February Stars

2

May 2003

"So how did the interview go?" Ashley asked after the warm up band had finished and the road crew started to turn the stage over.

"It didn't exactly ever happen..." Jessica answered.

"I can't believe you used to write for Arts and Entertainment!" Ashley said shaking her head. "I assumed you were always a hard hitting political journalist." Jess smiled back.

"If I wanted to make any money, I had to make the switch," Jess explained. Ashley shook her head. The lights dimmed and the crowd started to cheer as the headlining act, Foo Fighters, prepared to take the stage.

"I'm not done with you," Ashley yelled. "We will finish this conversation later."

"Just enjoy the show!" Jessica called. "This is your night! We are here for you!"

Just then, loud guitar music filled the arena and the lights came up. Their seats were amazing and Jessica had an excellent view of Dave, hair cropped short, face clean shaven except for a goatee, his smile as wide as ever.

"This song's off our new album! It's called 'All my life'!" he called to the hundreds of screaming fans. Ashley grabbed on to Jessica's wrist as the first few bars exploded out of the huge Marshall stacks. Jess watched him, her heart lodged in her throat. Still slim, but no longer skinny, he'd filled out a lot. He had new red tribal tattoos on his upper arms, which were much more muscular that she'd remembered. She watched him as he sang, his eyes squeezed shut, the tendons in his neck straining as he yelled the words "Done, done on to the next one, done I'm done and I'm on to the next!" As he finished, the crowed erupted with cheers, clapping and whistles.

He alternated between songs off their new album and songs from previous albums. With each song, the white T-shirt he wore grew more and more damp with seat and the edges of his hair started to flip up into little curls. She glanced over at Ashley from time to time and saw that her friend was clearly enjoying herself.

As the band finished up a classic, "For All the Cows," the lighting on the stage when down and a single spot light illuminated Dave. He struck the first chord of the next song, Jessie gripped the armrests of her chair.

"Hangin' on.... Here until I'm gone... right where I belong, just hangin' on..." she reached down under her seat and grabbed her purse. She turned to Ashley and whispered in her ear, "Ladies room... be right back." Ashley gave her a puzzled look, but Jessie scrambled up and hurried up the aisle and out on to the concourse. However, even out there, standing in front of all the concession stands, she could still hear him. "February stars floating in the dark, temporary scars...." She squeezed her eyes shut and wished, as she always did when she heard this song, that the scars were only temporary and that she would one day feel the same way she did when they'd held each other under those February stars, all those years ago.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

February 1992

He was waiting for her, which she didn't expect. She was early, which meant he was early, which, even with her limited interactions with rock stars, she knew to be rare. She recognized him right away, his long, long stringy brown hair falling around his shoulders. He wore a Black Flag T-shirt and was sipping from a large cup of coffee. She smiled and made her way over to his table.

"Dave?" she asked, even though she was sure it was him. He looked up for his coffee and smiled shyly.

"Yeah, are you the reporter from UVA?" he asked, standing.

"Yes, Jessica, nice to meet you," she said, holding out her hand.

"Nice to meet you, too" he said, taking her hand and smiling and displaying a mouth full of perfect teeth. "Can I get you a coffee before we get started?" he asked. So not only was he timely, but he was polite, Jessica thought.

"I'd love one," she said. "Black."

"Whoa. Hardcore," Dave said. "Coming right up." He headed back up to the counter and ordered her a large black coffee. While they poured it, he turned and surveyed her from across the coffee shop. She was totally cute. She had long dark hair, not quite as long as his. She wore a flannel T-shirt over a white tank top and ripped acid washed jeans. He smiled as she dug out her pen and pad of paper. The barista handed Dave the coffee and he returned to sit with the writer.

"Thank-you so much," she said, taking the coffee from him. "And thank you for meeting with me. I'm sure you get inundated with requests for interviews."

"Not as much as you might think," he said, smiling. "I'm just the drummer."

"Just the backbone of the band!" Jessica said, raising her eyebrows. "Their first few albums failed to gain notoriety and many people say it is your drumming style that is going to push 'Nevermind' into the main stream..." Dave shrugged and shook his head.

"I just like to play," he said. "Kurt writes amazing songs and gives me the opportunity to beat the shit out of my drums every night." Jessica smiled and made a few notes. "So do you like UVA?" he asked her as she wrote. She paused and looked up at him.

"Yeah, it's great, lots of fun, their journalism program is well regarded," Jessica explained.

"What year are you in?" he asked.

"My junior year," Jess answered. "One more year to go until graduation!"

"And how long have you been writing?" Dave asked. Jess laughed.

"Are you interviewing me now?" she said, setting her pen down.

"Yes," Dave smiled. "I am." He slid her pad over to him and flipped to a clean sheet of paper and picked up her pen. "So? How long?" Jess sighed.

"I don't know," Jess answered. "Forever. Since I knew how to spell..." Dave jotted down some notes on the paper. Jess craned her neck to see what he was writing, but he covered it up.

"No peeking," he said, shaking his head. "And are you originally from this area?" Jess laughed.

"No, I am from South Carolina originally," she answered. Dave made a few more notes. "When do I get to ask the questions?"

"In a minute," Dave said. "Brothers? Sisters?"

"Only child," Jess answered, pausing to let Dave scribble.

"Boyfriend?" Jessica inhaled and thought of Paul and their secretive relationship. She bit her lip.

"Nope," she replied, deciding to keep their secret. Dave smiled and nodded, muttering "very interesting" as he jotted down something.

"Hobbies?" he asked, continuing with the interview.

"Hobbies are writing and... writing."

"Wriii..ttt...ing" Dave said as he wrote, "And wriiiiiii...tttt...ing. Got it." He looked up at Jessica and smiled. "I think this is my best piece. I mean, this is real Pulitzer Prize winning stuff right here." He slid the paper back to Jessica, who looked down to see what he had written. To her surprise, there were two stick figures. One had long hair and holding what looked to be drum sticks, the other had slightly shorter hair and was holding a pad of paper. The drummer stick figure had a word bubble that read, "Would you like to have dinner with me tonight?" The writer stick figure's word bubble was empty. Jess felt her cheeks turn red. She grabbed her pen back from Dave and scribbled something down before she slid the paper back in front of him. He looked down at what she had written

"Only if you promise to give me my interview," Dave read. He laughed. "I promise," he replied.

"Deal," Jessica said, feeling slightly unnerved and excited all at the same time.