Carolina ~ A Slash Love Story

In the Beginning

"Carolina, let's go darlin'," Axl called from my front door, already carrying my bags down to the bus that they were going to be using.

"Coming!" I shouted as I pulled on my boots and grabbed my keys. After doing a once over check, I locked my door behind myself, and headed to the parking lot.

"Do you have your meds?" my brother asked, shouting across the parking lot.

"Yeah, they're in my bag," I said, walking over to them.

Lately, Axl and I had been hanging out a lot, and it was like he had never left. Sure, we were both more grown up and mature now, but he was the same deep down. My brother wasn't thrilled, but he knew there was no stopping us from being around each other. He was mostly over it because he knew that I was almost eighteen and that there would be nothing he could do.

There was something new in my brother's eyes, but I assumed that it was the excitement over being in a new place and going on tour with Mötley Crüe. It was unfamiliar still, and I couldn't put a name to it. It was like his head was in the clouds, but when he came back down from those clouds, the haze followed him. They all had a bit of it.

Shaking my head, I felt myself be picked up and thrown over someone's shoulder as they jumped around and carried me onto the bus; normally, I would have been laughing and having a good time, but as my ribs hadn't fully healed, it still hurt quite a bit to be tossed around like a rag doll.

"Duff, put her down," scolded Izzy. "She's not fully healed yet, so leave her alone."

"Party pooper," Duff crowed, gently setting me down.

"What do you think, Miss Carolina?" Axl asked, raising his arms. "This is home for the next few months," he said with a smile.

"It's great," I said as I looked around.

I noted that the seats and couches were all a blue-ish gray color, and the carpet was light tan that matched the walls of the bus. Soon enough, everything would be a mess and things would look different; alcohol stained carpet, smoked tinged walls, possible blood, and God knows what else.

There was a hallway of bunks, and I was on the right side, straight across from Axl; Duff was above him, and Steven below. My bunk was the middle between Izzy, who was above me, and Slash, who was below me. Knowing that they were in a band made me mentally shudder as I realized that they would be bringing girls around, whether I was there or not.

"Scoot it," Axl said as he carried a couple of suitcases, brushing against me as he passed.

I felt a faint smile creep to my lips when he touched me, but ignored it as my brother walked over.

"You and Axl are not allowed to share a bunk, understood? I put you across for a reason; talk to him all you want, but you are not staying in there with him, got it? Especially at night!"

"Yeah, don't worry about it," I said as I watched Axl reach up to the bunk above him, which was Duff's; they goofed around for a few minutes as I observed.

Axl's copper hair was smooth and he had a red bandanna tied around his head. He wore his traditional Mickey Mouse shirt and leather pants with his cowboy boots, but he still looked pretty damn good for it being his usual.

I was snapped out of my thoughts (literally) to see my brother snapping his fingers in front of my face.

"What?"

"Stop staring at him. You two had your time before, and you should have learned from it. Be smart, Rae," he said before heading to the back lounge of the bus.