KISS THE RING ☆ Taylor Hawkins

37. Hell yeah, I remember Aurora

Alexandria, Virginia, April 1999.

"Dying to get my blood on you? That's disgusting." The redhead started talking after several minutes of silence in the studio. The Foo Fighters frontman rolled his eyes, continuing to smoke his red Marlboro as he pushed the chair across the floor with his legs. Diane shifted her gaze from the lyrics of what would later become Gimme Stiches and hinted at an amused laugh, watching the dark-haired swinging in his chair. "I'm just fucking with you, Eric."
The singer had just returned from the last leg of the American tour which, with a break in between, anticipated the last European tour for the promotion of Version 2.0. The last two dates, April 6 and 7, she was able to reunite once again with Alanis and share the stage with her band, the first concert at the Honda Center and the second one at the Gibson Amphitheater, both in Los Angeles.
The house in Virginia remained the same as she remembered it, despite the fact that it had been more than a year since she last set foot inside. Of course, it was certainly more lived and visibly inhabited by two beasts, Nate certainly couldn't work miracles.
The miracles, however, happened several months earlier, the first when Navarro recovered from the coma and seemed to get back on track as if nothing had happened, under the incredulous eyes of all his closer friends, especially those of the redhead: clearly the recovery was a purely subjective thing, but he seemed just having been taken by his hair, that in the meantime became considerably more long. Taylor was able to experience the guitarist's period of convalescence more, unlike Diane who, engaged in the American tour, limited herself to two/three daily phone calls to Navarro's home. The second miracle, if you want to call it that, seemed to be the peace that was in the relationship between the drummer and the singer. Although she had to spend a lot of time away from home, the blond didn't seem to feel too bad about this, at least not as it happened in the fall. And maybe that was the reason for the absence of any kind of fight: the distance, or maybe spending more time with Dave just made him more reassured.
"Anyway, I like it. Do you have anything else to show me?" Diane asked before handing the lyrics to his author, who, squinting his eyes to glare at her, nearly tore the piece of paper from her hands. The redhead laughed at his reaction, crossing her arms over her chest while she continued to observe her friend who, rising from his seat, went through three sheets scattered on a piece of furniture before pulling out other lyrics. "There are so many, Foxy... I don't know where to get you started." Diane's eyes fell on the first sheet which read:

"I just kinda died for you
You just kinda stared at me
We will always have the chance
We can do this one more time
Hell yeah, I remember Aurora."

"What is this?" She asked between surprised and amused, showing the lyrics to the dark-haired man who rolled his eyes again, picking up the sheet of paper in his hands shortly after. "Don't make a fuss about that, it's not dedicated to you." Diane arched both of her eyebrows, approaching her best friend without taking the amused smile off her lips. "Aurora wait for everyone?" Although the girl knew it wasn't really a song dedicated to her, she loved making fun of Dave. "It's not for you! It's about Seattle, about that period..." Aurora Avenue seemed to be the protagonist of that song, a Seattle street that Dave knew very well, or at least Diane tried to get there by logic; she doesn't remember ever reading such a "heavy" lyrics out of Dave's pen, it was quite ambiguous. Just as it could refer to a place, it could very well refer to a person, an emotion, certainly melancholy. She noticed that the dark-haired man was starting to reassure himself more and more as a lyricist. The redhead placed the remaining sheets on top of the mixer and, subsequently bringing her hands on Dave's shoulders, she stared intently into his eyes. "Oh, Eric, I know you've always been in love with me. I understand that, but I'm taken, you know it." The singer snapped away from his friend who burst out laughing at his reaction, remaining almost breathless when Taylor, still sleepy, entered in the studio. "Will you stop making so much noise? I was sleeping." The smile on Diane's face widened even more at the sight of the drummer who, only after a few seconds, realized that his girlfriend was in the same room as his, in the same house, after weeks of not seeing her. "Cherry? Oh, fuck." Opening his eyes wide, as if he had suddenly awakened, he opened his arms to the singer who, she didn't have it repeated twice, threw herself between them. "What are you doing here?" He squeezed her to his body as if he would never let go of her again, he brought his hand behind her head as he pressed kisses on her temple. "I think I'll spend some time with you, before leaving for Europe." Taylor smiled broadly before leaving a long kiss on her lips. "Great! So he won't complain too much every second of the day! "Dave announced before taking all the lyrics in his hands to be able to arrange them in their place. The drummer rolled his eyes under the amused gaze of the redhead who, observing first him and then her friend, she chuckled. "Fuck you Dave, that's not true. Don't believe a single word that comes out of his mouth." He pointed at him making the girl laugh even more who, shaking her head, seemed to observe the dark-haired man with a reproachful look. "Oh no, I won't. Do you know he wrote a song about me?" Placing her hands on the edge of his red t-shirt, the singer moved closer to the drummer giggling and looking him in the eyes. She loved teasing Dave, it had always been one of her favorite pastimes. "Ah yeah, Aurora."-"Fuck you both. Blondie, don't get too involved."