1982
Tour was exhausting. Harley hated being squished with Nikki on a tour bus when the two weren't on speaking terms most of the tour. They only spoke when it was related to the group overall. Towards the end, they started to get over what had happened and moved on.
Harley thought that the best idea she had on tour was to provide a tour bus logbook, in which people were able to take a picture with a polaroid she left, tape it into the photobook, and write a review on their time there.
She had laughed looking through them, seeing the number of pictures Tommy had taken, some of just himself, and some with the whole band. There were a handful of pictures from the others as well.
While Motley Crue had started their tour in late December, it was early May when the band had returned to the Sunset Strip. She had figured they were sick of seeing each other's faces at this point - and she was right to an extent - as most of them holed up in separate parts of the apartment upon return.
Speaking of the apartment, the absence of Motley on the premises had been nice to those living in the apartment, as they had returned with an eviction notice taped to their door. Harley wasn't surprised from a standpoint of cleanliness too.
The apartments' porch was overflowing with trash, it would become difficult for them to attempt to close the door to the porch if they were to toss out the trash. With that being an issue, a rat infestation had come to them, along with the roaches. The bathroom was still the worst room in the apartment, and it was now ten times worse than before.
To some extent, Harley was relieved to be living on her own again. She would miss Tommy and Vince, and Nikki too if he wasn't being a prick or parading Lita around. She got the privacy of her room and enjoyed the cleanliness of her new apartment. She could also have Jeanie over whenever she wanted without having to worry about the boys' behaviors.
The other side to living alone now - she couldn't tell if this was good or bad yet - is that she had little to no drugs or alcohol in her apartment. She could consider that a plus on the side of the law, at least she didn't have to worry about getting busted every day. But as for the usage of both substances, she wasn't sure.
Harley wasn't addicted to either of them, she would maybe consider the rest of them addicts. She just used it for entertainment purposes at parties, but in her own free time, she wouldn't touch cocaine. Alcohol, maybe. Even if she were close to being an addict; it would give her a clean space to get clean.
She was glad to return to work, it was nice to get a regular paycheck too, outside of the band. Harley had returned to work at Warped Vinyls almost as soon as they had come back from tour, enjoying being surrounded by regular people. It was a nice change from the constant stream of rock stars she had met in the past months.
Currently, she stood loading new vinyl into their crates, as Mark marched around the store, while Charlie sat up at the desk. Harley hadn't seen Charlie in ages - she missed the only nice guy in the crew.
"Right, Harley, do you plan on disappearing for a long while anytime soon?" Mark questions, leaning against the rack.
"I don't know. Depends on if Doc schedules us anytime soon. We might be gone for a weekend or something." Harley shrugs in response.
Mark frowns. "We can't have you missing much more work, we're somewhat understaffed if you'd remember."
"I'm aware. As I said, I can't control when my management team schedules me. I can try and give you a two weeks notice if I can." Harley told him, rolling her eyes.
"I'm sure you're well aware of our policy, we can't have you pulling a stunt like the last time you came in here with your friend."
"I can't control what Nikki does," Harley told him. Otherwise, she would've prevented him from getting together with Lita.
"Try to, you're a woman, work your magic." He states, and walks off.
Harley scowls and flips Mark off behind his back. She leaves the vinyl where they were and walks over to Charlie, who watched the showdown.
"God, I fucking hate men." Harley groans.
"Hey," Charlie says, a hint of sadness in his tone.
"Not you, you're an angel. I can only take so much of dickwads like Mark, I mean, I lived with Nikki Sixx." Harley snorts and shakes her head.
"Were they bad to live with?" Charlie asks. He had only ever heard of Motley Crue's behavior but never witnessed it.
"Eh, sometimes they were. Like, Vince is my best friend, so he's more bearable. Tommy's fun to be around but he can be overwhelming at times, Mick is either quiet or not there at all, and Nikki is Nikki." She shrugs in response.
"That's fair, I guess. I've never met them." Charlie said.
"Oh, right. Jeanie would agree with me except for the fact that she thinks Vince is hot."
Charlie made a face in response, as they glanced over to the door sounding like a new customer.
May passed along smoothly, and the early days of June rolled in. Harley missed seeing the boys, she hadn't hung out with them in a while. Vince had gotten a girlfriend named Beth, whom he was now engaged and married to. Tommy had a new girlfriend, her name was Honey. Nikki still was dating Lita, and Harley was still alone. She wasn't sure about Mick, though, the older man never spoke of a significant other.
Harley had also resumed the schedule of going out to the diner every weekday with Jeanie, which she enjoyed doing. Sitting at their usual booth, Harley listened to Jeanie go on about whatever drama had happened at work while she was gone.
"Hey! Welcome to the diner, what can I get you guys to drink?" The waitress had walked up to them during the conversation, and Harley looked up at her.
She was the most gorgeous woman she's seen, with long red hair that curled around her shoulders. She had blue eyes and makeup that brought out the color. The woman wore the diners' uniform, which included a red cocktail dress with an apron tied around her waist that was checkered patterned. Even though the outfit looked slightly tacky, it fit the theme of the 50's diner.
Realizing she was staring, Harley's face reddened as she turned to the menu. She ignored Jeanie watching her, and looks up at the girl, smiling.
"Hi, I'll have just a water, thanks."
"And for you?" She turns to Harley. Reading her name tag, Harley notes that the girls' name is Lela.
"Um, same as her," Harley says, stuttering slightly and then smiling again at her.
"Great! I'll have 2 glasses of water coming right out for you both." Lela smiles at them before turning with a swish of her skirt and walking into the back room.
"What was that?" Jeanie questions, noting Harley's awkwardness with the waitress.
"Nothing." She mutters in response, biting at her nails as she glances towards the backroom where Lela had disappeared to.
Shrugging, Jeanie went back to reading the menu aloud to Harley as her mind drifted off elsewhere. Harley couldn't point her finger to why she had felt so awkward around Lela or why she couldn't tear her eyes away from the girl.
Soon enough Lela was back, and Harley pulled her confidence together. She smiled and engaged more with her instead of being a stuttering mess. But once again, Lela went off to the back to get their food.
"Do you like her?" Jeanie asks, glancing towards where Lela had walked off to.
"What? Why?"
"It's obvious." Jeanie shrugs, sipping from her water. Harley makes a questioning face at her. "You should try to get to know her."
"I dunno... it's too soon. And what if she doesn't like... girls?" Harley wonders, biting at her nails again.
"It's not too soon - he's a piece of shit if he went off with another girl. Secondly, at least you'll know. But then again, she might end up liking girls." Jeanie tells her. Harley frowns at the second-hand mention of Nikki.
"Yeah, that's reasonable I guess. I don't know though, like, what if we go on tour again soon? And I don't want to expose her to my kind of lifestyle."
"I get that. To be honest, I always forget how crazy your life is outside of work." Jeanie admits.
"Ugh, yeah." Harley laughs and looks over to see Lela walking over to them. Jeanie smiles encouragingly at Harley.
"Here is your food, ladies, and enjoy!" Lela smiles at them before turning away.
"God, this is embarrassing," Harley mutters, grimacing as she picks up her food to eat it.
"I think something is wrong if asking out a crush isn't embarrassing." Jeanie shrugs, eating as well.
After they had finished eating, Jeanie had gone home while Harley had stayed behind to try and talk to Lela. She racked her brain for something to say, it would be so much easier if Vince or Tommy were there, they knew their way with women and could easily give Harley pointers.
Harley was surprised with her luck to find that Lela's shift ended in a few minutes - although she hoped it didn't make her look creepy waiting around for the girl. She spotted her bright red hair coming out of the backroom after her shift, and Harley calls out to her.
"Hey, you're Lela, right?" Harley calls, even though she 100% knew it was Lela.
Lela turns to her. "Yeah, and you're - Harley, right?"
"Yeah, that's me." Harley grins at her. She jogs to catch up with Lela. "Sorry if this is weird, I didn't know what to do. I just wanted to say that you seem cool and I'd like to hang out and get to know you."
"As like, a date or...?" Lela questions, a small smile on her face.
"Uh, um, sure?" Harley stutters, staring with wide eyes at Lela.
"Sure, I'd love to. It's not every day you meet someone famous." Lela grins at her, and Harley stares still, not able to believe her luck.
"Uh, great! I can come around here whenever you want." Harley suggests.
"That sounds like a plan. Are you busy next Tuesday at all?" Lela asked, glancing at Harley.
"Yeah, I should be. We haven't had much going on in a while." Harley tells her, as she walks alongside Lela.
"Okay, I suppose I'd see you at five? I get off my shift then."
"I can do five." Harley nods, grinning at her. "I'll see you then?"
"You sure will." Lela smiles back. Harley smiles back before turning back in the direction of her apartment, grinning like an idiot.