how soon is now? || w. a rose [i/v]

ANDY XIX

"So you talked to a random woman you didn't know at a company party? In a bathroom?"

"Yeah...and then I realized she was the chick from the Levi's ad, the 'I want your sex' one. And God, it was the best decision I think I've ever made.

She was really that special to you?

She still is, I love her more than I've ever loved anyone I think. She's just so, she's so funny and witty and quick and, she's good and kind. Better than I am.

Do you think she has made an impact on your career and music?

For sure. I don't know how much of either left if I hadn't met her when I did, I think we've helped each other find out where we were going and what our lives were going to look like.

// MTV interview with Axl Rose regarding his first meeting with his fiancée Andy Bernow, 1991

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w. discussions of drug abuse, overdose, domestic abuse. reference to suicide and HIV/AIDS, poor states of mental health all around and a VERY heavy last scene.

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"Oh my God, I can hear you! Andy shouted, slipping across the dark wood of the floor of the living room before reaching the hallway. It was so fucking hot, the thermostat reaching over forty, or a hundred and four in Fahrenheit according to the convertor and Axl, and she wiped over her forehead.

The air conditioning had started to slow and stop from before the sun came up and by mid-morning it had unceremoniously died, leaving the room full of hot air and her hair stuck down over her temples, any attempt to pull it into a top knot had failed with curls pulling free.

Axl was already regretting his fringe it seemed, running his hand up and over his forehead in frustration as the strands stuck down over his skin. She would have laughed if she wasn't in the same situation, running a cloth under the cold water and rubbing down over her face.

The banging on the apartment door had not ceased, just getting worse and Andy didn't even know who she wanted it to be. It better not be Niven, fuck it better not be Niven. He was becoming even more of a pain with the settling truth that the prophesied Use Your Illusion was indeed not going to be out in the next year.

And that they'd have to put out an advertisement for a brand new drummer, sooner rather than later. 

"Jesus fucking Christ," She mumbled, it better be Yoko, she was only the person that knocked in such a rhythm. Izzy's were quiet and would have long stopped since the third knock, resolving to stand by the door until either it was opened or he left and Eric were somehow even louder.

Her friend had never been quiet, if anything he had the grace of a small elephant when it came to trying to get into people's personal space but that had only gotten worse after his run in with the neighbour. The knocking, more like banging because he always hit the surface with his palm, had resonated heavily through the thin walls when she came to the door. Not that he came round as much as he used to, while the radio silence had ended it had only been replaced with the faintest static.

Maybe every weekend, if that, but to see Eric's tall demeanour in the door frame, dark shadow growing out under his jaw and leather jacket slipping off his shoulders was slowly becoming less and less familiar. Any time he was over, skinner around his cheeks and hair slipping down his neck rather than being buzzed short, the conversations didn't seem to sit in the air like they used to. Laughter was still heard but it didn't resonate down in her bones as it had done before, screaming into her hand in a desperate attempt to contain it.