Book 5: I'll Wait, Dear (Steven Adler FanFic)

Ch. 15: Steven N'Slash

"Catherine, sit still!" I ordered, my voice coming out much more stern than I'd intended. Still, it got the point across, and Catherine was soon sitting quietly in her seat.

After I'd called Steven and confirmed plans that he could babysit Catherine under the watchful eye of Liz, Steven had set up a limo to pick us up from our apartment. I would've been fine with simply walking to Steven's house, but the drummer insisted that he hook us up with a set of wheels. He was even letting me take the limo to my date.

Our apartment complex was buzzing with crowds of on lookers as the limo pulled up to our building.

In the slums, it was unheard of for a limo to drive through, let alone pick up one of the residents. We soon became the center of attention by all of our neighbors and, as we pulled out of the complex and into the road, I silently prayed that nobody got the wrong impression, assumed we were secretly loaded with money, and broke into our apartment to steal all of our stuff.

While I was busy mentally gnawing at my nails over this, Liz and Catherine were drooling over the interior of the car. Liz had directed herself to the mini bar, while Catherine had started bouncing on the leather seats.

Already worried about leaving Catherine with this new man and also anxious about burglars in my apartment, I found myself now worrying over Catherine ruining the seats. God knows this limo probably cost a fortune, and the last thing I needed was to pay for any repairs caused by Catherine's excessive bouncing.

All of that stress was probably why I was being so short with Catherine right now.

"Geez, what crawled up your butt and died?" Liz whispered to me so Catherine wouldn't hear, her mouth full of chocolate-dipped strawberry.

"I just...I have a lot on my mind," I grumbled, nervously picking at my cuticles.

And that was true. Despite the fact that I hardly held much interest in DLR as a significant other, I still felt a strong desire to earn his approval. Something in me craved his attention, his acceptance. It was a part of me that I'd thought I'd buried years ago, after I vowed to never listen to Van Halen ever again. It was as though breaking that vow had brought back some of my old hopes and dreams of Van Halen noticing me.

It was because of this that I had dressed to impress during this lunch date that I refused to call a date, despite Liz's insistence that it was indeed a date.

Rather than leave my face naked, I applied the make up that I usually wore during work. I had also curled my hair, teasing it just enough in all of the right places to give me volume without allowing my curls to lose shape. As for my clothes, I'd settled on a long sleeve, sheer black top coupled with a red plaid skirt and a pair of black pumps. I felt cute and comfortable, and still felt like I was not wearing formal enough attire to imply that I considered this lunch to be a date.

I wasn't the only one determined to look good today. Liz, determined to meet Axl Rose through Steven, had dressed to the nines in a floral dress that tied around at the back of the neck. She had asked me to do her hair and make up in the hopes of looking similar to myself and my coworkers. Like me, she wasn't exactly formal, but she had definitely over dressed for a "casual" afternoon of baby sitting.

Catherine, bless her heart, was as careless as ever when it came to her fashion choices. Looking at my daughter in her little, red cowboy boots, mismatched with bright green pants and an orange t-shirt, I couldn't help but smile. I was glad that she hadn't become aware enough to feel embarassed yet about how she looked. It made her fun and unique. It made her independent.

I prayed that, in this sense, she would be like her father. Never worrying over how she looked to other people, never depending on someone else to make her happy.