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13. New faces

The second night, the show was a blast; successful music and successful dance. Afterwards, everyone was pretty bummed out, and they had to go back to the hotel and pack up because they were leaving Brazil that night.
"Shit- I'm really not into this." Duff grumbled, as they stepped out of the elevator and began to separate into their different rooms. Estrella couldn't help but agree with him.
As she stepped into her room, she took in the mess. Her clothes were pretty much packed away already, but there were two empty alcohol bottles on the carpet, one of them shattered, and lemon slices littered the floor as well as the bed. The lamp shade on the lamp on the bedside table was covered in j!zz, which was sort of amusing. She decided to have a shower, seeing as she was coated in sweat. She peeled off her stage outfit, and stepped into the hot water. It soothed her sore muscles, and as she soaped herself and washed her hair, the sweat was washed off. She stepped out, towel dried herself and her hair, and pulled on a pair of blue skinny jeans and a plain black t-shirt with a red flannelette over the top.
She grabbed her single, large bag and walked out to the common area. Duff and Izzy were already out there, smoking cigarettes and chatting quietly. She walked over to them,
"Why are we leaving in the middle of the night?" She questioned, Duff shrugged and puffed his cigarette,
"Okay..." she murmured, leaning up against the arm of the lounge. Just as she did so, she saw something move on Slash's shoulder. It looked sort of shiny and scaly,
"Slash." She whispered urgently,
"Mmm?" He replied,
"You've got a- there's a snake on your shoulder!" She exclaimed.
"Aw, yeah- meet Pandora." Slash stuck his cigarette between his lips and unwound the scaly animal from around his shoulders, turning and holding it out towards her. She stared at the animal, wide eyed, and Slash chuckled.
"What? She's not gonna bite you!" He assured her,
"Erm- right." Estrella was a little nervous, but she stuck her hand out and stroked the animal's head. Its scaly skin was cool and flawless. It felt a little weird, but it was sort of nice. Slash let the snake wind itself around her right arm, its powerful muscles working to move the animal up towards her shoulder. Its head was at her shoulder now, and it was wound all the way down her arm, tail end resting in Slash's outstretched hands.
Estrella looked up at Slash, who smiled,
"Not so bad, is it?" His cigarette wiggled between his lips as he spoke. She managed a small smile in return,
"It's kinda cool..." she replied, looking up into his eyes. He was nowhere near Duff's height, but he was still pretty tall, and his curly hair was really cool. Through it, she could see his brown eyes. They were a darker brown then Duff's, and there was a thin rim around his iris that was nearly black, the same colour flecked over the brown in his eyes. It was sort of welcoming in an odd sense of the word. Duff had bits of gold instead, and Estrella couldn't decide who's eyes were prettier. She decided right then that she liked brown eyes; they were always a warm, oddly bright eye colour.
The elevator doors at the end of the hall opened, and Estrella turned to look as Izzy stepped out of them accompanied by a blonde beauty with crystal blue eyes. She was wearing a tight fitting white t-shirt and a pair of tight black skinny jeans with black hi top sneakers. Her hair was very pretty, and fell halfway down her back, and she looked to be about 5'7", so pretty short in comparison with Izzy's 5'11", but a tiny bit taller then Estrella herself. Slash gently took Pandora from around her arm as the two newcomers walked in their direction.
"Hey guys." Izzy greeted, "is it okay if Annie travels with us on our plane?" He asked, glancing around as he reached them.
"Yeah, we don't mind. Just ask Ax," Duff shrugged,
"Yeah, I will." Izzy said. So this was Annie. She smiled politely at Estrella, and stuck out her hand. Estrella could smell her perfume from where she stood. It was a nice smell- sort of flowery and clean- albeit a little potent. Estrella took her hand for a handshake, and noticed the small tattoo on the inside of her wrist. It was a treble clef with lines and notes coming off it, going up her arm, and as it got near the end, the lines turned away, leaving the notes floating. It was a very small tattoo, probably only about two inches long, but it was quite pretty.
"Nice to meet you, I'm Annie." Her voice had an odd inflection to it, an accent, but Estrella couldn't quite place it.
"I'm Estrella" she replied, "what's that accent?" Estrella then added.
"Oh- I'm originally from Austria." She smiled, nodding. Her accent actually sounded quite nice. Estrella smiled back.
"That's really cool!" She said politely. Annie reached over and grabbed Izzy's wrist,
"Hey, Izz?" She addressed him. He sent her a fond smile, and replied,
"What's up?"
"Do you think I could come on the plane?" Her English was very clear; well spoken. She must have been speaking it for a long time.
"Probably, I just gotta ask Axl." He said.
"Okay!" She grinned, and he smiled back. Annie entwined her fingers with his.
"Anyway..." she sighed, turning back to Estrella, "you performed really well out there tonight- and last night too!" She lilted.
"Oh thanks! I didn't know you'd seen it." Estrella told her,
"Ahh, in between tuning the strings on Izzy and Slash's guitars, I saw some very impressive dancing." She said,
"Oh, okay. So you're a guitar tech?" Estrella questioned,
"I can do some wiring, but yes, mainly the guitars. I know them inside and out!" She grinned toothily. Estrella had a feeling that she smiled alot. "Have you seen Steven?" She changed track, glancing around.
"Um... I think he's in his room. Why?" Estrella responded,
"Just wondering. He makes me laugh!" She smiled that everlasting smile of hers.
"Fair enough." Murmered Estrella. Annie dropped Izzy's hand, and walked towards one of the farthest doors towards the elevator, opening it and sticking her head through. Estrella couldn't hear what she was saying, but it sounded cheery, and she laughed before stepping through the doorway and shutting it behind her.
"She seems friendly." Estrella commented,
"What, Annie?" Duff said, "yeah, she's a happy one." He told her.
"She's positive, and that's nice, cause there's not that many positive people around." Izzy explained. Rosamund's door opened, and she began to drag her large bag along. She managed to drag it into the common area, and came to lean against the couch near Estrella.
"You look nice," commented Estrella. Rosamund was wearing black fishnet stockings, blue denim short shorts and a black shirt with a Guns N' Roses logo printed on it. She did, indeed, look very nice in it.
"Oh, thanks," she smiled, glancing at Izzy, who was staring at her shapely legs,
"I think he likes that." Whispered Estrella. Rosamund's smile grew wider, lighting up her face.
"Hi, Izzy." She greeted, and he dragged his gaze up to her smiling face.
"Hey..." he seemed a little stunned. Steven and Annie came out of Steven's room, and Celine and Axl stepped out of Axl's not five seconds later. Annie was laughing, and Steven was grinning as she helped him carry his baggage towards the common area. Finally, everybody was stood around waiting.
"Okay, so now we'll be going back to the U.S.A." Axl told them, "and once we're there, we'll be jumping on a tour bus and touring around there." Axl seemed pleased by the notion. He was holding Celine's hand, and she looked to be quite happy with that.
"Is it okay if Annie joins us on the plane?" Izzy asked, and Axl nodded,
"Yeah, sure- that's fine."
"Hey, I'm Annie!" Annie greeted Celine and Rosamund. A glance sideways told Estrella that Rosamund was less then impressed.
"Yeah, heard alot about you." Rosamund informed her, tone a bit unwelcoming,
"Oh, like what?" The smile on Annie's face grew a little weaker at Rosamund's tone.
"Just how lovely you are!" Rosamund sounded almost patronising. Annie was either ignoring Rosamund's icy tone, or she was stupid, because her response was,
"Well that's great! I've heard alot of great things about you of course- and your dancing." She let off a low whistle, and then then chuckled. Rosamund raised an eyebrow, and shot the girl a look like she couldn't believe someone could be so simple minded. Izzy put a hand on Annie's shoulder.
"You girls okay?" He questioned, a concerned expression on his face,
"Could you tell your groupie to tone it down a little, the constant positivity is getting on my nerves." Rosamund said, and rolled her eyes. A shadow seemed to pass over Izzy's face,
"There's no need for that, Rosamund. Annie hasn't done nothin' wrong." Izzy said quietly.
"Well she isn't breaking rules, Izzy, but I never thought you'd be one to hang around someone so eccentric." Rosamund said calmly. "With all due respect, it's kind of annoying." She let him know. Annie's brow furrowed, and she looked a little confused.
"Alright." Izzy nodded once, curtly, and his jaw clenched. "Well I suppose you'll just have to learn to deal with it." He added, and then wrapped an arm around Annie's shoulders and steered her down the hallway. Rosamund raised her eyebrows,
"Will I now?" She murmured, staring after them.

Author's note
Banner is Annie's tattoo. Thanks for reading!
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