Book 4: The Way We've Always Done Before (Axl Rose FanFic)

Ch. 15: Little Piece of Home

I gave myself a mental pat on the back for taking a nap earlier before we reached the boardwalk because, by the end of the night, I was beat.

We had made our way from the entrance of the boardwalk, all the way to the very edge, going on ride after ride after ride.

"This sure beats those lame ol'county fairs back home, don't it?" Will shouted in my ear over the rush of wind on the roller coaster. I didn't respond as I was too busy screaming until I was blue in the face.

Although roller coasters were his favorite, he also took me on smaller rides that I enjoyed, like the carousel, and played some carnie games. By the time the sun was beginning to rise, I was carrying around 3 different teddy bears, all of which were as big as I was.

"Seeing you carry those bears reminds me just how little you are," Will teased.

I stuck my tongue out at him while simultaneously trying not to trip over the dangling feet of my bears.

"Here, set those guys down. There's one more ride I wanna' take you on," Will murmured, pulling the stuffed animals from my grasp and setting them onto the ground. He grabbed my hand and guided me towards the ferris wheel that loomed over us, a spinning beacon of light.

We walked in silence until we reached the ride. A man waited at the control panel, a tired but genuinely warm smile on his face. Will ushered me into a seat and went back over to the man. They whispered amongst each other for a while before Will clapped him on the shoulder and walked back over to me.

As soon as Will sat down next to me, he pulled down the lap bar and the ride started up. We swung lightly in the air as our seats ascended towards the sky.

"So, what made you finally come out here?" Will finally spoke, his voice cutting through the silence and sending shivers down my spine in the cold, early morning air.

"Well, I figured that one of us had to break the silence," I replied with a gentle shrug and a chuckle.

Will's head snapped towards me and he gaped at me in disbelief. "I tried so many times to break the silence."

I raised an eye brow at his sudden outburst, my mouth hanging open. "What? W-Axl...you never came back for me. You never even wrote me."

He looked furious now. I watched as his rage grew, his face becoming almost as red as his hair. "I wrote you all the time! It was you who never wrote me!"

I shook my head. How could that even be possible?

"No. I never got a letter. I mean, I almost wrote you a few times, but then you got famous and I figured it would get lost in all of your fan mail."

"How did you not get a letter?" He demanded. "I wrote you when I got here, I called you when I felt lonely on tour-which was way too often, trust me. How did you never hear from me?"

I kept shaking my head. How could that be true? How could I have not gotten any signs from him in years if he had supposedly written me letters and even called my house?

"I-I don't know!"

He slammed his fist down onto the bar and grunted. "You know, I made you go onto the highway on purpose. I put my life in your hands because, in some sick way, I thought that that would be enough to convince me to trust you. After all these years of not even hearing from you, I wanted to trust you. But, now you're saying you never even heard from me, and now I'm not so sure what to believe."

Now he was pushing it. I couldn't be trusted? That was a laugh coming from him!

"You can't trust me?" I demanded. The cart we were seated in came to a halt at the very top of the ferris wheel. The ocean spread like a blanket before us and the red of the morning sun was beginning to show on the horizon. "I can't trust you! You promised, Will!"

His lips twitched at the mention of his old name and he glared at me.

"You promised you'd come back for me. But I never heard from you. And then..." My voice broke as the tears began to flow, "and then you married Erin. And...I never felt so empty in my life."

I turned away from him, gazing down at the boardwalk below and the ocean waves crashing against the shore. The music and jingling of the carnival games drifted up and into the air surrounding us, creating a major contrast to the mood in the cart.

"You know," Will's voice was nearly a whisper, "the sun is always shining here, but I've never felt so cold. Then you came back around, and suddenly, the sky is so much bluer, the climate is so much warmer, and the air is so much fresher."

I peeked over my shoulder at him and saw him smiling at me, his eyes twinkling with delight.

"You're like a little piece of home in a lonely world. And I've been homesick for a really long time."

I blinked at him, my lips parting for me to speak, but I had no clue how to respond to that. He took that chance to lean forward, brushing some of my stray tears away with the pads of his thumbs.

"I'd hate to look into those eyes, and see an ounce of pain," he sang softly, leaning in closer until our lips were brushing.

He pulled me to him and gingerly began kissing me. It was awkward and clumsy on my part, but Will was an expert, and soon enough, I was copying his movements and meeting his eager kisses with my own.

"Just so you know, the song is about you," he whispered when we pulled away from one another to catch our breaths. "I may have been with Erin, but my heart has always been set on you."