14 years - Axl Rose x OC

3

-Monday, September 4th, 1976

    After a most unrememberable first day of school, Lita Monroe sat awkwardly on a bench just opposite Jefferson High School waiting patiently for the bus to arrive and carry her away from the miserable building she'd be stuck in for the next four years, if her father managed to keep his job, that is. The school bus showed up only ten minutes late according to the very loud sophomore who sat on the next bench over, a new possible record in Lafayette. The only thing Lita missed after moving was that her older brother could no longer pick her up, for he took a second job to help with their mortgage.

    Following her exit of the bus just across the street from the home of her new teacher (only twenty minutes late!) Lita spotted the boy she had seen there just yesterday, just without the younger girl at his side. Entering on a slightly more positive note, for she wasn't the only one late, she followed a stressed Peggy through the kitchen and into a sectioned off room just left of the stairs. Lita sat comfortably on the old couch, for a moment forgetting that she wasn't the only one there. As her eyes scanned the full shelves of the library and the polished black of the piano, the door opened, and in entered the boy she had seen only moments before.

    He looked directly at her, his hair a fluffed scattering of orange, as Peggy followed in behind him. Introductions began and she could now put a name to the face (one she thought she'd seen in school earlier as well): Bill Bailey. Throughout the hour they sat together, Bill was dejected, purposely not looking into her eyes when she spoke, and only mumbling replies while his head dipped into the collar of his coat every so often, hiding from her. Lita was quite bothered by such acts, for if they were to continue this cycle for the duration of her lessons, she would quit them at once; she found it disrespectful he couldn't keep eye contact.

    When released, Lita sprung from her stool, out the door, and into the street. The air had gotten a little colder since the day prior, and she suddenly missed Little Rock even more than before. She spent so much time in her thoughts, no wonder she hadn't registered Bill to walk up to her side. His strides fell into pace with her as the two of them crossed onto Lita's street-she wondered if he was following her, or if there was another reason he had to go this direction, at this time, with her. Seeing the kitchen lights of home snapped the question back into her head. She had barely even talked to him, so who was she to judge? She glanced back at Bill as she opened the gate into her yard; he had swiftly walked by her and into the property next door before questioning, "Hey, what time is it?" This time Lita might've seen the anxiety in his features or the familiarity of who she saw in the window yesterday if it weren't for her picking up his eye contact.

    "Almost five, why?" she answered brightly. "Shit, I'm late," was thrown back at her before she could register his quick movements inside the house. Again, if it weren't for the once-in-a-lifetime eye contact, Lita Monroe might've seen the petrified look on the boy's face; if it weren't for her own scrambling thoughts on their unofficial walk together from lessons, she might've seen the once-over Bill gave her, eyes lingering longingly on her face, like he had something to say, to ask. But, he couldn't do that right then, they'd only just met; it would be inappropriate of him to mention her beauty when they couldn't even hold a conversation past five minutes.

-

    Hours passed and Lita continued her contemplation up the stairs and into her bedroom, placing an Elvis record on the turntable as she flipped through her latest book. The slam of a door across the way brought her thoughts out of Dostoevsky, and she glanced up from the book and into the window, across the way she saw a figure turn on the lights. That must be Bill, she remembered, for she had put it together now that the same boy who did piano lessons with her was also the same one who liked to blare the latest Led Zeppelin album.

    She turned down the record's volume as she watched him from afar. He pulled open the drawer of a desk, searching ravenously for a cigarette, and, lighting it quickly, looked over to her. Lita jumped back. She pretended not to have been spotted until a banging caught her off guard. Peeking past the curtain and over to Bill's house, she saw him wave as he opened the window, humming softly along to her record in the background. "You like Elvis?" he asked, a puff of smoke leaving his lips as he waited for her answer. She could smell the scent from afar.

    "Love him actually," Lita replied humorously, which he seemed to understand. "You're new to Peggy; what got you into the piano?" he asked now, slowing his words as he fought to hold back a compliment. "New to town in general, but I've always played, though it's not my preferred instrument." was Lita's answer. The two began a back-and-forth conservation ranging from their musical interests to her time in Arkansas before she called it quits and headed for bed. Bill watched her pleasantly from his own house as she switched off the bedside lamp, cradling her head on the flowered pillow. Though it was still too early, he wished he hadn't held back, hadn't not been able to look at her, and been able to say what had first come to his mind upon meeting her: her beauty. Now talking to her, he knew she was more than that. After only one conversation, he loved her already, for they were more similar than the exchanged glances harboured between the two only hours before. Lita was something special, that he knew, and he'd be damned to let her go quickly.

-

    Weeks passed by in a flurry, and soon it was October. The paradise-like air of the late Indiana summer morphing into a slight bitter cold of the early fall. But that didn't bother Lita Monroe like it would've under different circumstances.

    At first, she thought Lafayette would be the end of her, an inescapable void of small-town loneliness-that she'd be stuck in an unavoidable loop that most people were likely to end up in: marriage and children all before age twenty-five. Not that she didn't want that, for she wished for it eagerly, but Lita knew there was more to life than just that. She had dreams, big ones at that, and she wished to intertwine the two most important things in her life. But, that could wait for now, she was still young.

    Speaking of love: cheerful Lita Monroe and the handsome Bill Bailey had found solace in the presence of each other after their meeting on September fourth. Their bonding conversations and love of the same hobbies binded the two in a bubble of excitement and happiness. There was no hardship when the two young friends were around each other, for that's what they had become in recent days. Maybe Lita was caught up in the moment of this young, burning love, but she had come to realize that the depression brought on to her by Lafayette only illuminated when Bill wasn't there, and she'd come to love his presence.

    She didn't know how to describe it, but she knew it was right; he was right. He had caught her and they had entered the road of no return together, neither ready to get off that platform and leave the other behind-at least that's what Bill Bailey thought. The universe could tear the two apart, rip their love to shreds and they would still find their way back to each other-and they would, eventually.

1457 Words

A/N: so this is a little bit longer, and I'm still trying to "get the ball rolling" so the plot will get better, I promise. I honestly don't know how people write so much in chapters, because I felt like this was a lot (I had to rewrite the beginning 3 times lol), but then I'll read through it again and it isn't much, surprisingly.

It took me longer to write this because I've been a little sick, but I hope to get another out sooner. Thank you for the nice comments and votes on previous chapter, it means a lot ❤️