Another chapter. God, it's so sappy, I think I'm gonna burst. Anyways, the chapter gimmick for this story is for a sappy song title as the name of each. The name of this one, Certain Tragedy, is a song by Saves The Day. I don't own it. If I did, I would give it back to them rather than attempt to croak my way through.

I don't own Digimon either.

And I don't know if I need to disclaim this, but I got the idea for the band's name, Squalor, from the short story by J.D. Salinger, For Esmé With Love And Squalor. Because it's a cool word. And the title still belongs to Modern English. God, I'm such a plagiarist.

I Melt With You

Looking around at all the smiling and dancing teenagers, Kari felt terribly out of place. It wasn't that she'd never been to one of her brother's concerts before, but why, oh why, did she listen when Yolei told her to dress up?

Yolei giggled as they sat at a table Tai had reserved in the club their band was playing. She, of course, had dressed in a new pair of pre-ripped jeans and a vintage t-shirt. "I can't believe you listened when I told you that! I was only joking…"

From across the table, Kari glared at her, "Thanks a lot." Kari, on the other hand, had heeded her friend's advice and worn a white tank top and a tiny black ruffled miniskirt, her light brown hair twisted into a semi-formal updo.

"Well," Yolei stammered, feeling a little guilty, "At least you look nice." This was met with another fierce stare. "Relax, Kar, we're gonna have a blast."

Before she could do any relaxing, the lights in the club dimmed. The two girls immediately focused their attention on the modest stage a few feet away. As the band took their places, a breathless Sora sank into the seat next to Kari. "Hey guys. Sorry I was a little late, I was just wishing TK luck backstage…" she giggled.

"It's alright," Yolei said, giving Kari a kick under the table, signifying she should say something.

"Hi Sora," Kari said finally, unaware Sora was even meeting them there.

Sora gave her a quizzical look, "You look cute; what's the occasion?"

At this, Kari went red, "Uh…"

"She has a date," Yolei answered for her, "With Matt."

Sora's eyebrows shot up, "Matt?"

"Uh, yeah," Kari shrugged.

Any response Sora might have had was cut short by the opening chords of the first song by Tai and Matt's band, Squalor. They were pretty green when it came to performing, as they hadn't been together all that long, but Kari pretty much had to like them: any given member would kick her ass if she did otherwise. The band had formed after Matt got sick of his potsmoking bandmates and left the band. Missing the whole music thing, he had taught his younger brother to play bass. Tai had an old guitar his uncle had given him on his eleventh birthday, and Izzy played percussion in the school marching band.

It took a lot of time and a hell of lot of painstaking practice before the band became good by anyone's standards, but eventually, after Matt's "cred" from being in the Teenage Wolves, the band began to book gigs. Only recently had anything other than open mic nights begun to book them, but Squalor was slowly gaining popularity.

The only one with any real stage experience was Matt, who strode purposefully out onto center stage, guitar dangling from its strap. The others wandered sheepishly to their positions, keeping their eyes fixed on Matt, "How's everyone doin' tonight?" He greeted the crowd. A cheer resounded in response. "This first one's called 'Certain Tragedy'," he said, adjusting the microphone stand. Other bands may have had time to joke around with the audience, but Squalor was only playing a twenty-minute set and wanted to get in all the music they could.

"And now I finally see that the further we go," Matt began, a cappella. At this, Izzy kicked in on the drums.

"We're only treading ground that we already know," he continued, beginning to strum his guitar. The rest of the band began playing along with them; not being especially great, but being good enough to get a few couples the miniscule dance floor in front of the stage.

"/I could write you a song, send you a note, or empty out your trash/
/and buy a bucket full of diamonds but/
/even the most beautiful of all roses must someday crumble to dust/
/and fade away/
/It's a certain tragedy/

/So it's on into the lonely nights and all the rest of it/
/The empty space between me and the sunken walls/
/and feeling someone's hand around my neck/
/choking away the life that I have left/

/And I can finally see that the further I go I'm only treading ground/
/that I don't wanna know/
/I'll probably hang upside-down from wooden rafters in my home/
/and look at old photos of you/

/So it's on into the lonely nights and all the rest of it/
/The empty space between me and the sunken walls/
/and feeling someone's hand around my neck/
/choking away the life that I have left/

/I miss the warmth of the summer when we were on our own, /
/But now it's winter and my bones are cold/

/And now I finally see that the further we go we're only treading ground/
/That we already know/
/I could write you a song, send you a note, or empty out your trash/
/And buy a bucket full of diamonds but/
/Even the most beautiful of all roses must someday crumble to dust/
/And fade away/

/It's a certain tragedy/"

It was a high energy song and by the end, the few couples were not alone on the dance floor; even Yolei and Sora had joined them. Kari watched as each girl blew a kiss to their respective "man". For an instant, she noticed Matt's eyes fall on her. She looked away, pretending not to notice.

Certain Tragedy? Kari thought to herself, Seems a fitting phrase to describe my looming engagement.

The rest of the gig went similarly, Yolei and Sora spending most of their time out on the dance floor and Kari sitting coldly in her chair, constantly readjusting her skirt. When the band finished their last song, they returned, amidst a fit of giggles to the table. "And then he said 'Well, you'll have to get a drink with me after the gig tomorrow night, then'! Can you believe it?" Yolei gushed, telling Sora the story of Tai asking her out for the five-hundredth time.

"That's pretty cool," Sora said politely, despite the fact that she was getting sick of the tale. "Hey, Kari, you'd better not be having too much fun…"

"What?" Kari said, snapping to attention, "Oh, yeah. This is a real blast."

As Sora was about to chime in and try and cheer Kari up, TK slid onto the seat next to her and planted a kiss on her cheek. On the other side of the table, Tai sat next to Yolei, who abruptly began talking at him. Matt looked around, confused, and sat in the open seat next to Tai. "Matt," Yolei whispered, tearing herself away from the monologue she was spouting at Tai. She then began making exaggerated hand gestures pointing towards Kari, sitting alone across from her.

Slowly, he rose and pulled up a chair next to Kari. He adjusted his weight about a thousand times before finally sitting still. "Hey," he said in a voice lower than his original one.

"Hi."

He glanced nervously around at his bandmates; TK and Sora were holding hands and looked to be enthralled in a serious conversation, across the table, Yolei leaned her head affectionately on Tai's shoulder, still blabbering on, and at a separate table, Izzy and Ken were deep in serious genius conversation. "So, uh, did you enjoy the show?" he said awkwardly turning back to Kari.

"Mmhhm," she nodded.

"Did you dance?"

She shook her head.

"Er… you look nice," he offered.

"Thanks." She replied flatly, shooting him down.

They sat there for a while, Matt watching his friends and their dates; Kari staring somewhere off into space. "Why won't you talk to me?" he said at last.

She shot him a venomous look, "Are you joking?"

"Don't answer a question with a question. Why won't you talk to me?"

Livid, she crossed her arms, "Because of what you did to me."

"What? Kari, that was over a year ago. And it was no big deal anyway. Can't you just put it behind you and pretend like you like me for one night?"

She gritted her teeth, "I did like you. A lot."

He leaned back in his chair, feeling uneasy. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"I didn't have time," she whispered, trying to suppress the emotion building in her voice, "You had," she glanced at Sora, "her."

Trying to appear composed, Matt rested his hand on her exposed thigh, "I'm sorry. Really. Like I said, let's just have fun. For tonight."

Despite what her head told her, she restrained herself from brushing his hand off. He was right. They could just have fun tonight. It wasn't like she was in love with him, or he with her. And if he was sorry. Really, truly sorry, she could do it. "Okay," she said with a smile.

"You guys ready to go?" Matt asked, standing up.

Shaking Yolei off his shoulder, Tai stood up also, "Where to?"

"Ooh!" Sora called out, "How about we go cosmic bowling?"

"Bowling?" TK wrinkled his nose, "You're such a loser…" He laughed as she hit him playfully on the arm with her handbag.

Kari clambered out of her chair, sappy smile still on her face, "Actually, bowling sounds fun to me."

She looked down nervously as Matt laced his fingers with hers, "Alright, then. Let's go."

Still think this is sappy and lame. Probably need to cut back on Princess Bride-watching.

Review please!