Might as Well Face it, You're Addicted to Love (Joe Perry/Nikki Sixx)

Chapter 5: Down on Sunset Part 1

How could I EVER forget mine and Nikki's first 'unofficial date', hang out which ever...I mean same damn thing to me or rather it would be. That special, so special date Of October 10, 1986? After having been mired down in the recording studio on that day, I NEEDED a distraction....to unwind and of course BEFORE I could take off, Steven would corner me...

Another day, 'Permanent Vacation' is coming along.... feels like something is missing and I guess I am enjoying California, LA but have never truly experienced it...so it's been a few weeks since Nikki suggested and we talked about 'showing' me around LA, Nikki mentioned his favorite haunts and really I need something to distract me and take my mind off things, ESPECIALLY since Steven has been nosy as fuck and speak of the devil...fucking figures as I am TRYING to leave.

Steven blocks my way, the others having split and I sigh heavily glaring....

"What? I'd LIKE to be on my way Steven."

Steven crosses his arms, "Going to see Sixx Again? Ya knows you've been spending an awful lot of time with him. You've been distracted.... aaaannnnd...you know How important this album is for us...I..."

I cut him off, holding up my hands...biting out, "I fucking KNOW THAT. and what the fuck is wrong with me having a social life? Its not a damn crime...we talk and hang out that's it...lemme guess, you're jealous its not ME hanging out with YOU, isn't it?"

"He's bad news Perry.... a junkie...."

"Oh, come the fuck on! So were we, so was the whole band...yes, I am aware he does Heroin." I snap, my voice raising with every word. "I wish you'd TRUST me and let it GO before I punch you. There's shit that you don't know about him and let's face it about me."

Steven looks taken aback and sad, "I see...fine, just be careful....and I don't see why..."

"Why can't we work?" I finish, "We're toxic for each other...we never really were a couple, a true one...we fucked and did drugs and got into fist fights with each other...and you're jealous. You know good and damn well what I went through with my ex's. so don't start that shit up again about you coming round if you get my drift. Now, have a good night, Steven." I turn and walk away, trying to hold back my tears...and my anger as I walk towards the studio Nikki is in, who when I enter is writing something or other and when he looks up, he looks taken aback by the expression on my face. Allow me to explain for a moment, firstly no I never loved Steven, never truly loved.... NOTHING like what I would come to feel for Nikki...but Steven to me for a long time was part of the problem and maybe sometimes in the early days I thought that I'd want that with him, but time and again he let me down...

"Whoa you look pissed. Really upset." Nikki's look grows dark, "Do I have to fuck someone up? Cause I totally can."

I choke out a laugh, "I have no doubt you can...but, yeah I am upset but it's nothing I can't handle..." I rub the back of my neck in a nervous gesture, "I really needed tonight." I admit to Nikki and my eyes narrow as I notice something or somethings......Make up- covered arms...fresh and fading track marks...but his neck, are those BRUISES?! I GET the worst feeling that it has SOMETHING to do with Mӧtley's manager and I am gonna beat the fucker, make no mistake.

I must be staring a little too long, Nikki squirms nervously but quickly recovers saying, "let's get the fuck out of here and get you an LA style education." Smirking now.

I bow and gesture with a flourish, "Lead the way." Nikki laughs and I find myself laughing back, Steven be damned and next thing I know Nikki leads me to his admittedly WICKED looking Harley. "So, I assume I ride bitch right?"

"Hey, whose riding who here?" Nikki smirks. But adds on, "You assume correctly." Nikki hops on the Harley and I find myself gulping, because I hope that I don't...get...aaaand...too late, already getting turned on. Nikki does offer a helmet, but I decline, and he teases me about not ruining my 'perfect' wavy locks, I get on and we're home, Nikki gunning it and I am breathless from the adrenaline. He does slow down as we make our way to Sunset, and I can't help but gape as I manage to take everything in.

The setting Sun, ironically on Sunset.... life, chaos emerging...the streets are electric, I've never seen anything like this before. A neon jungle, the wild west where you ask and you receive, WHATEVER you desire. Decadence...clubs.... it's a new experience for me, one I haven't had the pleasure of in SO long...so very long.

Nikki shouts over the roar of the engine to be heard, "SO what do you think? It has its own kind of charm...and I hope its ok, I figured the Rainbow Bar & Grill."

"It's a wild, neon Jungle.... I've never experienced anything like this, this way in a long time and sounds good to me." I shout back, tightening my grip around his hips, his breath hitching at the gesture. And the fact that no lie, I am turned on full blast so to speak....

We pull up at last to the famous Rainbow Bar and Grill, already there's a good crowd...not super crowded yet and Nikki parks his Harley and we both dismount as I take everything in, as evening...night takes hold.

Nikki sighs and shakes his head in mock sadness as I cock an eyebrow in amusement, "Damn it's not fair.... you STILL look like one of those shampoo commercials with your hair, I look like a Pomeranian that got electrocuted."

"It's a gift." I shake my hair to prove my 'point', "I no lie envy the volume you have, your hair looks amazing." I find myself saying to Nikki.

"You can thank Aqua Net." Nikki quips with a grin, "Now let's get inside, get some food and some drinks, I am fucking starving."

"Sounds like a plan Nikki." As side by side, we make our way inside...all my worries on the back burner for now.

Looking back, I didn't see that night I was flirting at least some with Nikki and that there was sexual tension and that I ENJOYED it. The main thing is I didn't tell him then the real reason I was upset was due in part to my ex-lover, I didn't say anything about the bruises I'd seen around Nikki's neck but like I have said, I damn sure would do something about it. I sadly never truly let Nikki in back then, at arm's length.... the walls crumbling but not falling. I just couldn't quit him, our first unofficial date.... I came to see, truly see that it's because I was WITH Nikki, experiencing things through his eyes that I really enjoyed myself that fateful night of October 10, 1986.

Where you next find us if of course the famous Rainbow Bar & Grill and the second part of being down on Sunset....

One more things or a couple of things: it's not too long from now that things will really start to heat up, in good ways and in bad.... hang on for the ride and strap in tightly.

A/N: A dash of drama, a taste of things to come...a bit of everything and sparks between Joe and Nikki. Next is part 2 to Down on Sunset and I may also have a part 3, so stay tuned for more from me!