It'd been a month since Slash finally decided to quit the band. At first Axl hadn't taken him seriously. He figured Slash was just high and he'd come around in the morning but when Slash came to him the next day, repeating the same things as the night before, Axl realized this was for real. The band was going to fall apart. Slash was the backbone of the music. He was the only thing holding them together and once he was gone it was gonna be over. Everything they worked for would be finished. This was the end of everything and Axl was fully aware of it.
He didn't try to convince Slash to stay. There was no point. Axl had known this was going to happen. He'd been pushing the boundaries for a long time. Slash wasn't happy with the changes Axl was making to the band. He hated being on tour, yet Axl had insisted on it. They needed the publicity. They needed the money. Who cares if everyone found it unpleasant? And Slash had protested avidly about the new band members. He said it just wasn't who they were as a band. They didn't need backup vocalists and a keyboard player and a whole backstage crew. But worst of all was the girls. Lilith and Marcy to be precise. As J.D. Salinger said in The Catcher In The Rye 'Girls. Jesus Christ. They can drive you crazy. They really can'. Truer words have never been spoken.
Lilith and Marcy. They were just as bad as one and other, although they'd never admit it. Both of them would do anything to get what they want. They'd fuck anyone. Suck anyone. But of course, Marcy hadn't always been that way. She'd been a one guy kind of girl back when she was with Axl. It didn't surprise him that she turned out the way she did. A girl like her couldn't just stick to one person. Everyone needed a piece of Marcy. She was just too hot to leave alone.
Lilith was different in that way. Axl knew he had been the one to take her virginity, even though she never told him. He believed that gave them a special sort of connection. He understood him better than anybody else in the band and he could understand how she really felt about everything. Lilith didn't enjoy sleeping around. She only did it because it was what she needed to do to stay with the band. They talked about it sometimes - sex - which was a little strange considering they'd fucked more times than they could remember.
"Can I tell you something?" Lilith asked Axl. She'd stopped smiling and her eyebrows were knitted. It'd been a long time since he'd seen her looking so serious. Despite her expression she did not sit up to face Axl, which reassured him that it couldn't possibly be bad news.
They were lying on his hotel bed, above the covers. It was late afternoon and the sun was beginning to set over the hills. There was a huge window right beside the bed, looking out over the beautiful city. Neither of them had any idea where they were in the world. It was a game of theirs to try and guess where they might be by looking at all the landmarks and scenery. This place was strange. It was incredibly beautiful, the weather was near perfect and the people were absolutely lovely, but there seemed to be nothing remarkable about the place. Neither of them could pinpoint the location.
"Go ahead." Axl shrugged. He kept his eyes trained on her. She had her chin resting in her hands and her hair tucked behind her ears. Lilith looked pretty cute. Not cute as in sexy cute but genuinely cute in a sweet sort of way. The type that made Axl wonder if he was ruining her by allowing her to stay with the band.
"I don't know how to put this so I'll just say it," She bit her lip between her teeth for a moment, looking unusually nervous. "I really like you." Her cheeks turned a pretty shade of pink almost immediately after the words left her mouth.
It wasn't much. Most might have needed to ask her to clarify, but Axl knew exactly what she meant. The way she said it was cute. Childish. But in a nice way. Axl let out a quiet chuckle and rolled over onto his back. His eyes moved from Lilith to the ceiling. He could feel her gaze on him. It felt nearly as warm as the sun coming through the window.
"Are you gonna say something?" Lilith asked, a little bit of fear came through in her voice. She had always been so afraid of rejection.
Axl sighed and pushed himself up into a sitting position. "Alright," He said, reaching out and trailing his fingers along her arm. It'd been a long time since he'd been so comfortable with someone. "Tell me Lily, how old are you really? Tell the truth."
"I'm twenty." Her voice was barely more than a whisper. She was embarrassed by her age. It wouldn't have surprised Lilith if Axl had laughed again.
But he didn't. He just smiled and dropped his hand back to his side. "And you know what I did to Marcy? Do you know why she's so scared of me?" Axl had never really talked to anybody about what happened between him and Marcy. He'd only hinted at it in conversations he had with Lilith.
There was a short pause. "Yeah, I know." Lilith sat herself up too and pulled herself a little closer beside Axl, so their shoulders bumped together. Her skin felt very warm beside his. She sighed quietly and rested her hand on his arm. Everything about the way she was acting seemed very sincere. Axl didn't doubt anything she was saying.
"And you still like me even though I did all that stuff?" Axl's voice was becoming increasingly husky the closer she got to him. This was a different type of intimacy to what he was used to. He liked it.
Lilith trailed her fingers up his arm and touched them to his jaw. She gently tilted his chin and pressed her soft lips to the corner of his mouth. Axl couldn't hold back a smile. "Of course I do." Lilith whispered.
Girls. Jesus Christ. They can drive you crazy. They really can.
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Sorry I haven't updated in forever. I've been sorting out how I'm going to end this story (hopefully soon) and exams have kept me pretty busy :(
