Anastasia
I pull on a hot pink dress and slide it up my slender body. I turn to look in the mirror, and I don't like what I see.
"Nope." I mutter, and take it immediately off.
"Come on, Ana. How long does it take to find a dress?" Axl calls from outside of the dressing room.
I just roll my eyes and grab the next dress- a black bodycon with mesh cut outs along the thigh and at the stomach.
I slide it on and fix my hair, turning towards the mirror once more. It looked great.
I open the dressing room door and watch Axl's face goes from boredom to salivating in a second's time.
"Like it?" I question, and he nods his head appreciatively with a smile.
I walk up to the counter and hand the cashier my card, but Axl takes it out of my hand. "I got it." he says.
"I just got paid, Axl, really. I got it." I try to tell him, and the cashier looks between us, not sure of who to listen to.
Axl pulls me in tight to his body and kisses me on the cheek. "It's for my band's party and you're my girlfriend. I'm buying it for you. You deserve it." he says.
I roll my eyes.
"That'll be five hundred and seventy five dollars." the cashier purs as she swipes Axl's card.
"Don't roll your eyes at me Ana." Axl scolds and I grab the dress off the counter, walking out the door.
"You're so fucking stubborn sometimes." he says, opening the car door for me.
"I need to go get ready if we're leaving in two hours." I say curtly. I hated when he paid for things.
"I'll take you home then. I have to swing by the studio and make sure everything sounds right for tonight." he says, and I'm suddenly excited that I'll get to spend a little time with Duff before the party tonight.
___________________________________________________
Duff
I put on my favorite CBGB shirt and leather pants along with my boots. Today was going to be crazy.
"Dude, one of your chicks left their panties in the middle of the fucking room." Steven says, and I turn to see what he's talking about, cause the only girl that's been in here recently is-
"Ana." her name rolls off my tongue as she opens my bedroom door.
"Oh hey Duff. Steven." she regards us both formally. I could see she wasn't expecting Steven to be in here.
Her face turns from startled to confused as she looks at Steven, who is now sniffing the underwear appreciatively.
"Steven, why are you sniffing my panties?" she questions.
Shit.
Steven looks to me, and then back to Ana again. "I found them in the middle of the floor here in Duff's room." he says slowly.
Ana looks at me and I look at her. She realizes she's made a mistake by claiming the panties, and she turns bright red. Steven notices the both of our faces, and he busts out in uncontrollable laughter.
"No fucking way!" he cackles, clutching his stomach.
Ana's face goes from red to pale as she covers her eyes with her hand.
"You've gotta be kidding me! You two?!" Steven finally says. "I knew you two had a thing for each other but I never would have thought you'd both have the balls to actually fucking do it!"
"You tell Axl, and I'll have your balls on a silver platter." Ana threatens.
Steven looks between the two of us once more. "I'm not sayin' anything. But he's bound to find out sometime."
Steven tosses the panties at me and I catch them. "I'll let you two love birds talk about this then." he says, and he walks out of the room, shutting the door behind him.
Anastasia stares at me with her blue eyes burrowing through me and her arms crossed. She doesn't say anything, and that scares me. The only time I've seen her so angry is when she's fighting with Axl.
I approach her slowly and she doesn't move. "How can someone so beautiful be so angry?" I question, wrapping my arms around her neck.
I lean down and grab her chin, leaning it up to meet my lips. Her angry facade cracks in an instant, and I can feel her smile against my kiss.
"Axl's at the studio finalizing things for tonight." she says, gazing up at me.
Weird. That tape had to be handed in to Geffen weeks ago. Whatever he was doing in the studio now had nothing to do with tonight.
But I bite my tongue.
I can't take my eyes off of her.
The way the dress hugs her curves. The mesh up the leg, revealing her toned thighs and stomach continuing up between her chest, leaving very little to the imagination. Her hair was down and curled into perfect ringlets and her lips were painted a bright red-just begging me to kiss them over and over again.
"What are you doing?" she asks me.
"Admiring how fucking hot you are." I say.
She playfully slaps me on the chest. "You're fucking gross, you know that?" she says, but I know she's only kidding.
"We're leaving soon you know." I tell her.
"I know." she answers plainly. "Are you nervous?"
"Maybe a little bit." I answer honestly with a smile.
"It's gonna be a long night." she says, twirling a strand of hair around her finger.
"Can't be too bad as long as I get to look at you all night." And with that, she leans up and kisses me on the cheek.
"Sure you don't want to tell Axl to fuck off? I'd look so much better with you hanging on my arm. Look, we even match!" I try, and her smile changes to a frown.
"I wish." she says sadly. "He bought me this dress. Insisted he pay for it." she smooths it down carefully.
"About the only time he's ever done anything right." I mutter. "You deserve more."
Her smile returns, but I can see a tinge of sadness. "I love you, Duff." she says.
"I love you too, baby." I respond, and I watch her as she walks away.
Lord was she pretty.
__________________________________________________
Axl
I rang the doorbell, hoping and praying she'd be home.
I heard the deadbolt turn and the door handle shook.
"Axl?" she questions, and I don't give her time to say anything else. I sweep her off her feet and into a bone-crushing hug, running my fingers through her curly hair.
My lips are suddenly on hers and we're making out. I missed her so much.
"I can't stay long, Erin. I gotta go to this album release party tonight." I tell her, and her smile is gone.
"I guess Ana's going, huh?" she asks, and the room goes awkwardly silent.
"Yeah."
"You know I've been thinking about that and--I'm not gonna be the girl you see on the side anymore." she says, and it takes me by surprise. She's known about Ana since I met her, and she's been okay with it up until this very moment.
"But Erin I--" she cuts me off.
"No buts. It's her or me. And I'm not seeing you again until you choose."
I'm equally confused and flabbergasted. I don't know what to do. These two girls were very different, but I cared about them both.
"There's so much more I want then to be someone's side chick. I want to get married and buy a house and have kids. Not now- but in the future sometime- and you can't do that if your seeing someone else." she clarifies.
I'd love those things.
But not with Erin.
With Anastasia, absolutely.
I suddenly realize the truth. This is the answer to my long standing dilemma.
"I'm sorry, Erin. I guess it's not gonna work out."
__________________________________________________
Anastasia
With one final spritz of perfume, I hear the car horn honk from outside. Perfect timing.
"Ana! Axl's here!" Slash calls from the hallway.
"Coming!" I call back.
I step into the hallway and Axl is waiting for me, dressed in a leather jacket and black leather pants. His blue bandana was slightly crooked, so I reached up and fixed it for him.
"After you, my lady." he smirks.
"I know you're only doing that to look at my ass, Axl." I call him out, but it doesn't faze him.
He snakes a hand around my waist and kisses me on the lips. "Have I told you how much I love you?" he asks.
Sheesh. Everyone is so flattery today. "I love you too. Let's go, we're gonna be late." I say with a smile.
I climb in the backseat because Slash has already called riding shotgun and as per usual, Steven is shunned to the trunk.
I squeeze in between Izzy and Duff and cross my legs.
"So they want us to play a short set. Three songs from the album. Obviously Sweet Child and Welcome to the Jungle are shoe-ins. What's the third one gonna be?" Axl questions, looking at Duff and Izzy through the rear view mirror.
"We could do My Michelle. She'll be there tonight." Slash says from the passenger's seat.
I jump a little when I feel someone touch my leg, tracing little hearts on my thigh closest to my knee cap.
Duff.
"How about Brownstone?" Izzy suggests.
"I was thinking Nightrain." Duff speaks up.
I make eye contact with Duff and he shoots me the most adorable smile I've ever seen. It takes everything I have to not crawl into his lap.
I'm startled when Axl addresses me. "Ana, you're the tie breaker. What'll it be?" he questions.
I think for a second. "I've only heard Sweet Child, Jungle, and My Michelle. I don't even know what the other ones sound like, but if Michelle will be there, you should play it. It's a kick ass song." I say, shrugging my shoulders nonchalantly.
Michelle was an on and off again girlfriend/friend of Slash's. They went to school together, and Axl had written the song about her before I came to live in California.
"My Michelle it is then." Axl announces.
When we get to the party, there's people everywhere. Half of the people look like the band and the other half are dressed in fancy suits, ties, and ball gowns- a rather odd mix if you ask me. I recognize a few faces, but not many.
I sit at a table with Axl, Slash, Michelle, Izzy, and four of the men from Geffen.
"Do you know who that is?" Axl asks me quietly, and I shake my head no.
"That's David Geffen. He owns the fuckin' record company." he answers.
Wow. The owner of the entire company is here to listen to the guys' new record.
"Anastasia." My name is called from the other side of the table, and my eyes scan to identify the source.
"Did you enjoy working with Aerosmith?" The man asked, and it hit me. Aerosmith was on the same record label as Guns.
"I'm sorry. Where are my manners? Ed Rosenblatt. Chairman of Geffen records." he introduces, and I shake his hand.
"It's a pleasure to meet you. I had a great time. I'm just grateful the guys casted me." I tell Mr. Rosenblatt.
"Your performance was spectacular. John Kalodner, who manages Aerosmith, was just telling me about what a great actress you are. I think they were talking about calling you up for this other video their gonna do. Steven insisted upon it" he smiles and takes a sip of wine from his glass.
I'm stunned that Steven spoke so highly of me, especially to the chairman of Geffen records.
"Thank you." I say, because I'm so surprised it's all I can think of.
Axl stands up but leans down to kiss me. "We're about to play. I'll see you soon, beautiful." he says, and I blush.
After conversing with Michelle for a good twenty minutes, I notice the lights start to dim. I watch as Mr. Geffen stands up and heads toward the stage.
"Ladies and Gentleman, may I have your attention." he says into the microphone, and the room goes silent.
"Today we're here to celebrate the release of the first Guns N' Roses record, Appetite for Destruction. Before we play the album in it's entirety we'd like to treat you to the live version of a few of the songs. Enjoy." he says, and the room erupts with applause.
I couldn't believe all these people were here for the guys.
Before I realize what's happening, the intro to Welcome to the Jungle starts to play, and Axl's voice booms over the loudspeaker.
"Welcome to the Jungle, we got fun and games."
I've heard this song quite a few times, but it blows me away just like it did the very first time I heard it. It was a kick-ass song.
I looked around the room at all of the unfamiliar faces, and they all looked the same-- awestruck. For the first time I realized something. These guys had something special that no other band had right now.
Something that put the audience in a trance and made them go absolutely crazy for their music. There wasn't a single doubt in my mind they'd make it big some day.
They were too talented not to.