Living Like A Runaway

Don't Talk To Strangers

Axl seemed to have this silly, almost kiddish grin on his face when I picked him up from the airport. "Can I drive?" he asked with a hopeful tone in his voice. I laughed a little, handing him the keys to my most precious Corvette. To me, it was the strangest thing in the world; Axl wasn't every very giddy, not even when he was off his rocker, so there must have been something at least interesting going on in his mind. "It's a surprise," he just whined whenever I'd carefully ask him about it.

"Wake up, babe," Axl shook my shoulder, jolting me up. Did I seriously fall asleep? I glanced outside the window to find ourselves in front of a local tattoo shop. It wasn't the one I had my Dio signature tattooed at, but it looked just as nice. For some reason, though, my brain still didn't click as to what was going on, and I followed my boyfriend in with a seriously puzzled look on my face.

When the guy in front looked up and saw Axl and me, his jaw just about dropped. "Holy shit!" he exclaimed, walking around to great us personally. "I never thought I'd see Axl Rose or Stella Starr in here! What the hell can I do for ya, man?"

I laughed, as did Axl, but then he grinned at the guy. "You got time for a walk-in?" He asked, raising an eyebrow. The artist nodded immediately, still looking somewhat bewildered at our presence. It was pretty flattering, I had to say. "Wait right there," Axl told me, pointing at a chair. "It's a surprise." Then, the two of them walked to the back of the shop, leaving me to glance at all the tattoo designs hanging on the wall.

Whilst I waited, I took the opportunity to wonder how my band-mates were doing. Before I'd left to get Axl, the detectives had showed up to question the three of them, and apparently they'd gone back to question the Crüe boys as well. Since I told them I had to leave to pick Axl up, I went first. They asked me all about my band and my relationships with the Mötley boys, all to which I gave honest answers. It still bugged me that I didn't know who hurt Nikki, though.

My train of thought was broken much sooner than I'd expected. "Babe, c'mere!" Axl called from the back, snapping me out of my head. I made my way to the back to find Axl sitting in the tattoo chair, and right along the bottom of the right side of his neck, there was a purple-grey tattoo with a black border in a Gothic font that read "Stella".

"Holy fuck," I blurted out, a sincere, gigantic smile crossing my face. "Axl, that's fucking beautiful!" And it was. A tattoo was something that would be branded on you forever, and I understood that value. There was something about getting one that said 'you're so important to me that I want to have you on my skin forever' and that meant the world to me.

Axl's face beamed up and he grinned at me, trying to conceal the smile that I knew was dying to show itself. "You really like it?" he asked again, and I nodded, a tear even coming to my eyes. "Aww, Stella," he mumbled happily, standing up and pulling me into a hug, "I'm glad, baby, it's all for you."

I looked up at my boyfriend and laughed. "Would you be objected if I stole your idea?" I asked playfully, but I was genuinely being serious about that. I had an off-the-shoulder Anthrax shirt on anyway, so it would be much easier to do it now.

"Really?" he asked, pleasantly surprised.

I nodded happily, holding one of his hands. "Of course! I mean, I want a GnR tattoo and even a Mötley Crüe one among others, but you're special, and you mean the world to me..." Axl kissed my head and smiled down at me.

"Hey, Walt," he called at the tattoo guy, "You got time for one more walk-in?"

And so, both Axl and I walked out that evening with matching tattoos. I got the word "Axl" tattooed on my left collarbone in a bright red edgy cursive with a black border. It was downright one of the most risky decisions in my life, but it was more than worth it. For one, I loved his band anyway, but mainly, I just knew in my heart of hearts that I loved Axl.