FicWad

"Come on, sit down people," Axl said, waving at old, lumpy couch and tattered brown chairs. "I'm gonna go get something to drink. Does anyone else want something?" Beth, Vince, and Candice had already occupied the couch. Poor Tommy was forced to sit on one of the old chairs all by himself. He looked so lonely sitting there. I wanted to slap Candice really hard and tell her to apologize Tommy for upsetting him so much.
"I'll take a beer," Tommy said, without looking up from his solitary chair. "I could sure use one." Axl nodded as he started ambling over to the kitchen, "All right. So what about the girls? Do you guys want anything?" Candice and Beth, who were already gossiping about something, shook their heads.
Not wanting to be left alone with them, I quickly strode across the rooms so I was standing right behind Axl, "I'll come with you. I can help you get the drinks or something." Axl flipped his hair over one shoulder as he turned and looked at me curiously, "I can probably handle getting two drinks by myself."
I felt my face redden, but was glad when Axl didn't protest when I followed him into the kitchen. As he rummaged around in the refrigerator, he called to me, "Glasses are in that cabinet to your left over there." I opened the simple, wooden cabinet above my head and carefully selected two glasses. Once I set them on the counter, I felt my eyes roaming over to Axl.
He was wearing a black and white striped sweatshirt and jeans. His auburn hair fell over his shoulders and he had a black baseball cap on backwards. When he reappeared from the refrigerator holding two bottles, he noticed my gaze and cocked his head to one side, "Is something wrong? You're lookin' at me really funny."
I uncapped one of the bottles he set on the counter and started filling the glass nearby me. The dark red liquid inside it reminded me of blood. Shooting Axl a sideways glance, I replied, "Nothing's wrong. I'm just nervous about how it's gonna go with Izzy." Axl slapped an arm on my shoulder as I finished filling up the third glass.
"I don't know how many times I've told you this, but I'm gonna say it again; stop worrying! Izzy isn't going to act weird around you. I'll try to get you two some time alone so you can sort things out. How does that sound?" Axl suggested. I looked over at him and found that we were standing only inches apart and that Axl still had his hand on my shoulder.
His cheeks were slightly flushed, his hair was slightly disheveled, and there was sweat coming from his forehead. All of it made him look exceedingly attractive. I loved the way he was looking at me now with those long-lashed hazel eyes. I just wanted to look into those eyes for the rest of the day. Since I didn't think I could speak, I simply nodded to answer Axl's question.
"Good," Axl replied and put one of the drinks into my hand, "Give that to Tommy." I followed him out of the kitchen and back to the living room. I was surprised to see that Tommy and Candice were sitting next to each other on the couch and holding hands. They must have finally made up. That was good; I hadn't wanted to see Tommy sit in agony for the rest of the evening.
But where was Beth Lynn? Vince had taken Tommy's spot on the lonesome chair, but Beth was nowhere to be seen. I frowned as I scanned the room for her. Where could she have gone to? Axl plopped back onto the chair across the Vince's and shot him an evil look out of the corner of his eye, which Vince returned.
Normally, I would've made extra effort to make those two get along, but right now I was mainly concerned about Beth Lynn. Trying to seem inconspicuous, I questioned, "Did anyone see where Beth Lynn went?" Candice, who had been snuggling with Tommy, looked over at me with her dark brown eyes, "Yeah, she went down that hallway there. I'm not sure why."
I followed the direction her finger pointed in, feeling like a detective on a crime scene. Once I had snuck down to the end of the hall, I heard approaching footsteps and voices. Immediately, I swung back around the corner so I wouldn't be caught eavesdropping. A voice, that was clearly Beth's, simpered, "Why, I'd just love to hear you play sometime. I'm sure you're amazing."
There was a long silence. Who was Beth talking to? Unable to hold myself back, I risked a glance around the corner. The sight before my eyes gave me a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach. Izzy was standing in the middle of the hallway and Beth Lynn was standing before him with a hand resting on his chest.
I held my breath, wondering what Izzy would do next. After a few more seconds, Izzy gave Beth a little smile and said, "Sure, maybe sometime." Beth kept her hand planted on his chest and took a step closer to him. Izzy frowned and took a step backwards, "Don't you think we should be heading back to the rest of the party? They're probably wondering what we're doing."
"I suppose so," Beth answered in a disappointed voice. Reluctantly, she moved her hand off of Izzy's chest and the two of them began walking down the hallway. Not wanting to get caught, I silently ran back down the hall and flopped down breathlessly on the couch next to Candice and Tommy. Candice shot me a disapproving look before she turned her back to me. Axl was staring at me with amusement. I had a feeling he had known what I was up to.
Beth Lynn and Izzy appeared in the room only seconds later. I pretended to casually glance over at them, trying to hide my suspicion. Beth Lynn had obviously been trying to make a move on Izzy earlier. Thank god Izzy had appeared not to be interested in her. Actually, that wasn't necessarily true. Izzy might be interested in her, but he didn't want to do anything with her in a house full of people. I was going to have to keep a close eye on them tonight.
As soon as Beth entered the room, her eyes zeroed in on me. I blushed and looked away, hoping she wouldn't notice my flushed cheeks and heavy breathing. Beth squeezed onto the couch next to me and asked in a concerned voice, "Is something wrong, Amy? You're all red and you don't look like you're feeling very well."
My already red cheeks just got redder. Why did Beth have to bring this up right now in front of so many people? I felt like telling her to go to hell, but by now, everyone in the room was looking at us. I replied with artificial politeness, "I'm just fine, thank you for your concern." There was a few minutes silence where Axl and Tommy sipped their drinks and the rest of us sat together awkwardly. I wished someone would say something. The tension in the room was driving me insane.
"So guys," I asked when I finally found something to say to make small chat, "Where are Nikki and Mick? I remember them saying that they'd be here, but it doesn't look like they're coming unless they're going to turn up two hours late." Tommy looked up from where he and Candice had been exchanging loving glances, "Nikki's at the island of Nantucket and I have no idea where the hell Mick might be. I don't even think I've talked to him since we've got home."
I felt slightly concerned for Mick. He had seemed down in the dumps lately. I wasn't sure exactly what was bothering him, but I suspected he was still depressed over the breakup with Linda. Mick seemed to take things very hard. But what about Nikki? What was he doing in Nantucket? He hadn't mentioned to me that he was going anywhere.
As if she had the exact same thoughts as me, Beth asked curiously, "What's Nikki doing in Nantucket?" Tommy, who still hadn't taken his eyes off of Candice, didn't reply. Beth cleared her throat loudly, but Tommy still seemed distracted. Finally Vince said instead, "I think he went there to meet some girls or something. I'm not really sure. He told me he met Demi Moore there. They seem to be getting along pretty well."
So Nikki had deserted us to go to a isolated island to meet more girls. Great. Complaining, I said, "What does Lita think about that? Aren't they still together?" Vince shrugged like he could care less, "How should I know what Lita thinks about it? Seriously, Amy, just relax a bit. It's perfectly normal for Nikki to want to meet some new girls."
"Perfectly normal for an asshole," I muttered grumpily under my breath. Somehow, Vince must have heard me because he glared at me from across the room and looked like he was going to say something. Axl saw the two of us exchanging murderous glances and tried to step in, "So guys, wanna watch some TV?" Without waiting for our responses, Axl flicked on the TV and turned the volume up to full blast. Vince and I continued to glare at each other, but we couldn't say anything since we knew we wouldn't be heard over the blaring of the TV. That's how the next two hours went; all of us sitting in silence and watching TV.



At the end of two hours, I was really starting to get impatient. I wanted to talk to Izzy, but he hadn't even glanced at me once during the entire evening. It was like he was trying to avoid me or something. There was a sinking feeling in my gut and an even worse feeling in my heart. Was there a possibility Izzy might not even speak to me during this whole meeting?
Getting restless, I started fidgeting with the tassels of a pillow on the couch and sighed loudly. Axl looked over at me and then at Izzy, biting his lip. He reached over and turned the volume to the television down a few notches. With a sly glance in my direction, Axl stood up and crossed the room to open the windows.
As soon as the windows were open, bright sunlight filled the room. My eyes squinted up while I got adjusted to the new lighting. As Axl walked back to his chair, he suggested, "I'm hungry. Hey Izzy, why don't you go grab those potato chips from the kitchen? And Amy, can you refill my glass for me? I'm parched."
I noticed that Axl gave Izzy a kick in the leg as he passed his chair. Izzy shot Axl a confused look and then looked over at me for the first time that day. As soon as he met my gaze, he quickly looked away again. Axl put his empty glass in my hand and then squeezed my hand and gave a look that said, "This is your chance!"
I stared up at Axl maybe a little bit too long because Axl's cheeks turned a little pink as he returned to his chair. When I looked up, Izzy had already disappeared in the kitchen. Not wanting to miss my only chance to be alone with Izzy, I quickly followed him into the kitchen and quietly shut the door behind us.
Izzy was rummaging around in the cabinet for the potato chips. He didn't even acknowledge my presence as I entered the room. Trying not to feel too discouraged, I pulled open the refrigerator door and selected the liquor bottle Axl had used earlier to fill up his glass earlier. I yanked the heavy glass bottle down from the top shelf of the refrigerator and started pouring the liquid into Axl's glass. A tension had formed between Izzy and me. The only sound was the sloshing of liquid pouring into the glass and the rustling of Izzy sorting through different items in the cabinet.
I was biting my lip really hard to keep from saying something to Izzy. I wanted him to talk to me first. He had talked to me on the phone and said he wasn't mad. Why did he seem to be avoiding me now? Had something happened since then? Just as I finished refilling Axl's glass, Izzy finally found the potato chip bag. He crammed all the other items he had pulled out of the cabinet back into it carelessly. After slamming the cabinet door shut, he grabbed the potato chip bag and turned towards the door without even looking at me. I clenched my teeth and tried to decide what to do.
Unable to control myself any longer, I rushed over to the door and grabbed the white sleeve of Izzy's shirt. He stopped and looked over at me resignedly. Feeling almost a little angry at the way he was treating me, I burst out, "Izzy...what's going on? I thought you weren't mad at me. You said you weren't when we talked on the phone. But why are you avoiding me like this? If there's some other girl you like, then just tell me so we don't have to deal with this shit anymore."
"There's not any other girls..." Izzy trailed off. Keeping my hand firm around his wrist, I dragged him over to the kitchen table. After sitting down in one of the chairs, I barked, "Are you going to tell me what's going on with you then or not?" Izzy slumped down in the chair next to me and looked at his hands.
I wanted to be mad at Izzy, but I was already falling into my Izzy-trance-like state already.
I tried to keep my gaze off Izzy and my mind on my anger at him, but my attempt was a failure. I found myself looking him over like usual. He was wearing a white shirt that he had left unbuttoned and he had a black vest that he was wearing over it. There was a big, black necklace coiled around his neck and a matching bracelet around his slender wrist. I noticed he was wearing a silver nose ring today. That had to be new. I had never seen it before.
Just when I was going to have to stare at a mute Izzy all day, Izzy finally raised his head and looked directly at me for the first time today. My heart skipped a beat and I had the impulse to look away from those dark, hazel eyes. A loud scrapping noise broke the silence between us as Izzy scooted his chair across the tile kitchen floor to sit closer to me.
Wondering what he was going to do next, I held my breath and sat absolutely still. He was like a nervous puppy that I was afraid of scaring off. Without taking his eyes off mine, Izzy leaned over until I felt his warm breath on my neck. I inhaled deeply to fill my nose with Izzy's unmistakable scent. Today, he smelled like a mix of coconut and sunscreen. I figured he had been outside doing something earlier. Probably riding one of his bikes around.
Izzy slid his lips carefully onto the base of neck and leaned his head on my shoulder. Hoping that this meant I had permission to touch him too, I cautiously twined a strand of his black hair around my thumb. I half expected Izzy to pull away from my touch, but instead he gave me a small, tired-looking smile and closed his eyes as he leaned against my shoulder.
There was something different about Izzy today. He seemed so tired and worn out. It was as if he were recovering from running his first marathon. I peered back down at where he was resting against my shoulder. This just wasn't like Izzy. Izzy was normally full of energy and always talking about something. Had someone drained Izzy of his energy?
As much as I missed the old Izzy, I still liked the way he was leaning against me. We were so close...closer than we had been in a very long time. I could see his bare chest rise and fall rhythmically as he took in long, slow breaths. My hand strayed from the lock off Izzy's hair and onto his forehead.
I stroked his straggly black hair off his face and nestled my head against his shoulder. Izzy gave a sigh of satisfaction. The two of us pressed closer together while Izzy's breaths started to slow and my eyelids started to droop and grow heavy. Izzy's sleepiness appeared to be wearing off on me. I was so distracted that I didn't process the conversation coming from the living room. "Where's Amy and Izzy?" Beth's polite voice asked curiously. I imagined a shrugging of shoulders before Vince chimed in, "I thought they were going to get food. I'm starving. Maybe we should go see what they're up to." The sound of someone standing up drifted through the doorway. There was a shuffling of feet before Axl quickly cut in, "Oh, I'll go get the potato chips. Amy probably got lost somewhere in the basement and hit her head so Izzy had to go rescue her."
Everyone laughed at Axl's joke. I would've been enraged at Axl making fun of my clumsiness, but right now, all I was concerned about was keeping Izzy this close to me for forever. Unfortunately, our peace and quiet didn't last much longer. The door flew open and Axl stood in the doorway looking a little irritated.
"I don't care if you two want to talk, but seriously, couldn't you have at least brought the chips out earlier? Everyone knows it doesn't take an hour to find a bag of chips in the cabinet," Axl remarked a-matter-of-factly, stepping forward to snatch the bag of chips off the counter. He glanced over at us as he leaned across the table to the counter, "Aw, aren't you two sweet together." Then, with a mischievous smile, he slapped Izzy hard on the left cheek.
Izzy's eyes popped open and he stared daggers at Axl. Axl shrugged his shoulders as he switched the bag of chips from his left hand to his right, "Sorry, Izz. I didn't want you to fall asleep on Amy though. You know, you should really get off that crap. It really drains everything out of you. I'm not saying you have to, but it is a good suggestion. One of these days people will learn that I do happen to do a thing or two." With that, Axl disappeared back into the living room.
Izzy, who was now looking wide-awake, yawned widely and wiped a hand across his brow. He looked over at me with glassy eyes and apologized quickly, "Sorry, Amy. I'm a little out of it today. I'm supposing we should talk about...last time?" I did want to talk about last time, but there was something else I wanted to talk about sooner.
"What did Axl mean when he said you should 'get off that crap'?" I asked. Axl's words had immediately heightened my suspicion. Izzy looked around the room nervously as if he were hoping an excuse would form in his head. Before he could manage to create a diversion, I put a hand under his chin to force him to look at me, "Izzy, don't lie to me. I wanna know. I have a right to know. Tell me what's going on. Please?"
Izzy hesitated for a moment, looking unsure. After another fierce glance from me, he finally gave in, "Nothing is really going on. Axl thinks I'm taking too much dope. But really, it's no big deal. I'm just tired. Anyways, shall we talk about last time?" I frowned. I didn't want to talk about last time until I figured out what exactly was going on with Izzy.
"Not quite yet," I interjected causing Izzy to let out a big sigh. His hand folded over mine and he replied urgently, "It's nothing, Amy. Really. I'm just fine. Let's drop it, okay?" I wanted to keep talking about it, but Izzy looked so tired and drained that I didn't want to push him right now. He looked like he could topple over at any moment.
Deciding to drop the subject, I added in one last attempt, "Just don't do anything dangerous. I don't really want you on drugs." Izzy gave me a funny look and cracked a small smile, "Uh, Amy? I've been on drugs my whole life. But like I said, it's okay as long as you don't go overboard on it." I didn't know much about drugs, but I knew enough about it that I didn't want Izzy to become an addict. I already had to worry about Nikki and the heroin; I didn't want to have to worry about Izzy too.
In an attempt to change the subject, Izzy said, "About last time...it's not that I don't love you, it's just that I don't think we're good for each other." Izzy's statement made me completely forget about what we had been talking about earlier. Instead, I sat next to him in confusion and shock. What did he mean when he said that we weren't good for each other?
My body went rigid and I could feel my shoulders tense. Izzy was looking around the room nervously. In reaction to my silence, he placed a hand on one of my shoulders and tried to explain, "Please don't take it hard...I'm just saying that this isn't good for you. The kind of lifestyle I live and the type of lifestyle that you live are completely different."
"So?" I asked. "Why should that make a difference?" Honestly, I didn't even give a damn about what kind of "lifestyles" we lived. I just wanted Izzy. It was hard for me to try to figure out whether he was trying to get rid of me or not. Izzy could be very hard to read sometimes. I wished he would just get straight to the point.
Silently, Izzy stood up and crossed the room. For a moment I thought he was just going to get up and leave, but then he paused and dug through one of the drawer's on the counter. A second later, he emerged with a cigarette. He lit it and then returned to the chair next to me. I studied his face through a puff of smoke, trying to find answers in it.
"Amy, you have a good lifestyle. You're smart, pretty, and innocent. You're gonna go to college then get a high paying job and marry some guy who's gonna be able to support you for the rest of your life. My lifestyle is way different. I don't have a job and I have no fucking idea how I'm even gonna make ends meet. I spend my nights getting high on drugs and fucking random girls..." Izzy stopped there and waited for my reaction.
"I don't care that our lifestyles are different or whatever," I said earnestly, "if you wanna do drugs or fuck random girls, that's fine I guess. I just wanna be with you, Izzy. That's all I'm asking for." I was really hoping that Izzy would just quit it with all this shit. Couldn't he tell that all I wanted was his love? That's all I needed to make it through the day.
Izzy paused, hesitating slightly as he replied, "Are you listening to me? I don't think this is good for you. I don't think you should be hanging out with our band. It'll end badly. Either you'll get hooked on drugs or get raped or something worse maybe. I'd feel responsible if something happened to you. Especially if it had to do with me."
I was starting to get impatient. Did Izzy think I was a little kid who didn't understand the consequences of my actions? Irritably, I replied, "Izzy, I travel with Crue all the time! I've been fine on every single tour. Hanging out here with you and Axl's new band is most certainly not going to hurt anyone. Unless, of course, you're just trying to get rid of me?"
"Hell, no!" Izzy exclaimed, looking shocked. He let out another puff of smoke and considered what I had said a moment before answering, "Amy, this is my last warning to you: this isn't going to be good for anyone. I'll probably get high and do something stupid or hurt you in some way. I don't wanna do that."
"Izzy!" I yelled with exasperation. A loud creak from the other side of the room followed my exclamation. Izzy and I turned our heads around to see that the door had opened a crack and Axl was glaring in at us. He looked bored and angry at the same time, "Keep it down, will you? Every single person in the living room can hear what you're saying."
Izzy and I blushed. In a much quieter tone, I apologized, "Oh, sorry. I didn't realize I was being so loud." Axl merely grunted and retreated out of the doorway. Being more careful to keep our voices down, Izzy and I continued our conversation, "Izzy, I'm not a careful, cautious kind of girl. I like your kind of lifestyle and I know you won't hurt me. You just gotta stop being so careful with me all the time for god's sake! Why are you so careful with me anyways?"
Izzy's hazel eyes sparkled and he smiled genuinely, "I'm careful because I don't want to lose you. Besides, I didn't think you were the kind of girl who liked guys to throw themselves at you." I fluttered my eyelashes at Izzy flirtatious and commented, "I wouldn't mind it if you did." Izzy suddenly put a hand to his forehead.
Worried, I asked, "Hey, are you okay?" Izzy sat there next to me cringing. He looked really ill. After a few minutes, he slowly brought his hand away from his head, but still looked kind of dazed, "Yeah, I guess. I just got this really bad fucking headache all of the sudden. Don't worry about me though, I'll be fine in a few minutes."
It was hard not to worry about Izzy, especially when he looked like he was in so much pain. But then Izzy smiled and then said, "Okay, you win. We can stay together, but I want you to promise me something." I was a little wary of whatever it was that Izzy wanted me to promise, but I was desperate enough to agree to it. After all, there wasn't anything more important than staying together with Izzy. Skeptically, I said, "Okay?"
"You're gonna promise never to get into drugs. I don't want you trying shit ever. Understand?" Izzy looked deeply into my eyes to convey the seriousness of what he was saying. I almost laughed at his statement. It wasn't like I even wanted to try drugs. The thought hadn't even crossed my mind.
"Yeah, I promise. That's probably the easiest promise I've made in a long time," I said easily. "So...we're back together again with no awkwardness then, right?" Izzy grinned, "Yeah. It's all your fault bitch so don't blame me for anything that might happen in the future. But anyways, this calls for a celebration. Wanna get something to drink?"
I shrugged, "Sure." Standing up, I pushed in my chair and headed to the refrigerator. Izzy finished his cigarette and tossed it in the trash before following me to the refrigerator. On the way over, I tripped on the corner of Izzy's chair and landed on my back. Flinching, I rubbed my shoulder as I lay on the ground.
No matter how much I tried to be careful, I always ended up being a complete klutz. In an instant, Izzy had dropped onto the ground next to me and looked at me with concern, "God, sorry about leaving my chair right there. Are you okay? Is there anything I can do or get you to make you feel better?"
I had already forgotten about the pain that had been in my shoulders. Looking up into his eyes, I could think of only one thing I wanted. Trying not to be too audacious, I said, "Well...maybe there is something you could do..." I trailed off, hoping Izzy would get the clue. He just looked at me with a puzzled expression.
I flopped all the way onto my back so that I was staring at the ceiling and so that Izzy had to stare down at my prone figure. I blinked innocently up at him with my heart fluttering rapidly. Izzy gave me a twisted smile and leaned over me so that our noses were touching. I closed my eyes happily at his touch. A big burst of Izzy-scent entered my nose.
I could feel Izzy's tongue part my lips and slide into my mouth. I let my tongue caress his. It didn't take long before Izzy stretched out of his crouched position and was lying on his side next to me. He wrapped an arm around my shoulders and pulled me onto my side too. I let him turn my body without really knowing what was going on.
We kept kissing for a long time. Our kisses became passionate and urgent. Izzy kissed me like it was the last time he'd ever see me again. I kissed him back just as fiercely. I had missed him so much and now we were finally together again. Izzy pulled me closer against him and we rolled over...right into the table.
A stray plastic glass that had been sitting on the edge of the the table wavered precariously and then fell right onto Izzy's head. He winced and immediately broke away from our embrace, leaving me lying on the floor. I got up onto an elbow and asked, "You okay?" What I really felt like doing was cursing at the glass for ruining the moment, but that would just be stupid to talk to a object.
"Uh...sorta..." Izzy trailed off. He rubbed his forehead vigorously. "Amy...I hate to do this, but I really think I need to take a nap for a while. I'm just so tired and my head feels like it's gonna split open. Do you mind?" I did mind, but of course I wasn't going to say that. In as sweet of a voice as I could use, I replied, "Not at all. Go nap and feel better."
Izzy gave me a pained smile before leaning down and kissing my forehead. After that, he retreated into the bathroom. Why he went into the bathroom, I did not know. Shouldn't he have gone upstairs if he was going to nap? I shrugged and turned back to the living room. Little did I know what exactly Izzy was doing in there.
The rest of the night was rather uneventful. Axl and Vince were actually communicating civilly and it appeared that they might actually start being friends. Tommy and Candice pretty much engaged in a long makeout session during the whole evening and Beth Lynn stared at her feet, looking bored.
I had thought about talking to her, but I was a little angry at her at the moment. First of all, she had suddenly ditched me as her friend and was now doing everything with Candice. I would've really appreciated an explanation for it, but Beth hadn't spoken of it once. Second, I had thought she had made a move on Izzy. That was completely unforgivable in my book.
My suspicion toward her interest in Izzy had been raised up a few notches when I came out of the kitchen alone. As soon as the door had opened, she had whipped her gaze over to me and looked around for Izzy. When he didn't emerge, she asked, "Where's Izzy? I thought he was in the kitchen with you."
I had replied, "He was, but he's not feeling well so he's gonna go take a nap." Beth narrowed her eyes at me as if Izzy not feeling well was somehow my fault! That was pretty much the end of our friendship. It appeared that Beth was interested in Izzy and I was the barrier blocking her path to him. The more Beth seemed to want Izzy, the more determined I became not to let her have him.
Anyways, the evening soon ended and the Crue members and I packed up and went back to our homes after saying our good byes to Axl. Axl had given me a stiff goodbye, he seemed really distracted. He kept glancing nervously over at the locked bathroom door where Izzy was. Something told me that he knew more about the situation than I did.
Four days later, we had gotten up early and had flown to Nashville. Our hotel was average. It didn't have fancy paintings on the wall or glass chandeliers, but it wasn't dirty and old looking. I had agreed to share a room with Tommy because he had decided to leave Candice home to my relief. Vince had decided to bring Beth along though. She and I kept our distance at all costs and avoided each other whenever it was possible.
The Crue had just completed their first show and we had arrived at the hotel only a moment earlier. The show had been a great success and everyone was feeling energetic and elated. Nikki took my hand on the way in and smiled down at me. He looked particularly handsome in this lighting with his tight black pants and high heeled boots. I was forced to tilt my head in order to see his face. The boots made him almost a foot and a half taller than me.
"So Amy, what are you planning to do tonight?" Nikki asked as the six of us tramped down the hallway to the elevator. Vince hit the elevator button and turned to look at me too. Apparently he was also interested in knowing what my plans were for the night. Just to irritate Vince, I smiled right into his face and said loudly, "I'm gonna go to the strip club across the street, get wasted, and get laid." Vince's eyes widened in shock and then he grinned, "You're going to the club right next to this place? Well, I was thinking of going there myself. Maybe we should go together?"
Everyone else was trying hard not to laugh. Tommy had balled his fist into his mouth and his eyes were sparkling. Vince was the only one who hadn't realized that I was joking. I gave Vince a funny look before Nikki burst out, "Oh god, Vince, she's just kidding you! Can you seriously see Amy in a strip club?"
Vince's face fell and he looked rather disappointed. For some reason, Vince was looking really attractive to me tonight as well. I hated to admit it, but it was true. His platinum blonde hair shone brilliantly, his aquamarine eyes looked true and honest, and those glossy full lips of his looked much too inviting.
I frowned to myself and looked away from him. Maybe Izzy had been right that touring around with a rock 'n roll bad wasn't such a good idea. I didn't love Nikki or Vince like I loved Izzy, but I was feeling physically attracted to both of them tonight. For a moment, I actually imagined myself going to the strip club with Vince. Both of us would get drunk, have a good time, and then come back to the hotel together...
My thoughts were interrupted by Beth Lynn's shrill voice. My fantasy ended right there and then. There was no way I could do anything with Vince with Beth Lynn along anyways. I supposed it was a good thing, but I couldn't help but hate her more at that moment. Feeling embarrassed and angry, I plodded into the elevator with the other six.
It was a tight fit, but somehow we all managed to cram into the elevator together and head up to the fourth floor. As I was glaring at Beth Lynn from my corner in the elevator, Nikki tapped me on the shoulder once more, "You never did tell me what you really were going to do tonight. I'm smart enough to know that you wouldn't really go to a strip club."
Glad for a distraction, I smiled up at Nikki, "Of course I wouldn't go to a strip club. Um, I don't really have any plans tonight. What about you?" Nikki opened his mouth to answer, but Tommy cut across him excitedly, "Ozzy invited us to go with him to the club around the corner. Don't you want to go with us, Nikki?"
I frowned at Tommy's words. I still didn't like Ozzy. I found him to be insane and possibly dangerous. It really sucked that we had to do a tour with him. It would've been so much better if we could've done a tour with a different band like Kiss for example. But of course, Nikki and Tommy had to wreck our relationship with Kiss by fucking with Eric's girlfriend.
My dream come true would be if somehow we could go on a tour with Axl's new band, the Hollywood Rose. That way, I could be with all my best friends at the same time. Plus it would definitely help the Hollywood Rose get some publicity.
"Nah, I don't think I'm gonna go," Nikki answered Tommy with a shrug. "I'd rather hang out here around the hotel." Tommy looked confused for a minute but didn't protest. We were at our hotel rooms now and Tommy was digging around in his pockets for the key. Vince, who already had his door open, asked, "So Tommy, want me to meet you in the parking lot at we'll drive to the club together then?" Tommy finally found his key and slipped it through our door, "Yeah, sure. I'll meet ya there in two hours or so."
Apparently both Tommy and Vince were planning on hanging out with Ozzy tonight. Something told me that this night wasn't going to end up well. A quiet voice added, "I'm going too! Can't I meet you down in the parking lot?" I spun around to see Mick staring at Tommy and Vince. He was looking a bit put-out at being ignored. I had to admit that I was shocked that Mick was going to the club too. Mick didn't strike me as the kind of guy who would want to go to a club with whacked people like Ozzy.
Vince, looking surprised too, said quickly, "Of course you can come too, Mick! We'd love to have you with us. I guess we'll all meet downstairs then in a little bit." Vince tromped into his hotel room to get ready for the night. I was about to follow Tommy into my room when a sharp voice stopped me in my tracks.
"Hey Amy, wait a second, won't ya?" Nikki asked from behind me. I paused where I was and turned to look at him. He was shifted his wait from foot to foot nervously like he wanted to say something but he wasn't actually sure what it was that he wanted to say. I raised an eyebrow and prompted him, "Nikki?"
Nikki finally stopped shifting and looked down at me, "Wanna do something together tonight? Just something small around here? Maybe we could go downstairs and each dinner in that little lobby area together?" Nikki said it casually, but from the tension in his face, I could tell that he was hiding something.
"Yeah, that sounds great. What time do you want to eat dinner together?" I asked. Having dinner with Nikki might be fun. It had been way too long since Nikki and I had spent some time alone together. It had felt like our friendship had been slipping away for a while. Maybe tonight would give me the chance to renew that friendship.
"How about in a half hour when the other guys are leaving for the club?" Nikki suggested, grinning widely. I nodded eagerly, "Sounds great. Seeya then!" Without watching where I was going, I turned and started to walk into the room Tommy and I were sharing. After only one step, my left foot ran into something hard and I tripped and fell.
I looked up from the ground to see what I had tripped on. I didn't remember anything blocking my path only a moment earlier. To my horror, I saw Beth Lynn smirking down at me. She had stuck out her food and tripped me on purpose! Still smirking, Beth said lightly, "Better watch where you're goin' girl."
Before I had a chance to reply, she turned on her heel and clicked down the hall to Vince's room. I sat on the floor a moment longer, glaring after her. Beth was going much too far with her sudden hatred of me. I had never been mean to her. If she didn't want to hang out with me, that was fine. But going to this extremity was just crazy.
Shaking my head, I slowly got to my feet and slowly shut the hotel room door behind me. The bathroom door that had been shut only a moment ago popped open and Tommy emerged in some more casual clothes. He smiled at me as he walked across the room and started putting his stage clothes into his open suitcase.
"Hey Tommy," I asked, still fuming about the encounter with Beth Lynn, "Why do you think Beth Lynn hates me so much?" Tommy finished folding his clothes into his suitcase and then sat down on the edge of his bed to give me a befuddled look, "Huh? I'm not really sure what you mean, Amy. Beth Lynn doesn't hate you. I thought you two were really good friends.
I crossed the room and sat across from Tommy on the bed opposite him. I liked talking to Tommy. Sometimes it seemed like he was the only one who could help sort out my confused thoughts. Sighing, I explained to him, "We used to be really good friends, but now she hates me. She's been hanging out with Candice all the time and she never bothers to talk to me anymore. She treats me like I'm some disease. Out in the hallway two minutes ago, she actually tripped me! What did I do wrong, Tommy?"
Tommy scratched his head and looked puzzled. He thought for a few moments before answering, "I really have no idea. I'm sorry, but I don't. Sure, I noticed that Beth had been hanging out with Candice quite a bit, but I didn't know that she had stopped talking to you. But you've gotta remember that she's just had a kid, Amy. She's bound to be a little bit moody sometimes. Just give it some time. I'm sure she'll come around sooner or later."
"I sure hope so," I muttered miserably. I wasn't sure how much more of this I could take. If it got much worse, I was going to have to just confront Beth Lynn myself to figure out what was going on. Tommy laughed at my dubious expression and patted my hand reassuringly, "I promise you that it will be okay. Just give it time. Speaking of which, did Nikki ask you out tonight?"
I scrutinized Tommy carefully, "Hey, how did you know that Nikki had asked me to have dinner with him? Were you eavesdropping on us earlier?" Tommy's eyes sparkled and he shrugged. I stayed silent and waited for a little bit more of an explanation. Tommy obviously knew something that I didn't.
"I wasn't eavesdropping. Nikki just mentioned to me earlier how much he misses you. I don't think things are going so well with him and Lita right now," Tommy explained. I was touched to hear that Nikki missed me. I had been missing him too, but sometimes I thought that he had forgot that I existed.
"So you think he wants to talk to me about Lita?" I asked curiously. Tommy threw his hands up in the air and stood up, "How would I know that? Anyways, I've gotta get going. I don't want to keep Vince, Mick, and Ozzy waiting." I watched him go and then stood up resignedly. I should probably change if I was going to have dinner with Nikki tonight.



Around forty minutes later, I finally finished getting ready. I had changed into a simple burgundy dress with spaghetti straps that appeared to be made of silk. I loved the way the fabric swished against my legs. Plus, I even had a new pair of stilettos that matched the dress perfectly. I had been careful when I applied my makeup. For some reason, I really wanted this night to be perfect. And maybe I wanted to impress Nikki too.
The only problem was that my hair just wouldn't cooperate with me. I had attempted to straighten it, but it had only gotten tangled and remained wavy. After that, I had tried to curl it but the rest was only a mess of fuzziness. In desperation, I had put it into a messy bun. It certainly looked better that way then in tangles.
With one last look in the mirror, I slid into my stilettos and walked down the hallway to the elevator. The stairs was closer, but I wasn't willing to walk down the stairs right now. I tended to be clumsy in general so me walking down the stairs with four-inch heels would probably end up with me tumbling all the way downstairs and landing on the ground with my face on the floor.
I stepped into the elevator with two teenage guys and hit the main lobby button. I ran a hand through my hair and smoothed my dress. Suddenly, I noticed that the boys were gawking at me curiously. When I looked over at them, they both quickly smiled sexily at me and inched closer.
I almost laughed aloud. It was funny that these teenagers who were probably a good six or seven years younger than me actually appeared to show some interest in me! I gave them a polite smile as the elevator reached the main lobby. Stepping outside of it, I glanced around the tables to look for Nikki.
Many faces stared back at me, but none of them was Nikki's. I was starting to get an ominous feeling. Was there a possibility that Nikki might have ditched me or just invited me done here to look like an idiot? Nikki wouldn't do that...would he?

Feeling like an idiot, I decided to head back upstairs to the hotel room. I hadn't thought Nikki would've ditched me, but he was no where to be seen. Staring down at my feet, I started to shuffle back over to the elevator. Without warning, I felt a hand grab my shoulder and ask curiously, "Hey, where are you going, girl?"
I swung around and found myself nose to nose with Nikki. Feeling that we were too close, I stumbled back a few steps and blushed in embarrassment, "Oh...uh...nowhere now. Were are we going to eat?" I was feeling really stupid now for thinking that Nikki would've ditched me. Nikki was much too sweet of a guy to do something like that.
Nikki removed his hand from my shoulder and took my hand instead. He started leading me towards a room at the end of the hall, "We're eating in here. I thought it would give us a little bit of privacy. I'm getting a little fed up of people looking over at me and saying, 'Oh my god, there's Nikki Sixx!' It's nice just to have a little peace and quite, ya know?"
"Oh yes, I know," I agreed, knowing exactly what Nikki meant. Nikki led me through the doorway and into a nice little room. There was a small table set up in the center of it. On the table was a bowl of fruit, a platter of vegetables, and a few loaves of bread. I was surprised to see that there wasn't any meat on the table. Apparently Nikki had remembered that I was a vegan.
I sat down on one of the wooden chairs and shot him a smile, "Hey, you remembered I don't like watching people eat meat, didn't you?" Nikki flushed and nodded slightly as he sat down across from me. I took a few pieces of fruit from the platter and dumped some of the veggies onto my plate.
I was going to have to eat tonight whether I liked it or not. I was starting to get used to eating again. Ever since that time that my clump of hair had fallen out, I had been very conscious to make sure that I ate at least one thing each day. It must be working because I hadn't had any hair problems since then. Thank god for that!
"This looks really good," I told Nikki, motioning at the food spread out on the table before us. Nikki had heaped his plate full of fruits, veggies, and bread. He had already bitten into the white bread ravenously. The Crue boys always had a big appetite. After chewing and swallowing, Nikki smiled over at me, "I'm glad you like it."
We ate in silence for a while, just enjoying each other's company. About midway through the meal, I decided to bring up the topic that Tommy had told me about, "So Nikki, how have you and Lita been?" Nikki froze for a second and stopped chewing the end of a carrot stick. I bit my lip. Nikki probably didn't want to talk about Lita right now. I had been stupid for bringing it up.
"Eh...we've been okay," Nikki said slowly, carefully munching on a slice of apple. He chewed thoughtfully then added, "Why do you ask?" I looked down at the ground and tried to invent an answer. Nikki probably wouldn't have been happy to know that Tommy had been blabbing about his personal life to me.
But under Nikki's piercing gaze, my mind seemed to slow down and stop altogether. Finally, I just admitted the truth, "Well, Tommy told me that you and Lita were having problems or something actually." Nikki raised an eyebrow in shock, "Tommy told you that? Hm, that's odd because I never told Tommy that."
I speared a strawberry and looked up at him in confusion, "Wait, you didn't tell Tommy that? I wonder why he would have told you that." Nikki shrugged his shoulder, looking just as confused as me, "I have no fucking idea. I'm gonna have to talk to him about this though. I don't really think he should be making up stories about my love life."
Biting my lip, I interrupted, "Uh, please don't! I don't wanna get into trouble with Tommy. I'm in enough trouble as it is already." My thoughts immediately ventured to Beth Lynn. Nikki paused for a minute and then resigned, "Well, alright. But if he does it again, I'm gonna have to talk to him."
I didn't protest to that and we returned to our meal. I stabbed a piece of bright red watermelon and stuck it into my mouth. It sort of dissolved under my tongue. That was something nice about watermelon; it was mostly water and not really food. Liquids were always easier for me to digest than solids since I still wasn't that used to eating.
"So what's up with you and Izzy?" Nikki asked as nonchalantly as possible. I cocked an eyebrow at him and raised my gaze from the last few chunks of fruit on my plate so I could look at his face, "Uh, not much. I mean, we're doing fine if that's what you're asking. Why are you asking anyways?"
This time it was Nikki's turn to turn bright red, "Well, you asked me about Lita so I thought I'd ask you about Izzy." I couldn't find much to say to that, so I just said, "Hm." I ate my last few pieces of fruit and then looked over at Nikki. He looked like he was done too. I was feeling kind of disappointed. We had just had a rare amount of time alone together and we hadn't really talked about anything besides the other person's relationships. Maybe my relationship with Nikki had changed.
Noticing that I was done, Nikki asked, "So what do you want to do now? We could go back up to our rooms, but I'm still feeling wide awake. How about you?" I considered what to do next. I did want to spend more time with Nikki. Sleep was the last thing on my mind at the moment. I hoped that maybe Nikki and I could actually spend some 'quality time' together if we did something else tonight, "Want to go somewhere? I'm not feeling tired either."
Nikki nodded. His black hair flopped into his face, obscuring his eyes, "Yeah, definitely. Where do you want to go?" I hadn't been to Tennessee before so I didn't really even know what kind of places were around here. I shrugged and said, "I don't know. This is my first time to Nashville. Where do you want to go, Nikki?"
Nikki brushed his black hair out of his eyes, but it just fell right back into them, "I don't care. I've never been to Nashville before either. Why don't we go find the others and see what they're up to?" I couldn't keep the grimace off my face. I would've enjoyed meeting up with Mick, Tommy, and Vince, but I didn't really want to see Ozzy. He already seemed unpredictable. Who knew what he would do when he was drunk? I shuddered involuntarily.
"You don't wanna go?" Nikki asked, reading into my expression. I could see he was trying to hide the disappointment in his eyes. Apparently Nikki wanted to go. Well, if Nikki wanted to go, then I guess I could too. Trying to smile, I replied, "Nah, let's go. It would be good to keep an eye on the others and see how they're doing."
Nikki grabbed my hand excitedly and pulled me out the door. I hesitated, looking back at our leftover plates and garbage for dinner. As Nikki pulled me out into the cool night, I asked, "Uh, Nikki? Shouldn't we clean up our mess from dinner?" Nikki, who was practically running over to my black jetta, shot me a funny look, "Amy, we're the guests in the hotel. Some employee there can clean up our mess. You really need to stop worrying about everything!"
I was glad it was dark outside so Nikki couldn't see me blushing as I got into the passenger seat of the jetta. I glanced over at Nikki who was already swerving my car out of the parking lot at an alarming speed. If he had been drinking, I would never have trusted him with my car. But he hadn't been drinking so he should be able to get us to the club in one piece.
Nikki whipped the car out onto the highway going full speed. I was going to mention to him that he might want to slow down, but Nikki pulled into a packed parking lot only two minutes later. I glanced around the parking lot; it didn't look like there was any other empty parking spaces left. I turned to Nikki, "Is this it? I don't see Tommy's car."
Nikki helped me search the parking lot. Finally, he shook his head in confusion, "I don't see his car either. I swear this was the place they said they were going though. Do you think they left already? I know it's not likely since Vince can spend hours in clubs, but they're certainly not here unless Tommy got a new car."
I scratched my head, trying to think where the rest of the Crue might be. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw four figures creeping alongside the building on the opposite side of the street. Against the tall, brick-walled building was two cars. The first was a familiar bright red truck. The second was an empty police car. This did not look good.
With an ominous feeling in my heart, I tugged on Nikki's sleeve and pointed towards the figures across the street, "Nikki, do you think that's them? It looks like that's Tommy's car, doesn't it?" Nikki squinted towards the direction I had pointed him in. The figures were now concealed behind the police car.
"That does look like Tommy's car," Nikki agreed. "Shall we go see if that's them over there?" I nodded and popped back into the car. Nikki pulled out of the parking lot and pulled up behind the familiar red car. He parked less than an inch behind the bumper of the red car and then jumped out. I frowned at Nikki's driving skills, but followed him out of car and onto the sidewalk.
Before I could make it around to the back of the police car, I heard Nikki gasp in shock, "What the fuck are you guys doing?" There was a cackle of loud laughter. That was definitely Vince. Wondering what was going on, I quickened my steps and joined Nikki behind the police car with the others. The sight before my eyes made me wish I hadn't gone out tonight at all.
Ozzy, Vince, and Tommy stood in front of the police car laughing loudly. Mick stood off to one side looking at the others condescendingly. An ugly colored yellow liquid was streaming down from the top of the police car. It smelled so bad that I used one hand to plug my nose. Nikki was looking at the others, with a half-amused and half-horrified expression on his face.
"They got really drunk on sake," Mick whispered in Nikki's ear. "I justed we leave. Once we got out of the club, Ozzy spied the police car and thought it would be funny to piss all over it." I scrunched up my nose even more and took a few unsteady steps back from the police car that was covered in piss.
Nikki coughed loudly to get everyone's attention. Vince, who was doubled over in laughter, threw an arm around Tommy's neck to steady himself. Tommy tipped precariously to one side under Vince's weight. Nikki rolled his eyes and grabbed Tommy's arm to keep him and Vince from toppling to the ground.
"Okay guys, now that you've had your laugh, we need to get out of here. You could get arrested for this if you got caught," Nikki explained solemnly. An earsplitting laugh sounded next to me. I turned to see Ozzy googling Nikki with wide eyes, "Nobody's gonna find us here." He looked even more crazy than usual with those glassy eyes and twisted smile.
Just as those words had left Ozzy's mouth, lights from the end of sidewalk shone right into my eyes. I blinked and looked away from the blinding brightness. The sound of running feet coming towards us met my ears and someone called, "Hey! You six! Don't move a muscle!" It didn't take me long to figure out it was the police.
Nikki looked around wildly and grabbed my arm roughly, "Quick! Get into the cars, everyone! Hurry!" Nikki yanked me towards the direction of my jetta. Ozzy, Mick, and Tommy were already scrambling into Tommy's bright red truck. Vince had tripped in his hurry to get to the car and was sprawled out on the ground.
Without thinking about what I was doing, I tore my arm away from Nikki's grip and retraced my footsteps to Vince's side. I clawed at his perfectly tanned arm and pulled him to his feet. By this time, the sound of footsteps was thundering on the pavement. The police had almost reached us. One of them yelled something at us, but I didn't stop to hear what it was.
With all the strength in my body, I pulled Vince over to my jetta, yanked the car door open and flopped into the backseat. Nikki didn't wait for me to shut the car door behind us. He had already pulled out of our parking slot and was driving down the street like the devil was after us. I tried to slip away from Vince. In my haste to get into the car, I had pulled him right on top of me.
After I managed to get him off my stomach, I crawled across the backseats and pulled the car door shut. Nikki, who was still driving like hell, shot a nervous glance behind us to see if the police were following us. I hear him swear then say, "Amy, stay on the floor. I don't want the police to know you're here."
I felt like grumbling, but did as Nikki asked. I slid back down onto the floor next to Vince. Vince was lying on the floor with his blonde hair in his eyes and his arms spread out at an awkward angle. He mouth was open and his eyes were shut. He must have passed out. Shaking my head, I pushed him over to the far left side of the floor and took the right side of the floor.
It felt like we traveled for hours in the car. Nikki brought us through dark alleyways and through back entrances to buildings that I would never have known existed. Just when I was starting to feel a little squished and uncomfortable lying on the floor, I heard a sigh of relief from the front. Nikki let out a whoop and swiveled around in his chair to grin at me, "We lost them!"
Immediately, I got up from the floor and exhaled loudly, "Thank god for that! Do you think the others are okay?" Nikki's grin slowly disappeared and his eyes clouded over, "I have no idea. There's only one way to find out though. Let's get back to the hotel!" A knot tightened in my stomach. All I could do was cross my fingers and hope the others had made it back safely.



The slamming of a car door and someone calling my name loudly made me jerk upright. I pinched myself and opened my eyes. I had almost fallen asleep on our way back home to the hotel. It had been a long night and I was completely out of energy. I stretched my arms and yawned widely.
"Amy, you awake?" Nikki called as he stuck his head through the window to see what I was doing. I nodded, trying to rub sleep from my eyes. Nikki gave me a little smile and said, "Okay, good. Can you see if you can get Vince awake? We need to get back into the hotel." I smothered another yawn and looked at Vince's limp figure still lying on the floor. Without bothering to be gentle, I reached down and shook Vince's shoulder.
He groaned, but didn't make any movements. Irritated, I jumped out of the car and pulled on Vince's arm, "Vince! Get up! We need to get out of here and into the hotel in case the police are coming. Get that through your thick brain, will ya?" The word "police" caught Vince's attention. Instantly, his bright blue eyes had popped open and he staggered to his feet.
I held his hand to keep him from falling as the three of us shuffled into through the hotel door and into the warm, friendly-looking lobby. My first instinct was to search the room the one of the other Crue members. After scanning around the room while holding my breath, my gaze fell on Tommy.
I let out a sigh of relief and ran across the room to where Tommy was leaning against the wall. I threw my arms around his neck and sighed, "Thank god they didn't catch you guys! So where is everyone? They're all okay, right?" Before Tommy had a chance to reply, a loud thud sounded from behind me.
I peeled my arms off of Tommy's neck and looked behind me to see where the sound had come from. Without me to help support him, Vince had keeled over backwards and was lying on the floor. Nikki rolled his eyes at me and helped Vince get back up to his feet. Vince was way too drunk for his own good.
"Everyone's okay, Amy," Tommy replied, "Mick already went upstairs to his room to go to bed. You might want to get in there before he falls asleep, Nikki." Nikki nodded and helped lean Vince up against the wall. Nikki gave me an apologetic smile before he started towards the stairs, "Sorry that our night had to end like this, Amy. At least we had a nice dinner though, right?"
I nodded, "Yeah, it was fun." I watched as Nikki disappeared out of sight and climbed up the stairs to the room he was sharing with Mick. After Nikki was out of sight, I turned my focus back to Tommy and asked, "What are we doing down here then? Don't you want to head back up to our room? It's like three in the morning and I'm freaking tired."
A sliding noise sounded to my left. I grabbed Vince's arm just in time as he starting sliding against the wall to the ground. I helped Vince back up into an upright position and kept my hand securely on his arm. Glaring at Tommy, I reprimanded, "Whatever you do, do NOT let Vince ever get this drunk again!"
Tommy nodded, looking embarrassed, "Sorry, Ames. It's sort of hard though. I can't control Vince. I'm not his mother. But anyways, we're waiting down here because Ozzy had to use our bathroom and I'm waiting for him to leave." My eyes narrowed suspiciously. I didn't like the idea of Ozzy in our bathroom. I didn't even like the idea of being in the same vicinity with Ozzy.
"Why does Ozzy need to use our bathroom?" I grumbled under my breath. "He just pissed all over the police car for god's sake!" Tommy smacked a hand over my mouth and looked around the room furtively, "Don't say that aloud, Amy! We could still get into serious trouble!" After Tommy took his hand of my mouth, I mutter, "I know, I know."
Only about five minutes later, the sound of footsteps sounded behind us and Ozzy appeared with a wicked grin on his face, "Okay, I'm all done in there. See you guys tomorrow for the tour, okay?" Tommy nodded and waved as Ozzy strode out of the hotel. I stared stonily as he retreated. Tommy laughed at my expression and took Vince's other hand, "Let's head up to the room now, shall we?" I nodded and together, Tommy and I somehow managed to drag Vince across the room and into the elevator.
I could see the woman at the lobby desk eying us curiously as the elevator doors shut behind us and we traveled up to floor three. I suppose we did make quite a scene. Vince was about to collapse at any moment, I was half asleep, and Tommy was the only one who seemed to be acting normal.
Once the elevator doors opened, the three of us practically ran to our room. Tommy gave me the key to our room, "You go on in. I'm gonna help Vince into his room and then I'll be out in a minute." I shrugged and took the room key from Tommy's outstretched hand. He took Vince by the elbow and slowly helped him into the room he was sharing with Lita. I felt a pang of sympathy for Vince. If only he would learn that getting drunk always ended badly.
After slipping the room key through the lock to our door, I stepped inside our darkened hotel room and shut the door softly behind me. As I stood inside the doorway, I immediately felt exhausted. It had been such a long night with the police chase and it was very early in the morning. Without bothering to get changed or to turn on the light, I collapsed onto the top of my bed.
That was when the awful stench hit my nose. I scrambled up from the bed and blinked to get my eyes adjusted to the darkness of the room. Some putrid smell seemed to be coming towards me from the opposite side of the room. I wanted to just ignore the smell and go to sleep, but I had to find out what was causing this foul odor.
I felt my way over to the wall and flicked on the light. The rancid smell was definitely coming from the bathroom. Slowly, I walked over to the bathroom and knocked on the door in case someone was in there. There was no answer. Cautiously, I opened the door and almost immediately slammed it back shut.
The bathroom walls and floor was completely covered smeared feces. My hand flew up to my nose and I kicked the bathroom door shut. Who in this fucking world would've done this? Nobody but Tommy and me shared this room. I was absolutely positive that Tommy wouldn't have vandalized the bathroom. But then, who had?
I didn't have time to think about it. I quickly retreated outside into the hallway and pounded on Vince and Beth Lynn's bedroom door. There was a small pause and then the door opened up just a sliver. Beth Lynn's pretty blonde head appeared. As soon as she saw me, she glared and asked, "What do you want? People are actually trying to sleep at this hour, you know."
"Sorry," I said, not feeling the least bit apologetic. "I need to speak to Tommy. Isn't he here?" Beth peered behind her without opened the door any wider. Finally, Beth turned back to me with an devilish smile, "Yes, he is here. He fell asleep on the couch. Poor Tommy, you must've worn him out on that excavation of yours earlier. I guess you'll just have to wait and talk to him tomorrow." Beth Lynn started to shut the door in my face.
Horrified, I tried to pry the door open, "But Beth, it's an emergency!" Beth shrugged like she could care less and added, "Too bad." With that, the door slammed shut right in my face. I scowled at the shut door and felt like kicking it. There was no way I could sleep in Tommy's and my bedroom tonight with that apalling smell.
My first instinct was to go to Mick and Nikki's room. Nikki and Mick would never treat me the way Beth Lynn just had. I had my fist raised to pound on Mick and Nikki's hotel room door when a thought occured to me. Mick and Nikki were probably already asleep. Mick had been first to go up the the hotel rooms. If I knocked on the door now, I was bound to wake them up.
Reluctantly, I lowered my fist from the door and retraced my steps. What should I do now? There was no fucking way I was going to go back into my room. It was also clear that Beth had no intention of letting me in her room. The only thing I could do now was sit in the hallway and wait for someone to wake up and come out into the hallway.
True, it probably would be a few hours, but there wasn't really anything else to do. I didn't want to spend the extra money to get another hotel room for just a few hours. Trying to make the best of the situation, I slumped down against the wall and sat outside of Nikki's hotel room door. It was actually quite peaceful in the hallway. It was pitch black and silent, perfect for sleeping.
My head started to loll and my eyelids started to grow heavy. I was almost asleep when I discovered the mystery of who had wrecked our hotel room; Ozzy! Tommy had said he needed to use our bathroom for something. God, I was going to kill Ozzy next time I saw him! And I was going to tell Tommy to end our tour with him...that was my last thought before I slipped into darkness.



Distant footsteps and laughing voices woke me up early the next morning. My eyelids fluttered open and I tried to get my bearings. I was sitting exactly where I had fallen asleep last night; pressed against the wall opposite Nikki's hotel room door. I tried to rub the sleepiness from my eyes as the footsteps approached.
A couple talking loudly walked by me towards the elevator. I could see the woman give me a strange look as she pasted. I supposed that it wasn't everyday you saw a girl sleeping in the hallway of a hotel. Glancing down at my watch, I saw it was eight in the morning. Nikki and Mick were probably up by now.
Just as I was about to get up and walk over to Nikki's hotel room door, the door adjacent to it popped open and a figure approached. I hoped it was Tommy, but instead a long mane of glossy blonde hair appeared in the doorway. I sighed and tried to make myself blend in with the wall as Beth Lynn's slim figure emerged from the doorway.
I hoped Beth wouldn't notice me curled up against the wall. All she would do would humiliate me if she had known that I had slept in the hallway all last night. To my chagrin, Beth looked directly at me as she shut her hotel room door behind her. Feeling small on the floor, I got to my feet and looked Beth in the eye.
She walked over to me with an expressionless facial expression. Without warning, she stepped right onto my big toe with her high heels. I bit my lip to keep myself from letting out a whimper as her foot came down on mine. There was a loud cracking sound as Beth put down all her weight on my toe.
Beth innocently looked at me and said, "Oops, sorry. Wasn't expecting to see you here in the hallway." Shrugging her shoulders, she turned and swaggered down the hallway without a backwards glance at me. Nervously, I dared to look at my toenail...or at least "the remains" of my toenail. It had cracked under Beth's heel and was trickling blood all over the hallway.
"Fuck!" I cursed as I stared at the mutilated remains of my toenail. Just at that moment, the door to Nikki and Mick's room opened and Nikki and Mick stepped out into the hallway, laughing at some joke they had just shared. Nikki grinned over at me as he heard me curse, "Well, good morning to you too, Amy!"
Still boiling mad over my poor toenail, I replied curtly, "It's not a good morning! I just spend all freaking night out here and looking at my fucked up toenail!" I pointed at the toenail that was oozing dark red blood all over. Mick dropped down onto one knee and carefully analyzed my toenail. Mick was always the gentleman!
"Wow, Amy, you really got this banged up!" Mick remarked as he looked up at me, "What the hell did you do to yourself?" Thinking of Beth Lynn, my frown deepened and I told Mick and Nikki the story from earlier, "I didn't do anything to myself. I was just sitting out here minding my own business and then Beth Lynn comes out of her room and squashes my toe for no good reason!" Mick and Nikki exchanged odd glances.
Nikki took my arm and slowly helped me back into his room, "Come on in here, Amy. We'll get that toe bandaged up. I'm sure I have some first aid supplies somewhere in my bag." I sat down on the nearest bed in the hotel room and waited while Nikki rummaged around in his suitcase. A few seconds later, he emerged with a large bandage and cream in one hand.
Looking pleased with himself, Nikki smeared some cream on the bandage and slowly wrapped it around my poor toe. I tried not to flinch as he applied pressure to my wound. Mick, who had been watching the whole process, asked, "So what were you doing out in the hallway anyways, Amy? You didn't sleep out there, did you?"
Nikki finished bandaging up my toenail and stood up to admire his handiwork. I answered Mick's question, "I couldn't sleep in my room so I went to Beth Lynn's room and she wouldn't let me in so I had to sleep out in the hallway." Nikki gave me a confused look, "Why couldn't you sleep in your own room? And anyways, you should've just knocked on our door. We would've let you in. You could've had my bed and I would've slept on the couch or something."
I was now wishing that I had knocked on their door last night. Oh well, it was too late for that now. Not wanting to go into details about my mangled room, I merely replied, "Just take one step into my room and you'll see what I mean." Mick held up his hands in protest, "Nah, I'm good!" I laughed at Mick's expression. Ever wary Mick wouldn't want to see what I meant.
"Let's go get some breakfast, shall we?" Nikki asked, throwing one arm around Mick's neck and the other around mine. "I'm starving, aren't you guys?"