Living Like A Runaway

Snowblind

We arrived at the Park Plaza Hotel/Ballroom at around five thirty so we could do soundcheck and make sure everything was going to go well for not only us, but for GnR, who would be also checking their equipment with us. So, annoyingly enough, we dragged all of our shit into the place, handing it to the GnR crew, who offered to set it up for our soundcheck. Then, we retreated to the dressing rooms.

"Shit, you guys come already ready?" Steven asked, chuckling to himself. "Why bother when you can do it here?"

Vicky laughed. "For one, our stuff is usually at Stella's house, and for two, we were rushing, we didn't know if we'd have time to do it here. Okay, so we rushed too much, but at least it's done, right?"

Duff raised an eyebrow, turning to us as well from his hairspray. "Why the rush, though? Don't you guys try to get up early? Uh, not that we do, but still."

Sonic shook her head, cracking her knuckles. "We wanted a sixth song for our set, so we had to write one and go through it once or twice. Came out pretty damn well, though." She sent a smile of approval toward Vicky, who smiled sheepishly in return.

"What're we talkin' about?" A voice asked, snaking their arms around my waist and pulling me into them from behind. I giggled a bit and look up to see Axl, who rested his chin on the top of my head. I put my hands on top of his and blinked upward at him. "Songwriting," Trixie answered him with a chuckle as she, and the rest of them, watched us.

Slash face-palmed and rolled his eyes at us, fixing his hair under his top hat. "Never thought I'd see the day Axl smiled, I'll tell ya that much." 

A small grin crept along the guitarist's face, but Axl actually growled a little at him. "I was not smiling!" He insisted, putting on a fake expression of annoyance to cover up the embarrassment of being caught. "I was simply thinking about how much I missed my little star, here." He kissed my forehead, and I blushed like an idiot, a stupid smile crossing my face.

"'Little star'?" Izzy repeated, raising an eyebrow. "Very original, Axl." Izzy was the only one that could tease Axl like that, and he, along with the rest of us, knew it. Axl chuckled, shrugging. It did, work though; Stella was, after all, star in Italian.

The next hour or so was nothing special, just us doing soundcheck, hanging out with each other, and in my case, sucking face with Axl. When I say we were making out most of the time, I mean, we were seriously making out most of the time. "Do you two ever stop sucking face?" Slash asked, a laugh in his voice. Axl's response? A solid middle finger and his tongue in my mouth.

Finally, they started letting in the crowd, at which point, the girls and I decided to go walk around where the fans were. Unlike Guns N' Roses, we had the ability to do that without being trampled to death. At first, no one had noticed us, even with our backstage laminates hanging from our necks. However, soon enough, we were stopped by a little girl holding her ticket stub, a camera, and a sharpie. "Can you sign my ticket?" She asked all four of us, to which we happily complied. 

"You guys were really great the other night," she told us, smiling. Her mom smiled at us gratefully, and we laughed, thanking her. Then, of course, we all took pictures with the little girl. In all honesty, it was one of the most unexpected things ever, but it was also the cutest. Of all people to notice us, it was a little kid. A few other people actually ended up recognizing us and telling us that we did a great job, but it wasn't like they asked for pictures or signatures. Little did they know, we were the opening act anyway.

Finally, it was showtime. The ballroom was already pretty packed; once fans got their beers and food and GnR merchandise, there was nothing else for them to do but come into the place anyway. Naturally, my nerves started to spike, at which point Axl tried telling me to breathe. Finally, Izzy stepped in and handed me a crisp bill and a little square bag of china white. "Need a hit?" he asked, and I nodded, taking the bag, making one generous line, and snorting the whole thing. Duff even let me have a swig of his vodka.