"Morning, guys," I said with a smile, grabbing a bottle of water and a lighter as they all waved hello and mumbled different forms of 'good morning."

"Morning," my brother said clearly, giving me a strange side-eye glance. "What's got you in such a good mood?"

"I don't know," I mumbled. "I just feel... good, I guess."

"Well, that's good," Steven said, smiling widely. "Isn't it?"

"Yeah, it's nice," I agreed. "Well, what's the plan today?" I asked, sitting on the arm of the couch beside Slash.

"Izz, Adler, and I are gonna scope out some chicks with Vince," Axl said, shrugging boredly.

"Nice."

"Yeah, might be fun," my brother grumbled sarcastically, rolling his eyes.

"You never know," I said with a smile, nudging him with my foot.

"What about you two?" I asked, looking between Slash and Duff.

"Probably just going to hang around for a bit," Duff replied.

"Yeah," Slash said softly, shrugging, which seemed to be his signature move.

"Alright... well, I think I'm going to go say hello to the Mötley guys," I said as I shuffled over to the giant pile of shoes that sat in the front lounge of the bus. "We have to do something about this," I mumbled with a laugh, digging for my converse.

"It might rain today," my brother said nonchalantly, signalling for me to take a jacket.

With a sigh, I headed to my bunk and pulled out my leather jacket and slipped it on, feeling the pockets for a pack of cigarettes.

"Well, see ya," I said, putting a cigarette in my mouth and lighting it before walking out of the bus.

°°°°°°

"What was that?!" Izzy insisted when the door closed behind Carolina.

"What do you mean?" asked Steven, who was occupying himself with biting his nails.

"When was the last time you ever saw her like that?" he asked, looking at Axl, who simply shook his head, just as puzzled as Izzy. "It doesn't seem like she's faking it or anything... What's she up to?"

"Maybe she's getti-"

"Don't suggest anything that I don't want to hear," Izzy said, cutting off Axl with a wave of his hand.

"Maybe it's just one of those random days," Slash suggested, shrugging tiredly.

"Yeah, sure it is," Duff said with a snort. "I have never seen her be that friendly. Especially when Axl talks," he said, leaning forward.

"Right?!" Axl agreed loudly. "Normally, she would tell me to fuck off or something. And then she sat next to Slash. That was just weird, man!"

Izzy shook his head and grabbed his coat from the seat beside him.

"Look, let's just go. I don't feel like sittin' around," he mumbled.

"Agreed," Steven said as he and Axl walked over to the door.

"Last chance if you guys wanna come," Axl said lightly, looking at Duff and Slash.

"Nah, I think I'll hang back today," Slash said, waving to them.

"Me, too. I might catch up later," Duff said as he played with an empty cigarette carton.

"Alright," Axl said, rolling his eyes as he, Izzy, and Steven exited the bus. As soon as the door closed behind them, Slash let out a sigh.

Duff eyed him, saying nothing until he saw how much he was fidgeting.

"Okay, what's on your mind?"

"Do you think it's me?"

"What do you mean?"

"Do you think she's in a good mood because of me?" Slash clarified.

"Why would she be in a good mood because of you? You didn't do anything," Duff said plainly.

"I know, but I mean... what if she's into me?"

"She could be, but why would Carolina be all weird because of that? It's almost irrelevant. Think about it: if she liked you, she'd probably be in a worse mood because she's trying to get rid of you."

"No," Slash said with a sigh, "I'm pretty sure she digs me, and if she does, maybe she's happy because she knows I feel the same way about her."

"If you want to see it that way, I guess."

"I mean it, Duff, I really think she likes me," Slash said excitedly, moving over to the table.

"Don't get your hopes up too high, lover boy. She's still sketched out after Axl."

"I know, and I feel bad for her, y'know. But hey, maybe she'll snap out of her funk."

"No way. She'd have to trust you to do that," Nikki butted in, loudly slamming the bus door behind him.

"Jesus, dude, you don't have to break the damn door off," Duff said, jokingly shooting his fellow bass player a scowl.

"Don't worry 'bout it. If I was gonna fuck up a door, it wouldn't be the one on the bus; it would be the one on your hotel room. Fire and aqua net," he said, miming making a hairspray torch.

"What's up, Sixx?" Slash said when Nikki sat beside him.

"Not much. Carolina is raving to T-Bone about you," he said with a smirk, wiping his nose on the back of his hand.

"See?!" he shouted at Duff. "I told you. She seems to like me, it's a good sign."

"Easy there.. I wouldn't jump to conclusions so fast. Usually we hear about how much you drive her insane, and it's only a matter of time until she's back to that."

"Won't happen," Slash said confidently.

"It will," Duff said with a sigh. "That's why I'm surprised your little boardwalk date went so well; half of the time you two are ready to kill each other," he said pointedly, standing up and patting his pockets.

"'Cha lookin' for?" Nikki asked.

"Fresh cigs- oh, there they are. Well, I'm going to go out for a walk or something."

"Yeah, a walk to scope out tonight's bar," Slash said, laughing to himself.

"Not a bad idea," the tall blond replied with a smile, heading for the door.

"Hey man, do you think I have a chance with Carolina?" Slash asked, looking at Nikki through the dark curls that fell in front of his eyes. "I mean like a solid chance."

Nikki sighed, staring at his freshly lit cigarette.

"I'm not sayin' no, and I'm not sayin' yes. I think you might, but you really have to pull some special shit. Duff was right; she's fucked up after Axl. I've heard all of the stories since the beginning, so I can see why."

"Doesn't mean she can't be a little more," he struggled to find the word, "accepting. I mean, she's almost abrasive sometimes, but other times, she's amazing."

"She's abrasive because it pushes people away," Nikki said, taking a drag of his cigarette. "She's scared, Slash, and I'm not exaggerating when I say that. She really is afraid to be with someone because she always seems to get fucked over. And from what I've heard, you've fucked her over before, too."

"That was a totally different thing!" Slash argued. "I just wanted to make sure her brother knew what was going on," he insisted.

"Well, from what I've been told, it sounds like you were pretty jealous."

"I was not."

"Just by the way you said that," he replied with a nod, "tells me that you were."

"No... well, I kinda had a thing for her, but I knew it wouldn't work out."

"Why not?"

"Uh, well, because she liked Tracii, for one, for two-"

"Bullshit; she didn't," Nikki interjected. "I know for a fact that she didn't. She's told me."

"Why the hell would she tell you?"

"She was telling me what had happened between you two that made her hate you," he said with a shrug.

"Really? And what else did she tell you?"

"That she knew you liked her. She wasn't sure at first, but she said she figured it out when you would do what ever she asked."

"Yeah, I guess that would have given it away, but maybe I was just being nice. How would she know?"

"Yeah... She said that at first she thought that was it, but eventually it made sense. She was tellin' me that at first she thought it was cute, but eventually she felt bad- like she was taking advantage or some shit. Anyway, she said she stopped because she felt like she was using you and didn't want to do that."

"I never thought she was using me," Slash mumbled, puzzled.

"Well, she didn't know that. She said that it seemed like she had hurt your feelings after a while. Said she guessed that you figured that she was playing you like a game, which was the opposite of what she wanted to do."

"No," he said quietly. "I thought that maybe she liked me, but then didn't after a while. Like, she got over me or somethin'."

"Dude, she did like you," Nikki said, lightly smacking his arm. "She stopped doing that shit because she felt bad; she cared enough about you to make sure she didn't fuck up your feelings and shit. Then you went and snitched on her and Tracii.... Why'd you do that, by the way?"

"What, tell Izzy?"

"Yeah."

"I... I guess I felt like, if I couldn't have her, Tracii shouldn't either. I was on to them for a while anyway, and when I caught them, it sucked. It even hurt me a little; I wanted to be him," he said, a dry chuckle escaping his lips. "I figured that Izzy should have known what his little sister was up to when he wasn't around, but I never wanted her to get sent home. I just thought that maybe they'd grow apart and I-"

"You could make a move," Nikki finished, nodding as he ground out his cigarette in the nearest ash tray. "I get your thinking. Stupid, but I see it. Still, she really thought she liked you and then you went and pulled that."

"If she liked me, why did she pick Tracii?"

"She said something about forming attachments- strings or something like, I don't know. I'll probably remember what she said later, but it was something to that effect... But yeah, like I said, she wasn't completely sure that you liked her and vice versa. She just didn't want to start something that would end bad, get me?"

"Yeah. Still sucks, though. I wish I had known."

"I get it, man. Trust me, I wish she was as into me as she seems to be into you right now, but like I said, before yesterday, she was constantly telling us about how much you bothered her."

"We really seem to get under each other's skin," Slash mumbled thoughtfully.

"Yeah, but I think it's just you two avoiding the fact that you dig each other. Like you're in denial or some shit."

"Well, I guess we are... kinda. Let me put it this way, you and Tommy are really close right?"

"Yeah, so?"

"So imagine that he's dating the girl you really like. That's how it was with me and Axl, except now they're not dating anymore and she's still not really over it. Not only is she my best friends two-time ex-girlfriend, she's my other best friend's little sister and if I ever did anything, Izzy'd rip off my head and shit down my throat."

"You're probably right, but that's his little sister; it's his job to protect her. Anyway, I get your argument, but there comes a time when you decide to make a move. Now wouldn't be too bad because she seems to like you. It's like every once in a while she sees, and I quote, 'what a nice guy' you can be, and she likes you being around, but fuck it up and she'll turn sour," he said, giving Slash a thumbs down as he stood up and stretched.

"Yeah. I'll figure something out, I guess. Thanks," Slash said with a sigh.

"No problem. See you later, man."

With that, Slash was left on his own to think.