Living Like A Runaway

Bastard

The next two weeks were a mix of creativity and chaos. Doc and Doug had already pressured us into finishing early enough to release the album exactly three weeks before the tour started, so it was an everyday thing that we'd go into my home studio and just record for hours. We needed a few runs of each song, just to make sure absolutely everything was perfect. If even one note sounded wrong, it wasn't like a live show where it didn't matter and no one minded; we had to start over. 

As if this wasn't bad enough, Sonic was causing more problems. Either she didn't show up to the studio for hours or she didn't show up at all. Ironically, she was the one that literally lived at my house. At first, no one said anything, because no one wanted to deal with it. Finally, though, one day, I decided that enough was enough. So, pissed off, I called Nikki.

"Mötley House, Sixx speaking," Nikki spoke in after two rings. 

"Sixx?" I asked, annoyed, "Do yo know where Sonic is?"

"She told me she was with you."

"She's supposed to be, recording was supposed to start hours ago! I just finished my vocals for today, and we can't do the version with the fucking music until she gets over here."

"I'll see if I can find her... are you free later, though, Stella?"

"Is everything okay?"

"We gotta talk..."

"Meet me later, our spot, and I'll let Axl know."

He let out a little laugh. "You answer to Axl now?"

I snorted; as if. "Hell no! He worries."

"Alrighty, Starr. See you later."

Almost as soon as I hung up, Sonic finally arrived. "Fuck, I'm sorry I was late, man, I was with Nikki!" She told me. We both knew that was a shit reason to be late, but she didn't know that I'd just called her boyfriend about her whereabouts. 

"It's fine," I told her, gritting my teeth. "Go set up, I'm gonna go, uh, change my tampon."

So, I went upstairs and called Nikki back. When I told him what she said, he seemed genuinely hurt. "I wonder where she was..." he whispered into the receiver with an almost hollow voice. I knew he really did like her a lot, so this was even more infuriating to me. I promised him I'd call him back as soon as I could. Then I just called Axl to let him know; as usual, he didn't mind one bit.

At least we finally got our goddamned recordings finished. Jasmine, who was there as well, smiled at us successfully as we handed over all that we had. "In a week," she announced, "We should have it ready. I put this on a rush order, so it's a top priority kind of thing." She gave Vicky a kiss on the cheek, and then grinned. "This is going to be a great, great record," she promised as she walked out the door. "I promise."

The second Jasmine was out of there, it was my turn to run before Sonic did. I didn't know if she would actually stop by Nikki's, and considering he said that he needed to talk, I found my reason to see him just a little more important than sex. So, I rushed off to the bathroom, claiming that I was on 'heavy-flow' (if you know what I mean) and I called Nikki again. He agreed to meet me in our spot.

"Where're you going?" Sonic asked when I rushed down from my room, now wearing a light jacket and holding a pack of joints and a lighter in one hand. I felt like a deer in headlights, but hopefully my outward look was more confident, or at least less incriminating. 

Cracking my neck, I shrugged. "Out. What's it to you?" The guitarist shrugged, cracking her neck.

"Nothing. Now, I don't know about you, but I'm headed off to see my boyfriend." She pranced out of the house, all high and mighty. I quickly went back and told Trixie and Vicky that I was going to see Nikki; the two of them actually knew he was my best guy friend, and were faithful about not telling Sonic. At least they agreed that I should be allowed to be friends with whoever my friends were dating.