NORWICH, UK. November 1 1990.
Aurora wakes up in Dave's embrace, in the warmth of his body, and the comfort of the van, the sun rising ahead of them, and it's quickly that she realises, they have a plane to catch, at 7:00 and as she looks over to Dave's hand with his watch on, it's currently 6:15.
It's then that Aurora remembers the events of last night. She and Dave didn't go too far, not far at all, maintaining the kissing, and that's it.
Dave doesn't want to overstep, and neither does Aurora. After all, they are happy where they are right now.
"Dave." Aurora says softly, nudging him slightly, slowly moving out of his embrace. Dave groans, "We have a plane to catch." She then states. "Yeah, later." Dave states, pulling Aurora back to his chest. "In 45 minutes." Aurora reveals. "We can never catch a break, can we?" Dave asks, "We're lucky we got all of last night together." Aurora says, pecking at his lips before sitting up, jumping of the seats to the steering wheel.
Dave slides the van doors shut and jumps over to join Aurora in the front. "Well it's stupid that we booked a flight so early, knowing that we'd get hammered the night before." Dave states, "Blame Chris." Aurora says.
Aurora feels around the seat for the car keys and eventually finds them in the crack of the cushion. She looks up to Dave, noticing that he's grown a little moustache and goatee. "How cute." Aurora says, flicking the tiny hairs on his chin, and he rolls his eyes.
As Aurora puts the key in its hole and turns, the engine splutters, and as she continues to turn the key out of frustration, her eyes move to the fuel tank symbol in the car, with the arrow on at the bottom, signalling it's empty.
"Aurora." Dave says, and she looks over to him slowly, "Are we out of fuel?" He asks her, and she nods slowly.
"Dave." Aurora asks, "Yes?" Dave asks, "How on earth are we going to get the van down the hill, return it to the rental company, get the equipment out of the car, and catch the plane in time?" Aurora asks, looking over at all the band equipment in the back.
"There's two conclusions I have come up with." Dave states, "We run down the hill back to the hotel, get money, fill up a gas tank, run back up the hill, start the car and go back down to the hotel, pack our things and load it into the back before hitting the road again and managing to hit the airport in a record breaking time." Dave explains.
"What about returning the car?" Aurora asks, "They'll find it eventually... Or just nag Chris." He states.
"The other conclusion is that we sit here, smoke the last two cigarettes we have in the back then slowly bring ourselves down to the hotel and explain what happened to everyone." Dave states.
"As much as I hate doing this, we better go with option one." Aurora says, and Dave sighs, opening his door, beginning to stretch.
"I think I can beat you there." Aurora states, "That's if you know where to go." Dave says, "I can trace my steps back." Aurora states.
"Loser gets their toe licked." Dave states, "Hey that's bad for the winner who has to lick it." Aurora protests, "Fine. Loser has to eat Chris's toe nail." Dave says. "What is it with you and toes?" Aurora asks, and he shrugs his shoulders. "Uh, fine." Aurora says, lifting her hand to shake his, and he firmly grips her hand.
"Ready."
"Set."
"Go!"
Aurora and Dave rush down the mountain, carefully not to fall on the way down, and a few minutes later they finally reach the bottom, where they both stand still to catch their breath, yet also to remember where they are to go.
Dave speeds ahead, quickly remembering his whereabouts, and Aurora decides to follow him, and when she sees the hotel, use the rest of his energy to beat him.
Finally after a few more minutes, they turn a corner and the hotel is in their sight. Aurora uses everything she can in her to run apart Dave because the thought of chewing on toe nails makes her shiver in disgust.
The two are head to head, and as Dave barely lounges forward to the hotel doors, Aurora pulls him back, dashing for the stairs, running up to level 2, quickly knocking on the hotel door and as soon as Kurt opens it, leaping into the room.
"Yes! I don't get to eat Chris's toenail!" Aurora says happily, punching air. "What?" Kurt asks, rubbing his eyes.
Dave comes running through the hotel door, and stops when he sees Aurora on the ground. "No!" He yells out, panting. "Any chance you'd call off the bet?" Dave asks, "Nope, we shook on it." Aurora states, smiling and laughing through her tired state.
Krist drags himself through the front door to face Dave and Aurora, "I'm assuming you two got up to a lot." He states winking and raising his eyebrows.
"Why are you guys so late? We are supposed to be at the airport earlier." Shelli asks as she walks next to Krist.
"Well..." Aurora looks over to Dave, "We kind of drove the van up onto a mountain last night and when we tried to start the van it wouldn't start, because there's no petrol. We also had no money which means that we couldn't get a jerry van full of petrol, which is why we are here." Dave explains. "We're gonna miss our flight." Shelli states, putting her hand on her forehead.
"We won't because we have a plan!" Aurora says happily, quickly rushing over to her bag and getting out a few ten dollar notes.
"Just make sure all of your stuff and our stuff is downstairs by the time we get back." Aurora states, before she takes Dave's hand and they run all the way back down the hotel stairs and out the front doors before the others could get a word in.
"You do realise we have less than 30 minutes to get this all done?" Dave asks, "Yep." Aurora says, dreading the next 30 minutes of running all over the place. "Where's the nearest gas station?" Aurora then asks, "A few streets from here." Dave states. "Lead the way." Aurora states, sliding her hand away from his.
Aurora follows Dave through the random streets of Norwich, passing the locals as they watch as young adults run down their street panting for air in their lungs.
Finally, Aurora sees a glimpse of hope after running for what seems like an eternity. The gas station sign is just down the road, and Aurora glances at the watch on her wrist, noticing that they have 20 minutes until they have to be at the airport.
They speed into the gas station doors, Dave quickly getting a jerry can and running back out to the gas pumps, while Aurora goes to the counter and pays for the jerry van and petrol, knowing exactly how much petrol Dave is getting. Aurora informs the person at the cash register that she's buying for the man in the joker suit and he nods, taking the cash before Aurora runs out and joins Dave, before they run back past the hotel and eventually all the way up the hill to the van, with just 5 minutes to get to the airport.
Dave puts the petrol in the van, and quickly jumps in the passenger seat. Aurora turns the key and this time the car starts, which makes Dave sigh in relief.
But knowing the two cannot relax just yet, Aurora pushes down on the accelerator and speed down the hill, quickly getting to the hotel where they were all staying at, meeting Krist, Kurt and Shelli at the front.
"I don't think we'll be able to catch the plane." Kurt states as he carries a small bag of his to the van, "We've come this far." Aurora says, pulling her suitcase behind her. "We could just catch another plane at a different time." Kurt says, "And that'd be a waste of money." Aurora states.
As Aurora jumps back into the drivers seat, she looks at her watch on her wrist for what feels like the 100th time today, and her heart begins to race when she realises they only have a less than two minutes to get to the airport, carry their stuff up, get their passport checked then finally get on the plane.
"You do realise we have to carry all our stuff up and still do that process where they check our passport, and that's going to take a while." Shelli states.
Ignoring Shelli's statement, Aurora steps on it, running through every red light imaginable, and breaking the speed limit, until a wailing sound tied with red and blue flashing lights cause her to slow down and pull over, right next to the airport.
YOU ARE READING
Love Dies Young | Dave Grohl
Fanfiction"love dies young and there's no resuscitation once it's done, no regeneration it's a losing game that'll make you play your hand against your chest love dies young"
