Alive and Kicking

I Bought a Headache

"And all I needed was just a breath of fresh air
I want a, I want a folding chair"

He was watching her from afar. At about mid ceremony David got up from his table and started walking around the hall. He saw a couple of people he knew from either theatre or TV, but he was mostly aimless in his walk.

Truthfully, David just needed to get away from everyone, Lily included. He liked the woman very much, but she was starting to smother him with her affection and stories no one at the table was particularly interested in. He thought he was happy with her, but being in this room a year later, sitting next to Winona... it brought the old feelings back and that scared the shit out of him.

Last year he was still with Allison and while that was the case, she never really cared much for him anyways so it was almost as if she was not there.

Last year Winona opened up to him for the first time about certain things in her life when they were leaving the venue.

Last year... last year he was sure Winona and him would end up together. So many things have changed since then and yet here he was again, 2020 and he's still thinking about it.

Everyone told him to drop it. Even the Duffers who knew of his crush warned him it would be a bad idea and yet, they ended up writing an entire season where his character got to spend time with her character... all the damn season! It was enough time for him to fall even deeper, to finally lose his mind over the woman he got to know so well.

He was planning on telling her how he felt, but when she barged into his trailer one night, all happy and cheerful telling him about Scott's plans for the future, he decided it was time to let her go. All David wanted was for Winona to be happy, even if it meant losing his happiness in the process.

Little did he know that Winona would end up being in his shoes just a year later, going back and forth between being jealous of Lily and mad at David... but that's a different story.

"What are you doing?"

Charlie came up behind David who was now leaning on one of the columns, but was evidently startled away from it when he heard Charlie's voice.

"Jesus kid, you could've given me a heart attack"

He exhaled going back into his previous position, still staring at his seat that was funny enough, in the middle of Lily and Winona. Oh, what a cruel faith it was.

"Yeah, yeah... sorry"

Charlie grunted like an offended teenager earning a light smack on his head, courtesy of David.

"So..." Charlie began unsure of the reaction "which one of your women are you currently looking at?"

Charlie was young, but not stupid. Almost every kid on the set knew how much David liked Winona, kids picked up on those things, so it was no strange he was asking the question. The young man himself had to make a choice between two girls once so he understood David's dilemma quite well.

"What?"

David's puzzled and quite frankly angry tone set Charlie back a bit, but still he remained determined to get the answer to his question

"Well... everyone knows you like Winona, but you also like Lily, so which one is on your mind now?"

Somehow the nonchalant way Charlie was asking his questions and the chill posture made David relax a bit. The boy was just curious, probably bored at the table as much as David was.

"Well..." David began, mocking the way Charlie began "I don't see how it's any of your business"

Charlie dropped the act and, in an instant, turned into a raging young adult who just got either really hurt by someone or really bored and David assumed it was the second one in this case. The young man pointed an accusatory finger on David's chest, hidden slightly to his side so only the two of them can see it and narrowed his eyes, ready to attack.

"No seriously... you've been out of your element and Lily is boring us all with the story of how you two met and no, I do not want to know what you're like in bed and neither does anyone else at the table. Also, Noni is super uncomfortable so you either figure yourself out or I'll do it for you!"

The switch between teasing and straight threats was too quick for David to keep track and for a moment he felt dizzy. What was Charlie even talking about, has wine hit his head a little too early? Why would Lily be talking about those things? It's a private matter and no one should know the details no matter how close to him.

Instead of being angry at Charlie, all David could do was ask exactly what he was thinking.

"Why's Winona uncomfortable? Because of Lily?"

Seriously though, Winona was never one to care much about what was being said about him or anyone in general. She went through hell back in the early 2000's because of the things being said about her that were not true or exaggerated and to think that Winona was shaken up about Lily's silly stories... he couldn't help but wonder if he was missing a piece of the puzzle that was Winona Ryder.

"I think you two need to talk, big time! Something is wrong and everyone can see that apparently, everyone besides you!"

Charlie shrugged his shoulders and started walking back to his table after earning a questioning look from Natalia. He turned only when David spoke in a low voice.

"I'll talk to her, okay? Just don't mettle in my business again"

Charlie had the saddest of smiles painted across his face, afraid to let his true feelings out but there was no point in holding it in anymore. He considered both David and Noni a family of sorts and to see them hurt would destroy him.

"I just don't like to see you two fighting"

David started following him back to the table, patting him on the shoulder and keeping his hand there.

"I know kid, I know"