destinesia | gnr

penny for your thoughts

October 31st
9:57 pm

"Hey guys, you look great!" Steven exclaims while guests pile in the door. We decided to go through with the Halloween party that he'd suggested. He convinced his bartender friend to rent out his bar to us if we'd lock the doors after we're done.

"Hey." Slash slides into the dark red corner booth next to me. I don't respond and keep focusing on the cherry at the bottom of my glass, fishing it out with my hand.

"Hey." He repeats, raising his voice a bit for me to hear. "I'm trying to get out of here." He continues. With no response from me he slides his hand up my bare thigh, under my dress.

I slowly look down at his hand, then decide to mess with him and continue my cherry fishing until he grabs the glass out of my hand and pours it into an empty glass next to it, then grabbing the cherry off the top of the ice.

"There, you got your cherry back, now come with me." He states simply, sliding back out of the booth. "Oh, that's something I thought I'd never get back from a man." I mutter, tossing the cherry into my mouth then following him.

As he's about to slip into a hallway, we hear a deep voice shout from behind us, "BOOOOOOOOOZE".
We both turn back to see Tommy Lee and Nikki Sixx standing next to each other in the doorway, holding big cases of beer, even though there was already plenty enough, considering we are at a bar...

"Oh look, beer!" I exclaim cheerfully to Slash before tearing myself off his side. "Turner!" Nikki shouts, pulling me into a bear hug. "Sixx!" I shout back, my voice muffled from his shoulder.

Nikki and I bonded pretty well throughout our brief hangouts, though we really had nothing in common. Our childhoods were completely different. He grew up with an abusive father who left him when he was young, leaving him with his broken mother.

I grew up with a loving mother who taught me to be independent, and to never rely on any.. non-prescribed pills, or alcoholic beverage... or human being for anything ever, no matter how hard things got. Clearly she wouldn't be very happy with me. While my father was a strong, overprotective, ambitious man. I didn't deserve either of them, really. I left them both when I finished highschool, which was extremely hard, both finishing highschool and leaving my parents. I do miss them, I think about them all the time. When it gets quiet, and I'm left with nothing but my thoughts. Sometimes I wish I could just run home and curl into my moms arms, and cry to her about a bad day, but I couldn't. She was all the way in Nashville.

I had eventually gotten lost in these thoughts of my mothers warm embrace, the way her pillowcases smelled of vanilla, the way she'd hum a song when I'd sleep next to her side during thunderstorms. A hand on my shoulder pulls me out of my trance, and I shift my gaze to Izzy, who was looking in my eyes that had now been watering from the lack of blinking, with a look of concern in his own.

"You okay?" He asks, dropping his hand to my upper arm. "You were kinda just... gone for a second." He continues. "Oh, sorry. I was just thinking." I finally respond, sitting on a couch next to Vince Neil who had his lips glued to a random girl. "Penny for your thoughts?" Izzy crouches on the floor in front of my scarred knees from eating the ground so many times as a child.

"Yeah, okay grandma." I snort, shaking my head at him. The edges of his lips curl into a smile at my light tone. "My parents have been on my mind a lot lately." I pause, cracking my knuckles in nervousness, feeling a tiny bit awkward under his stare, even though I was slightly above him as he was on the floor. "I kinda just... left them behind." He sighs, adjusting into a cross legged position. "I did the same with my parents. I still feel a little guilty about it, but it was quite honestly in their best interest." I listened to him, nodding once he finished, instead of pushing the 'best interest' part.

"I think I'm gonna give my mom a call soon." I sigh, resting my elbows on my bare knees. "She deserves some closure. I don't want her terrified at the thought of me dead in a ditch somewhere for the rest of her life." I continue as the fluffy haired guitarist sitting before me listens attentively. "And I need a place to run to if..." I trail off, looking at Slash who was eyeing a random girl up and down as she practically bounced up and down like an underfed chihuahua, causing every piece of her jewelry to clash together, while rambling on about some stupid hair product.

Izzy follows my gaze, looking up and down the girls body. Oh, him too? Really? I thought to myself. My throat tightens a bit as his eyes scan over the woman's curves. Izzy turning back to me, his shoulders slouch a bit. "If?" He pushes. "If uhm..." I swallow thickly, now feeling overtaken by my nerves. "I don't know." I mumble, quickly getting up from my seat.

Izzy's P.O.V

"And I need a place to run to if..." The curly headed woman trails off, glancing over my shoulder, her expression dropping a bit. I follow her gaze to see Slash admiring a random girl who I assumed to be a groupie, as she rambled on about a stupid hair product.

I immediately understood what she meant. She wanted a place to hide from her feelings if Slash screwed up. I narrow my eyes at the curly haired guitarist, fighting the urge to shake my head at his ignorance.

Why her? Why that random girl? Why not Jackie? I thought to myself. A tiny part of my brain was telling me to be relieved it wasn't Jackie.

But why her? She was a brown eyed girl who'd clearly bleached her hair too many times. She had huge hair almost like Stevens, bouncing around with every sudden movement she'd make, even with the ten thousand pounds of product she clearly had in it, making it look almost crunchy.

I examine the girls outfit, she had on a lace frill bodice, the only non-mesh part being her bra under, along with a skimpy leather skirt that could barely hold in her ass cheeks. I catch Jackie looking at me from my peripheral vision before I turn to face her again.

"If?" I push, curious if she'll actually say what's on her mind. "If uhm..." She begins, her neck moving a bit as she swallows thickly. "I don't know." She mumbles, before swiftly getting up from her seat on the leather couch, leaving me with the scent of her perfume and the soft wind of her brushing past me.

I close my eyes tightly in frustration with myself. Opening them again, I spot her approaching Tommy who was on the opposite side of the bar.

Jackie's P.O.V

"Need a drink?" Tommy asks me, sliding a beer across the bar before I even answer. "Thanks." I mutter, before taking a large swig of the drink. "Trouble in paradise?" He rests his elbows on the counter in front of me. I furrow my brows at the cheesy cliche. "I've um... always wanted to say that." He chuckles nervously, bringing a slight smile to my face. "Yeah, you've always wanted to be on the other side of a bar too, I'm sure." I joke, ignoring the sudden presence beside me. I immediately recognize Izzy's scent.

I rest my hands in my lap, noticing my nail polish was very chipped, and needed to be redone. I take my eyes off my fingernails, taking another sip of my drink.

Suddenly I feel a warm hand place something into my palm, then pushing my slightly curled fingers closed. The feeling of the calloused fingers send slight shivers down my spine. I slowly look down at my hand, opening it to see a perfectly shiny, copper Abraham Lincoln. "Uh..." I trail off, looking up at Izzy. "Whats this for..?" I ask, slight confusion coating my soft tone.

"For your thoughts."

authors note: okok i actually kinda like this chapter. I'm not really sure about Izzy's childhood, so I apologize if it wasn't entirely correct.

we had lots of jackie X izzy in this chapter tho 🤭 slash just being a horn dog smh. anyway I was thinking of possible ship names for slash X jackie and Izzy X jackie and I came up with Jizzy but uhm... yeah... ANYWAYS.

vote, comment. thank you :)

ilyyyyyyyy