While Motley had unfortunately lost their door, that didn't stop parties from taking place. Instead, everyone had to go through the window while they nailed the door shut. With that policy, they were practically telling their neighbors to get fucked and to get used to it. Harley often avoided confrontation from neighbors whenever she was in the hallways.
They spent more time in the studio, the completion of the album just around the corner. They still had no record deal, which resulted in creating their own - titling it as Leathür, with the same two signature dots above the u. Harley knew Nikki was writing newer material for what they could use in their second album - whenever they were going to work on that.
Speaking of Nikki, it was once again a weird situation with him. Harley suspected they would never not have a weird situation going on between them. Now, though, instead of things going the opposite direction before, it went crashing in flames. It seemed that whenever they were alone - which suspiciously was often - they couldn't keep their hands off each other, resulting in quite often make-outs and more.
Vince remained to be the only one in the band who knew and Harley planned on keeping it that way - she practically begged him not to spill every time she told him something new. She thought it was weird, the incidents that bring friends together. She remembered originally not being able to stand Vince, and now the two were always whispering about something to each other.
Harley was still worried about jeopardizing the band wherever the relationship was going. She didn't want Motley Crue to go down in flames just because she and Nikki fucked up.
It was one of the rare moments of silence in the Crue apartment, as Harley laid on her back with her eyes closed on the bed. She listened to Nikki's pen scratch against the paper with the occasional silently plucked bass string.
Harley opens an eye and watches him. Nikki writes something down again and bites the edge of his pen before glancing at Harley, only to notice her watching him. He sets his pen in the notebook and closes it.
"What was your family like?" Nikki asks, remembering how she had mentioned them once before, but not a deep dive into their life.
"I've said it before," Harley responds.
"Only a bit."
She hesitates for a moment. "I dunno, just the typical, overly catholic family? Y'know about my mom, a bit. She was batshit crazy about everything, making us pray before every event, whatever big or small it was. She was one of those crazy anti-anyone people, which fucking sucked. I couldn't have friends who weren't white or straight. It was pretty rough on my brother. Dad just turned a blind eye to it all. He never interrupted or told her off for things, she'd probably scream bloody murder and try to frame him if he did. My mom also enforced a god-awful dress code, like Sunday clothes every day. I always brought a change to school and then changed out before I left."
"That's awful. What was with your brother?" Nikki questions, that part making him want to know more - it was strange she left that unopen.
"It's an iffy subject," Harley explains, sitting up slightly. "Alright then, what about you?"
"Me?"
"Yeah. What about your family?"
"Well, first, I was born, as it usually goes. That's about as long as my dad stuck around for - just long enough to name me after himself - which made me Frank Feranna. Once the dickhead was out of the picture, it was my mom and I left. My mom wasn't much better - very self-centered. She always had a different boyfriend, every week it was someone new. They were all pieces of shit too. Sometimes my mom couldn't handle me and would send me off to live with my grandparents for a few months, then they couldn't handle me, and I was back to my mom. It went on like that for a while. Eventually, I had enough, which then I stuck a blade in my arm and acted like my mother attacked me. After, I just pretty much lived out the rest of my life homeless in LA, until I guess I met you all." Nikki explains.
It was a drastic change of a story compared to Harley's - the first thing she couldn't process right away was Nikki's birth name. There was no fucking way he was named Frank, he didn't even look like one. She would say though that it was pretty shitty with his mom and her boyfriends. If Harley ever met the woman, she would give her a not-so-nice greeting.
"Wait, so you got your mom arrested and your actual name is Frank?" Harley questions.
"Yeah, I know. I don't look like one." Nikki shrugs.
"I think it's safe to say my mother wouldn't like yours - probably would be called a whore for having so many boyfriends." Harley said. Nikki laughs at that, Harley was glad that it lightened the mood. She glances towards the door, wondering where the others were.
"Do you know if the others are here?" She questions.
"No. I thought they were out earlier though." Nikki responds.
"That was like, two hours ago," Harley tells him. She gets up and peeks through the door, seeing that no one was in the living room or kitchen. "If they're here, they're not in the living room or kitchen."
"Right." Nikki nods, as Harley flops back onto the bed. "Well, you know what that could mean if we're by ourselves."
"Does it mean that, though?" She quirks an eyebrow at him.
"C'mon." He says, poking at her arm. Harley sits up, crossing her arms in her lap as she studies him for a moment.
"Is that why you talked? Wanted me to do something for you?" She asks.
Nikki grins cheekily. "Maybe."
Harley laughs, leaning in and kissing him. "You're an idiot."
"I know," He grins, threading his fingers into her hair as he kisses her back. Harley's hand sits on the back of his neck, pulling him in closer as she deepens the kiss. Nikki tilts his head, kissing at her neck as he pulls her onto his lap. Harley wraps her legs around his waist, moving her head for easier access.
He slides his hands under her shirt, finding their way up to the back of her bra as she moans quietly. "Nikki,"
Voices flood in from down the hall, announcing that Tommy and Vince had come back. The two cringed as Tommy called out for them, knowing any second he could come barging into their room. Harley pulls off of him, fluffing out her hair as Nikki gets up and walks out to the living room.
A few seconds later Harley joins them to find Tommy and Nikki already in conversation. Vince glances at Harley then Nikki and back to Harley, and she just makes a face at him as he grins. Harley knew that Vince knew that Nikki had no idea that Vince knew of anything, so she hoped he wouldn't slip up with the stupid faces he always made at her. She sits on the couch, resting her arms against the back.
"What are we doing today?" Tommy asks, glancing about the group. Everyone turned to look at Nikki, who everyone somewhat simultaneously agreed that he was the boss of the band. Probably because he created it.
"I think we're hitting the studio, and getting Mick to come over." Nikki explains.
"Do we need to force him out of his dungeons?" Vince asks, recalling when earlier that summer they had to pry Mick away from his house.
"Ah, probably. We have Tommy's van to transport everyone." Nikki shrugs.
Harley grimaces, which Tommy notices. "It's not that bad in there."
"Yeah, right. That's like saying our bathroom is godlike, or our porch. And our roach problem."
"Alright, alright, I get it. It's kind of a mess." He shrugs, not caring what everyone else thought. The van was his pride and joy. Besides his drums, of course.
The trek to Tommy's car was an adventurous one, having someone glance outside the door, check for neighbors, then they all sprint as fast as they could to the car. If a neighbor approached - and specifically if they were a female one - they'd usually send Vince as a distraction for the rest of the band to escape. Most of the time their plan worked, but the neighbors tended to avoid the band overall, only coming out to confront them if they had an overly loud party the previous night.
Now in the van, everyone resumed their typical locations. Tommy was in the driver's seat, of course, the passenger was usually taken over by Nikki; Vince if he was lucky enough to beat Nikki to the seat. He was not so lucky today, though. Harley always sat in the back, not wanting to participate in the fight for the front. That often left Mick in the far back, just because he was never already present in the apartment to claim a spot. Although he'd probably use the 'being old' card to get the front seat, and everyone would feel guilty.
During the ride, they jammed out to the Aerosmith's Toy's In the Attic album, everyone taking their typical role in the band to airplay, although everyone sang along - some better than others. By the time they got to Mick's, half of "Walk This Way" had played, and they were slightly reluctant to leave the car to finish it. Harley would be surprised if Mick hadn't already known they were there by the booming bass.
Tommy hits the horn, signaling to Mick that they had arrived. The older man sticks his head out of his door, frowning when he realized the nuisance car was his group of teenagers. He trudges over to them and gets Tommy to roll down the window.
"C'mon, we're going to the studio, recording day!" Tommy exclaims over the music, which had been slightly lowered in volume.
"Fine." Mick gets in the back behind Harley, who waves at him when he sits down. Tommy cranks up the music, and they resume the jamming.
The jamming returned in the studio, this time with their music rather than Aerosmith's. Harley snickers as Tommy avoided the girl in the studio whom he had to fuck last time to get extra tapes.
Today, it was Tommy and Vince recording their parts, mainly Tommy. The others still came, figuring that they all should be in the studio together. Meanwhile, Harley, Nikki, and Mick sat around on the couch studios.
"What are we doing for a second album?" Harley asks, knowing that sometimes bands started working on second albums right after finishing the first.
"No idea. I guess we'll decide soon, I do have a song or two written that we could use." Nikki shrugs.
"What are they?"
"They're not done yet." He says and turns his attention to his bass, which sat on his lap. Harley frowns but shrugs it off, not wanting to get into it at the moment. She glances over to the two recording booths, where Tommy and Vince were recording. Harley watches them for a bit before working more on the different riffs.
After a few hours or so of hanging around the studio, it started to get dark out, and so they collectively decided to agree. Most of the group were feeling energized though and didn't want to go home. So, once again, they piled into Tommy's van and drove to the Seventh Veil, a rather popular strip club along the sunset strip.
Harley didn't get the excitement of a strip club, she felt awkward being in there. She felt like she couldn't look, so she usually hid in the back or hung out with Mick at the bar - who also didn't care about it.
"Aren't you going up there?" Harley asks him, nodding over at Tommy, Vince, and Nikki, who seemed too enthusiastic to be there and were making a scene.
"No. I've seen it, done it already." He pauses and takes a drink. "Besides, I have a girlfriend."
Harley remembered Mick's reasoning for not participating in most of their activities - 'been there, done that', as he had already been in countless bands before Motley Crue. Of course, he had already done the newbie rockstar activities.
"What about you, aren't you joining them?" Mick questions, glancing at her.
She makes a face. "Why would I?"
Mick shrugs. "You're young, you could get away with it."
"Yeah, but I'm a girl."
"And plenty of girls like girls, it's been around for ages."
Harley makes a face again. "No."
"Why, you gotta problem with it?" He questions, quirking an eyebrow as he takes another drink.
"I don't, really, it's just..." My mother. Harley's mother was very against LGBT, constantly warning her and Jack the consequences if they ever 'got the disease'. It was bad, whenever the subject was brought up. Jack had defended LGBT people once, and then ultimately decided not to anymore with how their mother had responded.
Mick decides not to press it anymore, glancing over his shoulder to check on the boys. Harley does as well. She watches how the men act around the women, reaching out to them, shouting rather disgusting things, and just staring at them creepily. She was highly aware of the fact that it was how the boys were acting, but she elected to ignore it. Harley just wondered how they couldn't just stare at a girl and appreciate the art that she was, and how they didn't want to treat girls like a precious gem rather than the dirt on the bottom of their shoes.
Harley realizes she was staring at the girl and turns away in embarrassment. For the rest of the night, Harley kept her eyes glued to the swirly countertop pattern and didn't watch how much she drank.
By the time they left, it was surprising that for once, Harley wasn't the soberest there. She had drunk to entertain herself, and she was quite bored. In the car, Nikki put on his Sweet cassette, and they resumed their jamming from before. Mick sat in the back with his eyes closed and arms crossed, wanting the ride to end.
Vince laughs at Harley playing the air guitar and failing miserably, her fingers lagging due to the drunkenness. While Harley was only drunk, besides Mick, everyone else was probably high on some sort of drug, whether it was cocaine or weed.
They drop Mick off at his house, with his girlfriend standing on the porch - her arms were crossed and a death glare on her face. Mick purses his lips and goes inside, as everyone loudly waves bye to him.
If possible, they got twice as loud with Mick gone as they drove back to the Motley apartment. The walk inside wasn't as bad, although they continued singing 'Fox on the Run' as they walked in.
Harley used Vince as support for walking up the stairs, not wanting to trip and fall through. Unlike usual, as soon as they get inside, the party really starts - bringing out booze and coke.
They all plopped onto the couch, snorting a few lines and drinking as whatever MTV video played on the tv. They went on talking about whatever stripper they were with that night or which groupie they had fucked earlier in the week.
Out of nowhere, Tommy interrupts the conversation. "Dudes, I'm fucking hungry."
"Oh man, Tommy's got a case of the munchies," Vince calls out.
"We could walk to the convenience store and get stuff." Nikki suggests.
"We don't have money though." Harley points out.
"Right. Which is why we steal it!" Tommy exclaims.
"Exactly!" Nikki agreed. "We can use the same tactic to leave the apartment.
"Why do I have to be the bait?" Vince whines.
"Because girls like you the most," Nikki tells him, as they get ready to go out. The sunset strip was a weird environment at 3 am, it typically consisted of drunks, biker gangs, illegal activities, and other drug addicts.
The plan started once entering the store - everyone got what they wanted, an armful of junk food as they got ready to run. Harley was surprised she even agreed to this, although she supposed it was the alcohol and drugs making her agree to it. She had her arm full of snacks, and Tommy took his position - looking around the aisle corner. Vince makes a face at him as he takes his spot on the counter, flirting with the staff.
Grinning, Tommy gives Harley and Nikki the go, and the three of them book it out of the convenience store. They didn't stop sprinting until a few blocks past, making sure no one had followed them. It took a few minutes for Vince to catch up.
"You guys fucking suck," Vince complains as he catches up to them.
"Whatever you say, Vinnie." Tommy laughs.
"Alright, let's go home. We can share the junk." Nikki says, and everyone agrees, heading back to the Motley apartment with their arms full of their stolen snacks.