The next morning, my phone rang bright and early- well, at the crack of noon which was early for me.

"Hello?"

"Hey, baby," I heard Slash purr into the phone.

"Hey, babe, what's up?"

"Not too much. Izzy said he called you?"

"No, he didn't. What's going on?"

"Yeah, he said you didn't answer."

"I must have slept through it, I guess."

"Yeah, probably. Uh, anyway, like I said yesterday, we're trying to get a party going, so your brother was trying to recruit you to invite any lady friends that you have."

"Lady friends?" I asked with a laugh. "I'm not sure if he's noticed, but the closest thing that I have to 'lady friends' is you guys when you get too drunk."

"Yeah, Steven pointed out that you're friends with dudes, not chicks," he said with a laugh. "How are you doing today?"

"I'm okay. Tired; Tracii and the rest of the guys basically broke in at three in the morning, or whatever, so that threw me off. You?"

"I'm good. Hiding out in the the bathroom with the phone. Axl's pissed."

"Why?"

"Because he lives on the phone. He's always spouting his drama to someone."

"Yeah, that sounds about right. He's always been like that. He likes to talk a lot."

"I'll say. So are you gonna come around?"

"To what, the party?"

"Yeah."

"Yeah, unless you don't want me to."

"No, I want you to! I miss your face," he said softly.

"I miss your face, too," I mumbled with a giggle. "It's only been like... one day."

"I know, but still."

"You're real cute sometimes," I teased.

"Only sometimes?" he asked, equally as playful.

"Mm, most of the time."

"That sounds about right. Anyway, I gotta go get Clyde, and help get ready for the party, so I'll talk to you later."

"Okay. I'll probably be over in like an hour."

"'Kay. See you soon."

"Bye."

Just as I hung up, I heard a knock on my front door.

Dear god, what now?

I made my way over to the door, and I was going to look through the peephole, but the outside was dirty, and I couldn't see anything.

I cracked the door open to see Kelly standing all by himself.

"Oh, hey, Kell. What's up?" I asked, holding the door open for him.

"Not much, Rae. Sorry about the, uh, break in last night," he said with a chuckle.

"Y'know, before tour I was used to it. Not so much now. Even the phone ringing makes me jump."

"It happens. Were you guys on a bus, or like, a shitty car?"

"Bus, actually. The Mötley guys helped us out, so that was nice. They're- the other Guns guys- are having a party tonight and they want me to go, so I guess that's that."

"Nice. Hey, I really missed you when you were gone," he said, following me into the kitchen.

"I missed you too, Nickels." I smiled at him, but turned back to making my tea when I caught a glimpse of something in his eyes.

"I mean more that just, like, you being gone. I miss our time together," he mumbled.

Shit.

"What do you mean?" I asked, hoping that he would opt out of this conversation.

"When we were together, we had fun, right?"

"Yes, we did."

"Well, I miss it. I miss being yours, and you being mine. I don't really know what happened between us, do you?"

"Not really... I guess we just grew apart."

"But how did we do that?" he asked, looking at the table. "Everything was great, right?"

"I guess. It was a while back, though."

"True, but I can't get my head around it. Look, I guess what I'm saying is that I want to give us another try- if you do, of course."

"I, um... Kell, I don't know how to tell you this, but I'm kind of with someone," I said nervously, biting my lip.

He let out a quiet, "Oh," and scratched his wrist. "Well, sorry, I-I just figu-"

"Hey, that's not to say I don't miss you and I being an us. I just... I truly believe that we didn't work for a reason. Fate, I guess."

"No, I get you. I don't know, I guess you're right. I just- I don't know. I guess you being back just takes me back, y'know?"

"Yeah, I get you. Sometimes I get like that, too, but again, I feel like we grew apart for a reason. I don't know what that reason was, but it happened."

"No, I understand," he mumbled. "I'm sorry; I didn't mean to be rude, or weird, or whatever."

"No, you're fine," I assured, putting a hand on his. "As long as we're still friends, everything's cool."

"Of course we're still friends. What would L.A. Guns do without you, Carolina Rae?"

"Let's hope we never find out," I said with a smile.

"Yeah," he said, standing up. "Well, we have some songs to write, so I'll see you around. Hopefully not at three A.M. this time," he mumbled with a wink. "Oh, and whoever you're with better treat you right, or I'll find him and kick his ass!"

"Thanks, Kelly," I mumbled with a laugh as he left.

Oh man, that was almost really bad. Granted, he took it like a champ; he was disappointed, but he was dealing well. He seemed to be okay, like he had snapped out of it or something. I was glad that he didn't ask who, because even though I knew that he could keep a secret, someone would find out somehow.

I sighed and decided to take a shower- a real shower, not a bus shower, so that I could get ready for the party.

°°°°°°

"Come on in!" Duff shouted when I knocked on their apartment door about forty-five minutes later.

"Hey- whoa, what are you guys doing?" I asked, watching my brother and his bandmates bustle about their apartment.

"We're trying to get as many people as we can to make a video," Duff said, flipping through a phone book.

"Girls," Axl corrected.

"Whatever; we just need people."

"Girls," Axl corrected once again, shouting from the other side of the room.

"Whatever!"

"Right, well let me know how that goes," I retorted. "Brother?"

"Kitchen."

"Thanks," I said, walking to the small kitchen area.

"What's up?" I asked, seeing Slash stack beer on the counter beside my brother.

"Lookin' for chicks for our video," Izzy said, staring at some newspaper or flyer of some kind.

"Why are you so hellbent on getting girls?"

"Well, look at it this way, what's a wet t-shirt contest with guys?" Slash asked.

"Gross," we said at the same time.

"Exactly," my brother said. "Rae, you really don't know any girls that we can call?"

"Not really. After this tour, there probably won't be anyone left that'll talk to me."

"Great... Well, we need hot girls."

"Yeah. Y'know, you could be one of them," Slash suggested smacking my ass as he walked past me.

My eyes widened and my jaw nearly hit the floor when I realized that my brother actually saw him do it.

"What the fuck, dude?" I snapped, making sure they both knew I was "pissed off."

Judging by the look on Izzy's face, I sold it... and judging by the one on Slash, I sold it a little too much.

"Sorry," he mumbled, looking down at the floor as he walked down the hall.

"I'm not going to ask any questions that I don't want answers to," Izzy said with a shrug.

Good idea.

After a few more minutes, I walked out to the living room, where Axl sat in front of a window, Duff and the phone book on either side of him.

"Why's he got the phone in a death grip?" I asked Duff.

"Since we got home, Slash's been spending all his time in the bathroom... probably on the phone with some chick."

"What if it's a dude?"

"What if it is?" he said, shrugging. "We need the phone, though, so Axl won't give it up."

"Ah. Hey, can I have one of those?" I asked, pointing to Duff's cigarette.

"Sure," he mumbled as he tossed me the pack. "Knock yourself out."

"Thanks," I said, lighting one and handing him the pack. "Did Slash pick up Clyde?"

"Yeah, I think so. You wanna go see, don't you?"

"Yeah," I said with a laugh, heading for Slash's room.

Knocking, I opened the door to see him sitting on the floor, Clyde in one hand and a beer in the other.

"Hey," I said softly.

"Hey. Sorry about the spank," he mumbled.

"It's okay," I said, closing the door behind me. "It was just bad timing with my brother there."

"Yeah. I thought about that after I did it. Freaked me out."

"You walked out and he goes, 'I'm not going to ask questions that I don't want answers to.'"

"Good thing."

"Right?" I asked, sitting beside him and kissing his cheek.

"You missed," he said, laying Clyde on his lap before reaching over and kissing me.

"Slash!" someone yelled on the other side of the door.

"Please, no," I whined, leaning my forehead against his.

"Ignore 'em, they'll go away," he assured, handing me the snake.

"Hopefully. What's up, Clyde?" I asked the snake, looking at his little(ish) face. "He looks really shiny."

"Yeah, Yvonne said he just shed like three days ago, so he's clean."

"Cool."

"Yeah. So ho-"

"Slash!"

"Fuck off!"

"We need you!"

"Fuck. I'll be right back," he grumbled, kissing me again before getting up and heading for the door.

"Okay," I mumbled, staring at the pattern of Clyde's scales.

°°°°°°

"Izzy, I don't think I ca-"

"Come on, Rae, just do it; it's your turn."

I groaned as I opened a fresh bottle of whiskey and began to chug, knowing that I was bound to do something stupid once all of this alcohol hit me.

I broke for a second to take a breath, only to have the bottle taken from me and finished off by Slash.

"Whiskey twins, eh?" Axl joked, a pretty dark haired girl named Erin sitting in his lap.

"You know it," Slash croaked, looking around for a lighter.

"Here," I mumbled, taking his cigarette and lighting it on my own.

"Thanks... So we're doing what tomorrow?" he asked the guys, his bleary eyes trying to focus on anything.

"We're playing at the Whiskey, er somethin', 'n we're filming the live parts for the video," Axl answered, clearly in charge of everything.

They chatted for a few minutes, and I randomly stood up. The alcohol I had already consumed combined with the half a bottle of whiskey I had just chugged made me sway almost violently; I was afraid I would fall over and not be able to get up.

"Where ya goin', Rae?" my brother asked.

"Bathroom," I mumbled, unsure if that was really my plan or not.

I stumbled down the hall, and I almost didn't notice Slash following me until he had grabbed me by the hair, turned me around, and kissed me.

"You always seem to like when I do that," he mumbled against my lips.

"Hair pulling kink," I said with a giggle, moaning softly when he kissed my neck.

We weren't really worried about anyone catching us; we were drunk, high, and the little apartment was packed full of people.

"C'mon," he said, his voice husky and dripping with lust.

We opened the door to his room, but as we headed for the bed, we tripped over something and fell hard. As we went down, Slash landed on me, and what ever was under us let out a groan.

"You okay?" he asked me, rolling off of me.

"Yeah, what's- oh my god! Adler," I gasped, trying to sit him up. "Stevie? Stevie!" I said, lightly slapping his face. "Is he okay? Slash, wha-"

"Steven," Slash growled, shaking his shoulders. "Adler! Wake up, you fuck!"

"What do we do?!" I asked, panicking; I was too drunk to help him, and the timing was less than great.

"Just relax! He's probably coming around. Ste-"

"W-what happened?" Steven asked, sitting up suddenly. "Why's my face hurt?" he asked, looking around, his bright blue eyes wide, his pupils like pin pricks.

"Steven, you- I- well we- I think," I struggled for words, unsure of what to say.

"We found you laying here, man. I think you OD'd," Slash grumbled.

"Nah, I'm clean, dude. I probably just blacked out or somet-"

"Dude, look at your fucking eyes! You can't hide it. Just get out," he said quickly.

No questions asked, Steven got up and walked out of the room, closing the door behind him.

"What... the fuck was that?" I asked, trying to comprehend what had just happened.

"I don't know; he probably over dosed... it's best to make him move fast when he comes back, though. He doesn't ask questions, and he doesn't remember anything," he said with a shrug.

"Oh..."

"Fuck it," he mumbled, basically pouncing on me, causing me to giggle as he kissed my neck and tickled my sides.

It didn't even occur to me that by moving on so easily was a shitty thing to do; I figured Steven would take care of himself and that he was fine. Again, I was too drunk to give a fuck, and the fact that Slash and I were all over each other made Stevie the least of my concern.