Carolina ~ A Slash Love Story

Outta Control, Pt. 2

"Do you need another shot before we get going, or are you good?" Robbin asked as we got ready to head for tonight's venue.

"I think I'll be fine," I said as I grabbed my sunglasses, and put on a cool looking hat that I had found at a thrift store that after noon.

"Alright... nice earrings, by the way." I flashed him a thumbs up and a smirk. "Sixx, you ready?" he shouted through the bathroom door.

"Ready," he confirmed as he walked out of the bathroom, wiping his nose with one hand, and fluffing his hair with the other. "Ready, Carolina Rae?"

"As I'll ever be," I replied with a smile, linking arms with the two of them as we headed out of the room and toward the back exit of the building to get into the limo that was picking us up.

We drove to the venue, mindlessly chattering about everything from music to where we had gotten the best drugs and whose names to remember, to trying to guess how long each of us would live.

"I'm going to be very nice to myself and guess fifty," Robbin said.

"I'm giving you forty-five if you're still friends with me," Nikki joked. "I'm guessing I have until thirty-five- maybe."

"But that doesn't make sense; you're a year older than me, and if you die, then I have to die around the same time as you."

"How do you figure?"

"Well, you said..."

Their voices faded away as I stared out of the window at the passing cars and street lamps. How would we all die? With all of the shit we were doing, it wasn't going to take long to find out. Out of the three of us, at least one of us would OD, and it wasn't going to be me. There was no way- I was more careful.

In all honesty, I had been out of control lately- stealing, lying, drinking, and everything else, but I knew I'd be able to snap back no problem. The drinking was enough to keep me occupied, and the heroin was really keeping my mind at ease when it came to my brother or anything else. I was too mellowed out to worry about Steven or the band's problems- or even my own.

As I thought about this, I began to search for booze, rifling through the little bar that was built into the limo. The guys continued to chatter, hardly noticing me, or so I thought, until Nikki handed me his bottle of Jack with a sly smile.

"Thanks."

"No problem. Anyway, I get your point, Robbin. I guess we both have thirty-five. How long do you give yourself, Carolina?"

"Uh," I took a huge gulp from the bottle, "I don't know. What do you think?"

"Well at this rate, you'll be the next member of the twenty-seven club," Robbin mumbled, raising his eyebrows a little as he reached over and took the bottle from me. "But hey, benefit of the doubt, you still have, what, nine years or so?"

"I guess," I said with a shrug, taking the bottle back.

"Talk to me," Slash begged once again, holding his guitar before he went on.

"Why?"

"Because I want to resolve our problems!" he hissed. "I miss you, and I fucked up. I understand that now, and I'm sorry. Please, just talk to me so we can work on this."

"Hudson, I-"

"Carolina, please," he said, pushing his curls out of his eyes and looking at me.

"I... fine. I don't know what you want me to say."

"What do I need to do to get you back?"

"Sla-"

"Tell me," he insisted.