Knockin' on Heaven's Door (Axl Rose)

6: Help and The Help

"Where's all the money I had in this jar?" Axl demanded of Slash, who looked at him with a confused expression. 

"What're you talking about? I didn't fucking touch your money," He replied, crossing his arms. I was watching the scene unfold before I stepped into to rescue the curly-haired guitarist. 

"Well, it's all gone now. And I know goddamn well that someone else took it!" He was angry, and I didn't blame him. I'd be angry if someone stole all of my money to get my attention too. 

I took the opportunity to step into the room and reveal what I spent all of Axl's money on. His eyes went wide as he looked me up and down. "Sweet Jesus, Angel-face. It was you." The response was breathless and he put the cookie jar down, running his hand through his hair. "What've you done?"

I spun around, letting the skirt I was wearing blow out a bit. "Do you like it?"

His eyes went up and down my person, across the curves of the side of my body that were revealed by the white tank-top I wore, and then down to the black skirt I wore that hit my knees. The looked over my strappy sandals, too, and then admired the jewelry of my fingers. "No, I wish you asked me first. I thought you were a good girl who didn't steal."

I frowned, ready to pin this on him, Adam and Eve style. "But I thought that it was you that told me to live for the moment. To take a chance."

"This isn't what I meant! I didn't mean to have a fashion crisis and steal all my money just because I told you that you weren't ready for the city's nightlife!" He ran his fingers through his scalp, beginning to pace the small living room. He walked the four steps between the worn green couch Slash was sitting on and the small television set over and over again. "Dammit!" He swore. "How am I ever supposed to get a new car now?" He fell back onto the couch, putting his head in his hands. Maybe I'd made a huge mistake. Scratch that, I knew I'd made a huge mistake. I'd done it so easily, too. 

"I'll get your money back," I assured him. 

"How? How do you intend to earn back a year's worth of saving?!" He demanded. "You don't even have a job!"

I marched up to the desk at the bookstore. I'd been here before, looking for a Bible. I didn't find one. "I noticed the 'help wanted' sign."

The man at the counter looked at me, eyes lazy. "Have you ever worked in retail before?" I shook my head. "Great, your training starts right now." He motioned for me to come back behind the counter with him, and I did. He pushed a button on the register. "You open that to put the money inside." He showed me a scanner. "It'll add all the prices for you. All you have to do is tell the customer how much money they owe." He pointed to a card reader. "That gets a little touchy. If it doesn't work, there's a reset button." He pointed to a red button on the back of it. "Push that and tell the customer to start again. Think you can handle it?" I nodded slowly, hoping desperately that I could handle it. It sounded so simple, so difficult to screw up. 

And I didn't screw it up. I sold to several customers that day, hoping to make back all of Axl's money. How much was in the cookie jar? Maybe two thousand dollars? If I didn't spent any of it, I could make it back, right? I asked the person who'd hired me if I could work a second shift. He raised an eyebrow and shrugged. "If you want to," He replied. 

The second shift was even more fruitful than the first. I sold a hundred dollars worth of books. Some of the customers proved rude though, not using any manners or criticizing me for some reason. By the end of the second shift though, I felt exhausted. I'd barely done anything, and yet I'd worked so hard. I trudged back to the apartment, running into Steven on the road. He looked into my tired eyes. "Where've you been?"

"Working," I replied. "I spent all of Axl's savings. Now I've gotta reimburse him."

"You spent all of his savings on new clothes?" He asked, looking me up and down. "Does someone have the hots for Axl?" His smirk made me feel nervous, yet I had no idea what he'd just asked me. My confusion must've been obvious, because he laughed. "You're catching feelings, Lucy. But I don't think that you went the right way with style. You should've asked, we would've helped you."

"Helped me?" I echoed. "You would've helped me?"

"Sure. You're cute, and I kinda like having you around. If you were Axl's girl, you'd be around for quite some time before he eventually cheated on you and you left." He put a finger to his chin. "But it's not too late. If we cut those skirts and pull down those shirts, we could work with what you already have." I swallowed hard, suddenly understanding what was to come.