When the bassist from Mötley Crüe, Nikki Sixx, falls for their stage manager, Bella Mejia, who has to maneuver her way around his life style, and chooses to aid him in getting clean.
"Better turn me loose, better set me free, cause I'm hot, I'm youn...
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BELLA - FRANCE, IT'S AMAZING and no we aren't in Paris. We are in Strasbourg, and sometimes I forget other countries aren't very fond of us. The venue didn't want us using our own equipment, and didn't even want Bun or Tommy using their own drum sets.
I stood there with the man in charge, both drum tech's, drummers, and people are walking around us getting stuff ready.
"I don't understand why you can't just use ours, it makes everyones lives a lot easier," The man with a thick French accent scolds.
"It makes everyone except these drummers lives easier, I promise we will put everything back in place," I put my hands close to my heart, "don't you want the audience to have a full experience? Musicians need to use their own instruments so they can give everyone their money's worth? These people are paying to come to these shows, they pay to see everyone do their absolute best, people won't come back if they can't do their best," I smile trying to be persuasive. Stage manager duties.
"Fine," he crosses his arms, "You better put everything back into it's place, this man is too tall for our set anyway," he lights a cigarette and walks away, "Fucking Americans."
"I'm not American!" I yell.
"Hey me either!" Tommy says high fiving me, earning us weird looks.
I was setting up lights, but me convincing these people to let the drummers use their own sets took way too long meaning we're behind on time and need to start rehearsal.
"Bella hurry the fuck up," Doug says with his hands on his hips.
"I'm on the last one just give me a second," I say frustrated then realized the nut in cross threaded. "You gotta be kidding me," I mutter to myself having to redo the whole light.
"Bella!" Doug hurries me.
"Okay I'm coming down," I didn't even get to put the safety cord on, but they aren't exactly necessary.
I sit up in the booth and we start rehearsal. Dylan and I decided to go get coffee and a croissant. Spoiler alert, they taste so much better out here.
Since I ate I of course have to throw up. I kneel down before the toilet, I put my hand down my throat and release. My throat burns and I feel horrible.
I exit the bathroom and Nikki was standing there, it seemed like his ear was up to the door and I just stare at him. "Hey," I say as he straightens himself out. I can't get over his outfits, well all of the guys outfits for this tour. The polka dots, the stripes, it's all so extra.
"Hey," I walk away.
The show starts and I ran Cheap Trick, Dylan did Mötley, meaning I just enjoyed the show. Things were going great, absolutely fine, until a light falls. The one I was rushing through.
"Fuck!" I yell, it landed on Vince's toe but he kept going, they played it off well but I started to feel a panic coming on.
NIKKI - BEFORE THE SHOW I came out of my dressing room after snorting some blow. I see Bella go to the bathroom and try to see what she was doing so I put my ear up to the door. Sure enough I hear gagging, the air conditioner didn't help her case.
She opens the door and I stand there awkwardly. "Hey," she says.
"Hey," and she walks away.
"Dude," Tommy punches my arm, "not cool men, don't be a fucking creep." And he walks away.
Mick, Tommy, Vince and I took shots before going on stage. And during one of our last songs, Louder than Hell, a light falls, shit.
It lands on Vince's toe but he doesn't pay any mind. I go back stage after the show and use an Oxygen mask, we use these after the show to catch our breaths. Bella stumbles in hyperventilating.
"Hey hey hey, what's going on?" I hold onto her shoulders and she's just crying. She hugs me, for the first time in a long time. This was amazing, she nuzzled into me.
"Here I think you need this more than I do," I give her the mask and she puts it on her face. She catches her breath, "Okay, now explain, what happened."
"The light," she's still breathing a bit heavily, "Doug was rushing me and I didn't get the chance to make it stable, I thought it would be fine but it fell. And now Vince's toe is probably broken," she cries again and I just wrap my arms around her.
Who knew I was this comforting?
"It's not your fault, I'm sure his toe is fine," I rub her back and she just continues to cry.
"It is my fault, I shouldn't have rushed it, am I getting fired?" I put the oxygen mask back on her face as she starts to hyperventilate again.
"No of course not, we all make mistakes, Doug is just an asshole," she smiles, she soon calms down, "hey please don't go attack Dylan for this but, he told me what happened, and I'm really sorry." She just frowns.
"I made him tell me, I was worried about you," I say, "you wouldn't talk to anyone so I just had to ask, he didn't want to tell me but I forced out of him." She just breathes.
"It's fine, not a big deal," She gives me a smile.
"I also forgot to tell you," lie. "But you need to stop forcing yourself to vomit everything." Damn Nikki, just exposing everything you know at this point.
She gives me a look of confusion due to the fact she was drunk when she told me. I didn't know how to handle anything when she told me so I left it alone. I probably should have told her sooner that I knew, so I could stop her.
"Did I tell you think when I was drunk, because if I did I was drunk so therefore you can't trust anything that came out of my mouth," I just look at her. "I'm lactose intolerant." She says surely as an excuse.
I kiss her forehead, and she gives a tight lipped smile. I love you. Is what I really wanted to tell her. I then see a camera flash.
"This is a good one," Dylan smiles at his camera.
Bella flicks him off then the rest of the band comes in. "Hey Vince, I am really sorry about the toe. If it's broken, I'll pay for your medical bill, that was on me, I should've focused more on making it safe than Doug going off on me."
Vince just starts laughing about her worrying. "It's fine, nothing a little ice can't fix." - you guys know when your sick but it's not the kind of sick that medicine can fix so you have to let it get through your system? yeah that's me right now.
