An Easy Friend

Chapter 38

Four months later...

I lay on the couch watching television as Chad comes into the apartment at exactly 6:30 pm, just like every other day. It's our routine.

Living with him is pretty easy. He's a quiet person, like me, only he's kind of a womanizer. So I had to become accustomed to seeing strange women in our kitchen at least once a month.

I will say, though, it was really hard at first. But it wasn't his fault, it was mine.

The paparazzi caught me with Chad at the airport on the very first day and ruined my plan to remain incognito. They yelled questions and automatically assumed that Kurt and I had broken up. It was all over the damn news.

Next came the calls from Kurt, who saw the photos of me and Chad. He left messages, sent letters, even tried getting his sister to talk to me.

But I didn't want to hear any of it. Did he really think that I would want to hear how he knocked up Courtney Love? Ok, that was harsh.

Now, here I am watching Beevis and Butthead while Chad dines luxuriously on left over Chinese food. It's a comfortable life, I guess.

"Do you ever plan on getting a job?" Chad asked as he eyes me.

I rolled my eyes. "When I'm stable enough."

Chad raised his eyebrow. "It's been four months."

"You know what, I don't want your crap." I stood up and went out for a smoke. Chad rushed apologize.

"I'm sorry I didn't want to hound. I just don't like seeing you like this. The sooner you get over it, the sooner you'll move on."

I sighed. "I know."

-

The next day, Chad and I went into town to do some shopping. We stopped at a gas station and while Chad filled up the tank I went inside to buy more cigarettes. A sign next to the door caught my eye. It was a flashy sign telling everyone to buy a copy of the newspaper.

'Might as well.' I thought. I opened the basket and picked up a copy. On the front cover was none other than Kurt and Courtney. Over the top of the paper were the words, "Pregnant junkies engaged!"

Junkies? Engaged? I payed for my cigarettes and newspaper and rushed back to the car.

"You took forever." Chad said as he pulled out of the gas station.

"I found this." I showed him the cover of the newspaper. He looked confused.

"Why do you care?"

I was taken aback. "What do you mean? Of course I care, they're going to ruin the baby."

"It's their baby. I though you said you were going to get over this. Reading about your ex-boyfriend's drug use and engagement is back pedaling on that."

He had a point. "I was just curious."

Chad smirked. "Sure."

"Why do you always speak like you know everything?"

"Because I do."

---

That weekend I got a call from Shelli that made me rethink everything.

"Allison, you need to get off your high horse and come down here and talk to Kurt. He absolutely hates what he did. You don't understand how much this has affected him."

"It seems to me that it's affected him enough to start up on drugs again and get engaged to Courtney."

Shelli sighed heavily. "Haven't you learned by now not to believe the media? They're not engaged and Kurt's not that much of a junkie."

"Oh."

"Yeah. You don't know what's really going on. I know that Kurt cheating is such a shitty thing to do but he's torturing himself. You should come back down here."

I thought about it for a while and finally agreed. When Chad returned from work, I told him my plan. He was mildly annoyed but eventually agreed that I should go. So that Monday I was on a flight back to Los Angeles.

When I arrived at the airport, I called for a taxi and it drove me to the familiar sight of the apartment complex. I decided to just go straight to it and knock on Kurt's door. When he didn't answer, I went to Shelli and Krist's place. They didn't answer either. So I went to Dez's place but he didn't answer either.

'Were they all out together?' I thought.

I decided to wait outside of Kurt's door for when they came back. I sat down on the floor and pulled out my Walkman to pass the time.

An hour had passed and they still had not returned. I began to get worried as it was only 11:30 in the morning. They couldn't be doing something for that long could they?

Then I began to drift off. I was in a state of semi-consciousness; I was aware of my surroundings but at the same time I was dreaming. I looked around and my eyes stopped at the garden. There, floating around, was a figure that looked too much like Kurt. He was dressed in a hospital gown.

I bolted upright. Was that really him? I ran down to the garden only to find it was empty. I had dreamed that.

Now I was scared. That dream could actually mean something. It could explain why Kurt was dressed in a hospital gown and nobody else was here. I quickly went to the nearest hospital and nearly slammed into the front desk.

"Is there a Kurt Cobain here?" I asked the receptionist.

She checked on her computer. "Yes but we're not allowing visitors to see him right now. You can wait in the room over there." She pointed to some double-doors on the right.

"Okay. Thanks." I trudged through the doors and sat down on the nearest chair.

"Allison?" I heard someone from the other side of the room. I looked up to find all of my friends huddled in the opposite corner of the room. I slowly walked over to them and asked what was wrong with Kurt.

"He overdosed last night. He's in critical condition and we can't see him so we're waiting for news." Shelli explained. "I'm sorry, Ally, I forgot to call you."

"Why are you here anyway? And how did you know to come here?" Krist asked.

"I came here because Shelli convinced me to talk to Kurt. And I just had a notion to come here."

Dez eyed me weirdly. "A notion?"

"Yes. Just drop it." I didn't want to explain that I had seen Kurt in the garden a few minutes ago.

We waited all day for someone to tell us what was up with Kurt. Every time we asked, we always got the same answer. "He remains in critical condition."

It wasn't until nearly 12 hours after I arrived that the doctor emerged with a satisfied look on his face.

"Mr. Cobain's condition had gone down. He's finally awake and eating well. Our doctors are working with him right now but you can see him in 20 minutes or so."

Relief washed over our little circle. Kurt was okay now. It was decided that I would go in to see him last, since he had no idea I was even here. But when it was my turn, Dez said that he had fallen asleep again. Sadness washed over me as I realized that the universe was really against us.