A/N: written for the prompt 'cassette tape', as requested by white-asparagus on tumblr!
Summer, the early nineties
When Henry pulled on the handle and tugged the door of his pickup truck free from its frame, his fingertips burned against the metal. Shaking his hand out against the feeling of heat on the pads of his fingers, he slipped reluctantly into the driver's seat as a wave of stale, oppressive heat washed over him from the interior of the cab. Overhead, the sun beat down relentlessly from a cloudless blue Florida sky and heat swam visibly above the hot pavement of the parking lot.
Henry McCord had come to really hate Florida.
It was nearing one hundred degrees outside, just like every afternoon this week, and stifling humidity hung in the air at all hours of the day. When the truck door slammed shut behind him, the heat of the interior was immediately suffocating. He reached down and cranked the handle of the window on his left until it rolled down and the ever so slightly more forgiving outdoor air climbed in through the space. He leaned over the empty passenger seat and repeated the motion for the other window, and then started the truck and reached for his seatbelt. There was no breeze to be found blowing cross-ways through the two open windows, and his fingers got burned again in the process of buckling the seatbelt- but soon he would be on the highway, and soon after that, he would be in Virginia where the summer air was much more palatable.
But in order to make his way out of the parking lot, there was still one thing he needed.
The truck idling, Henry flipped open the center console and quickly flicked through its contents, the plastic cassette tape cases clicking against each other as he looked for the one he wanted. He pried it open and extracted the white tape from the inside of the box, slotting it into the tape deck of the truck with a satisfying click as it fell into place. A moment later, the familiar strains of the music filled the cab, drifting out of the windows as Henry, now feeling ready, backed out of the parking space and headed for the highway.
It would be a very long drive through Georgia and the Carolinas before he reached Virginia, and Henry was already tired, but he didn't care. It was worth it to him to see Elizabeth, even for a little while, and she was firmly on his mind when he took the ramp to get onto the interstate just one song into his tape. He would play it more than a couple of times on the way, the songs writing themselves over and over into his mind. But his thoughts were not really with the words that came easily to memory as they crackled over the truck's dated speakers. He was dwelling instead on blonde hair that reflected the summer sunlight; on long lean legs, tanned by now from weeks of warm weather; on a laugh that was at once bright and touched with gravel, the kind of sound that stayed with him long after he had gotten back in the truck to make the long drive back to Florida again.
On Elizabeth.
The drive was long, and the sun burned into the skin of Henry's arm where he rested it casually on the window ledge as he made his way along monotonous highways, slowly trading palms for pines as he worked his way north and crossed state lines. The humidity outside the windows began to ease up and when he stopped at a gas station near the North Carolina line, he found that the summer air was already pleasantly lighter here- and Henry himself felt lighter, too.
As he got back on the road, he swapped the tape for another and dropped the first one into the passenger seat so he wouldn't forget it when he arrived in Virginia.
He stopped only when he needed to, and kept an eye on his watch since the clock in the truck had long since stopped working. By the time he drew close to his destination, the sun was beginning to dip below the horizon, and when he slung the door open and stepped out onto the street, there was a gentle twilight breeze and the hum of crickets in the distance. Henry stood just outside of the truck for a moment, and breathed in deeply the scent of what he'd come to think of as home; it wasn't Pittsburgh, but it was certainly a big leap up from Florida, and most importantly, it was Elizabeth's.
He snatched the tape from the passenger seat and turned just in time to catch her stepping out of the house. The smile that crept into his features was the first one that had felt entirely real since he had been here last, and just a second later, it widened impossibly as she threw herself into his arms.
He caught her and chuckled as he held her tightly; the worries and stresses that had plagued him in their time apart seemed to melt away with her touch, and Henry didn't even feel tired anymore. He pulled away just enough to kiss her, and lingered there.
"Hi," she breathed against his lips.
"Hey," he said. He pulled back a little bit more and smiled at her. "Brought you something."
Elizabeth smiled, a knowing sort of gleam in her eye as she reached out a delicate hand and took the tape.
"Breaking All The Rules," she said with a smile up at Henry. "You know I'm a Frampton girl."
He smiled broadly.
"I do," he said. "I listened to it on the way up."
"Are you bored of it?" she asked as she watched Henry grab his backpack from the back of his truck and secure the lock on the door.
"Not at all," Henry answered. Elizabeth grinned, her fingertips already prising open the case of the tape.
"Good," she said, and skipped ahead of him to go inside, leaving Henry to follow eagerly behind, all traces of his exhaustion replaced with complete enthusiasm.
The night passed all too quickly as Henry and Elizabeth laughed and talked over dinner with the tape playing in the background. He cooked for her, knowing that she existed on takeout without him, and put the leftovers in the fridge for when he was gone again. They ate and kissed and she told him about work. They kissed some more, showered together, and went to bed, achieving less than enough sleep.
The next morning, Henry woke in the darkness just before dawn and rubbed sleep from his eyes. The glow from the streetlight outside pooled on Elizabeth's skin next to him, lending a luminescence that made his chest ache. Though, perhaps that was more about the leaving. He slipped out of bed ever so quietly so as not to wake her, and dressed in the dark. He collected his things, already dreading his return to Florida and missing her before he was even out of the room.
She didn't stir when he brushed his lips over her cheek, nor when he lingered in the room for a minute longer than he needed to, to watch the rise and fall of her chest as she slept.
His chest was tight as he carefully stepped out into the cool morning and locked up behind him, and his heart felt physically heavy as he slung his backpack into the truck and slipped into the driver's seat to make the long drive back once more. It was not until he was just about to flip open the console that the glint of something light in color and reflective like hard plastic caught his attention from the corner of his eye. When he turned to look at the passenger seat, he couldn't help the small smile that crept onto his face.
There on the worn fabric was a cassette, and a pale yellow sticky note adhered to the case. In a familiar scrawl, it read-
I know you're more of a Springsteen guy than you cop to. - E
Henry smiled and pulled the sticky note off, tucking it carefully into his pocket, then slipped Tunnel of Love out of its case. When he slid it into the tape deck and the sound filled the air around him, he found that it was ever so slightly easier to pull out of his parking space and head yet again for the highway.