Brand New Crue

Saints of Los Angeles

Southern California in late Spring! It should have been delightful, had they thought to do a little more research, and packed accordingly. However, this plan was more fly by the seat of their pants than plan, really. There was no air conditioning in the truck, and they were packed in like sardines. What should have taken a day, maybe a day and a half, ended up taking them five. Robby insisted on doing all the navigating. He swore he knew how to read a map, as they had left their cell phones behind, so no one could track them, naturally. Again, Robby's idea. So, when the truck had broken down, they'd had to hike about 10 miles to find a gas station for help. After half a day and $400 wasted getting the truck back on the road, they crossed the California state line, somewhere near Lake Tahoe, another seven or eight hours ahead of them still to go. Needless to say, four very hungry, very tired, very smelly and very cranky teenagers rolled down Sunset Blvd shortly after midnight on the fifth day.

Niki and Tommy had drained both their savings accounts, which wasn't much, but got them to their destination with enough left over for essentials. Vince had only what was on him the night they left, not surprising as he was never good with money anyway. He always spent it faster than he could make it. Mick pulled the truck into the first motel he came to with the vacancy sign still lit, paid for one week's stay and handed Niki the remaining $1,000. It was all they had left of their travel stash. None of them had any idea how long that would last them. They needed to refresh, regroup and figure out what their next move would be. Mick and Tommy went in search of food, leaving Robby and Niki to fight over who got to use the rusted looking shower first. Niki won, she was meaner. Aside from the hot water lasting long enough to wet her hair, and the pipes God awful whining the entire time, the place was paradise. Robby groaned dismally at the no hot water news, but resigned himself to the cold shower, regardless. He was beginning to offend the rather large spider curled in the corner of the ceiling near the bed he'd chosen, patiently waiting for some hapless passer-by. Niki eyed the two double beds, the bedding now stripped and crumpled on the floor.

Robby shrugged, "Bedbugs. Just had to check."

"Ah..." Niki replied, raising her eyebrows, but began to examine the corners of the exposed mattresses, more closely. She sat, gingerly, on the edge of the bed and let out a breath she didn't know she'd been holding. She felt relieved initially, but trepidation quickly set back in. This was the first day of the rest of their lives and they had no idea what they were doing. None of that mattered currently. She was away from her mother, and all of the heartache that her childhood had delivered to her, and she was with her brothers. Tommy and Mick returned with a bag full of greasy burgers, as Robby came out of the bathroom. They'd each eaten two before they had made it back to the room. The burgers were disgusting, but they were all so hungry it didn't matter. Niki and Robby also scarfed down two each, and searched the bag for more. Mick produced a case of beer and grinned.

"Where'd you get that?" Niki asked, narrowing her eyes at him. "You didn't steal it did you?"

Mick just laughed, "Hell no! I just bought it."

"The dude didn't even card him!" Tommy exclaimed excitedly. "This place is awesome!" He reached for a beer, cracked it open and swallowed it down in one gulp.

Niki and Robby exchanged a glance, shrugged and reached for one as Tommy helped himself to a second can. They held them up together in a toast. "Here's to the 80's and the Sunset Strip!" Mick announced with a huge grin.

"Cheers!" They toasted together, clanking their cans and chugging them down.

"So," Robby began around another mouthful of burger, "What now?"

They stared at each other waiting for someone to make a suggestion. When no one spoke, Niki shrugged her shoulders. "Let's go explore."

"You're not tired?" Robby asked, incredulous. "It's like," He glanced down at a watch he never wore, shrugged, and continued, "really late."