Might As Well Be On Mars // Motley Crue

Five Years Dead

"Sorry," the girl whispered.

But Nikki couldn't tell that it was a girl, at least not at first. Instead, it looked like a whitish, bluish blob holding another dark blob. After a few good blinks and an eye rub, the blobs began to look more familiar.

"I'm sorry," Evie said again. "I didn't mean to wake you up."

Nikki sat up on the futon, and saw that the dark blob in her hands was actually a laundry bin. Nikki had wondered what was behind the set of bifold doors in the basement, but he hadn't gotten around to opening them yet. Now it was clear that the doors hid a washer and dryer.

"Do you have anything you want me to wash?"

Nikki sighed and looked around at nothing in particular. Then, he pulled his shirt over his head, and walked over to the machines.

Evie's eyes widened at the sight of the half naked man in front of her, but she kept her cool. She looked at the ground, and waited for Nikki to turn around and lay back down on his bed. Then, she poured the detergent, turned on the machine, and hurried back upstairs.

By the time Nikki woke up again, the humidity from the dryer was heating up the basement. It was twenty minutes before he peeled himself off the bed and brushed his teeth.

The house was silent. He couldn't figure out why until he found the note from Mick taped onto the fridge.

Nikki,

Had some errands to run.

Be back around 1 probably.

BEHAVE

-Mick

After a cup of coffee, Nikki realized he was alone in the house. Evie worked, what was it, 9 to 3? That had to be it, 9 to 3. So, with the cutting of practice to be every other day and at least two hours to spare, Nikki had a whole bunch of nothing to do.

So, of course, he called up Tommy.

"Hey," the younger man said cheerfully. "How are you liking your new place?"

"So far, so good. But I gotta say, it gets a little boring when your roommates are gone and you're not allowed to get high." Nikki laughed that laugh addicts always do when they're trying to pretend it's a hobby, not a problem.

"You wanna come over? I'm at the apartment and I've already got two chicks over here and a fuckload of coke."

That was all Nikki needed to hop in his car.

When Nikki woke up for the third time that day, he could see fine. It was his mind that was fucked up. Where was he? How did he get there? What day was it? Why was there a naked blonde under his arm and a nearly naked brunette at his feet? Why, when he sat up, did he find a skinny, shirtless, long haired maybe-man, maybe-woman at the foot of the bed. Why was the maybe-man, maybe-woman looking down at its lap, where a faint moaning sound was radiating from?

His head spinning, Nikki sat up, disturbing the blonde when he did so. "Sorry," he mumbled.

"Where you goin, bro?"

"Bathroom." It was the first, but certainly not the last, time Nikki made eye contact with Tommy while he was getting sucked off.

When he was done with his business, Nikki went into the kitchen to find something to eat. But the fridge was empty, except for some beer and soda. The only things in the cupboards were a single bowl, two cups, a screwdriver, a boiling pot, and some liquor. Nikki didn't know why he had expected to find anything else; he was the one who stocked the kitchen. The only things that had changed were the addition of a real bed in his old room, a small TV set in the living room, and an increase in the number of liquor bottles in the apartment.

The blonde woman who was next to Nikki when he woke up had also appeared in the kitchen. She searched for something to drink, and turned away with a sad expression on her face when she found nothing but alcohol. Nikki grabbed one of the cups out of the cupboard and filled it with water from the sink. He handed it to her while she was getting dressed and quietly chatting with the girl who had been curled up at his feet. She thanked him. Nikki was about to respond when the phone rang.

He headed back into the kitchen and picked it up on the third ring.

"Nikki Sixx."

There was a small sigh of relief on the other end of the phone. "Sorry to bother you. I just didn't know where you were, so I thought I'd try the apartment."

"Evie?"

"Oh, yeah. I think I forgot to say that...Sorry, I'll leave you alone now."

"Wait, wait, is everything alright? What did you need to tell me?"

"Yeah, everything's fine. I was just calling because I got home and you weren't here. My dad says you've been gone since he got home, and if you left a note, we didn't find it."

That was when it hit him. There wasn't an emergency, he wasn't missing an important commitment he had forgotten about, she wasn't calling him out on what he had spent his afternoon doing; she wanted to check up on him.

"Thanks, uh, for calling. I'm fine, and yeah I'm at the apartment. I'll be back over in a little bit."

"Alright. I'll see you when you get home."

"Bye."

"Bye."

The call ended and Nikki headed back into the living room, where all three women were now getting dressed and talking quietly. Tommy was sitting on the couch, flipping through the channels on the TV.

Nikki lingered in the doorway, his mind blank. He didn't know why or for how long, but by the time he moved again, the three girls were gone and Tommy was watching Scooby Doo. He said his goodbye to the drummer, and drove back to the Deal home.

Back home, Mick was making tacos and Evie was sitting at the dining room table, making a weird mouse-looking stuffed animal. Nikki kept his head down and walked quickly. He assumed both of them knew what he had been up to. Mick did. Evie could guess.

He went to the basement, changed, ran some water over his face, and went upstairs to eat. Evie ate in the living room with them, but she didn't talk to Nikki. Overall, it was a quiet dinner and an unremarkable end to the day.

The next day, the guys left around the same time Evie did for their second day of recording. The mood was a lot less melancholy than it had been the night before. Nikki would learn that sometimes the girl turned into a little ball of energy, talking a million miles an hour and bouncing around the house. Today was one of those times. Nikki could hear her from the staircase in the basement.

"But I couldn't do it that day because I have to work and I couldn't find someone to cover my shift. I also need to look into the bus routes because I couldn't find one that really matches, but, anyway, I called her and she said she couldn't do it on Friday because they had a meeting or something, but then I was like, when can you do it, and she was like, I'll have to talk to Tony, whoever the fuck Tony is, and..."

Nikki walked outside to put his bass in his car. When he came back in the house, Evie was upstairs, finishing her makeup.

"I'm giving Evie a ride today," Mick said. "You still wanna carpool, or do you want me to take her in my car and meet up with you guys a little late?"

"I'm good with either. Whatever she wants to do."

And she wanted to go with her father alone. It stung Nikki a little bit, and he wondered if he had done something to make Evie feel uncomfortable around him. But he got over it soon enough, especially when Vince pulled out the Jack Daniel's after they had finished recording the third song of Too Fast For Love.