Waiting (David Schmitt Fan Fiction)

Chapter Eleven

A late bloomer of sorts, I didn't have my first boyfriend until I was seventeen. I was in my junior year, my hair cut short and dark. The days when I spent my afternoons in Jack's basement, watching the guys play, or in the school auditorium, trying to broaden my horizons with drama club. He was just some kid in my english class that I started talking to about Green Day during lunch. It was just some dumb high school fling, you know? He was nice and I could talk to him about things and after we broke up a few months later, I had been pretty torn up about it in the moment. I had had a couple relationships since then, but never a serious one.

When my mom died, I had isolasted myself from a lot of people at first. I talked to my aunt and the guys a little bit (mostly Jack), but I felt cut off from everyone else in the world. Even since then, it's been diffiult for me to connect with people and I've been trying my best to form new relationships and keep my old ones solid. Things have been hard, but I've been trying.

It was the second to last day of Warped, and I was watching All Time Low play from the side stage while  Dillion was back manning the merch tent. They were jamming out their old song "Jasey Rae" and I felt so proud of them; I remember when they wrote that song in Jack's basement. It was so cool to watch them grow all these years, from tiny hometown shows, to headlining the mainstage for thousands of people at Warped Tour.

I was lost in my thoughts when I felt someone grab my shoulder. I jumped out of surprise, and turned around to see David smilin down at me.

"Woah, sorry! Didn't mean to scare you", he apologized. I chuckled.

"No, no, it's fine, I'm just jumpy."

We stood there in an awkward silence for a moment before I broke it by questioning, "so what's up?"

"I need to talk to you... like now" he said, wrapping a hand around my wrist. Shivers went up my spine and I nodded. 

"Yeah," I said nervously, "what is it?"

"Not here, in the bus"

I was confused at this request, but I agreed and followed him to the Breathe Carolina tour bus. My mind raced as I tried to conjure up an idea of what the hell he wanted to talk to me about. He reached his hand up and opened the door of the bus for me, and I took a step inside. A quick glance around, and it seemed empty.

Turning around, I was prepared to ask David what was up, but was caught off guard with the slamming of the door and him right in front of me, hands cupping cheeks. In a matter of moments his lips were on mine and he kissed me furiously. I too shocked to respond but the butterflies in my stomach were biting at my insides, begging to burst out. Then as soon as it had all begun, he pulled away and slowly took his hands back, panting. 

"Fuck, I'm sorry, Valerie, I just-"

"No," I was blushing madly at this point, but overrun with joy and longing to kiss David again. "It's fine, it's fine"

I looked up into his eyes, drunk on the feeling of the kiss, and lifted my arms up, tangling my fingers through his hair and pulling him closer to me. "It's fine" I breathed and I felt him smile as our lips inched closer.

"Great," David said, "because I don't have to be anywhere until five".

I grabbed onto the collar of his shirt and pulled him onto the couch, letting him stumble after me as we kissed. God, did it feel good to know David had feelings for me. Everything went away in that moment; The nightmares, the stress from the tour, every bad thought was erased.

I felt David begin to inch his hands up my shirt and to the clasp of my bra, and I broke the kiss, pulling his arms down and holding them in front of me.

"Oh God, Shit, I'm sorry" David stammered but I shook my head.

"It's okay" I said quietly, "I just... not right now"

"Fair enough" David grinnd and I rested my head on his shoulder, tracing the tattoos on his hands. I sighed and he brushed a stray strand of hair out of my face. "Valerie?"

"Yeah?"

"Shit, this sounds so dumb, but I care about you. I really do." 

David cared about me? All the feelings I had been trying to surpress for the last couple months were suddenly set loose by those words and I felt a warmth climb through my body.

"Thanks David. I mean it."

There was a silence after that, though less awkward than the ones between us in the past. David offered me a beer, but I turned him down. We just sat like that on the sofa for a while, our heavy breathing the only soundtrack.