Duff tugs me along the street for around 300 metres before coming to a stop in front of an apartment building, the whole journey I examine his profile, tall, slim, our boots clacking in rhythm along the pavement, our hair both swaying about in the faint breeze.
"Here we are Alex, home sweet home." He chuckles to himself before turning serious and looking intently at my face.
"Before we go in, I live with two other guys and the place is a mess. Don't worry about them though, they're harmless." Duff smiles warmly and I nod nervously.
Opening the door with his free hand, my new friend leads me up a set of stairs, faint sounds of music grow stronger the further we climb.
Reaching the second floor, Duff strolls down a hallway, still clutching my small hand in his, leading me closer to the source of the music.
We come to a stop in front of a door reading '26', Duff pushes it open to a messy and grimy apartment, music surrounds my frail body, cans and bottles litter the floor along with pizza boxes and dirty clothing. The smell of cigarettes and alcohol greet my nose as Duff finally releases my hand, walking into the apartment ahead of me, I shut the door gently, feeling between petrified to be here and relieved to be off the street.
I tentatively follow Duff's retreating form down a small narrow hallway, dodging the trash on the ground and into an open sitting area where I'm greeting by a puffy haired blonde sitting in the far corner beside a large speaker, a small smile on his lips and a huge box of vinyl on his lap, searching through it intensively. On the grubby couch is another puffy haired man with thick black curls and bottle of Jack Daniels in hand, magazine in the other. Both men look similar to Duff in clothing sense and they don't seem threatening.
Duff sneaks over to the speaker, without either men seeing him, turning the music down to a comfortable level, both of the strangers snap their heads up to him looking annoyed.
The blonde is first to speak looking less aggravated than the second man,
"Hey Duff, do you mind man?"
Duff smirks and looks at me, causing the other men to realise my presence, I step back shyly and put my hand up in a small wave, before sliding it into the front of my jeans.
"Guys this is Alexis, Alex this is Slash." He points a thumb to the curly haired man on the couch, Slash sits up and pulls some of the hair from his face giving me a view of his chocolate coloured eyes and olive tanned skin, "Hey." He says in a small voice before dropping his hair back into place and taking a sip from the whiskey bottle.
"And this is Steven." Duff flicks the blonde man on the head earning a playful hit to his lanky leg in return.
Steven smiles widely at me and he looks like an excitable child.
"Hi Alexis!" I smile wider at him. My cheeks grow hot from the stares from all three men and I shuffle my feet.
"Nice to meet you Slash, Steven." I say awkwardly.
"A found Alex fresh of a bus with nowhere to go, so here we are!" Duff grins.
Slash pats the couch beside him and I walk over, plopping down beside him, Duff places my rucksack on the ground near another door and plops himself down opposite me and next to the other blonde. They all look at me intently and I shrink back into the sofa away from Slash.
"We won't hurt you Alex" He smiles
"You're not from around here are you?" Steven asks in a friendly voice, he makes me feel more comfortable with his huge smile and relaxed posture.
"Indiana, I guess you could say I'm a runaway."
I say in a quiet voice, my body is tense and I look around the room avoiding eye contact.
"Huh, that's pretty cool, I ran away too. From Seattle. I know a couple awesome guys from Indiana." Duff says sympathetically.
I look at him curiously, I open my mouth to ask him more but there's a curt knock on the door to which he stands up to answer, as the other two look reluctant to do so.
Steven looks at me contently and makes a motion with his hand for me to come sit with him, I stand and step over to him, sliding down the wall and cross my legs to sit comfortably beside Steven, with an arms reach distance between us. Looking over at the box on his lap I recognise all the albums, these guys have good taste!
I pull my jacket sleeves over my hands and listen to my surroundings, I know this song.
"Fool in the Rain, Led Zeppelin, 1979, they're album 'In through the out Door'. Right?" I question shyly.
Both men's heads snap to my direction as I look at my legs. From the corner of my eye I can see their jaws dropped and a look of pure amazement and wonder on their faces. I slowly look up as Slash stands, he moves from the couch and sits himself in front of me and Steven. "Marry me." He states still amazed, Steven closes his mouth and chuckles a bit, my cheeks burn.
When I look up, both men still gape at me and Slash looks extremely embarrassed from his previous comment.
"How did you know that?" Steven exclaims.
"I spent a lot of time in my room alone when my brother and best friend left for the big city. Getting into trouble wasn't as fun solo." I mumble sadly.
Duff walks back into the room and plops down onto the sofa looking defeated.
"That other band I'm in, Hollywood Rose, just lost their drummer and guitarist and we have a tour in a week."
"You play an instrument?" I ask amazed.
"Sure. We all do, I play bass." He replies looking less stressed now.
"I play drums" Steven exclaims proudly.
"Guitar" Slash states.
I look at them all confused, "Duff, you need a drummer and guitarist for a tour, you live with a drummer and a guitarist."
Duff goes wide eyed and smacks his forehead.
"I'm such a dumbass. Slash, Steven, we are going. Right now. You two need to meet Izzy and Axl, Izzy is cool and is a great guitarist, Axl is testing but has a voice out of this world!"
The men jump to the feet, Slash goes down a hallway coming back with a beautiful Les Paul guitar and a pair of drumsticks, passing the sticks to Steven and they run to the door, opening it and filtering out into the hall.
I sit there unsure what to do when Steven runs back in grabbing my arm and dragging me out the apartment. I guess I'm going with them!
