Eye for an Eye Ch. 3

I hope you guys enjoy this chapter. Vote! Comment! Let me know what you think and what direction I should be taking with this story (and all the rest of them!) Thanks again.

This work makes no affiliation between Aaron Lewis, Staind, Slipknot, Tool, Korn or any other artist. The references to names are noted as such and all lyrics belong to their rightful owners.

Danielle kicked a clump of dirt as she walked out of the door from one of the academic halls. She had just finished her humanities lecture and was zonked from the onslaught of the information. The semester was flying through quickly and she felt very comfortable with her workload. It had been almost two whole months since she had walked out of Dave's suite and she had not run into him once. She knew as soon as she saw him when he had opened that door that she had hurt him. At first it really did not bother her because it was a natural defense for her. Before someone could hurt her she returned the favor ahead of time.

She reached to swipe her card through the system in order to open the door to her dormitory and stopped suddenly to look at a flyer in the foyer. It seemed that one of the local fraternities was holding a party that was themed in a beach sense. Danielle shook her head and continued on up the stairs to her room. She punched in her code into the door and slipped into her single room. The school allowed her to have a single room due to her scholarship that she received from a high SAT score. This was one of her conditions upon joining a college. She did not feel comfortable living with someone that she had never met before. She had two suitemates and they rarely exchanged words between each other. When the toilet paper was low or someone had to use the bathroom to dry their hair was the only times. She had at one point received an invite to a party from one of them but declined.

Danielle logged into the school's chat room where the student body transferred files between each other. She read some of the white scrolling text for a few minutes and spoke to a few friends. She found it much easier to socialize through the chat room than in person so therefore became one of the regulars on the server. She had only met one friend through the system, a guy named Nolan and they quickly became good friends. They shared similar interests – both listened to hard rock such as Korn, Slipknot, and Manson. There was something else that brought her at ease, he was gay and thus she did not have to worry about him making a pass on her. Nolan reminded her that there was a concert at the community building tonight that was supposed to have a local cover band that played a lot of Korn. They had gone to see the band before and were amazed how good the show was.

Nolan had told her to try to speak with Dave again but she could not bring herself to it. He seemed like a nice guy, but she did not want to take the risk. After the first few days of meeting him she searched him on Facebook with no avail. He was not registered under the college and she did not know his last name. Dave was such a common name that there were thousands upon thousands of entries – maybe even more than that – so she had given up on the search. Her only hope is that she might come across him on the chat room connection that seemingly most of the students used. But there was no chatter about someone that was using crutches and fed up with the women on campus. She had taken it out on herself once she got home and cut herself again. But after looking at his bandage job it stopped her mid slice.

She gave Nolan a big hug when she met him in front of the community building. The duo walked into the building and found some standing space. She surveyed the scene in an attempt to look for him but she did not even know if he liked Korn enough to come by. For all she knew he might have left campus. Dave seemed to be nonexistent.

"Danni the flyer said that there was a pre-gamer," Nolan looked over her and pointed towards the stage, "he covers some of Aaron Lewis' material. I saw him last week. The guy is amazing. Amazingly attractive too."

"I did not know you were attracted to an Aaron Lewis cover boy," she smirked as she took a sip from her can of soda.

Nolan rolled his eyes and pointed at the dimly lit stage, "Here he comes. Solo act."

The familiar sounds of an acoustic guitar filled the room as Dave started playing one of Staind's new singles, "Reply." He begun singing the lyrics to the song as the lights turned on and illuminated the stage. The crowd roared as he made his way into the song hitting the notes and lyrics with perfect precision. Ever since he had got his casts off two weeks prior he had begun singing at the community room on Friday nights. The reaction was so great that the school had asked him to play a few more shows during the week. This was the first Tuesday night show that he was playing. Those nights were reserved for paid bands that the school had brought in from the outside. But he was being offered a spot to sing in front of his classmates as well as people from the outside.

"Nolan, holy shit, that's him!" Danielle said at the top of her lungs. She listened to the lyrics and watched him play the guitar. She punched Nolan in the shoulder so that he would turn around to look. "That's him! That's Dave!"

"That's Dave? That is the boy that you walked out on? What the hell is wrong with you sister?"

She gave him a look and turned to watch the show. He had just finished the song and ramped right into the next. It was an acoustic cover of Tool's "Sober." The crowd again roared louder. They were screaming and loving every single second of Dave's act. He sung louder with his full voice.

The lyrics seemed to stick into her like a dart in a bar room. She swayed to the music with the rest of the crowd and enjoyed the show. He was playing amazingly and the voice was stellar.

After his set had finished Dave gave a deep bow and walked off the stage with his guitar. He made his way through the crowd as everyone patted him on the back. The headliner got on the stage and started setting up their equipment. Everyone was still clapping from Dave's performance and he smiled as he made his way towards the bartender who handed him an already opened beer. Dave took a few swigs while laughing and shaking some people's hands that were lingering around the roped off area of the bar.

Danielle stood back and looked at Dave through the crowd. She could not keep her eyes off of him. This was the first time that she had seen him since that day that she had told him all those things. He had thrown his crutches against the wall and knocked his leg as he reached for her jacket. She cursed at herself for being such a bitch to him. He seemed to be having such fun that she felt a pit inside of her grow bigger. She only knew this guy for a few hours but had slept in his bed. She had seen him naked while he was getting ready for the shower. He had made her breakfast and all that she gave back to him was grouping of nasty words that she knew would strike him hard.

Nolan grabbed her by her waist and pushed her through the crowd towards the bar area. Danielle resisted but he was stronger than her. Once they got closer and closer to the bar she clung to a chair and sat down immediately covering her head.

"If you do not get your ass up I am going to go over there and talk to him myself," he leaned down towards her as he talked into her ear. She looked up at him pleading him not to do so. Nolan started pushing his way around someone when she grabbed his arm.

"Okay, okay, you asshole," Danielle swallowed hard and looked up towards Dave and the bar, "I will go. Just sit the fuck down you flamer."

Danielle heard Nolan call her something resembling "obnoxious slut" as she made her way through the people towards the bar. She stopped dead in her tracks when she realized that she did not know what she was going to say to this guy. She had been a bitch to him after he was nothing but nice. Her body started to tremble and her hands shook. She diverted her path and sat at another table where she could watch him out of the corner of her eye. The second band started playing and everyone turned around to look at the stage including Dave. She caught Nolan walking over towards him and buried her face into her arms.

After a few minutes Danielle peeked up and saw that they were having a conversation as Dave was watching the band. He sipped at his beer and started nodding his head. Dave gestured towards the stage and laughed at something that Nolan had said. He turned his head and looked at Danielle almost telling her to get up here and speak with Dave. Nolan was playing buddy-buddy with the guy so that she could make her way over. She shook her head immediately, watched Nolan visibly be upset and she buried her head back into her hoodie. The music was loud as the cover band started playing "Right Now" and the crowd screamed as the beginning cords were struck. She heard a chair pull out and spoke immediately as she brought her head up from her forearms.

"Nolan you are a dick..." she cut her sentence off short as she realized that it was Dave sitting at the chair and looking at her directly now. He did not seem amused but also was not mad. Danielle's face had from her slightly tanned complexion to pale white as her mouth almost dropped open. Dave's eyes penetrated her and she was speechless. He was waiting for her to say something and took another swig from his beer. Her hands started to shake but she indeed was the first to speak.

"I am sorry," her voice was low and she said it again louder, "I am so sorry."

He did not reply, in fact, his demeanor stayed the same even after he acknowledged what she had said. Dave heard his name being called on stage from the lead singer of the cover band and he looked at her briefly getting up and heading towards the stage. Danielle's shakes had slowly started to subside and she looked at the stage as the crowd screamed again once Dave walked on. Nolan sat down beside her and put his arm around her. She brushed him off in anger but continued to watch the stage.

The lead signer yelled out the name of the song and Dave took a microphone standing beside him. The band started playing the introduction to "Blind" and the crowd screamed at the possibility of an awesome duet. Danielle, at some point, had started crying but stood up to watch Dave sing. She wiped her eyes to see the stage clearer.

"I want to see you do something fucking crazy," Dave yelled out from the stage.

He joined the lead singer.

"Are you ready?"

They started jamming to the guitars and the crowd moshed together.

"This place inside my mind, a place I like to hide. You don't know the chances."

The crowd sang the next line of lyrics in unison,"What if I should die?!"

"A place inside my brain, another kind of pain. You don't know the chances. I'm so blind!"

Dave sang the next line solo,"Another place I find to escape the pain inside. You don't know the chances."He pointed towards the crowd with his microphone and as a whole they screamed the next line in unison,"What if I should die?!"

The music became louder, melding together, and the floor rumbled as the crowd jumped in the air and moshed together. Dave and the lead singer started to move on stage while singing together. The set was quick and he tossed the microphone to one of the attendants as he made his way back off stage towards the bar. He received even more applause and pats on the back as he pushed his way towards Danielle.

She saw him coming with a large smile on his face as he nodded towards everyone's greetings and praise. She was mesmerized at what this guy was doing to her. This same guy that was so nice to her a night where she was more than vulnerable, he had made her breakfast and had let her sleep in his bed. He was an amazing singer and had just nailed one of her favorite songs. Her feelings were pouring out in the form of tears because that was the only way she could react.

He stopped in front of her and saw her as she cried moving closer. She was a good deal shorter than him, probably almost eight inches and he looked at her deeply. She was biting the side of her cheek inside her mouth waiting for him to say something that would cause her to break down.

"I want to take you out to dinner," he looked at her and finally smiled, "pizza, tacos or sushi," pausing in mid sentence to brush the hair away from her face, "whatever you eat. Okay? Maybe a movie too as long as you can stay seated for more than an hour."

She put her arms around him and hugged him tightly taking a few moments to let go. After she pulled away she could see that he was still looking for an answer. She nodded not wanting to speak or ruin the moment. There was something different about this guy and she did not want to mess it up by saying something stupid again. It took her two months to find him again and if she screwed up this time she might not see him again.

He smiled looking into her eyes, leaning forward to speak quietly into her ear, "Friday. I will meet you in the quad," and he turned around to walk away. She widened her eyes and a slight bit of anger flowed through her. She watched Dave as he made his way through the crowd and out the side exit. She turned towards Nolan and growled pushing through the crowd to go after him. She was fuming as she slinked her way towards the door that he had escaped from. Danielle stormed through the doors busting them open hard to survey the darkness of the night. Dave grabbed her quickly and pushed her up against the wall of the building kissing her hard.

It took her a few seconds after getting over the initial fright to respond to his kiss but she wrapped her arms around his neck and returned his kiss. She put his hands around her sides kissing her again harder. She shut her eyes at one point just before Dave broke away from their embrace.

"Movie. Right now?" he asked and she nodded quickly grabbing his hand as they walked towards her dormitory. Her grip was firm not wanting to let him go at all and Dave had a slight limp as he struggled to keep up with her. Even though he was all healed up he still walked with a slight limp from the accident. The doctors were surprised that despite all of his injuries that he was walking as well as he was anyway. He had absolutely no need for a cane and most of the time walked normally. The only thing he would not be able to do would be run a marathon anytime soon. But his doctor agreed that with some therapy he might be able to eventually be able to sustain a short jog. Nevertheless, Danielle moved quickly through the quad until they reached her dormitory. She punched the numbers in and walked towards her door unlocking it with a key.

Her room was dark but not as dark as Dave would have expected. It had a nice cozy feel to it. There were books placed neatly by her desk and her bed sheets were a dark blue. She grabbed at his shirt and started kissing him hard but he stopped her.

"I don't want to do this, not now, its too soon," he looked at her and sat down on her bed, "let's just lay down and watch a movie." He pointed towards her laptop, "We can watch something from there."

She made a face now that she was all worked up and grabbed her laptop searching through some of the newer movies that are on it. She selected one after asking him and watched it as it started downloading.

"Where did you learn how to sing like that?" she asked, as the download progress bar seemed to go at a crawl.

Dave shrugged it off and leaned back on her bed, "I don't know. I sort of, picked up on it, yanno?" He grabbed her and put his arms around her smiling down. She laid her head against him.

"You were amazing," Danielle said right before she started to cry again, "Dave you were nothing but nice and a good person and I just, I just, I was a real bitch," she was going to continue but he cut her off.

"Yeah you were," he looked down at her but smiled slightly, "the situation was just a bad one." He pulled up at her arm to look at the wound that he had bandaged on their last meeting. He glanced slightly at her arms as he saw more cuts.

Danielle looked away, but he did not say anything. He put his arms around her and held her tighter leaning down to kiss her forehead, "Can we try to stop this?"

She nodded slightly and leaned back into him as the movie finished downloading onto her laptop. They started the flick after she got up and turned off the lights. Dave smiled in the darkness as she snuggled up to him when the movie finally started playing.