Patience

Ten

We ended up finding Steven and Duff just as they got off of a carousel. Axl teased them a little because they were two grown men riding on a kiddie ride. I tried to hold back some laughter, but it was a little funny. Axl and I aren't ones to laugh though, considering we did just take a picture with someone in a Mickey Mouse costume...

"Where are we going out to?" Izzy asked as we made our way to the gate.

"Well," Axl began, "I was thinking we hit up some place on Sunset strip, if that's okay with my lovely Lucy." He looked at me and smirked.

"That sounds great if it's good with everyone else," I said, looking around.

Everyone seemed to nod in agreement as we neared the gate.

***

We walked into a popular Los Angeles bar and Axl bought the two of us drinks. I thanked him, since he's been spoiling me so much. Everyone else bought their own. Axl seemed to stay close by me and I noticed he shot dirty looks toward anyone who even glanced at me.

For an hour or so, we all stayed close by in a group, just hanging out, talking, and smoking.

Axl placed his hand on my arm, which made me turn to him. "Lucy, I need to go to the bathroom, you'll be okay, right?" He asked me.

I nodded and smiled at how protective he was over me. "Yeah, I'll be fine. Go do your business," I told him, pushing him in the direction of the restrooms.

As the band kind of began to disband, Steven walked up to me.

"Hey, Steven," I greeted.

"You know, you look lovely tonight," He complimented.

I just rolled my eyes. "You might want to watch saying that around Axl," I said, motioning toward the bathrooms.

Steven shrugged and looked down at his drink. "So," He said, "Are you enjoying yourself?"

I nodded. "I am. First night out and I can't believe I haven't done this before," I said, looking around.

"Hello, lovely Lucy. Popcorn," Axl said, greeting us as he walked back over to us. He wrapped his arm around my waist, which caught me by surprise. I liked it, though.

Besides kissing earlier, this is as close as we've gotten. Then it made me really question what we were. Then, without even thinking, I turned around and interrupted Steven and Axl's conversation.

"What are we?" I asked suddenly. I immediately regretted it because Axl pulled his hand away from my waist and just stared at me. 

Why did I do that? I've obviously had too much to drink tonight. I should have asked that question later when we were alone. This was obviously a bad time. God, I hate myself.

"Well, what do you want to be?" Axl asked me, scratching his head. 

I cringed at his body language at the moment, and I thought back to what Slash, Duff, and Steven had told me after the show. Maybe he did only want sex. I opened my mouth, but shut it again. Did I want to date so soon? I just broke up with my ex boyfriend. I didn't know, everything just felt rushed.

"You know what," I said, "I don't know why I said that. It's the drink talking. We should have this conversation later."

"I mean, we probably should so Popcorn over here isn't feeling so uncomfortable, but now I want to know the answer, too," He said, holding eye contact with me. Maybe he does actually care for me?

"Well, I asked first," I told him. Please be more than a one night stand. I already care too much about you.

He sighed in defeat and tried to hide his smile. "You're right, you did. You win, we'll discuss this later," He said, changing the subject. I clenched my jaw, but I nodded. We should save that conversation for later.

After that, I didn't say much else. I wandered off a little and walked around and found Slash smoking a cigarette and playing pool. I walked over to him.

"Hello," I said.

"Hey, Lucy. Having any fun?" Slash asked me.

I nodded. "Yeah it's been fun. I don't know why I haven't gone out sooner," I said.

Slash then hit the ball, knocking the last three balls into the holes on the pool table. The guy he was playing through his pool cue down on the ground in anger because he just lost. He then stormed off and Slash just laughed and shook his head.

He then put his cigarette out and held the pack out to me.

"Want one?" He asked me.

I shook my head. "I'm okay," I said, "But thanks."

"Sure, sure," Slash said, leaning his pool cue against the table.

"Is Axl treating you well?" Slash asked me, lighting another cigarette.

"Yeah, just fine. Why?" I asked.

"Oh, I mean, you guys are normally right beside each other all the time and you're on opposite sides of the bar at the moment," Slash said, looking from me, to the other side of the room, and back to me. 

"Oh. Well, we're good. I just wanted to walk around a bit while Axl talked to Steven," I shrugged.

"Restless leg syndrome?" Slash asked, pointing out the fact that I was shifting my weight from one foot to the other.

"Oh," I laughed, "No, my feet are just killing me in these heels."

"There's a couch right over there. We could go sit down," Slash offered.

I nodded in agreement. "I think my feet would appreciate that," I said and he smiled.

After we sat down, Axl noticed and he came over and joined us. I was soon sandwiched in between Slash and Axl. We conversed for a little while, just some small talk about our pasts, then Duff approached us.

"I don't know about you guys, but I'm getting a little tired," Duff said, walking over to us.

"Should we grab the other two and call it a night?" Axl asked us.

We all nodded in agreement and got up to go find Izzy and Steven. When we found them, we left and went back out to the van.

"Did you enjoy your night out on the town, Lucy?" Axl asked, wrapping his arm around my shoulders once we were in the van.

"Oh yeah. It was great," I told him with a yawn.

"Sounds like she's tired," Duff said from the driver's seat.

"Yeah. It's best we get back to the apartment so lovely Lucy can get some rest," Axl said.

That was the last thing I heard before I fell asleep, my head resting on Axl.