Married Too Fast

On Our Way to Stardom

***Duff's POV***

I got off the phone with Steven after he called me 7 times. He asked why I wasn't at the show and why I never told anyone I wouldn't be, and I told him the truth. Almost too much of the truth.

He told me the concert went great and we got signed. They told the dude that their original bass player was gone but he didn't care.

They asked me to come over tonight but not to practice, to eat dinner, and to bring Tara. I agreed.

Tara and I were now smoking a bowl and cuddling on the couch. It was nice.

****
Tara and I were now dressed up and 3 minutes away from Slash's. I guess his neighborhood was okay now because everyone was back at his place.

"Y'all are not fancy enough for a dinner. The fuck is going on?" Tara asked.

"I don't know. Maybe a celebration for getting signed," I shrugged.

"Duff..." Tara said.

I glanced over at her and she gave me a weird look.

"You got signed?" she asked.

"Yeah," I answered blandly.

"That's great!" she exclaimed.

I slightly smiled back at her and pulled into Slash's driveway.

We got out of the car and knocked on the front door. Slash let us in and we took our seats around the dining table.

****
We were having good conversation. Nothing was off, everything seemed pretty okay.

"Duff... Steven told us why you couldn't make it to the gig. Why aren't you just honest with us? You're our fuckin' brother man. We're here to help you," Slash randomly said.

Great. I really wanted this topic to he avoided.

"I know, guys. It's just embarassing. You won't really understand unless you're actually in the situation. I wanted at least an ounce of pride," I said, playing with my food with my fork.

"Fuck your pride, man. If you need help, you need help. We are here for you man, we don't fuckin' judge," Slash argued back.

I nodded and looked up at him for a split second, then back at my food.

"But hey, at least we got signed," Izzy smiled, rasing his beer up.

We all raised our drinks and cheered.

"Guns N' Roses is on their way to stardom!" Axl yelled.

****
"Do you think we'll be all right?" Tara asked me, as we sat out on the balcony, staring at the blinding city lights.

I put out the ashes of my cigarette over the balcony and looked at her.

"I don't think we'll ever be fully all right. But, as for now, I'd say we're doing pretty damn fine."

She chuckled, taking a drag of her cigarette.

"We had our problems, Tara. We've been through a hell of a lot. But... we made it through. We're home. We're not fighting. Guns is making their way up. Let's just stay like this. Fuck fighting. Let's just be a nice married couple."

"Nice married couple?" she laughed.

"Well, as nice as two young rocker stoners can be," I chuckled.