Valium

"Call me Axl."

The show had finally ended and everyone was backstage, trying to take the sweat off of themselves. The vodka bottle and Duff had a special relationship, which is why they could never be seen without each other. Even while he was attempting to take his shoes off.

Groupies could be seen everywhere. They were practically scattered in the entire area backstage. Mostly, they set their eyes on one of the band members but when they wouldn't get that lucky, they settled for anyone who agreed to get them high. Crew and management members were the next in line. Targets.

A short and unusually blonde girl made her way towards Axl. Not only was she ridiculously blonde (not in a good way) but she also had a shit-load of fake tan. The list of other fake stuff on her also included tits, nose as well as lips. She reeked of cheap perfume and wore too much jewelry and way too much make-up. Normally, Axl wouldn't give a shit. But he almost shuddered as she came near to whisper something in his ear. She also made a point to snake her hand towards his crotch and a bit below.

"Hey babe, I'm staying at room#34 at the hotel nearby." The groupie put a lot of effort to sound seductive and even succeeded to an extent.

But Axl was not having any of it.

"And I hope you'll be very comfortable in it." Axl returned the fake sweet smile and took her filthy paws off of him. He also left abruptly afterwards.

The groupie stood open-mouthed and quite insulted. She didn't know but some of her other friends were standing not too far away – most of them now clearly making fun of her. Witnessing that, the groupie stomped outside, obviously in search of someone else.

*

Axl walked right into Slash's room, shaking his head in disgust. Slash had decided to retire to his room and was asking about everyone else's plans. While Izzy and Axl agreed to tag along with him, Steven and Duff had plans of their own for the night. After half an hour of talking and yelling at each other, the boys went separate ways.

Slash lit up his cigarette as soon as they entered the limo.

"I feel like if I ever get lung cancer, it's gonna be because of you, Slash."

Izzy expressed his disdain of smoking. He smoked every now and then but he wasn't an actual smoker. He was one of those who never could stand smoking. Instead, he was a drinker and would often team up with Duff against anyone who challenged them. As good as he was, even he couldn't beat Duff since he was crowned the "King of Beers" by Axl during one of their early shows back in L.A.

Axl chuckled and Slash rolled his eyes at Izzy.

Pretty soon, Izzy was almost asleep during the ride and Slash looked stoned. Not that Axl cared. When the fuck did he get high? Axl was more annoyed at himself for paying too much attention to what his band mates were doing. He felt like he needed to focus on other things.

The ride back home took about thirty-five minutes. The driver helped them in getting out, especially Slash, who at this point needed all the help he could get. A high Slash was grumpy. Although for some reason, Axl felt like he was the grumpiest of them all at the moment.

Martha showed up soon and was very irritated to find her son high. She didn't let it show a lot though.

"Ma, come'ere, gimme a hug!" Slash was slurring and for a moment, Martha thought he would drop down on her feet any second.

"Sweetheart, steady please! We have a guest inside. You don't want to scare her off now, do you?"

This caught Slash's attention and he immediately cleared his throat, making both Axl and Izzy laugh. Leave it to Martha to straighten her son up.