KISS THE RING ☆ Taylor Hawkins

35. Family affairs

Los Angeles, 6th August, 1998.

"You know it won't last long, right?" Diane seemed to be almost happy with that statement from her. She staring manically at the blond in his eyes, she gave him an almost paranormal smile that scared the boy.

"What?" He asked, slowly backing away from the redhead who, also at a slow pace, was following all her movements.

"You know very well what I'm talking about, my love." All of Taylor's biggest fears were coming to the surface. There seemed to be no way out now.

"So it's over?"

"No, we'll keep pretending 'til
you'll want it."

Suddenly waking up, the drummer snapped his eyes open without moving abruptly much. Diane, still asleep, hadn't heard anything and so she continued to sleep on his chest, hugging him closer when she felt him wince. The blond, having recovered his breath, ran a hand over his eyes to wipe the sleep away from them. "What the fuck..." he whispered under his breath before turning and holding the girl closer to him, leaving little kisses on her face as he narrowed his eyes again. The redhead replied with a sleepy moan, hinting at a small smile that vanished almost immediately when she heard the drummer's far too fast heartbeats. "Tay, what's going on?" She whispered, drawing the words before slowly starting to slowly open her eyes and focus on the room. "A stupid nightmare... nothing to worry about." He answered her in a low voice as he began to gently caress her face, making the girl smile again as she brought her gaze to his. "Maybe you shouldn't have smoked so much last night."

It all started with a simple dinner to celebrate Pat's 39th birthday, a quiet evening that, upon Joan's surprise arrival, turned into a chaotic but at the same time iconic party, certainly one of those evenings they would talk about for the rest of their existence. Diane couldn't remember ever seeing her best friend so cheerful and loose and that amused her a lot. After the arrival of the older Larkin sister, the guitarist decided to extend the invitation to more people, surprising everyone. So, putting both Taylor and Dave on the phone, they started calling people who gradually showed up at the front door. Chad, Anthony and Flea, accompanied by Navarro, didn't have it repeated twice and, armed up to their necks with weed (and who knows what else), they showed up at the party like a hurricane. Although Courtney and Melissa didn't have that much free time, given the rather imminent release of Celebrity Skin, they still decided to drop by and say hello to the guys they hadn't seen in a long time.

The chill subsided only for a few seconds when Claudia showed up accompanied and hand in hand with a big man of two meters with long black hair. Dave, intent on talking to Melissa, gives his former flame a quick smile before returning to his speech. He knew perfectly well that she was seeing other people, as he was doing (or at least trying to), but even though he was aware of it was still a little hard to swallow. "He doesn't even pretend indifference, dickhead." Nate whispered in Diane's ear who giggled at his words and then stood up from the sofa they were sitting on and headed towards the newcomers, not before passing by Navarro and Courtney, watching him with narrowed eyes before whispering "I'm keeping an eye on you, Precious." He smiled at her absently, then turning to her several times as the singer continued to talk to him about the album. Surely that room could have exploded if only someone had lit the fuse with a few misplaced words, due to all the situationships.

"Yeah, I know... who knows what Dave might have put in it." The drummer whispered before running a hand over his face again, making the girl next to him chuckle and she, putting her arms around his neck, began to kiss his face in turn. "Good morning, babe..." Gently giving him a kiss on his lips, she brought a leg to his side to bring him even closer to her. "Do you want to tell me about your nightmare? You seemed a little shaken." The blond replied immediately by shaking his head slightly, returning to kiss her gently as his hands caressed her bare back. "I just want to stay in bed with you." He murmured on the lips of the redhead who nodded looking into his eyes, then approaching his mouth to resume their kiss. With one hand, the drummer slowly reached the girl's lower back, slipping with his nimble fingers under the singer's green panties who, moaning on his lips, continued to caress the boy's tongue slowly.