Living Like A Runaway

Sweating Bullets

The next two weeks, for the most part, had gone well. Dad and the guys were always in the studio, and us girls were usually in my room or something. Sonic, Trixie, and Vicky had taken their own stuff to my house, which we put in my room for safe keeping. I had been healing really well, too, and life just seemed to be really exciting. There was a ton of jamming to all kinds of songs, too, but we all had our home lives as well.

We now had four songs that were actually complete: Anastasia, Apocalyptic Love, and then two songs called Halo and Crazy Life. Our next order of business, of course, was trying to figure out how we would get a record deal. Lexxi, being the only one that really knew we were a band, told us to wait a few gigs at least, to see if opportunity would come. This being said, we wanted to surprise my dad, Satchel, and Stix, so we had to be very secretive. It wasn't a problem until the day of the gig.

"Hey Melody," dad called from the kitchen, "C'mere." Unsure of  what my dad could want, I complied, making my way into the room. Dad was standing at the counter making a cup of coffee. "Mel, you've been really, uh, off lately." When I raised an eyebrow, he continued, "You and your friends are always cooped up in your room, or you're talking to Lexxi. What the hell is going on?"

A good part of me figured he was referring more to Lexxi than anything. "It's a surprise, dad," I said simply, trying not to sound defensive. "Lexxi's been helping the four of us put it together." Technically, it wasn't a lie, so I wasn't exactly concerned as far as that went, but dad still seemed suspicious. "I promise, dad, you'll see it tonight. Just, if Lexxi tries to drag you out, just go, please? It'll be worth it!" I put on my best smile to finish.

Sighing, my dad chuckled a little. "If you say so, but I'm holding you up to that promise. And I do trust you, but I worry." I kissed him on the cheek and thanked him, scampering upstairs to where my friends were. We still hadn't come up with a set list, nor had we picked out any outfits. Once I closed the door to my room, it was time to get to work.

"We have eight songs," Sonic started. "Four can be our own, and four can be covers. Strategically, we should start with a cover and end with a cover but the in-between stuff can be in any order. Thoughts?" We had a variety of CD's spread out across the bed for ideas, and Trixie had a piece of paper and a pen to scrawl down what our set list would be.

Vicky shrugged. "Let's each pick a song, then, so it's fair, versatile, but still all good stuff. I'm going with Alice Cooper's No More Mr. Nice Guy."

Sonic chimed in, "How about somethin' harder like Iron Maiden? Run To The Hills!"

Trixie scribbled it down and added in, "My pick is N.I.B. by Black Sabbath."

I cracked my neck, adding the last of our cover choices. "I want to do Rainbow in the Dark. Dio's my favorite!"

With that, we ordered our songs into what we decided was a beautifully made set list: No More Mr. Nice Guy, Apocalyptic Love, Run To The Hills, Anastasia, N.I.B., Crazy Life, Halo, and Rainbow In The Dark.

"Girls?" Lexxi called from outside the door. Vicky opened it up to find the bassist all ready for the night on the own, even though it was just around noon. "I'm takin' them out for awhile..." His voice got quieter as he continued, "Your show is from seven to like, seven forty? I know there's a break before the main band tonight..." He immediately shut his mouth, but I still gave him a questioning glance, which was conveniently ignored. In any case, that was Lexxi's cue to leave, and he did, taking Steel Panther with him.

Once he was gone, Sonic flopped back onto my bed. "So what the fuck are we gonna wear? The look, and using the look to sell what we're doing, is a whole freaking lot of the music biz." Trixie nodded in agreement, and Sonic continued, as per usual. "I was thinking we go for edgy, leather and lace kind of thing, but with some glitter and shredding, y'know? I want shredded jeans with safety pins."

Each of us had our own distinct style of dress. Sonic was, as she said, very punk, very homemade, and messy in that attractive kind of way, with neon pops of makeup. Vicky was your typical jean and band tee kind of girl, and liked a fifties-style face. Trixie was precise, polished, and heavy goth in both her outfits and makeup. I was Sunset Strip glam, leather and lace. I wanted my outlook to tell a story.

"How about we do like, purples and reds for the colors? That works with everyone's style, and we can do a lot with it. I know Sonic's gonna want something real bright, and Vicky's signature is her red lip." Thankful that we could come to a consensus, we started going through all our clothing- the three girls had brought over some of their outfits to work with- and we made our creations; and it only took us three hours.

Next, before anyone debuted their stage clothes, we all took showers, did and dyed our hair, and applied our makeup. Whereas guys did it for show and didn't really mind how neat it was- fans didn't expect guys to have perfectly made-up faces- we had to go heavy duty. When you're going out, it was one thing, but when you were going to perform, it was another.

Vicky Stud's outfit was comprised of light-wash jeans and an Aerosmith long-sleeve shirt that had been cut to have slits along the upper-arm area of the sleeves and a cropped, scissor-made look. She also had a light-wash jean vest and her high-tops. Her makeup consisted of a classic black wing, big lashes, and a bright red lip. Her Monroe piercing complimented it perfectly. Lastly, her hair was falling into short waves, making it look just shaggy and messy enough instead of like a bird's nest.

Trixie Belle had a Victorian-style, slightly cropped shirt and a black-and-red plaid skirt with fishnet sleeves and stockings. Her combat boots had lots of buckles and such on it, and they were knee-high. Her makeup was very black, smokey, and polished, and her lines were completely sharp, even when smoked out. All the black went perfectly with her milky-white skin, and the red was the perfect pop of color. Her white-to-black hair were in two long pigtails.

Sonic Blaire was the most spunky of us all. Her blue hair was slicked down into a slick, outward-flaring bob with spiked ends. She was wearing tight-fitting grey jeans, shredded and stuck with all sorts of black safety pins. Her shirt was also very tight and shredded, showing off her bright purple bra. Her makeup consisted of bold, bright purples, messily smoked, with a bright pink lip. Her tan skin made everything pop wondrously.

I was wearing, of course, a cropped, low-cut Steel Panther shirt with some tight leather pants, as well as a cropped leather jacket. I had ankle-high boots to match. My hair was left naturally wavy and just a little messy, and my my makeup was comprised of dark, smokey eyes and a nude-pink lipstick. My belly button ring and nose ring were set perfectly, and I felt edgy. I felt like a rock star.

"Well shit," Sonic laughed, looking at all of us together in the gigantic bathroom mirror, "We look fuckin' hot. We're all dressed, uh, very us, but it still goes together, right? We have all different kinds of rock with a dash of class, some kick-ass sex appeal, and everything that any guy band has! Our debut is everything; a lot of rock stars hang at the Roxy, and people are always talent-scouting. If we do well tonight, we'll be getting more gigs soon, and then we'll really get off our feet!"

Thankfully, Trixie's hearse had enough room to take our stuff in. She took the instruments, whilst we put all our other stuff in Vicky's mustang, the three of us taking that. The other good thing about playing the Roxy was that it was toward the end of Sunset Strip, and a parking lot was close by. Since all I really had was a microphone I'd borrowed from dad, I helped Vicky carry in her stuff whilst Trixie and Sonic carried their own things.

Slyly, we got all our stuff set up on stage, since the general public wasn't in yet. They never came until later, unlike some of the other places along the Strip. The bartender, who was setting up her station, watched us the whole time, laughing a little as we scrambled like chickens without heads. "First gig?" she asked, checking all the taps on the beer as we made the final plugins for the soundcheck. The club had people that would do the check for us, though; if it worked for the openers, there was no need to go crazy for the main band, which made things much more efficient.

"How'd you know?" Trixie asked, hopping off the stage to go talk to her. The four of us sat down at the bar, and she chuckled.

"I've seen enough of 'em. I've worked here for a long damn time, girls. And let me tell you, you picked a hell of a good night for your first time, uh, if you don't have too much stage fright." None of the other girls seemed surprised, but I gave her a questioning glance, to which she laughed. "You didn't know? The main band is Guns N' Roses. You'll be getting a ton of attention from a ton of people, especially since their album got put out last week!"