Might As Well Be On Mars // Motley Crue

Down at the Whisky

The band started playing Live Wire. All was going well until the chorus after the bridge. Evie noticed Nikki turn around near the drum kit, facing away from the audience. She wondered what he was doing, until he turned around.

His right leg was on fire. Evie's eyes widened, and the audience collectively gasped. But Nikki kept playing as normal, albeit with a larger grin on his face. Evie looked back to her father. Mick kept glancing over at Nikki, making sure he didn't come too close, but didn't seem shocked. Evie's instinct told her to find a phone and call an ambulance, maybe even get on stage and help him. But nobody else seemed concerned, much less Nikki himself. She held her tongue and tried to enjoy the rest of the show after Nikki had been extinguished.

When the show was over, the audience dispersed quickly, everyone trying to get their hands on the copy of Live Wire. That joy, knowing how loved Motley was and what it meant for her future, was what made Evie forget about the fire incident.

She headed backstage, disappointed that she didn't find Nikki. He was too busy talking with fans and monitoring the sales situation. Evie did find her dad, though.

Mick hugged Evie, wrapped his arm around her shoulders and asked how her day had been. It was the first time he had seen her since the night before. Evie sat down on the sofa in the dressing room, telling Mick about her still semi-new position at the refugee center's daycare. She told him all about the kids and the shenanigans they got up to, as well as the parents she got to meet and hear the stories of. Out of all the conversations people had held in the dressing rooms of sleazy LA venues, a teenage girl's job at a daycare was probably a new one.

Mick listened intently, but he couldn't help but notice the way Evie had dolled herself up for the show. She was wearing wedges, a black pencil skirt, a band tee, and a makeup look inspired by Marilyn Monroe. Mick tried to not think about her relationship with Nikki, but it was difficult when she obviously tried so hard to impress him.

He was trying to cope with the idea by telling himself it was just Evie growing up. He knew that one day she was going to start dating, and this was the time. And besides, Evie hadn't changed. She was still the sweet, smart, funny girl he had known for seventeen years. Mick told himself that she was just exploring, and would one day move on from guys like Nikki. Mick's job in the meantime was to not push her away.

Eventually, Evie moved the conversation onto the topic of the band. They talked about how long the singles had been in production, and when the album was likely to come out.

"Are you going to the party tonight," Evie asked.

"I think I will." Mick didn't really want to, but, like the first night of the show, he tried to show up to the milestones celebrations. Also, Evie wasn't the only one who had recently become interested in love. On that note, there was a third reason for Mick to go to the party -- he could monitor Nikki and Evie, see how he treated her when he was around the people who brought out the worst in him.

But it turned out Mick wouldn't need to monitor them. "I don't really feel like going," Evie said. "You can still go, though, I'll find a way home."

"Why not," Mick said. Normally, he wouldn't press her on it, but her tone and the way she looked to the floor made Mick believe there was something more to it.

"I'm just tired. And my knee hurts."

Mick nodded solemnly. That was the other thing he was going to do if Motley made it big. His princess was getting a new car and a new knee, maybe a new hip too. To replace the ones that had been damaged in the car wreck when she was ten. No more naproxen and physical therapy for her.

"I can probably ask Doc to take you home."

And so it was settled. Evie got in the car with Doc McGhee for an awkwardly quiet drive home, but not before she caught Nikki outside, telling him to behave himself at the party. He kissed her goodbye before hopping in his Pinto and making his way over to the Motley House for the first time in two weeks.

______

It was a little before one o'clock in the morning. Evie was lying in bed, trying to fall asleep, when she heard the front door swing open and two voices slurring their words.

Evie's heart began pounding. She sat up, staying completely still and listening. Yes, it was her father's voice, loudly saying something about cereal. From the second floor of the house, Evie could tell he was drunk.

Had she been at the party, she would have known that he was not only drunk, but had taken a couple oxycodone tablets when his spine started acting up. And it wasn't just Mick who was intoxicated: Nikki had taken quaaludes on top of his regular liquor.

Evie felt the anger swell inside of her. The tears of frustration and fear began coming, and she took slow, trembling breaths. She tried to lay back down and fall asleep, but she knew that sleep wasn't going to come until she did what she needed to do.

She turned on the lights of her room, slowly opened her door, and walked down the stairs. She found Nikki sitting at the dining room table and Mick in the kitchen, pouring himself a bowl of Lucky Charms.

"Did we wake you up," Nikki slurred.

"Do you want something to eat," Mick asked. "I'm making some cereal." Her father could barely stand up straight, his eyes halfway closed.

"How could you do this," Evie yelled at her father. "You promised me! You promised you would stop!"

"Shhhhh," Mick tried to comfort her. "What's wrong, honey?"

"You! You're what's wrong. You're fucking drunk. You told me you would stop, and now you're so wasted you can't even keep your head up. That's what's wrong. How could you do this?" She wanted to fall to the ground, let the strength of her devastation overpower her.

Mick's expression turned mean, and he set down the box of cereal.

"Why do you have such a goddamn problem with it, Evie? Why does it bother you so much that I drink? I'm a grown man. If I want to have a glass of whisky in my own damn house, I can. And if you don't like it...well, I don't like it when you fuck the bassist of my band. But do I go around crying over it? Calling you a little whore and telling you to stop? No. So shut up and go to bed."

Evie stared at him, feeling her heart break. That pain in your chest when someone hurts you in the way you least expect it. She dropped her head and let the sobs take over her entire body. Had she not been staring at the ground through squinty eyes, she would have seen Nikki come towards her and Mick reach out to her, then drop his arm, wave Nikki away, and walk off.

Had the two men not walked away, they would have seen Evie stay in that position for a couple of minutes, looking down while she cradled herself with her arms. When she began to feel lightheaded from the crying, she stumbled over to the dining room table, gripping the back of one of the chairs to help her slowly sit down.

The scene that just happened kept replaying in her mind-- the way her father's face had turned into a hateful scowl, the way he pointed his finger at her in an accusatory manner, and the way his voice became loud enough to make her flinch when he told her to shut up.

It was a scene that had not happened in their home for almost three years, but, at some points throughout her childhood, had been a weekly occurrence. All the times that the liquor, combined with the stress of poverty, had turned her father into a raging man that she didn't recognize; one that would call her names, tell her he should have given her up after her mother left her because she was so damn difficult. That raging man would throw things, breaking dishes and chairs and making Evie wonder if he would ever graduate to hitting her.

Over the years, she had learned what she could do to avoid angering him when he got into his drunken state, but she wasn't perfect.

That was why she cared so much about Mick's drinking. They were so happy now. They rarely ever fought, and when they did, there were no insults or violence. If the Mick Evie hated came back, she didn't know what she would do.

After sitting there a little longer, Evie realized that nobody was going to come to apologize to her, not even Nikki, who sat there like an idiot while Evie felt her happy world being torn apart. She gave up hope, laid down on the couch in the living room, and cried a little more before falling asleep.