After The Party (A Kurt Cobain fanfic)

Chapter 1

Lily leaned against the counter, reading a magazine on another rainy weekday in the Pacific Northwest, smoothing out the ridiculous uniform the diner she worked at called for. Just as she's feels as though she might dose off at any moment, the bell on the front door tinkles as someone walks in.

"Lily could you take the new customer, the boy who just came in? Please sugar" Asks Ruth, her elderly boss.

"Sure Ruthie" Lily replies before walking over to the booth he sat down at.

"Hi what can I get you started with this morning?" She asks with an enthusiastic smile. The customer, Kurt, looks up at her through a tangle of blonde hair and all that is immediately visible to her are his piercing blue eyes.

Lily knew she'd seen them before, you don't forget those eyes. The two stared at each other for a second; taking one another in and suddenly Lily began feel vulnerable for a reason she couldn't justify.

Kurt looks back at her, immediately enamored by the beauty of this girl. All of her took his breath away: her long curtain of perfect blonde hair that she swung over her shoulder as he pulled out her notepad, her easy smile immediately after seeing him walk in, the warmth in her eyes as she greeted him.

He was so taken aback by his initial reaction to her presence that he needed to pull himself back to earth, leading to a few seconds with neither speaking.

He breaks the silence first, licking his lips before answering her question, "Could I have a coffee?"

Lily nods, flustered still by her feelings up seeing him and grabs her pen to write down his order, "Anything else for you this morning?"

"That's all for now" Kurt murmurs, looking up at her again and she can't help but instantly notice his eyes once again.

"Ok" She says before walking back out to the kitchen and getting his coffee.

A few minutes later Lily went outside to take her break, the restaurant was pretty much empty and her only customer didn't seem hungry so she thought she could spare five minutes.

As she got outside she was surprised to see her customer leaning against the wall of the building. He must've gone out the front while she had been going out the back.

When Kurt sees her he lets out a small sigh.

"Did they send you out here to find me?" He asks defensively, "Because I'm gonna pay the bill, I just wanted a cigarette and that lady didn't want to let me smoke inside"

"I didn't even know you were out here" She responds with an easy smile, "Its my smoke break actually" She adds, pulling out a lighter and he nods nonchalantly.

"Oh, ok cool. Do you want to bum one?" He asks, offering her his pack of Camel lights. Lily shakes her head and smiles as she produces her own pack of Camels.

"We smoke the same cigarettes." She observes, putting the cigarette between her teeth and lighting it.

"Well fuck astrology, that's the real test of compatibility right there" He says quietly but with a smile on his face. Lily smiles back, mostly to herself, and tries think too much about whether or not he was flirting with her.

"Are you from around here?" He asks and her smile falters a little.

"Yes, I'm from Aberdeen." She says, looking down at her feet.

"Oh no way, did you go to Weatherwax?" He asks and she can't help but smirk.

"Yeah I did" She says, a small smile continuing to play on her lips and Kurt is confused by her attitude, he couldn't shake the feeling he was missing a joke.

"Am I missing something?" He asks curiously and Lily laughs gently.

"Do you not remember me?" She asks, feeling pathetic even as she states the question. He shakes his head earnestly, wracking his brain for any memory of her, wondering how he could ever have forgotten meeting this girl.

"We had a class together in high school, you sat next to me in art class when I was a freshman and you were a senior." She explains, feeling very self-conscious until a hint of recognition flashes on his features.

As soon as she says it Kurt remember her, she was just a kid then, very shy—even compared to him. They would talk every once in a while in class, only ever small talk, but he mostly remembered her for another reason.

"Oh right, weren't you friends with my sister?" He asks and she nods, still smiling in spite of her minor embarrassment at not being recognized.

"Yeah we were really close for a while" She replies.

Kurt wonders again how he had not remembered her before, especially since she had been such a presence in Kim's life. It seemed like for a little while whenever he saw his sister her freshman year she was flanked by this girl with braces and a blonde ponytail, nothing like what Lily looked like now. She was still just a kid then, barely out of junior high. Puberty had done her well Kurt mused as he took a drag.

"You still live in Aberdeen then?" He questions, seeming to assume the answer already.

"Yeah but I'm saving up to move to Seattle soon, hopefully—basically I'd go anywhere outside here though" Lily replies, blushing because of how idealistic she sounds. Kurt smiles internally, remembering when he felt that way, still awaiting any chance to leave this town for good.

"I get it, I was pretty anxious to get out" He responds with a shrug.

"Well why are you back then?" Lily asks and he's taken by surprise. He stops for a moment, debating what to say before deciding sarcasm is still his best route, he still didn't know this girl that well.

"Just to throw in the town's face that I'm a dazzling urbanite now, what else?" He says and he smiles, a real genuine smile, for the first time since the two had been talking.

"Well you're doing a kickass job so far, I'm almost one-hundred percent sure no one else in this town is wearing a Sonic Youth t-shirt." She notes, taking another drag of her cigarette and Kurt laughs.

"Well I think it might say something about you that you recognized the shirt practically right away, you're definitely too good for Aberdeen" He grins at her and she blushes again.

"So how often to do you work here?" He asks, trying to hide his nerves.

He usually wasn't so forward, especially with someone who was practically a stranger but something about this girl made him want to dig for more. Her presence made him feel safe some how, whenever she smiled he felt a little bit of the anxiety he usually had around new people fade away.

"Well as much as possible," Lily says with a weak laugh, "I'm trying to get out of this town remember?" She reminds him and he tries to brush off the way her laugh ignites something in him that he can't quite place.

"Maybe I'll run into you on my way out of town then" He says, stomping out his cigarette and handing her a few bills, "This should cover my coffee"

He begins to walk back to the parking lot until Lily calls out, "Wait, don't you wanna know my name?"

He grins at her boldness and nods, "Well what is it?"

"Lily Hopper" She says, a giant smile spreading across her face that he can't take his eyes off of.

"Do you want to my name then?" He asks and she shakes her head.

"I remember your name" She replies matter-of-factly as she begins to open the back door to the restaurant, "See you around, Kurt Cobain"