Harley groans as she wakes up, rubbing her eyes as she sat up. Surprisingly, Nikki wasn't asleep next to her. She frowns, knowing that it was weird for him to be up this early at... the clock read 9:48 am. None of the boys were up this early.
She climbs out of bed and throws a hoodie on before leaving her bedroom and making the walk down the hall. As soon as she made it through the door to the living room, she was met with streamers and party poppers in her vision.
"Happy Birthday, Harley!" They call out, most of the enthusiasm coming from Tommy. Harley squints and swats at the streamers so she could see her friends in a clearer view.
"Thanks, you guys didn't have to do anything." Harley shrugs.
"Of course we had to, for our favorite guitarist," Tommy says.
"Don't tell Mick." Vince shakes his head as Harley laughs.
"Right. Does anyone want coffee?" Harley asks.
"Wait, it's your day off, so you sit, and we do it. Nikki, make the coffee." Tommy demands, receiving a grumble from Nikki as he goes to do so.
A few minutes later, they all gathered around the coffee table, coffee's in hand. Harley smiles softly to herself, watching her friends talking.
"Is Mick coming around today?" Harley asks as she takes a sip from her coffee.
"For dinner, since we're going out." Vince nods.
"We are?" Harley questions.
"Yeah, to the Rainbow." Nikki adds.
"Did anyone tell Jeanie? Or do I have to go tell her?" Harkey asked.
"That's the blonde chick you work with, right?" Tommy asks, smirking slightly as he wiggles his eyebrows at Vince.
Harley catches on right away. "No, you two are not doing that. Speaking of which, I wanted to tell you guys to be on your best behavior around Jeanie. She's not used to you."
Vince snorts. "Can't promise that."
"I'm serious. I don't have to tell Mick because I know he knows how to behave."
"You're not our mother." Nikki mutters, and Harley glares at him.
"Well, I'll probably go down to the record shop if anyone wants to come." Harley offers, standing up.
"Gotta decorate the place." Tommy grins enthusiastically, waving around them.
Harley glances at Vince and Nikki - Vince shrugs and leans back, Harley taking it as a no, and Nikki agrees to go.
Once again, the two are heading down the Sunset Strip, with the quietness settling between them. At least, they aren't mad with each other.
"So, how old are you turning today?" Nikki asks, glancing over at her.
"19." She nods. "Wait, how old are you?"
"23. My birthday's in December."
"Ah." So, that clears it up for Jeanie.
They walk in silence again, until they reach the warped vinyls. Harley walks in, Nikki following behind her. Jeanie and Mark were working today, and Harley prays that Mark doesn't make a snide comment to her.
"Hey, Jeanie." Harley smiles, waving at her. The blonde grins and bounces over to her.
"Harley! Happy birthday!" Jeanie exclaims.
"Thanks," She laughs. "So I guess we're going to the Rainbow tonight."
"Like, the bar?" She asked as Harley nods. Harley notices Jeanie glance over at Nikki, who was looking around at the shop. "Okay. Is that Nikki?"
"Yep. The one and only." She sighs, glancing over her shoulder at him.
"Hm. Has he been a pain in the ass lately?" Jeanie asked.
"Oh, no. Not yet, at least. But y'know, it's Nikki, so..." Harley shrugs.
"Alright ladies, it's not chit-chat time, we got work to do, customers to help." Mark claps, walking over to them. Jeanie and Harley glance at each other, both repressing an eye roll.
"There's barely anyone in here. It's like, me, Nikki, and two other people." Harley tells him.
Mark narrows his eyes at her. "Last I checked, Harley, you aren't on the clock. So instead of smart mouthing off to me, you can either get on the clock if you wanna complain or you can leave."
Nikki caught sight of what was going on, as he walked over and stood closer to Harley.
"What's going on?" He asks, staring Mark down.
"I don't think it's any of your business." Mark replies cooly, crossing his arms. Harley notices the other customers watching them as they walked throughout the store.
"Y'know, I have a problem with anyone who has a problem with my friends, so kindly fuck off before something happens." Nikki snaps, stepping forward as he pulls his hands from his pockets.
"Nikki," Harley hisses, grabbing his arm and trying to pull him back.
"Harley, you have three seconds to get your friend out of this store before he's banned from here, and before you're put on notice." Mark says without pulling his stare away from Nikki. Harley hastily pulls Nikki away, looping her arm through his to drag him out of the store.
"What the fuck was that?" She exclaims as the door closes behind them.
"He was being an asshole to you guys, you think I would just let it go?" Nikki responds.
"I don't want to get fired because you got into a fight with Mark!" Harley says.
"Maybe they should fire him. Fucking prick."
"We've tried." She sighs. "He always gives us a hard time when we work with him."
Nikki glances back at the store before looking ahead and following Harley again. "I can hang around, step in if he does something."
"You're not lurking around in the store every time I'm on a shift." Harley shakes her head. It was the only time she could get away from the craziness of the apartment.
"Why are you even working there? You can quit, the band's bound to get huge soon." Nikki questions, looking over at her.
"It's the only big source of income for rent. Besides, how long will that be? We don't know, I don't want to risk it. It's something I have to fall back on."
"Tommy doesn't have a job and he's doing fine." Nikki points out.
"Tommy also lived with his parents and had it easy before the apartment. Are you still with that one place?"
"No, they fired me. I couldn't sell anything. I didn't care to sell anything." Nikki shrugs.
Harley snorts. "Of course. I don't know if Mick has a job outside of Motley... he never talks when we're all together. Does Vince have a job?"
"I think he used to work at McDonald's but got fired because he showed up really out of it one time high on coke." Nikki told her.
"Oh."
They walk the rest of the way in silence - which really wasn't that long of a walk from where they were already at. They reached the apartment and could hear Kiss playing inside. Harley was once again met with streamers and confetti upon entering the apartment, and some fell on Nikki as he was too close behind her.
"Harlayyyy!" Tommy cheers, waving his hands as she walks in. Harley can't help but laugh at him.
"He is way too over enthusiastic about this," Nikki mutters. "He's more excited than you are."
In all honesty, Harley had never had someone this excited about her birthday. It was a nice change. Her mother never did much for her birthday, usually a simple cake and a gift, and that was it. No birthday party or anything. Her friends in high school never did anything either - which makes sense as to why she had no friends before.
"We got Mick to come over early." Vince announces from his spot on the couch. Not too long after, Mick did come over, grimacing at the sound of Kiss.
"Turn off this shit." Mick says, shaking his head.
"Nuh-uh, it's the birthday girl's pick." Tommy responds, ignoring Mick's scowl.
"You can change it, I don't care." Harley tells him, and Tommy flips it to Sabbath.
"Here you go, kid. Happy birthday." Mick stops in front of her and hands her a small bag. Glancing inside, Harley notices he got her things to keep her guitar working well - like new strings and picks and such.
"Thanks, Mick." She grins, and he 'hmphs' in response. Mick raids their kitchen for vodka, starting the early drinking despite going to the Rainbow in a few hours. Harley had told Jeanie to meet her at the apartment so they could walk in the safety of numbers. Jeanie eventually showed up, wearing a yellow sundress and bright blue eyeshadow.
"Jeanie!" Harley exclaims, hugging the girl.
Jeanie grins and hugs Harley back, then steps aside and examines the boys. It was weird to finally meet the group she had heard so much about. She had met Tommy and Nikki before and had the interaction with Nikki earlier that day.
"Hey." Nikki gives her a nod, remembering her from earlier that day.
"Alright, so, you know Nikki already. That's Tommy," She points at Tommy who waves, "Then Vince, ignore him if he says anything to you," Vince scoffs at that, "And there's Mick." Mick barely lifts his hand in acknowledgment.
"And this is Jeanie, my coworker, and friend." Harley announces. Jeanie smiles and waves at everyone. Once introductions were over, it announced the start of the trek to the Rainbow. Walking there, it was nice to see that Jeanie got along well with the boys, mainly Tommy. Tommy could get along well with anyone, though. They seemed to fall into a rhythm of walking, Tommy, Jeanie, and Vince up in the front row. Mick was by himself in the middle, leaving Harley and Nikki in the back.
They saved the eating for later once inside, and Tommy went straight to the pool table to try and beat Mick again. Vince and Jeanie joined them in the game, and everyone ordered their drinks. Harley sat away by Nikki like last time, drinking from her cup as she watched the game.
"Are you doing anything with family for your birthday?" Nikki asks as he looks over at her.
Harley tenses at the mention of them. "No. No one even knows our number, so they really couldn't. I'd have to go to them if I wanted, which I don't want to..." She taps her fingers against the table and looks away.
She gets up and heads over to the pool table, checking in on the game. She stands closer to Jeanie, watching as she plays.
"How are you doing?"
"I think Mick is winning." Jeanie responds, glancing over her shoulder at Harley.
"He won last time." Harley comments. Jeanie focuses on her shot, then returns to the conversation.
"So... are you sure you and Nikki aren't a thing?" Jeanie questions.
"What? No, why would we be?"
"Every time he's been around it seems like it. Especially with earlier today."
"We aren't together, why do people keep assuming that?" Harley wonders, frowning and shaking her head.
"It just seems like it would be a thing." She shrugs. Harley glances over at Nikki, who was talking to a few of the other people that were inside the bar. She wonders how it could have turned out differently if she had accepted it when he had kissed her... Harley wouldn't lie saying he wasn't attractive, but she just didn't want to risk the chance of ruining the band.
"Nope, not a thing." Harley says, looking back at Jeanie.
Harley figured that by the end of the outing, it was good that they weren't as drunk as the last Rainbow trip. They decided to walk Jeanie to her house as it was late and they didn't want creeps going after her.
"Y'know," Jeanie says, slowing her pace to walk next to Harley, as the boys were further up ahead. Harley looks at her, questioningly. "I know you said to ignore anything Vince says, but he's kind of hot."
"No," Harley groans. "You think Vince is hot?"
"He is!" Jeanie laughs.
"Ugh, don't tell him that, you'll make his ego even bigger than it already is."
"You don't think he's hot?" Jeanie asked.
"No." Harley makes a face.
"But you think Nikki is." Jeanie grins cheekily.
"Also no." Harley lies.
"Mhm," Jeanie smirks and smiles as she looks ahead of them.
"Please, for the sake of my sanity, do not do anything with Vince."
"Can't promise that, but only if he offers." She shrugs.
"God, I can't believe you think Vince is hot."
"Jeanie thinks Vinnie is hot?" Tommy asks as he had stepped back to catch up with them. Harley sighs in annoyance, now that the boys are dragging themselves into the conversation.
"Well he is, and Harley says he isn't." Jeanie responds, looking over at Tommy.
"Eh, He kind of looks like a chick though." Tommy points out.
"So?"
"I mean, you do you." He shrugs.
They arrive at Jeanie's apartment building, and all gather around the door to part ways. The two girls give a farewell hug, as Tommy gives Jeanie a goodbye fist bump. Mick and Nikki don't say much, as they didn't talk to Jeanie the whole time.
"Hey, if you ever wanna hang out, one on one, you know where to find me." Vince tells Jeanie, smirking as he winks at her.
Jeanie laughs. "I'll keep that in mind."
"You will not!" Harley exclaims, pushing Vince aside as she leads Jeanie into the apartment. "I think I might have to cut his dick off."
"Harley, c'mon. It's not that bad." Jeanie smiles.
"It is. Well, I guess we're at your place. I'll see you at work tomorrow?" Harley questions.
"Yep. I'll be there." Jeanie gives Harley another goodbye hug. "Happy Birthday, Harley."
Harley smiles softly. "Thanks."
Jeanie gives Harley a smile before disappearing behind the door. Turning around, Harley smiles to herself as she heads down the stairs to regroup with the boys.