FicWad

Axl sat in a window seat towards the back of the plane and, leaning his head back slightly, sighed. He was exhausted already, and the day wasn't even halfway over.

He'd barely had time to sleep off the rest of his hangover before there'd be an extremely--unnecessarily--loud knock at the door. He'd yelled at whoever it was on the other side that they had exactly five seconds to get the hell out of his "personal bubble" before he killed them with whatever sharp objects he possessed, but they had continued to knock relentlessly, giving Axl no choice but to get up and see who it was.

And it had turned out to be Erin Everly.

"Hey, Erin," he'd said, struggling to stay fairly polite in spite of the fact that his head was pounding like a sledgehammer had found its way into his skull. "What's up?"

"Nothing much," she'd replied, sitting on his bed. "I just wanted to talk."

"Oh, for Christ's sake, Erin, you haven't 'just wanted to talk' since you and I were married."

"I know, I know." She moved over and put her hand on his cheek; he grabbed her wrist and shoved her away but she moved right back and he was too lazy to try again. "I wanted to apologize for making such a big deal earlier about having to share a room with Matt. He's not that bad."

"Yeah?"

She nodded, then moved even closer to him. He stared down into her sky blue eyes and wondered vaguely if the blank look in them was his imagination or not.

"Axl...how much does Laurie mean to you?"

His automatic response had been, the world, Erin, and much more. She's my life, my second half, my everything. She's way more to me than you ever were, you bitch, so fuck off. But of course he couldn't say that, so all he said was, in a low voice:

"Not nearly half as much as you probably think. Just 'cause we're sharing a room doesn't mean anything. I broke up with her back in '87; she and I are never getting back together."

Erin batted her eyelashes. "So does that mean that you'd be willing to give me a chance again?"

"How much of a chance are we talking here, Everly?"

She'd stood on her tiptoes and kissed him, very lightly, allowing her tongue to barely touch his lower lip.

"That much of a chance, Axl. We don't even have to share a room. I just want us to be together again. Don't you ever miss me?"

No.

"Yeah, Erin, of course."

And so she'd let out a peal of high laughter, grabbed him by the neck, and forced him to make out with her for nearly half an hour, during which time Axl had contemplated all possible ways to commit suicide while flying from one state to the next.

Then Laurie had returned, right in the middle of yet another Erin-attack. She'd given Axl a cold, appraising glare that clearly said,"you have as much self-control as a dog, you bastard", then she'd gone and packed her things and left him to pack his own without a word.

Now, sitting on the plane to Boise, Idaho, Axl leaned his head against the cool glass and sighed. He glanced towards Laurie, who was sitting more towards the front of the plane. She had the earphones on and was bobbing her head slightly to whatever it was she was listening to. Slash, sitting next to her, offered her a cigarette, which she took without any hesitation and lit up, cupping her head around the red tip to keep the oxygen from suffocating the flame. Axl wondered when she'd started smoking; back when they'd been together she'd called his nicotine addiction a "nasty habit" and said the only appealing thing about cigarettes was the lingering scent. She didn't look too upset about what she'd seen in the hotel room earlier, but with Laurie you could really never tell.

Erin plopped herself down next to Axl and, curving her arm through his, lay her head on his shoulder.

"Hey, there," she said. "How're you?"

"Since you last talked to me less than twenty minutes ago? I'm fine."

Erin let out a high pitched stream of staccato laughter that was quite obviously forced. Laurie turned halfway in her seat to look at them for a few seconds, her eyes flashing slightly with jealousy that ripped Axl's heart in half, before turning back to Slash and making a gesture that Axl could read even from his seat as, "Gimme another smoke, quick; I need to forget the sickening sight I just saw."

"Oh, Axl baby, you're so funny," said Erin. "Are you looking forward to singing for Idaho?"

"It's just another city, Erin...it's not that big of a deal." To Axl, all the states blended together after a while; he could tell that this tour was going to be long, if it was already starting to blur barely two days on.

"Well, it should be; now we're back together and--"

"Whoa, whoa, girl. I never said we were gonna start dating again; I just said--"

"Axl, Axl, Axl. Don't you remember? You said you'd give us a second chance. That basically means we're going out again."

Oh, shit. I'm screwed. I am so fucking screwed; I might as well dive out of this plane right now and land on the damn plains below.

"Yeah, Erin? Really? I didn't know that." Axl's slightly sarcastic tone was lost on the supermodel airhead as she giggled again, staccato and forced. He let out a soft sigh and leaned over, away from her, propped his chin on his hand, and looked out the window. He took his headphones from beneath his seat, slipped them over his head, and turned on the plane's radio, flipping the dial until he found a decent song: Iggy and the Stooges' "Search and Destroy".

I'm a street-walking cheetah with a heart full of napalm...

"Oh, Axl, I'm so excited about this!"

I'm a runaway son of the nuclear A-bomb.

He couldn't even block her annoying voice out with music, for God's sake. The singer sighed and shifted even further away, hoping Erin would take the hint and just shut up.

I am a world's forgotten boy...

"Ladies and gentlemen, you are free to move about the cabin. Remember the safety rules, and have a wonderful flight."

The one who searches and destroys.

Axl shut his eyes. Lyrics that actually spoke to him, lyrics that had actual meaning, not like the crap he'd been listening to on the radio lately. He wanted to whip out a notepad and jot some things down, but with Erin right there, he couldn't possibly. She had to think he was asleep, after all.

Honey gotta help me please

Somebody gotta save my soul

Baby detonate for me.