Book 1: Lost In Translation (Another Reason To Cry) (Izzy Stradlin FanFic)

Ch. 22: Lost In Translation

Tax evasion.

The reason Melody's mother had freaked when the cops were called, it was because she had been lying about her income in order to not have to pay taxes. Of course, for being such a wealthy and renowned member of society, she was let off fairly easy; 90 days in a high end prison along with two years of probation. Adding on her little outburst at the café, the judge also decided it would be best for everybody if she attended some anger management classes as well.

I relished in this ruling as it meant that she would always be forcing a smile whenever Melody and I would visit her in prison. She always looked like a volcano about to erupt at any moment. The icing on the cake was when Melody and I had brought her pictures of our ultrasound a few months before the wedding, I couldn't help but get a sick satisfaction out of watching the old lady squirm.

"Oh, how...lovely," she croaked, a grimace on her face as she studied the black and white photo.

"I think he looks a lot like me, don't you?" I had mused, winking at Melody who shot me a warning look.

Mrs. Swanson didn't have a chance to reply. She had fainted moments later, too overcome with emotion at the possibility of her daughter bringing a second Izzy Stradlin into the world.

Lucky for me, we didn't visit the crazy, old bat often. Even better was the fact that Melody had moved out of her mother's house not long after her mother's trial and had moved into my place. And boy, did the place come alive.

All along the walls, Melody hung up all of her best paintings and sketches. Some chalk portraits of myself, a few brand new sketches of my band, and of course, hundreds of renditions of LA's beautiful skyline. I couldn't help but love every one of them.

And it didn't stop there.

Every morning, I was welcomed by the deafening sound of my television blaring from downstairs. Some days, Melody would be eating cereal and laughing to herself. Other days, she wouldn't even be watching the TV and would be busy cooking breakfast in the kitchen. Whenever this happened, she always meant to surprise me, and would always be disappointed whenever she realized that the TV had woken me up too early. But my favorite was whenever I came downstairs to see her sprawled out on the couch fast asleep. If one didn't know better, they would wonder how a girl could take a nap lying right next to a booming television set. To me, it was almost comical.

Today, my house was even more packed than usual. It was a week before the wedding and everyone wanted in on helping out. Although the thought was nice, I wasn't too keen on getting the whole band together in my house. It seemed like we were our own demolition derby all wrapped in leather, and I really wanted to keep the place as pristine as possible. We planned on having the ceremony as well as the reception on the grounds and I wanted to keep the place nice for our guests.

Melody thought it was a wonderful idea for everyone to pitch in and, despite my begging and pleading, invited all of the guys over for one, big shebang.

At the moment, I was watching Duff and Steven play around with the helium balloons on the patio in the backyard. Melody had come up with the idea to use the balloons at the wedding, so she could tell when the bass was thumping and could dance along with everyone else.

Duff and Steven seemed to be more interested on yelling profanities at one another in high pitched voices rather than doing any actual work, but that was okay. It amused me to no end hearing them call each other names while sounding like Alvin and The Chipmunks. Besides, if it kept them from destroying my house, that was a huge plus.

"Hey, Izzy. I finished the guest book."

Slash poked me on the shoulder to grab my attention. I turned around and nearly bumped right into the book, which he had held out in front of himself for me to take.