The band set into their prime focus mode, making their names big in the scene and working hard to get a record out in a short amount of time.
While they did all that, Harley was bouncing between work and music once again. She attempted to not drink when she had work the next day, not enjoying the results the previous time she had done so.
Harley didn't like the number of drugs she was starting to see around the apartment, but she couldn't exactly control their lives.
She leaned against the counter holding a coffee mug late one afternoon as she listened to the boys rambling on about whatever subject, this time being Tommy's birthday.
"Yeah, so we could have a huge ass Halloween party, with all these drugs and groupies and shit, and it'll be like, a part of my birthday celebration since mine's in October." Tommy explains, waving his hands in the air as he spoke.
"Isn't yours at the beginning of the month though?" Harley questions, taking a sip of the coffee.
"Yeah, but it's fine if the party is still in October." He shrugs, then glances at Harley. "When is yours?"
"August 14."
"Hm..." Tommy looks off into the distance as if he was thinking about what to do about it.
"I don't want a huge party or anything." She quickly adds.
"Why not?" Nikki asks.
"None of those people that'll come are even my friends. I'd rather do something for my birthday with you guys, even though it sounds stupid." She shrugs and glances away. She felt slightly embarrassed that she still enjoyed simple things like that. "So... would Tommy's party be a costume one?"
"Of fucking course it would be!" He says, grinning. "It doesn't even matter that it's only June. October'll be here fast."
"Are you and Bullwinkle going to do a couple costume?" Nikki teases, making Harley laugh as Tommy makes a face.
"First off, couple costumes are lame. Second of all, I don't know if I'll even be dating her by then." Tommy explains.
"Really?" Harley questions.
"She's clingy as fuck, man. And you've seen her when she gets into her fits." Tommy shudders at the thought.
"Yeah, fair point. Imagine having a relationship this far into a band." Harley shakes her head.
"Yeah, but you'd fuck a guy for 20 dollars." Nikki remembered.
"That's different. I'm not tied down to someone. Not that it matters to Tommy anyways." Harley references the many times he's already cheated on Bullwinkle. "And technically, it was two guys for twenty."
"And you want to call us gross?" Nikki rolls his eyes.
"Anyways, why do you keep dating her then?"
"She'd be scary to break up with, and she's freaky during sex." Tommy grins.
"Like Vince said." Nikki pointed out to Harley.
"Don't you guys ever want to be in a relationship for like, the sense of actually being in love? and not just sex?" Harley asks.
Tommy shrugs. "For now it's about the fun. But maybe, in the future. If I meet the right chick."
Nikki shakes his head in response. He's already tried enough recently. The door opening halts the conversation as Mick walks in for practice, ignoring the fact that everyone else was in yesterday's clothes or PJs.
"Where's the singer?" He questions.
"I'll get him." Harley jumps up and walks to Tommy and Vince's room, calling his name as she kicks the door open. She makes a face as she sees him lying there with a girl, both naked.
"Jesus. Get up, we have practice." Harley says, and he flips her off as she closes the door and returns to the living room.
She glances down the hall as the girl walks out. "He's coming!"
"In more ways than one." Tommy snickers as he watches the girl leave, Mick rolls his eyes at the comment. A few minutes later Vince comes out with his clothes on, grumbling to himself about being rudely awakened.
"What a great way to start my day." Vince sighs, grabbing the microphone from the counter.
"It's almost 3." Nikki points out, strumming a few notes on his bass from the couch.
"Yeah, and I was up late."
"It's your fault," Harley tells him, grinning as she grabs her guitar off its stand.
"Can we get started?" Mick questions, annoyed with them wasting time.
"Alright, we got the new songs. 'Starry Eyes', 'Piece of Your Action', 'Toast of the Town' and 'Tonight'." Nikki says and shoves the papers of the lyrics out in front of them. "Read them, decide what you want to do for them, I don't care. I have some ideas but you guys could have something better to do."
For the next thirty minutes, everyone crowds around and reads the music, figuring out what they wanted to do for the style. Of course, they communicated with the other parts of the songs. For most of the conversation, Vince sat in the armchair with his arms crossed and eyes closed. They figured he was getting extra sleep but he claimed he was 'resting his eyes' until they started for real.
When they started the practice, everyone resumed their usual positions on the stage. The lyric sheets sat on the coffee table in front of them, for easy grabbing whenever they decided to change a song.
They fell into the easy rhythm of practice, working hard on each song. They spent a decent portion of time on the songs, so as Nikki had said before, they spent less time in the studio recording.
"Starry Eyes" gave Harley the same slow feeling as "Merry Go Round" or "On With the Show", but it still had a slightly harder rock and roll sound to it. She could say the same for "Tonight", that it was more of a slow-swaying dance song. However, "Piece of Your Action" and "Toast of the Town" still had the rock sound to them. Out of the new songs, "Piece of Your Action" was her favorite, and from the total tracklists, her favorites had to be "Come on and Dance" and "Take Me to the Top".
They rehearsed some of the older songs, playing the ones that seemed more popular from crowd reactions. Harley was feeling more comfortable in her role within the band and on stage, and she moved throughout the room, playing as she did so.
They had started the practice around mid-noon and practiced throughout the day until the sun wasn't shining through the windows anymore. They put a pause on practice as they all realized they were hungry, Mick agreeing to go despite never wanting to hang out with the band as a group.
After putting bets on where to go, they all eventually agreed to go to the Rainbow, one of the probable dozen of bars on the strip. The walk was a decent distance from the apartment. They could've driven, but none of them wanted to take a ride in Tommy's van.
Despite the name of the restaurant being The Rainbow, the only color that was inside the building was red. Everything was red, including all of the leather seated booths, which is where the band found themselves seated.
They got their food ordered, Harley rolling her eyes as Vince got a little too friendly with their waitress. As per usual, their typical drinks ordered with their food was alcohol, everyone's being slightly different.
Harley wasn't even sure how Mick could drink straight vodka, yet there he was, doing so. She thought the drink was revolting in taste. She didn't have a preferred drink herself, just anything that wasn't vodka.
Sticking to her usual idea, she ordered a Jack - she had watched first to see what everyone else was picking, and picked the most popular order - and popped the lid off, taking a drink. Harley thought she should invest in the making of a bottle opener necklace, then she wouldn't have to struggle with her hands.
They chatted about whatever came into their mind as they ate, and Harley realized that she had drunk more than she ate, and forced herself to take a few bites. As she eats, she glances up to see Mick staring off into space and she wonders what's going on in his mind.
Finishing her burger, Tommy glances over at Harley. "You wanna play a game of pool?"
"I've never played." She admitted.
"Great, I'll show you." He beams excitedly, then turns to the others. "You guys playing?"
"Sure." Nikki shrugs, and Mick nods in agreement.
"I'll pass on this round." Vince says, his eyes following their waitress.
The four gather around the table, a stick in each of their hands. Tommy stood on the other end with Mick, explaining the rules. Harley wasn't sure if she was playing it right, she acted like she knew what Tommy was saying but was confused. As a first-time player, it was nice that Nikki or Mick would occasionally give her a pointer on what to do.
During the match, they continued to get served more drinks, and Mick continued to kick their asses in the game. Tommy insisted on continuing playing to beat Mick, and to try and get better, Harley agreed to keep playing. Nikki disappeared somewhere after the second game, and then sometime after, drugs somehow got involved in the outing to the Rainbow.
Suspecting it was Nikki who got them, it didn't take long for Nikki, Tommy, and Vince to all be high. Harley and Mick stuck to drinking, as the three still faced off in the game of pool. After he finished fucking around with their waiter, Vince joined in on the game. Nikki sat nearby and would now and then comment on a move someone had made.
Harley eventually gave up playing, figuring she wasn't going to defeat Mick anytime soon as a newbie. She crashes into the booth next to Nikki, yawning slightly as she did so. Grabbing the bottle of Jack off the table, she takes a sip from it as she watches the boys start up another game.
"I don't know why he keeps trying. Mick's just too good." Nikki comments, noticing the small triumphant smirk on Mick's face as Tommy grumbles in annoyance.
"Let him dream," Harley responds, glancing towards Nikki. He snorts and offers her what little was left of the bag of coke he had, and she shakes her head in response. Shrugging, Nikki organizes it out on the table and snorts it, Harley making a face as she watches him.
"What?" He asks, glancing up at her through his bangs.
"Nothing." She sighs, drinking a bit more.
"You tried it last time." He points out.
"I don't want to get addicted." Harley mutters, rubbing the small crystal charm she had on her necklace as she turns away. He couldn't exactly hear her over the now growing noise within the building but could have guessed that was what she said.
"Alright, I'm done," Tommy exclaims in defeat. "The old bastard has won too many times."
Mick doesn't even bother to comment on the insult as he smiles to himself, hanging up their poles. Vince bounds over to the booth, crashing in next to Harley. Tommy and Mick squeeze into the other side, pushing Nikki against Harley.
"So what are we up to now?" Tommy asks, glancing about the group of them.
"I might head home. Had enough excitement for today." Mick sighs as he finishes off his drink.
"What time is it even?" Vince asks. Harley checks her watch - it was nearing one in the morning now. Time passes by quickly when you're trying to beat Mick Mars in pool, drinking, and snorting coke all night.
"One Am." Harley responds.
"Shit, really?" Vince questions, yawning. He blinks a couple of times. "We might gotta go back before I crash."
"We'll leave you in the booth all night. Get you in the morning." Nikki mutters.
"No we won't," Tommy nudges Nikki's arm before turning to Harley and Vince. "You guys want to head out now?"
Harley shrugs in response, noticing that in the short time at the new table, Mick had already slipped away to go home. The rest of them hung out inside a bit longer, drinking and getting significantly drunker.
Soon enough, it was 2 am as they made their way back to the Motley apartment. Ahead on the street, Tommy, Harley, and Vince were lined up as Harley looped her arms around both of their necks. Tommy and Harley started goofing off, singing what sounded like sea shanties as they did a line kick dance down the street, after encouraging a reluctant Vince to join.
Nikki walked a good distance behind them, hands in his pockets as he now was apparently in a mood. He rolls his eyes as he watches Harley laugh about almost tripping over Tommy's feet, and Vince scrunching his nose at their singing.
"It's a good thing you guys aren't our singers, you're awful," Vince says, shaking his head.
"Yeah, 'cuz you can't sing well drunk." Tommy defends, waving a dismissive hand at Vince.
"People have done it before." He shrugs. Harley nods in agreement, grinning as she wraps her hand around to put on top of Tommy's head, giving it a few pats. She plays with his hair, ruffling her fingers through it, making Nikki scowl.
They make it to the apartment, even though it took a bit longer with the drunkards, and they attempt to get inside without making too much noise. Vince pulls Tommy and Harley apart, pulling Tommy away to their room.
Nikki goes off to their room without saying a word to the three, making Harley frown. Even though she was drunk, she could tell something was bothering him. He wouldn't have said a word to them the whole way if there wasn't a reason for it.
Harley walks down the hall to their room, dropping onto the bed. She notes the light coming from underneath the door, signifying that Nikki was in the bathroom. She wanted to ask what was wrong, as a concern just from being a friend, but it was always like she was tiptoeing around glass with him. Honestly, at this point, she was tired of it, but she knew it wouldn't end unless they resolved the current issue.
He comes out of the bathroom, avoiding her eye contact as he did so. He sat on the edge of his bed, getting situated.
"Nikki," Harley says, pursing her lips together as he ignores her. "What's wrong?"
"Oh, you noticed." He says sarcastically. She sighs, not sure if she wants to deal with his typical drama queen self.
"Yes, I noticed. You were too quiet on the way home. What's up?"
"I thought you were the one going on about not getting into band relationships, outside of friendships." He remembered, turning to face her with a deep scowl on his face. "But, then tonight you were like a leech on Tommy, so, is it really that or are you just lying?"
"I don't like Tommy like that, you fucking dickhead." She scoffs, rolling her eyes. "He's just my friend."
Nikki hums in response. "Still doesn't look like it."
"Jesus Christ. I haven't hung out with Tommy one on one in ages, so you can get that idea out of your stupid head. Secondly, you don't get to control who I potentially like or not. And third, maybe I do like someone, but I'm not saying that now." Harley snaps.
"Who is it? Is it Vince?" Nikki demands. "Or Mick?'
"Ew no, not Vince. And not Mick either. I love them both but not in that way." She shakes her head. "You know what? I don't have to justify my actions to you or any part of my life to you. So, I'm going to bed."
She gets up, grabbing a blanket, as she was too annoyed to share a bed with Nikki now. Harley stomps out of the room, slamming the door shut as she left, feeling bad for Vince, Tommy, and the neighbors, but also not caring.
She crashes onto the couch, sighing as she rubbed her eyes. Harley questioned her choice of living with boys, but then again, she didn't think there were going to be this many complicated emotions between them.
Nikki still had a pestering feeling that he was right, despite Harley's protests against it. She just seemed too comfortable around Tommy, and never around himself. It wasn't fair, he thought. He always was able to get whatever girl he wanted, but now, the one he did want, didn't want him. It was infuriating, but of course, being Nikki Sixx, he wasn't going to let it rest.