I hope you guys enjoy this chapter. Vote! Comment! Let me know what you think and what direction I should be taking with this story (and all the rest of them!) Thanks again.
This work makes no affiliation between Aaron Lewis, Staind, Slipknot, Tool, Korn or any other artist. The references to names are noted as such and all lyrics belong to their rightful owners.
Danielle kicked a clump of dirt as she walked out of the door from one of the academic halls. She had just finished her humanities lecture and was zonked from the onslaught of the information. The semester was flying through quickly and she felt very comfortable with her workload. It had been almost two whole months since she had walked out of Dave's suite and she had not run into him once. She knew as soon as she saw him when he had opened that door that she had hurt him. At first it really did not bother her because it was a natural defense for her. Before someone could hurt her she returned the favor ahead of time.
She reached to swipe her card through the system in order to open the door to her dormitory and stopped suddenly to look at a flyer in the foyer. It seemed that one of the local fraternities was holding a party that was themed in a beach sense. Danielle shook her head and continued on up the stairs to her room. She punched in her code into the door and slipped into her single room. The school allowed her to have a single room due to her scholarship that she received from a high SAT score. This was one of her conditions upon joining a college. She did not feel comfortable living with someone that she had never met before. She had two suitemates and they rarely exchanged words between each other. When the toilet paper was low or someone had to use the bathroom to dry their hair was the only times. She had at one point received an invite to a party from one of them but declined.
Danielle logged into the school's chat room where the student body transferred files between each other. She read some of the white scrolling text for a few minutes and spoke to a few friends. She found it much easier to socialize through the chat room than in person so therefore became one of the regulars on the server. She had only met one friend through the system, a guy named Nolan and they quickly became good friends. They shared similar interests – both listened to hard rock such as Korn, Slipknot, and Manson. There was something else that brought her at ease, he was gay and thus she did not have to worry about him making a pass on her. Nolan reminded her that there was a concert at the community building tonight that was supposed to have a local cover band that played a lot of Korn. They had gone to see the band before and were amazed how good the show was.
Nolan had told her to try to speak with Dave again but she could not bring herself to it. He seemed like a nice guy, but she did not want to take the risk. After the first few days of meeting him she searched him on Facebook with no avail. He was not registered under the college and she did not know his last name. Dave was such a common name that there were thousands upon thousands of entries – maybe even more than that – so she had given up on the search. Her only hope is that she might come across him on the chat room connection that seemingly most of the students used. But there was no chatter about someone that was using crutches and fed up with the women on campus. She had taken it out on herself once she got home and cut herself again. But after looking at his bandage job it stopped her mid slice.
She gave Nolan a big hug when she met him in front of the community building. The duo walked into the building and found some standing space. She surveyed the scene in an attempt to look for him but she did not even know if he liked Korn enough to come by. For all she knew he might have left campus. Dave seemed to be nonexistent.
"Danni the flyer said that there was a pre-gamer," Nolan looked over her and pointed towards the stage, "he covers some of Aaron Lewis' material. I saw him last week. The guy is amazing. Amazingly attractive too."
"I did not know you were attracted to an Aaron Lewis cover boy," she smirked as she took a sip from her can of soda.
Nolan rolled his eyes and pointed at the dimly lit stage, "Here he comes. Solo act."
The familiar sounds of an acoustic guitar filled the room as Dave started playing one of Staind's new singles, "Reply." He begun singing the lyrics to the song as the lights turned on and illuminated the stage. The crowd roared as he made his way into the song hitting the notes and lyrics with perfect precision. Ever since he had got his casts off two weeks prior he had begun singing at the community room on Friday nights. The reaction was so great that the school had asked him to play a few more shows during the week. This was the first Tuesday night show that he was playing. Those nights were reserved for paid bands that the school had brought in from the outside. But he was being offered a spot to sing in front of his classmates as well as people from the outside.
"Nolan, holy shit, that's him!" Danielle said at the top of her lungs. She listened to the lyrics and watched him play the guitar. She punched Nolan in the shoulder so that he would turn around to look. "That's him! That's Dave!"
"That's Dave? That is the boy that you walked out on? What the hell is wrong with you sister?"
She gave him a look and turned to watch the show. He had just finished the song and ramped right into the next. It was an acoustic cover of Tool's "Sober." The crowd again roared louder. They were screaming and loving every single second of Dave's act. He sung louder with his full voice.
The lyrics seemed to stick into her like a dart in a bar room. She swayed to the music with the rest of the crowd and enjoyed the show. He was playing amazingly and the voice was stellar.
After his set had finished Dave gave a deep bow and walked off the stage with his guitar. He made his way through the crowd as everyone patted him on the back. The headliner got on the stage and started setting up their equipment. Everyone was still clapping from Dave's performance and he smiled as he made his way towards the bartender who handed him an already opened beer. Dave took a few swigs while laughing and shaking some people's hands that were lingering around the roped off area of the bar.
Danielle stood back and looked at Dave through the crowd. She could not keep her eyes off of him. This was the first time that she had seen him since that day that she had told him all those things. He had thrown his crutches against the wall and knocked his leg as he reached for her jacket. She cursed at herself for being such a bitch to him. He seemed to be having such fun that she felt a pit inside of her grow bigger. She only knew this guy for a few hours but had slept in his bed. She had seen him naked while he was getting ready for the shower. He had made her breakfast and all that she gave back to him was grouping of nasty words that she knew would strike him hard.
Nolan grabbed her by her waist and pushed her through the crowd towards the bar area. Danielle resisted but he was stronger than her. Once they got closer and closer to the bar she clung to a chair and sat down immediately covering her head.
