Within the pub, people danced along to the pulse of the loud, bassy music on the dancefloor, grinding against each other. There were people at the bar, laughing and tapping their empty glasses against the surface of it, rudely demanding another drink as choking cigarette smoke clouded the entire room, causing everything to look just a little hazy. The place stank of the smoke and alcohol consumed across the building. Duff swept through the crowd easily, and Estrella and Rosamund followed him closely. He led the way towards the far back of the room, and pushed open a door, holding it open for them. They stepped through. Inside the room it was a little less hazy, but the smell of alcohol never quavered. The room had a pool table at the centre, and a few worn leather couches adorned the space. It was over one of these that Slash had draped himself, clutching a bottle of Jack Daniels, hair tangled and all over his face. He looked pretty out of it. The alcohol bottle was missing its cap, and every second the liquid got closer and closer to spilling out of the mouthpiece. Rosamund stalked over and quickly snatched away the bottle, gazing down at him and swishing the liquid around in it. Slash became a little more alert, making an effort to sit up and pushing some of the hair out of his face.
"What?" He seemed genuinely confused, as though he wasn't used to having his alcohol taken from him.
"Well you nearly spilled it all out. I figured you didn't want it anymore." Rosamund smiled, but Estrella couldn't help but think that Rosamund wasn't particularly interested either. In fact, she held it down by her waist. Perhaps Slash had the same thought, because the next thing out of his mouth was,
"Well you're not drinking it. Can I?" Rosamund gazed back at him for a moment, before passing it back. "Thanks." Slash murmered, then chugged down the last of it.
Estrella turned towards the pool table, thinking a game might be nice. She stepped over towards the wall, where the cues rested. Grabbing one, Estrella then turned to the pool table and lifted the plastic triangle away from the balls. Duff loped towards her, and grabbed his own pool cue. He rested his hand on her shoulder.
"Wanna play?" She asked, glancing up at him. He nodded. "You gonna play too, Rosamund?" She looked over at her friend.
"Um... I've never played before." Rosamund looked a little embarrassed. Estrella was a bit surprised,
"Oh... really?" She responded.
"What? Never?!" Duff exclaimed, staring at her. Rosamund laughed, sounding sort of nervous.
"I'll teach you!" Smiled Estrella. She seemed pleased with this suggestion, but just as Rosamund chose her own pool cue, the door slammed open, letting in alot more smoke and making the sounds of the people in the room beyond seem louder. Izzy stood there, framed in the doorway and wearing a furious expression. He stormed in, scowling, and flopped onto the leather lounge next to Slash, the door fell shut behind him. There was a few moments of silence, and then Slash shifted in his seat a little before speaking,
"Hey man- what's happened?"
"Oh! Nothing." He sounded both very sarcastic and very snappy. The room fell back into that awkward silence again. Slash frowned a little and ruffled his curly hair, nonchalantly ashing the cigarette from between his lips onto the carpet.
"There's something wrong, man. You can tell us." Slash stated consolingly. Izzy glanced at Slash, then up at the rest of them. He huffed out a breath, shifted in his seat, and then he said,
"Well I'd like to know, first of all, why the door to the green room was locked?" He questioned.
"What- the backstage room?" Rosamund said, "Axl and Celine were... uhhm." She coughed awkwardly.
"They were fucking in there, dude." Slash told him, and Izzy raised one eyebrow.
"Okay- well then I suppose that was a good thing." He still sounded cranky,
"That's not it, Izz." Duff said, gazing at his usually silent, dark haired friend patiently. Izzy glanced over, then began to pick at the stitching on the arm of the couch, staring at what he was doing.
"No. It isn't all." His words came out tightly, and he shifted once more in his seat. "Almost got in a brawl." He added shortly after. His short fingernails dug into the lounge arm.
"What?" a concerned expression crossed Duff's face, his brow furrowing a bit. Estrella admired his face. Even with that worried look, Duff was still rather handsome. She looked back over at Slash and Izzy.
"There was this chick, and she kept on comin' at Annie- you know." Izzy began, "and she was saying Annie needed to apologise, and she didn't get it. What had she done?" He looked sort of stumped. "She hasn't done anything at all!" Izzy said. Slash nodded,
"Okay..." he waited.
"An' then- then that girl started shoving at Annie. And I got between them, and told her she needed to stop." Izzy told them, "and then this guy- came out of fucking nowhere!" Izzy threw up his hands exasperatedly. "And he started getting real aggressive with me, saying I needed to back down from his girl!" Izzy frowned deeply,
"Okay. So what did you do?" Duff questioned, leaning his palm on the edge of the pool table.
"I just grabbed Annie's arm and went outside." Izzy said,
"Where's she now?" Slash glanced around the room as though expecting her to appear somewhere nearby.
"Went back to her hotel." Izzy murmured,
"Are you okay?" Rosamund piped up, and Izzy looked almost suprised for a moment.
"I'll be fine." He shrugged. Izzy seemed much calmer now, after getting it off his chest. Rosamund spoke again,
"Cause- you know- just tell me if you aren't and I can try and help." She offered, and Izzy nodded slowly,
"Um... thanks?" He said,
"Oh no, it's okay." She smiled, "anything for you!" She sounded breathy as she said this, like the air had been knocked out of her. Izzy looked mildly confused, then reached into his pocket and withdrew a cigarette, which he stuck between his lips. Slash passed him a lighter without needing to be asked.
"Cheers." Izzy muttered a little darkly. He lit it up and puffed it a few times in a row, blowing the smoke out through his nose like a dragon. He sighed, as if the cigarette satisfied him.
"Wanna play, Izzy?" Estrella held the pool cue aloft, and he looked a little surprised, not expecting her to speak to him.
"Uhh- sure." He replied, then turned to Slash,
"Where's the ashtray?"
"I don't think there is one." Slash looked around. Izzy half frowned, and then ashed onto the floor. He came over, picked up a pool cue, and came to stand beside the table.
"Okay- what teams will we have?" Izzy questioned, and Duff leaned over and grabbed Estrella's shoulder,
"I'm with her!" He grinned. His warm hand sent jolts of electricity through her nervous system. Rosamund's brow furrowed and she said,
"Well who will teach me?"
"You can't play?" Izzy looked mildly suprised, staring down into her eyes. She blushed and shook her head. "I'll teach you." He said, a ghost of a smile playing across his features. Rosamund smiled broadly and stared at her shoes.
"Okay, ladies first!" Duff smiled, and watched closely as Estrella bent over the table to hit the white ball. At the other side of the table, Izzy was talking quietly to Rosamund, and she was nodding along, occasionally uttering a word or two to show her understanding, or ask questions. Duff smiled and leaned against the table next to Estrella, on her right, while they waited for Izzy and Rosamund,
"Hey." His breath fanned against her ear as he greeted her, and she caught a whiff of the alcohol on his breath too. He was very close to her, and Estrella couldn't say she didn't like it.
"Hi..." her voice came out a little breathy, and she looked up straight into his chocolate brown eyes. Brown had never been her favourite colour, sort of ugly really; but since she met Duff, it seemed more beautiful- well at least in his eyes it had.
They looked warm, bright and welcoming. Sunkissed, even.
"Okay we're ready." Izzy said suddenly, breaking her from her stupor.
Rosamund stepped forth, bent towards the white ball, and aimed the pool cue.
There was a moment of tension.
The cue made contact, and the ball made a 'pock' sound as it tapped against a cluster of the other balls. They flew out in different directions, and two balls found their way into the holes. Both were the plain coloured balls; her and Izzy's targets. Izzy placed a congratulating hand on her shoulder, a hint of a smile tugging at his lips. He puffed his cigarette again, blew out the smoke and ashed it onto the floor. Rosamund was grinning all over herself.
Slash, who had been sitting on the couch a minute ago, suddenly sauntered in, awkwardly carrying about six bottles of alcohol in his arms. Duff noticed and came towards him quickly, scooping a few of them up out of his arms. They went over and dumped them on one of the couches.
"Who wants a drink?" Slash grinned. And with that, they abandoned the game of pool for the bottles. The pile consisted of vodka, jack daniels and rum. There were no mixers.
"Are we gonna drink these straight?" Estrella asked, incredulous. The men stared at her, then Duff chuckled and said
"Why?"
"Nothing- I just- I'm not used to being around such heavy drinkers." She stammered under four pairs of eyes. Duff chuckled again, and leaned in close to her ear to whisper,
"You're cute when you're nervous." His breath sent pleasant shivers through her. Slash shoved a bottle of jack into her hands. She gripped it, effectively stopping it from descending to the floor.
"Wanna play alcoholic truth or dare?" Rosamund suggested.
"Huh?" Slash grunted,
"You pass the bottle around, and whoever has the bottle is the person being asked." Estrella said,
"And if you get asked truth, you take one sip..." Rosamund began to smile,
"If it's dare you take two." Estrella said, and glanced at Rosamund, aware that the game was pretty popular among Vixens' dancers, but nonetheless glad that she had also played it before.
"And if you don't want to say it or do it, three sips." Rosamund finished,
"Okay." Said Slash,
"Sure..." Izzy replied,
"Why not?" Duff smirked at Estrella. They all sat in a circle, and Estrella cracked open the bottle of Jack. Rosamund was seated on her right, Izzy on Rosamund's right and Duff on Estrella's left, Slash being next to both Izzy and Duff.
Estrella passed the bottle to Rosamund.
"We'll pass to our right for the first round, then we can just pick at random." Estrella suggested,
"Truth or dare, Rosamund?"
"Truth."
"Hmm... do you have a crush on any member of the band?"
"Aw! That's a mean question!" Rosamund exclaimed, blushing.
"You can pass!" Smirked Estrella,
"Yeah- pass." Rosamund said, before taking three very deliberate sips of Jack Daniels. Next, she passed the bottle to Izzy,
"Truth or dare?" Rosamund smiled,
"Dare!" Izzy replied, sipping the Jack.
"Try to chug a whole bottle of vodka!" She smiled, Izzy raised his eyebrows, then he said,
"Duff- pass me the alcohol." Duff, grinning all over himself, passed Izzy the bottle of straight vodka. Izzy popped the cap off, pinched his nose, and tipped his head back, gulping down the harsh liquid. Duff and Slash began chanting animatedly,
"Chug it! Chug it! CHUG IT!"
By now, Izzy was halfway through the bottle, and he began to choke, the bottle was sent askew, splashing all over Rosamund's lap. She looked a little shocked, but was too busy laughing to care too much. Izzy frowned a little, but it looked almost forced.
"Izzy- made you- wet!" Slash managed to laugh out, causing everyone else to go into an even harder bout of laughter. Once the giggling died down, Izzy passed it over to Slash, with the remark,
"I'm more of a- uhh- cigarette man myself." This made a few chuckles ripple throughout the room again.