I Will Be There Once More (Eddie Vedder fanfiction)

11. Moonage Daydream

After my almost death, Chris left for Europe and me and my new roomies started to write some music just to distract ourselves. Spencer decided to delay the release of the EP in respect for our dear friend Andy and luckily Alan and the record label understood this decision.

A month later in April, Jeff left the apartment as he moved to her girlfriend's place, so there was just Stone and me, since Adrien decided to spend some time alone in his own apartment after Andy's dead. We continued writing music together and I would still play gigs with my band in some places of the city.

"This came for you in the morning" Stone told me as I got home from work, lending me a white envelope.

"A letter... from L.A.? Oh..." I said a little bit surprised.

"What is it?"

"It's from... Robert"

"Who's that?"

"My ex-boyfriend"

"Ohhh" Stone said in a curious way.

I opened the letter and started to read in silence and when I finished, I just placed it in the envelope again.

"What does it say?" Stone asked me.

"Not much to be honest... just that he misses the old days when we were wild and free and other stuff"

"Wooo... sounds kinda sad" Stone answered.

"Here, you can read it" I said, giving him the letter.

"Uhhmmm... Are you sure?"

"Yeah, it doesn't say anything weird" I said, and he started to read.

"Lillian... I don't know what you did to this man" He told me in a kind of joke.

"Why?"

"I mean... he says: <You'll have a beautiful life and you'll be the most important thing in somebody else's life, but I don't understand why this couldn't happen to me> fuck... he must've loved you very much"

"I guess... but those days are gone, and he moved on just as I did" I said as I sat in front of the piano and started to play anything.

"When you say goodbye to somebody is forever right?" Stone asked me as he sat on the couch and took his guitar, trying to follow the melody I was playing on the piano.

"Exactly, and there are things that just can't happen"

"I guess this happens to all of us from time to time..." He answered and we kept playing.

Within minutes, we had a beautiful instrumental piece inspired by this little letter that I just received from the past; starting with a gloomy mood, at the end Stone and I were so excited because of all the things we have been writing, we thought this could actually worked as a song for the future.

"We can be pretty good when we want it" Stone said.

"It's because we're some talented babes of the scene" I said with a pretentious voice and we laughed.

"Hey... in an hour or so a friend's band is going to play... wanna go?" Stone asked me.

"Mmmm... I don't know. I'm kinda tired, today was very busy at the café and I was almost sleeping at the office in the morning"

"Come on, we did a great job here, let's at least have a beer and listen to good music. Don't be so unapproachable Lily" He said, and I laughed because I remembered the joke.

"You idiot. Alright, but just give me some minutes to get ready"

"Okay but don't take too much please"

"Don't push me or I'll be slower" I said running to the stairs.

Twenty minutes later I left my bedroom, surprising Stone because he thought I would take more time. For the occasion I decided to wear some black jeans, brown boots, a plain grey t-shirt and my beloved brown corduroy jacket. Soon, we headed to the place where the gig was going to be.

When we arrived, we saw a few familiar faces and we took a sit in one of the tables of the bar, as we shared some beers. Soon it was announced a band called "Love Chile" which Stone told me was his friend's band.

The guys came out and once again Stone pointed at this cute guy who happened to be the guitarist and his high school friend named Michael. They sounded good, but the moment that blew everyone's mind was when this dude started to perform "Couldn't stand the weather" by Stevie Ray Vaughan in a perfect rendition as the song that was the perfect closure for their participation.

Before they would leave the stage, Stone shouted his name and he turned around to wave at us; soon after, he went to our table and both shared a hug until they turned around and looked at me.

"This is my friend Mike" Stone said to me as I smiled.

"Nice to meet you, I'm-" But he cut me off.

"Lily... I mean, Lillian Waldorf, I know. Nice to meet you too" He answered with a shy smile and we shook hands.

"Take a sit, I'll bring some beers" Stone told him and then looked at me "You want other?"

"Yes please" I answered, and he left for the drinks as Mike sat and we both exchange a shy laughter.

"That was amazing... you played perfectly Couldn't stand the water"

"Thanks. You're an amazing guitarist too and you also have a great voice... I like your band... you're pretty famous in Seattle" He said smiling and I blushed totally with a goofy laugh.

"Thanks" I answered shyly and already embarrassed.

"I heard you're going to release an EP" He told me.

"Yeah, hopefully in July"

"Oh, that's cool"

"Yeah, thanks" I answered, and Stone was back to the table.

As the night was going on, I found out more about Mike (who asked me to call him like that). He told me how he was friends with Stone since 7th grade and some other things like his musical interests, which I thought were quite cool. Later, I invited him to join Stone and me to play some music together anytime and he agreed happily.

That same year in July, the debut and only album of Mother Love Bone was released and received with good reviews. By this time Jeff had returned to play with us, so almost every day with had our jam sessions at home.

At the end of the month our EP called Only If For a Night was released simultaneously in the US and Europe and we just had to wait a little bit for the critics. Within the days Alan contacted us to tell us that the EP received excellent reviews from critics and despite it hasn't been a success in the US, surely was a different story in Europe, where it entered the charts directly on an unusual number 5.

For that reason, the record label billed us for a tour in Europe that would start at the beginning of August. The guys and I were very excited but also kind of terrified; we were used to our usual crew, but we didn't know how the European audience was going to react but after a first successful leg in the United Kingdom, we returned home in early September.

When Chris returned from tour that same month, he told us about this idea of making a tribute band for Andy, as he wrote some songs when on tour about it. We were kind of sceptical at first and even Chris scratched the project, but later we continue to play more music and I wrote a song called "Hunger Strike" that everybody loved.

Meanwhile, between the preparations for the upcoming wedding of Chris and Susan, we kept rehearsing at home with the new line up for this project: Stone on rhythm guitar, Matt on drums, Mike on lead guitar, Jeff on bass and Chris and I as vocals.

Then, on September 20th the wedding was celebrated and the day after I left with Adrien, Zack and Tom off to Denmark, where the second half of the tour date was going to be. Surprisingly for us, the places where we were going to play weren't that horrible, yes, they weren't the most beautiful places, but they weren't worse than some of them back in Seattle.