THE RECORD SHOP ⋆ 𝗱𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗴𝗿𝗼𝗵𝗹

thirty seven

DECEMBER 25, 1991. SEATTLE, WASHINGTON.

     THE ANNUALLY DREADED day came around like clockwork on December eighth. Evie's bones felt heavier on that cold, dull December day. Dave and Evie got a chance to spend three weeks together at their home in Seattle after tour finished. Within those three weeks was Evie's moms birthday which was in no way easy. She only really saw Dave in the morning and the night of the eighth since she spent the whole day alone with her family and Lori, Rick and Ruby. 

Still, Dave realised first-hand how bad the day was for Evie, worse than he anticipated it would be. It's like she had become a different person, a shell of herself. He wished he could reach inside her chest and soothe the pain she feels, but he knows even if he could Evie sure as hell wouldn't let him. 

While he was finishing up the Europe tour Ruby essentially moved into the Seattle house to keep Evie company, driving into Olympia with her on all the days she'd come down and going back with her to spend the night. They've been having sleepovers like they were teenagers again, staying up late and talking about every topic of conversation under the sun. 

Part of Ruby's time spent with Evie was driven by her breakup with Josh that happened while Evie was with Dave in Italy. Evie's been helping Ruby through it, because despite Ruby's readiness for it to be over, she's still been struggling not being able to just be with Josh anymore. 

She's been doing a lot of thinking in the last month about her and Dave, particularly about how much she hates the constant distance put between them. Since March the two have been spending time together in snatches, weeks between tour or between Evie flying out to New York. It hasn't been easy, and she is concerned about 1992 being the same, if not worse with how big Nirvana is getting. You can't turn on MTV or the radio without hearing Teen Spirit playing and they haven't been able to keep it in stock at the record shop basically since the albums release date. 

Dave flew back to Virginia a couple of days ago to spend Christmas with Ginny and Lisa, and so Evie won't see him again until after the New Year when she is back in New York with Rolling Stone, and the boys are also in the city for SNL. No one can believe that the boys have actually been booked for SNL. It seems that they left on this last tour being a band that was most well known in the Seattle area, and now the entire world is watching and listening to them. Evie has made sure to ask Dave how he's doing, being aware that this is a completely abnormal and probably terrifying feeling to suddenly be recognised at a certain level of celebrity. He maintains that he doesn't feel any different, that he's just got more money in his bank account. 

Today Evie wakes up back in her childhood bed to spend Christmas day with her family. Evie walks downstairs to find Mia, Oliver and John all getting breakfast organised. John is doing well after his first cycle of chemotherapy, which is making everyone very hopeful for the future. He's a fighter, and Evie has faith he'll pull through this battle and come out the other side stronger than ever. 

"Merry Christmas," Evie smiles at the sight of her family together in their pyjamas, cooking away in the kitchen. 

They all respond cheerfully with Merry Christmases and Evie greets each of them with a hug. 

"I'm so happy you're all here," John says, not able to wipe the smile from his face. 

They eat their breakfast of french toast, pancakes and fruit on the living room couches before they all exchange gifts. Evie is so happy to spend some happy times with her siblings and her dad. It feels like a lot of their time spent together lately has been blanketed in concern for John, but today feels like how it felt before he was sick. It just feels like everything is going to be okay, and Evie holds onto this feeling of hope as if it's fuelling her to live.