Might As Well Be On Mars // Motley Crue

Happy Birthday!

"Oh," Nikki stood there, feeling like an ass. "I-I must have forgotten. Sorry, I'll go home." His head down, he turned to leave.

"You can invite him in. I don't mind if you want to play," Evie whispered to her father.

Mick thought for a moment. He wasn't sure if Evie was just saying it to be considerate, but it did pain him to see the bassist go away so pathetically.

"Are you sure," he asked his daughter.

She nodded. Mick sighed before stepping onto the porch.

"Nikki," he yelled to the man who was already most of the way down the driveway. "Come back, let's play."

The men set up shop in the garage. "I'm really sorry to come barging in like this," the bassist said while tuning his instrument. I genuinely forgot, I just had a...a long night."

"Don't worry bout it," Mick mumbled. Neither man said much else. They just played two tracks: "Too Fast for Love" and "Take Me to the Top." After the second song concluded, Mick realized he was rather thirsty.

"Evie," he yelled. In a couple of seconds his daughter appeared at the door. "Could you grab me a beer from the fridge?" The girl silently nodded. "Thank you, honey."

She went to turn around before Mick said, "hold on. Where are my manners? Nikki, you want something?"

"Uhm..." The bassist wasn't used to making other people take his requests. "I'll take a beer too."

Evie let out a quiet "okay" and walked back into the house, leaving the door open when she did.

"She's kinda quiet, isn't she?" Nikki said.

"Eh, yeah. She's always been a bit shy. She'll warm up to you eventually."

Before Nikki could say anything else, Evie came back into the garage with two cans of beer. She set them down on a small table near the interior door.

"Thanks, Eves," Mick said, walking over to the table.

"You're welcome," she said quietly and was about to make her escape back to the living room, when her father said, "you wanna stay? I don't think you've heard anyone but me play."

"Uhm, yeah."

The girl stood there, leaning against the wall of the garage, watching the guys play. They went through another two songs: "Live Wire" and "Come on and Dance." Evie couldn't contain her smile. They sounded really good. She couldn't even imagine what the whole band playing together was going to sound like.

Although Evie was impressed by the playing, Nikki felt a bit insecure. He wasn't sure why because his ego was normally too large, but he was afraid of making even the slightest mistake in front of his one-person audience. What is going on with me today? The bassist thought to himself. She's just a teenage girl, why, out of all people, do I need her approval? He figured it was because he had shown up on her birthday, severely hungover, and made her father play some music with him instead of letting him spend the day with her. The least he could do was give her a good show.

To Nikki's surprise and delight, though, the first time he looked up after beginning to play he saw happiness on her face. "That was really good," she said.

"Yeah," Mick responded. "Just wait until you see the whole gang playing."

"Wait til you see us live," Nikki added. Evie's face betrayed her surprise at hearing plans of live shows so soon after the band formed. "Vince," Nikki continued, "has been working to get a gig or two set up at the Whisky."

"The Whisky?" Evie asked, surprised.

"It's a little joint over on the Sunset Strip where the hottest bands in town play."