Come A Little Closer (A Duff Mckagan Fan Fic)

Chapter 13

The next week was filled with nothing but bonding time with Ben and Josie and applying for jobs. Money was running short, a feeling I was all too familiar with.

We spent a lot of time discovering as much of this vibrant city as we could, going everywhere from diners to local stores just taking everything in. I felt like a bit of an outsider when Ben and Josie were together due to the fact that they were so in sync that I usually didn't understand their references. They spent a lot of time filling me in on their lives in Arizona from their diaper days to their high school graduation. Being engulfed in their world almost caused me to forget about the problems in my own. Almost.

We had even found time in the week to experiment with my hair, bleaching my dark brown tresses to a bright, beach blonde. Ben, Josie and I squeezed into the small bathroom attached to my bedroom and they began separating my hair into different sections as I mixed the bleaching powder with a bit of developer.

Ben was the only one experienced with hair, seeing as how his mother owned a salon and he spent a good portion of time washing hair to make some extra money in high school. He showed Josie how to evenly apply the bleach and properly wrap the hair in foils, remembering what he picked up from watching the stylists. The bleach made my head itch worse than poison ivy, but the end result was definitely worth it.

It was Friday morning and I knew that if I decided to go to the Guns 'n Roses concert that i'd be forced to face both Duff and Axl, something I wasn't sure I was ready for. But, I knew that if I chickened out, Duff would only be more irritated with my avoidance tactics and i'd also run the risk of ruining a potentially good friendship with Axl.

Friendship, who was I kidding. I hooked up with him in a bathroom as an act of drunken revenge, I don't know if friendship is possible after something like that which is a real shame. Axl is a good guy from what I've seen, and I'd really like to get to know him solely as a friend. I should have thought about that before I screwed him.

It was Kelly who eventually convinced me to go, telling me that if Axl was as big of a rock star as everyone made him out to be, that one hook up wouldn't matter so much. She was also pretty adamant on repairing my relationship with Duff.

Josie came over that day before the concert so we could get ready together. She was another person on team Duff and she wasn't about to let me forget it.

"YOU READY TO PARTYYY!!" she ran in my room screaming as soon as I opened my door.

"No! How could I be! I'm nervous as all hell. What if I fuck this up, Josie? What if Duff doesn't want to hear it?" I babbled on, purging myself of all my inner worries.

"Liv, listen, Stevie told me that Duff's been all in the dumps since your falling out, so trust me when I say that he feels bad and is gonna want to fix this." She slapped on a reassuring smile.

"Oh, great! So hes still angry. Hes like a fucking brick wall when hes upset, won't budge for nothing. I'm hopeless."

Josie crossed her small arms over her chest and looked at me intently.

"Listen, Liv, if you want to fix this, all you gotta do is show up there and listen to what he's gotta say. Don't go expecting him to start a fight. I'm sure that as soon as he sees you're willing to talk, it'll all fall into place."

"Thank you, Josie." I said with a meek smile.

"Ok, now lets get ready. We don't have time to screw around if we want to be there in time to get up close to the stage!" Josie's voice was overflowing with excitement.

Josie and Steven had been talking constantly all week. They were like two peas in a pod and every other word from her mouth was "Stevie this, Stevie that, blah blah blah."

This was the first time she was seeing him since the party. She had been talking about this show all week.

Funny, cause I was dreading it.

Josie helped me curl my freshly bleached hair as I labored over a smokey eye look and applied a red lipstick to finish it off. Josie then proceeded to work on her own look by simply running her fingers through her long brown hair that fell naturally in smooth waves. She tended to a dark cat eye with bright pink lips to match. We then spent a good 20 minutes deliberating over what would be the perfect outfits for such an important occasion.

It didn't take long for us to loose track of time and before we knew it, Ben was knocking on my door, practically having to drag us to the Whiskey.