Buttered Popcorn

Chapter 5.5: November 28, 1986

"Motherfucker," I hissed after a few coughs and the burning liquid slithered it's way down my throat, "This shit could grease wheels."

"That's how you do it, baby." Izzy nodded in approval, soon taking his own shot of vodka. Steve followed, leaning his head back and swallowing down the alcohol. "You guys are such pussies." Duff claimed before drinking straight from the bottle.

"No fair, fucker! That shit is like water for you!" Steve argued. Soon enough, the door swung open to reveal Slash carrying an insane amount of grocery bags hanging off of both of his arms, Les and Axl then following empty-handed. "Hey, what gives? Taking shots without me?" Slash whined once he placed down the bags of food down.

"Go ahead, dude." Duff slid him the bottle of vodka across the counter. "What did you guys get?" Steve bounced over to the bags, peering into them with curious eyes. "A little bit of everything," Axl shrugged, "We drove around for a bit and picked up whatever we thought looked good in the store."

"How the hell can you guys afford this?" I inquired. "You mean how did you guys afford this. Les so kindly offered to pay for all of this." The singer looked over to my roommate with a seductive gaze. I, however, wasn't as pleased, "Les? Outside for a minute?"

She knew better than to argue and followed me out. "What the hell, dude? We can't afford that!" She rolled her eyes and stifled a laugh, "Jimmie, it's fine! I swear!" "Are you fucking drunk?" Failing to hold back her giggles this time, she claimed she wasn't, "No!"

"Les." Soon, she was quiet and looking to me with a guilty gaze. "We got a lot of alcohol at the store." "Fuck, man. We're totally going to be broke when we leave here." I sighed, opening the door back up and seeing all of the boys knee deep into their food.

"Didn't care to wait for us?" I walked over to the kitchen counter, where practically every container of food was busted like it had been opened by savages. "We got hungry." Duff shrugged. I began filling a paper plate with every dish there was to choose from, "Of course."

Once we were all seated around or on the couch and the music sang from a record player, we all began chatting. I sat next to Steven, where he was sitting patiently with his food sitting in his lap, "Why aren't you eating?" "I wanted to wait for you." he simply stated with a shrug and smile.

"Oh. Thanks, dude," I smiled back, nudging his side, "You can eat now, though. You're probably starved." He sighed dramatically and stuffed his mouth with mashed potatoes, "Ugh, you have no idea." We laughed and began eating before Duff interrupted.

"Hey, lets all say what we're thankful for! I'll go first," he volunteered, interrupting anyone who was about to speak, "So, I'm thankful for... my bass.. and, uh, vodka. Who's next? Not everyone all at once." We all exchanged awkward glances, waiting to see who would go after him, but no one said anything. Eventually, Slash spoke up.

"Alright, fuckers. Since everyone's so fuckin' shy, I'll go. I'm fucking thankful for you fuckers, my fuckin' Les-" "Aw!" "-Paul," Slash corrected, cutting off my roommate who was now pouting, "And uh.. my good fuckin' buddy Jack. Great guy." Judging by the way he swore between every word, I assumed he was piss drunk already. "Who the hell is Jack?" Axl asked. "Jack Daniels, baby!" Slash whooped, causing us to laugh.

"I'm next, I'm next!" Les announced, "Ok, uhm.. I'm thankful for you guys, my job, and my wonderful roommate and best friend, who I've known for so, so long." She smiled at me lovingly, to which I returned an awkward expression, before continuing, "Hey, Jim, remember that one time at summer camp when the counselor left us in the cabin alone? And we snuck out to the lake to meet up with those hot guys from the cabin over and w-"

"Alright! Okay, I think that's enough alcohol for blondie." I chuckled uncomfortably. "I'll go next!" Steve said. He began straightening his posture and clearing his throat loudly, "So, I'm thankful for my band mates. I'm thankful for my drums. And, the new girls we met." He hooked an arm around my neck, doing the same to Les, and pulled us into his side.

"Okay, my turn." Axl stated. "I'm grateful for my music and the chances we've got to perform so far. I know we'll have a bunch of opportunities in the near future, so I say we take advantage of the life we live now before we have to tour across the entire world for years on end." He smiled proudly as the rest of the band cheered. He's definitely the most sober. "What about you, Iz?" "Cigarettes."

Steven chimed in after a few moments of silence. "Last but not least..." he gave a drumroll before he kept talking, "Jimmie! Go ahead, babe. What're you thankful for?"

"Uh.." I sighed, thinking. What was I thankful for? "I dunno." "Boo!" Duff yelled, soon followed by the rest of the room. "C'mon, that sucks! What are you actually thankful for?" the bassist said after the jeers came to silence.

"No, honestly. I have no idea." I admitted, shrugging carelessly. "Whatever, I'm hungry." Slash interrupted. The rest of us agreed, forgetting the conversation at hand before.

And so that's how my Thanksgiving was spent in 1986. Surrounded by new people, eating food, and broke. Come to think of it, It was one of the best Thanksgivings I'd ever had. That is, until Slash proposed one of his drunken ideas.

"We should play Never Have I Ever."