Might As Well Be On Mars // Motley Crue

Happy Birthday!

"She knows what the Whisky fuckin' a Go-Go is," Mick interrupted.

Evie did know what it was, and that was why she was so surprised. She understood the Whisky a Go-Go to be a venue for the sleaziest, dirtiest bands in L.A. The idea of her father playing there both scared her and made her think this band really was going to stick around.

"Yeah, I guess you probably do," Nikki was embarrassed to have made it seem like he thought the girl was stupider than she really was. "I mean, with Mick Mars as your dad, you probably know just as much as I do when it comes to music."

"Damn right she does," Mick answered on her behalf. "I've been dragging this poor girl to and from shows and band rehearsals since before you learned to count. She knows how to play, too. Give her a few more years, she'll probably be good enough to take both of our jobs."

Nikki didn't know what to say from there, so now it was his turn to be silently impressed. Evie broke the awkward silence: "well, I should probably go."

"Alright," her father said, "see you in a bit."

After Evie went back into the house and sat in her father's recliner with a book in her lap, the men went back to playing. After five more tracks, Nikki said he needed to go. He didn't really have anywhere to be, he was just hungover and hungry. Almost as if he was sensing Nikki's bullshit, Mick said, "somewhere you need to be?"

The bassist almost came up with a lie, but decided instead to just be honest: "no, not really, I'm just a bit tired."

"Yeah, that's what a long night of drinking will do to you."

Had he not seen the sardonic smile on Mick's face, he would have thought Mick was angry with him.

"Guess so," Nikki said, desperate to change the topic. "Anyways, sorry again for showing up here."

"It's fine. If anything, you should be apologizing to Evie, but she was the one who told me to let you in."

Nikki's heart warmed at this revelation. "Well, tell her thank you and sorry for me... So, what did you guys do for her birthday."

"Oh, nothing much. Just went to a museum and lunch and opened some presents. Luckily for my wallet, she's never been one for big parties."

"Yeah, me neither. What did she think about the gift Tommy gave her? What was even up with that?"

"Oh," Mick would rather not mention the topic. "I haven't given it to her yet. I'm not sure what that was all about, but I'm a bit scared to see how she's going to react."

"Do the two of them know each other? I think they're close enough in age that they could have gone to school together." Nikki was trying to pry without making it seem like he was prying.

"I have no idea. As far as I know, they have never talked. I'm hoping it's just a case of him wanting to get off on the right foot, and not some fucking monkey business."

"Yeah," Nikki was relieved to hear that Tommy and the girl weren't friends. "I wouldn't worry too much about it if I were you. Tommy's a really sweet guy, super respectful. I'm sure he was just doing it to be nice." Nikki was trying to reassure both Mick and himself.

"That's good to hear."

There were a few moments of awkward silence, before Mick said, "I'll let you be on your way. And if you're going to show up to my house hungover ever again, just make sure it's not my daughter's birthday or Christmas, alright?

"Will do my best."

With that, Nikki collected his belongings and left the Deal residence.

____

He ended up back at the house about twenty minutes later. After saying his goodbyes, he drove to the nearest Ralphs, where he used a few of the twelve dollars he got from London's most recent album sales to buy a premade sandwich from the deli. Then, he headed to the card section of the supermarket and picked out a birthday card that had a dog in a party hat on the front of it. He looked around to make sure no one else was in the aisle before slipping the card under his shirt.

From there, he headed to the self checkout, rightfully paid for one of the items he was taking from the store, and got back in his car. He pulled a pen out of the center console and wrote the words

"Dear Evie,

Thanks for letting me crash your birthday   

- Nikki."

Then, he drove to his guitarist's home and left it in the mailbox. From there, he drove back home and spent the rest of the day pissing off his neighbors with his musical genius, before getting drunk and passing out once again.