All In The Name Of...

Ridin' High

-December 19th, Two Weeks Later-

"I have no idea what I'm getting for Axl," I sighed quietly into the receiver, between bites of what I believed to be my fifth bowl of cereal on the couch. "What exactly do you get for someone that has everything?" Christmas was in less than a week, and I had stupidly gotten a gift for the most important person last: my husband.

James chuckled quietly on the other end. He was at least half-sloshed, and the fact that his words were starting to blend together made it more obvious. In all honesty, it worried me a bit, but there was nothing I could do about it that would actually work. "Booze," James mumbled, though I thought it was only a half-joke. "Give him a nice bottle of Jack with a big red bow on top."

I sighed, rolling my eyes. He was going to be no help whatsoever as far as my gift-giving went. I decided, instead, to turn my attention to what I had actually called him for; the idea of a drummer. "So, back to the drummer thing... I don't see the harm in adding one in now."

"It'd be pretty good for the studio," the singer admitted. "I don't really feel like doing double the work. We already wrote the album, though; don't you think it'd be a little unfair to just add someone this far into the process? I wouldn't want him to feel like he's just on the side, y'know." I nodded to myself in understanding; someone was either part of a band, or they weren't.

"Honestly?" I answered. "I don't see the issue. If they're mature, then it wouldn't be a problem anyway."

After a moment of silence, James said,  "I think I might know a guy. He's been looking around for a band for awhile, and I trust him pretty well." 

"Great!" I answered, not really wanting to give the chance for him to back out. "How about you call him and see if he's free? We can check it out and see if he'd be good for your band."

"But Nikki and Dj aren't here..."

I laughed a bit, feeling a little more excited than usual. Part of it was probably the mood swings that were still nowhere near close to ending. "So? I'm your chosen manager anyway, it's my job to help you out with this stuff." There was a joking tone in my voice, since I wasn't really taking the whole manager idea too over-the-top seriously. "Besides, you can help me get a gift for my husband." There was a small groan on the other end, but I knew that James would go with me anyway.

"Fine," he finally gave in. "I'll pick you up in like, an hour?" I agreed and hung up to get ready.

And, just on time, James rolled up to my house, looking a little less tired than he had sounded earlier. He did, at least, seem happy to see me. "Hey, Stella!" he smiled when I got in the car. "So, the guy I told you about- his name is Dustin- said we could stop by his apartment anytime today. You wanna go there first?"

"Sure," I agreed, happy that he was trying to be more positive than he'd sounded this morning. "And then we can drive around and try to find something for Axl for Christmas." James jokingly sighed, and I gave him a cheesy smile as he stepped on the gas.

Despite the insane amounts of Los Angeles traffic, we somehow managed to make it down to James' friend's apartment. I had to say, it was pretty big. "He works a couple of jobs," James noted to me when I looked around the outside with an impressed look. I appreciated that, and the fact that Dustin worked hard to get what he wanted.

After a moment of waiting around the door, Dustin opened his door. He was a rather handsome looking man with relatively shoulder-length hair and a big smile. He had eyeliner thinly rimming his eyes and the inside of his apartment seemed distorted and disorganized but still very cool-looking. There was a drum kit right behind him, in the smack-dab-middle of his living room.