YOU KNOW YOU'RE RIGHT // Kurt Cobain

Chapter 5

Seattle, WA
June 21, 1989

Nirvana had finished their set, and to be honest, I had not imagined performing for such a big crowd for our first tour. The crowd loved us, and had somehow gotten ahold of our first album. They knew all the lyrics to our songs. I was truly surprised, because we had only sold a couple thousand records about two years ago.

I watched as Kurt, Dave, and Krist walked backstage, full of sweat, wearing giant smiles across their faces. I felt the exact same way after our set. I was glad that at least we had happiness in common. I felt my arm being grabbed and being pulled into a circle formed by the guys in both of our bands.

"This... was a great show!" Kurt screamed, looking a bit winded from the performance. The rest of us cheered. "Here's to our first headlining tour of many!" My ears were blown out by yelling and screaming. Beer was being passed around, having seemingly appeared out of nowhere. I took one, popping it open with my knuckle.

"I love a girl who can open a beer bottle by herself," I heard Dave Grohl's voice as he came over to me, taking a swig of his own beer. Nirvana's drummer seemed to be one of the only nice ones in the band. It's not like I had many choices, since there only three of them and I had yet to speak to Krist. I looked down at my shoes and smiled, gripping the bottle in my hand.

"You're trying too hard, Dave."

"No, seriously," he protested, "you don't get it! Girls are always like 'Oh, Dave, baby, can you open my beer for me? My nails are too long.'" I let out a laugh at that, and Dave looked offended.

"Maybe she's calling you baby because you don't have any facial hair, dude."

Kurt came over to us, looking even more high off his ass than he had during the show. He slung his arm around Dave's shoulders sloppily, his eyebrows cocking up at random moments, as if he could not control them."Let's go, Dave," his words were slurred, and he glanced at me before lifting his beer bottle up to mine. I couldn't be totally rude, so I clinked my bottle to his, and I watched as he smirked at me. "That's more like it."

With that, he took Dave's hand and attempted to pull him away from me, but Dave stayed put, as he was much more sober. Kurt groaned in frustration and let go of Dave, stumbling someplace else. "Do you want to come to the after party with us? It's at the Blue Moon Tavern in the University District," Dave asked me, and I looked over at Kurt again, who was hanging off one of the stage hands' shoulders now. He looked like a whole mess.

I regained eye contact with Dave, nodding. "We can make that work."

About fifteen minutes later, we all arrived at the tavern. It was a pretty large room with a bar cast to the left side, dimly lit with Christmas lights. The only difference between this and a party venue were the multiple light up beer advertisements across the windows.

"Are you sure you want to go here?" Greg asked me for probably the fourth time since we left the performance. I turned to face him and put my hand on the side of his face, catching him off guard.

"Greg, I'm fine. I want to enjoy this party and live a little, alright? This is our first tour, I want to make some memories," I told him, standing up on my tiptoes to kiss his cheek before weaving through the various crowds of people across the bar.

"Hey, baby, can I get you something?" a bartender leaned over the counter. I glanced over, and called out to him over the music, "I'm not your baby, and I don't want anything from you, thanks."

I heard a whistle and the memorable laugh that could only belong to one blue-eyed monster. I swiveled around to see him standing there, a cigarette ritualistically placed between his fingers, and a beer bottle in his other hand.

"Hey, Kurt," I smiled, and he took my hand, leading me to the bar. "We'll get two white Russians, thanks," he told the bartender who had hit on me, and I glared at Kurt. In response, he took a deep breath and began to speak.

"You can't give these guys that hit on you any mind, they only hit on you because of two reasons. One, that you're beautiful, and two, because a lot of guys unfortunately don't know how to keep their dicks in their pants. I, however, am not of that fashion, so I would have to tell you that me ordering drinks from the same bartender that hit on you only seconds ago is not my responsibility, so enjoy your drink with me, and we'll see how things go, alright?"

My eyes widened after he completed his speech, and he cracked a small grin. Our drinks were served to us, and I hesitantly watched Kurt take a sip of his. "It's fine, don't worry about it, it's not, like, drugged or anything."

I let out a small laugh, taking my drink and taking a sip, the brain freeze already going straight to my head. We both let out a loud laugh, and suddenly, it felt like Kurt and I had known each other for years.

"I feel like we have this... like, vibe, you know?" Kurt asked, and I nodded, my head feeling like it was a whole ten pounds. "Yeah, totally," I agreed.

Kurt took his flannel shirt sleeve and ran it across his face, and let out a loud giggle. How much weed had he consumed before coming to this party? Or was he smoking right in front of me? I couldn't tell. But, Jesus, we both seemed a little high off our asses. But I hadn't even smoked anything!

"Hey, wanna get out of here? Like, we can get some food and see-sight!" Kurt told me. That sounded like a great idea. Kurt paid off our tab and grabbed my hand as he led me out of the tavern. Everything seemed so much bigger in real life. Or was this real life?

I saw a bus driving by, and thought that would be our best mode of transportation to see-sight. I ran towards the bus, whose flashing lights were so shiny, catching my attention, and I stumbled over the gravel in the parking lot. Right before I could fall, Kurt grabbed me, and I collapsed in his arms, laughing. We both sat in the gravel for a while, our hands still connected as we watched the bus drive further and further away.

I glanced at him, and he smiled back at me, and before I knew it, his lips were against mine, smooth and tasting of alcohol and cigarettes. I felt every single one of my senses going wild, until he pulled back. I expected him to say something poetic, but all he said was, "Let's grab a taxi instead, Erin. Then we can go sightseeing."

I was fine with that.

With anything.