|Concrete and Gold||dave grohl|

Chapter Seven•Halo

Dave pulled into the back parking lot of just about the scariest building Eliza had ever seen. The grass looked like it hadn't been cut in weeks, the window above the back door was completely shattered, and there was paint peeling all down the sides of the wall.

"Dave, are you sure this is the right place?"

Before he could assure her this was in fact the building he was looking for, a group of teens dressed in punk rock attire burst out of the back door. Her question was answered.

Dave put his car in park and nearly jumped out of his seat with excitement. From the looks of it, the people who had just exited the building were Scream, and they seemed more than pleased that Dave had accepted their offer to play with them tonight. They all greeted him with hugs and pats on the back.

Eliza stepped out of the car and walked in their direction, not quite sure what to say.

"Ah Davey, you've outdone yourself. This your girlfriend?" One of the guys came up to her, putting his hands around her shoulders.

"Girl friend. With a space." Dave said, cementing their relationship as being strictly a friendship.

"Ah, so I see. Boy, you hear that? She's up for grabs!" The guy said to the rest of the band as Eliza shook his hands off of her.

"Sorry about them." Dave whispered as they made their way inside the club.

"Are they drunk?" Elia asked, still confused by their behavior.

"Oh, not at all." Dave said as they stepped foot into the dressing room with the word "Scream" written on a piece of paper and taped onto the door.

Calling the space a dressing room was an exaggeration. There were about four folding chairs placed in a circle in the center, a card table filled with all kinds of alcohol was shoved into the corner, and a black guitar was propped up against the wall. Sitting in one of the chairs was Franz, and Eliza recognized him as the guy from the restaurant.

"Hey, buddy. What's goin' on?" Franz said, greeting Dave with a hug when they walked in the door.

"Nothin much. Thank you so much for calling me."

"Hey no problem. You're the best drummer around, that's for damn sure."

Dave and Eliza took a seat in the empty chairs surrounding the one Franz was occupying.

"Oh, here." Franz said as he reached into his back pocket and pulled out a folded set list and handed it to Dave. "We will play all of those songs in that exact order. We don't do any live rundowns or anything like that, we just play those songs exactly as they sound on the record. Got that?"

"Yep." Dave said, studying the set list, making sure he understood everything.

"Let's go take a look at your drums." Franz said as he stood up and walked out, leading Dave and Eliza to another room across the hall from the dressing room.

As Franz flicked on a light, he revealed what must be the instrument room. There were various guitars, keyboards, drum kits, and mics all scattered across the floor. Franz carefully stepped over the instruments littering the ground, and led them to a baby blue drum kit in the corner of the room.

"You can change anything to your liking. You good with a single kick, or do you want a double?"

"Single's good. Thanks, Franz."

"No problem. We're gonna start loading gear onto the stage, you can start bringing out your kit whenever. I'm gonna go help the guys unload from the trucks."

"Alright." Dave said as he sat down at the kit, seeing how it felt to play.

Eliza was astonished. Sure, she'd heard him play through her bedroom window, but watching him come to life was a whole different experience. The way he could just sit down and make music was incredible.