november rain - guns n roses

2. Morning at Mel's

A morning shift after a night out was not ever a good idea. I ended up finding Stacy and some friends of ours  at the bar and hanging there all night. Now I had to go serve strangers breakfast while fighting a hangover. Even when I was drunk, and then hungover, I had the thought of leaving my band in the back of my head. I even almost drunk called Slash last night, but thankfully I refrained. I would do it if I could, but it's too big of a risk right now. I'm only seventeen, I've got time, we make generic rock music, we will get a record deal to make an album soon enough. Hopefully.

I clocked in at Mel's and began working. It was a slow Saturday morning. Weekend mornings were always less busy around these parts because everyone had gone out on the strip the night before. Usually morning shifts meant a few elderly couples and maybe some moms having brunch. That's what I thought this morning would be.

I made my way from the kitchen to the middle of the restaurant where I set two cappuccinos down for the two lovely old ladies at table six.

"I'm like eighty percent sure she'll be here." I hear.

"She?" I hear a little louder. That's when I noticed I had new people sitting in my section.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw three guys sitting at a booth in the very back corner of the place, and I pulled out my notepad to take their order.

"Good morning, welcome to Mel's! I'm Layla, I'll be taking care of you guys tod-." I ramble with my usual waitressing script. Then I look in front of me.

"I didn't notice you had a southern accent." The guy in front of me says menacingly. I'm wondering if he's just here to annoy me now.

"Mhm." I stifle. "Can I get y'all something to drink?"

"Yeah, can I get a coffee please?" A guy with blond hair asks me.

"Me too!" Another blond haired guy says.

"And for you?" I look at the third guy.

"Yeah, I'll take a uh...rhythm guitarist." He smiles.

"Unfortunately, I think we just ran out of those. How about a coffee?" I say with the utmost sarcasm.

"You never called me last night." He says.

"Was I supposed to?"

The two blond guys sit and watch as I bicker with him.

"I figured you'd be thinking about it after a few drinks. Am I right?" He asks knowingly, and I just wonder how he was so spot on.

"So, is this the guitar player chick you were just telling us about?" The taller of the two blond guys asks.

"Yes. Layla, this is Duff and this is Steven. Duff plays bass, Steven plays drums."

"And you're the lead guitarist, so who does the singing around here?" I ask, thinking it may just be Slash, or they may not even have a full band.

"Where the fuck is Will?" Slash asks the other guys.

"Running late I guess." Steven shrugs.

"I'll bring y'all some coffee in a minute." I tell them before walking away.

I forgot for a second that I had a job to do and I hoped to God my manger didn't see me standing around chatting with our customers. I kind of wished it were a busier day, that way I'd have an excuse not to talk to them, but as of right now they were one of two tables.

I hear the bells on the front door ring and see a guy with long red hair take off his black aviator sunglasses as he walked inside. He looked effortless, but also straight out of a movie. He looked just like a rockstar, and he was headed for the booth in the back.