Greta Van Fleet Imagines

Always There (Danny Wagner)

You rolled over in bed, glancing at the bright green numbers of your alarm clock. The time read 6:20 am. Ten minutes before your alarm was set to go off. The day didn't even start yet, but you could already feel the dull ache beginning to set into your back, and you feared the pain that would radiate down your legs once your feet hit the floor. You decided to close your eyes and enjoy your last ten minutes of peace before the chaos of life sets in. Despite having gone to bed early, you feel like you haven't slept at all, which isn't entirely wrong as you did wake up a few times during the night, unable to find a comfortable position to sleep in.

After what felt like seconds, you hear the constant beeping of your alarm. Hitting the off button, you sit up and sigh as pain ripples across your lower back. You sit there for a moment, trying to gather the energy to get out of bed and deal with the long day ahead. Realizing that no amount of energy could help you deal with the pain you face daily, you swing your legs over and force yourself out of bed. You curse to yourself as a sharp pain hits your knee and radiates down your one leg. Taking a breath, you slowly make your way to the kitchen, stairs not being your best friend.

As you wait for the coffee machine to heat up, you pull out your phone to see a message from your friend Danny.

"Meet you at the cafe on campus at 8 am. I'll save you a seat and a coffee."

You laughed to yourself. Danny has been one of your best friends since you were in 9th grade, and no matter how many 8 am coffee sessions you had, you were still amazed that he could be so awake this early in the morning.

Another pain shot through your knee, causing you to lift your leg to remove the pressure of standing on it. You sighed. Your pain has been getting worse lately, and today was no exception. All you wanted to do was crawl back in bed and sleep. As much as you wanted to see Danny, your body was screaming for a break.

"Sorry, but I don't think I'll be able to make it today. The pain is killing me, and I barely slept last night." You quickly typed and sent it back to him. You hated canceling plans with anyone, especially Danny.

Almost immediately, you received a response. "Are you okay? Do you want me to come over?"

"No, that's okay. You have class anyway. I'm fine." Even you didn't believe you were fine. How was Danny supposed to?

"That's a lie, and you know it. You'd say you're fine no matter what. I can afford to skip one day of classes. I'll be there in a half-hour."

Normally you would argue with the drummer, but you didn't have the energy today. Abandoning the coffee machine, you decided that you should at least shower before your friend arrived. Slowly you made your way back upstairs and into the bathroom. You didn't have the energy to do your whole shower routine of shaving and everything else, so you settled for some body wash and shampoo.

Once out of the shower, you threw on some clean pajamas and made your back downstairs to wait for Danny. It wasn't long before Danny came crashing through your front door carrying a bag and some coffees.

"I would have been here sooner, but the Starbucks downtown was packed. I guess all the business people need their morning coffee." he laughed, trying to close the door with his foot.

"Here, let me carry something." You said, getting up from the couch and making your way towards your friend. "You didn't have to bring coffee. I have some here we could have made."

"It's no problem. It sounds like you had a shitty night as well as a shitty morning, so I wanted to do something to make it better."

"Thank you, Danny. I appreciate it." You spoke as you both made your way over to the couch. "What do you want to do? We could watch some Netflix or listen to some records."