Welcome to the Jungle, Sweetheart

My Michelle

Michelle sat uncomfortably at the couch. Why was she so nervous? She had no reason to be! She was a grown woman who could handle herself! She kept telling herself this over and over again in her head, but she didn't believe herself.

She actually felt awful. Her stomach ached and she felt so incredibly overwhelmed with stress from the previous days in addition to this one. It just felt like these days, those stressful days are always followed by another, and she thought she might explode.

Axl knocked on the door after double checking a few times that he had the right address. It didn't look like a very nice place. It was a little apartment sitting above a local restaurant. It was deeper in the city than where the guys lived.

He wasn't sure what he should expect, he talked to her one time a week and a half ago. After a day or two he expected her to never call. He did, after all, only give his number to her as a just-in-case situation. When Axl had called her back she sounded kind of urgent on the phone. Well, not as much urgent, more anxious. He had no idea why she would call him, especially after this long, but he figured whatever the reason it must be important enough that he should go.

          The door swung open and greeting him at the door was the short brunette Axl had come to recognize as Michelle. Axl still had no idea what she was normally like, being that, once again, she had that intense worry in her eyes. Then Axl was caught by surprise when she stepped forward and wrapped her arms around him in a hug.

          Axl was never one for hugs but it seemed like she really needed it, even if he didn't know her very well. "Er, is everything alright? I mean, something has to come to pretty extreme measures to call up a guy you met once at a party." She sniffled against his t-shirt, "Sorry, I just, I didn't know who else to call. I really just, need somebody I can talk to right now."

          Michelle let go of him and gestured for him to come inside. Axl wondered vaguely if she called him up for comfort sex. Axl wasn't sure how he felt about that but I guess if she needed it he wouldn't mind giving her a good time. But either way, Axl was pretty certain she didn't want sex.

          Michelle sat down at a dining room table and pulled a chair out for him to sit. Axl's eyes wandered around the room a little. They landed on a small slip of paper on the counter a little ways away, he wondered what was on it but it was upside down and too far away to read. "Are you okay?" Axl asked curiously but gently, being that her eyes looked like she was about to fall to tears. "Uh, well I guess I have to come to terms eventually," she started nervously. "Um... I'm kinda... pregnant."

          Axl's eyes widened. "Pregnant?" Michelle nodded, not very comforted by his shock. "Yeah..." Axl bit his tongue, suddenly very overwhelmed. "Why did you call me then!? Shouldn't you have called somebody like, I don't know, your parents? Or- or the father! You should've called the father!" Michelle was silent for a second, looking down at the floor.

          Axl thought his insides were going to flip upside down. "Oh god, it's not me, is it?"

Michelle shook her head, "No, no! Please, as if!" Axl glared at her. "Hey, listen here missy, I could have you if I wanted you," he said sternly but with a slight hint of humor in his voice.

Michelle looked down, "I just... Don't know who the father is." Axl looked at her, "You don't know? What, do you have sex with your eyes closed?"

          Michelle rolled her eyes at him, "No, I know what he looks like, and I know his first name, I just don't know his last name or his phone number. I was really drunk," she clarified.

Axl looked at her sympathetically, "Listen, Michelle. Why did you call me? I'm not the father, I'm not related to you, and I've only met you once! Why don't you call someone like, your parents? Or talk to a friend." Michelle nodded. "Well, my mother is dead, my father's a porn actor, and I'm... too scared to talk to my friend about it. I drive her crazy enough as it is, but y'know, she's gonna figure it out eventually."

          That was a lot in one sentence. Axl just kinda set aside the dead mom and porno dad part of that sentence. "And... You called me because... You're not scared to talk to me about it?" Michelle sort of nodded. "I guess... I don't know you well enough to be scared to tell you, but I've at least met you before to know you're not gonna rape me or something." Axl smiled gently but his mind still swarmed with questions. "But still, I... I hardly even know you." Michelle looked at him. "Well then let's get to know each other."

          Axl tilted his head at her. "How do you expect us to do that?" Michelle thought, "I don't know, just ask each other questions." Axl shrugged, "I guess that's fine."

          Axl cleared his throat, "What's your name?" Michelle looked at him. "...Michelle? I, I thought you knew that?" If Axl knew her better he'd smack the back of her head. "Well I know that! But I mean your full name." Michelle nodded, "Oh! Okay, it's Michelle Kimberly Young. What's yours?"

"W. Axl Rose."

"Your full name is W. Axl Rose?"

"Mhm."

"Wait, so is Axl your middle name?"

"Er, well, no."

"So you're telling me, the day you were born, your parents named you W. Axl Rose? Did people just call you W growing up? Or, like, Dub? Dubs? Dubby?"

"Pfft, no I changed my name when I moved out of Indiana."

"You lived in Indiana and you changed your name?"

"...Yes."

"Wait, so then what was your birth name?"

"Um, it's complicated."

"Complicated? Like a really long name like Tyler Edward Robert James Peter Thomas Hill?"

"Well, no."

"Then what was it?"

"Well I was born as William Bruce Rose."

"Oh okay, so Rose is your maiden name."

"Well, not exactly."

"How can a maiden name be a not exactly situation?"

"Well I grew up as William Bruce Bailey."

"Why?"

"That was my stepfather's last name."

"So? That shouldn't change your last name."

"Well my real dad left my family when I was, like, two and my mom soon remarried thereafter and until I was about seventeen I thought he was my real father and when I found out I changed it back to Rose."

"........That's fun."

"...Yeah."

"......My favorite color is purple..?"

"NO WAY, MINE TOO!"

          They talked like that for a while. They learned actually a lot about each other. For instance Axl learned that Michelle's favorite book is The Color Purple, her favorite movie is Sixteen Candles but she does like slasher films, her favorite show is Cheers, her favorite singer is Elvis Presley, her favorite band is Rolling Stones, her favorite song is Voodoo Child by Jimi Hendrix Experience, her favorite food is pumpkin anything, her favorite drink is tea, the types of guys she likes she can never figure out as long as they're dedicated, sweet, non-stupid, and have soft, pretty hair, and her guilty pleasure is the Rocky franchise because she is 100% confident that Rocky Balboa is her soulmate.

          Or Michelle learned Axl's favorite book is Little Women, his favorite movie is Risky Business but he loves, (almost has an obsession with), true crime and is often called a psychopath for it. Not that anybody ever at any point thought he was sane. His favorite singer is Elton John, his favorite band is Queen, his favorite song is Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen, his favorite food is Izzy-made peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, his favorite drink is red wine, his type of girls he likes are (well almost all) but his favorites were the sweet brunettes (and he clarified he wasn't hitting on her), and... "What's your guilty pleasure?" And regrettably without thinking Axl accidentally blurted out, "-Slash."

He regretted that.

Normally if he were with the guys they would know it as a joke, but Michelle didn't know that. And his face went very, very red.

           Michelle was suddenly fascinated, perking up at his embarrassment. "What's Slash?"