No Way Back (a Taylor Hawkins fan fiction)

Chapter 4 - The Morning After

There was a dull throbbing in her temples as Gen opened her eyes to morning light. She groggily scanned her surroundings trying to figure out where she was.

She was in an unfamiliar bed in an unfamiliar room. She rolled over, and exhaled with relief to find that she was alone.

She crawled out of the bed. Looking down, she saw she was wearing a pair of men’s boxers and a Jane’s Addiction T-shirt. She put her hand to her head as memories from the night before washed over her.

She remembered standing in the kitchen with Dave and Taylor, grabbing the bottle of bourbon, taking a drink. She remembered smoking cigarettes with Pat Smear. She remembered Taylor trying to kiss her by the pool. She remembered pushing him into the water in a knee-jerk defence manoeuvre. She remembered Jack Black shoving her in afterwards to avenge Taylor’s honour. She remembered laughing a lot, Taylor trying to kiss her again, running away. She remembered Taylor giving her dry clothes to change into, and now here she stood in them, feeling like hell.

Tiptoeing into the hallway, she listened for sounds of life. Silence. She realized she had no idea where Taylor had put her wet clothes. She crept down the stairs, passed through the living room which was littered with bottles and cups. A snoring mystery guest was sprawled out on the sofa. She was happy to find her purse still tucked in the corner of the foyer closet and grabbed it, quietly opened the front door, escaping into the California morning.

“Well well well!” Rachel’s voice made Gen cringe in pain as she closed the door to their apartment behind her.“Nice outfit!”

Gen shushed her, finger to her lips, and shook her head. She made her way to the bathroom, opened the medicine cabinet, took 2 advil and washed them down with a big gulp of water. She could feel Rachel’s eyes watching her with amusement as she made her way down the hall to her bedroom. She turned to glare at her before shutting the door, pulling down her blackout blinds and crawling into her own, cozy bed.

Two hours later Gen awoke to the smell of coffee. She got up and poked her head out into the hallway.

“Pizza is on its way, and Netflix is waiting…” Rachel called in a singsong voice, hearing Gen’s door creak open.

Gen shuffled down the hall and into the kitchen where she found Rachel pouring her a much needed cup of coffee.

“You left me.” She pouted as she accepted the mug.

“You seemed to be doing just fine,” Rachel replied, smiling. “Liv offered me a lift home and you said it was okay!”

“I know,” Gen said, exasperated.

The doorbell rang.

“YES!” Rachel exclaimed. “Perfect timing, we’re going to shove your hungover face full of pizza and between bites you are going to tell me everything!”

“Nothing happened,” said Gen as Rachel came back , pizza box in hand.

“You roll in at 12 noon wearing mens boxers and a T-shirt you don’t own - but SHOULD keep, by the way - and expect me to believe NOTHING happened?”

“He tried to kiss me and I pushed him in the pool.”

The minute the words came out of her mouth and she heard how ridiculous they sounded. She looked at Rachel and the two burst out laughing.

“What are you, living in a teen movie?” Rachel cried.

“It gets worse - Jack pushed me in after that as revenge.”

“Let me get on the phone with my agent - I’m buying the film rights to this.”

The girls finished off their pizza as Genevieve retold the hazy details of the night before.

“He was following you around like a lost puppy,” Rachel recalled.

“Oh it wasn’t that bad.”

“It was pretty adorable - I’m amazed you didn’t do anything about it. Truly.”

“Oh man,” Gen sighed. “He’s so gorgeous and he was really sweet, but let’s be realistic. He’s Taylor Hawkins. He’s a rock star, and I cannot go through that musician shit again. Especially not on that scale.”

Rachel shook her head.

“I miss my Stooges shirt,” Gen whined. 

“So you just snuck out like a thief in the… day?”

“I totally did, am I insane?”

“Yes. I can say with great certainty that you are.”

The girls settled into the couch and drifted into a Netflix coma until they could barely keep their eyes open.

Once alone in her room Gen looked down at the shirt and boxers she still had on. She couldn’t’ help but smile in the dark. Wrapping her arms around herself, she rested her chin on her shoulder and inhaled. She could smell him. For just a moment she let herself imagine what that kiss would have felt like had she let him get away with it.