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

Ch. 16: Confessions

"Mom," I sighed into the phone.

"Hello, dear. How have you been? Have things been better since our last conversation?"

Her voice was music to my ears. I melted into the phone, a content grin on my face as I twirled the phone cord with my pointer finger.

"Yes! Things are lovely! How's Sam?" I asked.

"He's great. When you left, his appetite kind of disappeared, but he's starting to get back to being his old self again."

"That's wonderful. And how's daddy?"

She laughed. "He was pretty much in the same state as Sam was!"

I giggled. "That sounds like him!"

"Oh, I miss you so much, dear," my mom admitted.

I cradled the phone to my ear, smiling down at my feet. "I miss you too, mom."

Although I was feeling quite homesick, I was also enjoying much of what L.A. had to offer. After the boardwalk, Will and I had practically been inseparable. He took me to each band rehearsal, every party, and even took me to play pool on a few occasions. Still, something was troubling me. Will had told me that he had written to me and called the house, and yet I had no recollection of him having ever tried to contact me. I needed to know if my parents knew anything about it.

"Listen, mom," I began slowly. "Do you remember my friend Will?"

"Will?" Her voice sounded fair away as she strained to match a face to the name.

"You know, handsome, red hair, usually really dirty and banged-up looking?"

"Oh!" She gasped with a chuckle. "Will! Yes! I remember Will! You two and, um...what was his name?"

"Jeff."

"Yes! You, Will, and Jeff...you were always out playing together."

"So you remember him?"

"Of course," she confirmed.

"Well, when he left Lafayette, he came here to L.A. and promised he would write me. Did you ever get any mail from California?"

I bit my lip as my mother struggled to remember.

"No, honey. I'm sorry. I can't recall..."

My heart sank. My dad was my last hope.

"Well, could you put daddy on the phone then? It's kind of urgent."

"Hazel, he's a little busy right now-"

"Mom, please! It's important."

She hesitated for a moment before finally letting out a sigh. "Alright, one moment."

"Thank you," I listened to the shuffling on the other end of the line as my mom set down the phone to go get my dad.

As I waited, Izzy and Steven rounded the corner.

"What are you doing?" Izzy mouthed.

"Calling my parents," I whispered back.

"Hi, Hazel!" Steven's whisper was louder than a normal person's whisper and I stifled a giggle.

"Hey, Stevie," I waved back at him.

"C'mon. Let's give her some privacy," Izzy murmured, hooking an arm around Steven's neck and dragging him back around the corner.

I giggled and shook my head.

"What's so funny?" My dad demanded, acting angry even though I knew he was only playing around.

"Daddy!" I squeaked, tears of joy popping into my field of vision. I hadn't spoken to him in weeks, and it felt good to hear his voice again.

"Hey, sweetheart. How's my girl?"

"I'm great! California is beautiful! I wish you could see it here, daddy. It's always sunny and Izzy and Duff and Steven and Slash and Will-"

"Who are all these crazy characters?" My dad demanded. " 'Izzy'? 'Duff'? 'Slash'? Who named these people?"

I chuckled and shook my head. "They named themselves. They're in a band."

"Oh, that explains it," he muttered.

"Listen, daddy. My friend, Will, do you remember him at all?"

There was a long pause before my dad's voice returned.

"Yes."

His tone made my muscles lock up and the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. I had never heard him sound that way before. He sounded so...cross.

"I'm only asking because he moved out here to L.A. and I've been hanging out with him a lot."

"You've been seeing this boy?" He growled.

I trembled. Why was my dad suddenly so furious?

"Yes, of course. He's one of my old friends. He said he wrote to me but I never got a letter. Did you ever see anything in the mail?"

More silence. The silence lasted for so long that I thought that maybe the line had gone dead.

"Daddy?"

"You need to come home. Now."

"That's not what I asked," my voice was growing colder by the minute. What was going on?

"I know what you asked. And I'm telling you that you need to come home."

I bit the inside of my cheek. I rarely disobeyed my parents, especially when they were irate, but this was fishy. He was hiding something, and if I couldn't trust him to tell me everything, then he couldn't trust me to be his sweet little girl anymore.

"Daddy, what are you hiding? What did you do?"

He made a strange coughing noise before the line grew silent once more.

"Daddy, you better tell me now," my voice shook and cracked. I had a death grip on the phone as I fought back the tears.

"I did it for your own good," he said, finally. "There were letters, yes. And he did call. He called so often, I had to block his number. He was driving me mad."

My whole body was shaking at this point. With rage or with pain, I had no clue. All I knew was that this man was not my daddy. This man was a stranger.

"You had no right," I croaked.

"Baby, he was a delinquent."

"You had no right!" I shrieked into the phone, stomping my foot as the tears began to pour. "You knew how I felt! You saw me cry over him! You saw me hate him for abandoning me! I lost my best friend-I despised him-when, in reality, I was hating the wrong man."

"Hazel-"

"Don't talk to me!" I snapped. I slammed the phone down and sprinted towards my bedroom.

"Hazel, you okay?" Izzy called after me.

"Just, leave me alone," I sobbed. I stormed into my room and locked the door behind me. I dropped to the floor and buried my face into the carpet, wailing until my face turned beet red.

My father, the man I loved and trusted above all else had lied to me. He had betrayed me. He'd stolen years that I could never get back, years that I could've spent building a relationship with Will. I'd lost Izzy and Will so long ago, and thought that they'd abandoned me.

Boy, did I owe them an apology.