Book 1: You Could Be Mine (Izzy Stradlin FanFic)

Ch. 1: Chance Encounter

Disclaimer: somehow, I always forget to put these in until later. Oops. Anyway...I don't own any Guns N'Roses songs, band members, anything. The only thing that belongs to me are my characters and how I portray the band members. So don't sue me for all of my possessions.

"Aberdeen!"

I whipped my head around, my bleached blonde hair spilling over my bare shoulder. I beamed when I saw my best friend Jasey sprinting towards me, her cheeks flushed from the exertion and her hair flapping behind her like a black banner. Normally Jasey and I walked to our jobs together, however, this morning Jasey had slept in after staying out too late on her blind date the night before and I had been forced to leave without her. Now, I'm kind of glad I had. Seeing her run after me in her waitressing uniform was the funniest thing I'd seen in a while.

"Run, Forrest, run!" I teased, slowing to a halt so she could catch up.

"Ha....ha...you're so...funny," she managed to say in between breaths. She stopped in front of me and leaned over, resting her hands on her knees and breathing heavily.

"Thanks. I'm here all night," I did an over exaggerated bow. "Tip your waitresses!"

Jasey rolled her eyes. "Once again, so funny."

"I try," I chuckled, continuing my walk slowly until Jasey followed. "You knew you had work today. Why didn't you set an alarm or something?"

Jasey grinned and chose to ignore my question. "Boy, have I got news for you."

I peeked at her out of the corner of my eye. "Oh yeah?"

"Yes, ma'am," her smile widened and she sounded very pleased with herself.

"Do tell."

"You know Pierce?"

I shot her a look. Of course I knew Pierce. He was the hot neighbor who lived across the hall from the apartment that Jasey and I shared. I'd been giving him googly eyes since we moved in. How could I not know him? "Of course."

"Well, guess who found out what club he goes to pretty much every night?"

I paused and Jasey stopped a few feet ahead of me when she realized I had quit walking. "You're kidding."

Jasey gave me a mischievous wink. She knew she had my attention now. "I caught him there last night when I went out on that blind date. At least something good came from that disaster..."

I snorted. "I specifically told you to avoid any and all men who try to find women through newspaper ads."

Jasey blushed. "It was an honest mistake. He seemed really legit at the time..."

"Oh yeah. 'I'm lonely. Come spend time with me, strange women of LA'," I mimicked the newspaper ad in a deep mannish voice. " 'Cause that isn't sketchy at all."

Jasey clenched her jaw. "Do you want the name of the club or not?"

I gave her a sheepish smile and nudged her shoulder playfully. I knew she wouldn't really hold back that kind of information forever, but I also knew that too much teasing would make her seek revenge on me-something I really didn't have time for. The longer I just sat around wishing I could date Pierce, the more oblivious Pierce seemed to be towards me and the more girls he probably slept around with.

"Okay, okay. I'm sorry," I muttered.

Jasey nodded, flipping her hair over her shoulder sassily and continuing on her way. I followed close behind. We walked in silence for a moment, the only sound coming from the busy street beside us and other passersby.

"So," I cut into the silence, awkwardly. "What's the name of the club?"

"You won't need it," her reply was almost immediate. I furrowed my eye brows and opened my mouth to argue, but stopped when Jasey looked back at me, a gleam in her dark brown eyes. "I'll take you there. We'll make a girls' night out of it."

I couldn't help but smile at that. Between the two of us-both with jobs, bills, and college courses-we didn't get to hang out as much as we used to. A girls' night out sounded like music to my ears.

"Sounds perfect."

I sat with my chin resting in my hands. I had been clocked in at work for nearly two hours, but Sunday afternoons were always slow as hell and I desperately needed a pick-me-up. I glanced around to make sure none of my coworkers were looking before I began the process of making myself a vanilla cappuccino. As the delicious brew began filling into my cup, I heard a deep "ahem".

I instantly froze where I stood and winced. Please don't be my boss. Please don't be my boss. Please don't be my...oh. Damn.

As I slowly turned to face the person who had cleared their throat, I realized that the very tall and very thin figure before me was not my boss at all but was, in fact, a customer. A very attractive customer. His shaggy black hair was extremely messy-"bedroom hair", as Jasey would shamelessly say-and hung limply over his sunken, dark eyes. Everything about him seemed thin, his nose, face, body...everything. Looking down, I saw that all of his clothes were black leather and ripped up denim. He was sex on legs-another one of Jasey's favorite sayings.

"Are you allowed to be doin' that?" he asked with a knowing smirk, nodding at my now filled coffee cup.

"Of course I am," the words came out rushed and I felt my face growing hot. "Employees get free stuff all of the time."

He nodded, but the tiny smile on his face told me he wasn't buying anything that I was saying to him.

"Can I help you?" I asked, trying to deflect his attention from the big no-no he had just witnessed.

"Yes, please," he said. "I need an espresso macchiato, two cappuccinos, a black coffee, and an espresso con panna."

I nodded. "Coming right up. A name for the order, please?"

"Jeff." For some reason, he sounded amused even though his features remained mostly blank.

"Jeff," I repeated to myself as I wrote down the name on five separate cups. "Alright, I'll call you up as soon as they're ready, Jeff."

"Thanks, uh..." he leaned over the counter and I recoiled slightly, my face on fire once more as he stared at my chest, searching for my name tag. "Aberdeen...? Huh. Unique name."

"Thanks," I muttered. Like I haven't heard that one before.

Hurrying to get rid of this guy as quickly as possible, I rushed through the drink order. The black coffee was by far the simplest and I sent a telepathic 'thank you' to the beautiful soul who had had mercy on me and my lazy self. As soon as the final drink was complete, I called out: "Jeff!"

Jeff stood from where he had been seated only a few feet away, his eye brows raised in surprise after watching me fly through his order. "That was fast."

I nodded. "I've worked here a while."

"I might have to come back sometime," he grinned at me. It was the first full smile he'd given me since our interaction began, and I found myself suddenly struggling to look him in the eyes. "The service here is great."

He dropped five bucks into the tips jar before picking up his drink carrier and ducking out the door. I watched him until his figure was out of range of the windows that made up most of the front of the building. I was left with only one fleeting thought: Did that gorgeous man just hit on me?