" I said, admiring the view with a thrilled.
"You're the fucking gorgeous" He said, looking at me smiling and I decided to kiss him.
"By the way... we need to talk" He told me once we finished kissing.
"Uhhmm... is everything ok?" I asked as I noticed that odd gesture on his face again.
"Kind of..."
"Kind of...?" I asked, feeling the anxiety again. How was possible that we were perfect for a moment and then 5 seconds later everything turned weird... it's been a couple of months like this and I didn't know what to believe anymore.
"Let me explain to you..."
"Alright...?" I said, waiting for whatever he was going to say.
"I love you, Lily... and I always will. This has been going through my mind since a lot of months ago... but well, I was expecting for the perfect moment to do it... though, every moment can be the right one... so" Eddie said, as I saw in slow motion how he went on one knee and I gasped all the cold air that was around us.
"Eddie..." I whispered, with certain surprise mixed with fear, just looking at him opening a small black box with a beautiful ring on it.
"So... Would you... Would you marry me?" He finally asked, with a dreamy gaze.
"Fuck yeah!" That's all I could say as we both laughed. He stood up and placed the art deco ring on my finger, to then hug and kiss.
Later that night I learned that when he met Cece in March he already talked about that with her, and on Thanksgiving he went out with my dad to Central Park to formally asked him for my hand... What the fuck? The little bastard planned everything so fucking good and I never saw it coming, but I accepted it was quite brilliant and I was happy for it. His mom also knew about the plan by then, and that's why we spent New Year's there.
We planned the wedding for March, with a small ceremony on a register office in London, since we didn't want the media to find out, and the only people that knew about this was our closest friends including our band members, our parents and our managers.
End of flashback
"Honey? Are you ready?" I heard Andrea calling me as she knocked on the door.
"Yeah... I'll be out in a minute"
"Alright, I don't wanna pressure you but your dad is already waiting for you and Adrien called me to say that Eddie and everybody else is already at the register office.
"Alright, I'm coming" I answered and took one last deep breath, I left the born paper bag and took a last glance at me in the mirror.
I thought that I wanted to be a romantic but not traditional bride, so I decided that my wedding dress would be in a shade of pale blue, being this the something blue, and I wore my hair down but with a nice and simple hairstyle decorated with a vintage and delicate headpiece from Cece (which served as the something old); the something new was a pair of earrings that Eddie gifted me, and the borrowed item was a bracelet from Cece.
I left the bathroom to see the excited and melancholic faces of Grace, Andrea and Susan, who was also there; I went downstairs, were I found my dad looking so elegant, and crying a little when he saw me. Then, we got into the car and within some minutes we arrived to the office.
We took some stairs and then we reached the small office where the ceremony was going to be held; when the doors opened, I saw my band members as well as the guys and Chris, already smiling at me with excitement. I walked with my dad in arm to Eddie, who looked so damn handsome on that black suit, with his usual hair down shoulder length and already crying as soon as he saw me.
"You look beautiful" Eddie whispered to me as soon as we reached him, looking at me with some tears, clearly thrilled.
"And you look so fucking hot!" I whispered him back as we both laughed a little.
The ceremony was faster than I thought, (since neither Eddie and I wanted a religious ceremony) and our witnessed were Susan and Chris; after we signed, everybody cheered as we were officially married, and we just couldn't hide our happiness. The only problem was that, by the time the ceremony ended, there were already some paparazzi outside the register office, though, by then, we didn't give a fuck anymore.
However, we made our way through the backdoor, where fortunately were only four photographers, so Eddie and I decided to pose for some photos as they congratulated us; we thanked them and soon we got into a double-decker with all our guests, as we enjoyed of some drinks before arriving to our reception, that was going to be held in a nice place pub-like.
We didn't want something lavish or big, and as far as our friends and family were there having a good time with us, it was more than enough; but the place was amazingly and elegantly decorated (it wasn't just any pub).
We had our first dance, that was Harvest Moon, by Neil Young, while all the people there just looked at us with hope and magic in their eyes, as happy as we were; then, we enjoyed of some burgers and beers, as we really wanted to make something simple.
We sat on a single large table, who was lovingly decorated with some candles and flowers, as we shared some experiences, jokes, stories and even future plans. Then, a few hours later while everybody was having a good time, gettign wasted, dancing and joking around in the table, I went to the toilet, and when I went out Eddie was already waiting for me outside, he took my hand then took me a little bit far from everybody as this time we danced Only You by Ringo Starr.
"How you feeling, Mrs. Vedder?" He asked with a charming smile.
"Wow... that sounds quite nice" I answered laughing a little and making him laugh too. "Now answering your question... I'm cool and a little bit tipsy" I said as we both laughed a little.
We kissed and then we continue dancing as Eddie would whisper in my ear the whole song. We were so happy that we thought it couldn't get better than that, and from that day on, I was going to be known as Lily Vedder.
✨ Author's note ✨
I'm really sorry if three chapters seem like too much for an update, but this story is about to end, and I'm using the rush of inspiration to continue writing; since I planned it as a 40 part story from the beginning... So, I want to thank to all of you who read this and vote for it or leave a comment. Thank you old and new readers for stick around 🥺🥺🥺🥺 Thank you very very much! ❤️❤️❤️❤️